On January 29, 2015, we lost a true American original with the passing of Rod McKuen, 81. Poet, composer, lyricist, singer, author, artist; there were few mountains that McKuen didn't climb to great success. An Oscar and Pulitzer nominee, and a Grammy winner, McKuen also was among the earliest to champion the works of Jacques Brel, and was a longtime advocate for gay rights. "It doesn't matter who you love, or how you love, but that you love," McKuen once said. In his own recordings and
Review: Jellyfish, "Bellybutton" and "Spilt Milk" Deluxe Editions
Omnivore Recordings has come out swinging in 2015! With the long-anticipated deluxe reissues of Jellyfish’s two studio albums finally here, the label has set a high bar for sheer pop ecstasy. While the band is often tagged as “power pop” – which is not altogether inaccurate – these two 2-CD sets make a strong case that Jellyfish was so much more. In his liner notes for this deluxe revival of 1990 debut Bellybutton (OVCD-5), author Ken Sharp points out that “everyone from Queen to Henry
Sunshine Special: Now Sounds Collects "The Best of The GoldeBriars"
Late in 1963, The GoldeBriars recorded “Sunshine Special,” the group’s adaptation of the traditional train song. Curt Boettcher – the male vocalist in the line-up and also its major creative leader – would later make sunshine a specialty; his shimmering California-pop productions for the likes of The Millennium, The Ballroom and Sagittarius have all gone on to attain cult status. There’s not much of that baroque psych-pop sound on Now Sounds’ Walkin’ Down the Line: The Best of The GoldeBriars
The Cryan' Shames' "Sugar and Spice" Goes Mono In Now Sounds' Expanded Reissue
When the venerable Goddard Lieberson, President of Columbia Records, announced the ascendancy of Clive Davis to a veep position at the label in 1965, the promotion of the younger man heralded for a new sound at Columbia. Lieberson had made Columbia the leader in the fields of classical and Broadway cast recordings, and was looking to position the label at the vanguard of rock, too. A number of new signings followed. Among those acts signed to the industry leader was The Cryan’ Shames, favorites
Reviews: Two From Omnivore - Big Star, "Live in Memphis" and Roger Taylor, "The Best"
Welcome to Part One of our two-part review round-up featuring some of Omnivore Recordings’ releases from late 2014! Just when one thinks the Big Star well has run dry, Omnivore Recordings surprises with a treat of the magnitude of Live in Memphis (OVCD-107). On October 29, 1994 at Memphis’ New Daisy Theatre, Big Star founding members Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens, were joined by Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow of The Posies for an overflowing set of Big Star classics and covers in front of an
Croydon Municipal, Saint Etienne Enter Christmas Land With "Songs For a London Winter"
As Bob Stanley writes in his liner notes to the new collection Songs for a London Winter, “Christmas has always been a special time in Saint Etienne’s world. We’ve release singles, EPs, covered Cliff Richard songs, played at the Palladium, thrown a few parties and sunk a few whisky macs. We love it. But this is the first time we’ve had the opportunity to put together a Christmas compilation of other people’s songs.” Songs for a London Winter, on Stanley’s Croydon Municipal imprint of Cherry Red,
Holiday Gift Guide Review: "International Pop Overthrow: Volume 17"
We'd like to extend a big welcome to the newest member of our Second Disc family, author Ted Frank. Ted, a self-described "power pop-a-holic," kicks off his contributions to The Second Disc with a review of the latest collection from the fine folks at The International Pop Overthrow Festival. The Festival's seventeenth volume (yes, seventeenth - congratulations, IPO!) of pure pop for now people is just the latest in a smashing line of releases designed to introduce you to the best bands you've
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Joni Mitchell, "Love Has Many Faces"
Joni Mitchell wasn't yet 25 when she first gifted the world her song "Both Sides Now." Judy Collins made its first commercially-released recording; soon artists were lining up to record it, including Frank Sinatra. The 25-year old Mitchell herself released it in 1969. In what might be her most famous song, she asserted, "I really don't know love at all." Flash-forward to the present day, and the 71-year old singer-songwriter-artist seems well-acquainted with the vagaries of that most universal
Holiday Gift Guide Review: The Monkees, "The Monkees: Super Deluxe Edition"
For The Monkees, the third time's the charm. The 1966 debut album from Davy, Micky, Peter and Mike has been expanded twice before on CD - first in 1994 on one CD and then in 2006 as a two-CD set. Rhino Handmade has recently unveiled the third and most comprehensive release of this album yet, and with 45 previously unreleased bonus cuts among its 100 songs, The Monkees: Super Deluxe Edition (R2-543027) is not just Monkee mania, but Monkee manna. The story of this American fab four has been told
Holiday Gift Guide Review: "The Classic Christmas Album" Series
Johnny Mathis. Frank Sinatra. Perry Como. Steve Vai? Menudo? When it comes to Christmas music, Legacy Recordings doesn’t pull its punches. The label’s series of Classic Christmas Album releases has become a bit of an annual tradition, and this year’s batch of single- and various-artist anthologies once again draws on names both expected and unexpected. While the packages are bare-bones, with no liner notes (but happily with full credits and discographical annotation), the music most certainly is
Review: John Denver, "All of My Memories: The John Denver Collection"
“Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy,” goes one of John Denver’s most well-known songs. In a little over five minutes – and even less in its single version – “Sunshine” touches on many of the themes most important to the singer-songwriter: nature, love, beauty. Throughout the course of a career sadly cut short when he perished in a plane crash in 1997 aged just 53, Denver revisited these themes over and over again, using his pure, crystalline tone to bring comfort and spread a message of
Here's Your "Vehicle," Baby! Real Gone Expands Ides of March Debut
Never judge a book by its cover…or an album, for that matter. In his illuminating new memoir Through the Eye of the Tiger, Jim Peterik writes of the moment he first bore witness to the cover artwork of his debut album with his band The Ides of March, 1970’s Vehicle: “When we saw it there was an audible gasp and then an ‘Oh shit! This stinks!’ We wondered out loud what some perverted ‘genius’ was thinking when on the cover of our life’s work he put an image of a naked baby doll abandoned
A Little Love In Her Heart: "She Did It" Spotlights Songs of Jackie DeShannon
That Jackie DeShannon is one of the most gifted singer-songwriters in popular music should come as no surprise to anybody reading this. Equally skilled at interpreting her own songs as well as those of others, the multi-talented Miss DeShannon was the concerned yet optimistic voice of “What the World Needs Now is Love,” the flower-power spokeswoman who implored you to “Put a Little Love in Your Heart,” one of the first Ladies of the Canyon, and one-half of the songwriting team behind the
Special Review: Neil Diamond, "Melody Road"
For Neil Diamond, good times never felt so good. The venerable singer-songwriter, a robust 73, continues his late-career winning streak with Melody Road, his 32nd studio album. It’s a record of firsts – his first LP under a new agreement with Capitol Records following 40+ years with Columbia Records, and his first of original material since 2008’s Home Before Dark. On this 12-track set, Diamond is in a contemplative mood, offering songs of age and experience in his still-resonant voice. But
Now Sounds Celebrates 50th Release With Paul Parrish's Trippy "Forest"
On a map of the psychedelic landscape, down a ways from the windmills of your mind and not too far from Strawberry Fields, somewhere between Itchycoo and MacArthur Parks, you might find the forest of Paul Parrish’s mind. The Michigan native could be best remembered for a couple of singer-songwriter albums on the Reprise and ABC labels in the 1970s, or as one-half of Parrish and Toppano in the 1980s…or perhaps as the lead vocalist of The Brady Bunch theme during the sitcom’s first season! But
Baby Let's Swing: Edsel Continues Todd Rundgren Deluxe Series
Once he wraps up the current leg of Ringo Starr’s sold-out All-Starr Band tour, Todd Rundgren will embark on a series of solo dates billed as “An Unpredictable Evening.” But in fairness, isn’t every solo concert with Rundgren an unpredictable evening? A typical (?) night with Todd could draw upon impeccable AM pop, heavy metal, prog rock, electronica, Gilbert and Sullivan and even bossa nova – and still not present every side of the musical iconoclast. As Rundgren has amassed a back catalogue
Review: Spanky and Our Gang, "The Complete Mercury Singles"
Between 1966 and 1970, Spanky and Our Gang released three studio albums, one greatest-hits collection, one live set and 21 single sides. Though the gang was, in Spanky McFarlane’ s words, “eclectic as hell”– they covered John Denver and The Music Man on their first LP alone – they’re best remembered for three AM radio staples released in 1967 and 1968: “Sunday Will Never Be the Same,” “Lazy Day” and “Like to Get to Know You.” These three tunes are inextricably tied to the period in which they
All The Way To Paradise: BBR Revisits Stephanie Mills, Burt Bacharach, Hal David's Motown Gem "For The First Time"
Following the commercial failure of the big-budget 1973 movie musical Lost Horizon, Burt Bacharach retreated. Tension over the film had led to a split with his longtime songwriting partner Hal David, and their split had in turn led to a breakup of their “triangle marriage” with singer Dionne Warwick. Lawsuits ensued. Only one new Bacharach song emerged in 1974, Gladys Knight and the Pips’ “Seconds,” co-written with playwright Neil Simon for a proposed movie version of the 1968
Review: Big Star, "#1 Record" and "Radio City"
Our mini-Power Pop Festival begins here! Next, look for our reviews of new reissues from The Posies and Game Theory! O My Soul! Big Star is back! Despite an amazingly small catalogue – four studio albums, a handful of live releases, an even bigger handful of compilations, a key soundtrack, and one stunning box set – there never seems to be a shortage of releases for the biggest band that never was. Two of the most recent have arrived from Stax Records and Concord Music Group, and they’re
Review: Lulu, "The Atco Sessions 1969-1972"
Muscle Shoals, Alabama is a long way from Glasgow, Scotland. But when Lulu took the trek in 1969, the “To Sir with Love” songbird proved that she could play with the big boys. Though neither New Routes nor its Miami-recorded, Dixie Flyers-assisted follow-up Melody Fair scaled the heights commercially, both projects proved the versatility of the vocal dynamo. In 2007, Rhino U.K. issued The Atco Sessions 1969-72 collecting both of Lulu’s lost southern soul forays in one deluxe 2-CD package. Upon
Review: Omnivore Goes New Wave with Lost Songs of "Billy Thermal"
“Eternal Flame,” “So Emotional,” “Like a Virgin,” “True Colors” – the songs of Billy Steinberg not only nearly defined the sound of eighties pop, but have endured to the present day. Yet before Steinberg joined with Tom Kelly to pen those songs and so many others, he was fronting a power pop/new wave quartet with the unlikely name of Billy Thermal – Billy for Steinberg, Thermal for the city in which his father’s vineyards were located. The group, consisting of Steinberg, guitarist Craig Hull,
Review: Elvis Presley, "That's The Way It Is: Deluxe Editions"
In 1992, American voters were asked to vote on not one, but two, matters of national importance: who should be the next President of the United States – and which image of Elvis Presley should grace a postage stamp. Bill Clinton won the former with roughly 43% of the popular vote, and as for the latter decision? It was “young Elvis” by a reported 75% landslide. The lithe, “Heartbreak Hotel”-era image of the pelvis-swiveling icon had triumphed over the jumpsuit-clad “old Elvis” – who, in fact,
Calling "Gloria": Laura Branigan's Debut Album Gets Expanded Reissue
“What kind of an artist are you?” The question has been asked again and again in this age of music reality shows in which a fickle public can make a recording star – at least for fifteen minutes – by dialing an 800 number or sending a text message. Truth to tell, Laura Branigan could have been any kind of artist she desired. Armed with a powerful, resonant and highly individual voice, Branigan worked her way up the ranks of stardom. She ultimately chose to embrace the sounds of contemporary
Look Up To The Sun: Ruthann Friedman Goes Beyond "Windy" On Now Sounds' "Complete Constant Companion"
Roughly one year ago, Now Sounds released Windy: A Ruthann Friedman Songbook. Its colorful cover was adorned with a striking photograph of the artist, intense and beautiful, in a verdant setting. The label has now continued the Ruthann Friedman story with The Complete Constant Companion Sessions, and its cover is as to Windy’s as night is to day. Its stark black-and-white line art by Peter Kaukonen appears to depict an angel on a landscape of rolling hills, conjuring cryptic text and an
Lovely Day: Aretha, Sly, Andy, Marvin and Billie Headline "The Brazil Connection"
Well, summer is officially upon us! Already there's talk about which songs will be anointed the perfect summer jams for 2014 - songs by artists like Ariana Grande, Iggy Azalea and the ubiquitous Pharrell Williams. If those names don't set your pulse racing, however, Legacy Recordings has an alternative that's bound to conjure up images of tropical sunsets, refreshing drinks and summer breeze. Studio Rio Presents The Brazil Connection makes over 12 pop classics from the Sony vaults by melding the
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