Ahead of her first shows in Japan in years, soulful singer/songwriter Alicia Keys has received her first greatest hits compilation. The Best of Alicia Keys, now available from Sony Music Japan, is exactly what it says, offering 16 singles from just over two decades’ worth of Keys’ decorated career. The release is timed to her headlining performances later in August at the Summer Sonic Festival in Tokyo and Osaka, a festival she was part of back in 2008. (She’s since played sets there in 2010, 2013 and 2020.) The Blu-spec CD2 pressing…
Photographs and Memories: Remixed Trio of Jim Croce Albums Coming to CD, Vinyl
The shockingly brief but nonetheless brilliant major-label career of Jim Croce will be revisited this year with a triplicate of remixed albums to be released by BMG. The Definitive Croce, available on CD or vinyl on September 19 (just a day short of 52 years since his passing), gathers both albums he recorded and released for ABC Records during his lifetime (You Don’t Mess Around with Jim and Life and Times) plus the posthumous I Got a Name – all recently remixed by engineer Paul Hicks (whose mixing and mastering work includes projects…
Release Round-Up: Week of August 1
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles in stores this week. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Dionne Warwick, Make It Easy on Yourself: The Scepter Recordings 1962-1971 (SoulMusic/Second Disc/Cherry Red) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Cherry Red) Naturally, we’re bursting at the seams that today is finally Release Day (*) for this massive labor of love. SoulMusic Records and Second Disc Records are proud to present Dionne Warwick’s Make It Easy on Yourself: The Scepter Recordings 1962-1971, a 12CD box set with 280 tracks encompassing every one of…
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OUT TOMORROW! Dionne Warwick’s “Make It Easy on Yourself: The Scepter Recordings 1962-1971” Arrives from SoulMusic, Second Disc
Today’s the day when we can finally share Dionne Warwick’s Make It Easy on Yourself: The Scepter Recordings 1962-1971 with our readers! Though today is the official release date and copies should be shipping within the U.K., Amazon U.S. currently shows August 15 as the release date stateside. To our American friends, we hope you will find this set worth the wait! Here are the full details on this release. “I am so very thrilled about this wonderful collection of my recordings! It is truly something that I myself would buy.” –…
Buckingham Nicks
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. (gold) / Amazon U.K. (baby blue) / Amazon Canada (gold) In just over 15 years of reporting at The Second Disc, it’s a sentence we never thought we’d write: Buckingham Nicks is getting its first-ever reissue. The 1973 album from Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks – recorded and released two years before their pivotal acceptance into British rock band Fleetwood Mac – finally returns on CD, vinyl and digitally. Unavailable since its original release, this straight reissue of the album marks the first significant professional thaw since Buckingham…
Old Time Rock and Roll
Iconoclassic delivers its fifth (!) catalogue title from the late, great rocker Dwight Twilley. Old Time Rock & Roll, billed as a collaborative title with Twilley’s longtime guitarist Bill Pitcock IV, features the locked-in pair leading a small ensemble through a killer assortment of classic rock covers, from songs made famous by Elvis Presley (“Little Sister,” “(You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care”), Little Richard (“Good Golly, Miss Molly”), and Bob Seger (the title track) to tunes by Sonny Curtis (“I Fought the Law”), Marc Bolan of T. Rex (“Bang a Gong…
20 Years’ ‘Time’: Michael Bublé’s Breakthrough Comes Home on New Deluxe Edition
Two decades after Canadian crooner Michael Bublé enjoyed his first major chart breakthrough, the album that did so – 2005’s It’s Time – is being reissued for its anniversary. It’s Time will be reissued in a 2CD or 2LP set (the latter pressed on silver vinyl) that’ll feature a dozen studio and live bonus tracks. Having come out at a time of considerable limited editions – some only available at certain American retailers from Target to Starbucks – this edition of It’s Time will offer all of those value-added bonus cuts in one place,…
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Soundtrack Watch: La-La Land, Intrada, Varese Heat Up July with Bond and More
No matter the season, it seems like archival film scores are always in style! The last few weeks have seen some killer announcements from La-La Land, Varese Sarabande and Intrada – offering expansions of some action/adventure scores from the ’80s, ’90s and ’00s, plus a terrific new soundtrack reissue of one of the best scores in the James Bond series. La-La Land Records promised a “remastered edition” of John Barry’s score to On Her Majesty’s Secret Service in a recent Variety piece – and it’s now been confirmed that the label has prepped a…
Cast Your Fate to the Wind
This stunning new 6-CD box set brings together the late, great Marianne Faithfull’s Decca repertoire including the complete albums Marianne Faithfull; Come My Way; North Country Maid; and Loveinamist plus two discs of singles, non-LP B-sides, and rarities including previously unreleased tracks. Everything has been newly remastered from the original tapes, and the liner notes feature exclusive commentary from the singer. Andrew Batt has produced, compiled, and remastered the set, while Eric Terino has designed it, utilizing original images for the covers and artwork elements. Marianne gave her stamp of approval prior…
Sunset Boulevard
5CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Sunset Boulevard is a 5CD set showcasing Elvis Presley’s work at RCA Records’ Studio C in Hollywood – one of the more important studios he’d record in through his final recording years in the 1970s. Like Memphis before it, the set will feature new remixes by acclaimed engineer Matt Ross-Spang that will offer fresh remixes of familiar studio masters and rare outtakes. (A curation of those mixes will be pressed as a 2LP set.) The other half of the set finds Elvis and…
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Review: Frank Zappa, “Cheaper Than Cheep”
The latest archival release from the Frank Zappa camp may be called Cheaper Than Cheep, but rest assured, this concert program is actually an embarrassment of audiovisual riches. Available in a variety of formats including 2CD+Blu-ray, 3LP, and 2CD/3LP/1BD configurations, Cheaper Than Cheep preserves a long-lost concert recorded on June 21, 1974 at a rehearsal studio on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood in the wake of the Mothers of Inventions’ tenth anniversary tour. Zappa was joined by a Mothers line-up including Chester Thompson (drums), George Duke (keyboards, vocals), Jeff Simmons (guitar, vocals), Napoleon…
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Same Old Blues Again: John Lee Hooker’s Late-Period ‘Boom Boom’ Gets Reissued
A late-period work from blues legend John Lee Hooker has recently been reissued on CD and vinyl. 1992’s Boom Boom, part of a late-career resurgence for the Detroit-forged guitarist, was re-pressed on CD last week with two bonus tracks first released on a reissue of the album by Shout! Factory in 2007. (The slightly re-designed booklet also retains the track-by-track credits for each song, plus an essay by writer Jas Obrecht.) BMG, the label behind this release, has also gone back to the original analogue master tapes to cut a new lacquer for…
Release Round-Up: Week of July 25
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Talking Heads, More Songs About Buildings and Food: Deluxe Edition (Rhino) 3CD/Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Rough Trade (Red) / D2C Exclusive (2LP/4×7″) 4LP: D2C Exclusive (and 4LP/2×7″) Rhino is taking Talking Heads fans to the river with a new deluxe edition: a 3CD/Blu-ray edition of the group’s 1978 sophomore album More Songs About Buildings and Food. The box includes the remastered original album alongside a bonus disc of rare studio material…
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Night Flight: Led Zeppelin’s “Live EP” Celebrates 50 Years of “Physical Graffiti”
Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti, originally released in February 1975, arrived almost two years after the band’s last album, Houses of the Holy. Unsurprisingly, it was Zeppelin’s most sprawling effort to date. The double-LP set showcased every side of Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham’s increasingly varied repertoire. It turned 50 earlier this year, and now Rhino is marking the occasion with a new Live EP due on 180-gram 12″ vinyl, CD, and digital/streaming services on September 12. On the same date, the label will reissue 2015’s Deluxe Edition on…
He’s Got a Way: An Interview with John Jackson, Billy Joel’s Archive Director
Even if you think you know everything about the Piano Man, the new documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes, is sure to shine a light on one of pop/rock’s most enduring singer/songwriters–and not just through the revelations therein. Tucked in every corner of the two-part feature (the second part premieres Friday, July 25 alongside the already-available first on HBO Max) is a trove of rare, unseen or brilliantly restored material from Joel’s formidable career: session outtakes, candid behind-the-scenes video, hard-to-track-down interviews, promotional films and concerts aplenty. If you’ve followed Joel’s career…
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Long Distance Winner: After More Than Half a Century, ‘Buckingham Nicks’ Comes Back to Print
In just over 15 years of reporting at The Second Disc, it’s a sentence we never thought we’d write: Buckingham Nicks is getting its first-ever reissue. The 1973 album from Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks – recorded and released two years before their pivotal acceptance into British rock band Fleetwood Mac – will be released on CD, vinyl and digitally on September 19 from Rhino. Unavailable since its original release, this straight reissue of the album marks the first significant professional thaw since Buckingham was dismissed from Fleetwood Mac in 2018. Speculation ran…
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In Memoriam: Ozzy Osbourne (1948-2025)
What went into your mind when you heard the news that Ozzy Osbourne passed away? Was it the bat? The dove? The tousled visage cooking breakfast in his kitchen? The bewildered man in a mansion, navigating contrived-for-camera family dramas to audiences in the millions? Or the wounded soul defiantly bringing the crowd one last bellow from hell, less than two weeks ago, with his Black Sabbath brethren (complete once more) from the stage at Villa Park in Birmingham, where the group once formed? It could’ve been all those and more, and no…
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No Time for Tears: Pet Shop Boys’ ‘Potemkin’ Score Set for Reissue
A lesser-known detour in the Pet Shop Boys’ discography is being reintroduced this year: the duo’s score penned for the legendary film Battleship Potemkin. Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe’s compositions for Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925 silent picture, first performed in 2004 and released a year later, will be remastered on CD (as well as released for the first time on vinyl) on September 5. The release will follow a theatrical exhibition of the film in the U.K. beginning August 22; a Blu-ray release from the British Film Institute will also be available alongside the…
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The Music Never Stopped: Grateful Dead’s “Blues for Allah” Is Expanded for 50th Anniversary
Grateful Dead’s 50th anniversary reissue program is truckin’ on with the September 12 reissue of the band’s Blues for Allah, originally released on September 1, 1975. A deluxe, expanded 3CD edition will arrive alongside a digital version and a 1LP remaster of the original album available in black vinyl, picture disc, and Dead.net-exclusive colored vinyl pressings. In addition, a Blu-ray will premiere surround, Dolby Atmos, stereo, and instrumental mixes by the prolific Steven Wilson. Blues for Allah came on the heels of the Dead’s self-imposed (and ultimately) brief hiatus which began in…
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Turning to Gold: Ronnie Wood Looks Back on “Fearless: The Anthology,” Features Rod Stewart, Faces, Rolling Stones
Ronnie Wood is celebrating 60+ years in music with a new anthology, comprising solo tracks as well as key cuts from his time playing with the illustrious likes of The Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, and Jeff Beck as well as his earliest recordings with The Birds and The Creation. Fearless: The Anthology 1965-2025 is due from BMG on September 26 in 2CD and 2LP formats, with 38 tracks on the CD set including four all-new recordings exclusive to this collection. Fearless kicks off with a pair of recordings from the Middlesex native’s…
Release Round-Up: Week of July 18
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Scissor Sisters, Scissor Sisters: 20th Anniversary Edition (Republic) 3CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada The Scissor Sisters’ 2004 debut gets a (slightly belated) 20th anniversary expansion offering the album in a digipak alongside two bonus discs of B-sides, remixes, and seven previously unheard tracks. A truncated offering of the B-sides and outtakes will be included on a double vinyl edition. “Take Your Mama” to get the…
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A Walk in the Sky: Cherry Red, Grapefruit Collect Flower Pot Men’s Psych-Pop on “Midsummer Dreaming”
Three years ago, Cherry Red’s Grapefruit imprint saluted the career of singer and songwriter John Carter (“Beach Baby,” “Little Bit o’ Soul,” “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat,” “Winchester Cathedral”) on the 4CD set My World Fell Down: The John Carter Story. Now, the label is turning to one of Carter’s studio outfits, The Flower Pot Men, for the comprehensive, new 3CD collection Midsummer Dreaming: An Anthology 1967-1970. Naturally, the set opens with “Let’s Go to San Francisco,” the Summer of Love homage written and produced by Carter and Ken Lewis which went…
Sing Out: New Cat Stevens Compilation to Accompany Memoir
The man they now call Yusuf/Cat Stevens has announced a new career-spanning compilation to tie with his forthcoming memoir this fall. On the Road to Findout: Greatest Hits will be available as a 1CD or 2LP highlights set, as well as a deeper-dive 2CD or 4LP collection on September 5. It’s the first time an album will feature both the cream of his work as one of the top British folk songwriters in the ’60s and ’70s, as well as music from his return to popular song styles after decades out of…
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Jump to the Beat: Edsel Reissues “Disco Ladies” and “Disco Boogie” Collections
Late in 2023, Demon Music Group revived its Disco Discharge series on the Edsel label. Two recent 2CD volumes, Disco Ladies and Disco Boogie, continue presenting the series in a deluxe, oversized seven-inch format. These titles, chockablock with disco deep cuts and hits alike, were originally issued on the Harmless label in 2009 and 2010, respectively, and have been tweaked (likely due to licensing restrictions) for this go-round. Disco Ladies offers a cross-section of the many women with varied styles who ruled the dancefloor. As original compiler/annotator Alan Jones notes in his…
Release Round-Up: Week of July 11
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Jethro Tull, Still Living in the Past (Parlophone/Rhino) 5CD/1BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Still Living in the Past reinterpret Jethro Tull’s original odds-and-ends compilation from 1972 as a 5CD/1 Blu-ray set boasting some 35 unissued mixes and versions alongside just about every one of the 21 original tracks that appeared on the original double album. Alongside the original mixes of the non-album material that comprised Living in…
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Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention
September 25, 2026
