Lucky for us, Loudon Wainwright III is only "so damn happy" on an infrequent basis. The singer-songwriter-humorist-satirist-actor (is that enough of a multi-hyphenate for you?) posited the question "Is it necessary to feel like shit in order to be creative?" He arrived at the final answer "yes!" but prefaced it with "unless you're J.S. Bach." Over the course of 91 songs on four CDs and another 38-plus on DVD, Shout! Factory's new box set 40 Odd Years (82663-12189, 2011) - dig the double
Release Round-Up: Week of May 3
Sade, The Ultimate Collection (Epic) The sultry British soul band anthologized across two discs, featuring several brand-new tracks - the perfect teaser for their long-awaited summer tour. (Official site) Loudon Wainwright, 40 Odd Years (Shout! Factory) The witty singer/songwriter is anthologized across four CDs and a DVD. Check for Joe's review later today! (Shout! Factory) Rush, Moving Pictures: Deluxe Edition (Blu-Ray) (Mercury/UMe) Already available at Best Buy since April, the
Six John Barry Scores Boxed Digitally By Silva Screen
John Barry may have passed away in January, but the film score titan has hardly been forgotten. Kritzerland just scored a quick sell-out on its new edition of Barry's score to Until September, while Quartet Records has reissued The Knack...and How to Get It on CD. The Classic Brit Awards has announced that Barry will be the first-ever posthumous recipient of an award, while a June 20 concert at London's Royal Albert Hall will celebrate his legacy with performances and remembrances from Sir
The Aeroplane Flies Higher: EMI Preps Three Years of Smashing Pumpkins Reissues
For Generation X, fewer names inspire emotions quite like Smashing Pumpkins. The Chicago-based alt-rock outfit, anchored primarily by singer, songwriter and sole remaining original member Billy Corgan, made rock music that was dark, atmospheric and ambitious - and yet somehow maintained commercial as well as critical success - before splintering in 2000 and reforming some six years later. While Corgan continues to lead Smashing Pumpkins through some interesting projects - he's been working on a
Release Round-Up: Week of April 26
Derek and the Dominos, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (Universal) The 2-CD remastered/expanded 40th Anniversary Edition (previously a Best Buy exclusive) and super deluxe 4-CD/2-LP/1-DVD box set of the seminal album both arrive in stores today. Read more here. (2-CD – Amazon, Box Set – Amazon) Bob Dylan, The Other Side of the Mirror: Live at the Newport Folk Festival 1963-1965 (Columbia/Legacy) Murray Lerner’s film chronicling Dylan’s incendiary performances at Newport is released on
Heavy Traffic: "The Jim Capaldi Story" Told On Upcoming Box Set
It's time to clear a space on your shelf next to Steve Winwood's 1995 box set The Finer Things or its 2010 counterpart Revolutions. The life and career of Winwood's longtime collaborator Jim Capaldi (1944-2005) is being celebrated by the fine folks at Universal U.K. with a lavish new box set, Dear Mr. Fantasy: The Jim Capaldi Story. Set for release on June 27, Dear Mr. Fantasy is named after one of Traffic's most beloved songs. It encompasses Capaldi's work with that group as well as early
Second Disc Advisory: Joe Takes Over!
Hey there catalogue enthusiasts! Just a quick note that Joe's got the reins of The Second Disc while I'm on vacation for a few days. We've made pretty sure that there shouldn't be much problems in transition, so business will continue as usual - likely with less '80s and soundtrack news, but still strong! I'll see everyone back here around Tuesday.
"Peace" Still Sells: Megadeth Album to Receive Deluxe Box Treatment
Dave Mustaine was determined not to become a footnote in heavy metal history. The guitarist had spent a mostly uneventful two years in the employ of a Los Angeles band named Metallica, who fired him shortly before recording their debut album, Kill 'Em All, in 1983. (Mustaine did pen four tracks on the record, including favorites "The Four Horsemen" and "Jump in the Fire.") Undeterred, Mustaine formed his own band, Megadeth, in 1985. Their debut, Killing is My Business...and Business is Good!,
Hip-o Select Preps Supremes' Final Sessions
The wait is over: Hip-o Select has finally anthologized the last years of one of Motown's most beloved groups - The Supremes - in their newest limited-edition set. Let Yourself Go: The '70s Albums, Vol. 2 1974-1977 - The Final Sessions fills in part of the story that hardcore Supremes fans know - that the group didn't just disappear when Diana Ross embarked on her stunning solo career. Jean Terrell replaced Ross on lead vocals on five Supremes LPs between 1970 and 1972. This era saw the last of
"Would You Believe" The Complete Hollies 1963-1968 Is Coming From EMI?
Fans of the Hollies have lately had plenty of items on their wish lists, thanks to recent releases from the Sundazed and BGO labels. Yes, it’s been quite a year in catalogue terms for the lads from Manchester! EMI’s U.K. arm continues the celebration with the May 9 release of one whopper of a box set. The Clarke, Hicks & Nash Years (what about Bobby Elliott? Just askin’!) is subtitled The Complete Hollies: April 1963 – October 1968, and if this is somewhat of a fallacy, it’s more or less the
Review: Howard Jones, "The 12" Album/Action Replay: Remastered Editions"
Less is more, they tell you. If a song like "Yesterday" was done with a full band, would it have retained its emotional impact than its original, heartrending arrangement? Now, that argument often rings true, but sometimes a little more is pretty fun, too. Anyone who enjoys the music of the 1980s can attest to this. Some of the best hits of that decade were flush with production techniques and overdubs that would have been shunned in decades past. The synthesizer and the drum machine became the
Right On: Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" Receives 40th Anniversary Box Set (UPDATED WITH TRACK LIST)
Smokey Robinson has called it "the greatest album of all time." Rolling Stone ranked it in the Top Ten in its survey of the Greatest Albums of All Time, at No. 6. Marvin Gaye's What's Going On broke the Motown mold as Gaye delivered one of the most personal albums of all time: impassioned, outraged, haunting, beautiful and altogether unexpected. That seminal LP was released on May 21, 1971 and has remained in print since. Ten years ago, for its thirtieth anniversary, Motown reissued What's Going
Welcome to the "House of Rufus"
Think Loudon Wainwright III's Forty Odd Years box set is exhaustive? The singer-songwriter's son, Rufus, just topped it - and then some. We previously reported that Rufus Wainwright was planning a massive career-spanning box set, but Universal Music just revealed details on the scope of House of Rufus, due out this summer. Altogether, the set includes 19 - count 'em, 19! - discs, featuring every studio and live record Wainwright's ever released and then some. According to a post on Rufus'
Release Round-Up: Week of April 12
Bob Dylan, In Concert: Brandeis University, 1963 (Columbia/Legacy) Did you miss this when it first came to pass as a bonus disc with Amazon orders of the latest Bootleg Series? Here's your second chance. (Official site) Danny Elfman, The Tim Burton/Danny Elfman 25th Anniversary Music Box (Warner Bros.) Can you believe it? These things are finally starting to ship after four months and endless posts of addressing speculation and delays. (Official site) Jimi Hendrix, South Saturn Delta / Band
Soundtrack Round-Up: La-La Land's Next Releases, "TRON" on Demand and More Elfman Box Goodies
Here's some news from around the world of catalogue soundtrack releases, including developments on notable box sets and a surprise expansion from La-La Land Records. The busy label has finally announced a release date of next Tuesday, April 12, for their biggest-sized title yet - an eight-disc box set of music from the Medal of Honor video game series. The long-running franchise, conceived by Steven Spielberg for the Sony PlayStation game console, has featured music by several composers, most
Short Takes: More News on Queen Reissues, Stax Expansions, Howard Jones Box Ships
Queen's official site issued a press release yesterday confirming a June 13 release date in the U.K. of the next batch of the band's reissues. News of the World (1977), Jazz (1978), The Game (1980), Flash Gordon (1980) and Hot Space (1982) will comprise this batch. No bonus material has been announced (nor has a U.S. release date been set), but a Deep Cuts compilation will accompany the discs. We have our friends at Vintage Vinyl News to thank for this tip: Concord Records is releasing three
Back Tracks: Nirvana
Seventeen years ago today, Generation X lost an icon when Kurt Cobain, the talented, troubled frontman for Nirvana, took his own life in his Seattle home. Nirvana were three albums into their career, but had already redefined music for an entire cachet of disaffected youth. The genre that came to be known as grunge music, based on frequently alternating dynamics, heavy distortion and angst-filled lyrics, was forged largely under the songwriting tactics of Cobain, who very reluctantly accepted
Review: Aretha Franklin, "Take a Look: Aretha Franklin Complete on Columbia"
Some legends are repeated so often that they’ve come to be accepted as the truth. One such legend has it that the suits at Columbia Records, circa 1960-1965, were a chain of fools who kept Aretha Franklin from reaching her potential. After all, the record states that one year and one record after being released from Columbia, a superstar was born. But what if that notion was completely incorrect, and Aretha Franklin’s talent was already fully formed and on display at Columbia? Listen to the
Ozzy's "Blizzard" and "Madman" LPs to Be Expanded in May (UPDATE 4/4)
UPDATE 4/4: This isn't particularly new, but in case anyone stumbled upon this post, there was some initial confusion as to the existence of bonus tracks on the Diary of a Madman set. Everything has now been properly edited. Original post: Last year, Legacy promised to turn October into "Rocktober" with the reissues of Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman, the first two solo albums by Ozzy Osbourne. Those reissues were unsurprisingly well-received by fans, particularly following the revelation
The Second Disc is Grand
Well, one grand, anyway. This post is the 1,000th regular post on The Second Disc. I think I speak for myself and Joe pretty well when I say this is damn exciting. With our hit count now regularly around 3,000 and up per day, it's heartening to know that so many people (or a few people a lot of times per day, or robots) like reading news on reissues and box sets, and the crazy would-be sets that we'd like to think could be made in the future. On the right side of the page, we have a link called
Reissue Theory: Aretha Franklin at Arista
The music industry is littered with careers that crashed after a second chance at the spotlight. This could have easily befallen even a legend like Aretha Franklin; the Queen of Soul had in fact risen on a second chance at Atlantic after a largely unsuccessful career with Columbia, but by the late 1970s, Aretha's attempts to fall in with the trends of rhythm and blues were frequently derided, and ultimately she would sever her ties with the label. Against all odds - not counting the fact that
We Will Box You: Queen Remasters Box Coming to U.S.
Just a quick note for those of you thinking about how you're going to tackle these Queen remasters when they come to the United States on May 17 (they're of course already available in the U.K.): just as England got a special box of all five deluxe editions, so will we. But it's not going to be found in any store. Queen's Facebook page (the band is actually really good at using social media to update fans appropriately) just linked to an Amazon-exclusive Queen 40 box that will contain the
Reissue Theory: Aretha Franklin, "Sweet Passion: The Lost Atlantic Years"
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we reflect on great albums and the reissues they could someday see. Aretha Franklin began her groundbreaking stint at Atlantic Records in 1967 and it wasn’t long before a legendary star was in the ascendant. Yet the final chapter of Aretha’s Atlantic story has been all but forgotten. Today’s Reissue Theory takes us back to 1974 as we revisit the “lost albums” of Aretha Franklin. There are plenty of adjectives that can be used to describe
Release Round-Up: Week of March 29
Derek and The Dominos, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs: 40th Anniversary Edition (Polydor/UMe) Unbeknownst to us at Second Disc HQ, a lot of weird stuff has been going on with this deluxe edition. It seems that, for whatever reason, the 2-CD edition of this set is retailing only at Best Buy until April 26, at which point it'll be released more widely. No extra material seems to be present, just a lengthy lead time in terms of exclusivity. Weird, man. And of course there's that super-deluxe
Short Takes: "Beauty and the Beat" Expansion, Another Wainwright Box, The Truth is Out There
The Go-Go's iconic Beauty and the Beat (1981) will be expanded in May by EMI, reports the band's official site. The band, which recently announced a summer tour to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the chart-topping album (which featured Top 20 single "Our Lips Are Sealed" and No. 2 hit "We Got the Beat"), will see several versions of the album, including a hot-pink vinyl edition and a double-disc set on CD featuring a vintage live set. Loudon Wainwright III's 40 Odd Years box set is due from
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