Omnivore reissues Camper Van Beethoven’s 2004 “sci-fi alternate-reality rock opera,” adding four previously unissued bonus tracks. Available on CD, double LP (with download card) and digital.
Return To The “Freedom Highway”: Staple Singers Classic Is Reissued and Expanded
For almost 50 years, between 1948 and 1994, The Staple Singers stood at the crossroads of gospel and soul, preaching messages of peace and positivity through music. In April 1965, The Staples – “Pops,” Mavis, Yvonne and Pervis – were joined by drummer Al Duncan and bassist Phil Upchurch at Chicago’s New Nazareth Church to record the album that became Freedom Highway. The LP, originally released on Epic Records, recognized that year’s historic civil rights marches from Montgomery to Selma, Alabama. Now, some fifty years later, Legacy Recordings has remixed, remastered and…
The Legacy Vault Opens For Christmas With Ray Price, Jerry Vale, John Davidson, More
Without a doubt, 2014 has shaped up to be another joyous year for fans of Christmas music. Sony Music’s Legacy Recordings has been at the vanguard of delivering holiday music with a recent batch of titles from Johnny Mathis, Perry Como, Frank Sinatra and others as part of its Classic Christmas Album Series. Sony has also licensed festive titles from Robert Goulet, Rosemary Clooney, The Brothers Four and Frank DeVol and the Rainbow Strings to Real Gone Music. Those titles have recently been joined by 20 digital-only releases from the Columbia and…
The Beach Boys’ New Digital “Copyright Collections” Offer 1964 Rarities, Two Complete Concerts
With another year rapidly drawing to a close, many fans were wondering if 2014 would bring another round of “copyright extension collections,” i.e. releases designed to circumvent recent European Union copyright law. The answer, of course, is “yes.” To greatly simplify, E.U. law now holds that a recording is protected for 75 years under copyright in the E.U. (the period previously was 50 years) but only if that recording has been released. As a result of this change in law, the past couple of years have seen collections issuing rarities from…
Baby’s Coming Back: Jellyfish Goes Deluxe In January
This January is all about Jellyfish, thanks to the team at Omnivore Recordings. On January 20, 2015, the label will release the eagerly-anticipated 2-CD deluxe editions of both 1990’s Bellybutton and 1993’s Spilt Milk – in other words, the complete original album oeuvre of the power pop revivalists. In total, 51 bonus tracks will be spread across the two releases for the most complete account of the short-lived yet fondly-remembered Bay Area band. Formed by singer/drummer Andy Sturmer and keyboardist Roger Joseph Manning, Jr., both late of San Francisco’s Beatnik Beach, Jellyfish…
All That I Want: Bryan Adams Expands “Reckless” for 30th Anniversary
Hot on the heels of his new studio album Tracks of My Years – a deluxe edition of which, with additional material, is due on October 27, Canadian rocker Bryan Adams is revisiting his past in another way. Tracks of My Years features Adams’ recordings of classic songs from which he found inspiration as a songwriter; on November 24, he will release an expanded 2-CD/1-DVD/1-BD edition of his 1984 breakthrough album Reckless. Produced by Adams and Bob Clearmountain and originally released on the A&M label on the artist’s 25th birthday, Reckless spawned…
An Outlaw Looks At 75: Legacy Goes Digital With David Allan Coe’s Columbia Collection
This week, David Allan Coe turns 75. Over those three-quarters of a century, Coe has given a face to outlaw country, raising rabble and raising hell even as he recorded some of the most enduring albums of the genre. In celebration of the perennial rebel’s landmark birthday, Legacy Recordings is making 20 of his classic albums (and over 200 songs), originally released between 1974 and 1989, to digital service providers including Amazon MP3, iTunes and Spotify. The digital initiative launches today with five titles released between 1974 and 1977 (The Mysterious Rhinestone…
Rhiannon Rising: Stevie Nicks Dips Into The Vault For “24 Karat Gold”
On September 29, Fleetwood Mac kicks off its sold-out On with the Show tour in Minneapolis, Minnesota, marking the band’s first tour with returning member Christine McVie in sixteen years. The same day, Stevie Nicks will unveil her latest solo album, but it’s one with a twist. 24 Karat Gold – Songs from the Vault features songs penned by Nicks between 1969 and 1995, but rather than presenting archival recordings of the tracks, all have been newly recorded by the singer in Nashville and Los Angeles. The double-LP vinyl edition arrives on…
Give It to Us, Baby: Rick James’ Motown Masters (and More) Are Digitally Reissued
Singer, songwriter, bassist, producer, partier, punk-funk pioneer – however you know him, one thing’s clear: he’s Rick James. (You’ll have to imagine the word that usually follows.) Though the world lost the “Super Freak” hitmaker 10 years ago this summer, his legend continues: this week sees the release of his authorized biography Glow, written with David Ritz, and to celebrate, two labels are joining forces to update his killer catalogue in the digital domain. From the earliest moments of his musical career, Rick James (born James Ambrose Johnson, Jr.) was a bad boy….
Lovely Day: Aretha, Sly, Andy, Marvin and Billie Headline “The Brazil Connection”
Well, summer is officially upon us! Already there’s talk about which songs will be anointed the perfect summer jams for 2014 – songs by artists like Ariana Grande, Iggy Azalea and the ubiquitous Pharrell Williams. If those names don’t set your pulse racing, however, Legacy Recordings has an alternative that’s bound to conjure up images of tropical sunsets, refreshing drinks and summer breeze. Studio Rio Presents The Brazil Connection makes over 12 pop classics from the Sony vaults by melding the original vocals with new bossa nova and samba arrangements written and/or…
Everybody Loves Somebody: Legacy Acquires Dean Martin’s Reprise Catalogue, Launches Reissue Campaign
How lucky can one guy be… Dean Martin is said to have once observed that the two smartest decisions he ever made were partnering with Jerry Lewis…and breaking up with Jerry Lewis. When the split occurred, Martin was 39 years old, but convinced that a successful solo career was still ahead of him. Was he ever right! The former Dino Paul Crocetti was among the lucky few to have a successful second act in showbiz, and his career as just Dean Martin even eclipsed the first act as one-half of the beloved…
The Beatles and The Beach Boys Beat The Boots On “The Big Beat 1963” and “Bootleg Recordings”
1963 was a landmark year for the favorite sons of Hawthorne, California. During those twelve months, The Beach Boys released three Top 10 studio albums (Surfin’ USA, Surfer Girl and Little Deuce Coupe) and launched three Top 10 singles (“Surfin’ USA,” “Surfer Girl,” and “Be True to Your School”). Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, the outgoing David Marks and returning Al Jardine were perfecting their harmony-laden brand of surf rock and setting the stage for the next step in the band’s evolution. Within one year, The Beach Boys’ music…
Special Review: David Bowie, “The Next Day”
Welcome to today’s special review of David Bowie’s twenty-fourth studio album and first in ten years, The Next Day. As you likely know, The Second Disc rarely reviews newly-recorded albums, but the return of this iconic artist to the recording studio simply couldn’t be ignored. In 1980’s “Ashes to Ashes,” David Bowie famously revealed “Major Tom’s a junkie, strung out in heavens high, hitting an all-time low.” This continuation of the story begun in 1969’s “Space Oddity” was as definitive a statement as any on the man’s unsentimental, decidedly not rose-colored view…
There He Goes Again: Marshall Crenshaw Launches New EP Subscription Service
Marshall Crenshaw has marched to the beat of his own drum (metaphorically speaking!) since making a splash with his self-titled 1982 major label debut. Though he hasn’t exactly been away, the power pop hero has returned this week with the official release of I Don’t See You Laughing Now, a new 3-track vinyl EP that also happens to mark Crenshaw’s launch of a new music subscription series. With shifts in the music landscape occurring on what seems like a day-to-day basis, Crenshaw’s new model just might be worthy of your attention. I Don’t See You Laughing…
Vinyl Renaissance: Omnivore Recordings Offers Art Pepper, Josh Haden’s Spain on Vinyl, Plus “Music City” Rarities
The term “record store” (two rather hallowed words in these parts!) has long been used to describe those stores that sell music, even well into the age of the CD, and now, the digital download. But lately, record store walls have been lined with more and more actual vinyl records. In 2011, more records were purchased than in any other year in the past two decades, with sales up 36 percent over 2010, to a not-too-shabby 3.9 million. Sales for 2012 are likely to best that number. Since its founding in 2010,…
Light in the Attic Gets Funky in the Country with Bobby Darin, Mac Davis, Link Wray, Bobbie Gentry and More
What the hell is “Country Funk,” you ask? That’s the question being posed by Light in the Attic on its new compilation, titled (what else?) Country Funk: 1969-1975. The label goes on to answer, in part, of the “inherently defiant genre”: “the style encompasses the elation of gospel with the sexual thrust of the blues, country hoedown harmony with inner city grit. It is alternately playful and melancholic, slow jammin’ and booty shakin’. It is both studio slick and barroom raw.” Well, those definitions certainly work for us, but you can hear…
Tomorrow Never Knows: The Beatles Offer Rock-Themed Digital LP
Although albums like Rock ‘n’ Roll Music (1976), Love Songs (1977) and Reel Music (1982) have all yet to be released in any CD or digital format, Apple and EMI are reviving the spirit of those LP compilations with a new release available exclusively as an “iTunes LP.” Tomorrow Never Knows, subtitled File Under “Rock,” collects fourteen of The Beatles’ heaviest tracks including the psychedelic title track from 1966’s Revolver. Somewhat surprisingly, some harder-edged hits have been eschewed; while there’s no “Come Together” or “Get Back,” you’ll hear “Savoy Truffle” and “It’s…
Dinah Shore, Songs of James Taylor Feature on Upcoming Masterworks Broadway Reissues
After a brief sabbatical, Masterworks Broadway has taken another dive into its vaults, with its first round of disc-on-demand/digital reissues since February. The label was hardly idle, however, delivering releases from Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett, and Liza Minnelli as deluxe CDs in the ensuing months, and preparing the new Broadway Cast Recording of Evita. This summer, however, Masterworks will turn its attention to two classic recordings from the 1950s and one with a more contemporary bent, from 1978. All three releases will be available from Amazon.com and Arkivmusic.com, with one title coming…
Ram On: Paul McCartney Archive Collection’s “Ram” Coming In May [UPDATED WITH FULL TRACK LISTING AND DETAILS]
We’re gonna keep this one short and sweet, dear boys and long-haired ladies. Yes, the oft-rumored Paul McCartney Archive Collection of Paul and Linda McCartney’s 1971 album Ram is very close to becoming a reality. On March 22, it was officially announced that Ram will be reissued in multiple formats on May 22. But one of those formats will be a bit surprising to collectors of previous Archive Collection titles. It appears that Ram will not follow the hardcover book format of those past releases, but rather be housed in a newly-designed box. We’ve…
Stephen Sondheim, Angela Lansbury, Mary Martin Feature in Latest Masterworks Line-Up
Some of The Great White Way’s brightest stars will be on the receiving end of the latest reissue bonanza from Sony’s Masterworks Broadway label. Leading the pack is the 1985 Original Cast Recording of Stephen Sondheim’s Follies in Concert. Lee Remick, Barbara Cook, Mandy Patinkin and George Hearn star in the 1985 recording of Sondheim’s 1971 musical currently enjoying a critically-acclaimed, hit revival on Broadway. Follies in Concert will arrive at general retail on CD in a new eco-friendly digipak format, while the long out-of-print soundtrack to Jerry Herman’s 1996 television film Mrs. Santa Claus…
Stage and Screen: John Barry, Steve Lawrence Get Reissued
Kritzerland continues to mine the MGM/UA soundtrack library for its latest release, a two-for-one CD. The disc, a limited edition of 1,000, contains the score to Bryan Forbes’ 1967 thriller The Whisperers composed by the legendary John Barry as well as Richard Rodney Bennett’s score to Sidney Lumet’s 1977 adaptation of Peter Shaffer’s play Equus. (Barry’s very different score to The Deep has already enjoyed a terrific reissue earlier this year, courtesy our friends at Intrada, and it’s been mentioned over at the Film Score Monthly message board that a reissue is…
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