When The Clash released their third studio effort, London Calling in December 1979, they unleashed an instant classic. The double album -- with its diverse blend of punk, reggae, rockabilly, ska, R&B and jazz -- was quickly heralded as a high-water mark for the band and for punk music. John Rockwell of The New York Times wrote in 1980 that London Calling "reveals depths of invention and creativity barely suggested by the band's previous work." The same yearm Down Beat 's Michael Goldberg
Calling Rastafari: Omnivore Collects Reggae Gems from the Nighthawk Catalogue on “Send I A Lion”
The ever-eclectic Omnivore Recordings has announced a new reggae retrospective that puts the spotlight on the indie label Nighthawk Records. Send I A Lion: A Nighthawk Reggae Joint is due November 15 as a CD, 2-LP or digital collection. The 20-track compilation was compiled and annotated by Nighthawk founder Leroy Jodie Pierson, who had initially envisioned it as a blues label. In 1979, five years after Nighthawk began, Leroy was instead in Kingston producing local talent. Nighthawk would
Holly Jolly Christmas: TJL Presents Ultimate Holiday Celebration on Public Television, CD and DVD
Have you caught the Christmas spirit yet? If not, things are very likely to change on Saturday, November 16. That's when TJL Productions debuts a new special on PBS that's sure to get you ready for the holiday season. A Classic Christmas, part of T.J. Lubinsky's acclaimed My Music series, presents an array of yuletide favorites from an all-star roster of legendary artists. Hosted by Marion Ross (Happy Days) and Gavin MacLeod (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Love Boat), A Classic Christmas is
Just May Be The One: Monkees Live Album Coming Ahead Of New Tour Dates
Hey hey, a live album from the latest tour from Mike Nesmith and Micky Dolenz of The Monkees is coming from Rhino Records - and more live dates are on the way, too! The triumphant third (but who's counting?) act of The Monkees has been a treat for classic pop and rock fans. In 2016, the three surviving members of the beloved group - Dolenz, Nesmith and Peter Tork - came together for Good Times!, an improbably great record to mark their 50th anniversary. Part archival exercise (with songs
Shape Of His Heart: Sting To Expand This Year’s ‘My Songs’ With Live Bonus Disc
Sting spent this year releasing and touring an unconventional collection of his own songs - and now, he's reissuing it with a bonus disc of live material. My Songs found the venerable singer-songwriter revisiting his catalogue - both solo and with The Police - on an album that included revisited versions of his greatest hits. Some were remixed, some were re-recorded, but all showcased the influence of the man born Gordon Sumner for several decades running. Indeed, beyond chart-toppers like
Not Over You: Cherry Red Revisits Lalah Hathaway’s Earliest Albums With “It’s Somethin’: The Virgin Years”
Cherry Red's 90/9 imprint celebrates the early works of the multi-Grammy winner soul-jazz singer Lalah Hathaway with a new collection called It's Something: The Virgin Years. Fully approved by Hathaway, the 2-CD set brings together her self-titled debut and her follow-up Virgin album A Moment and is supplemented with a wealth of bonus material, including hard-to-find remixes, single edits, B-sides, and the Japan-exclusive track "Night and Day." Add to it the 20-page booklet of rare photographs,
OUT NOW! Second Disc, Real Gone Kick Off Christmas Season with Chet Atkins, Eugene Ormandy
The most wonderful time of the year is officially underway at Second Disc HQ as we've just released our first two holiday collections of 2019 with Real Gone Music: Chet Atkins' The Complete RCA Victor and Columbia Christmas Recordings and Eugene Ormandy and The Philadelphia Orchestra's The Complete Columbia Christmas Albums. It's for good reason that Chet Atkins remains one of the most revered names not only in country music but in American music itself. A producer, A&R man, songwriter,
Home for Christmas: Andy, Perry, Elvis, Doris, Johnny Team with Royal Philharmonic for New Holiday Album
The busy members of The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra are decking the halls with boughs of holly for their latest, all-star release. Christmas with The Stars and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, due as a digital-only title in the U.S. on Friday, November 29, brings the acclaimed orchestra together with some of the biggest names in the classic Columbia and RCA Victor constellations for newly-arranged symphonic versions of Christmas favorites. Featured artists include Elvis Presley, Tony Bennett,
Release Round-Up: Week of November 8
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Chet Atkins, The Complete RCA Victor and Columbia Christmas Recordings (Second Disc/Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music are proud to present The Complete RCA Victor and Columbia Christmas Recordings from legendary guitarist-producer Chet Atkins on a deluxe 2-CD, 46-song anthology remastered by Vic Anesini at Sony's Battery Studios and featuring new liner notes by the set's
Shadows and Reflexions: High Moon Records Collects Rarities from Curt Boettcher and Friends
High Moon Records' new collection from Curt Boettcher and Friends, Looking for the Sun, takes its title from a 1968 Boettcher production for singer-songwriter Gordon Alexander. Given Boettcher's participation, one might expect the song to be a dreamy SoCal pop fantasia with richly layered harmonies. But instead it's a rather sparse, dark rumination with an acid coffeehouse feel. Alexander, in the song at least, doesn't find the sun, and arguably, neither did Curt Boettcher in his lifetime. But
Red’s Favourites: John Renbourn’s Formative Albums Collected on “Unpentangled” Box Set
Few figures were as instrumental to the British folk music revival as John Renbourn, whose guitar style incorporated influences from Celtic, jazz, pop, R&B, and beyond. As one-fifth of Pentangle, he and his bandmates expanded the possibilities of a folk-infused combo with odd time signatures, lengthy instrumental passages, and a repertoire that spanned decades, genres, and forms. But even before forming Pentangle, Renbourn had stunned audiences and listeners with his unique approach to the
Keep the Customer Satisfied: Ace Celebrates Paul Simon, Teddy Randazzo, Van McCoy On New Collections
Today, we're taking a look at three recent, stellar additions to Ace Records' long-running Songwriter Series! Teddy Randazzo (1935-2003) might have not attained the same "household name" status as some of his peers, but the prodigiously gifted composer-arranger-producer-artist nonetheless left behind a remarkable body of work in a career spanning over five decades. Ace's Yesterday Has Gone: The Songs of Teddy Randazzo is the first-ever anthology of his output, concentrating on the mid-1960s -
Start Choppin: Cherry Red Expands Dinosaur Jr.’s Major Label Discography
The major label works of alt-rock act Dinosaur Jr. have recently been revisited by Cherry Red in a series of expanded reissues. At the beginning of the 1990s, the Amherst, Massachusetts-based trio had issued three records across the prior decade, the latter two on the seminal SST label. 1988's Bug topped the U.K. independent albums chart, after lead single "Freak Scene" reached the Top 5 of the country's indie singles chart. But creative tensions led singer/guitarist J. Mascis to fire bassist
Review: Bob Dylan featuring Johnny Cash, “Travelin’ Thru: The Bootleg Series Vol. 15 (1967-1969)”
There's a delicious moment on the fifteenth volume of Bob Dylan's long-running Bootleg Series. The troubadour is in Columbia Records' Nashville Studio A, rehearsing a duet medley with Johnny Cash of his "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" and Cash's "Understand Your Man." Once they stop playing, The Man in Black happily observes that "the phrasing comes out just right, 'cause we both stole it from the same song!" Indeed, Dylan and Cash shared substantial musical roots, with less than a decade
Rock and Soul Music: Real Gone Announces Reissues of Country Joe, Mamas and Papas, Klaus Nomi, Tony Joe White Titles
On December 6, Real Gone Music will release a quartet of reissues from a diverse lineup of country-rock, jam band, pop, and avant-garde luminaries. First up is a limited-edition, 2-LP issue of Country Joe and the Fish's Live! Fillmore West 1969 which not only featured the legendary Berkeley band (with replacement bassist Jack Casady of Jefferson Airplane), but also their famous friends. Originally released on Vanguard in 1994, the raucous and ramshackle concert was recorded in January 1969
Make Her Wish Come True: Legacy Celebrates 25 Years of Mariah Carey’s ‘Merry Christmas’
One of the best-selling Christmas albums of all time is getting the deluxe treatment today with Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings' 2-CD reissue of Mariah Carey's Merry Christmas in time for its 25th anniversary. Carey's fourth album and first holiday effort (the sequel Merry Christmas II You arrived in 2010) teamed the chanteuse with producer-arranger Walter Afanasieff (Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion, Johnny Mathis), among others, on a sparkling set of original songs and holiday classics.
Release Round-Up: Week of November 1
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Bob Dylan featuring Johnny Cash, Travelin' Thru, 1967-1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 15 (Columbia/Legacy) 3CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings chronicle Dylan's 1967-1969 recordings in Music City - including those made with a very special guest - on the latest volume of the artist's long-running Bootleg Series. Bob Dylan (featuring Johnny Cash) -
You Better Watch Yourself: Rarities From The Prime Movers Feature Iggy Pop On Drums and More
One of the unsung acts of the burgeoning '60s rock scene in the American Midwest, The Prime Movers Blues Band are finally getting their due with their first ever official release - a self-titled collection to be released in November. Founded by brothers Michael and Dan Erlewine in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1965, The Prime Movers became an unbelievable breeding ground for local talent. Michael's vocals and Dan's skillful guitar already made for a potent front end of the band, steeped in a deep
Surprise Surprise: Cilla Black’s “Especially for You” Comes to CD with “Classics and Collectibles”
Tomorrow, November 1, Cherry Red's Strike Force Entertainment imprint will release the next title in its series of definitive reissues from Cilla Black's considerable catalogue. The 2-CD set Especially for You Revisited/Classics and Collectibles brings together a newly remixed version of Cilla's 1980 album Especially for You with a second disc of rare and previously unreleased tracks. Especially for You marked a turning point in Black's career as it was her first recording project after
Radioactive: Rave On Releases Roger C. Reale and Rue Morgue’s “Collection” Featuring Mick Ronson
The discography of Big Sound Records proves that great things often come in small packages. While the label didn't release many LPs, those that were released by the likes of The Scratch Band and Van Duren have become favorites of crate-diggers. Big Sound patterned itself on the U.K.'s Stiff Records, and its answer to Stiff's Elvis Costello may well have been Roger C. Reale. The 1978 album Radio Active, credited to Reale and Rue Morgue, was packed with compact rock-and-roll nuggets - ten on the
More Than A Memory: Garth Brooks Celebrates Career With Three Editions of “Legacy” Box Set
Garth Brooks' ever-growing legion of fans will have cause to celebrate on November 1, when the country superstar's new, massive box set called Legacy finally hits shelves. Legacy collects five of Brooks' albums in one place, on vinyl for the first time ever. Fans will have three different configurations to choose from: the Limited Edition Numbered Series, the Original Analog Edition, and the Digitally Remixed/Remastered Edition. Each bundles together CD and LP editions (with bonus tracks on
Stay The Night: Cherry Red Expands La Toya Jackson’s Second Album “My Special Love”
Earlier this year, Cherry Red imprint Cherry Pop Records released an expanded edition of La Toya Jackson's sophomore album My Special Love, bringing the LP to CD for the first time since a long out-of-print Japanese issue in the early 1990s. Being a part of such a famous musical family, it was almost inevitable that La Toya would join her brothers in performing, whether she wanted to or not. She has said over the years how her father, Joe Jackson, heavily discouraged her from following any
It’s Witchcraft – Cherry Red’s Righteous Imprint Compiles 2-CD Set of Halloween Novelties
With Halloween less than a week away, we thought we'd take a look at a new compilation which was recently released from Cherry Red's Righteous Records imprint: the 2-CD Trick or Treat: Music To Scare Your Neighbours - Vintage 45s from Lux and Ivy's Haunted Basement. The Lux and Ivy in the title are the husband and wife mainstays of the punk/rockabilly group The Cramps, who debuted in the 1970s and were active until Lux's death in 2009. Aside from being punk innovators, the pair also
By The Fireside: Real Gone Presents Christmas Reissues From Jim Reeves, Leroy Anderson, and Stanley Black
We've already filled you in on our three Second Disc Records releases for Christmas this year (including titles from Chet Atkins, Eugene Ormandy, and an all-star cast), but our partners at Real Gone Music are at it again with a stellar and surprising lineup comprising more holiday-themed reissues of treasured titles, each due out on November 8. First up is a country Christmas classic from Jim Reeves: 12 Songs of Christmas. Originally released in 1963, the perennial favorite not only
Release Round-Up: Week of October 25
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! The Kinks, Arthur, or The Decline and Fall of the British Empire [Various Formats] (BMG) 4CD/4-seven-inch single box: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / The Kinks Official 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / The Kinks Official 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / The Kinks Official The Kinks' 1969 concept album continued in the quintessentially British vein of The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation