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The Complete Keen Years (1957-1960)

January 6, 2020 By

Sam Cooke Keen packshot

ABKCO's release of The Complete Keen Years (1957-1960) kicks off a year-long celebration of Sam Cooke, who would have turned 90 years old on January 22, 2021.  This 5-CD box showcases Cooke's early work as a pop craftsman at the end of the 1950s.  Cooke recorded three albums for Keen: a self-titled debut (also known as Songs By Sam Cooke), Encore, and Tribute To The Lady ("the lady" in this case being Billie Holiday, who died the same year). Those LPs were mostly built around standards from The

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Formats: Box Sets, CD, Vinyl Genre: Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul

He Sends Us: Sam Cooke's Keen Years Collected In New Box

January 6, 2020 By The Second Disc 14 Comments

Sam Cooke Keen

Sam Cooke would have turned 90 on January 22, 2021, but that's not stopping the party from starting a little early! This month, The King of Soul will be celebrated with a new box set featuring five of his albums for the Keen label. The Complete Keen Years (1957-1960) showcases Cooke's early work as a pop craftsman at the end of the 1950s. At the beginning of the decade, Cooke was a teenage sensation as a member of gospel group The Soul Stirrers. But his interest in R&B and pop could not

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD, Vinyl Genre: Pop, R&B/Soul Tags: Sam Cooke

Year-End Review: Bob Dylan, "The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings"

January 6, 2020 By Sam Stone 2 Comments

Bob Dylan Rolling Thunder Revue Cover

As we continue to look back on the year that was, it's hard to disagree that Bob Dylan was 2019's king of the reissue. Since releasing More Blood, More Tracks in time for the holidays in 2018, Legacy Recordings and the Dylan team approved MoFi's deluxe audiophile version of Blood on the Tracks; celebrated the first leg of the famed Rolling Thunder Revue with a new film, CD box set, and LP reissue; delivered a new Bootleg Series installment focusing on his time in Nashville in the late '60s; and

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Categories: Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Classic Rock Tags: Bob Dylan, Eric Andersen, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Robbie Robertson, Roger McGuinn

The Year in Review: The 2019 Gold Bonus Disc Awards, From A to Z

January 3, 2020 By The Second Disc 4 Comments

gold cd

Happy 2020 and welcome to The Second Disc's 10th Annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards! It's time once again to recognize this year's cream of the crop - those exemplary reissues and box sets big and small that proved to be truly outstanding products for music lovers worldwide.  There was no shortage of great reissue titles in 2019; in fact, by our count, we covered over 700 releases in all!  And after much deliberation, we're excited to unveil our favorites.  This isn't your run-of-the-mill Top 10,

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: Blu-Ray, Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, DVD, Vinyl Genre: Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Country, Folk, Jazz, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul, Rock, Soundtracks Tags: Gold Bonus Disc Awards

Back to Earth [Various Formats]

December 23, 2019 By

CatStevens BackToEarth box 2

5-CD/2-LP/Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. link not yet live / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP black vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP color vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Cat Stevens is revisiting his 1978 album Back to Earth in a mammoth 5-CD/2-LP/1-BD box set as well as standard CD and vinyl editions of just the remastered original album. The super deluxe set pairs the new remaster with a disc of live tracks from

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Formats: Blu-Ray, Box Sets, CD, Vinyl Genre: Pop

Déjà Vu: The Arista Recordings (1979-1994)

December 23, 2019 By

Dionne Warwick Deja Vu

Encompassing a whopping 159 tracks including 29 bonuses, the 12-CD box set Déjà Vu: The Arista Recordings (1979-1994) features all twelve of Dionne Warwick's classic Arista Records albums from the Barry Manilow-produced Dionne (1979) through the tropically-flavored Aquarela Do Brasil (1994), all newly remastered by Nick Robbins.  This period saw Warwick team with producers including Barry Gibb, Luther Vandross, Steve Buckingham, Jay Graydon, Kashif, and Smokey Robinson, and also reunite with

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Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Pop, R&B/Soul

The Island

December 23, 2019 By

Johnny Mathis Island

The 1989 "lost" album by Johnny Mathis is lost no more! Renowned producer Sergio Mendes of Brasil '66 fame and arranger-guitarist Dori Caymmi joined Mathis on The Island to subtly modernize the classic sounds of bossa nova and samba. He delivered some of his most sensual vocals ever for ten smoldering songs by Caymmi, Mendes, Ivan Lins, Brenda Russell, Alan and Marilyn Bergman, and others. Featuring a small rhythm section including talents like Robbie Buchanan, Paulinho da Costa, and Toto's Jeff

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Formats: CD Genre: Pop, R&B/Soul

Holiday Gift Guide Reviews: A Rhino Round-Up with Bad Company, Rush, Van Halen, Hootie, STP and The Notorious B.I.G.

December 23, 2019 By The Second Disc 2 Comments

StoneTemplePilots Purple pl

Many of this year's finest box sets came courtesy of the Rhino label.  Here, Joe and Randy take a look at a few more of our favorites!  First up are Randy's three picks... First up is Rhino's 25th anniversary 3-CD/1-LP Super Deluxe Edition of Stone Temple Pilots' Purple. Initially hitting shelves on June 7, 1994, the band's sophomore album would debut atop the Billboard 200 and stay there for three weeks, eventually becoming the group's second best-selling album after their debut effort,

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Categories: Holiday Gift Guide, News, Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, DVD, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Pop, Rap/Hip-Hop, Rock Tags: Bad Company, Hootie and The Blowfish, Rush, Stone Temple Pilots, The Notorious B.I.G., Van Halen

Who's In Love Here: Second Disc, Real Gone Release Johnny Mathis' Lost Album "The Island" in February

December 23, 2019 By The Second Disc 6 Comments

Johnny Mathis Island

Johnny Mathis has recorded many romantic albums over the past seven decades, but none quite like The Island. Recorded in 1989 but unreleased for decades, The Island transported listeners to Brazil, with all of its mystique and magic.  On February 7, this lost classic arrives in a new deluxe edition - its first-ever release on standalone CD - from Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music. Renowned producer Sergio Mendes of Brasil '66 fame and arranger-guitarist Dori Caymmi joined Mathis to

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal Tags: Dionne Warwick, Johnny Mathis, Sergio Mendes

Holiday Gift Guide Review: Nat King Cole, "Hittin' the Ramp: The Early Years (1936-1943)"

December 20, 2019 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Nat King Cole Hittin the Ramp

The first voice you hear on Resonance Records' exhilarating new box set Nat King Cole - Hittin' the Ramp: The Early Years (1936-1943) isn't that of the famous artist. Rather, it's his older brother and bassist Eddie Cole warbling teenaged Nat's sprightly composition "Honey Hush." Nat, of course, is the one tickling the ivories with confidence, grace, and an already sure sense of swing. Although he hadn't yet formed his famous trio (and the lineup here credited as "Eddie Cole's Solid Swingers" is

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Categories: Holiday Gift Guide, Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Jazz, Popular Standards/Vocal Tags: Nat King Cole

Release Round-Up: Weeks of December 20 and 27, and January 3

December 20, 2019 By The Second Disc 8 Comments

Hot Rats Sessions

Welcome to our final Release Round-Up of 2019!  This edition covers today's releases as well as those of the next two weeks, the quietest time of the year for new releases.  The weekly Release Round-Up will be back on January 10.  In the meantime, Happy Holidays to all! Frank Zappa, The Hot Rats Sessions (Zappa/UMe) 6CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada This 6-CD box set explores Frank Zappa's 1969 primarily instrumental solo

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Categories: Release Round-Up Formats: Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Classical/Opera, R&B/Soul, Rock, Soundtracks Tags: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Arthur Schwartz, Cleo Laine, Deep Purple, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Four Tops, Frank Zappa, Franz Reizenstein, Jerry Garcia, John Williams, Merl Saunders, Sandy Wilson, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, The Marvelettes, The Temptations

Holiday Gift Guide Review: Mariah Carey, "Merry Christmas: Deluxe Anniversary Edition"

December 19, 2019 By Randy Fairman 1 Comment

Mariah Carey Merry Christmas Deluxe

Sitting atop the Billboard Hot 100 this week is a song which took a quarter-century to reach that peak: Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You." The song achieved a couple of milestones with that ranking: it now holds the record for the longest time between a song's debut and its reaching the top of the charts, and it's the first Christmas song to reach the peak in 60 years since The Chipmunks did it in 1959. Before this new milestone for Carey's tune, the song and the album of its

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Categories: Holiday Gift Guide, Reviews Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming Genre: Holiday, Pop Tags: Mariah Carey

Holiday Gift Guide Review: Margaret Whiting, "Let's Fall in Love: The Lost Recordings Vol. 2"

December 19, 2019 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

Margaret Whiting Lets Fall in Love

Three years ago, Sepia Records and My Ideal Music celebrated the late, great Margaret Whiting with Dream: The Lost Recordings, a 2-CD collection of rare radio performances. Now, the long-awaited follow-up has arrived. Let's Fall in Love: The Lost Recordings Vol. 2 has been worth the wait. Like the first volume, the recordings premiering on Let's Fall in Love - a whopping 56 songs, complementing the 57 on Volume 1 - have been culled from The Barry Wood Show, a syndicated radio program for

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Categories: Holiday Gift Guide, News, Reviews Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming Genre: Popular Standards/Vocal Tags: Margaret Whiting

Holiday Gift Guide Reviews: Cherry Red's Esoteric and Grapefruit Imprints Offer Diverse Box Sets

December 19, 2019 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Across the Great Divide

Cherry Red's ongoing series of small clamshell box sets filled with big content make for the perfect stocking stuffer! Here's a look at three more titles you might have missed... Climax Blues Band's The Albums 1973-1976 is the second such box set released this year by Cherry Red's Esoteric Recordings imprint, following The Albums 1969-1972. This 4-CD set contains the following albums, culminating in the biggest commercial triumph for the band that began its life as The Climax Chicago Blues

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Categories: Holiday Gift Guide, News, Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Classic Rock, Country, Folk, Pop Tags: Bridget St. John, Climax Blues Band, Faces, Iain Matthews, Procol Harum, Rod Stewart, The Hollies, The Marmalade, The Tremeloes, Various Artists

Extravagant Gestures: Cherry Red, SoulMusic Box Up Dionne Warwick's Arista Albums on New 12-CD Set

December 18, 2019 By Joe Marchese 7 Comments

Dionne Warwick Deja Vu

Over 40 years ago, Dionne Warwick left Warner Bros. Records and signed to Clive Davis' Arista label to begin a new chapter in her remarkable career - a career which happens to be going as strong as ever today.  Now, Cherry Red's SoulMusic imprint has announced a 12-CD box celebrating Warwick's Arista period.  Due on February 28, 2020, Déjà Vu: The Arista Recordings (1979-1994) collects all of her acclaimed albums for the label and rounds up over two dozen previously released bonus

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Pop, R&B/Soul Tags: Barry Gibb, Barry Manilow, Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, Dionne Warwick, Luther Vandross

Holiday Gift Guide Review: David Bowie, "Conversation Piece"

December 17, 2019 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

David Bowie Conversation Piece

The new David Bowie box set is entitled Conversation Piece - and it's an apt one, as this set is certain to inspire conversations punctuated with cheers. Quite simply, this slipcased, hardcover-book style collection featuring five CDs of material recorded by the late superstar in 1968-1969 is one of the year's best boxes: an exquisite, museum-quality release that exceeds all expectations. Necessity may indeed be the mother of invention, as the set ostensibly exists because of the desire to

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Categories: Holiday Gift Guide, Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Classic Rock, Pop Tags: David Bowie

UPDATE: Things That Come Back Again: Cat Stevens "Back To Earth" Box Set and Vinyl Reissues Announced

December 17, 2019 By Sam Stone 6 Comments

CatStevens BackToEarth box 2

UPDATE: It's been nearly a year since our initial coverage of the Cat Stevens Back To Earth box set featuring a new remaster done at Abbey Road and a wealth of rare audio and visual material. Since then, lots of changes have affected how the box will reach listeners. Now that Pledge Music is out of the equation, BMG and their new Cat-O-Log division will release the elaborate set more conventionally on April 10. The box won't have all the bells and whistles described last year - just the discs

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Categories: News Formats: Blu-Ray, Box Sets, CD, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock Tags: Cat Stevens, Yusuf

Unchained Melodies: Omnivore Premieres Bobby Hatfield's Lost Sessions with Richard Perry

December 16, 2019 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Bobby Hatfield Stay with Me

Omnivore Recordings is getting righteous - make that Righteous - with an upcoming release. In 1971, Bobby Hatfield of The Righteous Brothers was on his own. He and partner Bill Medley had split in 1968, and while Medley quickly struck as a solo artist, Hatfield persevered as a Righteous Brother with the enlistment of The Knickerbockers' Jimmy Walker.   But the new duo's Re-Birth album hadn't achieved much success, and Hatfield decided to go it alone (again; he had previously released a number of

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Pop, R&B/Soul Tags: Bobby Hatfield, The Righteous Brothers

Giant Potatoes: Esoteric, Cherry Red Expand Spirit's "Potatoland" to Four CDs, Revisit "Two Sides of a Rainbow"

December 16, 2019 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Spirit Two Sides of a Rainbow

Last year, Cherry Red's Esoteric Recordings imprint collected expanded editions of the Ode and Epic albums from the band Spirit as the box set It Shall Be: The Ode and Epic Recordings 1968-1972. Now, Esoteric has revisited Spirit but jumped into the future for a pair of releases: The Complete Potatoland and Two Sides of a Rainbow: Live at the Rainbow 1978. By the time of Spirit's final Epic album, 1972's Feedback, Randy California, Jay Ferguson, and Mark Andes had all departed the band,

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Classic Rock Tags: Spirit

Holiday Gift Guide Review: Pink Floyd's "The Later Years, 1987-2019" Will Leave You Lost For Words

December 13, 2019 By Sam Stone 3 Comments

PinkFloyd TheLaterYears spotify

Fans were no doubt lost for words when Pink Floyd and Legacy Recordings announced the December 13 release of The Later Years 1987-2019, the massive new set celebrating the David Gilmour-led era of the legendary band. Well, the set has landed at Second Disc HQ - nearly crushing the front porch in the process - and we're thrilled to include it as part of our Holiday Gift Guide. The Later Years is the ultimate celebration of this sometimes-maligned era, bringing together remixed studio albums and

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Categories: Holiday Gift Guide, News Formats: Box Sets, CD, DVD, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock Tags: Pink Floyd

GarciaLive Vol. 12: January 23, 1973

December 13, 2019 By

Jerry Garcia Live Volume 12

ATO continues its long-running series of live releases from the late Jerry Garcia with this January 23, 1973 San Francisco concert featuring him alongside Merl Saunders, John Kahn, Bill Vitt, and Sarah Fulcher.  On the 3-CD set, the virtuosic duo are heard improvising their way through a number of favorites such as "That's All Right, Mama," "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)," "Honey Chile," "Georgia on My Mind," "Expressway to Your Heart," and "Georgia on My Mind."

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Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming Genre: Classic Rock

Release Round-Up: Week of December 13

December 13, 2019 By The Second Disc Leave a Comment

Pink Floyd TheLaterYears pl2 2

Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Blinky, Heart Full of Soul: The Motown Anthology (Second Disc/Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music are proud to mark Motown's 60th anniversary with a collection that has truly been decades in the making.  Heart Full of Soul: The Motown Anthology is the ultimate tribute to Sondra "Blinky" Williams, Motown's great lost superstar. Over two CDs and almost 50 songs, Blinky's Motown journey is

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Categories: News Formats: Blu-Ray, Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, DVD, Vinyl Genre: Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rap/Hip-Hop, Rock Tags: America, Blinky, Eminem, Fats Domino, Pink Floyd, Robert Plant

OUT TOMORROW! Blinky Is Free at Last on Second Disc Records, Real Gone Music's "Heart Full of Soul: The Motown Anthology"

December 12, 2019 By The Second Disc 1 Comment

Blinky Heart Full of Soul The Motown Anthology

The story of Sondra "Blinky" Williams has long been shrouded in mystery. The soulful singer came to Motown Records in 1967 following stints at Vee-Jay and Atlantic, bringing her passionate and powerful deep soul sound to Hitsville, USA. Despite recording dozens of tracks between 1968 and 1973, only a small handful saw release: a mere four 45s plus an album of duets with Edwin Starr, two live cuts, and a couple of one-off recordings, including a key moment on the best-selling soundtrack of Lady

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Funk, R&B/Soul Tags: Blinky

New Ballads

December 12, 2019 By

Rod McKuen New Ballads

Real Gone's expanded edition of The Greatest Hits of Rod McKuen is joined by the world premiere CD release of the singer-songwriter's 1970 album New Ballads. Rod teamed with renowned arranger-conductor Don Costa for this remarkable collection of songs including "As I Love My Own," the dramatic Jacques Brel collaboration "I'm Not Afraid," "Thank You for Christmas," and a composition which could have been McKuen's credo: "Hit 'Em in the Head with Love." New Ballads showcases many of McKuen's

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Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming Genre: Pop

Greatest Hits of Rod McKuen: Expanded Edition

December 12, 2019 By

Rod McKuen Greatest Hits

In 1969, Rod McKuen released his first volume of Greatest Hits on Warner Bros. Records, but with a twist. Rod teamed with arranger-conductor Arthur Greenslade to re-record and reinterpret his already classic repertoire including "Seasons in the Sun," "If You Go Away," "I'll Catch the Sun," "Kaleidoscope," and even the spoken-word "Stanyan Street." This unconventional approach led to a Gold record and one of the most beloved records in his immense catalogue.  Real Gone's expanded reissue adds six

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Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming Genre: Pop

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