Earlier this year, Joni Mitchell brought her now-famous Joni Jam shows to the Hollywood Bowl for two sold-out evenings. A little more than 45 years ago, Mitchell closed out her North American tour with a series of shows some fifteen minutes away from the Bowl at the Greek Theatre; a selection from that concert closes the fourth volume of the Joni Mitchell Archives series of box sets. The Bowl shows proved another triumph for the artist who's now widely recognized for the innovations that
Holiday Gift Guide Review: 'Dearly Beloved: A Prince Celebration'
The holidays are a time of good cheer and gratitude, where we all (in theory) come together to share in a common joy. There has not been a lot of common joy if you're a Prince fan; we don't need to re-litigate it more than we did this summer, but it's worth noting that the quest to make intriguing, posthumous Prince projects under the current estate organization has maybe gotten worse than when we published our editorial. But there have been celebrations of The Purple One that honor his
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Alice Cooper, "Muscle of Love: Deluxe Edition"
Rare is the album that's better remembered for its packaging than its contents. But that may well be the case with the band Alice Cooper's seventh (and final) album, 1973's Muscle of Love. As it followed the Platinum-certified international chart-topper Billion Dollar Babies, hopes were high for the LP. It was greeted by lukewarm critical assessments, though, and "merely" reached No. 10 on the Billboard 200 and No. 34 on the U.K. Albums Chart. As such, it was inevitably considered a
Soundtrack Watch: Intrada's Last 2024 Score Reissues Include 'Out of Africa,' 'The Old Man and the Sea' and More
If the holidays are a time to release the biggest archival film scores on CD, Intrada certainly got the memo! Among their last reissues of 2024 include an expanded version of an Oscar winner by John Barry, a premiere release of a Maurice Jarre favorite, a reissue of a stalwart album by Jerry Goldsmith and a new recording of a beloved work from Dimitri Tiomkin - plus a soundtrack to a documentary on one of the better-known songwriters/scorers of the '70s. While Barry certainly gets accolades
It Had Better Be Tonight: Quartet Records Celebrates Henry Mancini with "Pink Panther" Premiere Plus "Darling Lili" and More
April 16, 2024 marked what would have been the 100th birthday of Henry Mancini (1924-1994). With over 125 films and 90 albums to his credit (not to mention television shows, stage productions, and more!), the late composer's richly melodic music is still very much a part of the American cultural tapestry. Spain's soundtrack specialist label Quartet Records wasn't about to let the Mancini centennial go unnoticed. The label has delivered four new Mancini releases just in time for the holidays,
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Steve Martin, 'Steve in a Box'
At this point in time, CD box sets have been a going concern (especially around the holidays) for nearly 40 years. Thousands of them have been released, and with the unexpected shift toward listening on vinyl (who'd have thought?) and digital (particularly streaming, which has a near-total grasp on music consumption today), you've got to have a really strong angle to encourage fans to part with some extra money and add new titles to their shelves. What more can be done? you (and sometimes we at
Release Round-Up: Week of December 13
It's Friday the 13th, but it just might be your lucky day for reissues! Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the titles available today. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Luther Vandross, Never Too Much: Greatest Hits (Epic/Legacy) 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada In conjunction with a new documentary film, Legacy Recordings issues a new double-disc anthology of the
Meet Danny Wilson! Cherry Red Revisits Scottish Pop Heroes in New Box Set
One of the most underrated pop acts of the late '80s will get the deluxe treatment in a new box set coming from Cherry Red next year: Scottish pop trio Danny Wilson. Complete Danny Wilson, due out February 28, will live up to its name across five discs comprising the band's two studio albums - Meet Danny Wilson (1987) and Bebop Moptop (1989) - along with two discs of B-sides and rarities and a live show featuring several unreleased performances. The set was assembled with the participation of
And If the Sun Comes Up Tomorrow: Hootie & The Blowfish Plan New Box Set
More than 30 years after enjoying one of the most successful debut albums of all time, Hootie & The Blowfish will kick off 2025 with a new career-spanning box set on Rhino Records. The Atlantic Years 1994-2003, available January 25, brings together all four studio albums the quartet recorded for the label in their first decade - the chart-toppers Cracked Rear View (1994) and Fairweather Johnson (1996), Musical Chairs (1998) and their self-titled 2003 effort - plus the 2000 covers
Touchin' The Wind: Iconoclassic Expands Dwight Twilley's "Scuba Divers" with Long-Lost "Blueprint" Sessions
Iconoclassic Records is ushering in 2025 with the newest addition to its ongoing Dwight Twilley reissue series - and this one's a doozy, with a whopping 25 tracks (eleven of which are previously unreleased). On January 31, the label will reissue the late artist's 1981 album Scuba Divers as Scuba Divers: Blueprint Edition, with the subtitle nodding to Twilley's much-coveted unreleased album. Twilley, the singer-songwriter's first solo album following two acclaimed albums with The Dwight
Release Round-Up: Week of December 6
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles out today. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Laura Nyro, Hear My Song: The Collection 1966-1995 (Madfish) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Madfish) Over three years after the release of its 8LP vinyl box set American Dreamer 1967-1978, the Madfish label is returning to the discography of late singer-songwriter Laura Nyro for the 19CD box set Hear My Song: The
Johnny Remember Me: Joe Meek's Tea Chest Tapes Series Continues with John Leyton Box Set
Cherry Red's series of Joe Meek's Tea Chest Tapes has been rolling along prolifically in 2024. Do the Strum! collected, on 3 CDs, many of the late Meek's productions for girl groups and female artists including Billie Davis, Glenda Collins, The Honeycombs, and many more. The Cryin' Shames' Please Stay, a 2-CD set, chronicled Meek's work with the Liverpool group that scored a U.K. hit with a cover of Burt Bacharach and Bob Hilliard's Drifters oldie "Don't Go (Please Stay)." Now, the
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Bob Dylan and The Band, "The 1974 Live Recordings"
Big things often come in small packages. Such is the case with Legacy Recordings' recent excavation of Bob Dylan and The Band's 1974 tour. 40 concerts took place over 30 dates and 21 cities, with Dylan, Robbie Robertson, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, Levon Helm, and Rick Danko even playing two shows in one day in many markets. The 1974 Live Recordings takes the form of a tiny cube, packing in 27 discs and 431 tracks (417 of which are previously unreleased). The set contains every
Forty Year Ache: Rosanne Cash Collects Favorites for New Compilation
Rosanne Cash, the oldest child of a country music icon and a superb, genre-hopping performer in her own right, will commemorate a museum exhibit of her life and career with a new career-spanning 2CD retrospective. The Essential Collection brings together 40 of Cash's most treasured recordings - half from her tenure on Columbia Records and the other from mostly 21st century work on the Capitol, Manhattan and Blue Note labels. The non-chronological set, curated by Cash herself, features all 10
THE SECOND DISC'S 2024 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE IS HERE!
Well, today is Cyber Monday, 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 over 50 essential selections: sprawling box sets and deluxe vinyl editions, as well as noteworthy releases on CD from favorite artists that just might make great stocking stuffers.
Soundtrack Watch: Varese and La-La Land Bow Their Final Score Surprises, from Blade to Bond
When La-La Land Records announced a bunch of big archival score titles for the beginning of November instead of their usual calendar-closing Black Friday announcement, it was safe to assume there were no more surprises coming from the label this year. Once again, that turned out to be quite untrue: in a reprise of last year's Christmas Day shocker and a follow-up to their reissue of Goldfinger in October, the label has announced two more titles for 2024: a pair of lovingly-restored John Barry
Release Round-Up: Week of November 29
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! While most labels are concentrating today on Record Store Day's Black Friday releases, we've chosen to spotlight a few non-RSD titles out today, as well. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Tommy Steele, On Air (Stage Door Pop) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Stage Door Records' Pop imprint celebrates The Happiest Millionaire and Half a Sixpence star Tommy Steele with On Air, a collection of 31 tracks culled
Mellow as a Shower on a Summer's Day: SoulMusic Celebrates Nancy Wilson on "You're as Right as Rain: The Capitol Albums 1970-1980"
For over 20 years, Nancy Wilson was a mainstay of the Capitol Records label. Deftly blending jazz, pop, soul, and rhythm and blues, the late chanteuse's distinctive tone anchored collaborations with the illustrious likes of Billy May, George Shearing, Cannonball Adderley, Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, Thom Bell, Eugene McDaniels, and numerous others. A sprawling new box set from Cherry Red's SoulMusic Records in association with The Second Disc brings her second decade with Capitol into sharp
May the Funk Be With You: Cherry Red's Robinsongs Boxes Up Five Discs of George Duke
George Duke (1946-2013) wore many hats throughout his long and varied career: keyboardist, composer, producer, arranger, singer. His solo discography encompassed 40 albums while his collaborations included LPs with such jazz luminaries as Jean-Luc Ponty, Billy Cobham, Stanley Clarke, and Dexter Gordon. He produced records for A Taste of Honey, Sister Sledge, Barry Manilow, Melissa Manchester, Miles Davis, Al Jarreau, and Smokey Robinson. Jazz was only part of the George Duke story, as his
Release Round-Up: Week of November 22
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles in stores today including a Christmas classic from Second Disc Records/Real Gone Music and a whole bunch of massive box sets! As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Sings Christmas Carols (Expanded Edition) (Second Disc/Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Real Gone Music) Over the past decade, we here at TSD have happily partnered with Real
'A Ghost' is Re-Born: Wilco Expand 2004 Album Into New Box Set
Following an acclaimed, Grammy-winning deluxe edition of Wilco's mainstream breakthrough Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, the same creative team will assemble a similar set for 2004 follow-up A Ghost is Born. The deluxe set - made up of either nine CDs or nine LPs and four CDs - packages the album alongside 65 previously unreleased tracks, including two sets of studio outtakes, a live concert and seven "fundamentals" from the band's recorded workshops during this same period. A 48-page hardcover book
Gotta Get In to Get Out: Genesis' 'The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway' Set for Deluxe Edition Next Year
Genesis will revisit one of their most beloved albums - and their final bow with original vocalist Peter Gabriel - in a new box set next year. Announced almost 50 years to the day of its original release in 1974, a new deluxe version of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway will be a multi-disc celebration - four CDs or five LPs, a Blu-ray Audio disc and a download card - of the group's acclaimed work. Inside the box will be a new remaster of the original mix of the album, done by Miles Showell with
Ike's Mood: Isaac Hayes' "Hot Buttered Singles 1969-1972" Arrives from Ace
Who's the black private dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks? If you answered "Shaft," you're damn right! When Isaac Hayes picked up the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1972 for the "Theme from Shaft," he was only the third African-American to win an Oscar - and the first in the field of music. Shaft remains the best-selling album in the Stax Records catalogue and one of the most successful soundtracks of all time; for Isaac Hayes, it was a triumph that built on the
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Elvis Costello, "King of America and Other Realms"
It was a fine idea at the time/Now it's a brilliant mistake... Elvis Costello delivered a powerful surprise in 1986 when he shed his backing band, The Attractions, and teamed up with T Bone Burnett for King of America. Originally credited in the U.K. to The Costello Show (Featuring The Attractions and Confederates) and in the U.S. to The Costello Show (Featuring Elvis Costello), the album backtracked from the sleek '80s polish of its two immediate predecessors (Punch the Clock and Goodbye
Release Round-Up: Week of November 15
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today...and, with the holidays approaching, it just might be the biggest release week of the year! As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. George Harrison, Living in the Material World: 50th Anniversary (Dark Horse) 2CD/2LP/1BD/1-7": Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon
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