Cyber Monday is upon us today, which means one thing at Second Disc HQ: it's time to launch our annual Holiday Gift Guide, featuring (more than) a few of our favorite things for the music enthusiast in your life. Sure, we might not have included raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens, but we've filled the guide with more than 50 essential selections: sprawling box sets as well as releases from favorite artists that just might make great stocking stuffers. So just click here or visit the
Release Round-Up: Week of November 4
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles in stores today! Billy Joel, Live at Yankee Stadium (Columbia/Legacy) 2CD/Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Billy Joel's Live at Yankee Stadium, originally released on video, is getting a major makeover. The concert film, shot on June 22 and 23, 1990, has been restored and remixed from original audio and video elements for a 2CD/Blu-ray
EXCLUSIVE: Roxette Singer Marie Fredriksson's Memoirs Coming to America with Rare Solo Album
Fans of Swedish pop masters Roxette are in for a special treat next year: the group's late, celebrated singer Marie Fredriksson's memoirs will be published in America, alongside the release of a rare solo record. Listen to My Heart: Life, Love & Roxette takes fans into the life and career of one of the most arresting figures of '80s and '90s pop. Co-written with Swedish writer Helena von Zweigbergk and published in her homeland in 2015 - four years before Fredriksson's passing at the age
Release Round-Up: Week of August 12
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the titles arriving in stores today! Jimi Jamison, Rock Hard (Iconoclassic) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Iconoclassic Records is now premiering Rock Hard, Survivor lead singer Jimi Jamison's previously unreleased 1990 album, in a deluxe, expanded CD edition. Intended to be Jamison's solo debut, Rock Hard features 10 songs including three previously unreleased compositions, three previously unreleased
The Doris Day Centennial: Celebration of the Late Superstar Begins This Weekend!
Tomorrow, April 3, 2022, marks the 100th anniversary of Doris Day's birth. Yesterday, Real Gone Music kicked off the festivities with two releases celebrating the singer-actress-activist's extraordinary musical legacy. Early Day: Rare Songs from the Radio 1939-1950 features two dozen rarities from the dawn of Day's career (as well as a booklet with period photographs and a new essay by TSD's Joe Marchese) on one CD, while Day's final album, 2011's My Heart, premieres on vinyl. (Read more
Release Round-Up: Week of February 18
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Pink Floyd, PULSE: Restored and Re-Edited (Pink Floyd Records/Sony) 2 Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2 DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada PULSE, originally released in 1995, chronicled Pink Floyd's Division Bell Tour of Europe. The video release was taken from a performance at Earls Court in London on October 20, 1994. There, Pink Floyd (then comprised of founding members David Gilmour on vocals and guitar,
Have Yourself a Merry Little Discmas...
Wow! And just like that, another year has flown by. Just a few weeks before The Second Disc hits its 12th anniversary(!), this Christmas Eve it is our custom to look back on the last 12 months and take some time to think fondly of the music, magic, memories and friends that made our lives worth living. As if last year wasn't unconventional enough, 2021 packed more pop, clicks, skips and distortion than the most misguided vinyl pressings. We got vaccinated, we got boosted, we tentatively
The Beatles "Get Back" In New Hardcover Book Chronicling the "Let It Be" Sessions
A book about a film about an album? The new coffee table book from Callaway Arts and Entertainment and Apple Corps, The Beatles: Get Back, is essentially that: a hardcover, 240-page tome based on the film footage shot in the buildup to The Beatles' final album, 1970's Let It Be. Get Back was, of course, the name of the first version of Let It Be. It's also the name of director Peter Jackson's upcoming three-part, six-hour documentary (the first part of which premieres November 25 on the
Release Round-Up: Week of October 15
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! The Beatles, Let It Be: 50th Anniversary Edition [Various Formats] (Apple/Capitol/UMe) 5CD/Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 5LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 1LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada The Beatles' final album, Let It Be, arrives in deluxe editions to coincide with Peter Jackson's multi-part
Release Round-Up: Week of April 9
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Fleetwood Mac, Live: Super Deluxe Edition (Warner/Rhino) (Rhino.com / Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Rhino reissues Fleetwood Mac's 1980 Live - the first live album from the line-up of Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, John McVie, and Mick Fleetwood - as a deluxe 3CD/2LP/7″ box set. The two CDs and two LPs will both have the remastered original double album. The third CD will offer 14 previously unreleased
Listen to the Band: Andrew Sandoval Reveals "The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story" In June
Since its publication in 2005, author Andrew Sandoval's The Monkees: The Day-by-Day Story has been an indispensable reference tool for fans of Davy, Micky, Peter, and Michael - not to mention one helluva read. But as the years passed, the guide to all things Monkees went out of print, with secondhand copies fetching in the three-figure range. Happily, Sandoval has returned to the book for a completely new edition due this June. We were thrilled to have the chance to speak with the author
Release Round-Up: Week of November 20
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Live in Maui (Experience Hendrix/Legacy) 2CD/Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 3LP/Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Experience Hendrix and Legacy Recordings have a brand-new collection that celebrates The Jimi Hendrix Experience's near-mythic performances on Maui, Hawaii in 1970. Live In Maui brings together audio and video with a new feature-length documentary called Music,
Jump to It! Rhino Collects Aretha Franklin's Hits, Rarities, Never-Before-Released Tracks on New Box Set
It was late in 2015 when audiences across the country watched Aretha Franklin take the stage at The Kennedy Center Honors to salute honoree Carole King. The undisputed Queen of Soul tore into King, Gerry Goffin, and Jerry Wexler's "(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman" with blazing intensity and thrilling authenticity. She had not just sung these lyrics but lived them. Nearing the song's finale, she simply but defiantly dropped her fur coat to the floor, creating an instant viral moment
Review: The Rolling Stones' "Goats Head Soup 2020" Box Set Is Sure To Satisfy Your Hunger
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
I've Got a Feeling: The Road to "Let It Be" Chronicled on Upcoming Book, "The Beatles: Get Back"
UPDATED: Fans of the Fab Four now have November 25, 2021 on the calendar for the Disney+ launch of director Peter Jackson's three-part documentary The Beatles: Get Back. Now, the group's Apple Corps has joined with Callaway Arts and Entertainment to announce a tie-in project sure to get mouths salivating - The Beatles: Get Back, the book. The 240-page hardcover tome, the band's first authorized book release since the best-selling The Beatles Anthology, will be released on October 12,
Watching The Wheels: Kenneth Womack's New Biography "John Lennon: 1980" Offers A Comprehensive Look At The Artist's Later Days
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
This Is The Life: Weird Al's Drummer, Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, On His New Book Of Photos
Ever wonder what it's like to be behind one of the most famous comedy musicians of all time? Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz literally knows - and, for the first time, he's getting to tell his side of the story. The versatile drummer, who's played on every one of "Weird Al" Yankovic's records and tours for the past four decades, is releasing Black & White & Weird All Over: The Lost Photographs Of "Weird Al" Yankovic '83-'86 through 1984 Publishing on October 27, four days after Al's 61st
The Next Step Is Love: New Box Set Chronicles 50 Years Of Elvis Presley's 'That's The Way It Is'
Legacy Recordings' From Elvis in Nashville, focusing on The King's storied 1970 Music City sessions, isn't the only Elvis box set coming this year. Follow That Dream, the online-exclusive, collector-oriented Elvis label, also recently announced a massive collection: That's the Way It Is: 50th Anniversary Collector's Edition is a new look at the live recordings which comprised part of the multimedia project That's the Way It Is. Over 8 CDs, the box presents 128 tracks and more than 450 minutes of
Sweet, Sweet Fantasy: Mariah Carey Kicks Off 30th Anniversary Campaign
She famously doesn't count birthdays, but Mariah Carey is taking 2020 to commemorate the birth of her music career with some rare and unreleased material. Earlier this month, the pop icon announced #MC30, a celebration throwing all the way back to her self-titled debut, issued three decades ago this past June. The campaign promises weekly "digital EPs, remixes, bonus cuts, rare tracks, acapella moments and mind-blowing live performances" - and five releases have occurred so far. The first,
Book Review: "Along Comes The Association: Beyond Folk Rock and Three-Piece Suits" by Russ Giguere
"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
Release Round-Up: Week of May 8
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! John Stewart, Old Forgotten Altars: The 1960s Demos (Omnivore) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Omnivore brings together 19 previously unissued demos from late singer-songwriter and onetime Kingston Trio member John Stewart, perhaps best known for penning The Monkees' hit "Daydream Believer." While that song isn't here in demo form, numerous other bona fide Stewart classics certainly are, including "July, You're a Woman" (also
Loretta Lynn Pays Tribute to Patsy Cline With New Memoir and Single
On April 3, country music legend Loretta Lynn released a new book chronicling her friendship with another hero of the genre, Patsy Cline. Entitled Me & Patsy Kickin' Up Dust: My Friendship with Patsy Cline, the book is an endearing portrait of a relationship that not only changed the course of the singers' careers, but also the trajectory of country. Dolly Parton has provided the foreword. (Last year, Cline and Lynn's friendship was dramatized in the television film Patsy and Loretta,
Oh Yeah, Alright! Kenneth Womack Tells The Complete Story of "Abbey Road" in New Book "Solid State"
When The Beatles began recording Abbey Road over 50 years ago, They weren't the same Beatles that they'd been before. The stresses of the contentious and seemingly never-ending Get Back project, the appearances of new love interests, the managerial struggles with Apple and Allen Klein, and Dick James' divestment of their Northern Songs copyrights caused a wedge behind the scenes that threatened The Beatles' future. And yet, in a few short months, John, Paul, George, and Ringo managed to
Let the Wind Carry Me: Joni Mitchell's Stunning Volume of Handwritten Lyrics and Drawings Reviewed
Joni Mitchell doesn't look back. That's what fans have come to understand about the fearless songwriter, singer, poet, and visual artist. She's famously rejected reissue campaigns, career-spanning box sets, cash-in live albums, and hits collections. Over the years, though, she's begun to come around. She approved the DVD/Blu-ray of her 1970 appearance at the Isle of Wight and the LP reissue of the box set Love Has Many Faces, helped organize the Joni 75 tribute concerts, and recently gave the OK
UPDATE: Handwritten Lyrics, Rare Artwork Collected in Joni Mitchell's "Morning Glory On the Vine: Early Songs and Drawings," Signed Edition Due October 22
UPDATE: Joni Mitchell has signed 2,000 deluxe editions of her new book. Find out all the details on the standard and deluxe versions below! Music icon Joni Mitchell has been in the news a lot lately. In November, she organized and attended the Joni 75 birthday tribute concerts in her honor, which were turned into a film. There was also the 8-LP reissue of the Love Has Many Faces collection, Norman Seeff's photo book, the blue vinyl reissue of Blue, not to mention the release of Joni 75: A