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/ Reviews

Are You Ready to Rock: Esoteric Reissues, Expands Two from Roy Wood and Wizzard

October 5, 2020 By Joe Marchese 4 Comments

Roy Wood and Wizzard Main Street

One of Birmingham's most renowned musical exports, Roy Wood trained listeners to expect the unexpected.  The founder or co-founder of The Move, Electric Light Orchestra, and Wizzard, Wood hasn't been among the most prolific artists of the rock era - with just four proper solo albums to his name - but he's surely one of the most inventive.  Late last year, Cherry Red's Esoteric Recordings imprint reissued Wood's second solo LP, Mustard, as an expanded edition.  Now, the label has returned to the

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD Genre: Classic Rock, Pop Tags: Roy Wood, Wizzard

Review: The Rolling Stones' "Goats Head Soup 2020" Box Set Is Sure To Satisfy Your Hunger

September 24, 2020 By Sam Stone 7 Comments

TheRollingStones GoatsHeadSoup pl

Goats Head Soup: as far as Rolling Stones albums go, it's an outlier. It's not a "landmark album" in the same way as Sticky Fingers, it didn't defy expectations in the same way as Exile. It didn't herald a new sound like Beggars Banquet or Let It Bleed. Now, that's not to say it's not a great album, but it just feels...different. After the one-two-three-four punches of Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, and the magnum opus Exile on Main Street, it makes sense that fans had long

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Categories: Reviews Formats: Blu-Ray, Books, Box Sets, CD Genre: Classic Rock Tags: The Rolling Stones

Review: Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets "Live At The Roundhouse" Takes Audiences Back In Time

September 18, 2020 By Sam Stone 7 Comments

NickMason LiveAtTheRoundhouse 2CD DVD

It's been said that music is the closest thing we have to time travel. Case in point: the new live album and concert film from Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets. Released today, September 18, Live At The Roundhouse captures the former Pink Floyd drummer and his supergroup of talented friends - guitarists Lee Harris and Gary Kemp, keyboardist Dom Beken, and longtime Floyd associate Guy Pratt on bass - as they tackle some of Pink Floyd's earliest deep cuts in the famed London venue. The 22-song

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Categories: Reviews Formats: Blu-Ray, Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, DVD, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Everything Else, Rock Tags: Nick Mason

Watching The Wheels: Kenneth Womack's New Biography "John Lennon: 1980" Offers A Comprehensive Look At The Artist's Later Days

September 16, 2020 By Sam Stone Leave a Comment

JohnLennon1980 sq

John Lennon has been in the news a lot lately, and with good reason.  2020 marks what would have been the musician's 80th birthday and, sadly, it's also the fortieth year since his death.  But there's more to that final year of John's life than the tragic events of December 8, 1980.  In his new biography, John Lennon: 1980 - The Last Days in the Life, Beatles expert Kenneth Womack tracks that period of creativity and reinvention, writing in a way that's simultaneously approachable yet

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Categories: Reviews Formats: Books Genre: Classic Rock Tags: John Lennon

Review: July, "The Complete Recordings" Traces Over 50 Years of the Beloved Psych-Rock Band

September 14, 2020 By Sam Stone 1 Comment

They might not be a household name, but July is a band you ought to know.  The U.K. psych-rockers have garnered a cult following since the release of their self-titled 1968 record.  Original mono copies sell for more than three grand online, but its not just the scarcity and desirability of the album that raises eyebrows; it's the high quality of the music.  Though their singles may not have charted back in the day, the five-piece Ealing-based group is still considered by psych-rock enthusiasts

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

Review: The Doobie Brothers, "Quadio"

September 8, 2020 By Joe Marchese 22 Comments

Doobie Brothers Quadio

"What the people need is a way to make 'em smile/It ain't so hard to do if you know how," goes The Doobie Brothers' "Listen to the Music," the opening song (and lead single) off the San Jose, California band's sophomore album Toulouse Street.  The Doobies knew how - and so does Quadio, the new, four-Blu-ray box set recently released by Warner Records and Rhino collecting the band's second through fifth albums in their original quadraphonic and stereo mixes.  Quadio follows Chicago's box set of

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Categories: Reviews Formats: Blu-Ray Audio, Box Sets Genre: Classic Rock, Pop Tags: The Doobie Brothers

Review: Neil Diamond, "Hot August Night" Concert Series on Vinyl

September 2, 2020 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Neil Diamond Hot August Night 2

Diamonds are forever.  And Neil is no exception.  Almost 50 years ago, the singer-songwriter captured a Hot August Night at Los Angeles' Greek Theatre in front of a sold-out crowd.  That electrifying 1972 double-platinum double album, in turn, inspired four sequels released between 1977 and 2018.  Now, in September 2020, the Greek Theatre is dark as a result of COVID-19.  But Capitol and UMe have just released those four sequel albums as newly-remastered 2-LP vinyl sets.  Standard black vinyl

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Categories: Reviews Formats: Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Pop Tags: Neil Diamond

Cruisin' for Love: Cherry Red, RPM Collect The Complete Kursaal Flyers on "Little Does She Know"

August 17, 2020 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

Kursaal Flyers Little Does She Know

The Kursaal Flyers - founded in Southend-on-Sea, some 40 miles or 64 kilometers east of central London and so named for the town's famous building which once housed part of a famous amusement park - made their biggest splash with the 1976 single "Little Does She Know," produced by Mike Batt in thunderous Phil Spector style.  Cherry Red's RPM Records has recently chronicled the full Kursaal Flyers story as one of the imprint's final projects.  Little Does She Know: The Complete Recordings has

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD Genre: Classic Rock Tags: Kursaal Flyers

Review: Paul McCartney, "Archive Collection: Flaming Pie" 2-CD and 5-CD/2-DVD Box Set Editions

July 31, 2020 By The Second Disc 5 Comments

Today sees the release of the latest in Paul McCartney's acclaimed Archive Collection series, Flaming Pie. Originally released in 1997, the album marked something of a comeback for McCartney, who was inspired by the spontaneous, more immediate recording techniques of The Beatles.  Many heralded it as a sort of return to form upon its release, and now fans can judge for themselves with this illuminating deep dive into the Macca vaults.  Like previous Archive Collection entries, Flaming Pie is

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Categories: Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, DVD, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Pop, Rock Tags: Paul McCartney

Review: The Iron City Houserockers, "Have a Good Time But...Get Out Alive!" [40th Anniversary Edition]

June 24, 2020 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Iron City Houserockers Have a Good Time

With apologies to John Lennon, Joe Grushecky is a working-class hero. A special education teacher by day and musician by night, Grushecky has worked for decades in inner-city Pittsburgh to help children battling severe developmental, emotional, and physical disabilities. Determination, grit, and authenticity have long been among his trademarks as an artist. Now, Cleveland International Records has reissued his sophomore album, recorded with his band The Iron City Houserockers, in a 2-CD or 2-LP

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Categories: Reviews Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock Tags: Ian Hunter, Joe Grushecky and the Iron City Houserockers, Little Steven, Mick Ronson

People, Let's Freak Out: Cherry Red Reissues, Expands "Belfast Gypsies" from The Other Them

June 15, 2020 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

Them Belfast Gypsies

There are many peculiar stories in the annals of rock and roll, but surely one of the most peculiar is the tale of Them and The Other Them - and it's just been chronicled anew in Cherry Red/Grapefruit's release of Them: Belfast Gypsies. The Northern Irish band Them always had a fluid lineup; frontman Van Morrison wrote candidly in 2015 that "Them was intended as a vehicle, a way for me to sing and play the blues." The first line-up, featuring Eric Wrixon on keyboards, only ever recorded

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD Genre: Classic Rock Tags: Them

Review: Jimi Hendrix, "Band of Gypsys [50th Anniversary Edition]"

May 27, 2020 By Sam Stone 8 Comments

During his all-too-brief career, Jimi Hendrix navigated an uncharted course, following his muse and his talents wherever they would take him.  So much has been said about his guitar technique, his songwriting, and his lyrics.  But as I lay listening to the 50th anniversary edition of Band of Gypsys, I realized that Hendrix was also a pioneer of that sometimes-maligned product, the concert recording.  At the time of its release in March of 1970, live albums had something of a bad rap.  Many were

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Categories: Reviews Formats: Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock Tags: Jimi Hendrix

Outlaw Man: Cherry Red, Morello Collect Four Albums from Singer-Songwriter David Blue

May 20, 2020 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

David Blue Morello 4 Classic Albums

David Blue might be best-known for two things: writing "Outlaw Blues" on Eagles' Desperado album, and being a friend and occasional sidekick of Bob Dylan's. Yet he recorded seven albums (plus a major contribution to an eighth, the 1965 Elektra anthology Singer Songwriter Project) between 1965 and 1976 in addition to making appearances on stage and film before his untimely death in 1982. Cherry Red's Morello imprint has recently celebrated the late folk troubadour with a four-albums-on-two-CDs

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD Genre: Classic Rock, Folk, Pop Tags: Dave Mason, David Blue, Eagles, Graham Nash, Jennifer Warnes

Book Review: "Along Comes The Association: Beyond Folk Rock and Three-Piece Suits" by Russ Giguere

May 11, 2020 By Joe Marchese 7 Comments

Russ Giguere Along Comes The Association

"Well, I'm a comer and a goer in a six man band," went the lyrics to The Association's 1968 semi-autobiographical single "Six Man Band." Now, founding member Russ Giguere has reflected on his comings and goings in a new book that serves as both a personal memoir and a history of the band. Along Comes The Association: Beyond Folk Rock and Three-Piece Suits, written with Ashley Wren Collins, is a compelling look back at a colorful life in the group that gave the world such enduring hits as "Along

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: Books Genre: Classic Rock, Pop Tags: Russ Giguere, The Association

Today's the Day: America's "Heritage II" Collects Unreleased Demos, Alternates, More

April 24, 2020 By Joe Marchese 3 Comments

America Heritage II

If you think you know all of the exits off that mythical Ventura Highway, think again. Omnivore Recordings has just released a new collection straight from the America archives, and it's filled with unexpected treasures. Heritage II: Demos/Alternate Takes 1971-1976 follows up the first volume from 2017 and proves itself a more than worthy successor. This collection could well be subtitled The George Martin Years. While its two earliest tracks return to the period of the band's sophomore album,

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Categories: Reviews Formats: CD, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Pop Tags: America

Review: Frank Zappa, "The Hot Rats Sessions"

February 26, 2020 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

Hot Rats Sessions

What is jazz-rock? The label has been applied to the work of diverse artists such as Chicago, Blood Sweat & Tears, Miles Davis, Steely Dan, and Santana (and that's just to name some of the most well-known exponents) not to mention an entire cadre of fusion artists like the groups Weather Report and Return to Forever. In the jazz-rock canon, the name of Frank Zappa certainly stands tall. The multi-faceted artist delivered one of the genre's earliest and most seminal albums with 1969's Hot

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Categories: Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming Genre: Classic Rock, Jazz Tags: Frank Zappa

Shake a Tail Feather! RPM Collects Complete Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels

February 20, 2020 By Joe Marchese 4 Comments

Mitch Ryder Sockin It to You

Between 1965 and 1968, Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels scored a series of hits on producer-impresario Bob Crewe's DynoVoice and New Voice labels.  With the prolific Crewe at the helm, Ryder's records featured a fiery blend of blue-eyed soul and pure, high-adrenaline rock-and-roll. Mitch Ryder (real name: William Levise, Jr.) set the stage for Michigan rockers from Bob Seger to Grand Funk Railroad to conquer the charts. For one of its final releases, Cherry Red's RPM imprint has celebrated the

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD Genre: Classic Rock, Pop Tags: Bob Crewe, Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels

Ace Round-Up, Part Two: Spotlight on Merseybeat Girls, "Jon Savage's 1969-1971" and "Deep Soul Treasures"

February 11, 2020 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

She Came from Liverpool

Today, we're looking at another trio of recent releases from the team at Ace Records!  If you missed Part One of our Ace Round-Up, click here! While The Beatles are no doubt Liverpool's most famous musical export, Merseyside - spanning 249 square miles (or 645 square kilometers) bordering Lancashire to the northeast, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south and southeast, and The Irish Sea to the west - yielded an abundance of groups like The Cryin' Shames, Gerry and The

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: CD Genre: Classic Rock, Pop, R&B/Soul Tags: Allen Toussaint, Beryl Marsden, Cilla Black, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Jackie DeShannon, The Emotions, Various Artists

Review: The Band, "The Band: 50th Anniversary Edition"

February 10, 2020 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

The Band The Band

How to top Music from Big Pink? Wisely, The Band didn't even try. Ditching the Dylan co-writes and the covers, The Band returned with their self-titled sophomore LP in fall 1969. Late in 2019, Capitol Records and UMe remixed and expanded that now-classic effort for its 50th anniversary in the style of 2018's Big Pink campaign with releases in a variety of formats - most notably, a 2-CD/2-LP/1-BD/1 -7" single super deluxe edition. The so-called "Brown Album" was recorded about as far from New

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Categories: Reviews Formats: Blu-Ray, Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock Tags: The Band

You Got Me Anyway: Cherry Red Collects Complete Sutherland Brothers and Quiver on Box Set

January 15, 2020 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Sutherland Brothers and Quiver The Albums

This month, we'll be periodically looking at titles from the final months of 2019 which we haven't yet covered.  Today's spotlight is on The Sutherland Brothers and Quiver's The Albums box set. Hailing from Aberdeenshire, Scotland, brothers Gavin and Iain Sutherland carved out one of the most consistent runs in '70s pop-rock, releasing eight melodic, memorable albums between 1972 and 1979 on the Island and CBS/Columbia labels. The brothers were born into a musical family, and when they moved

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Classic Rock, Pop Tags: Quiver, The Sutherland Brothers

Year-End Review: Bob Dylan, "The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings"

January 6, 2020 By Sam Stone 2 Comments

Bob Dylan Rolling Thunder Revue Cover

As we continue to look back on the year that was, it's hard to disagree that Bob Dylan was 2019's king of the reissue. Since releasing More Blood, More Tracks in time for the holidays in 2018, Legacy Recordings and the Dylan team approved MoFi's deluxe audiophile version of Blood on the Tracks; celebrated the first leg of the famed Rolling Thunder Revue with a new film, CD box set, and LP reissue; delivered a new Bootleg Series installment focusing on his time in Nashville in the late '60s; and

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Categories: Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Classic Rock Tags: Bob Dylan, Eric Andersen, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Robbie Robertson, Roger McGuinn

The Year in Review: The 2019 Gold Bonus Disc Awards, From A to Z

January 3, 2020 By The Second Disc 4 Comments

gold cd

Happy 2020 and welcome to The Second Disc's 10th Annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards! It's time once again to recognize this year's cream of the crop - those exemplary reissues and box sets big and small that proved to be truly outstanding products for music lovers worldwide.  There was no shortage of great reissue titles in 2019; in fact, by our count, we covered over 700 releases in all!  And after much deliberation, we're excited to unveil our favorites.  This isn't your run-of-the-mill Top 10,

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

Holiday Gift Guide Reviews: A Rhino Round-Up with Bad Company, Rush, Van Halen, Hootie, STP and The Notorious B.I.G.

December 23, 2019 By The Second Disc 2 Comments

StoneTemplePilots Purple pl

Many of this year's finest box sets came courtesy of the Rhino label.  Here, Joe and Randy take a look at a few more of our favorites!  First up are Randy's three picks... First up is Rhino's 25th anniversary 3-CD/1-LP Super Deluxe Edition of Stone Temple Pilots' Purple. Initially hitting shelves on June 7, 1994, the band's sophomore album would debut atop the Billboard 200 and stay there for three weeks, eventually becoming the group's second best-selling album after their debut effort,

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Categories: Holiday Gift Guide, News, Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, DVD, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Pop, Rap/Hip-Hop, Rock Tags: Bad Company, Hootie and The Blowfish, Rush, Stone Temple Pilots, The Notorious B.I.G., Van Halen

Holiday Gift Guide Reviews: Cherry Red's Esoteric and Grapefruit Imprints Offer Diverse Box Sets

December 19, 2019 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Across the Great Divide

Cherry Red's ongoing series of small clamshell box sets filled with big content make for the perfect stocking stuffer! Here's a look at three more titles you might have missed... Climax Blues Band's The Albums 1973-1976 is the second such box set released this year by Cherry Red's Esoteric Recordings imprint, following The Albums 1969-1972. This 4-CD set contains the following albums, culminating in the biggest commercial triumph for the band that began its life as The Climax Chicago Blues

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Categories: Holiday Gift Guide, News, Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Classic Rock, Country, Folk, Pop Tags: Bridget St. John, Climax Blues Band, Faces, Iain Matthews, Procol Harum, Rod Stewart, The Hollies, The Marmalade, The Tremeloes, Various Artists

Holiday Gift Guide Review: David Bowie, "Conversation Piece"

December 17, 2019 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

David Bowie Conversation Piece

The new David Bowie box set is entitled Conversation Piece - and it's an apt one, as this set is certain to inspire conversations punctuated with cheers. Quite simply, this slipcased, hardcover-book style collection featuring five CDs of material recorded by the late superstar in 1968-1969 is one of the year's best boxes: an exquisite, museum-quality release that exceeds all expectations. Necessity may indeed be the mother of invention, as the set ostensibly exists because of the desire to

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

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