Everything Else

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Edwin Starr, The Boys Town Gang, The Gap Band, Yarbrough and Peoples

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Better Treat Her Right: Latter-Day Donna Summer Albums Expanded in the U.K.

October 14, 2014 by Joe Marchese | 12 Comments

1979 could have been called “The Year of Donna Summer.” In the last year of the 70s, Summer became the first female artist in the history of to have three number 1 singles in a calendar year: “Hot Stuff,” “Bad Girls” and “No More Tears (Enough is Enough),” a duet with Barbra Streisand. She would have had four, but alas, “Dim All the Lights” stalled at No. 2. But despite reaching the top of the charts consistently with disco records, Summer decided that she wanted to try a new sound. Her record…

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Box Sets, CD, Vinyl

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Donna Summer

Cherry Red Celebrates “Godfather of Ska” Laurel Aitken With Albums Box

October 9, 2014 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

Born in Cuba of mixed Jamaican and Cuban descent as Lorenzo Aitken, singer Laurel Aitken (1927-2005) is today remembered as “The Godfather of Ska.” The precursor to reggae, ska drew from Caribbean styles like calypso and mento as well as from American jazz and R&B; by the early 1960s, it was the predominant style of music in Jamaica. Cherry Red Records and Pressure Drop have recently collected the seminal early recordings of Laurel Aitken in a new 5-CD box set. Aitken’s Original Albums Collection features four rare albums and a fifth disc…

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Listen to the Nyah-Rock: Cherry Red Expands Cymande’s First Three Albums

September 18, 2014 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

On September 25, 2014, Cymande will appear at the Koko in London. The gig will be the first time that all of its original members have performed together in the U.K. since 1974. The group, named for the Calypso word for Dove and pronounced “sah-mahn-day,” blends together funk, jazz, calypso, African tribal music and reggae into a sound of music the group dubbed “Nyah Rock.” Due to the sampling of some their songs in recent times, Cymande’s reputation has grown larger and Cherry Red Records have recently reissued expanded edition of their…

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Funk, R&B/Soul

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Cymande

Release Round-Up: Week of September 16

September 16, 2014 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

Jimi Hendrix, The Cry of Love and Rainbow Bridge: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Experience Hendrix/Legacy) Legacy and Experience Hendrix have reissues of Jimi Hendrix’s first two posthumously-released albums, both from 1971; The Cry of Love is long out-of-print on CD, while Rainbow Bridge makes its first authorized appearance in the CD format. Both titles have been freshly remastered by Bernie Grundman from the original analog masters. The Cry of Love: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Rainbow Bridge: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack : Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Charles Lloyd, Manhattan Stories (Resonance) (Amazon U.S….

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News, Release Round-Up

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Classic Rock, Classical/Opera, Disco/Dance, Jazz, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, Soundtracks

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Barbra Streisand, Charles Lloyd, Elmer Bernstein, James Galway, Jimi Hendrix, Neil Sedaka, Paul Anka, Ray Price, Salsoul Orchestra, Scruffy the Cat

You Gotta Have Faith (Hope, and Charity): Real Gone Reissues Lost R&B Gems

August 22, 2014 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

Real Gone Music is moving to the sound of a disco beat! In conjunction with SoulMusic Records, Real Gone has tapped the vaults of RCA Records to present two world-premiere CD reissues, both with rare bonus tracks. Perhaps no other genre has inspired as many songs imploring listeners to suppress their inhibitions and put their dancing shoes on as disco has. “Let’s Go to the Disco/’Cause I feel like dancing tonight/Let’s go to the disco/Where the music is outta sight!” The call to arms “Let’s Go to the Disco” opened the self-titled…

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Reviews

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Faith Hope and Charity, New York Community Choir

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Tell Me How You Like It: Harmless Reissues, Expands Philly Disco From John Davis and the Monster Orchestra

August 15, 2014 by Joe Marchese | 2 Comments

What makes for a Monster Orchestra? For Philadelphia composer-arranger-conductor John Davis, it was an array of the best musicians the city had to offer. Between 1976 and 1979, Davis led his Monster Orchestra for four disco LPs on the SAM Records label, plucking its members from the A-Team of Philadelphia International’s MFSB and Salsoul Records’ Salsoul Orchestra. Guitarists Bobby Eli and Roland Chambers, percussionist/conga player Larry Washington, drummer Charles Collins, bassist Michael “Sugar Bear” Foreman, and string and horn leader Don Renaldo (plus stalwart backing vocalists Barbara Ingram, Yvette Benton and Carla…

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John Davis and The Monster Orchestra

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Disco/Dance

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From Polynesia To Belgium: Cherry Red Goes Exotic! Plus: The Singing Nun! George Melly’s Hedonistic Fifties!

August 12, 2014 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

No slab of vintage vinyl is too obscure or too esoteric for the team at Cherry Red’s él label, as evidenced by a trio of its most recent offerings from Jeanine Deckers a.k.a. Sœur Sourire a.k.a. The Singing Nun, British critic and personality George Melly, and a whole host of masters of exotica. The mini-box set Exotica Classics features five albums on two discs, each housed in its own paper sleeve within the slipcased set. The first features two complete LPs (Miriam Burton’s African Lament and Bob Romeo, His Flute and The…

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Marni Nixon, The Singing Nun

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Everything Else, Folk, Pop

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Get Up and Boogie: A Big Break Bounty, Part One

August 7, 2014 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

With a monthly release slate averaging six titles, Cherry Red’s Big Break Records label is at the vanguard of classic soul, R&B and dance reissues. Each of the label’s deluxe releases is aimed at collectors, with copious liner notes and more often than not, a selection of rare bonus cuts. It’s been a busy summer for the Big Break team, and in this first of a two-part series, we’ll look at some of the label’s latest offerings! Silver Convention, Get Up and Boogie (1976): Earlier this year, BBR reissued the debut album…

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Disco/Dance, Funk, R&B/Soul

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Cado Belle, Chakachas, Gene Chandler, Jesse Green, Silver Convention

Morales Preps the (Dance) Sound of Young America on “Club Motown”

August 4, 2014 by Mike Duquette | 2 Comments

Calling all ’80s Motown fans! Universal’s U.K. arm has issued a double disc set of 20 classic club mixes from the label, curated by noted remixer John Morales. Motown of course crafted the sound of young America throughout the ’60s and created some deeply affecting funk and soul in the ’70s, but the ’80s was still a prolific time, thanks to popular R&B/dance acts including Rick James and DeBarge as well as established acts like The Temptations and Commodores frontman Lionel Richie. Morales and partner Sergio Munzibal, the “M+M” mixing team, turned…

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Disco/Dance, Funk, R&B/Soul

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Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, Rick James, Tata Vega, Teena Marie, The Commodores, The Temptations, Thelma Houston

Love Is: Carol Williams, The Salsoul Orchestra Make Sweet Music on “‘lectric Lady”

August 1, 2014 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

Carol Williams signed to New York’s Salsoul Records label in 1975 for one single, but stuck around for one memorable album. That lone long-player, titled ‘lectric Lady, paired the New Jersey-born vocalist – Salsoul’s first female contract signing – with the label’s premier musical outfit, The Salsoul Orchestra, for an alluring blend of disco and sleek soul. Cherry Red’s Big Break Records imprint is now feeling electric with an expanded and remastered reissue of ‘lectric Lady. Williams came to Salsoul as a seasoned performer both onstage and in the recording studio. When…

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Carol Williams, Salsoul Orchestra

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Relight Their Fire: BBR Compiles Hits, Rarities For Loleatta Holloway, Skyy and Evelyn “Champagne” King

July 17, 2014 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

It’s no secret that Big Break Records, an imprint of Cherry Red Group, has mastered the art of the reissue when it comes to vintage R&B, soul and disco. But the label has expanded its horizons recently with a new series of deluxe 2-CD artist anthologies combining hits, rarities, remixes and key album tracks into one package. Three such titles are available now from the label, dedicated to the sensational Loleatta Holloway, “Shame” diva Evelyn “Champagne” King and the band Skyy. Though Chicago-born Loleatta Holloway (1946-2011) only released four albums on Salsoul…

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Evelyn "Champagne" King, Loleatta Holloway, Skyy

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Give It to Us, Baby: Rick James’ Motown Masters (and More) Are Digitally Reissued

July 9, 2014 by Mike Duquette | 6 Comments

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….

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Box Sets, Digital Download

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Funk, R&B/Soul

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Rick James

The Salsoul Orchestra Goes “High,” “Up the Yellow Brick Road”

May 13, 2014 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

salsoul orchestra up the yellow brick road

Big Break Records’ non-chronological series of remastered and expanded reissues for The Salsoul Orchestra has already taken listeners from 1975’s eponymous debut to 1982’s farewell release Heat It Up. With the recent releases of 1978’s Up the Yellow Brick Road and 1979’s How High, the label has filled in the gaps of its lavishly produced program of the Orchestra’s classic non-holiday studio albums. (No fear, however – there are other collaborative albums and even a collection credited to The Salsoul Strings still left to reissue!) For what would turn out to be…

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Salsoul Orchestra

Big Break Has “Street Sense” With Two New Salsoul Reissues

April 3, 2014 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

Cherry Red’s Big Break Records label continues its deep exploration into the vaults of Salsoul Records with two releases that might seem like business as usual for these artists, but are anything but. Street Sense, from The Salsoul Orchestra, isn’t a Vince Montana-led extravaganza but rather a project helmed by Tom Moulton, “the father of the 12-inch remix.” And Loleatta Holloway’s self-titled 1979 album isn’t a Philly-style banquet but rather a feast of southern soul. Street Sense is another indispensable entry in BBR’s definitive reissue series for The Salsoul Orchestra. The 1979…

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Loleatta Holloway, Salsoul Orchestra

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Hot Shots: Big Break Relights Dan Hartman’s “Fire,” Expands Sheryl Lee Ralph’s Solo Debut

February 28, 2014 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

Talk about fusion! For “Hands Down,” the opening cut of his 1979 album Relight My Fire, Dan Hartman enlisted rock and roll great Edgar Winter to weave his alto saxophone licks throughout the Latin-flavored disco track, and Stevie Wonder to provide his instantly recognizable harmonica. Hartman wasn’t just a dilettante, but a regular musical renaissance man. A veteran of the Johnny Winter Band and the Edgar Winter Group, he wrote the latter’s smash hit “Free Ride,” and successfully completed the transition to solo stardom with 1978’s “Instant Replay,” a No. 1 Disco…

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Reviews

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Disco/Dance, Pop, R&B/Soul

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Dan Hartman, Loleatta Holloway, Sheryl Lee Ralph

Dance a Little Bit Closer with Charo and The Salsoul Orchestra, Loleatta Holloway

January 31, 2014 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

Cuchi-cuchi! Charo, or María del Rosario Mercedes Pilar Martínez Molina Baeza, burst onto the cultural radar with her goofy, slightly suggestive catchphrase during the late-sixties run of the television phenomenon Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. Once a frequent passenger on The Love Boat, the comedienne-bombshell still is a familiar face today on television (Dancing with the Stars, RuPaul’s Drag University) and onstage – on land and on sea, even on the good ship Disney Magic. In 1977, Charo teamed with Vince Montana Jr., the arranger-conductor of Salsoul Records’ house band The Salsoul Orchestra,…

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Charo, Loleatta Holloway, Salsoul Orchestra

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BBR “Heats It Up” with Salsoul Orchestra, Joe Bataan, Herbie Mann, Chris Jasper

January 13, 2014 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

As Big Break Records’ first releases for 2014 hit stores in the U.K. today (more on those shortly!), the time is right to take a look at more from the label’s closing slate of 2013. This eclectic roster – from legendary Latin music artist Joe Bataan, the post-Vince Montana iteration of The Salsoul Orchestra, jazz flautist Herbie Mann and soul man Chris Jasper – is doubtless one of BBR’s strongest. So influential was Joe Bataan‘s 1974 Mericana Records release Salsoul that it literally inspired an entire label. The Filipino-African-American artist, born Bataan…

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Chris Jasper, Herbie Mann, Joe Bataan, Salsoul Orchestra

BBR Continues Its “Journey” With Salsoul Catalogue

November 27, 2013 by Joe Marchese | 1 Comment

If you’re looking for another chance to “dance your ass off,” look no further. Big Break Records has returned to the mighty catalogue of Salsoul Records for another three “made in Philadelphia” classics from the soulful disco label. “C’mon, Vince, play your vibes!” Loleatta Holloway exclaimed before the leader of The Salsoul Orchestra, Vince Montana Jr., stepped forward for a solo on “Run Away,” the third track on the powerful unit’s third non-holiday long-player. 1977’s Magic Journey follows its predecessors The Salsoul Orchestra and Nice ‘n’ Naasty in receiving the deluxe BBR…

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Bunny Sigler, Loleatta Holloway, Salsoul Orchestra

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Omnivore Unveils Colorful Black Friday Slate with Van Zandt, Clark, Kovacs

October 29, 2013 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

Here at Second Disc HQ, we know that we can count on Omnivore Recordings for some of the most colorful and fun releases for Record Store Day’s Back to Black Friday shopping event! On the day after Thanksgiving, you might find yourself at your local indie record store to pick up one of Omnivore’s three Black Friday collectibles. As usual, it’s a diverse trio, with releases from two late troubadours – Townes Van Zandt and Gene Clark – and one legendary late comedian, Ernie Kovacs. This past March, Omnivore unveiled The White…

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Vinyl

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Classic Rock, Comedy, Everything Else, Folk

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Ernie Kovacs, Record Store Day, Townes Van Zandt, Vinyl

Hot Stuff: Donna Summer’s Legacy Celebrated with New Remix Album

September 3, 2013 by Mike Duquette | 6 Comments

The sudden passing of Donna Summer in 2012 had fans old and new flocking to her music to hear some of the finest disco music imaginable. This fall, Verve Records will bring that legacy into a new era with Love to Love You Donna, a set featuring new remixes of her most enduring tracks. Happily, Love to Love You Donna features more than its share of enduring remixers to give Summer’s hits the respect they deserve. Electronic funk duo Chromeo tackles her 1982 hit “Love is in Control (Finger on the Trigger),” England’s Hot…

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Disco/Dance, Pop, R&B/Soul

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Donna Summer

She Will Survive: BBR Reissues, Expands Gloria Gaynor’s “Love Tracks” and “Park Avenue Sound”

August 13, 2013 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

The very first release on Big Break Records, early in 2010, was an expanded reissue of the very first solo album by Gloria Gaynor. Never Can Say Goodbye spun Clifton Davis’ title track into disco gold and pioneered the sidelong disco mix with a nearly 19-minute suite from Tom Moulton consisting of “Honey Bee,” “Never Can Say Goodbye,” and another Motown revival, “Reach Out I’ll Be There.” Big Break followed that landmark 1974 album with an expansion of Experience Gloria Gaynor, from 1975. It followed the template of her debut with a…

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Gloria Gaynor

BBR Unveils Trio of “Winners” From The Jazz Crusaders, Inner Life and Kleeer

August 8, 2013 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

Odds and Ends Dept.: In the excitement over Big Break Records’ recent quartet of titles from Philadelphia’s Baker-Harris-Young production partnership, we temporarily overlooked three no-less-worthy, just-released reissues from the busy Cherry Red imprint: The Jazz Crusaders’ Give Peace a Chance, Kleeer’s Winners, and Inner Life’s self-titled album. Prior to reinventing themselves as The Crusaders in 1971 and emphasizing a funkier electric style, Joe Sample (piano), Wilton Felder (saxophone), Stix Hooper (drums) and Wayne Henderson (trombone) carved out a niche in the West Coast jazz scene with their blend of bop, soul and…

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Disco/Dance, Jazz, R&B/Soul

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Inner Life, Kleeer, The Jazz Crusaders

Heart and Salsoul: BBR Reissues First Choice, Loleatta Holloway, Baker-Harris-Young and Love Committee

July 10, 2013 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

One could call bassist Ronnie Baker, guitarist Norman Harris and drummer Earl Young unsung heroes, but it’s not quite accurate to describe the triumvirate of musicians, songwriters, producers and arrangers as unsung. Individually or collectively, Baker, Harris and Young helmed productions by Blue Magic, The Trammps, First Choice, Ben E. King, Eddie Kendricks, The Whispers, The Persuaders, and so many more. As part of its ongoing series restoring the Salsoul Records catalogue to R&B supremacy, Big Break Records has recently reissued four albums that, in part or in full, boast the Baker-Harris-Young imprimatur. …

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