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/ Reviews

Wild Thing: Cherry Red Collects Complete Recordings of '70s Glam-Pop Band Fancy

February 19, 2021 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Fancy The Complete Recordings

The story of the band Fancy began with Chip Taylor's "Wild Thing."  Captivated with Jimi Hendrix's fiery take on the classic popularized by The Troggs, producer Mike Hurst (The Springfields, Cat Stevens, Shakin' Stevens, Showaddywaddy) began to imagine the song as sung by a woman.  He dialed up both the sex and the funk for a slower, breathier, and more salacious version of the pop-rock staple.  Guitarist Ray Fenwick, bassist Mo Foster, drummer Henry Spinetti, keyboardist Alan Hawkshaw, and

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming Genre: Pop Tags: Fancy, Mike Hurst

Review: Elvis Costello and The Attractions, "Armed Forces: Super Deluxe Edition"

February 18, 2021 By Joe Marchese 6 Comments

Elvis Costello Armed Forces

"Hey Clockface, keep those fingers on the dial," Elvis Costello implored on the jaunty, jazz-flavored title track of his 2020 album.  "You said you'd be a friend to me, but time is just my enemy and it is hurting me so..."  Despite his pleas, time has been rather good to Costello's artistry.  Though initially branded an "angry young man" - and indeed, he channeled the punk zeitgeist early on with his fast and furious compositions - Costello has been able to travel wherever his muse takes him. 

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Categories: Reviews Formats: Box Sets, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Pop Tags: Elvis Costello, Elvis Costello and The Attractions

Point of Rising: Jeff Larson, Jeddrah Team Up for Collaborative Album "New Moon"

January 26, 2021 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

Jeff and Jeddrah New Moon

Who says that classy adult pop is a thing of the past?  The California pop-rock sound is in gorgeous full bloom on Jeff Larson and Jeddrah's New Moon, available everywhere today on digital/streaming services as well as physical CD from Japan's Vivid Sound label.  The first (but hopefully not the last) full-length collaborative album between the two artists, New Moon is collaborative in every sense. Larson, a mainstay of the West Coast scene who's worked extensively with America and recently

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming Genre: Pop Tags: Jeddrah, Jeff Larson

Short Takes: Cherry Red Spotlight on Tasmin Archer and Kevin Rowland

January 20, 2021 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Tasmin Archer Sweet Little Truths

Today's Short Takes looks at some nice things we've missed over the past few months from Cherry Red! Yorkshire-born singer-songwriter Tasmin Archer has only released three full-length studio albums in nearly thirty years, but there's no doubt that she has practiced "quality over quantity."  The title of her first LP, 1992's Great Expectations, might have been tongue-in-cheek as Archer exceeded all expectations.  The opening track and first single, the rhythmic ballad "Sleeping Satellite,"

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD, Vinyl Genre: Pop Tags: Kevin Rowland, Tasmin Archer

It's Only "Words": Playback Collects Rarities on "A Bee Gees Songbook"

January 14, 2021 By Joe Marchese 6 Comments

Words A Bee Gees Songbook

While The Bee Gees have never truly faded from the popular consciousness, it's fair to say the group founded by Barry Gibb and his late brothers Maurice and Robin is currently experiencing a renaissance.  Director Frank Marshall's documentary How Can You Mend a Broken Heart earned acclaim for its candid chronicle of the group's ups and downs while Barry has reaffirmed his legacy with the new album Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers Songbook Vol. 1.  On the latter, he's joined by an array of country

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD Genre: Pop Tags: Bee Gees, Cilla Black, Jackie Lomax, Johnny Mathis, José Feliciano, Lulu, Nina Simone, The Cyrkle, The Marmalade, The Searchers, The Seekers, Various Artists

The Year In Review: The 2020 Gold Bonus Disc Awards, From A to Z

January 4, 2021 By The Second Disc 10 Comments

gold cd

Happy 2021 and welcome to The Second Disc's 11th Annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards! The past year has presented any number of unprecedented challenges.  But music has filled a more important role than ever, providing solace, comfort, and escape in a time unlike any other.  With that spirit in mind, The Second Disc once again wishes to recognize 2020's cream of the catalogue music crop - those exemplary reissues and box sets big and small that proved to be truly outstanding for music lovers

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: Blu-Ray, Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, DVD, DVD-Audio, SACD, Vinyl Genre: Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Country, Everything Else, Folk, Jazz, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul, Rock, Soundtracks Tags: Gold Bonus Disc Awards

Holiday Gift Guide Review: Peter Tork, "Stranger Things Have Happened"

December 23, 2020 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

Peter Tork Stranger Things Have Happened

UPDATED DECEMBER 2020:  7a Records' announcement earlier this year of a deluxe remastered and expanded edition of Peter Tork's only solo album, 1994's Stranger Things Have Happened, marked a major milestone for the label.  Over the years, 7a has already delivered a treasure trove of releases from Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, and Michael Nesmith on CD and vinyl, but with the inclusion of the late Tork, its roster of artists finally seems complete. The path to Stranger Things Have Happened was a

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Categories: Reviews Formats: CD, Vinyl Genre: Pop Tags: Holiday Gift Guide, Michael Nesmith, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork

Holiday Gift Guide Review: Tears for Fears, 'The Seeds of Love: Deluxe Edition'

December 22, 2020 By The Second Disc 4 Comments

TFF Seeds of Love Deluxe

Think back to your days listening to pop music in the '80s - say, for the sake of argument, 1985. Thriller's wrapped up its run of seven hit singles. Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. is in the middle of its own seven-hit stretch. Purple Rain made Prince a juggernaut - and Tears for Fears, the British duo behind the moody, electronic The Hurting (1983) have broken into the mainstream with the progressive psych-pop of 1985's Songs from the Big Chair, including back-to-back chart-toppers

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Categories: Reviews Formats: Blu-Ray Audio, Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming Genre: Pop, Rock Tags: Holiday Gift Guide, Tears for Fears

Holiday Gift Guide Review: U2. "All That You Can't Leave Behind: 20th Anniversary Edition"

December 21, 2020 By Sam Stone Leave a Comment

U2 AllThatYouCantLeaveBehind 2020 pl

Prepare to elevate your soul with this 20th anniversary box set edition of U2's All That You Can't Leave Behind.  Twenty years into their career, U2 rang in the new millennium with a career-redefining recording that saw them return to the upper echelons of the Billboard charts, with Grammy nominations and worldwide hits to boot.  With enduring instant classics like "Beautiful Day," "Walk On," "Elevation," and "Stuck in a Moment That You Can't Get Out Of," it's no wonder the album remains a

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Categories: Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Classic Rock, Pop Tags: Holiday Gift Guide, U2

Holiday Gift Guide Spotlight: Cherry Red Box Set Bonanza - Rhinoceros, Jerry Jeff Walker, Fumble

December 21, 2020 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

Jerry Jeff Walker Mr Bojangles Box

Welcome to the third part of our Holiday Gift Guide Spotlight - Cherry Red Box Set Bonanza!  Click here for Part One, featuring Evelyn "Champagne" King, and here for Part Two featuring Graham Bonnet! When one thinks of bands assembled by audition, The Monkees usually spring to mind.  Davy, Micky, Peter, and Michael had been assembled by Screen Gems for the purposes of starring in a new television sitcom, and by sheer force of will became a "real" band making some of the era's most

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Classic Rock, Country, Folk, Pop Tags: Fumble, Holiday Gift Guide, Jerry Jeff Walker, Rhinoceros

Holiday Gift Guide Spotlight: Cherry Red Box Set Bonanza - Graham Bonnet's "Solo Albums 1974-1992"

December 17, 2020 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Graham Bonnet Solo Albums Box

Perhaps no label this holiday season has offered such a bonanza of box sets as Cherry Red.  Yesterday, we looked at Evelyn "Champagne" King's The RCA Albums 1977-1985.  Today, we're turning the spotlight onto Graham Bonnet's Solo Albums 1974-1982! Cherry Red's Hear No Evil (HNE) imprint has long been a home for archival releases from singer Graham Bonnet of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, Alcatrazz, and The Michael Schenker Group.  Now, HNE has brought together Bonnet's first four solo albums,

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Classic Rock, Pop, Rock Tags: Graham Bonnet, Holiday Gift Guide

Holiday Gift Guide Review: Kiki Dee, "The Fontana and Motown Years"

December 15, 2020 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

Kiki Dee Fontana and Motown Years

UPDATED DECEMBER 2020: Kiki Dee rocketed to worldwide stardom (no pun intended) on Elton John's Rocket Records in 1976, imploring "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" to John on the chart-topping duet.  She had been recording for Rocket since 1973, scoring such U.K. hits as "Amoreuse" and "I've Got the Music in Me," the latter of which also went to the top 20 of the U.S. Hot 100, as well.  Anyone familiar with Dee's Rocket recordings knows her to be a singer of both power and sensitivity, and last year,

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Categories: Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Pop, R&B/Soul Tags: Holiday Gift Guide, Kiki Dee

Holiday Gift Guide Reviews: Cat Stevens, "Mona Bone Jakon" and "Tea for the Tillerman" 50th Anniversary Editions

December 11, 2020 By The Second Disc 1 Comment

CatStevensYusuf TeaForTheTillerman 50thBox pl

1970 was a defining year for pop music, and few stars ascended to quite the same heights as Cat Stevens, whose Mona Bone Jakon and Tea For the Tillerman re-introduced the songwriter and singer to audiences.  Gone are the production excesses of his late-'60s pop recordings.  Here, Stevens' songs are stripped-down as he looks inward and embraces a soulful sound.  Fifty years on, these two albums have been revisited by Yusuf through his aptly titled Cat-O-Log Records imprint, in coordination with

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Categories: Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Pop Tags: Cat Stevens, Holiday Gift Guide

Holiday Gift Guide: Vinyl Me, Please - A Year in Review

December 10, 2020 By Sam Stone Leave a Comment

VMP newlogo Square

Over the past few months you've probably heard us mention Vinyl Me Please. The subscription-based record club frequently partners with the major labels to create exclusive pressings from across genres. They also curate Records of the Month for subscribers - available in three tracks: Classics, Essentials, and Hip Hop - specially selected by their staff to spotlight albums of importance in pop, rock, soul, world music, jazz, and beyond.  This year, the offerings ran the gamut from The Stooges,

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Categories: Reviews Genre: Blues, Classic Rock, Everything Else, Funk, Jazz, Pop, R&B/Soul Tags: Albert King, Buena Vista Social Club, Errol Garner, Erykah Badu, Gabor Szabo, Grateful Dead, John Mayer, McCoy Tyner, Otis Redding, Outkast, Sipritualized, Stevie Nicks, The Bar-Kays, The Stooges, The White Stripes

Play It Again: Esoteric Salutes The Moody Blues' Ray Thomas with Anthology, Surround Mix

December 10, 2020 By Joe Marchese 11 Comments

Ray Thomas Words and Music

As a founding member of The Moody Blues, Ray Thomas (1941-2018) played the haunting flute solo on the band's 1967 hit "Nights in White Satin."  He also was responsible for writing many of the Moodies' most beloved songs including "Twilight Time," "And the Tide Rushes In," and "Legend of a Mind."  A multi-instrumentalist and singer, Thomas recorded two solo albums for the group's Threshold Records label: 1975's From Mighty Oaks and 1976's Hopes, Wishes, and Dreams.  This fall, Cherry Red's

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD, DVD Genre: Classic Rock, Pop Tags: Ray Thomas, The Moody Blues

Holiday Gift Guide Review: Donna Summer, "The Wanderer: 40th Anniversary"

December 8, 2020 By Joe Marchese 5 Comments

Donna Summer The Wanderer

A new beginning - Donna Summer was certainly ready for one when she signed as the first artist on David Geffen's upstart record label in 1980.  She had clashed and litigated with her longtime home of Casablanca Records over her artistic direction, and on a personal level had become a born-again Christian.  Her first album for Geffen would build on her success at Casablanca but confidently introduce a new Donna Summer, as well.  The Wanderer, her eighth studio album, became a top 20 success in

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Categories: Reviews Formats: CD Genre: Disco/Dance, Pop, R&B/Soul Tags: Donna Summer, Holiday Gift Guide

Holiday Gift Guide Review: The Free Design, "Butterflies Are Free: The Original Recordings 1967-72"

December 3, 2020 By Joe Marchese 9 Comments

The Free Design Butterflies Are Free

"Sorry - only one group like this to a generation," renowned engineer-producer Phil Ramone wrote on the back cover of The Free Design's 1968 sophomore album You Could Be Born Again.  After over 50 years, The Free Design are still a singular group, difficult to pigeonhole.  Their gentle, even childlike style has frequently landed them in the sunshine pop genre, but that match was never quite right: not only were they from New York, but their sound lacked the brightness and even brashness that

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Pop Tags: The Free Design

A SECOND DISC INTERVIEW: All I Need In Just A Song - Dave Mason Reflects on 50 Years With "Alone Together Again"

November 20, 2020 By Sam Stone 6 Comments

Magic was in the air in 1970 and it certainly reached Los Angeles' Sunset Sound, where Dave Mason, along with an array of new friends and some of the top session musicians around, recorded Alone Together. Though only 24 years old, Mason had plenty of experience under his belt.  The multi-instrumentalist made a name for himself as part of Traffic, penning some of their best crossover material ("Hole in My Shoe," "Feelin' Alright?").  He also participated in sessions with The Rolling Stones

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Categories: Interviews, Reviews Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming Genre: Pop, Rock Tags: Dave Mason

It Must Be Love: New Box Set Celebrates Labi Siffre's Solo Work

November 10, 2020 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Labi Siffre My Song

Back in 2015, Demon Music Group's Edsel label revisited five albums from British singer-songwriter Labi Siffre in a series of expanded editions.  The reissues showcased the timelessness of his writing and the versatility of his performances.  Now, Edsel has returned to the Siffre discography to complete it.  My Song is the new 9-CD box set bringing together those five previously reissued albums and bonus tracks along with four more to paint a full portrait of Siffre's artistry. Despite a

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Jazz, Pop, R&B/Soul Tags: Labi Siffre

Cherry Red, RPM Get "Right Back Where We Started From" With New '70s Female Pop Collection

November 5, 2020 By Joe Marchese 8 Comments

Right Back Where We Started From

Cherry Red's long-running RPM imprint announced earlier this year that 2020 would be its final year of operations - but that hasn't kept RPM from going out with a bang.  One of the final titles to arrive from the imprint, Right Back Where We Started From, is a joyous 3-CD celebration of Female Pop and Soul in Seventies Britain.  The title is drawn from Maxine Nightingale's irresistibly bouncy 1975 single, a top ten entry in the United Kingdom and a top five in the States.  Not every track on

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD Genre: Pop, R&B/Soul Tags: Birds of a Feather, Doris Troy, Dusty Springfield, Lesley Duncan, Madeline Bell, Maxine Nightingale, Petula Clark, Polly Niles, Twinkle

Ace Round-Up, Part One: Helen Shapiro's "Face the Music" Collects Rare 1967-1984 Singles

November 4, 2020 By Joe Marchese 3 Comments

Helen Shapiro Face the Music Complete Singles

Welcome to today's first installment of our Ace Records Round-Up featuring a number of the label's latest titles! Helen Shapiro sang her way into the hearts of Britons as a teenager.  Inspired by the success of Alma Cogan, Helen was just 14 when she scored a No. 3 hit on the U.K. Singles Chart with "Don't Treat Me Like a Child."  The same year of 1961, she charted not one but two No. 1 singles, "You Don't Know" and "Walkin' Back to Happiness."  Soon, she was appearing in films and appearing

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD Genre: Pop Tags: Helen Shapiro

Whatcha Gonna Do for Me: Average White Band Releases "On the Strip: The Sunset Sessions," Reissues "Cupid's in Fashion"

November 3, 2020 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

Average White Band On the Strip

The opening track of Average White Band's new/old release On the Strip: The Sunset Sessions couldn't have a more apropos title: "Let's Go Round Again."  Following a successful run of albums with producer-arranger Arif Mardin, the funky big band outfit was re-establishing itself.  1979's Feel No Fret was a self-produced affair on which the band was joined by co-producer Gene Paul; it yielded hit singles in "Atlantic Avenue" and a revival of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "Walk on By."  For a

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: Vinyl Genre: Pop, R&B/Soul Tags: Average White Band, Bill Champlin, David Foster

It's Magic, You Know: Cherry Red, 7Ts Collect Pilot's Four Albums on New Box Set

October 22, 2020 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Pilot The Albums 1

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

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Classic Rock, Pop Tags: Pilot

I've Been on the Pinball: Cherry Red Collects Brian Protheroe's Chrysalis Albums on New 3-CD Set

October 20, 2020 By Joe Marchese 4 Comments

Brian Protheroe The Albums

This week, we're looking at two recent albums collections from Cherry Red's 7T's label from singer-songwriter Brian Protheroe and the band Pilot. Brian Protheroe's The Albums 1974-76 collects the three albums the English actor-singer (First Dates, the West End's Lord of the Rings) released on Chrysalis Records plus a smattering of bonus tracks.  In 1973, Protheroe was touring in a production of playwright William Fairchild's Death on Demand - described in The Oxford Magazine as "not so much a

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD Genre: Pop Tags: Brian Protheroe

Everybody's Smokin': NRBQ Collect Rarities, Unreleased Material on "in-frequencies"

October 15, 2020 By Joe Marchese 6 Comments

NRBQ In Frequencies

Omnivore Recordings has enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship with The New Rhythm and Blues Quartet (NRBQ), from 2016's High Noon - A 50-Year Retrospective through subsequent reissues, new music, and collections. The latest, in frequencies, brings together 16 rarities from the band's long and diverse discography spanning 1968-2018, with all but four tracks previously unreleased. NRBQ has flourished over the years even as the personnel has shifted numerous times, with only keyboardist Terry

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD, Digital Download, Vinyl Genre: Everything Else, Pop Tags: NRBQ

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