Anyone have a little love for Rumpelstiltskin? The Brothers Grimm popularized the story of the mischievous imp in the early part of the 19th century, but he has never received the same kind of commercial fame as many of the Grimms’ other creations. No wonder, then, that Rumpelstiltskin was so ornery when he appeared as the villain of Shrek Forever After. And how many indignities did he survive as the titular character of a 1996 grade B horror film! Rumpelstiltskin has had a few moments in
Prepare Ye: "Godspell" Turns 40, Celebrates With Deluxe Album Reissues
Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Just as the musical gears up for its first-ever Broadway revival, Masterworks Broadway is giving the deluxe treatment to Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak's Godspell with a new 2-CD set to celebrate both the new revival and the show's 40th anniversary. Godspell and its score announced a major new talent in Stephen Schwartz, alumnus of Carnegie-Mellon University (the birthplace of his next musical, the legendary Pippin). With its varied and diverse
Release Round-Up: Week of August 9
GQ, Two (Funkytowngrooves) GQ's 1980 Arista album gets the remastered treatment. (Amazon) Jefferson Airplane, Red Octopus (Friday Music) The 1975 effort from Paul Kantner, Marty Balin, Grace Slick and co. arrives on 180-gram vinyl with the mega-hit "Miracles" a highlight! (Official site) Evelyn "Champagne" King, Music Box (Funkytowngrooves) King teams with T-Life for this groove-laden RCA set from 1979! (Amazon) The Motels, Apocalypso (Omnivore) The Motels' lost album from 1981 finally
July 4 Special Reissue Theory: "1776: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack"
Happy 4th of July! Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we take a look back at notable albums and the reissues they could someday see. In 1969, a Broadway musical about a most unlikely subject became the toast of New York. Three years later, a movie mogul in the twilight of his years shepherded it to the big screen, and while the film has lived on, its soundtrack album has all but disappeared. Today's Reissue Theory, pulled from The Second Disc archives, imagines a
Masterworks Broadway Announces Three More CD Debuts Including "Divine Hair"
In a recent Wall Street Journal column, Scott Farthing, Sony Masterworks' Senior Director of Marketing, estimated that the Sony vaults house 80-85% of all [American] cast recordings ever made. Largely built on the combined catalogues of Columbia Records and RCA Victor (and their associated labels), the Masterworks Broadway label has gradually been making that immense library available once again in the digital domain. Masterworks has just announced its summer line-up, and as usual, it’s a varied
Review: Two By Richard Rodgers, "On Your Toes" (1952) and "Carousel" (1955)
June is busting out all over, and so is the music of Richard Rodgers. Then again, the work of the composer (1902-1979) is always busting out all over. Even in 2010, Rodgers had the third most-covered song of the year, according to ASCAP. The song was "My Funny Valentine," with lyrics by Lorenz Hart, and it was written in 1937, proving that Richard Rodgers' music is, indeed, timeless. Masterworks Broadway, drawing from Sony Music Entertainment's Columbia and RCA Victor vaults, has been a leading
Memorial Day Special: The Andrews Sisters and the Sherman Brothers, "Over Here!"
We interrupt our regularly-scheduled Memorial Day hiatus to bring you this surprise holiday feature! It was 1972, but 1959 was all the rage. Grease was the word then, as it is now. The little musical from Chicago’s Kingston Mines Theatre had opened on Broadway where it would garner seven Tony Award nominations, run for a then- record-breaking 3,388 performances and spawn a massively successful film version. Grease was the toast of New York, launching the careers of Adrienne Barbeau, Barry
A Quartet of Broadway Classics Coming From Masterworks
Back on April 5, we filled you in on the latest slate of reissues from Sony's Masterworks Broadway division, available as digital downloads or discs-on-demand from Arkiv Music. Next week, May 17, sees release of RCA Victor's 1964 Music Theater of Lincoln Center Recording of Franz Lehar's The Merry Widow, making its very first appearance in the CD age. The classic operetta is joined by four new releases returning to print: the Original Broadway Cast Recordings of Irving Berlin’s Mr. President and
Back Tracks, In Memoriam: The Musical Legacy of Arthur Laurents
The late Arthur Laurents wrote many of the most beloved musicals and films in entertainment history including West Side Story, Gypsy, The Way We Were and Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope. He passed away on May 5, but today’s special Back Tracks celebrates this great writer’s legacy in music. “If you have a good strong finish, they’ll forgive anything!” So implores stage mother Madame Rose to her daughter Louise, the future Gypsy Rose Lee, in the 1959 musical Gypsy. Rose’s bon mot was one of many
Release Round-Up: Week of April 26
Derek and the Dominos, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (Universal) The 2-CD remastered/expanded 40th Anniversary Edition (previously a Best Buy exclusive) and super deluxe 4-CD/2-LP/1-DVD box set of the seminal album both arrive in stores today. Read more here. (2-CD – Amazon, Box Set – Amazon) Bob Dylan, The Other Side of the Mirror: Live at the Newport Folk Festival 1963-1965 (Columbia/Legacy) Murray Lerner’s film chronicling Dylan’s incendiary performances at Newport is released on
Stage and Screen Classics, Reissued: "Until September" and "Camelot"
If there’s a link between Kritzerland’s two new releases, it would have to be melody. I’m speaking of sheer, unadulterated, romantic melody, courtesy of two of music’s finest purveyors of such themes: John Barry and Frederick Loewe. This morning, the stage and screen specialists announced two limited edition titles of 1,000, and both are notable, indeed. From Mr. Barry comes the 1984 score to Until September, while Mr. Loewe is represented by the first-ever CD release of the 1964 Original
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
Labor Day Special Reissue Theory: Stephen Schwartz and James Taylor, “Working”
The Second Disc Archives are open! We're reprising this look at a musical which united the talents of Stephen Schwartz, James Taylor, Mary Rodgers, Micki Grant and Craig Carnelia, while our story also features "appearances" along the way by Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Warnes and Rupert Holmes! Welcome to our Reissue Theory special: Working! On Monday, September 6, 2010, America celebrated its 128th Labor Day, all but the first 12 of them recognized as a
Review: "Promises, Promises: Original MGM Broadway Cast Recording"
The Fourth of July isn’t usually a holiday known for gifts. But your humble reviewer felt as if he got a gift, and what a gift!, on July 3 when Kritzerland’s limited edition deluxe 2-CD reissue of the original cast album of Promises, Promises (KR 20015-9) arrived in the mail. As a result, much of the weekend was spent listening to an album I’ve known for years, but hearing it as if for the first time. For background on this release, see The Second Disc’s post of June 14 and join us after
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