Holiday 6 - The Second Disc

The Weekend Stream: October 15, 2022

October 15, 2022 by Mike Duquette | 1 Comment

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 – including a few surprise digital expansions from some ’80s U.K. legends, holiday remixes, a lost fitness favorite and more! Sting, …Nothing Like the Sun (Expanded Edition) (A&M/UMe) (iTunes / Amazon) This week marked the 35th anniversary of Sting’s second solo album, and UMe commemorated the occasion (much like they did the 30th anniversary of follow-up The Soul…

Categories:

The Weekend Stream

Formats:

Digital Download, Digital Streaming

Genres:

Classic Rock, Disco/Dance, Everything Else, Holiday, Jazz, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul, Rap/Hip-Hop, Rock, Soundtracks

Tags:

Andy Williams, Big Mama Thornton, Blink-182, Bobby Helms, Brenda Lee, Count Basie, George Benson, Nelly, Robert Palmer, Sting, The Weather Girls

Release Round-Up: Week of October 14

October 14, 2022 by The Second Disc | 1 Comment

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today! Frank Zappa, Zappa ’75: Zagreb/Ljubljana (Zappa/UMe) (Zappa Official Store / Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Zappa ’75: Zagreb/Ljubljana captures The Mothers’ first and only concerts in Yugoslavia. Zappa referred to the dates as “The Mothers of Invention Yugoslavian Extravaganza,” and the performances lived up to that mighty moniker. The shows were staged in Zagreb and Ljubljana, now the capital cities of Croatia and Slovenia, respectively. He was joined by the short-lived line-up of Andre…

Categories:

Release Round-Up

Formats:

CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Classic Rock, Country, Folk, Holiday, Latin, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, Rock

Tags:

Brian Eno, Dean Torrence, Dexys Midnight Runners, Dolly Parton, Duran Duran, Frank Zappa, Josh Groban, Kevin Rowland, Leonard Cohen, Linda Ronstadt, Mike Love, Reba McEntire, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Roy Orbison, Todd Rundgren

Louis Wishes You a Cool Yule

October 13, 2022 by Joe Marchese

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada For an artist who never recorded a proper Christmas album, Louis Armstrong has become associated with the holiday due to the seasonal warmth of “What a Wonderful World” and even the irreverent “Zat You, Santa Claus?” which finds its way yearly to Christmas radio and playlists. Numerous Christmas compilations have been built around Armstrong’s discography, but most tapped either non-holiday songs in Armstrong’s catalogue or tracks from other artists to round out his few Christmas recordings. Verve and UMe are now releasing what’s being billed…

Categories:

Holiday Gift Guide

Formats:

CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Holiday, Jazz, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal

Tags:

A Neil Diamond Christmas

October 13, 2022 by Joe Marchese

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP Black Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP Gold Vinyl: Target.com The new collection A Neil Diamond Christmas has been curated by the artist and draws upon all four of his holiday LPs originally released between 1992 and 2016. The 2-LP and 2-CD editions offer 24 and 25 songs, respectively, with one disc of secular favorites (including Neil-penned originals “You Make It Feel Like Christmas” and “Cherry Cherry Christmas”) and one disc of spiritual material and classic carols. The collection will be available in four different…

Categories:

Holiday Gift Guide

Formats:

CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Holiday, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal

Tags:

You Make It Feel Like Christmas: New Collections Coming From Neil Diamond, Reba McEntire, Louis Armstrong, More

October 11, 2022 by Joe Marchese | 2 Comments

The Christmas season is upon us, and there are plenty of new titles coming your way to make spirits bright! Today’s round-up looks at upcoming collections from Neil Diamond, Louis Armstrong, and Reba McEntire, as well as one various-artists set filled with heavy hitters. Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and Kennedy Center Honoree Neil Diamond has been a Christmas music mainstay since the release of 1992’s The Christmas Album. The Brooklyn-born superstar, whose story is coming soon to Broadway in the new musical A Beautiful Noise, has since released three more…

Categories:

News

Formats:

CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Country, Holiday, Jazz, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, Rock

Tags:

Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Neil Diamond, Paul McCartney, Reba McEntire, Velma Middleton

Release Round-Up: Week of October 7

October 7, 2022 by The Second Disc | 6 Comments

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of new releases arriving in stores today! John Cafferty and The Beaver Brown Band, Greatest Hits (Iconoclassic) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Iconoclassic offers the first-ever anthology from rock-and-roll revivalists John Cafferty and The Beaver Brown Band. Its 16 tracks encompass all nine of the band’s chart hits (including “On the Dark Side”) as well as fan favorites from the Eddie and the Cruisers albums, the Rocky IV soundtrack, and more. Vic Anesini at Battery Studios has remastered everything from the original tapes. Read more here!…

Categories:

Release Round-Up

Formats:

Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Classic Rock, Country, Holiday, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock, Soundtracks

Tags:

Bing Crosby, Buck Owens, Davy Jones, Fastway, Frankie Stein and His Ghouls, Fred Astaire, Honey and The Bees, Irving Berlin, John Cafferty and The Beaver Brown Band, Mark Knopfler, Rosemary Clooney, The Damned

Christmas In the City [Vinyl]

September 29, 2022 by Joe Marchese

Real Gone has the vinyl premiere of the first Christmas album from Broadway’s new Funny Girl, Lea Michele. Christmas in the City not only placed within the top thirty of the Billboard 200 upon its original release, but reached No. 3 on the Christmas Albums chart. The album, blending contemporary and retro holiday sounds, was produced by Alex and Adam Anders and features a host of guest singers including Michele’s Spring Awakening co-star (and the voice of Kristoff in the Frozen franchise), Jonathan Groff, Color Purple star Cynthia Erivo, and Glee co-star Darren Criss. Real Gone’s vinyl…

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Formats:

Vinyl

Genres:

Holiday, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal

Tags:

That Holiday Feeling! Expanded Edition

September 29, 2022 by Joe Marchese

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 Tell It on the Mountain,” Eydie’s “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,” and Steve and Eydie’s “Hurry Home for Christmas”); their early duet of Frank Loesser’s “Baby, It’s Cold Outside;” Steve’s take on…

Categories:

Holiday Gift Guide

Formats:

Genres:

Holiday, Popular Standards/Vocal

Tags:

That Ol’ Christmas Spirit: Real Gone Announces Yuletide Slate with Steve and Eydie, B.J. Thomas, Lea Michele

September 22, 2022 by The Second Disc | 9 Comments

Real Gone Music has that holiday feeling with its upcoming slate of three joyful titles for the Christmas season. The label has just announced two deluxe CD releases along with one beautiful vinyl title that’s sure to keep spirits bright. All three titles are due November 11. First up is a definitive, expanded, and remastered edition of Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme‘s 1964 Columbia Records classic That Holiday Feeling. After more than a decade of representing Steve and Eydie’s GL Music catalogue, Real Gone is proud to announce a new partnership with…

Categories:

News

Formats:

CD, Vinyl

Genres:

Country, Gospel, Holiday, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal

Tags:

B.J. Thomas, Eydie Gorme, Lea Michele, Steve Lawrence, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme

A Holly Dolly Christmas: Ultimate Deluxe Edition

September 17, 2022 by Joe Marchese

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Dolly Parton reissues her Grammy-nominated, chart-topping 2020 yuletide set with eight bonus tracks including three previously unreleased songs from Dolly’s 1986 TV movie A Smoky Mountain Christmas.

Categories:

Formats:

CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Country, Holiday

Tags:

Circle of Love: Dolly Parton’s “Holly Dolly Christmas” Gets Expanded Edition in October

September 6, 2022 by Joe Marchese | 3 Comments

2020’s A Holly Dolly Christmas was Dolly Parton’s 47th solo studio album, but only her third full-length Christmas record following the Kenny Rogers collaboration Once Upon a Christmas (1984) and solo Home for Christmas (1990). The joyful yuletide set, supported by a prime-time CBS television special, became the superstar’s eighth Billboard Country chart-topper; it also reached the peak of the Holiday Albums chart and the top twenty of the Billboard 200. On October 14, the Grammy-nominated instant classic will be expanded on CD and vinyl as A Holly Dolly Christmas: Ultimate Deluxe…

Categories:

News

Formats:

CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Country, Holiday

Tags:

Billy Ray Cyrus, Dolly Parton, Jimmy Fallon, Michael Bublé, Miley Cyrus, Willie Nelson

The Weekend Stream Labor Day Special: Spotlight on WIWS Radio with John and Chrissy Sellards

September 5, 2022 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

Welcome to a special edition of The Weekend Stream for the long Labor Day weekend! Longtime readers might have noticed that adorable owl perched comfortably atop The Second Disc. He’s the mascot for WIWS Radio, an online radio station dedicated to ’50s and ’60s classics in authentic AM radio sound. We’d like to introduce you to John and Chrissy Sellards, the couple behind WIWS. John is already well known to Second Disc readers for his design work on most of our Second Disc Records releases. With WIWS, John and Chrissy have created…

Categories:

Features, Interviews

Formats:

Genres:

Country, Everything Else, Holiday, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul

Tags:

WIWS Radio

A Charlie Brown Christmas: Super Deluxe Edition

September 1, 2022 by Joe Marchese

4CD/BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 1CD deluxe: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP deluxe: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Craft has the ultimate celebration of A Charlie Brown Christmas with this 4CD/1 Blu-ray deluxe edition of the classic album that features not only multiple mixes of the original LP – the original stereo mix alongside new stereo and Dolby Atmos mixes – but a whopping 60 unreleased alternate takes from five sessions. (Smaller deluxe editions on CD and 2LP pair the new stereo mix with 13 of the session highlights; new pressings of the original album will…

Categories:

Holiday Gift Guide

Formats:

Blu-Ray Audio, Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Holiday, Jazz, Soundtracks

Tags:

Christmas Time is Here (Again): New ‘Charlie Brown Christmas’ Box Boasts New Remixes, Unreleased Outtakes

August 17, 2022 by Mike Duquette | 9 Comments

Reissues of Vince Guaraldi’s classic jazz score to the immortal 1965 TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas are common enough for even the most faithful fan to utter “Good grief.” But Craft Recordings’ newest package of the classic material looks to offer a treasure trove of unheard audio that’ll fill your hearts this season. Craft today announces a 4CD/1 Blu-ray deluxe edition of the classic album that features not only multiple mixes of the original LP – the original stereo mix alongside new stereo and Dolby Atmos mixes – but a whopping…

Categories:

News

Formats:

Blu-Ray Audio, Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Holiday, Jazz, Soundtracks

Tags:

Vince Guaraldi

It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown: Original Soundtrack Recording

June 29, 2022 by Joe Marchese

Vince Guaraldi Its the Great Pumpkin 2022

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Pumpkin-Shaped LP: Craft Recordings Pumpkin Patch Splatter LP: Craft Recordings Thanks to a new tape discovery, Craft Recordings is able to present the first true, complete soundtrack to It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! The Emmy-nominated 1966 television special was the third overall for Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts series and the second to be holiday-themed, after A Charlie Brown Christmas. Upon its October 27, 1966 premiere, it earned a whopping 49 share in the ratings and was so successful that CBS re-aired it every year through 2000,…

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Formats:

CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Holiday, Jazz, Soundtracks

Tags:

It’s a New Release, Charlie Brown! “Great Pumpkin” Arrives on CD, LP From Original Session Masters

June 15, 2022 by Joe Marchese | 4 Comments

It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! The Emmy-nominated 1966 television special was the third overall for Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts series and the second to be holiday-themed, after A Charlie Brown Christmas. Upon its October 27, 1966 premiere, it earned a whopping 49 share in the ratings and was so successful that CBS re-aired it every year through 2000, with ABC picking up the tradition after that. Yet despite a beloved score by Vince Guaraldi (who else?), a soundtrack album to Great Pumpkin was never released in any audio format until 2018. …

Categories:

News

Formats:

CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Holiday, Jazz, Soundtracks

Tags:

Vince Guaraldi

The Weekend Stream: May 7, 2022

May 7, 2022 by Mike Duquette | 1 Comment

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 discover! Truly something for everyone this week, from classic rock to live jazz and folk to…Christmas albums? Whitesnake, Greatest Hits (2022 Remix) (Rhino) (iTunes / Amazon) Ahead of their farewell tour, David Coverdale has yet again revisited the Whitesnake catalogue through a series of remixes, this time pertaining to most of the songs that were on the band’s 1994 greatest hits collection. There’s…

Categories:

Features, The Weekend Stream

Formats:

Digital Download, Digital Streaming

Genres:

Classic Rock, Country, Disco/Dance, Everything Else, Folk, Funk, Holiday, Jazz, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rap/Hip-Hop, Rock

Tags:

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Burl Ives, Christina Milian, Ernest Tubb, George Clinton, Grover Washington Jr., Herbie Hancock, John Schneider, Kenny Burrell, McCoy Tyner, One Way, Ray LaMontagne, Red Foley, Sam the Sham and The Pharoahs, The Format, Triumph, Whitesnake, Wu-Tang Clan

Have Yourself a Merry Little Discmas…

December 24, 2021 by Mike Duquette | 12 Comments

Wow! And just like that, another year has flown by. Just a few weeks before The Second Disc hits its 12th anniversary(!), this Christmas Eve it is our custom to look back on the last 12 months and take some time to think fondly of the music, magic, memories and friends that made our lives worth living. As if last year wasn’t unconventional enough, 2021 packed more pop, clicks, skips and distortion than the most misguided vinyl pressings. We got vaccinated, we got boosted, we tentatively returned to concerts and live performances,…

Categories:

Features

Formats:

Blu-Ray, Blu-Ray Audio, Books, Box Sets, CD, Cassette, DVD, DVD-Audio, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, SACD, Vinyl

Genres:

Tags:

Treat Every Day Like Christmas: Varese Expands the Scores to “Elf” and “Blue Velvet”

December 16, 2021 by Randy Fairman | 1 Comment

Varese Sarabande has recently released two deluxe soundtracks to fit two very different moods. The first might put you in the Christmas spirit with an expanded presentation of John Debney’s score to the modern holiday classic film Elf. The other will take you on a far darker journey with an expanded look at Angelo Badalamenti’s score to Blue Velvet. First up is the deluxe edition of the score to 2003’s Elf. The Jon Favreau-directed film starred Will Ferrell in his first lead role after leaving Saturday Night Live. He plays Buddy, a…

Categories:

News

Formats:

Genres:

Holiday, Soundtracks

Tags:

Angelo Badalamenti, John Debney

The Spirit of the Season: Deluxe Edition

December 16, 2021 by Joe Marchese

The a cappella group fusing traditional choral, gospel, pop, Broadway, and vintage barbershop quartet styles into a fresh, original sound is celebrating the most wonderful time of the year with a new deluxe edition of 2016’s The Spirit of the Season. The joyful yuletide album features clever and intricate arrangements of Christmas classics both spiritual (“O Holy Night,” “Mary Did You Know,” “Go Tell It on the Mountain”) and secular (an Andy Williams medley, another of childhood favorites such as “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town”) plus more…

Categories:

Holiday Gift Guide

Formats:

CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming

Genres:

Holiday

Tags:

The Weekend Stream: December 11, 2021

December 11, 2021 by The Second Disc | No Comments

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 discover! This week offers a fistful of digital deluxe editions, expansions on holiday favorites, and at least one Bond theme in the mix. Tina Turner, GoldenEye (Parlophone) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify) If you’re still riding high off the excellent latest James Bond film No Time to Die, released a few months ago, you might dig this suite of rare remixes of Tina…

Categories:

Features, The Weekend Stream

Formats:

Digital Download, Digital Streaming

Genres:

Country, Disco/Dance, Electronic, Holiday, Jazz, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul, Rap/Hip-Hop, Rock, Soundtracks

The Weekend Stream: December 4, 2021

December 4, 2021 by Mike Duquette | No Comments

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 discover! This week we’ve got a U2 digital box set, soulful rarities from The Isley Brothers and Ramsey Lewis, and the return of a cute Christmas favorite. U2, Achtung Baby (30th Anniversary Edition) (Island/UMe) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify) Alongside a new vinyl pressing of the album that hurtled U2 into the ’90s and back into superstardom, U2 have digitally premiered a huge…

Categories:

Features, The Weekend Stream

Formats:

Digital Download, Digital Streaming

Genres:

Classic Rock, Disco/Dance, Holiday, Jazz, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock

Tags:

Earth Wind and Fire, Jimi Hendrix, Lou Monte, Ramsey Lewis, The Isley Brothers, U2

THE SECOND DISC’S 2021 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE IS HERE!

November 29, 2021 by The Second Disc | No Comments

Cyber Monday is upon us once again, which means one thing at Second Disc HQ: it’s time to launch our annual Holiday Gift Guide, featuring 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: box sets (such as the Fab set to your right!) as well as archival releases and even new CDs from favorite artists that just might make great stocking stuffers. So…

Categories:

Holiday Gift Guide

Formats:

Box Sets, CD, Vinyl

Genres:

Classic Rock, Country, Disco/Dance, Holiday, Jazz, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul, Rock, Soundtracks

Tags:

The Weekend Stream: November 27, 2021

November 27, 2021 by The Second Disc | No Comments

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 discover! Despite the Thanksgiving holiday (and recovery period from Record Store Day Black Friday) there are some surprises for lovers of rock, soul and soundtrack obscurities – check it out below! Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Live, New York, 1981 (Blackheart/Legacy) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify) If you can believe it, there’s almost no official representation of Joan Jett & The Blackhearts in…

Categories:

Features, The Weekend Stream

Formats:

Digital Download, Digital Streaming

Genres:

Comedy, Everything Else, Folk, Gospel, Holiday, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock, Soundtracks

Tags:

Brenda Lee, Darlene Love, Debbie Gibson, Jim Nabors, Joan Jett, Melanie, The Drifters, Vaughn Meader

The Second Disc’s Picks for Record Store Day Black Friday 2021

November 26, 2021 by The Second Disc | 2 Comments

From all of us here at Second Disc HQ to all of you, we hope you’ve enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving in the company of beloved family and friends. (And with plenty of delicious food, too!) Now, Record Store Day’s annual Black Friday event is upon us, so we’re spotlighting a dozen of the most eagerly anticipated releases arriving to your local independent brick-and-mortar record shop! Here are our personal picks for RSD BF must-haves; visit Record Store Day’s official website for a list of participating retailers. Happy Listening, and have a great…

Categories:

News

Formats:

CD, Cassette, Vinyl

Genres:

Classic Rock, Country, Gospel, Holiday, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock, Soundtracks

Tags: