Digital Download 11 - The Second Disc

Formats:

Blu-Ray, Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Classic Rock, Jazz, Pop, Rock

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Bill Wyman, Jim Peterik, Jimi Jamison, Lester Young, Pink Floyd, T Rex, The Band, The Pogues

Holiday Gift Guide Review: The Rolling Stones, “Black and Blue: Super Deluxe Edition”

December 8, 2025 by Joe Marchese | 7 Comments

The World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band was in a period of transition. In December 1974, guitarist Mick Taylor announced he was leaving The Rolling Stones. The Stones had already weathered the loss of Brian Jones in 1969 and now they were, once again, without a guitarist. The sound of music was changing, too, with the rise of punk and disco even as prog and heavy rock remained entrenched on the charts. Where did that leave the band who had just proclaimed “It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like It)” on…

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Billy Preston, Jeff Beck, The Rolling Stones

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Blu-Ray, Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Classic Rock

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River of Music: The Power of Duets Vol. 1

December 8, 2025 by Joe Marchese

Jim Peterik (The Ides of March, Survivor) teams with producer Ron Nevison (Jefferson Starship, Chicago) for an album of original songs featuring duet partners such as Jason Scheff (Chicago), Kevin Cronin (REO Speedwagon), Cathy Richardson (Jefferson Starship), son Colin Peterik, and others. Available on CD and digital formats.

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Rock

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The Weekend Stream: December 5, 2025

December 5, 2025 by Mike Duquette | 2 Comments

Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. You’ve been good so far this Christmas season, so we’re giving you this present a day early – with new tracks from Guns N’ Roses, live tracks from The Hooters and one of our favorite bands for Bandcamp Friday! The Hooters, 45 Alive – Keswick Live in Concert (self-released) (Apple / Amazon) Philly band The Hooters – perhaps best known for the melodica-augmented 1985 hit “And We Danced” among its…

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Genres:

Classic Rock, Comedy, Country, Disco/Dance, Holiday, Jazz, Latin, Pop, Rock, Soundtracks

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Aerosmith, Charles Fox, Frank Wess, Grateful Dead, Guns N' Roses, Kenny Burrell, Kylie Minogue, Mal Waldron, No Jersey, O.A.R., Olivia Newton-John, Puddles Pity Party, Squeeze, Thad Jones, The Hooters, Theory of a Deadman

Release Round-Up: Week of December 5

December 5, 2025 by The Second Disc | 1 Comment

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. Judy Collins, The ’60s Singles (Second Disc/Real Gone) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Real Gone Music Judy Blue Eyes Vinyl LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Real Gone Music Judy Collins’ The ’60s Singles brings together, for the first time, the remarkable array of 45s on which the singer’s discography was built. With songs by Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Randy Newman, Sandy Denny, Eric Andersen, and Joni Mitchell – including the international smash “Both…

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Formats:

Blu-Ray Audio, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Folk, Funk, Holiday, Jazz, Latin, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, Rock, Soundtracks

Love’s Great Adventure: Ultravox’s ‘The Collection’ Goes Deluxe on CD/Blu-ray Box

December 4, 2025 by Mike Duquette | 1 Comment

One of the year’s last big catalogue titles is a new expansion of Ultravox’s The Collection, due out tomorrow, December 5. Originally released in 1984 and collecting more than a dozen singles from the band’s most popular early ’80s run, the set has now been greatly expanded to provide an even more complete picture of the group’s “classic,” Midge Ure-led line-up, encompassing hits, B-sides, 15 previously unreleased mixes and a trove of rare video footage. Central to all deluxe formats (a 4CD/2 Blu-ray box set and a 4LP edition pressed on clear vinyl)…

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Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal

Formats:

Blu-Ray, Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming

Genres:

Disco/Dance, Electronic, Pop, Rock

Tags:

Midge Ure, Ultravox

In Memoriam: Steve Cropper (1941-2025)

December 4, 2025 by Mike Duquette | 2 Comments

It’s a sad fact that so much of America’s musical infrastructure – the men and women whose session work powered thousands of pop chart hits and significant recordings – exists in near-obscurity. Consider The Funk Brothers, that collective of R&B musicians in Detroit who powered nearly every Motown session in the label’s golden age. Fans and collectors still sift through the vagaries of paperwork and memory to determine who lent their instruments to which song; the unofficial group’s members would be credited by name at the insistence of Marvin Gaye on his…

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Features

Formats:

Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Blues, Classic Rock, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock

Tags:

Albert King, Bob Dylan, Booker T. Jones, Booker T. and the MG's, Brian May, Eddie Floyd, Neil Young, Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Steve Cropper, The Blues Brothers, Wilson Pickett

Inspirations of Life and Love

December 1, 2025 by Joe Marchese

Paul Anka is back with a new album comprising favorite songs (“It Was a Very Good Year,” “That’s Life”) along with reimaginings of classic Anka songs (“Anytime (I’ll Be There),” “(All of a Sudden) My Heart Sings,” “Let Me Try Again,” “Freedom for the World”). Inspirations of Life and Love is available on CD, LP, and digitally.

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CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

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Holiday Gift Guide Review: Prince and The Revolution, ‘Around the World in a Day (Deluxe Expanded Edition)’

December 1, 2025 by Mike Duquette | 3 Comments

In theory, the posthumous care and handling of an esteemed discography with the deep potential for archival excavation like Prince’s would be an easy if daunting task. When the pop icon died unexpectedly in 2016 with no will and considerable assets to settle, the art of memorializing him through reissues moved with almost shocking precision: solid expansions of several of his best-loved ’80s albums, a handful of notable archival one-offs, and the reinstatement of his digital and physical catalogue of the ’90s and ’00s back into print. After the estate settled in…

Categories:

Holiday Gift Guide, Reviews

Formats:

CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Classic Rock, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock

Tags:

Prince

Live at the Village Gate

November 30, 2025 by Joe Marchese

Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Omnivore One day after what would have been his 84th birthday, Omnivore Recordings premieres a 1988 concert from the late Night Tripper, Dr. John, recorded at New York’s Village Gate on March 5, 1988. Accompanied by such accomplished musicians as Lou Marini, Lew Soloff, and Ronnie Cuber, the Good Doctor ran through favorites and rarities alike for an appreciative audience. This joyful set of classic N’awlins R&B is out on 2 CDs and digital formats. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

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Funk, R&B/Soul

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The Weekend Stream: November 29, 2025

November 29, 2025 by Mike Duquette | 1 Comment

Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. Our Black Friday bonanza offers the return of Let’s Active, a new Stranger Things mini-mixtape, an unlikely team-up between two recent Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees, and one Record Store Day title that dropped yesterday. Plus, a tribute to a Minneapolis legend who was always on Time. Let’s Active, Afoot / Cypress / Big Plans for Everybody / Every Dog Has His Day (I.R.S./Capitol) Afoot: Apple / Amazon Cypress: Apple / Amazon Big Plans: Apple…

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Country, Holiday, Jazz, Pop, Rap/Hip-Hop, Rock, Soundtracks

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Bill Quateman, Carrie Underwood, Dizzy Gillespie, Eminem, Isaac Hayes, Jack White, Kyle Mooney, Let's Active, Michael Jackson, Mitch Easter, Mongo Santamaria, The Psychedelic Furs, The Time, The xx, Tiffany, Yello

Release Round-Up: Week of November 28

November 28, 2025 by The Second Disc | 1 Comment

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! With Record Store Day’s Black Friday event taking place today, the slate is usually a small one…not so this year, though, thanks to Rhino’s CD releases of numerous RSD titles. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Neil Young, Tonight’s the Night 50 (Reprise/NYA) 1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Greedy Hand Store 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Greedy Hand Store Clear Vinyl: Greedy Hand Store Neil Young’s sixth album, released in 1975 but mostly recorded two years earlier, was the closer to his “Ditch Trilogy.”…

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Holiday Gift Guide, Reviews

Formats:

Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Classic Rock, Country, Disco/Dance, Pop, Rock

Tags:

Alice Cooper, Bobby Darin, Dwight Yoakam, Eric Burdon, Fleetwood Mac, Jonathan Groff, Love, Madonna, Neil Young, The Doors, The English Beat, The Flaming Lips, War

Holiday Gift Guide Review: The Beatles, “Anthology Collection”

November 26, 2025 by Joe Marchese | 3 Comments

1995: Bill Clinton was President of the U.S., John Major was Prime Minister of the U.K., phones weren’t yet smart, Braveheart won Best Picture, the O.J. trial was on everyone’s mind, Jerry Garcia died, and the biggest songs of the year were Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” (U.S.) and Robson and Jerome’s “Unchained Melody/White Cliffs of Dover” (U.K.). In November, the band that changed pop music forever launched its first major archival project at a time when such vault deep dives weren’t yet (so) commonplace. The Beatles Anthology was a true multimedia venture, encompassing…

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Formats:

Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Classic Rock, Pop

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George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, The Beatles

A Second Disc Interview: Let’s Revisit Let’s Active with Mitch Easter

November 25, 2025 by Mike Duquette | 2 Comments

“Making records is a really good idea,” Mitch Easter says, partway through a chat with The Second Disc. He’s, of course, absolutely correct, and he would know. The Winston-Salem, North Carolina native founded the seminal Drive-In Studio in 1980, collaborating as a producer and engineer with a host of notable alternative rock acts including R.E.M., Game Theory, Pylon and others; since 2000, he’s run Fidelitorium Recordings in nearby Kernersville. But Easter is more than a whiz behind the boards. In the 1980s, he founded and fronted the jangle-pop group Let’s Active. Their…

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Interviews

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Let's Active, Mitch Easter

Genres:

Rock

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The Weekend Stream: November 22, 2025

November 22, 2025 by The Second Disc | 1 Comment

Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. A real grab bag for you before the Thanksgiving holiday: cut songs from Broadway comedies, rarities from a ’60s soul/rock legend, an inexplicably remastered charity single, rare 12″ mixes and remastered jazz. Have a listen, won’t you?? Various Artists, Monty Python’s Spamalot (Original Broadway Cast Recording/20th Anniversary Edition) (Decca Broadway) (Apple / Amazon) Something to (always) look on the bright side of life over: a new reissue of the music…

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Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Country, Disco/Dance, Electronic, Jazz, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock

Release Round-Up: Week of November 21

November 21, 2025 by The Second Disc | No Comments

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. The Beatles, Anthology Collection (Capitol/Apple/UMe) 8CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Official Store 12LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Official Store The Beatles’ Anthology Collection premieres remastered editions of the original three collections of rarities and outtakes compiled by George Martin and released through 1995 and 1996, available across six CDs or nine LPs. Martin’s son Giles, who remastered those albums for this release, also curates a new collection, Anthology 4, across a further two CDs or…

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Formats:

Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Blues, Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Country, Holiday, Jazz, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul, Rock, Soundtracks

Tags:

Aerosmith, Alan Menken, Ariana Grande, Bill Evans, Bing Crosby, Cynthia Erivo, Dr. John, Eric Clapton, John Kander and Fred Ebb, Kurt Weill, Lainey Wilson, Prince, Ray Charles, Rufus Wainwright, Smashing Pumpkins, Stephen Schwartz, The Beatles, The Blues Brothers, The Replacements

Mardi Gras Day: Omnivore Celebrates Dr. John with “Live at The Village Gate”

November 20, 2025 by The Second Disc | No Comments

The Doctor is in! Today, November 20, would have been Dr. John’s 84th birthday. While The Night Tripper, a.k.a. Mac Rebennack, himself passed away in 2019 at the age of 77, his musical legacy lives on – and Omnivore Recordings is celebrating in high style. Tomorrow, the label will premiere Live at the Village Gate, a previously unreleased concert, in 2CD and digital formats. Live at The Village Gate captures the singer-songwriter-pianist in his element at one of his favorite venues, New York City’s Village Gate, on March 5, 1988. Impresario Art…

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Blues, Classic Rock, Funk, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock

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Dr. John

The Weekend Stream: November 15, 2025

November 15, 2025 by The Second Disc | 2 Comments

Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. We got comebacks aplenty: new songs from Squeeze and Robyn, old favorites from Art in America, Jim Reeves and Outkast; a whole ton of jazz and a toast to an unsung hero of the early rock and roll years. Squeeze, “Trixies, Pt. 1” (Love/BMG) (Apple / Amazon) As speculated last week, Squeeze have a new album coming through BMG! Trixies, due March 6, is a loose concept album…

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Classic Rock, Country, Disco/Dance, Everything Else, Holiday, Jazz, Pop, Rap/Hip-Hop, Rock

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Art Pepper, Art in America, Blink-182, Jim Reeves, Jimmy Smith, Lionel Hampton, Madi Diaz, Motley Crue, Outkast, Queen, Robyn, Roy Ayers, Squeeze, Stan Getz, The Champs, Wes Montgomery, Yellow Snow

Release Round-Up: Week of November 14

November 14, 2025 by The Second Disc | 3 Comments

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. Nicolette Larson, Look in My Direction: The Warner Bros. Recordings (Cherry Red/Lemon/Second Disc) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Cherry Red) Look in My Direction: The Warner Bros. Recordings from Cherry Red’s Lemon imprint and TSD presents all of the late Nicolette Larson’s original studio and live albums for Warner Bros. Records on 4 CDs, produced by Ted Templeman (The Doobie Brothers, Van Halen) and singer-songwriter Andrew Gold (“Thank You for Being…

Sweet and Lovely: Bill Evans’ Trio Explorations Revisited in New Set from Craft

November 11, 2025 by Joe Marchese | 1 Comment

Craft Recordings is revisiting a halcyon period of The Bill Evans Trio. Due on November 21, Haunted Heart: The Legendary Riverside Recordings collects the complete studio recordings by the Bill Evans Trio lineup of Evans (1929-1980), bassist Scott LaFaro (1936-1961), and drummer Paul Motian (1931-2011). The 3CD or 5LP set presents the complete albums Portrait in Jazz (1960) and Explorations (1961) plus 26 alternate takes – a full 17 of which are previously unreleased. Evans, a pioneer in the area of modal jazz (in which the solos build from the key, not – as…

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Formats:

Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Jazz

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Bill Evans

Do You Realize?? These Rhino RSD Titles Are Also Coming Soon to CD

November 10, 2025 by Mike Duquette | 10 Comments

Rhino’s Record Store Day Black Friday schedule is packed with some 35 titles available as limited edition vinyl releases. But CD lovers take heart: six of these titles – most featuring previously unreleased material – will be available the same day on our favorite portable physical format! Here’s a look at each title, alphabetically by artist. Recent years have seen Rhino acquire distribution rights to beloved British ska outfit The Beat (known in America as The English Beat), with expanded editions of the group’s studio albums distributed through the label. You…

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Classic Rock, R&B/Soul, Rock

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Alice Cooper, Arthur Lee, Christine McVie, Eric Burdon, Fleetwood Mac, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham, Love, Mick Fleetwood, Record Store Day, Stevie Nicks, The Beat, The Doors, The English Beat, The Flaming Lips, War

The Weekend Stream: November 8, 2025

November 8, 2025 by The Second Disc | 6 Comments

Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. It’s a positively packed line-up today: pop icons old and new, unique stage experiences and two different trips to the land of Oz – plus a really cool recording summit opportunity for New Yorkers and a trio of tributes to some deceased musical heroes. Madonna, Confessions on a Dance Floor (Twenty Years Edition) (Warner/Rhino) (Apple / Amazon) The Queen of Pop’s next studio album, reportedly due out next year, is…

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Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Disco/Dance, Folk, Pop, Rock, Soundtracks

Feel the Heat: Supergroup The Power Station Goes Deluxe on New Box Set

November 7, 2025 by Mike Duquette | 13 Comments

Fans of Duran Duran and supergroups will multiply for this one: Rhino is expanding the self-titled debut from The Power Station into a 4CD box set next year. The Power Station DLX includes the remastered album (featuring the hits “Some Like It Hot” and a cover of T. Rex’s “Get It On (Bang a Gong)”) alongside three discs of bonus material, including unreleased “raw instrumental” versions, single mixes and live material, including the band’s performances from the charity concert Live Aid and an unissued full set from nearly a month later at…

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Formats:

Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Classic Rock, Disco/Dance, Pop, Rock

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CHIC, Duran Duran, Robert Palmer, The Power Station

Release Round-Up: Week of November 7

November 7, 2025 by The Second Disc | 1 Comment

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. Wings, Wings [Various Formats] (MPL/Capitol/UMe) 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 1LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada On November 4, Paul McCartney released Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run, an oral history of the superstar’s other band. The hardcover tome, created in collaboration with film director Morgan Neville and editor Ted Widmer, tells Wings’ story through text, photographs, a timeline, a gigography,…

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Formats:

Blu-Ray Audio, Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Blues, Classic Rock, Country, Disco/Dance, Folk, Holiday, Jazz, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul, Rock

High the Memory: Rhino Sets Yes’ ‘Tales from Topographic Oceans’ As First Major Box of 2026

November 6, 2025 by Mike Duquette | 5 Comments

Having released arguably more reissues and box sets than any major label in 2025, Rhino has already set sights on their first catalogue title of 2026. Might you be interested? In a word: Yes. Following a deluxe box set of Close to the Edge this past spring, the label will next give the lavish treatment to 1973’s Tales from Topographic Oceans. Available February 6, this 12CD/2LP/Blu-ray box set will offer more than a dozen unreleased outtakes and live tracks alongside a suite of new mixes of the original album by acclaimed engineer Steven Wilson. Building…

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