We'd like to kick off your weekend with some Frank on Friday, as we welcome back Ted to debut what he's deemed The NOT Column...as in, "NOT a reissue, but NOTeworthy nonetheless!" Today, he looks at the latest release from Australian alt-country singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Anne McCue, who has tapped into a rich vein of blues, jazz and folk to craft Blue Sky Thinkin'. We have no doubt that the music being created by McCue will one day be reissued and covered by future catalogue
Release Round-Up: Week of February 17
The Pretenders, 1979-1999 (Edsel) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) This mega-box features all of Edsel's expanded Pretenders reissues, totaling the band's eight Sire/Warner Bros. albums across 14 CDs and 8 DVDs (with six of the titles as 2-CD/1-DVD sets and two as 1-CD/1-DVD sets). Wow! All of the box set's albums are also available individually (see below)! All track listings and discography can be found here. The Pretenders, 1979-1999 individual CD/DVD reissues
Release Round-Up: Week of February 3
Tony Joe White: The Complete Warner Bros. Recordings (2-CD Set) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) / George Jones & Tammy Wynette: Songs of Inspiration (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) / Bobby Lance: First Peace/Rollin’ Man (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) / Jerry Williams: Gone (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) / Various Artists: Apollo Saturday Night/Saturday Night at the Uptown (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) / John Hall: Power (Expanded Edition) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) / Ray Kennedy: Ray Kennedy (Expanded
Star-Spangled Rodeo: Glen Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy" Turns 40, Gets Expanded Edition
When the 87th Annual Academy Award nominations were announced on January 15, fans of legendary entertainer Glen Campbell no doubt rejoiced at his first-ever Academy Award nomination. Campbell and co-writer Julian Raymond received a Best Original Song nod for “I’m Not Gonna Miss You,” the singer-songwriter’s touching farewell from the soundtrack of the documentary film I'll Be Me. It followed news of two Grammy nominations for the song. Campbell, of course, is in the midst of a valiant and very
The Year In Reissues: The 2014 Gold Bonus Disc Awards
Welcome to The Second Disc’s Fifth Annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards! As with every year’s awards, our goals are simple: to recognize as many of the year’s most essential reissues and catalogue titles as possible, and to celebrate as many of those labels, producers and artists who make these releases happen in an increasingly-challenging retail landscape. The labels you’ll read about below have, by and large, bucked the trends to prove that there’s still a demand for physical catalogue music
Holiday Gift Guide Review: A Folk and Country Christmas with The Kingston Trio, The Brothers Four and the Statler Brothers
The cover of The Kingston Trio’s 1960 Capitol release The Last Month of the Year depicts the three young folksingers in suits and ties, each loaded with a bundle of Christmas gifts. With a cover like that, one could be forgiven for having expected the group to deliver a jovial set of holiday favorites. Instead, The Trio created an album of rare beauty but considerable darkness. As such, it’s hardly your typical holiday fare but Real Gone Music’s reissue (RGM-0312) is a worthwhile inclusion on
Tony Joe White, George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Ray Kennedy Highlight Real Gone's February
From The Apollo to the swamps of Louisiana, Real Gone Music has a whirlwind musical tour planned for its February 3, 2015 slate! The centerpiece of the February batch just might be the first-ever complete collection of Louisiana man Tony Joe White's Warner Bros. recordings! Singer-songwriter White ("Willie and Laura Mae Jones," "Polk Salad Annie") has one of the most distinctive voices in southern soul, and Real Gone's new collection celebrates a major period his career with a new 2-CD set
Release Round-Up: Week of December 9
Frank Sinatra, London (UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) This 3-CD/1-DVD swingin’ affair spans 1953-1984 and features over 50 previously unreleased tracks on CD and DVD - all dedicated to Sinatra's performances in the great city. At its centerpiece is an expanded and remastered edition of Sinatra Sings Great Songs from Great Britain, the Chairman's only studio album recorded outside of the United States! Watch for Joe's full review soon! The Beatles, 1962-1966 / 1967-1970 / 1 /
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
Cherry Red's él Label Spends Christmas In Nashville with Anita Kerr and Chet Atkins
Cherry Red Records' él imprint is celebrating this Christmas in Nashville with the recent release of The Anita Kerr Singers and Chet Atkins at Christmas. This new two-for-one CD includes both Christmas with Chet Atkins (1961) and The Kerr Singers' On This Holy Night (1959) plus a smattering of related bonus tracks. It's nearly impossible to sum up the career of Chet Atkins in a mere few words. The fourteen-time Grammy winner (1924-2001) was a mainstay of the RCA Victor label between 1947 and
Holiday Gift Guide Review: "The Classic Christmas Album" Series
Johnny Mathis. Frank Sinatra. Perry Como. Steve Vai? Menudo? When it comes to Christmas music, Legacy Recordings doesn’t pull its punches. The label’s series of Classic Christmas Album releases has become a bit of an annual tradition, and this year’s batch of single- and various-artist anthologies once again draws on names both expected and unexpected. While the packages are bare-bones, with no liner notes (but happily with full credits and discographical annotation), the music most certainly is
Release Round-Up: Week of December 2
B.J. Thomas, Home Where I Belong/Happy Man (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) B.J. Thomas, You Gave Me Love/Miracle (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Linda Jones, The Complete Atco-Loma-Warner Bros. Recordings (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) The Five Stairsteps, Our Family Portrait/Stairsteps (Expanded Twofer Edition) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) The Unforgiven, The Unforgiven (Expanded Edition) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) Cowboy, 5’ll Getcha Ten (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Grateful Dead, Dick’s Picks
Ace Super Soul Round-Up, Part One: Wayne Cochran, Arthur Prysock, and More "When Country Meets Soul"
Welcome to Part One of our two-part look at some of the most exciting soul and R&B reissues to have recently arrived from the Ace and Kent labels! Wayne Cochran was known as “The White Knight of Soul,” for his outrageous onstage attire and white pompadour. But underneath all the glamour of his showbiz persona, Cochran was a commanding soul vocalist. With Goin’ Back to Miami: The Soul Sides 1965-1970, Ace aims to showcase Wayne Cochran, the singer. This 2-CD, 38-track set collects
Variety Is The Spice: Varese Serves Up Ian Hunter, Ray Price
Upon his departure from Mott the Hoople, frontman Ian Hunter wasted little time in establishing a solo career. His first, eponymous solo album in 1975 yielded the single that made Hunter’s name as a solo artist, the original version of “Once Bitten, Twice Shy.” Recorded at George Martin’s AIR Studios, “Once Bitten” boasted Hunter’s old cohort Mick Ronson as arranger, guitarist and co-producer, and the track made it all the way to No. 14 on the U.K. chart. (Great White’s 1989 cover version
Review: John Denver, "All of My Memories: The John Denver Collection"
“Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy,” goes one of John Denver’s most well-known songs. In a little over five minutes – and even less in its single version – “Sunshine” touches on many of the themes most important to the singer-songwriter: nature, love, beauty. Throughout the course of a career sadly cut short when he perished in a plane crash in 1997 aged just 53, Denver revisited these themes over and over again, using his pure, crystalline tone to bring comfort and spread a message of
Release Round-Up: Week of November 4
Bob Dylan, The Bootleg Series Vol. 11: The Basement Tapes Complete and Raw (Columbia/Legacy) At long last, here are the complete and unexpurgated Basement Tapes - 6 discs and over 140 songs recorded in the creatively fertile days of 1967 and 1968 by Bob Dylan, Robbie Robertson, Garth Hudson, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel and Levon Helm. Quite simply, this treasure trove of Americana may well be the Catalogue Music Event of the Year. Complete: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Raw: CD: Amazon
The Nashville Sound: New Set Spotlights Chet Atkins' Collaborations
Fourteen-time Grammy winner Chet Atkins (1924-2001) was a man of many hats. At RCA Victor between 1947 and 1982, as a performer, producer and executive, he was a key player in the creation of the “Nashville Sound” which made country palatable to crossover audiences. Indeed, though the style has changed, the pop influence on the country genre certainly hasn’t, and fans of Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney and Carrie Underwood all owe something to Chet Atkins. Also one of Nashville’s most
Any Day Now: Ronnie Milsap's "RCA Albums Collection" Box Coming In November
Country music superstar Ronnie Milsap is having a great year. The Academy of Country Music has recognized him with a Career Achievement Award at the ACM Honors ceremony in Nashville, and in October, the “It Was Almost Like a Song” and “Any Day Now” singer will be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame's 2014 class, alongside Mac Wiseman and the late Hank Cochran. Capping this incredible year of acclaim, however, will be the November 4 release from RCA Records and Legacy Recordings of The
Let It Snow! Legacy Has Eight New "Classic Christmas" Titles Including Unheard Sinatra, Mathis Tracks
It's that time of the year again! Legacy Recordings' Classic Christmas Album series has become an annual tradition, and the label is once again drawing on the Sony Music vaults to offer new seasonal anthologies from a group of truly celebrated artists. This year, the bona fide legends include Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Perry Como, and Johnny Mathis, and their volumes will be joined by an entry for the classical crossover quartet Il Divo as well as by various-artists compilations
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like a Real Gone Christmas: Label Preps Robert Goulet, Andy Williams and the Williams Brothers, B.J. Thomas, More
The first day of autumn is almost here, but Real Gone Music is looking ahead to winter - and the most spectacular line-up of holiday music we've seen since The Second Disc started up nearly five years ago! The label has just unveiled its release slate for November 4, with a whopping seven Christmas titles, two contemporary Christian albums from a classic pop legend that make a perfect seasonal complement, and - just to keep things rocking - a hotly-anticipated CD from a classic rock
Rocky Mountain High: Legacy Remembers John Denver With New Box Set
Randy Sparks was right. ”Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr.” likely wouldn’t have commanded attention on a marquee. “John Denver” would – and did. The beloved troubadour, who perished in 1997 at just 53, took the advice of the New Christy Minstrels’ leader. Choosing a new name from his favorite state, which he would immortalize numerous times in song, Denver went on to a career encompassing seven multi-platinum, thirteen platinum and 20 gold albums. During that sadly-curtailed career, he also penned
Crazy For Leavin': Raven Collects Four Albums From Troubadour Guy Clark
In 2014, Guy Clark netted the Grammy Award for Best Folk Album for My Favorite Picture of You. Dedicated to his wife and muse of 40 years, Susanna Clark, My Favorite Picture proved that the years hadn't dulled the ability of the Texas-born pioneer of the progressive country movement to craft a moving, tender, keenly-observed and well-crafted collection of songs. Following its release of the Clark anthology Hindsight 21/20 (1975-1995), Australia's Raven Records label has revisited his catalogue
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
Review: Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, "Riding Your Way: The Lost Transcriptions for Tiffany Music 1946-1947"
"Pull another chair at the table," comes the invitation that opens Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys' Riding Your Way, the new deluxe 2-CD set from Real Gone Music (RGM-0244). "Make room in your heart for a friend," goes the second song on this collection featuring 50 of the never-before-released Lost Transcriptions for Tiffany Music circa 1946-1947. You'll want to pull up that chair, and make room for Wills, with this remarkable (and remarkably entertaining) historical find filled with good,
Sumpin Funky Going On: "Country Funk II" Features Willie, Dolly, Bobby, Jackie, Kenny and More
Almost two years ago, we reported on Light in the Attic’s Country Funk, an anthology celebrating the hybrid genre of the title. Back then, LITA described country funk as an “inherently defiant genre” encompassing “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, if the 16 nuggets on that 2012 release weren’t enough