The fall is upon us, and we all know what that means: the holiday shopping season is right around the corner. Like so many years in recent memory, 2011 is marked by a crowded field of super deluxe catalogue boxes, from venerable artists like Pink Floyd, Elvis Presley, Sting, The Who, Nirvana and Jethro Tull. One more hotly-anticipated box set is Rhino's lavish celebration of The Doors' L.A. Woman, which celebrated its 40th anniversary back in April. We duly passed Rhino's initial press
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
Bruce Springsteen, Tony Bennett, Bob Dylan, Metallica Join Neil Young For "Bridge School Concerts" CD/DVD
Who but Neil Young could have brought The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sonic Youth, Ben Harper, Eddie Vedder, Paul McCartney, Tony Bennett, and Los Lonely Boys together on the same stage? Though Young is an easy target for what can appear as a capricious attitude towards his back catalogue – announcing, then delaying or cancelling titles with alarming frequency – one aspect of the man’s great legacy cannot be in dispute, and that is his philanthropy. Since 1986, Young and his wife Pegi have offered
Release Round-Up: Week of September 27
'Tis the season! The big guns for the fourth quarter are starting to be drawn. Elvis Presley, The Young Man with the Big Beat / Elvis Presley: Legacy Edition (RCA/Legacy) The newest Elvis box set is all about 1956: five CDs of complete studio masters, outtakes, vintage audio interviews and live material. For the casual fan, the Elvis Presley Legacy Edition includes the Elvis Presley and Elvis LPs with the hit non-LP singles of that era. (Official site) Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon:
Howlin' Wolf Boxed Up from Hip-o Select
The name Chester Arthur Burnett might not mean anything to the average music fan, but mention his famous nickname - Howlin' Wolf - and the game changes. Howlin' Wolf was one of the pioneers of the blues, a legend on the Chicago scene and a powerful force to be reckoned with on the electric guitar. Hip-o Select celebrates his lengthy legacy through a new four-disc box set of recordings for his longtime home base, Chess Records. Wolf was signed to Leonard Chess' label in 1951, and began to craft
Come to the Pop Market, Part Two: Box Sets Planned For Brubeck, Holiday, Weather Report and Mahavishnu Orchestra
Yesterday we reported on eight new box sets drawn from the Columbia and RCA Victor archives and available through Sony’s PopMarket site. While those titles dedicated to Earth Wind & Fire, Electric Light Orchestra, Leonard Cohen, Paul Desmond, Dexter Gordon, Wynton Marsalis, Woody Shaw and Nina Simone are all currently available or due for release shortly, another batch is already on the schedule for November. On November 11, Legacy Recordings opens the vaults to the rich legacy of jazz at
EMI U.K. Opens Up a "Box O' Snakes"
Here they go again: EMI is releasing a hefty box of the earlier works of acclaimed rock band Whitesnake, according to Classic Rock. While most remember Whitesnake for the leadership of onetime Deep Purple vocalist David Coverdale - the sole original member of the band, as it stands - and the 1987 smash hit "Here I Go Again" (aided by that oft-referenced music video featuring Tawny Kitaen slithering on the hood of a Jaguar) - the band in fact traces their roots to 1978, in what began as the
This Mortal Coil Box Set Not Too Thrown Off
Beggar's Archive has announced a comprehensive box of the music of This Mortal Coil, 4AD Records' beloved dreampop collective. Though the band was anchored by label head Ivo Watts-Russell, they were far from the "house band" at 4AD. Featuring a free-flowing lineup that featured members of Dead Can Dance, The Cocteau Twins, Dif Juz and the Pixies, the band was crafted, per the official website, "to allow artists the creative freedom to record material outside of the realm of what was expected of
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
Singular Genius, Revisited: Ray Charles' "Complete ABC Singles" Coming In November, Plus Live DVD
For Ray Charles, creative freedom was as easy as ABC. After a successful tenure at Atlantic spanning the years 1952 and 1959, the Genius was ready to move on, or hit the road, as a later album title would proclaim. Under the auspices of Atlantic producer Ahmet Ertegun, Charles recorded a seminal series of history-making recordings in both the jazz and R&B fields, the latter a particular Atlantic specialty. With the 1959 single “What’d I Say,” Charles crossed over to the burgeoning teen
Come As They Are: A Reminder on Nirvana's "Nevermind" Formats
It's about a week until Nirvana's Nevermind inundates record store shelves, and it seemed like a good idea to sort everything out, for the sake of clarity when September 27 rolls around. Of course, as previously reported, there are four major formats for this reissue: a single-disc remaster of the original album, a double-disc deluxe edition, a four-vinyl LP set and a four-CD/one-DVD super deluxe edition. It's worth noting, however, that the vinyl set will street a week later, on October 4. And
The Piano Man, Boxed: Billy Joel Celebrated With "Complete Albums Collection" and "Piano Man" Legacy Edition
The music and lyrics of Billy Joel run deep in the fabric of American popular song: "Sing us a song, you're the piano man." "I'm in a New York state of mind." Joel was that rare singer/songwriter whose career took off in the 1970s, with one foot rooted in the Tin Pan Alley tradition and another squarely in rock-and-roll, who continued to soar in the 1980s with indelible videos for the MTV era, among them "Uptown Girl" opposite his soon-to-be-wife Christie Brinkley. He had proven his
Release Round-Up: Week of September 20
Miles Davis Quintet, Live in Europe 1967: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1 (Columbia/Legacy) A three-CD/one-DVD collection of live stints from Belgium, Germany, France and Sweden, and the inaugural title in a new series of archival material for Miles. And Joe's got the review this week! (Official site) DeBarge, Time Will Reveal: The Complete Motown Albums (Hip-o Select/Motown) All four of DeBarge's classic '80s R&B LPs on two discs, with a further bonus disc of remixes and rarities. (Hip-o
UPDATED: Short Takes: "Some Girls" Super Deluxe Set Due In November, Seger Goes Digital...and Beatles in 5.1?
Mick Jagger has been hitting the promotion trail to hype his upcoming SuperHeavy album (a group consisting of Jagger, Joss Stone, Damian Marley, Dave Stewart and A.R. Rahman) which is due in stores on September 20. But the moonlighting Rolling Stones frontman let slip the news of a deluxe edition of the band's 1978 classic Some Girls, in the style of last year's revamp of 1972's Exile on Main Street. That news has since been made official. (Thank you to the dynamite folks at MusicTAP for the
Passions Just Like Mine: Smiths Mega-Box Arrives in U.S.
Ready your credit cards! Rhino has the super-exhaustive Smiths box set ready for order in the United States. As previously reported, the set is available in three distinct formats: a box set of the band's eight main albums on CD, remastered by Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr and Frank Arkwright; a box of those albums on 12 vinyl LPs and a mega-box - limited to 4,000 copies worldwide - featuring all the CDs and vinyl with 25 bonus 7" singles, art prints and The Complete Picture DVD. While it's not
Release Round-Up: Week of September 13
Jimi Hendrix, Winterland / Hendrix in the West / Blue Wild Angel: Live at the Isle of Wight Festival / The Dick Cavett Show (Experience Hendrix/Legacy) Another wave of Hendrix catalogue titles from Legacy, all of a live nature. The Winterland set captures The Jimi Hendrix Experience's legendary run at the venue of the same name over four discs (or one, if you're into the whole brevity thing), while In the West provides an expanded, slightly alternate presentation of the posthumous live LP. The
Sting Strikes Again with New Best-Of
Is the recently-announced Sting box set too comprehensive, too expensive, or not stocked with enough rarities for you? Universal attempts to throw fans something of a bone with a cut-down version of the box, The Best of 25 Years, due for release in October. Admittedly, the single-disc set is a bit of an odd duck itself, omitting anything but eight of the most obvious singles alongside four bonus tracks: a new mix of "Never Coming Home" (presumably one of the newly-mixed tracks featured on the
He's Got Rhythm: Bill Wyman's Post-Rolling Stones Career Gets Boxed
When Bill Wyman took the stage on August 25, 1990 at London’s Wembley Stadium alongside his fellow Rolling Stones, few in the audience could have predicted that the evening would turn out to be Wyman’s final stand with the group he joined in 1962. That final night found Wyman truly going out on top; the Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle tour marked a return to touring for the group after a seven-year hiatus, and was among the most commercially successful concert tours ever. Word on Wyman’s decision
No Longer Wond'ring Aloud: Details Finally Arrive For "Aqualung" Super-Deluxe Box
The super-deluxe parade continues. We first reported on the 40th anniversary box set of Jethro Tull’s Aqualung back on June 3, and now we can thank our pals at MusicTAP for revealing details of the set’s rather overwhelming contents! On October 31 in the U.K., EMI will unveil the 2-CD/1-LP/1 DVD/1 BD Aqualung box set alongside a 2-CD distillation, housed in a digipak and containing a 48-page booklet. Amazon isn’t currently showing an American release date, though a domestic arrival is
Listen to the Music of the Night: "Phantom" Box Coming to the U.K.
Two decades after The Beatles ushered in the first British Invasion, the Brits were back. This time, they had their sights set on Broadway, traditionally home to one of America’s great indigenous art forms, the musical. The British Invasion of the 1980s saw the work of American musical theatre legends like Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman, Cy Coleman and John Kander and Fred Ebb take a seeming back seat to lavish spectaculars imported from London, often with iconic logos and some kind of special
Queen News Round-Up: Wembley Goes Deluxe, U.S. Date Set for Last Wave of Reissues
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe0gIFxYhrk] The worldwide celebration of what would have been the 65th birthday of iconic Queen frontman Freddie Mercury has captured the public imagination something fierce - check out Google's astounding video tribute above - and The Second Disc couldn't help but add to the celebration with some news and updates on the band's ongoing catalogue endeavors. First of all, deep-pocketed fans will want to be on the lookout for a super-deluxe edition of the
Release Round-Up: Week of September 6
John Coltrane, The Impulse! Albums Volume 4 (Hip-o Select/Verve) Five discs encompass five of Coltrane's posthumous releases for the venerable jazz label. (Hip-o Select) Frank Sinatra & Count Basie, The Complete Reprise Studio Recordings (Concord) All 20 of the legendary performers' tunes together on one disc. (Concord) Various Artists, Godspell: 40th Anniversary Celebration (Sony Masterworks) Just in time for the new Broadway revival, a two-for-one deal: the original 1971 cast album
The Masses Against the Classes: Manic Street Preachers Comp Coming This Fall
Specs for National Treasures, the latest compilation by Manic Street Preachers, have been announced. The new double-disc set, to be released in the U.K. October 31, presents all of the Welsh alt-rock band's U.K. singles for Columbia Records, along with one of the band's early, self-released singles ("Motown Junk") and a new cover of The The's "This is the Day," which will be released as a single later this month. A host of special packages will be made available from the group's native
Who's Next? "Quadrophenia" Gets The "Director's Cut" Treatment In November [UPDATED 8/31 WITH TRACK LIST]
UPDATE: The full press release with track list is now after the jump. Original post:After Tommy, there was Jimmy. He’s the protagonist of Pete Townshend’s rock opera Quadrophenia, first a 1973 2-LP studio album by The Who, then a 1979 film and most recently a 2009 musical. Never one for small ideas, Quadrophenia was Townshend’s way of working out the relationship between the band and its fans while telling the story of a prototypical Mod Who fan. The album yielded some of The Who’s most
From Monro With Love: "The Singer's Singer" Box Set Due From EMI
Matt Monro never met a genre of music he didn’t like. Whether covering standards, tackling contemporary pop hits or singing in Spanish, that reassuring, velvet croon, unerring interpretive skills and all-around good taste made Matt Monro “the singer’s singer.” A 2001 EMI box set of that title was a limited edition of 3,000 copies, and quickly disappeared from store shelves, but EMI will re-offer that 103-track box set in a budget-priced reissue due in the U.K. on September 12. And it gets
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