Last month, Rhino announced its newest batch of Quadio titles, re-presenting vintage quadraphonic surround mixes on Blu-ray Audio Discs. This time out, the label has turned its attention to four ‘70s classics from three artists returning to the series (Carly Simon, Randy Newman, Seals & Crofts) and one making his Quadio Blu-ray debut (Mongo Santamaria). All four titles, also containing high-resolution stereo mixes of the original album, are shipping now exclusively from Rhino.com. Carly Simon’s self-titled debut album arrived on Elektra Records in the spring of 1971, nestled in the label’s discography between…
Review: Hank Marvin, “The Studio Album Collection 1982-1995”
Brian Robson Rankin of Newcastle-upon-Tyne moved to London while still a teenager, armed with a guitar and a dream. He adopted the name Hank Marvin, melding his childhood nickname of “Hank” with the first name of American country singer Marvin Rainwater, and put on a pair of glasses inspired by Buddy Holly’s. His school friend Bruce Welch joined him, and before long, the pair had met Cliff Richard’s manager. In 1959, Richard’s band then known as The Drifters became The Shadows, and Richard, Marvin, Welch, and Brian Bennett (who replaced drummer Tony…
Review: Frank Zappa, “Zappa ’66, Vol. 1: Live at TTG Studios”
Freak Out! Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention’s 1966 debut record on the venerable Verve label introduced an artist for whom no cow was sacred; Zappa spent his entire career successfully pushing the boundaries of popular music and, some might add, of taste. He always had his finger on the pulse of pop culture, unafraid to poke fun at its excesses. Now, with Zappa ’66, Vol. 1: Live at TTG Studios – No. 134 in the Official Release Series – Zappa Records’ recently-relaunched Vaulternative imprint has given fans a real treat:…
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Review: The Beach Boys, “Pet Sounds” 60th Anniversary Releases
By the time Pet Sounds hit stores on May 16, 1966, The Beach Boys had already released ten studio albums. The group’s sound had undoubtedly matured since their earliest days, culminating in an exquisite mini-suite that filled most of Side Two of 1965’s The Beach Boys Today! and the increasingly sophisticated, if still teenage-themed, productions of its follow-up, 1966’s Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!). Still, even those recordings didn’t fully prepare listeners for Pet Sounds. Composer-arranger-singer-producer Brian Wilson and his bandmates Mike Love, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Al Jardine, and Bruce Johnston…
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Review: “Robin Trower Live! 50th Anniversary Edition”
Robin Trower’s 1974 album Bridge of Sighs sent the English guitarist and ex-Procol Harum member into the stratosphere on both sides of the Atlantic. His next four albums, including 1976’s fiery Robin Trower Live!, all followed Bridge up the charts to a Gold sales certification. Now, that landmark LP has returned from Chrysalis Records in a new 50th anniversary edition (on both CD and vinyl) which pairs the original album with a new remix of the complete concert in proper sequence. Having been with Procol Harum from just after the 1967 release…
Review: The Beach Boys, “We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years” Part 2 – “Adult/Child”
Few long-running groups can claim one mythical “lost album.” But for decades, The Beach Boys were able to claim two. The first, of course, was SMiLE – the late Brian Wilson’s masterwork in the wake of Pet Sounds that pushed the envelope of popular music and conventional song structure. The second was a very different album from a very different Brian Wilson. It’s finally seen its first near-complete release from Capitol/UMe as part of The Beach Boys’ 3CD/3LP box set We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years which also chronicles the making…
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Review: The Beach Boys, “We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years” Part 1 – “15 Big Ones,” “The Beach Boys Love You”
What I remember is “Brian’s Back” was a campaign for a record company, but it was far more than that for all the rest of us. – Mike Love, February 12, 2026 At the recent Grammy Museum event celebrating the release of The Beach Boys’ latest box set, the 3CD/3LP We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years, a visibly emotional Mike Love recounted the media frenzy that surrounded Brian Wilson’s so-called comeback. The Beach Boys’ onetime leader and creative visionary had largely retreated from the producer’s chair after the shelved SMiLE sessions;…
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Review: Rhino High Fidelity Reissues of The Velvet Underground’s “Loaded,” The Stooges’ “Fun House”
In recent years, Rhino has aggressively courted the audiophile market with such series as the four-channel Quadio Blu-rays, and the audiophile-quality vinyl lines Rhino Reserves and Rhino High Fidelity. Two of Rhino High Fidelity’s recent releases underscore how the label has gone the extra mile in presentation, supplementing the stellar analog mastering by Kevin Gray and 180-gram vinyl pressing at Optimal Media with classic “tip-on” packaging and even liner notes in the best Rhino tradition. The RHF reissues of The Velvet Underground’s Loaded and The Stooges’ Fun House look as good as…
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Prince and The Revolution, ‘Around the World in a Day (Deluxe Expanded Edition)’
In theory, the posthumous care and handling of an esteemed discography with the deep potential for archival excavation like Prince’s would be an easy if daunting task. When the pop icon died unexpectedly in 2016 with no will and considerable assets to settle, the art of memorializing him through reissues moved with almost shocking precision: solid expansions of several of his best-loved ’80s albums, a handful of notable archival one-offs, and the reinstatement of his digital and physical catalogue of the ’90s and ’00s back into print. After the estate settled in…
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The Second Disc’s Guide to Record Store Day Black Friday 2025
From all of us here at Second Disc HQ to all of you, we hope you’ve enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving in the company of beloved family and friends. (And with plenty of delicious food, too!) Now, Record Store Day’s annual Black Friday event is upon us, so we’re spotlighting a dozen of the most eagerly anticipated releases arriving to your local independent brick-and-mortar record shop! Here are our personal picks for RSD BF must-haves; visit Record Store Day’s official website for a list of participating retailers. Happy Listening, and have a great…
Holiday Gift Guide Review: The Beatles, “Anthology Collection”
1995: Bill Clinton was President of the U.S., John Major was Prime Minister of the U.K., phones weren’t yet smart, Braveheart won Best Picture, the O.J. trial was on everyone’s mind, Jerry Garcia died, and the biggest songs of the year were Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” (U.S.) and Robson and Jerome’s “Unchained Melody/White Cliffs of Dover” (U.K.). In November, the band that changed pop music forever launched its first major archival project at a time when such vault deep dives weren’t yet (so) commonplace. The Beatles Anthology was a true multimedia venture, encompassing…
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Holiday Gift Guide Review: The Monkees, “Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd.” [Super Deluxe Edition]
Next year marks the 60th anniversary of The Monkees, an occasion soon to be commemorated by last Monkee standing Micky Dolenz with a new tour. The group’s home of Rhino Records has started the party early with the recent release of the latest (and last?) of the label’s series of lavish album reissues. 1967’s Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. has been expanded as a comprehensive 4CD/1-7″ box set by producer/annotator Andrew Sandoval, and as usual, the result is manna for longtime fans and collectors. Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd. found Davy Jones,…
Review: Frank Zappa, “Halloween 78”
“Happy Halloween, everybody!” Greeting his audience at New York’s late, lamented Palladium on October 31, 1978, Frank Zappa promised the enthusiastic crowd. “This is it…this is the big one!” He wasn’t kidding. The composer-guitarist and his band – drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, bassists Arthur Barrow and Patrick O’Hearn, keyboardists Peter Wolf and Tommy Mars, singer-guitarist Denny Walley, and percussionist Ed Mann – delivered perhaps the most epic show of their annual New York holiday residencies. That concert is the centerpiece of Halloween 78, a massive new box set from Zappa Records and UMe….
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Review: Elvis Presley, “Sunset Boulevard”
It was late March 1972 when Elvis Presley first entered RCA’s Studio C at 6363 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood – The King’s first time recording at the Hollywood venue. Most of RCA’s marquee artists, from Jefferson Airplane to Henry Mancini, had already made their mark there, as the studio had opened in 1964. Presley had previously rehearsed for his Las Vegas engagements in the 32 x 22′ space (the smallest of the building’s three studios) and now, the March 27-30 sessions would be his first proper recording sessions to feature his road…
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As Tears Go By: Marianne Faithfull’s “Cast Your Fate to the Wind” Collects Her Decca Recordings
Marianne Faithfull didn’t have to open her mouth to receive a recording contract. As the story goes, so vividly recounted in the liner notes to the new box set Cast Your Fate to the Wind: The U.K. Decca Recordings, the young woman was so striking in beauty and presence that impresario Andrew Loog Oldham didn’t hesitate to sign her on sight. (Even her name was made for stardom!) But it was just as clear that she was no ordinary pop starlet chasing dreams in Swingin’ London. Faithfull was remarkably clear-eyed, quipping to…
Walk Your Feet in the Sunshine: Cherry Red Collects Jimmy Webb’s 1970s Albums on “A Life in Words and Music”
“Freddy, those songs killed me.” Jimmy Webb once confessed to longtime musical collaborator Fred Mollin that the songs on which he made his name – “Up, Up, and Away,” Didn’t We,” “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “Wichita Lineman,” among innumerable other classics – placed him at a personal crossroads. He yearned to be accepted as a singer-songwriter like his contemporaries, but the fact that he began his career writing songs for others (and massive hit songs, at that) made acceptance in that field an uphill battle. Over the years, the…
Review: Nick Drake, “The Making of ‘Five Leaves Left'”
Nick Drake’s legacy is primarily built around just three albums, originally released between 1969 and 1972. Before 1974 was out, the British singer-songwriter was gone at the age of 26. Over the years, esteem for his small discography has only grown. Partly, this is because the mystique has remained; the Drake estate has only sporadically gone back to the well of unreleased material. Their cautious and curated approach has yielded a new reward with a box set dedicated to his 1969 debut. The Making of ‘Five Leaves Left,’ available on 4 LPs…
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Review: Frank Zappa, “Cheaper Than Cheep”
The latest archival release from the Frank Zappa camp may be called Cheaper Than Cheep, but rest assured, this concert program is actually an embarrassment of audiovisual riches. Available in a variety of formats including 2CD+Blu-ray, 3LP, and 2CD/3LP/1BD configurations, Cheaper Than Cheep preserves a long-lost concert recorded on June 21, 1974 at a rehearsal studio on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood in the wake of the Mothers of Inventions’ tenth anniversary tour. Zappa was joined by a Mothers line-up including Chester Thompson (drums), George Duke (keyboards, vocals), Jeff Simmons (guitar, vocals), Napoleon…
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Review: Eric Burdon and WAR, “The Complete CD Collection”
With the recent release of WAR’s Why Can’t We Be Friends? as an expanded edition for Record Store Day (with a CD edition to follow – links still aren’t active), TSD has given a spin to Rhino’s most recent WAR CD release: The Complete CD Collection from Eric Burdon & WAR. “Peace and love was happening, and we figured that nobody would forget the name of the band if we called them WAR. And we were right,” Jerry Goldstein remembered in Dan Epstein’s liner notes to the new box set Eric Burdon…
Cuts The Deepest: Edsel Celebrates P.P. Arnold on “Soul Survivor” Box Set
One of P.P. Arnold’s early sides for Immediate Records was titled “Am I Still Dreaming?” The song, which the artist born Patricia Ann Cole in Los Angeles wrote at the encouragement of none other than Mick Jagger, is one of the 57 songs on 3 CDs assembled by Edsel Records on the dream of a box set appropriately entitled Soul Survivor: A Life in Song. The collection, compiled by the singer and Michael Mulligan, traces the onetime Ikette’s career from her signing to Andrew Loog Oldham’s label through subsequent collaborations with Barry…
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Review: Yes, “Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition”
The cover of Yes’ Close to the Edge was a relatively simple one, with Roger Dean’s freshly-minted “bubble type” logo atop a color gradient from black to green. But the contents within the jacket – Yes’ fifth album overall, and final LP of the decade to feature drummer Bill Bruford – were anything but simple. Building on the sound and style of 1971’s Fragile, Close to the Edge was an even more ambitious suite crafted by lead vocalist Jon Anderson, bassist Chris Squire, drummer Bruford, guitarist Steve Howe, and keyboardist Rick Wakeman…
Review: WAR, “Live in Japan 1974”
“The Japanese were nice, but really afraid of us,” remembers WAR’s producer-manager Jerry Goldstein in the liner notes to the band’s new Live in Japan 1974. “That’s how we came up with the ‘Hey, why can’t we be friends?’ concept. In the dressing room that night, Lonnie was playing the keyboards and we started doing the song. No verses, just the ‘why can’t we be friends’ part. We wrote it there, went back to the U.S., and in January [1975], we recorded it.” The catchy plea “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” became…
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Holiday Gift Guide Review: Joni Mitchell, “Archives: Volume Four (1976-1980)” and “The Asylum Albums (1976-1980)”
Earlier this year, Joni Mitchell brought her now-famous Joni Jam shows to the Hollywood Bowl for two sold-out evenings. A little more than 45 years ago, Mitchell closed out her North American tour with a series of shows some fifteen minutes away from the Bowl at the Greek Theatre; a selection from that concert closes the fourth volume of the Joni Mitchell Archives series of box sets. The Bowl shows proved another triumph for the artist who’s now widely recognized for the innovations that stunned and even divided audiences all those decades…
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Holiday Gift Guide Review: Alice Cooper, “Muscle of Love: Deluxe Edition”
Rare is the album that’s better remembered for its packaging than its contents. But that may well be the case with the band Alice Cooper’s seventh (and final) album, 1973’s Muscle of Love. As it followed the Platinum-certified international chart-topper Billion Dollar Babies, hopes were high for the LP. It was greeted by lukewarm critical assessments, though, and “merely” reached No. 10 on the Billboard 200 and No. 34 on the U.K. Albums Chart. As such, it was inevitably considered a disappointment. (It did go Gold.) But fans – and even those…
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Holiday Gift Guide Review: Bob Dylan and The Band, “The 1974 Live Recordings”
Big things often come in small packages. Such is the case with Legacy Recordings’ recent excavation of Bob Dylan and The Band’s 1974 tour. 40 concerts took place over 30 dates and 21 cities, with Dylan, Robbie Robertson, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, Levon Helm, and Rick Danko even playing two shows in one day in many markets. The 1974 Live Recordings takes the form of a tiny cube, packing in 27 discs and 431 tracks (417 of which are previously unreleased). The set contains every professionally-recorded Dylan track from the concerts, and…
