Wow! And just like that, another year has flown by. Just a few weeks before The Second Disc hits its 12th anniversary(!), this Christmas Eve it is our custom to look back on the last 12 months and take some time to think fondly of the music, magic, memories and friends that made our lives worth living. As if last year wasn't unconventional enough, 2021 packed more pop, clicks, skips and distortion than the most misguided vinyl pressings. We got vaccinated, we got boosted, we tentatively
The Year In Review: The 2020 Gold Bonus Disc Awards, From A to Z
Happy 2021 and welcome to The Second Disc's 11th Annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards! The past year has presented any number of unprecedented challenges. But music has filled a more important role than ever, providing solace, comfort, and escape in a time unlike any other. With that spirit in mind, The Second Disc once again wishes to recognize 2020's cream of the catalogue music crop - those exemplary reissues and box sets big and small that proved to be truly outstanding for music lovers
I Talk To The Wind: King Crimson Holds Court With Long-Awaited Box Set "The Complete 1969 Recordings" (UPDATED WITH LINKS!)
Prog-rockers King Crimson are set to give their debut album the royal treatment, with an impressive 26-disc box set appropriately titled The Complete 1969 Recordings. The long-awaited set was previewed last year with a digestible 3-CD/Blu-ray edition of their game-changing debut In The Court of the Crimson King. The band had promised a copyright-extending mega-set to follow, and on October 23 it will hit shops. The Complete 1969 Recordings promises to provide "the complete audio history" of
Release Round-Up: Week of May 31
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Hootie & The Blowfish, Cracked Rear View: 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Atlantic/Rhino) 3-CD/DVD Deluxe: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2-CD Expanded: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 1LP Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Hootie and the Blowfish are revisiting their 21x platinum smash Cracked Rear View with a new 3-CD/DVD Deluxe Edition and 2-CD Expanded Edition. The Deluxe Edition includes a new
Happy With What You Have: King Crimson Celebrates '90s and '00s Work With "Heaven and Earth" Mega-Set and Breakout Reissues, Due May 31
When it comes to raiding the vaults for lavish box sets, few have embraced the task quite like King Crimson, who have released six such sets which typically include remixed studio albums, outtakes, and live recordings galore. Now, the band has announced its seventh mega-set, entitled Heaven & Earth. It's due out on May 31 and can be pre-ordered directly from Inner Knot/DGMLive (U.S.) and Burning Shed (U.K.). On the same day, more digestible versions of The ReconstruKction of Light (in its
Esoteric Recordings Round-Up: Procol Harum, Anthony Phillips Expanded Reissues
Periodically this month, we'll be looking at titles released in the latter part of 2018 that we either didn't cover, or only covered briefly, the first time around! We hope you enjoy this look at "some nice things we've missed"... Cherry Red's Esoteric Recordings imprint has recently continued its ongoing series dedicated to the recordings of Procol Harum and Genesis founding member Anthony Phillips. Procol's Ninth may well be one of the most unusual albums in the band's venerable
Holding Court: King Crimson Announces 50th Anniversary Plans with New Single, Box Sets, Tour, and More!
Rock royalty King Crimson celebrate their golden jubilee this year and yesterday, January 13 - exactly 50 years since their first rehearsals - the band announced a wealth of new projects and plans to celebrate the momentous feat. Along with an upcoming documentary and ongoing download series, fans can expect a new tour, vinyl reissues, box sets, and live releases from the vault. We'll have full details for each release as they're announced, but to whet your appetite, here's a look at what the
Visions of Paradise: Moody Blues' "In Search of the Lost Chord" Box Set Coming on Friday
Following last year's 2CD/DVD reissue of The Moody Blues' 1967 sophomore album Days of Future Passed, UMe is going even more deluxe for the Moodies' next album, 1968's In Search of the Lost Chord. Tomorrow, November 2, the label will reissue that seminal classic as a 3CD/2DVD box comprising alternate mixes, previously unreleased tracks, and more. Mike Pinder, Ray Thomas, Justin Hayward, John Lodge, and Graeme Edge, working with producer Tony Clarke, constructed In Search of the Lost Chord
Review: Fleetwood Mac, 'Fleetwood Mac: Deluxe Edition'
Take away all the artifice and ephemera of the new deluxe edition of Fleetwood Mac's 1975 self-titled album (Reprise R2 559454) and you're still left with an intriguing and endlessly challenging question: how? How did a British blues band with only fleeting chart success in their home country metamorphose into one of the greatest rock bands of the 20th century's back half, architects of 18 Top 40 hits and eight platinum or multiplatinum records? And how did they do so with their ninth lineup? As
One of a Kind: Bruford Brings Box Set
As the founding drummer of Yes and a prominent member of King Crimson in the 1970s, Bill Bruford was a key figure in the developing prog rock scene. Now, he's preparing a box set devoted to the first band he ever created: the aptly-titled Bruford. Seems Like a Lifetime Ago 1977-1980 will include Bruford's complete output, with some exciting extras as well. The group's first two albums, Feels Good to Me (1978) and One of a Kind (1979), have been newly remixed in both stereo and 5.1 surround by
Just In Time: Judy Garland's Last Concert Coming In 2018 In High-Definition Audio
The High Definition Tape Transfers label is turning its attention to the legendary Judy Garland for a release scheduled for 2018. Garland's final concert, from Copenhagen, Denmark's Falkoner Centret on March 25, 1969 (less than three months before her untimely death on June 22, 1969) will be released in a number of digital formats as well as on physical DVD-Audio discs. See below for the complete press release announcing this landmark title, which features the first-time commercial release of
The Many "Sides" Of Anthony Phillips: Esoteric Expands Genesis Guitarist's Albums in Stereo, Surround
Esoteric Recordings has continued its series of definitive reissues from Genesis members Anthony Phillips, Tony Banks and Steve Hackett with two new mini-box sets dedicated to Phillips' solo albums Wise After the Event (1978) and Sides (1979). These 3-CD/1-DVD-A releases follow Esoteric's 2015 box set expansion of his pastoral solo debut The Geese and the Ghost as well as the label's compendium of his Private Parts and Pieces volumes. Wise After the Event remains Phillips' only album on which
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
Honey Hi: Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk" Deluxe Box Set Due In December
Those aren't just rumo(u)rs! After one week of premature reporting all around the 'net, Rhino has confirmed the long-awaited news this morning: Fleetwood Mac's 1979 magnum opus Tusk is coming in a 5-CD/1-DVD/2-LP Deluxe Edition, a 3-CD Expanded Edition and a 1-CD remaster on December 4! Reportedly the most expensive rock album ever made, the sprawling, 20-track double album followed up the record-shattering success of Rumours and confounded observers expecting another collection of
Release Round-Up: Week of October 16
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! The dB's and Friends, Christmas Time Again! (Omnivore) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Omnivore revisits and revises the classic alt-rock Christmas compilation. Producer Chris Stamey has added new performances by Yo La Tengo & Jeff Tweedy, Marshall Crenshaw, Robyn Hitchcock, and Big Star's Third (featuring Mike Mills of R.E.M. taking lead vocals on Big Star's "Jesus Christ") to selected tracks from past editions of the album for a total of 22
Anthony Phillips' "The Geese and the Ghost," with Genesis Bandmates Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford, Goes Deluxe
“You should hear what Anthony Phillips has been doing since he left Genesis,” heralded an advertisement for the former Genesis guitarist’s 1977 album The Geese and the Ghost. A largely-instrumental album of orchestral splendor, The Geese had a bumpy road to release, but it’s now the subject of a deluxe, expanded 2-CD/1-DVD mini-box set edition that ranks as one of the most striking reissue packages of the year. Certainly a candidate for the great lost Genesis album, The Geese and the Ghost
Sound Chaser: Steven Wilson Revisits Yes, Jethro Tull In Stereo and Surround
When it comes to new surround-sound mixes, one name has become closely associated with the format: Steven Wilson. Keeper of the progressive-rock flame and frontman for Porcupine Tree, Wilson has in recent years created definitive 5.1 remixes for artists like King Crimson, Yes, XTC, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Gentle Giant, and Jethro Tull. It was recently announced that Wilson would be extending his talents to an upcoming reissue from (non-prog!) rock band Tears for Fears, and we can also confirm
Razor and Tie Revisits Emerson Lake and Palmer's "Brain Salad Surgery" For 40th Anniversary
For Emerson, Lake and Palmer, the fourth time was the charm. Keyboardist Keith Emerson, vocalist/bassist/guitarist Greg Lake and drummer/percussionist Carl Palmer were innovators in the progressive rock genre, fusing classical, jazz and heavy rock on a regular basis since their 1970 self-titled debut album. ELP was an answer both to the compact, three-minute pop songs that dominated the airwaves and to the blues-rock genre epitomized by the likes of Led Zeppelin, and the group pursued a