Last year, Tony Banks went A Chord Too Far with a career-spanning box set; now, the Genesis keyboardist has teamed once more with Esoteric Recordings for a CD/DVD edition of his sophomore solo album, 1983's The Fugitive. The first disc presents a new stereo mix of the album plus two bonus tracks, while the DVD includes a DTS 5.1 surround mix, a 96/24 PCM stereo mix, and a promotional music video. The Fugitive has recently arrived alongside a new pressing of the similar 2009 CD/DVD reissue of
Review: Raspberries, "Raspberries" Vinyl Edition
When Eric Carmen and Wally Bryson of Cyrus Eyrie teamed up with Jim Bonfanti and Dave Smalley of The Choir, the result was pop bliss. The Raspberries emerged from the ashes from the two bands, and over the course of four albums - three with the original line-up, and one with just Carmen and Bryson remaining - they came to define power pop. Yet today, some might wonder: Why is the Cleveland, Ohio band so fondly remembered despite only placing one Top 5 single in the U.S. and two more Top 20s?
Bad Luck No More: Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes' "To Be True" Receives CD Reissue
Blame it on "Bad Luck." Inexplicably, a proper, wide-release CD reissue has long eluded To Be True, the third of four LPs released by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes on Philadelphia International Records. Happily, Cherry Red's Big Break imprint has come to the rescue with a remastered and expanded edition of the 1975 chart-topping album that introduced the hit "Bad Luck." To Be True followed I Miss You and Black and Blue, both of which have already been reissued in expanded CD editions by
See Those Girls: Ace Celebrates The Paris Sisters On New Anthology
The story of Albeth, Priscilla and Sherrell Paris - a.k.a. The Paris Sisters - has always been inextricably intertwined with that of Phil Spector. After all, the producer had one of his earliest hits in 1961 with "I Love How You Love Me," written by Barry Mann and Larry Kolber and sung in soft, demure fashion by Priscilla with her sisters on sweet backgrounds. But The Paris Sisters' career encompassed far more than just that Top 5 hit. Their story is filled with other names as illustrious as
Reviews: A Real Gone Trio From The Mamas and the Papas, King Curtis and Nat "King" Cole
Real Gone Music has had some of its most expansive collections released this winter. Today, Randy takes a look at three of them, from The Mamas and the Papas, King Curtis, and Nat "King" Cole! "You gotta go where you wanna go, do what you wanna do, with whoever you want to do it with..." From their very first single, 1966's "Go Where You Wanna Go," The Mamas and the Papas spread their singular brand of California sunshine. The group's songs espoused the
Review: Emitt Rhodes, "Rainbow Ends"
A new Emitt Rhodes album. That's right, say it again - a new Emitt Rhodes album. With the release of Rainbow Ends, Omnivore Recordings has delivered on what has long been thought an impossibility. The cult tunesmith and multi-instrumentalist earned his stripes as a member of The Palace Guard and then the harmony-soaked LA band The Merry-Go-Round ("You're a Very Lovely Woman," "Live") before recording four beautiful solo albums for A&M and ABC/Dunhill. His last full-length LP, Farewell
From Memphis To New Orleans: Ace Collects Stax, DeLuxe Rarities
Bring on the B-sides! Despite its title, the massive, indispensable box set The Complete Stax/Volt Singles 1964-1968 concentrated on A-sides, presenting only a fraction of the labels' valuable flips. The box left many worthy B-sides overlooked in the CD era, but Ace Records' Kent imprint has redressed that situation with the release of The Other Side of the Trax: Stax-Volt 45 RPM Rarities 1964-1968. All but one of the 24 tracks on this new compilation are all making their official CD
Analog Spark Breathes New Life Into Three Classic Broadway Cast Recordings
Curtain up! Analog Spark, the audiophile imprint of Razor and Tie, has brought back the luster of yesteryear with a trio of reissues from the days when people dressed up to go to the theatre. The label has given the Original Broadway Cast Recordings of My Fair Lady, West Side Story and Fiddler on the Roof the deluxe treatment on 180-gram vinyl, and indeed, one would be hard-pressed to think of three titles more worthy of the presentation. Fair Lady, Fiddler and West Side all reveal
Review: J.D. Souther, "Black Rose" and "Home By Dawn" Expanded Editions
Omnivore Recordings continues to mine one of the great underrated catalogues in contemporary pop-rock with two more titles from singer-songwriter J.D. Souther. Black Rose (1976) has been joined on compact disc by Home by Dawn (1984) with both titles splendidly remastered and featuring previously unreleased bonus tracks. These definitive reissues aren't to be missed. The wide-ranging Black Rose, originally released on Asylum Records, remains Souther's most diverse and expansive musical
They Are Family: BBR Reissues, Expands Sister Sledge's Debut "Circle of Love"
"We Are Family" catapulted Sister Sledge to stardom in 1979, but while the uplifting anthem was a breakthrough, it wasn't a beginning. Philadelphia-based Kathy Sledge and her three older sisters Debbie, Joni and Kim had been recording for Atlantic Records since 1973 when all four members were still teenagers. In 1975, Sister Sledge's first album, Circle of Love, was released. This lost gem has been previously released on CD in a bare-bones version, but Cherry Red's Big Break Records label has
Cherry Red, SoulMusic Revive Philly Disco Sounds of Anglo-Saxon Brown
The team of Joseph Jefferson and Charles Simmons is best remembered today for their string of memorable songs penned for The Spinners under the aegis of Philadelphia soul maestro Thom Bell: "Mighty Love," "Games People Play," "Love Don't Love Nobody." But like many of the talented artists orbiting the creatively fertile Philly scene of the period, Jefferson and Simmons were multi-faceted. In 1975, Jefferson became involved with Ujima, a Richmond, Virginia-founded band that had previously
Review: The Monkees, "Classic Album Collection" and "The Cereal Box Singles"
2016 marks the 50th anniversary of the first time Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork first hit TV screens and record sleeves as The Monkees, and indeed, it's shaping up to be an auspicious year. In advance of the restored Blu-ray premiere of The Monkees' television show, new album Good Times! and a tour featuring Dolenz and Tork, Rhino has released The Monkees 50: Classic Album Collection, a 10-disc box set collecting the original version of every one of the band's Colgems
Feelin' Groovy: Now Sounds Collects Harpers Bizarre's "Complete Singles"
Now Sounds is back with its first release of 2016, and with it, the label is spreading some California sunshine. Harpers Bizarre's The Complete Singles Collection 1965-1970 compiles all 26 sides issued on 45 RPM singles by Warner Bros. Records, including tracks from the group's early incarnation as The Tikis and numerous mono mixes never before available on CD. The resulting release, which follows Now Sounds' reissues of Harpers' Feelin' Groovy and Anything Goes albums, is a refreshing journey
Popsicles, Icicles and More: Ace Collects The Best of The Murmaids
Ace Records has recently made quite a splash with the first-ever comprehensive compendium from one-hit wonder girl group The Murmaids. But as the collection so accurately titled A Few of the Things We Love reveals, the girls had more to offer than just "Popsicles and Icicles." This collection is pure girl group manna! That nostalgic composition by the young David Gates, pre-"Make It with You" and "Baby I'm a-Want You" fame, of course kicks off this 21-track anthology comprising The
Heat It Up: Groove Line Tells "The Salsoul Orchestra Story: 40th Anniversary Collection"
The title of The Salsoul Orchestra's second album said it all - Nice 'n' Naasty. The soul-disco orchestra, originally under the baton of MFSB alumnus Vincent Montana Jr., could serve up nice, shimmering and lushly elegant soundscapes...and naasty floor-filling grooves that practically demanded you hit the dancefloor! Happily, the group has recently received a lavish tribute in the form of a sizzling 3-CD collection from Groove Line Records (the label responsible for the recent, definitive
Review: Alan Price, "Savaloy Dip: Words and Music by Alan Price"
In a career spanning more than 50 years, Alan Price has just about done it all. The founding member of The Animals (and creator of the indelible organ parts on tracks like "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" and "House of the Rising Sun") followed his tenure in that band by refining his craft as a top-flight singer-songwriter and broadening his artistic horizons by scoring films and stage musicals. So perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise that one of the prolific Price's projects fell through the
Review: J.D. Souther, "John David Souther (Expanded Edition)"
In 2007, a new song from the Eagles blazed onto the radio airwaves, climbing to a Top 10 AC/Top 25 Country berth on the Billboard charts. But the infectious, breezy "How Long," with its classic Eagles sound, wasn't new at all. The song was written by J.D. Souther and included on his 1972 Asylum Records debut John David Souther. When the Eagles included it on Long Road Out of Eden, the band's first studio album since 1979, it rekindled the creative relationship with Souther, an "honorary
The Glow of Love: Groove Line Records Compiles The Music of Change, Featuring Luther Vandross, More
If ever a group lived up to its name, that group was Change. The brainchild of French-Italian music impresario and producer Jacques Fred Petrus, in collaboration with Italian-based producer/arranger Mauro Malavasi and bassist Davide Romani, Change released six albums between 1980 and 1985. Built on infectiously danceable rhythms, melodic hooks and sublimely soulful vocals, the sound of Change was primarily created by a rotating cast of Italian-based musicians and America-based vocalists.
Review: Roy Orbison, "The MGM Years 1965-1973"
The Big O is back with a big box set. The MGM Years 1965-1973, recently arrived from Roy's Boys, LLC and Universal Music Enterprises, chronicles over the course of 13 CDs (or 14 LPs) the least well-known period of the late vocal titan's career. Orbison joined MGM Records riding the crest of the "Oh, Pretty Woman" wave; the composition which he wrote with Bill Dees was a U.S. and U.K. chart-topper at the height of the British Invasion in 1964 for Fred Foster's Monument Records. Enticed by
Sister Golden Hair Surprise: America Opens Its "Archives" On New Release
The vaults are open! The legacy of the enduring band America has received a long-overdue celebration with the recent release on compact disc and digital download of Archives Vol. 1. Featuring the versatile, original trio of Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell and the late Dan Peek (as well as the talented musicians and producers who contributed mightily to the band's earliest albums), Archives is a 15-track, non-chronological collection of previously unreleased alternate versions, early mixes, demos,
Review: "International Pop Overthrow: Volume 18"
We're welcoming back Ted Frank to The Second Disc for a look at the latest offering - Volume 18 - from the fine folks at International Pop Overthrow! Producer/curator David Bash, graphic designer Steve Stanley and their team have created another instant classic with their latest and greatest collection of the best, most diverse and most delicious pop music circa 2015! In the year that saw the Numero Group's superb Ork Records Collection, Omnivore Recordings' immediately indispensible Power
Along Comes "1966": Ace Anthology Features The Supremes, The Who, Velvet Underground, Bowie, More
Was 1966 the greatest year ever in popular music? The case could certainly be made for its significance - and Jon Savage has done just that in his new book 1966: The Year the Decade Exploded. Savage's book looks at the events and culture of the year in twelve essays, each one built around one 45 RPM record. Naturally, such a book deserves a soundtrack, and Ace Records has seen to it that it receives one with the companion volume of the same name. Jon Savage's 1966: The Year the Decade
Review: Fleetwood Mac, "Tusk: Deluxe Edition"
Can an album that sold four million copies be fairly called a cult classic? If the answer is yes, that album would certainly be Fleetwood Mac's Tusk. One of the most willfully unconventional albums ever made, the follow-up to Rumours nonetheless went multi-platinum. Nobody expected the band that had already morphed from blues-rock to the epitome of California pop-rock (and everything in between) to defiantly go the "art-rock" route, yet that's precisely what Mick Fleetwood, John McVie,
Real Gone Celebrates Christmas With The Soulful Strings, John Gary, Four Seasons
Real Gone Music is this year's source for classic Christmas reissues - including two from our own Second Disc Records imprint! Here, we're taking a look at three more titles from the label's Christmas feast! At first glance, The Soulful Strings might appear to be just another of those ubiquitous sixties instrumental studio outfits, delivering MOR versions of the day's popular hits. Yet, a closer look at Cadet Records' Soulful Strings - and most of its brethren, truth be told - reveals some
Omnivore Revisits "Christmas Time Again!" With Chris Stamey and Co.!
What's that festive sound you're hearing? If it's fun, fresh, and a little off the beaten path, it might just be coming from Omnivore Recordings' recent reissue of The dB's and Friends' now-classic holiday party Christmas Time Again! (OVCD-152). Christmas Time first arrived as a holiday vinyl EP from the Chris Stamey Group in 1986. Seven years later, in 1993, the collection was expanded for a new CD release, with the track count jumping from seven to sixteen tunes. In 2006, Collectors
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- …
- 43
- Next Page »