Folk

The Weekend Stream Extra: A Guide to ‘MTV Unplugged’ on Paramount+ (Part 1)

Welcome to a special Sunday feature of The Weekend Stream, which takes a look at one of MTV’s great live music programs thanks to a recent reissue of one of its best-known episodes. We’re kicking off a five-part deep-dive on every episode of MTV Unplugged that’s currently streaming on the station’s parent streaming network Paramount+! If the music video was the most significant concept MTV introduced back in 1981, the word “unplugged” might come in a close second. In 1989, as the cable station began slowly diversifying their blocks of video programming –…

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The Weekend Stream: May 10, 2025

Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. This week, classic rock icons celebrate their live history, a modern music icon gets serious, a master of horror films (and soundtracks) revisits his first non-movie music and a former folk duo open their vault. The Doors, Live in Pittsburgh 1970 / Live in Philadelphia ’70 / Live in Detroit (Bright Midnight/Rhino) Pittsburgh: Apple / Amazon Philadelphia: Apple / Amazon Detroit: Apple / Amazon The Doors have been issuing live sets from their 25-year-old…

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Release Round-Up: Week of April 25

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today!  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Neil Young, Oceanside/Countryside (Reprise/NYA) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Neil Young is unveiling another once-lost album with the release of Oceanside Countryside which arrives on CD today following its vinyl release.The LP was recorded from May to December 1977; the first side comprised solo Young performances, while most of the second featured a full band. It never saw release, though.  Instead, Comes a Time hit store shelves in October 1978.  Both albums…

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Lullabies from Heaven: Melanie’s Children’s Album

The latest release in Cleopatra’s ongoing Melanie archival series spans fourteen recordings made between 1963 and 2016 including such children’s favorites as “Puff, the Magic Dragon,” “The Teddy Bears’ Picnic,” “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” and “Rain, Rain Go Away.”  The singer-songwriter is joined by her children and grandchildren, who assembled this release and added vocals and instrumentation following Melanie’s death in January 2024.  It adds up to one of the most touching releases in this expansive, career-spanning series.  Available on CD, LP, and digital/streaming.  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying…

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Release Round-Up: Week of April 18

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today!  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Neil Young, Coastal: The Soundtrack (Reprise/NYA) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The concert film Coastal, documenting Neil Young’s 2023 solo concert tour, was released to cinemas yesterday; today, its soundtrack album arrives on CD, LP, and digital formats.  The 11-track album includes Young favorites such as “I Am a Child,” “Expecting to Fly,” “Comes a Time,” and “Vampire Blues.” Dame Shirley Bassey, The Singer (Cherry…

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Turning Over New ‘Leaves’: Nick Drake’s Debut to Be Expanded

One of British folk’s most enigmatic debuts, Nick Drake’s Five Leaves Left, will be the subject of a box set yielding newly-discovered outtakes and unreleased material. The Making of Five Leaves Left, hitting stores on July 25, offers a new chronological look at Drake’s first album through more than 30 unreleased outtakes and a new pressing of the original album, available either on four CDs or four LPs and remastered by original album engineer John Wood. An illustrated 60-page book, printed on textured, recycled paper, accompanies the discs, offering new liner notes by…

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Gathered In: The ‘Gather Me’ Sessions

Cleopatra has rounded up previously unreleased studio outtakes, demos, and related live tracks from Melanie’s 1971 album Gather Me, the LP that introduced the chart-topping “Brand New Key” as well as the hit “Ring the Living Bell” and fan favorite “Someday I’ll Be a Farmer.”  This release includes new liner notes by the late artist’s manager Dave Thompson, and is packaged in a 6-panel digipak.​

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The Second Disc’s Guide to Record Store Day 2025: Our Favorite Picks

Tomorrow, Record Store Day is once again upon us! It’s that time of year where music lovers and vinyl flippers get together at their favorite physical music retailers and wait in line to snag some treasured albums – almost all of which are pressed on vinyl instead of CD (or, you know, sold on secondary marketplaces for above their retail value).  This year, the list tops out at over 300 titles, so there’s very nearly something for everybody.  It wasn’t easy to narrow our choices down to around 20 titles, but here…

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A Second Disc Interview: Celebrating Marianne Faithfull’s Final EP with Executive Producer Andrew Batt

As part of Saturday’s Record Store Day festivities, Decca will release the final recordings of Marianne Faithfull on vinyl.  The four-song EP Burning Moonlight harkens back to the late artist’s very first albums, released in 1965 on the same label: one dedicated to pop music, and the other to folk songs.  The title track to Burning Moonlight was issued digitally in the past weeks; tomorrow, “She Moved Through the Fair” will arrive on streaming services.  Finally, on June 6, the entire EP will be released digitally.  We were thrilled to speak with…

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The Weekend Stream: April 5, 2025

Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. A quiet, mostly contemplative week means a small batch of understated titles and a big public ask for clarity from one of our missing comrades in catalogue… Dan Fogelberg, Souvenirs (50th Anniversary Edition) (Epic/Legacy) (Apple / Amazon) The late, great Fogelberg’s double-platinum sophomore album, produced by Joe Walsh (a year before he joined the Eagles), gets the red carpet treatment with three outtakes and one never-before-heard song. Impex will release…

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Release Round-Up: Week of April 4

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today!  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Elton John and Brandi Carlile, Who Believes in Angels? (Rocket/Mercury/EMI) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada CD/DVD: Amazon U.S. Link TBD / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Link TBD / EltonJohn.com (U.S.) Tri-Color LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Alternate Cover “Neon Angel” CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Blu-ray: EltonJohn.com (U.S.) Elton John has teamed with Brandi Carlile as well as Bernie Taupin and producer Andrew Watt for his first studio album since…

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Record Store Day 2025: The Best of the Rest

Next Saturday, April 12, is certainly one of the most packed Record Store Days in recent memory. Since the list was announced, we drilled down on titles from Craft Recordings, Legacy Recordings, Rhino Records, Universal Music Group, Real Gone Music, Omnivore Recordings, BMG, Cooking Vinyl and Demon Music Group, as well as some notable titles that were getting later general releases on CD. Well, if you thought that was it, you’re wrong! We pored and pored over the list and are here to share with you more than four dozen one-offs, archival…

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The Weekend Stream: March 29, 2025

Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. Classic Motown in concert, long-lost favorites from a country icon, a live country take on a Fab Four favorite, Gary Numan’s mid-’80s works, new music from Bachman-Turner Overdrive and a documentary on a late, great Australian musician…there really is a lot of ground to cover, and that’s not even all of it! Marvin Gaye, Marvin Gaye Live! (Deluxe Edition) (Motown/UMe) Original LP: Apple / Amazon Deluxe: Apple / Amazon To…

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Saturnight: Live from Tokyo

LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Cat Stevens is bringing his 1974 Japan-exclusive album, Saturnight: Live from Tokyo, to CD and wide-release vinyl following 2024’s Record Store Day reissue.  The 12-track album features the first live performance of Stevens’ cover of Sam Cooke’s “Another Saturday Night” as well as staples including “Wild World,” “Peace Train,” and “Oh Very Young.”  This edition, remastered at Abbey Road, includes liner notes including remembrances from bassist Bruce Lynch and tour manager Carl Miller.  The CD is housed in a digipak with a 16-page…

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Release Round-Up: Week of February 28

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today.  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Bon Jovi, Slippery When Wet: Deluxe Edition (Mercury/UMe) 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Picture Disc: Official Store Liquid-Filled LP: Official Store Cassette: Official Store After celebrating their debut album with a deluxe edition last year, Bon Jovi will offer similar treatment to their biggest album: 1986’s Slippery When Wet.  The New Jersey rockers’ third LP (featuring “Livin’ on a Prayer” and “You Give Love a Bad Name”) will be reissued in a variety of…

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Release Round-Up: Week of February 21

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today.  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. David Lee Roth, The Warner Recordings 1985-1994 (Warner/Rhino) 5CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 5LP: Rhino.com Diamond Dave’s got a whole new shine, thanks to a new box set from Rhino. David Lee Roth’s The Warner Recordings 1985-1994 includes the four LPs (and one EP) the iconoclastic singer released outside of his concluding tenure as the vocalist for Van Halen. All of the albums have been newly remastered (though no bonus tracks are…

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Release Round-Up: Week of February 14

Happy Valentine’s Day! Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today.  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Melanie, Ace o’ Diamonds: The Lost Broadway Musical (Cleopatra) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) In the early 1980s, singer-songwriter Melanie lent her talents to the score of a new musical intended for Broadway.  Ace o’ Diamonds, with a book by Ed Kelleher and Seymour Vall, revolved around the relationship between Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok.  It was workshopped in New York…

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Return to Carnegie

Following the February 14 premiere of Melanie’s score to the unproduced musical Ace o’ Diamonds, Cleopatra presents the singer-songwriter’s Return to Carnegie.  This 2-CD set captures her 1978 concert at Carnegie Hall in which she was backed by a full band including the Brecker Brothers on horns.  Songs include “What Have They Done to My Song, Ma,” “Beautiful People,” “Ruby Tuesday,” and Peter Allen and Carole Bayer Sager’s “I’d Rather Leave While I’m in Love.”  Dave Thompson provides the new liner notes.

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Release Round-Up: Week of February 7

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today!  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn for qualifying purchases. WAR, Live in Japan 1974 (Rhino/Avenue) 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada​ Rhino’s ongoing refresh of the WAR catalogue continues with its first release of 2025: a set of previously unheard live material from the band’s tour of Japan, more than half a century ago and featuring the band’s classic line-up.  Live in Japan 1974 is available worldwide as a 2CD or 2LP set. The concert includes…

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Release Round-Up: Week of January 31

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today.  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Dwight Twilley, Scuba Divers: Blueprint Edition (Iconoclassic) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The road to Dwight Twilley’s second album, 1982’s Scuba Divers, was a long one.  Now, Iconoclassic Records is expanding that 10-track album with a whopping 15 bonus tracks (11 of which are previously unreleased) chronicling the arduous journey to Scuba Divers that began as the sessions for an album called Blueprint.  Vic Anesini has remastered all audio from the master tapes,…

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In Memoriam: Marianne Faithfull (1946-2025)

It was clear from the start that Marianne Faithfull was no ordinary artist.  The chanteuse, who died today at the age of 78, established her long and remarkable career on a dual track.  Following the success of her singles “As Tears Go By” and “Come and Stay with Me” (gifted to Marianne by Mick Jagger & Keith Richards and Jackie DeShannon, respectively), Decca wanted her to record a pop album. Marianne wanted to record a folk album.  The result was that not one, but two, LPs were released in April 1965 showcasing…

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The Weekend Stream: January 25, 2025

Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts! A quiet week previews a new album by The Doobie Brothers, revisits the latest from one of TSD’s favorite indie singer-songwriters, and so much more – plus a reminder of how you can help one of our favorite reissue labels, one that’s been affected by the ongoing fires in California. Doobie Brothers, Walk This Road (Rhino) (iTunes / Amazon) The Doobie Brothers are giving a preview of their…

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Release Round-Up: Week of January 24

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today!  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Badfinger, Head First: 50th Anniversary Edition (Y&T) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Head First, originally intended to be Badfinger’s eighth album and third for Warner Bros. Records, was recorded in 1974 but shelved until 2000.  That release presented a rough mix by Apple Studios engineer Phil McDonald; now, 25 years later, it’s been remixed and remastered under the supervision of keyboardist Bob Jackson – the…

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A Complete Unknown: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada The soundtrack to director James Mangold’s critically acclaimed biopic A Complete Unknown, starring Golden Globe nominee Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan, arrives January 24 on vinyl in a 16-song edition featuring such highlights as “Mr. Tambourine Man,” “Girl from the North Country,” “Maggie’s Farm,” “Like a Rolling Stone,” and “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.”  The full 23-song soundtrack follows February 28 on CD, with unique cover artwork.

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In Memoriam: Peter Yarrow (1938-2025)

When Bob Dylan famously took the stage at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival and “plugged in” – an event dramatized at the climax of the Golden Globe-nominated film A Complete Unknown – the friendly face serving as emcee tried mightily to calm the fiercely divided crowd. Though his screen time in director James Mangold’s film is minimal, Nick Pupo makes an impression as that beleaguered host: one Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul, and Mary. The folk trio was part of the same managerial stable as Dylan and he was well-acquainted with them….

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