Whether imploring those around her to "Get Happy" or dreaming of a place "Over the Rainbow," Judy Garland gave some of the most immortal performances of her career (and indeed, of the whole of popular music as well as film) with the songs of Harold Arlen. In Arlen's sophisticated yet blues-based melodies, Garland found the perfect expressions in which to bare her soul, alternately with vulnerability, tenderness, desperation and joy. Now, JSP Records, the label which has recently released such
Review: Fleetwood Mac, "Tusk: Deluxe Edition"
Can an album that sold four million copies be fairly called a cult classic? If the answer is yes, that album would certainly be Fleetwood Mac's Tusk. One of the most willfully unconventional albums ever made, the follow-up to Rumours nonetheless went multi-platinum. Nobody expected the band that had already morphed from blues-rock to the epitome of California pop-rock (and everything in between) to defiantly go the "art-rock" route, yet that's precisely what Mick Fleetwood, John McVie,
A SECOND DISCMAS GIVEAWAY: Rod McKuen's REFLECTIONS From Varese Vintage!
Varese Vintage recently celebrated a singular career when the label released Reflections -The Greatest Songs of Rod McKuen. This definitive overview of McKuen's work as a singer-songwriter features 24 of his most famous compositions including "If You Go Away," "Jean," "Seasons in the Sun," "A Man Alone" and "Love's Been Good to Me." I was proud to pen the liner notes for this collection, and now, Varese and I would like to give you a chance to WIN THIS NEW RELEASE! Though a self-professed
Couldn't I Just Tell You: Todd Rundgren and Utopia Concert From 1978 Arrives On CD
With unauthorized live releases proliferating in the E.U. drawn from radio broadcasts of variable quality, it's refreshing to see Cherry Red's Esoteric Recordings imprint continue its Todd Rundgren Archive Series featuring concert performances in excellent sound. The latest such release, Live at the Old Waldorf, is drawn from Rundgren and Utopia's Saturday, August 5, 1978 concert at the San Francisco venue. Recorded for KSAN-FM, this release has been remastered from the original ¼-inch stereo
Release Round-Up: Week of December 11
This week's Release Round-Up is slimmer than most of late, but still filled with some ideal stocking stuffers... Joe Cocker, The Life of a Man: Ultimate Hits 1968-2013 (UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada) UMe celebrates the life and career of the late, great Joe Cocker with this new 3-CD, 36-track anthology with greatest hits and deeper cuts including a live version of "With a Little Help from My Friends" never before released in the United States. This set was previously released in
Into the Void: Rhino Reissues International Black Sabbath Expansions Ahead of Final Tour
As Black Sabbath get ready to bid farewell with their The End Tour in 2016, Rhino will say hello to a set of deluxe Sabbath reissues available in the U.S. for the first time on January 22. The label will reissue the band's first three albums--Black Sabbath (1970), Paranoid (1970) and Master of Reality (1971)--as deluxe 2CD and 2LP sets, along with the 2002 live collection Past Lives. These collections feature the original albums, as remastered by Rhino in 2012, alongside bonus discs of rare
Real Gone Celebrates Christmas With The Soulful Strings, John Gary, Four Seasons
Real Gone Music is this year's source for classic Christmas reissues - including two from our own Second Disc Records imprint! Here, we're taking a look at three more titles from the label's Christmas feast! At first glance, The Soulful Strings might appear to be just another of those ubiquitous sixties instrumental studio outfits, delivering MOR versions of the day's popular hits. Yet, a closer look at Cadet Records' Soulful Strings - and most of its brethren, truth be told - reveals some
Omnivore Revisits "Christmas Time Again!" With Chris Stamey and Co.!
What's that festive sound you're hearing? If it's fun, fresh, and a little off the beaten path, it might just be coming from Omnivore Recordings' recent reissue of The dB's and Friends' now-classic holiday party Christmas Time Again! (OVCD-152). Christmas Time first arrived as a holiday vinyl EP from the Chris Stamey Group in 1986. Seven years later, in 1993, the collection was expanded for a new CD release, with the track count jumping from seven to sixteen tunes. In 2006, Collectors
Two From Captain Fingers: Robinsongs Reissues Lee Ritenour's "Rit" and "Rit 2"
In a solo career now numbering five decades and counting, California's Lee Ritenour - a.k.a. Captain Fingers - remains one of music's most virtuosic and prolific guitarists. An in-demand session guitarist who has played for artists including Johnny Mathis, Barbra Streisand, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, Ritenour released his first recording as a leader in 1975 with First Course; his most recent, A Twist of Rit, was issued earlier this year. Now, Cherry Red's Robinsongs imprint has looked
Review: "The Classic Christmas Album" Series 2015
Since 2011, Sony's Legacy Recordings has offered a crop of ideal stocking stuffers with the Classic Christmas Album series. This year's quartet of releases has a decidedly more modern bent, featuring artists associated with the '70s (Earth, Wind & Fire), '80s (a various artists compilation), '90s (Sarah McLachlan) and 2000s (Celtic Thunder). Three of these titles are actually expanded editions of previously released albums. Earth, Wind and Fire's Classic Christmas entry reprises last
Uncommonly Gentle: Intrada Scores with "Scissorhands," "Double Indemnity," "Something Wicked" and More
Intrada Records has gone big throughout this year, bringing all four JAWS soundtracks to the surface in definitive forms and adding to the Back to the Future 30th anniversary festivities with a reissue of two of Alan Silvestri's scores (including the never-before-expanded Part II). How do they close out the year? With a four-title slate that includes a classic composer-director combo, an anthology of '40s and '50s noir, an unused score from a Disney cult classic and an epic newer score from a
"The First Bobby Hart Solo Album" OUT TODAY From 7a Records!
UPDATED 12/7: The 7a Records label made a big splash earlier this year with its first-ever release. The MGM Singles Collection brought together Micky Dolenz's rare MGM Records sides in a lavishly designed and annotated presentation that was a fan and collector's dream. Now, we're thrilled to report that the Monkees specialists at 7a have turned their attention to another key figure in Monkees lore with the first-ever CD release today of 1980's aptly-titled The First Bobby Hart Solo
Made For Walkin': Lee Hazlewood's MGM Albums Are Newly Reissued By Light in the Attic
Since 2012, the Light in the Attic label has been mining producer-creative maverick Lee Hazlewood's LHI label for gems recorded by Hazlewood himself as well as artists like Honey Ltd. and The Kitchen Cinq. A 2013 reissue turned its attention to Hazlewood' 1963 cult-classic Mercury LP Trouble is a Lonesome Town, and now, LITA is looking in the direction of his MGM recordings originally released between 1966 and 1968. The label has just reissued all three of Hazlewood's MGM Records albums on CD
Release Round-Up: Week of December 4
Well, this is it - the final big release week of the year! While next week will see releases slow to a trickle, this week is packed with exciting box sets and much more! Bruce Springsteen, The Ties That Bind: The River Collection (Columbia) 4-CD/3-DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada 4-CD/2-BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada This 4-CD/3-DVD or 4-CD/2-BD set celebrating The Boss' seminal album The River features a treasure trove of previously unreleased material across its 53 audio tracks
One Of A Kind (Love Affair): Big Break Reissues, Expands "Spinners"
When The Spinners left Motown Records after nearly a decade, the vocal group had never scored a Top 10 Pop hit. They'd come this close in 1970 with the irresistible, Stevie Wonder-penned "It's a Shame" (No. 14) - one of many fine tracks recorded for Berry Gordy's empire that, for one reason or another, never crossed The Spinners over to major stardom. That all changed when Thom Bell - the multi-hyphenate musician, producer, songwriter, arranger and conductor - declared that he wished to
This Is The Love (I've Been Waiting For): Ace Releases "More Motown Girls"
Rarely is the sequel ever the equal - but Ace Records has handily disproved that with Love and Affection: More Motown Girls, a recent trawl through the vaults of Hitsville, USA. And not only is this follow-up to 2013's Finders Keepers - Motown Girls the equal of its predecessor, it might be its better. Whereas that volume featured both previously unreleased music and rarities, every one of the 25 tracks on Love and Affection is never-before-heard (save for five songs culled from last year's
Make a List, Make a Wish: Elemental Music Uncovers Live Art Pepper
Art Pepper would have turned 90 on September 1 of this year. Though the great alto saxophonist passed away in 1982, aged just 56, his legacy lives on. Elemental Music has most recently celebrated Pepper's enduring influence on jazz with the new release of Live at Fat Tuesday's by The Art Pepper Quartet. This new five-song set preserves the performances of Pepper (alto sax), Milcho Leviev (piano), George Mraz (bass) and Al Foster (drums) at the New York nightspot on the evening of April 15,
RPM Label Collects Rare British Jazz On "Turtle Records" Box Set
Though jazz may be one of the most quintessentially American art forms, its influence and power naturally spread around the world in various forms. In Great Britain, the popular Dixieland-inspired "trad jazz" (or "traditional jazz") boom - epitomized by artists including The Three Bs: Mr. Acker Bilk, Chris Barber and Kenny Ball - was followed by a period of intense experimentation among jazz musicians concurrent with the rhythm and blues and rock revolutions. Rock and R&B artists, too,
Yesss!!! La-La Land Reissues Williams, Horner, Barry, Tiomkin Classics for Final 2015 Offering
A classic '50s score and four popular '90s soundtracks from three beloved composers make up La-La Land Records' exciting-as-always Black Friday announcements. This year, the label has prepped expanded reissues of Dimitri Tiomkin's Giant (1956), 25th anniversary editions of John Williams' Home Alone and John Barry'sDances with Wolves (both 1990) and two scores by the late James Horner: 1994's The Pagemaster and 1995's Braveheart. All five limited edition CD sets will be available to order on
THE SECOND DISC'S 2015 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE IS HERE!
We wouldn't want you to be left out in the cold for Cyber Monday, so we're proud to present our annual Holiday Gift Guide featuring nearly 75 essential selections for the music enthusiast in your life! We've filled the guide with box sets (such as the popular Bob Dylan title to your left!), archival releases and holiday music favorites. So Just click here to access this year's picks! You'll notice that the Gift Guide is in the same easy-to-use format as our Release Calendar, so you can
Release Round-Up: Week of November 27
To our U.S. readers, today is the day of shopping known as Black Friday - but happily, the diverse slate of releases due in stores today should lift your spirits - no matter where you're located! Love, Reel to Real: Expanded Edition (High Moon Records) (Amazon U.S.) High Moon Records has the premiere reissue of Arthur Lee and Love's 1974 album Reel to Real as a newly-expanded Deluxe Edition boasting a color, 32-page booklet. A vinyl edition will follow early next year. Read more
Review: Frank Sinatra, "A Voice on Air: 1935-1955"
Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings' new box set Frank Sinatra: A Voice on Air (88875 09971 2) begins, appropriately enough, with the jarring sound of an old-time radio tuning in. The shrill noise quickly segues to the first of nearly 100 performances on four CDs - 19-year old Frank Sinatra, one-fourth of The Hoboken Four, singing the perky "S-H-I-N-E" on WHN Radio's The Major Bowes Amateur Hour. Here, then, is the future Chairman of the Board - before he sang for swingin' lovers, before he
Tried, Tested and Found True: Big Break Expands Two By Ashford and Simpson
Big Break Records has recently continued its definitive reissue series chronicling Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson' Warner Bros. years with the expanded releases of 1977's So So Satisfied and 1980's A Musical Affair. This pair follows previous titles in the series including Come As You Are, Send It and Is It Still Good to Ya and Stay Free. (Gimme Something Real and I Wanna Be Selfish arrive in January!) Though So So Satisfied found Ashford and Simpson still on the cusp of the greater
A Culture Factory Christmas: Label Reissues Beach Boys, James Brown, "Charlie Brown" and...Wookiees!
The Culture Factory label, which reissues classic albums in limited edition mini-LP replica sleeves, has a trio of Christmas titles due this Friday likely to make spirits bright. The label has already released Vince Guaraldi's oft-reissued soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas as an exclusive release for retailer FYE. It's joined this week by straight reissues (no bonus material) of The Beach Boys' Christmas Album and James Brown's Soulful Christmas at general retail, as well as an
It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas: Legacy Adds Amazon Exclusive 3-CD Set to "Classic Christmas Album" Series
With Thanksgiving this Thursday and Black Friday the day after, the Christmas season is officially upon us (if it hasn't already arrived a couple of weeks ago!). There have been several Christmas reissues we've talked about so far this season, including the four new entries in Legacy's Classic Christmas Album series. And now we've got information on a fifth entry for this year: the simply-titled Classic Christmas Album. And we're also happy to say that this Amazon exclusive, 3-CD, 42-song
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