When he established Kudu as an offshoot of his titanic jazz label CTI, Creed Taylor wore his ambitions on his sleeve. The label was named after the long-horned African mammal and its logo adorned with Afro-centric colors, as Taylor intended to do no less than make Kudu a home for releases "indigenous to the black popular music of the United States." Taylor always knew the importance of a visual, and much as CTi releases were recognizable for their striking, provocative cover photographs and
Review: Frank Sinatra, "Best of the Best"
There’s simply no getting around it: Frank Sinatra is the voice of the Great American Songbook. That’s not to discount the dozens of other significant voices that brought life to the House That George, Ira, Irving, Cole, Jerome, Richard and Lorenz Built. (Again, just to name a few.) But Frank Sinatra’s voice, as well as his persona, has become such a deeply ingrained part of the American musical fabric that it’s hard to find new ways to present it. The body of work created by Sinatra at
Review: Pink Floyd, "Wish You Were Here: Immersion Box Set"
Maybe it should have been called Wish You Were Here: Unwrapped. There’s no dark shrinkwrap on the new Immersion Box Set of Pink Floyd’s 1975 Wish You Were Here, the album that followed the landmark Dark Side of the Moon. The original LP pressing of the album, of course, was wrapped and adorned with a “four elements” sticker, obscuring the photograph that gives the album its cover. The 3-CD/1-DVD/1-BD Immersion edition (EMI 50999 029435 2, 2011) is not only “naked,” but offers a different,
Review: Billy Joel, "Piano Man: Legacy Edition"
Since the dawn of the new millennium, most of the archival material that catalogue enthusiasts want come to us in the form of the dreaded deluxe edition: a bonus disc of rarities or outtakes appended to a long-released, newly-remastered album. With the record industry at a crossroads unlike anything it's ever had to deal with, it's astounding that most treats for die-hard music aficionados come at a higher price tag, filled sometimes in large part with material one already owns in at least one
Review: The Beach Boys, "The Smile Sessions" Part Three: It's In Great Shape
Welcome to the third and final part of our review series celebrating the release of The Beach Boys’ The SMiLE Sessions. In Part 1, we revisited the history of the album, and in Part 2, we examined the music and lyrics of Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks that created the legend. In today’s concluding chapter, we explore "the sessions" of The SMiLE Sessions and compare the various releases! What’s the biggest surprise of The SMiLE Sessions? It’s the sound of five young men optimistically
Review: The Beach Boys, "The Smile Sessions" Part Two: Surf's Up, At Last
Today sees the first release, after 47 years, of The Beach Boys’ SMiLE. The Second Disc celebrates this event with a three-part review series dedicated to what was once the greatest lost album of all time. In Part 1, we looked back at the story of SMiLE. In today’s Part 2, we explore the most legendary aspect of the album: the music itself, created by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, as recorded by The Beach Boys. The SMiLE Shop is finally open for business! It’s only taken some 44
Review: The Beach Boys, "The Smile Sessions" Part One: What's Past is Prologue
Tomorrow, November 1, marks the release of The Beach Boys’ SMiLE, the most legendary lost album of all time. In recognition of this landmark, The Second Disc is launching a three-part series looking at the SMiLE mythos, including a review of the various editions of The SMiLE Sessions. Before we begin to explore these collections, however, we’d like to offer a bit of perspective and back story on SMiLE: what was, what is, and what might have been. Welcome to Part One: What’s Past is
Review: Paul Simon, "Songwriter" and Expanded, Remastered Albums (1980-1990)
It's 1971, and Aretha Franklin has just introduced the world to "Bridge Over Troubled Water," a rousing, spiritual anthem that could have been written decades if not centuries ago. She takes the song to the top of the charts. Its notoriety leads to the rise of jobbing songwriter Paul Simon, who no longer needs to kick around the Brill Building in its waning days. Simon's career kicks off in earnest the following year with the release of his self-titled solo album. It's a quirky, offbeat
Review: Ben Folds, "Ben Folds Fifty-Five Vault"
When "Brick" ascended the Billboard Hot 200 to a No. 17 peak in 1998, it seemed possible that Ben Folds Five would join the ranks of Chumbawamba, Semisonic and Marcy Playground in the annals of the nineties one-hit wonder. But the band's charismatic frontman envisioned a different path. Witness some of the other artists who only scored one Top 40 hit: Janis Joplin ("Me and Bobby McGee"), Jimi Hendrix ("All Along the Watchtower"), Frank Zappa ("Valley Girl"), The Grateful Dead ("Touch of Grey")
Review: Ben Folds, "The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective"
Opening the four-panel digipak that houses Ben Folds' The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective (Epic/Legacy 88697 92683-2), listeners are treated to an unsettling and hilarious sight: the bespectacled, slightly quizzical face of the singer/songwriter, superimposed onto bodies he clearly has no place being attached to. Those off-kilter images are exactly the kind of strange silliness fans have come to expect from Folds over a career that stretches more than 15 years, starting with the
Review: Matt Monro, "The Man Behind The Voice"
In Michele Monro’s The Man Behind the Voice, the author sums up the career of her subject, who also happened to be her father: “Matt never acquired the ‘superstar’ tag, but quality was his code, and he earned the reputation for being a class act with a superlative gift.” Though Matt Monro died in 1985 aged just 54, his music continues to flourish today. Monro’s voice is as vibrant now as when he first recorded “Born Free,” “To Russia with Love” or any of the countless other songs, both
Review: Pink Floyd, "The Dark Side of the Moon: Immersion Box Set"
At what point in a super deluxe - or Immersion - box set does the music itself become, if not irrelevant, an afterthought? It's hard not to wonder, sifting through the treasure chest - or toy chest, perhaps - that's the Immersion Box Set of Pink Floyd's landmark 1973 rock opus The Dark Side of the Moon (EMI 50999 029431 2, 2011). It's not hard to imagine many Floyd devotees finding themselves over the rainbow with this package, and of course that famous rainbow is everywhere in this box
Review: Nirvana, "Nevermind: 20th Anniversary Edition"
It finally happened. After around 20 months at the helm of The Second Disc, I think I've finally stumbled over a reissue that feels...dare I say it...misguided. Not entirely misguided, mind you, but misguided enough that it took me far longer than anticipated to bang out some thoughts on the title at hand, to understand what it meant for all of us as collectors and enthusiasts of catalogue material. Not a total strikeout, but a hit that barely gets a runner to second base, when it should have
Review: Buck Owens, "Bound For Bakersfield: The Complete Pre-Capitol Collection 1953-1956"
Though Buck Owens made his name in Bakersfield, California, his adopted hometown from the age of 21, he was a familiar face to audiences across America as co-host of Hee Haw, the country music variety show that launched in 1969 and lasted until 1992. (Owens remained with the show until 1986.) Despite the silliness of the television show, Owens was serious about his music, which was a direct answer to the “countrypolitan” sound storming Nashville in the 1960s. Owens and his Buckaroos, along
Review: Elvis Presley, "Young Man with the Big Beat: The Complete '56 Elvis Presley Masters"
Well, it's one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, now go, cat, go! With such words was a revolution born! Those simple lyrics were the first sung by Elvis Presley on his 1956 RCA Victor debut, accompanied by the blasts of Scotty Moore's guitar, then the frantic beats of D.J. Fontana's drums. It's unlikely that Presley ever anticipated that his recording of Carl Perkins' "Blue Suede Shoes" would provide the soundtrack to a country's coming of age, or for that matter, lead
Review: Rufus Thomas, Shirley Brown and The Dramatics, "Stax Remasters" Series
When Stax Records severed its distribution deal with Atlantic in 1968, it was time to rebuild from the ground up. The entire back catalogue went to Atlantic, as did Sam and Dave’s contract. Gone was the “Stax o’wax” label logo; in its place was a new, finger-snapping Stax. The stewards of the Stax legacy at Concord Music Group have recently launched a series branded as Stax Remasters, and the three latest additions to the reissue program have arrived from Rufus Thomas, Shirley Brown and The
Review: Miles Davis Quintet, "The Bootleg Series Vol. 1: Live in Europe 1967"
Reflecting on Miles Davis’ so-called Second Great Quintet to director Mark Obenhaus, Herbie Hancock recalled that “when people were hearing us, they were hearing the avant-garde on one hand, and they were hearing the history of jazz that led up to it on the other hand - because Miles was that history. He was that link. We were sort of walking a tightrope with the kind of experimenting we were doing in music, not total experimentation, but we used to call it ‘controlled freedom.’” What exactly
Review: Frank Sinatra and Count Basie, "The Complete Reprise Studio Recordings"
When Frank Sinatra met Count Basie, it was far from a clash of the titans. No, the "historic musical first" that occurred between the grooves of Reprise 1008 in 1962 was more like a perfect union. Both were Jersey boys, with Basie's formative years spent south of Hoboken, in Red Bank, New Jersey. The men were unusually simpatico, similar in their enormous respect for musicians. Though Basie titled a 1959 album Chairman of the Board, the title was later bestowed upon Sinatra. When Basie put
Review: "Godspell: 40th Anniversary Celebration"
When Hair ushered in the Age of Aquarius on April 29, 1968, it heralded the arrival of the rock revolution on Broadway. The New York Times' influential critic Clive Barnes didn't mince his words, declaring that the musical was a "long-term joust against Broadway's world of Sigmund Romberg [the composer of such operettas as The Student Prince]" and more importantly, "the first Broadway musical in some time to have the authentic voice of today rather than the day before yesterday." And while the
Review: John Barry, "The Black Hole: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack"
When John Barry won two 1967 Academy Awards for his work on Born Free, the trophies were a vindication. Over the initial objections of his director, Barry envisioned his score to reflect a "Disneyesque kind of movie, lovely family entertainment" and fought for the dramatic integrity of that sound. Twelve years later, Barry actually got his chance to score a Walt Disney Productions motion picture. One of many science-fiction epics produced in the wake of Star Wars, Disney's The Black Hole was
Review: Alberta Hunter, "Downhearted Blues"
Alberta Hunter may have sang the blues, but she was far from forlorn when she took the stage at New York’s Cookery, at 8th Street and University Place, in 1981 to record the gig captured on Downhearted Blues: Live at the Cookery. Newly remastered on both CD and 180-gram vinyl from Rockbeat Records (ROC-CD-3024, 2011), this 18-track live set captures the bawdy blues singer at the ripe age of 86 and just as vibrant than she was in the 1920s and 1930s recording for storied labels like OKeh,
Review: Charles "Packy" Axton, "Late Late Party: 1965-67"
Were there a Stax family portrait, label founders Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton would undoubtedly be surrounded by any number of the famed artists they shepherded to fame: Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Steve Cropper, Booker T. Jones, Donald “Duck” Dunn, Eddie Floyd and the Wicked Wilson Pickett, to name a few. And lurking somewhere near the corner of the frame, in the shadows, would be Charles “Packy” Axton, his saxophone in tow, looking for the nearest party. Though Axton is far from a household
Review: Original Cast, "Half-Past Wednesday"
Anyone have a little love for Rumpelstiltskin? The Brothers Grimm popularized the story of the mischievous imp in the early part of the 19th century, but he has never received the same kind of commercial fame as many of the Grimms’ other creations. No wonder, then, that Rumpelstiltskin was so ornery when he appeared as the villain of Shrek Forever After. And how many indignities did he survive as the titular character of a 1996 grade B horror film! Rumpelstiltskin has had a few moments in
Review: Patti Smith, "Outside Society"
The calling came early for Patti Smith. At twelve years of age, a family excursion to the Museum of Art in Philadelphia brought the young Smith in contact with Modigliani, Sargent and Picasso, the latter affecting her with his “brutal confidence.” It was with a similar confidence that Smith, not even in her teenage years, concluded that “to be an artist was to see what others could not.” Smith was steadfast in her determination to make her mark in the turbulent art world of New York in the
Review: The Beau Brummels, "Bradley's Barn: Expanded Edition"
Before Abbey Road or Caribou, The Beau Brummels immortalized a famous recording studio as the title of Bradley’s Barn, their 1968 album for Warner Bros. Records. The San Francisco pop-rock outfit had travelled to Nashville, Tennessee to record at Owen Bradley’s storied venue at roughly the same time their contemporaries, The Byrds, were on the other side of town cutting Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Though the “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “Turn! Turn! Turn!” hitmakers beat the Brummels to the punch
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