Welcome to The Second Disc's first Holiday Gift Guide Review of the season! Between now and Christmas, we'll be spotlighting various titles that just might make ideal holiday gifts for the music lovers in your life. Watch this space for the upcoming launch of the full Holiday Gift Guide! Flying hospital beds, laser-eyed pigs, and fire. No, it's not a sci-fi flick, it's Pink Floyd. Long known for their spectacular blending of stage displays, props, and music, the band kicked it up a notch
It’s Magic, You Know: Cherry Red, 7Ts Collect Pilot’s Four Albums on New Box Set
Following Tuesday's look at Brian Protheroe's albums collection, we're exploring another recent box from Cherry Red and 7Ts! "Oh-ho-ho, it's magic, you know..." With that memorable 1974 international hit, Pilot burst into the public consciousness. While the band founded by David Paton, Billy Lyall, and Stuart Tosh was only able to spin off three more chart singles, "Magic" remains a classic radio staple. 7Ts has collected the band's first four long-players from 1974-1977 on a clamshell
Review: Frank Zappa, “Halloween 81”
"The finest night of the year..." Frank Zappa knew how to throw one hell of a Halloween party. The iconoclastic composer-bandleader counted Halloween as his favorite holiday, and his annual celebratory shows were among his most anticipated. The 1981 stand at the late, lamented Palladium - a once-plush 1927 movie palace sadly demolished in 1998 to make room for dormitories at New York University - was particularly special to Zappa's fans as he had curtailed the 1980 shows earlier than
Review: Prince, “Sign ‘O’ The Times: Super Deluxe Edition”
Tell Me Who in This House Know About the Quake Would a look into Prince's Crystal Ball ever have predicted this? For the third of its deluxe album reissues - following a 3CD/DVD expansion of Purple Rain and a 5CD/DVD deluxe box of 1999 - Warner Records and NPG have unveiled the most lavish archival project yet to emerge from the Prince archive. In terms of both physical size and its contents, the new Sign "O" The Times Super Deluxe Edition box set is larger in every sense than its
Are You Ready to Rock: Esoteric Reissues, Expands Two from Roy Wood and Wizzard
One of Birmingham's most renowned musical exports, Roy Wood trained listeners to expect the unexpected. The founder or co-founder of The Move, Electric Light Orchestra, and Wizzard, Wood hasn't been among the most prolific artists of the rock era - with just four proper solo albums to his name - but he's surely one of the most inventive. Late last year, Cherry Red's Esoteric Recordings imprint reissued Wood's second solo LP, Mustard, as an expanded edition. Now, the label has returned to the
Review: The Rolling Stones’ “Goats Head Soup 2020” Box Set Is Sure To Satisfy Your Hunger
Goats Head Soup: as far as Rolling Stones albums go, it's an outlier. It's not a "landmark album" in the same way as Sticky Fingers, it didn't defy expectations in the same way as Exile. It didn't herald a new sound like Beggars Banquet or Let It Bleed. Now, that's not to say it's not a great album, but it just feels...different. After the one-two-three-four punches of Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, and the magnum opus Exile on Main Street, it makes sense that fans had long
Review: Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets “Live At The Roundhouse” Takes Audiences Back In Time
It's been said that music is the closest thing we have to time travel. Case in point: the new live album and concert film from Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets. Released today, September 18, Live At The Roundhouse captures the former Pink Floyd drummer and his supergroup of talented friends - guitarists Lee Harris and Gary Kemp, keyboardist Dom Beken, and longtime Floyd associate Guy Pratt on bass - as they tackle some of Pink Floyd's earliest deep cuts in the famed London venue. The 22-song
Watching The Wheels: Kenneth Womack’s New Biography “John Lennon: 1980” Offers A Comprehensive Look At The Artist’s Later Days
John Lennon has been in the news a lot lately, and with good reason. 2020 marks what would have been the musician's 80th birthday and, sadly, it's also the fortieth year since his death. But there's more to that final year of John's life than the tragic events of December 8, 1980. In his new biography, John Lennon: 1980 - The Last Days in the Life, Beatles expert Kenneth Womack tracks that period of creativity and reinvention, writing in a way that's simultaneously approachable yet
Review: July, “The Complete Recordings” Traces Over 50 Years of the Beloved Psych-Rock Band
They might not be a household name, but July is a band you ought to know. The U.K. psych-rockers have garnered a cult following since the release of their self-titled 1968 record. Original mono copies sell for more than three grand online, but its not just the scarcity and desirability of the album that raises eyebrows; it's the high quality of the music. Though their singles may not have charted back in the day, the five-piece Ealing-based group is still considered by psych-rock enthusiasts
Review: The Doobie Brothers, “Quadio”
"What the people need is a way to make 'em smile/It ain't so hard to do if you know how," goes The Doobie Brothers' "Listen to the Music," the opening song (and lead single) off the San Jose, California band's sophomore album Toulouse Street. The Doobies knew how - and so does Quadio, the new, four-Blu-ray box set recently released by Warner Records and Rhino collecting the band's second through fifth albums in their original quadraphonic and stereo mixes. Quadio follows Chicago's box set of
Review: Neil Diamond, “Hot August Night” Concert Series on Vinyl
Diamonds are forever. And Neil is no exception. Almost 50 years ago, the singer-songwriter captured a Hot August Night at Los Angeles' Greek Theatre in front of a sold-out crowd. That electrifying 1972 double-platinum double album, in turn, inspired four sequels released between 1977 and 2018. Now, in September 2020, the Greek Theatre is dark as a result of COVID-19. But Capitol and UMe have just released those four sequel albums as newly-remastered 2-LP vinyl sets. Standard black vinyl
Cruisin’ for Love: Cherry Red, RPM Collect The Complete Kursaal Flyers on “Little Does She Know”
The Kursaal Flyers - founded in Southend-on-Sea, some 40 miles or 64 kilometers east of central London and so named for the town's famous building which once housed part of a famous amusement park - made their biggest splash with the 1976 single "Little Does She Know," produced by Mike Batt in thunderous Phil Spector style. Cherry Red's RPM Records has recently chronicled the full Kursaal Flyers story as one of the imprint's final projects. Little Does She Know: The Complete Recordings has
Review: Paul McCartney, “Archive Collection: Flaming Pie” 2-CD and 5-CD/2-DVD Box Set Editions
Today sees the release of the latest in Paul McCartney's acclaimed Archive Collection series, Flaming Pie. Originally released in 1997, the album marked something of a comeback for McCartney, who was inspired by the spontaneous, more immediate recording techniques of The Beatles. Many heralded it as a sort of return to form upon its release, and now fans can judge for themselves with this illuminating deep dive into the Macca vaults. Like previous Archive Collection entries, Flaming Pie is
Review: The Iron City Houserockers, “Have a Good Time But…Get Out Alive!” [40th Anniversary Edition]
With apologies to John Lennon, Joe Grushecky is a working-class hero. A special education teacher by day and musician by night, Grushecky has worked for decades in inner-city Pittsburgh to help children battling severe developmental, emotional, and physical disabilities. Determination, grit, and authenticity have long been among his trademarks as an artist. Now, Cleveland International Records has reissued his sophomore album, recorded with his band The Iron City Houserockers, in a 2-CD or 2-LP
People, Let’s Freak Out: Cherry Red Reissues, Expands “Belfast Gypsies” from The Other Them
There are many peculiar stories in the annals of rock and roll, but surely one of the most peculiar is the tale of Them and The Other Them - and it's just been chronicled anew in Cherry Red/Grapefruit's release of Them: Belfast Gypsies. The Northern Irish band Them always had a fluid lineup; frontman Van Morrison wrote candidly in 2015 that "Them was intended as a vehicle, a way for me to sing and play the blues." The first line-up, featuring Eric Wrixon on keyboards, only ever recorded
Review: Jimi Hendrix, “Band of Gypsys [50th Anniversary Edition]”
During his all-too-brief career, Jimi Hendrix navigated an uncharted course, following his muse and his talents wherever they would take him. So much has been said about his guitar technique, his songwriting, and his lyrics. But as I lay listening to the 50th anniversary edition of Band of Gypsys, I realized that Hendrix was also a pioneer of that sometimes-maligned product, the concert recording. At the time of its release in March of 1970, live albums had something of a bad rap. Many were
Outlaw Man: Cherry Red, Morello Collect Four Albums from Singer-Songwriter David Blue
David Blue might be best-known for two things: writing "Outlaw Blues" on Eagles' Desperado album, and being a friend and occasional sidekick of Bob Dylan's. Yet he recorded seven albums (plus a major contribution to an eighth, the 1965 Elektra anthology Singer Songwriter Project) between 1965 and 1976 in addition to making appearances on stage and film before his untimely death in 1982. Cherry Red's Morello imprint has recently celebrated the late folk troubadour with a four-albums-on-two-CDs
Book Review: “Along Comes The Association: Beyond Folk Rock and Three-Piece Suits” by Russ Giguere
"Well, I'm a comer and a goer in a six man band," went the lyrics to The Association's 1968 semi-autobiographical single "Six Man Band." Now, founding member Russ Giguere has reflected on his comings and goings in a new book that serves as both a personal memoir and a history of the band. Along Comes The Association: Beyond Folk Rock and Three-Piece Suits, written with Ashley Wren Collins, is a compelling look back at a colorful life in the group that gave the world such enduring hits as "Along
Today’s the Day: America’s “Heritage II” Collects Unreleased Demos, Alternates, More
If you think you know all of the exits off that mythical Ventura Highway, think again. Omnivore Recordings has just released a new collection straight from the America archives, and it's filled with unexpected treasures. Heritage II: Demos/Alternate Takes 1971-1976 follows up the first volume from 2017 and proves itself a more than worthy successor. This collection could well be subtitled The George Martin Years. While its two earliest tracks return to the period of the band's sophomore album,
Review: Frank Zappa, “The Hot Rats Sessions”
What is jazz-rock? The label has been applied to the work of diverse artists such as Chicago, Blood Sweat & Tears, Miles Davis, Steely Dan, and Santana (and that's just to name some of the most well-known exponents) not to mention an entire cadre of fusion artists like the groups Weather Report and Return to Forever. In the jazz-rock canon, the name of Frank Zappa certainly stands tall. The multi-faceted artist delivered one of the genre's earliest and most seminal albums with 1969's Hot
Shake a Tail Feather! RPM Collects Complete Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels
Between 1965 and 1968, Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels scored a series of hits on producer-impresario Bob Crewe's DynoVoice and New Voice labels. With the prolific Crewe at the helm, Ryder's records featured a fiery blend of blue-eyed soul and pure, high-adrenaline rock-and-roll. Mitch Ryder (real name: William Levise, Jr.) set the stage for Michigan rockers from Bob Seger to Grand Funk Railroad to conquer the charts. For one of its final releases, Cherry Red's RPM imprint has celebrated the
Ace Round-Up, Part Two: Spotlight on Merseybeat Girls, “Jon Savage’s 1969-1971” and “Deep Soul Treasures”
Today, we're looking at another trio of recent releases from the team at Ace Records! If you missed Part One of our Ace Round-Up, click here! While The Beatles are no doubt Liverpool's most famous musical export, Merseyside - spanning 249 square miles (or 645 square kilometers) bordering Lancashire to the northeast, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south and southeast, and The Irish Sea to the west - yielded an abundance of groups like The Cryin' Shames, Gerry and The
The Band, “The Band: 50th Anniversary Edition”
How to top Music from Big Pink? Wisely, The Band didn't even try. Ditching the Dylan co-writes and the covers, The Band returned with their self-titled sophomore LP in fall 1969. Late in 2019, Capitol Records and UMe remixed and expanded that now-classic effort for its 50th anniversary in the style of 2018's Big Pink campaign with releases in a variety of formats - most notably, a 2-CD/2-LP/1-BD/1 -7" single super deluxe edition. The so-called "Brown Album" was recorded about as far from New
You Got Me Anyway: Cherry Red Collects Complete Sutherland Brothers and Quiver on Box Set
This month, we'll be periodically looking at titles from the final months of 2019 which we haven't yet covered. Today's spotlight is on The Sutherland Brothers and Quiver's The Albums box set. Hailing from Aberdeenshire, Scotland, brothers Gavin and Iain Sutherland carved out one of the most consistent runs in '70s pop-rock, releasing eight melodic, memorable albums between 1972 and 1979 on the Island and CBS/Columbia labels. The brothers were born into a musical family, and when they moved
Year-End Review: Bob Dylan, “The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings”
As we continue to look back on the year that was, it's hard to disagree that Bob Dylan was 2019's king of the reissue. Since releasing More Blood, More Tracks in time for the holidays in 2018, Legacy Recordings and the Dylan team approved MoFi's deluxe audiophile version of Blood on the Tracks; celebrated the first leg of the famed Rolling Thunder Revue with a new film, CD box set, and LP reissue; delivered a new Bootleg Series installment focusing on his time in Nashville in the late '60s; and
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