It’s true: that upcoming Billy Joel compilation is indeed the tip of the iceberg. Legacy issued a press release late last night promising to burst open the floodgates of Billy Joel catalogue material in 2011. The Hits, the first single-disc compilation of the Piano Man’s music, kicks things off, followed by a dozen songs being made available for download on the upcoming Rock Band 3 video game. But next year? The press release promises a live release of the Shea Stadium concerts documented in this week’s new film The Last Play at…
Bad Religion Celebrate 30 Years with a Lot of Vinyl
Longtime punk rockers Bad Religion just celebrated their third decade of existence with a new album, last month’s The Dissent of Man. Now, they’re giving fans an even bigger present: a massive vinyl box set spanning almost their entire discography. Bad Religion 30th Anniversary Box Set gathers 15 studio albums in one spot, from debut LP How Could Hell Be Any Worse in 1981 to The Dissent of Man. This is significant for a number of reasons – it brings together the band’s output on original and current homebase Epitaph Records alongside…
All Things Come to Pass
A quick nugget for you audiophiles, collector’s and vinyl-heads out there: George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass is being reissued on vinyl to commemorate its 40th anniversary. It’s going to be a straight new remaster of the original, triple-disc set, which featured hits like “My Sweet Lord” and “What is Life.” (A 2001 CD remaster featured some extra vault material with new input from Harrison.) The domestic version, sold at all Record Store Day-participating indie shops, will be a numbered box set with the original artwork replicated in a lift top box….
Release Round-Up: Week of October 19
It’s hard to believe The Second Disc has never done an ongoing round-up of all the reissues, remasters, compilations and box sets. (Perhaps it felt redundant? Everyone does it.) But sometimes there’s just so much stuff to consider – especially with the holiday season fast approaching – so it’s time to jump on the bandwagon and give you, the treasured reader, a comprehensive list of what’s coming out in the catalogue world this week. The Beatles, The Beatles 1962-1966/ The Beatles 1967-1970 (Apple/EMI) The Fab Four have their most famous compilations –…
Back Tracks: Culture Club
It’s safe to say we’ve given Boy George more than enough time to realize his crime. The beleaguered singer has had more than his share of legal troubles throughout the ’90s and 2000s, and that has occasionally overshadowed the music he put out in the 1980s. This is a shame, since Culture Club was one of the better U.K. pop bands of the early ’80s. Don’t let George’s gender-bending look fool you. Heaven knows that’s become the primary takeaway for nostalgists, but there’s a lot more underneath the eye makeup and braids….
In Case You Missed It: Common’s “Resurrection,” Resurrected
The irony is so thick, you can cut it with a knife: lately, there’s been a lot of talk about the presence and/or absence of rap music being reissued, remastered and anthologized. The Guardian did a nice piece on the burgeoning rap reissue scene, and even yours truly threw his hat into the fray with a guest post on Record Racks back in August about seminal works of the genre that demand a reissue. It’s funny, then, that one particular rap reissue got lost in the shuffle a few months back. I’m…
From Marcy to Madison Square: Jay-Z Compilation Forthcoming (UPDATE 10/18)
A new compilation for rapper Jay-Z will be on store shelves very soon from Island Def Jam. The influential hip-hop artist/businessman has never had a compilation released stateside, outside of a bonus CD packed with special copies of last year’s DJ Hero video game. So this is quite a monument; the man born Shawn Carter is arguably the most pre-eminent figure in rap since the end of the 1990s. His career has weathered retirements, comebacks, feuds, reconciliations and the jump from Roc-a-Fella Records – the label he co-created – to new venture…
Is Warner Seeing Double with Green Day Singles Box?
A doubly odd little note appeared while news gathering yesterday: a post at the Broadway World Web site noted a few upcoming box sets from Warner Music Group – the aforementioned Tim Burton/Danny Elfman box set, deluxe editions of new albums by adult contemporary stars Josh Groban and Michael Buble – and there was a strange little note at the end, for a vinyl box set devoted to pop-punk leviathans Green Day. If that news sounded odd (or oddly familiar) to you – the band hasn’t much to promote, outside of the…
Sellout!
It’s no longer a snarky term to throw at indie bands that sign to a major label. Right now, “sellout” makes this author think of The Complete Elvis Presley Masters, Legacy’s massive 30-disc box set devoted to The King of Rock and Roll. Several days ago, it was confirmed to have sold all 1,000 copies – a monumental achievement, if not a surprising one. Readers, we’ve seen a growing number of limited sets finding their way into our collective catalogue consciousness. The soundtrack world has been dealing in this kind of release…
A Relatively Clear “Vision”
Well, what do you know? TMZ got it right. Epic and Legacy have announced Michael Jackson’s Vision, a three-DVD set of Jackson’s videography. Some 42 videos are included, several of them unreleased on any format. It’s also the closest MJ fans in the U.S. have gotten to getting the entirety of Moonwalker released, as most of the vignettes from that film are included. Will you want to get rid of your old compilations (Video Greatest Hits HIStory, HIStory on Film Volume II, Dangerous: The Short Films)? No, because each has a piece…
Review: David Bowie, “Station to Station” (2010)
There are box sets, and then there are box sets. EMI’s hulking, monster of a box dedicated to David Bowie’s 1976 Station to Station (EMI BOWSTSD2010) is one such box set. It’s even more massive than The John Lennon Signature Box, itself a lavish and large affair containing 11 discs. The multi-disc box celebrating a single album isn’t a new concept, although in the past such offerings were largely based upon session material. The format has proliferated in recent times as record labels have sought new revenue streams (in this case, from collectors)…
Just in Case You Had No Rolling Stones LPs on Vinyl… (UPDATED 10/12)
…or if you have no idea what to do with the $1,000 or so you put aside for gifts for that Stones fan in your family this year, you finally have an answer. MusicTAP reports that UMe’s releasing a massive pair of remastered, 180-gram vinyl box sets that cover a good chunk of the band’s discography. The Rolling Stones 1964-1969 features 11 of the band’s ABKCO-owned U.K. studio albums, from 1964’s self-titled LP to the 1975 outtakes compilation Metamorphosis, and also throws in two additional 12″ versions of the self-titled debut and…
Review: John Lennon, “Signature Box,” “Double Fantasy: Stripped Down” and “Gimme Some Truth”
Lift the lid off the giant box set (and objet d’art) The John Lennon Signature Box (EMI/Capitol 50999 906509 2 5) and you’ll see the word “YES” jumping out at you. YES is a good reaction to the thought of having (mostly) all of John Lennon’s solo studio output available in one place, remastered largely by the same team responsible for last year’s Beatles reissues, and accompanied by a hardcover book and art print. Is The John Lennon Signature Box, and its companion discs, an unqualified YES, however? Ummm…NO. But is it…
“Live at Leeds,” Now with More Live
As previously reported, Universal Music Enterprises is releasing another reissue of The Who’s Live at Leeds, now more super-deluxe than ever for the LP’s 40th anniversary. Now, from our friends at VVN Music, the full track lists have been unveiled for the previously unreleased Hull show. Live at Leeds: 40th Anniversary Edition will feature the full show recorded on Valentine’s Day 1970 at Leeds University (previously released in full for the first time in 2001) as well as the next night’s show in the city of Kingston upon Hull, considered to be…
Back Tracks: Morrissey
When discussing the increasing amount of catalogue projects and compilations surrounding one Steven Patrick Morrissey, it’s easy to turn his words against him. “Reissue! Repackage!” he sings with derision on The Smiths’ “Paint a Vulgar Picture.” “Re-evaluate the songs/Double-pack with a photograph/Extra Track (and a tacky badge).” Would the man who wrote and sang that song in 1987 have contempt for the man who, on this day, has reissued his first solo compilation, Bona Drag, 20 years on, with tracks long stored in a vault? Perhaps not; since the days of The Smiths,…
Back to the Street
Earlier this year, E1 Music struck gold with Sesame Street: Old School Vol. 1 (1969-1974), a three-disc reissue of some long out-of-print albums recorded by the children’s television show cast. It was a pleasant surprise for fans of the lovable Muppet citizens of Sesame Street, who’ve captivated audiences for 40 years and counting. On October 25, E1 continues the wave of reissues with Sesame Street: Old School Vol. 2, which will see three albums from the early, sunny days of the show put onto CD for the first time. There’s The Year…
Friday Feature: “The Karate Kid”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDi3an8WgN4] There’s probably no worse reminder of your own mortality than the idea of remaking a movie. “How long has it been since they made the original?” you wonder in silent horror. “Was it that long ago? Have people forgotten that quickly? Am I that old?” There’s no accurate litmus test to determine when the best elapsed time between originals and remakes is. George Clooney’s Ocean’s 11 came out in 2001, 41 years after the original Rat Pack vehicle. When Peter Jackson remade King Kong in 2005, 72 years had passed since…
The Burton-Elfman Monolith Emerges
It’s not every day you get to talk about two major box sets in a 24-hour span. And this one makes the U.K. Black Sabbath box look like something thrown into a digipak. The Danny Elfman & Tim Burton 25th Anniversary Music Box is ready to order. Sixteen CDs, a DVD, a 250-page book and a collectible USB drive, all loaded with a heap of unreleased music, demos, rarities and other jaw-dropping stuff. And it’s literally enormous. Check out the size of it in this video; it looks like a box for…
New U.K. Black Sabbath Box Set: What’s to Be Cross About?
Since The Second Disc began, we’ve seen more than a bit of Black Sabbath reissues and remasters, all of them confined to the United Kingdom, where the band’s catalogue is distributed by Universal Music Group’s Sanctuary Records (Warner Bros. handles it in the U.S.). The latest British-only set has been announced, and it’s a doozy. A new box, The Ozzy Years: Complete Albums Box Set, will make its way to U.K. record shops on November 15. It has exactly what it says: nine remastered Sabbath albums with Ozzy Osbourne as the lead…
Back Tracks: The Jam
The Jam were easily one of the best things to come from the U.K. punk-rock scene. This is an unusual consideration, given that nothing about the band really screamed punk-rock. The members of The Jam were polished in appearance and musical experience, and they were clearly influenced by American rock and R&B acts from Motown, Stax and Atlantic. They were as mod as one could get without joining the cast of Quadrophenia. But their sound had an edge that bands like The Clash and The Sex Pistols would share, making for a deft…
Is the Time A-Changin’ for Release of Mono Dylan on Vinyl?
The Bob Dylan section of Examiner.com reports “from a trusted source” that the vinyl edition of Dylan’s forthcoming The Original Mono Recordings will be pushed back to December 7. Not sure who the source is, but Amazon’s listing also has that December date. (The CD versions are still on track for October 19.) In other Dylan news, those who were waiting for confirmation on the promised Brandeis show as an Amazon exclusive now have their proof. Those who pre-order either The Witmark Demos 1962-1964 (The Bootleg Series Vol. 9) or The Original…
S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y! Rollermania Strikes Again in October
S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y! For many readers, that chant will undoubtedly conjure up images of a group of tartan-clad Scotsmen, whose catchy, hook-filled 45s led hordes of screaming teenagers and teenyboppers to the dance floor (alongside adults with discerning taste in irresistible pop music, of course!). The history of The Bay City Rollers is being celebrated by the fine folks of the U.K.’s Salvo Records with the October 4 release of a deluxe four-disc anthology they’ve quite accurately called Rollermania (Salvo SBX451). The enterprising label has already given us similar career-spanning box sets for bands as diverse…
Come and Get It, In One Shot: The Apple Box Set Announced
After months during which EMI kept us all guessing, official specs were finally released for the Apple Records reissue campaign, and The Second Disc duly reported that information back on August 5. As with most projects related to The Beatles and/or Apple Corps, however, there were as many questions as answers, even after the “final” information had been posted on the official Apple website. For one thing, why downloads? Fans were sharply divided as to how they felt about the practice of offering additional bonus tracks for many of the albums as…
Polled as Love
We kick off the weekend with a poll for you, dear readers: with the myriad of options coming up for Experience Hendrix/Legacy’s upcoming Jimi Hendrix box set, West Coast Seattle Boy: The Jimi Hendrix Anthology, which one do you think you’ll be picking up? Have fun voting! [polldaddy poll=3777262]
Don’t Look Now, There’s a Monkey on Your Back: “Faith” Reissue Delayed
In what may be the most potent anti-drug message for catalogue fans, George Michael’s reissue of Faith has been postponed. The singer, recently jailed for eight weeks for driving under the influence of drugs, was to have seen his solo album – a landmark of ’80s pop – reissued in several configurations on September 28. A Legacy spokesperson says the release has been delayed to next year. Stay tuned for more info as it develops.
