Sleigh bells ring, are you listening? We’ve already filled you in on the October 13 release of Johnny Mathis’ all-new album Christmas Time Is Here, coming on vinyl from Real Gone Music and Second Disc Records. Now, we’re excited to fill your stocking with two seasonal CDs due on November 10 celebrating some of the greatest Christmas music of all time. In his 50-year tenure as conductor of The Boston Pops, Arthur Fiedler transformed the Boston Symphony Orchestra offshoot into perhaps the most renowned pops orchestra in the world. A natural showman,…
Release Round-Up: Week of September 29
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today! The Spinners, Ain’t No Price on Happiness: The Thom Bell Studio Recordings (1972-1979) (SoulMusic/Cherry Red) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Earlier this year, Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music celebrated the extraordinary legacy of The Spinners with the release of The Complete Atlantic Singles: The Thom Bell Productions 1972-1979, collecting a whopping 43 single sides on two CDs. Now, SoulMusic Records and Cherry Red are continuing the Spinners party with a comprehensive box set chronicling that halcyon period with…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
I’m Dreaming of a “Stax Christmas”: New Collection Brings Together Holiday Favorites from Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Staple Singers, More
‘Tis the season to be soulful: This Friday, September 29, Craft Recordings and Stax Records will celebrate the holidays with the CD, LP, and digital release of A Stax Christmas. This festive 12-track compilation features songs by the label’s most beloved artists including two previously unreleased tracks from Carla Thomas and Otis Redding. The venerable Memphis label has had a long association with the music of Christmas. House band Booker T. and The MG’s 1966 album In the Christmas Spirit is a holiday perennial, and the group appeared alongside other Stax and…
The Weekend Stream: September 23, 2023
Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there’s plenty of great new/old music to float you into the weekend. Enjoy a hometown birthday present from The Boss and a holiday collection first put on CD by The Second Disc – plus remixes from Madonna and The Art of Noise and so much more – all in this week’s latest round-up. Bruce Springsteen, The Live Series: Songs of New Jersey (Columbia/Legacy) (Apple Music / Amazon) In honor of Springsteen’s 74th birthday,…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Christmas Collection
Even as they’ve announced a farewell tour and a slowing-down of activities, The Oak Ridge Boys have prepared a new title to share the joy of the season. Christmas Collection, coinciding with the group’s annual holiday concerts, features a baker’s dozen of classic songs which appear to have been drawn from the Oaks’ past Gaither releases including 2012’s Christmas Time’s A-Coming and 2016’s Celebrate Christmas.
Phases and Stages: Atlantic 75 Campaign Continues with Vinyl Me, Please and Acoustic Sounds Partnerships
Eagle-eyed vinyl shoppers might have noticed a steady stream this year of reissues from the storied Atlantic Records catalogue, with titles including Dusty Springfield’s Dusty in Memphis, Otis Redding’s Otis Blue, Aretha Franklin’s Lady Soul, and Phil Collins’ No Jacket Required. Today, the label unveiled the full slate of 90 vinyl reissues commemorating Atlantic’s 75th anniversary – as well as special campaigns coming from Vinyl Me, Please and Acoustic Sounds. The Atlantic 75 collection has been curated by label Chairman and CEO Craig Kallman, revisiting selections from across Atlantic’s rich story. Almost…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
The Weekend Stream: September 2, 2023
Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there’s plenty of great new/old music to float you into the weekend. It’s a full ’80s revival this week, including a rare Duran Duran track and some live cuts from Squeeze,and – whether you’re ready for it or not – a batch of Christmas catalogue titles. Duran Duran, Ball and Chain (Tape Modern/BMG) (iTunes / Amazon) Duran Duran are back in a big way this fall, set to release the album…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Christmas Time Is Here
Johnny Mathis is back with his first album since 2017 and his first yuletide set in a decade. Christmas Time Is Here boasts ten newly-recorded tracks including those which premiered last year on the digital-only EP A Merry Little Christmas. It’s Mathis’ seventh full Christmas LP (not counting 1999’s Listen! It’s Christmas for Hallmark stores, on which he contributed six new recordings). Produced by longtime Mathis collaborators Jay Landers (Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler) and Fred Mollin (Jimmy Webb, Linda Ronstadt), Christmas Time Is Here finds the singer revisiting many of his favorite seasonal songs and adding two…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Merry Christmas, Baby: Johnny Mathis Celebrates the Holiday Season with New Studio Album “Christmas Time Is Here”
Johnny Mathis is known the world over as The Voice of Romance, but the legendary vocalist deserves another title, as well: The Voice of Christmas. Mathis’ very first holiday album, 1958’s Merry Christmas, sold over five million copies and remains one of the biggest-selling Christmas albums of all time. Now, Mathis is back with his first album since 2017 and his first yuletide set in a decade. Christmas Time Is Here arrives on October 13 in CD and digital formats from Legacy Recordings and on vinyl from Real Gone Music and Second…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Winter Wonderland: Craft Reissues “A Dave Brubeck Christmas”
It’s that time of year again, when news turns to all things Christmas! Craft Recordings has recently announced a new reissue of a beloved yuletide album. 1996’s A Dave Brubeck Christmas was the great pianist-composer’s only full-length holiday offering; on September 22, it will return to print as a 2-LP set at 45 RPM pressed on 180-gram vinyl, with lacquers cut by Ryan Smith. Brubeck (1920-2012) joined the Telarc label in 1993 and recorded prolifically for the label through 2006 in various lineups and formats. He’d dabbled in Christmas music over the…
The Weekend Stream: July 15, 2023
Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there’s plenty of great new/old music to float you into the weekend. This week, ABC and Steven Wilson shoot a “Poison Arrow” our way, plus rare albums from Bobby Darin, Pat Boone and others – including a lost ’60s soul-pop classic you don’t want to miss! ABC, Poison Arrow EP (Mercury/UMR) (iTunes / Amazon) Ahead of the new 40th anniversary vinyl box set of ABC’s debut The Lexicon of Love, Universal…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Review: Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, “Working Our Way Back to You: The Ultimate Collection”
I Can’t Give You Anything But Love On Monday, June 26, Frankie Valli walked down the aisle in Las Vegas with his longtime girlfriend Jackie Jacobs. This October, he’ll take the stage at the city’s Westgate Resort and Casino to begin a yearlong residency at the hotel, during which time he’ll turn 90 years young. For more than 60 of those years, the artist born Francesco Stephen Castelluccio in Newark, New Jersey has been the lead vocalist of The Four Seasons, the group he co-founded on a handshake with songwriter-musician Bob Gaudio. …
Categories:
Genres:
The Weekend Stream: May 27, 2023
Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing weekly review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there’s plenty of great new/old music to usher you into the weekend from a Sly and the Family Stone rarity to the latest expanded edition from Taylor Swift! Sly and the Family Stone, Ten Years Too Soon (The Remix Album) (Epic/Legacy) (iTunes / Amazon) Perhaps the most bizarre item in the Sly and the Family Stone catalogue has hit download and streaming services this weekend. Ten Years Too Soon enlisted…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
The Weekend Stream: March 11, 2023
Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing weekly review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there’s plenty of great new/old music to usher you into the weekend. From a Death Row drop and classic mixes from Madonna and Teena Marie, to a super-sized Elvis tribute, there’s something here for everyone – including a way you can help a reissue producer in need. Snoop Dogg, Doggystyle / Various Artists, Above the Rim (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (Deluxe Edition) / Various Artists, Murder Was the Case (The Soundtrack)…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Vince Guaraldi, ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas (Super Deluxe Edition)’
If you’ve followed catalogue releases for long enough, you know some titles just do so well that you don’t necessarily have to go out of your way to get people – especially new fans – to buy a new version of a classic album. Buyers – especially vinyl buyers – will always come of age and need copies of Rumours or Dark Side of the Moon in their libraries. It’s this sort of thinking – perhaps a rebellion against the commercialism of reissue practices – that often gets us most interested not…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
The Weekend Stream: December 18, 2022
Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing weekly review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there’s plenty of great new/old music to usher you into the weekend. And we’ve got a lot to cover today, from a massive Pink Floyd copyright dump to a new Whitney Houston soundtrack and some underrated Motown gold. Pink Floyd, Live at Southampton Guildhall, UK, 23 January 1972 / Live at Carnegie Hall, New York, 5 Feb 1972 / Live at the Rainbow Theatre, London, 17 Feb 1972 / Live…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
The Weekend Stream: December 10, 2022
Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing weekly review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there’s plenty of great new/old music to usher you into the weekend. This week, a Madonna rarity makes a splashy debut, the daughter of a soul legend sings with her dad on his holiday classic, and Roger Waters emerges from lockdown – plus remixes old and new, and a World Cup throwback you might not believe is real. Madonna, Gambler (Warner/Rhino) (iTunes / Amazon) As the first part of Rhino’s ongoing…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
THE SECOND DISC’S 2022 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE IS HERE!
Cyber Monday is upon us today, which means one thing at Second Disc HQ: it’s time to launch our annual Holiday Gift Guide, featuring (more than) a few of our favorite things for the music enthusiast in your life. Sure, we might not have included raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens, but we’ve filled the guide with more than 50 essential selections: sprawling box sets as well as releases from favorite artists that just might make great stocking stuffers. So just click here or visit the handy tab, above, to access…
Categories:
Genres:
The Weekend Stream: November 26, 2022
Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing weekly review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there’s plenty of great new/old music to usher you into the weekend. This week, it’s hardly Thanksgiving leftovers thanks to some British Christmas favorites, a legendary dance duo and a killer rockabilly discovery. Elton John, Step Into Christmas (Rocket/Mercury/UMe) (iTunes / Amazon) He may have retired from performing, but Elton John is still in the release game. He just reissued his joyous 1973 holiday single “Step Into Christmas,” digitally backed…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
The Weekend Stream: November 12, 2022
Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing weekly review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there’s plenty of great new/old music to usher you into the weekend. This week features a new version of a pop legend’s most recent compilation, great proto-Motown soul, an expanded version of Robert Glasper’s breakout album, Bon Jovi in Spanish(?) and a heap of early Christmas gifts. Check it out! Elton John, Diamonds (Deluxe) (Virgin/EMI) (iTunes / Amazon) Elton John’s 2017 compilation has been a considerable chart mainstay since its…
Categories:
Formats:
Release Round-Up: Week of November 11
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles in stores today. Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, That Holiday Feeling! (Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Real Gone Music) Real Gone Music presents a newly-remastered and expanded edition of Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme’s 1964 Christmas classic That Holiday Feeling! This new edition adds eight bonus tracks including all three of Steve and Eydie’s songs from the 1969 RCA album Christmastime in Carol and Song on which they were supported by the orchestra and chorus of renowned conductor Arthur Fiedler (Steve’s “Go…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
The Weekend Stream: November 5, 2022
Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing weekly review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there’s plenty of great new/old music to usher you into the weekend. The latest features new and old soundtracks, EPs and holiday favorites and much more! “Weird Al” Yankovic, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story – Original Soundtrack (Ear Booker/Roku/Legacy) (iTunes / Amazon) This weekend sees the release of “Weird Al” Yankovic’s second foray into feature film: a hilariously-exaggerated biopic co-written by Yankovic and starring Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter himself) as…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
The Weekend Stream: October 29, 2022
Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing weekly review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there’s plenty of great new/old music to usher you into the weekend. This week, it’s a stuffed Halloween sack full of sweet rarities from INXS and Madonna, remixes of Frank Zappa and Bing Crosby, two completely unreleased 50-year-old albums and a brand-new spin on a Stephen Sondheim classic – and that’s only half of it! INXS, Shabooh Shoobah (40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) (Atlantic/Rhino) (iTunes / Amazon) The INXS catalogue is…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Release Round-Up: Week of October 28
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today! The Beatles, Revolver [Various Editions] (Apple/Capitol/UMe) 5CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 4LP + 7″: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 1LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Official Store (Picture Disc) The Beatles’ seventh studio album – and the bridge between Rubber Soul and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – 1966’s Revolver is recognized as one of the Fab Four’s most groundbreaking as well as significant albums. With producer George Martin, the group employed studio wizardry to bring their new songs to…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Release Round-Up: Week of October 21
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles in stores today! Lou Reed, Words and Music – May 1965 (Light in the Attic) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Black Vinyl LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Yellow Vinyl LP: Light in the Attic Store Cassette: Light in the Attic Store CD/2LP/7″ Vinyl Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Light in the Attic Store Light in the Attic launches The Lou Reed Archive Series with Words & Music, May 1965. Available on CD, cassette, and multiple vinyl formats, Words…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
