In a career spanning six decades, vibraphonist and composer Roy Ayers has pushed the boundaries of jazz, transitioning from bop to soul-jazz, funk and acid jazz. Three classic albums from the "Godfather of Neo-Soul" have recently been reissued by Australia's Raven Records label with a handful of bonus selections, as well. The 2-CD set Searching for Sunshine: 1973-1980 collects Ayers' Polydor albums You Send Me (1978), Fever (1979) and No Stranger to Love (1979) and then dips into other areas
RPM Says "Vive Le Rock and Roll" With New Collection from Early French Rockers
RPM, an imprint of Cherry Red Group, has recently issued a number of sets exploring the world of sixties French pop. Now the label has recently turned to the heavier side, with Vive Le Rock and Roll, a 22-track anthology dedicated to the country's rock-and-roll scene. As detailed in Kieron Tyler's extensive liner notes to this collection subtitled The Unruly World of French Rock and Roll 1956-1962, France didn't cotton to the rough-and-tumble genre immediately. Bill Haley and the Comets
Release Round-Up: Week of June 9
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, headlined by the long-awaited return of The Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers in a variety of formats and editions! The Rolling Stones, Sticky Fingers (UMe) 3-CD/1-DVD Super Deluxe Edition Box Set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 2-CD/1-DVD Deluxe Edition Box Set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 2-CD Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 1-CD Standard Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 2-LP Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Digital Download:
The Bad Seeds: "Nick Cave Heard Them Here First" Features Dylan, Cash, Pitney, More
Ace Records has an unusual name on its roster: that of Australian musical iconoclast Nick Cave. An artist who's lived up to his description as rock's "Prince of Darkness," Cave has nonetheless drawn on a wide array of influences in crafting his own intense, personal and powerful songbook. Ace has rounded up the original versions of 25 songs recorded over the years by the artist on the collection entitled Nick Cave Heard Them Here First. This anthology follows the label's similar sets for The
Always and Forever: Big Break Reissues Heatwave, Silver Convention
Big Break Records, an imprint of the Cherry Red Group, is back in a big way with its first three reissues of 2015! Expanded editions of Heatwave's first two albums Too Hot to Handle and Central Heating as well as Silver Convention's Summernights all have arrived in stores in the U.K. this week, and are due in the U.S. next week! Heatwave burst onto the scene in a big way with 1976's Too Hot to Handle, an album that lived up to its title with three hit singles. The group's membership crossed
Cherry Red's él Label Mines Jazz and Beyond with Django Reinhardt, Grant Green and More
Cherry Red's él label is in a jazz mood with three recent releases from two late legends of the guitar, Django Reinhardt and Grant Green, and one fondly-remembered group, The Temperance Seven! Though Django Reinhardt (1910-1953) lived to just 43 years of age, the Belgian-born French guitarist of Romani descent invented a wholly new vocabulary for jazz guitar, sometimes referred to as "gypsy jazz." Able to use just two fingers on his left hand, he created a singular style of swing thanks to
You Can't Ever Come Down: Esoteric Revisits "The American Metaphysical Circus"
"We were firmly in the American tradition of artistic and political radicalism intermixed with patriotism, and to thus establish a psychic 'distance' from The Beatles." So stated Joseph Byrd in a 2004 interview excerpted in the liner notes to Esoteric Recordings' new reissue of 1969's The American Metaphysical Circus. The album, credited to Joe Byrd and the Hippies, exemplified the adventuresome spirit of the era which led the venerable Columbia Records label to sign a number of
Release Round-Up: Week of May 26
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! We hope all of our U.S. readers enjoyed a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. And now, without further ado, onto the music! Yes, Progeny: Seven Shows from Seventy-Two (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Finally, after a brief delay, Progeny is here! This whopping 14-CD box captures seven complete concerts from Yes circa 1972 - the same tour leading up to the performances preserved on Yessongs. For those who don't need 14 discs, 2-CD and 3-LP
In Memoriam: Anne Meara (1929-2015)
Please excuse this interruption of The Second Disc's regular programming to allow for a personal remembrance of the late Anne Meara (Fame, Rhoda, The King of Queens, All My Children). Anne Meara was so much more than "mother of Ben Stiller." Though that famous credit - of which she was incredibly, enormously proud - adorns many of the headlines about her passing this weekend at the age of 85, let it be known that Anne was also a comedienne, an actress, a humorist, a playwright, an artist, a
It's Your Thing: The Isley Brothers' RCA and T-Neck Albums and More Collected On 23-CD Box Set
Get ready for a release that will make you want to shout! Today marks the 74th birthday of Ronald Isley, one-third of the original founding trio of The Isley Brothers. Since bursting onto the scene with 1959's Shout! on the RCA Victor label, Ronald, Rudolph and O'Kelly Isley - plus Ernie and Marvin Isley and Chris Jasper - the R&B legends have notched four Top 10 Pop singles, sixteen Top 40 albums, thirteen Gold, Platinum or Multi-Platinum albums, and inductions into the Rock and Roll
Release Round-Up: Week of May 5
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Oddly, releases were split between yesterday and today, but both days add up to a wealth of titles in nearly every genre! Without a doubt, this is one of the most packed weeks yet this year! Jackie DeShannon, All the Love: The Lost Atlantic Recordings (Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) All the Love--The Lost Atlantic Recordings brings together DeShannon's entire 1973 Atlantic Records material in one place for the first time,
Review: "Beale Street Saturday Night"
Beale Street in downtown Memphis, Tennessee runs approximately 1.8 miles from the Mississippi River to East Street. Created in 1841 and originally named Beale Avenue, it was immortalized in 1916 by composer, musician and bandleader W.C. Handy in his "Beale Street Blues." By the middle of the century, Louis Armstrong, B.B. King, Albert King, Muddy Waters and more had all played Beale Street, recognized as one of the nation's foremost cradles of the blues. But by the mid-1960s, the legendary
The Second Disc's 2015 Record Store Day Must-Haves
Tomorrow, Saturday, April 18, music fans and collectors will flock to their local independent record stores to celebrate both the sounds on those familiar round black platters and the cherished opportunity to shop for music in a physical retail environment. To many of us, both are a way of life. Each year around this time, we here at Second Disc HQ take a few moments to count down the titles to which we're most looking forward to picking up! Our friend and founder, Mike Duquette, returns to
New "Playlist" Wave Features Ben Folds Five, DJ Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince, Santana and More
Legacy’s long-running Playlist series rolls on with another batch of titles to be released tomorrow, April 14. This wave of titles in the budget line range from rock to R&B to rap, and span from the late 1960s right up to the 2000s. As per the standard with this series, each entry is fourteen tracks and generally has some harder-to-find edits and track choices than are generally found on budget compilations. Following a description of each title kindly provided by our friend and founder
Review: Bee Gees, "1974-1979"
For many veteran artists, disco was simply a mountain that couldn’t be climbed….not that they didn’t try. The Beach Boys, Grateful Dead, Elton John and so many others – even Frank Sinatra! – flirted with the genre only to find that that those sultry disco grooves weren’t as easy to emulate as they may have appeared to be. Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb not only climbed the mountain, but conquered it. The brothers had already amassed a back catalogue of some of the richest, most melodic and
Freak Out! Frank Zappa's Lost Final Album "Dance Me This" Slated For June Release
On June 1, the final album recorded during the lifetime of Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and musical iconoclast Frank Zappa will, at last, see the light of day. The Zappa Family Trust has announced the release of Dance Me This as the landmark 100th Official Release from the composer-artist. Though the ZFT has provided scant information, only indicating “This is it. # 100. The LAST album by Frank Zappa. It’s 1993 and YOU ARE HERE!” on the official pre-order page, it’s believed that Dance Me
Dance to the Music! Sly and the Family Stone Vinyl Box Arrives
A little more than a week ago, on March 15, Sly Stone turned 72. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and multi-hyphenate artist has survived more than his share of ups and downs. But for a staggering period of nearly 50 years, Sly's work as composer, singer, producer and musician has continued to take listeners higher with his groundbreaking blend of funk, rhythm and blues, soul, rock, psychedelia, jazz and pop. Epic Records and Legacy Recordings have recently reissued the first five albums from Sly
Can We Talk? Rare Joan Rivers Album Comes to CD for Record Store Day
When Joan Rivers released The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album in 1969 on Buddah Records, could she have realized that the title would indeed remain accurate? The first album from the trailblazing comedy legend arrived on Warner Bros. in 1965, while the last Joan Rivers album came via Geffen Records in 1983. Now, the next to last Joan Rivers album – that just so happens to be called The Next to Last Joan Rivers Album – is making its CD debut on Record Store Day this April 18 on the Stand Up!
Omnivore's Record Store Day Trio Revealed with The Honeys, MC Lyte, More "High Fidelity"
What do Brian Wilson, MC Lyte and Sam Phillips have in common? All three are among the artists and producers represented on Omnivore Recordings’ trio of delicious vinyl offerings for this April 18’s upcoming Record Store Day! Sessions ’64!! is so exciting that no less than two exclamation points will do!! This groovy 10-inch slab of translucent gold vinyl transports listeners back to 1964. It includes nine tracks produced by Brian Wilson and Jimmy Bowen for the Warner Bros. and
Release Round-Up: Week of March 10
This week brings a particularly impressive slate by any standard, but we're particularly proud to introduce the world to Second Disc Records with our first two releases, from Johnny Mathis and the late Bob Crewe! Johnny Mathis, Life is a Song Worth Singing: The Complete Thom Bell Sessions (Second Disc/Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Here, on two CDs, we proudly present both of Johnny Mathis' album collaborations - including the never-on-CD Mathis Is... - with songwriter-producer
Shake Your Pants! Robinsongs Goes "Insane" With New Cameo Reissues
In 2010, Cherry Red’s Superbird imprint combined Cameo’s first two albums, Cardiac Arrest and We All Know Who We Are, in one package. Now, five years later, Cherry Red’s Robinsongs has just reissued the funk supergroup’s third and fourth outings, 1978’s Ugly Ego and 1979’s Secret Omen. Originally founded as The New York City Players, Larry Blackmon and his big band soon changed the group name to Cameo, to avoid confusion with the Ohio Players. Prior to this, Blackmon (the band’s
Walking in Memphis: Omnivore Revisits "Beale Street Saturday Night"
Omnivore Recordings is going back to Memphis. The label has already preserved a number of classic records drawing on the city’s rich musical landscape by artists including Big Star, Alex Chilton, Sandra Rhodes, and Sid Selvidge. On April 14, Omnivore will add to that collection with the reissue of Beale Street Saturday Night, produced and curated in 1979 by the late Jim Dickinson in celebration of the city’s blues mecca Beale Street. Produced for The Memphis Development Foundation (and
Don't Leave Her This Way: Thelma Houston's "Any Way You Like It" Gets Expanded Treatment
Powerhouse vocalist Thelma Houston has long had a champion in SoulMusic Records. In 2012, the label issued an expanded edition of her debut album (and second overall) for Motown’s California-based MoWest label, and in 2013, SoulMusic reissued both of her duet albums with the “Ice Man” Jerry Butler. The label has just revisited 1976’s Any Way You Like It, the album that made a superstar out of Houston thanks to a little anthem called “Don’t’ Leave Me This Way.” Though Berry Gordy’s West
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 10
Mike + The Mechanics, Living Years: Deluxe Edition (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) This Deluxe Edition of Mike + The Mechanics’ 1988 album arrives in the U.S. with a second disc featuring “The Living Years 2014″ and live tracks culled from the band’s 1989 tour. Read our full coverage here. Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Complete Columbia Singles (Friday Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Friday Music has repackaged Collectors’ Choice Music’s 2010 three-disc collection of the