It's coming on Christmas... and just in time for the holidays, Rhino has treated Joni Mitchell fans with a new, 8-LP box set, Love Has Many Faces: A Quartet, A Ballet, Waiting To Be Danced. Previously released in a 4-CD configuration in 2014, this Joni Mitchell-curated collection finds the celebrated songwriter, singer, and visual artist exploring the many contexts and definitions of love. The result is a 53-song, four-act suite that craftily presents some of Joni's best work in a compelling
Holiday Gift Guide Review: R.E.M., “R.E.M. At The BBC”
"We were a fun party band who somewhere along the way learnt how to write songs," Michael Stipe is quoted as saying in the notes to Craft's Recordings new boxset R.E.M. At The BBC. Of course, R.E.M. was much more than that over the course of their nearly 30-year career, going from college underground band to alternative pioneers to global superstars. And with Craft Recordings' new 8-CD/1-DVD box, you can trace that career as seen and heard by UK audiences over the years. The quartet of
Review: Chris Darrow and Max Buda, “Eye of the Storm”
Last month, the L.A.-based label Blixa Sounds unveiled its latest release, the first-ever reissue of Chris Darrow and Max Buda's Eye of the Storm. The 1981 collaboration brought together two psych-rock heavyweights, whose multi-instrumental talents and joyous style are on full display throughout. It's hard to believe, but the album has never received any sort of reissue or re-pressing since its original release on the legendary Takoma label 37 years ago. Now, Blixa Sounds has brought the
Review: Golden Smog, “Down By the Old Mainstream” from Run Out Groove
What do you get when you bring together members of Wilco, Soul Asylum, and The Jayhawks and throw them into a remote recording studio in Minnesota wilderness? Well, as the Run Out Groove label proved with its LP reissue earlier this year, the result is one mighty down-home, fun album of country-rock grooves: Down By the Old Mainstream by '90s supergroup Golden Smog. While their lineup has been mercurial since they first got together in the late-'80s, the core lineup included Kraig Johnson of
Review: The Beatles, “The Beatles (The White Album): Anniversary Edition”
You Say You Want a Revolution Following the enormous, worldwide success of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles wouldn't have been faulted had they re-entered Abbey Road Studios and created another album of robustly melodic, lavishly orchestrated songs of whimsy and wonder. But Messrs. Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr weren't interested in repeating themselves. When The Beatles arrived on November 22, 1968, roughly one and one-half years after Pepper, one didn't even
Review: Matthew Sweet, “100% Fun” From Intervention Records
This spring, Intervention Records announced a highly anticipated new endeavor: a series of Matthew Sweet SACD and 2-LP reissues, encompassing his entire recorded output from 1991-1995. The Second Disc was able to hear the two-disc vinyl configuration of the release that kicked off the series: an expanded edition of Sweet's 1995 album, 100% Fun. Originally released on the Zoo Entertainment label, the album has seen surprisingly few reissues over the years. Music On Vinyl released a
Elvis Costello Deftly Blends Present and Past on “Look Now”
Among the credits for Elvis Costello and The Imposters' Look Now is a simple acknowledgment: In Memphis - Mary Isobel O'Brien. The onetime Ms. O'Brien, of course, is better known as Dusty Springfield, and the credit from Declan MacManus and his band makes clear the inspiration for this stunning assemblage of what the artist, correctly, deems "uptown pop." Dusty in Memphis is one of the benchmarks of that style: pop with a dash of soul, or is it soul with a dash of pop? It doesn't hurt that
Review: Ben Folds, “Brick: The Songs of Ben Folds 1994-2012”
Upon its release in August 1995, the eponymous debut of Ben Folds' quirkily-named trio sounded like nothing else you might have found in the racks of your local Tower, HMV, or Sam Goody. Filled with rich melodies, inescapable riffs, the most aggressive piano this side of Jerry Lee Lewis, and a youthful dose of attitude, Ben Folds Five channeled Todd Rundgren, Elton John, and Queen - with a dash of Randy Newman here and George Gershwin there. Now, more than 23 years later, the (sorta) angry
Run Out Groove Round-Up: Dr. John’s “Funknology” and Marshall Crenshaw’s Live “Thank You”
Today, we're looking at two of Run Out Groove's most recent releases! Now is also the time to order the label's next release: Vagabonds: Expanded Edition, from Gary Louris of The Jayhawks! Pre-orders close on June 7, so don't miss out, and don't forget to vote on ROG's next release. Will it be Luna's Lunafied, Fred Neil's Bleecker & MacDougal, or Billy Byrd's Lonesome Country Songs? Vote now! It's not called Funknology for nothing! Run Out Groove's recent release from Dr. John,
Review: Chicago, “VI Decades Live: This Is What We Do”
This year, Chicago announced a first in their touring history. The band would play their second album, Chicago (or Chicago II), in full, at each concert to mark the group's ongoing 50th anniversary festivities. The celebration has continued via archival releases as well, and following last year's stellar Quadio, Rhino Records has just issued VI Decades Live: This is What We Do, the first-ever box set of live recordings from the band's storied history on four CDs and one DVD. Perhaps
The Second Disc’s 2018 Record Store Day Must-Haves
Welcome to our annual rundown of Must-Haves for this year's Record Store Day event! Once you're through reading, let us know what you're most looking forward to picking up tomorrow at your favorite local independent retailer! Our list features just a sampling of our favorites from our friends at Legacy Recordings, Varese Sarabande, Rhino Records, Real Gone Music, Demon Music Group, Walt Disney Records, Omnivore Recordings, and more! Joe's kicking things off with five essential picks (in
Who, What, When, Where, Why: Rupert Holmes’ “Songs That Sound Like Movies” OUT TODAY from Cherry Red [UPDATED]
There are songs that sound like movies/There are themes that fill the screen/There are lines I say that sound as if they're written/There are looks I wear the theatre should have seen... With those words, Rupert Holmes welcomed listeners into his singular musical world - one in which the only limits were those of the singer-songwriter's boundless imagination. In other words, there were no limits to Holmes' finely crafted, elaborately realized pop dramas. His 1974 Epic Records debut,
Love In Action: Todd Rundgren’s “All Sides of the Roxy” Presents Complete, Star-Studded 1978 Concert
For his first live album, the 1978 double-LP Back to the Bars, singer/songwriter/sonic auteur Todd Rundgren returned to his roots with a collection of lean, tight, intimate performances recorded in the clubs of New York, Los Angeles, and Cleveland. This was Rundgren at his most accessible, playing his most universally beloved songs over his first decade of music-making, with a band including Utopia veterans Mark "Moogy" Klingman, John Siegler, and Willie Wilcox, plus his old friends from
Review: Fleetwood Mac, ‘Fleetwood Mac: Deluxe Edition’
Take away all the artifice and ephemera of the new deluxe edition of Fleetwood Mac's 1975 self-titled album (Reprise R2 559454) and you're still left with an intriguing and endlessly challenging question: how? How did a British blues band with only fleeting chart success in their home country metamorphose into one of the greatest rock bands of the 20th century's back half, architects of 18 Top 40 hits and eight platinum or multiplatinum records? And how did they do so with their ninth lineup? As
Hold It! Intervention Gives Deluxe, Artist-Approved Treatment to Marshall Crenshaw’s “Field Day”
Fans of Marshall Crenshaw are bound to have a Field Day with Intervention Records' recent vinyl reissue of the pop hero's sophomore album. This delightful release in the label's Artist-Approved Series has spruced up the original LP with a bonus 12-inch EP of additional content and new artwork, both of which have been given the thumbs-up by the artist. Producer Steve Lillywhite harnessed the power of Crenshaw (guitar/vocals), his brother Robert (drums/vocals), and Chris Donato (bass/vocals)
Run Out Groove Round-Up: The Dream Syndicate, The Stooges, Secret Machines and Morphine
Today, we're taking a look at four recent titles pressed for audiophile-level vinyl excellence by the Run Out Groove label! Run Out Groove embraces the Paisley Underground with the vinyl premiere of The Dream Syndicate's The Complete Live at Raji's. Recorded on January 31, 1988 (not 1989, as indicated on the original CD release of the truncated album), the set captured the underground heroes prior to the release of their Ghost Stories album - and a year prior to their breakup. But the
Holiday Gift Guide Review: INXS, ‘Kick 30’
"All we've got is this moment," INXS frontman Michael Hutchence implores in the band's biggest American hit, "Need You Tonight." But in the case of the band's landmark sixth studio album Kick (1987), nothing could be further from the truth. The album, which sold more than nine million copies around the world and spun off five hit singles, has received no less than four expanded reissues in the last 15 years. In 2002, Atlantic Records and Rhino (who oversee the band's catalogue in North America)
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Elton John, ‘Diamonds’
It's not untoward to ask exactly who the intended audience of an Elton John compilation is in 2017. The British piano pop legend has been releasing music for more than 50 years now, and has enjoyed a run of success that began early in the '70s and has yet to entirely let up. And in that time, there have been plenty of collections for fans of all stripes. His very first greatest hits album topped both the U.S. and U.K. charts in 1974 and prompted a sequel only three years later (and a third a
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Joe Jackson, “Summer in the City: Live in New York”
Intervention Records has been looking sharp with deluxe vinyl reissues of some of Joe Jackson's most treasured albums, including I'm the Man, Night and Day, and yes, Look Sharp! Now, the label has returned to the singer-songwriter-piano man's oeuvre with one of his lesser-known, latter-day efforts: Summer in the City: Live in New York. The album was recorded in August 1999 in the intimate environs of Joe's Pub at the Public Theater, and released on Sony Classical. It came as a surprise - and
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Ramones, “Rocket to Russia” [40th Anniversary Edition]
Johnny, Joey, Dee Dee, and Tommy Ramone introduced their fast and furious style of bubblegum punk on 1976's Ramones, then followed it up the next year with the even more potent Leave Home. Just months later, the band dropped its third major salvo. With Rocket to Russia, the sound and feel of the band's first two albums was taken to the next level - and now, forty years later, it's often recognized as the finest Ramones set. Happily, Rhino has continued its series of LP-sized, hardcover
Review: The Smiths, “The Queen Is Dead: Deluxe Edition”
The Smiths have been apart far longer than they were together in the mid-1980s, making the Manchester quartet today less of a band and more of an idea. It's interesting to see how a new deluxe edition of The Queen Is Dead (Warner Bros. 0190295783372), the group's most lauded album, interprets that thesis through its content and packaging. While the band may have made for a mere cult sensation in America, but in their native England (where success was fleeting but far more consistent), they
Review: David Bowie, “A New Career in a New Town: 1977-1982”
I. Art Decade Keep Up with David's Changes, read an insert from the David Bowie Fan Club packaged in original pressings of the artist's 1977 album Low and painstakingly replicated on the edition included in the new 11-CD (or 13-LP) box set A New Career in a New Town 1977-1982. Indeed, it was no small feat to follow the restless artist's many transformations. 1975's Station to Station saw the formal introduction of The Thin White Duke, a nattily-dressed but rather unpleasant fellow; who
Review: Echo and the Bunnymen, “It’s All Live Now”
Run Out Groove, the new vinyl arm of Rhino and Warner Music Group, has continued its winning streak with another top-notch presentation - this time from the Liverpool-bred post-punk band Echo and the Bunnymen. The limited edition It's All Live Now is a newly-curated title with ten tracks - mostly cover versions, from Bob Dylan to The Velvet Underground - performed in concert between 1983 and 1985, as originally released on singles and/or the band's 2001 retrospective CD box set Crystal Days
Review: Santana and The Isley Brothers, “Power of Peace”
In 1965, Hal David first made the observation, "What the world needs now is love, sweet love...it's the only thing that there's just too little of." Over fifty-two years later, there's still just too little love, and it's a situation which Carlos Santana has aimed to remedy. The guitar hero was inspired by seeing the velvet-voiced Ron Isley, longtime lead singer of The Isley Brothers, performing with Burt Bacharach in a 2004 television special promoting their collaborative album Here I Am.
Review: Ramones, “Leave Home: 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition”
The sophomore album from Forest Hills, Queens, New York's Ramones, Leave Home, arrived in January 1977 on Sire Records, just months after the April 1976 release of the band's self-titled debut. Despite the title, however, Leave Home didn't mark a large stylistic leap or departure for the young punks out of their comfort zone. On closer inspection, however, it continued the growth of the band. Forty years later, it's easier to hear that progression than ever, thanks to a new, 3-CD/1-LP set