We are more than 35 years into the practice of record labels utilizing compact discs to sell a venerated artist's catalogue while also telling a story through the format's expanded capacity and clarion sound capabilities. The one-two punch of Bob Dylan's Biograph (1985) and Eric Clapton's Crossroads (1988) helped legitimize the idea of the CD box set and put both artists' bodies of work in sharper focus at a time when both of them were, should we say, not as relevant to the cultural
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
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
The Second Disc's Guide to Black Friday Record Store Day 2022: Our Essential Picks
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. Of course, from this day which conjures nostalgic and warm feelings comes a celebration of a different kind with this year's annual Black Friday Record Store Day event. In keeping with tradition, Mike, Randy, and Joe have once again selected some essential picks of the roughly 200 titles being released tomorrow at independent record stores
Release Round-Up: Week of November 25
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the (non-Record Store Day) titles hitting stores today! Watch this space for our RSD Black Friday Picks! David Bowie, Divine Symmetry (An Alternative Journey Through 'Hunky Dory') (Parlophone) 4CD/1BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 1LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada This 4CD/1BD slipcased box set chronicling the twelve months leading up to the December 1971 release of David Bowie's fourth
Close To It All: Cherry Red, Grapefruit Collect Power Pop, Folk, "Bubblerock," and More on New Anthologies
Cherry Red's Grapefruit imprint, dedicated to the psychedelic and garage eras, has concentrated in recent months on various-artists anthologies exploring different aspects of the pop-rock scene of the mid-to-late 1960s through the mid-1970s. Today's Grapefruit Round-Up looks at a quartet of those recent releases. The 3-CD anthology High in the Morning: The British Progressive Pop Sounds of 1973 is focused on the twelve-month period in which the look and sound of glam rock made ripples
Coming Around Again: Carly Simon's "Live at Grand Central" Comes to CD, LP, Blu-ray
Earlier this month, Carly Simon was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was a long-overdue recognition for the singer-songwriter whose thirteen U.S. top 40 hits include such radio staples as "Anticipation," "The Right Thing to Do," "Nobody Does It Better," "Coming Around Again," and the chart-topping "You're So Vain." Any fan of Simon knows that any live appearance is a true rarity-and the same was true back on April 2, 1995, when she performed her first full-length concert in 14
The Weekend Stream: November 19, 2022
Madonna, You Can Dance (Single Edits) / Rain (Warner/Rhino) Dance: iTunes / Amazon Rain: iTunes / Amazon Rhino keeps digitally uploading intriguing stuff from Madonna's single and remix catalogue, and this month saw two such releases: first, a bundle of mixes surrounding the Erotica favorite "Rain," then this week, to celebrate the 35th anniversary of remix album You Can Dance, an upload of the rare promo version that found all the tracks unmixed and edited to single-ready
Release Round-Up: Week of November 18
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the many titles hitting stores today as the countdown to the holidays continues! Michael Jackson, Thriller 40 (MJJ/Epic/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The best-selling album of all time returns in a 2CD edition for its 40th anniversary. The second disc features 10 bonus tracks including the previously issued outtake "Sunset Driver," "Got the Hots" (making its U.S. release debut), non-LP B-side
Not Dark Yet: Bob Dylan's Next Bootleg Volume Celebrates "Time Out of Mind"
The last volume of Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series, 2021's Springtime in New York, chronicled the singer-songwriter at the outset of the 1980s. On January 27, 2023, the seventeenth volume of the long-running series will arrive, this time exploring the creation of Dylan's thirtieth studio album. Fragments: Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996-1997) takes a deep dive into the three-time Grammy Award-winning album which was perceived by many as a comeback after a string of lackluster or uninspired LPs.
Give Me the News: Edsel Preps New Box Set of Robert Palmer Classics
For as long as CD reissues have been a thing, Robert Palmer's catalogue has been crying out for some real respect. The late blue-eyed soul singer, only 54 when a heart attack ended his life in 2003, has been in real need of rediscovery - and efforts to rebuild his discography for the modern age are few and far between. Next year, U.K. label Edsel will throw their hat in the ring (again) with a deluxe box set of his most famous work. The Island Records Years is an in-depth look at the first
Dream Starts: Grapefruit Collects Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera on New Anthology
The Five Proud Walkers weren't the only British blues 'n soul band to go psychedelic, but they were certainly one of the finest. As Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera and then just plain Velvet Opera, the group recorded two well-received albums in the late 1960s before splintering. Cherry Red's Grapefruit imprint has recently collected and expanded those LPs on 3 CDs as Long Nights of Summer: The Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera Anthology. Lead singer Dave Terry - who took the name of Elmer Gantry, the
Sending You Forget-Me-Nots: Patrice Rushen's Elektra Discography Gets Its Own Box Set
Jazz-turned R&B singer Patrice Rushen met with commercial and artistic success when she signed with Elektra Records. Now, Strut Records has revisited all five of her albums for the label plus an array of bonus tracks on the new 5-CD box set Feels So Real: The Complete Elektra Recordings 1978-1984. After a trio of acclaimed (but modest-selling) fusion-influenced albums for Prestige Records in the mid-1970s, Rushen, an accomplished pianist/vocalist, joined the Elektra roster in 1978.
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 /
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
Women, Wives and Everything in Between: Paul McCartney Announces Massive 7" Singles Box
At 80 years old - hell, at many ages younger than that - Paul McCartney has little to prove. Fans may blanch at his catalogue choices of late (whither the Archive Collection? why box up all the self-titled albums? we've heard and seen it all), but it's hard to claim all of his reissue products as uninteresting. Take The 7" Singles Box - a rather massive trove of vinyl featuring 80 single releases personally curated by the former Beatle. With 163 tracks across its sides, The 7" Singles Box
Seven Bridges Road: Real Gone's November Slate Features Pat Martino, Herb Ellis, Remo Palmier, Less Than Jake, and Steve Young
We've already told you about Real Gone Music's pair of Christmas albums coming out this Friday, November 11: a vinyl version of Lea Michele's Christmas in the City and an expanded CD reissue of Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme's That Holiday Feeling! featuring liner notes by our very own Joe Marchese. (Unfortunately, the expanded CD reissue of B.J. Thomas' Christmas Is Coming Home has been canceled for this year due to an unforeseen issue relating to the bonus material. Hopefully it will be
An Interview with Scott Davies, Rubellan Remasters' One-Man Band
Scott Davies has learned a lot on the job. Once toiling in the business of IT, music fans now know him as the singular creative force behind Rubellan Remasters - the sole curator, engineer, designer and distributor of a handful of CDs covering respected catalogues by New Wave/alternative acts including Visage, Missing Persons, Divinyls and most recently Oingo Boingo, the alt-rock band led in the '80s and '90s by future film composer Danny Elfman. From 2021 to the present Rubellan remastered
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
Rubellan Puts Flesh N' Blood Into Next Wave of Oingo Boingo Reissues on CD, Vinyl (UPDATED PRE-ORDER LINKS)
All of Rubellan Remasters' titles are a labor of love, but special care was taken when the label expanded a section of the Oingo Boingo catalogue in 2021. The seminal California alt-punk band, which first catapulted film composer Danny Elfman to the national stage, never got their due in peak reissue eras - but Rubellan corrected that record with expanded CDs (and colored vinyl reissues) of the band's first four albums, issued on the I.R.S. and MCA labels. With the Day of the Dead just
Release Round-Up: Week of November 4
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles in stores today! Billy Joel, Live at Yankee Stadium (Columbia/Legacy) 2CD/Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Billy Joel's Live at Yankee Stadium, originally released on video, is getting a major makeover. The concert film, shot on June 22 and 23, 1990, has been restored and remixed from original audio and video elements for a 2CD/Blu-ray
You Just May Be The One: The Monkees Revisit "Headquarters" With 55th Anniversary Box Set
55 years ago, The Monkees took part in what TV Guide deemed to be "the Great Revolt of '67." Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork demanded creative control from impresario Don Kirshner - and won it. The group might have been brought together as actors portraying a band, but they were ready to build upon their phenomenal success and become that band in reality, too. The Headquarters album, The Monkees' third, was the startling result. It became their third consecutive No.
Surrender: Cherry Red Collects Swing Out Sister Albums, Bonus Tracks on New Box
Swing Out Sister burst onto the scene in 1986 with "Breakout." The first song on the group's first album, the sleek admonition reached the top ten on both sides of the Atlantic as well as the top of the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart. With Corrine Drewery's lead vocal soaring over a fizzy cocktail of funky bass, brash horns, bubbly synths, a sweet string arrangement, and a driving snare drum, "Breakout" bridged the gap between contemporary and retro. It launched Swing Out Sister to
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
In Memoriam: Jerry Lee Lewis (1935-2022)
To the uninitiated, the biography of Jerry Lee Lewis in 2022 read like a list of rock tropes so basic you can't believe they all happened to one man. Born to a poor Louisiana family that included a lot of famous Southerners (including cousins Mickey Gilley and Jimmy Swaggart), Jerry Lee's parents mortgaged their farm to buy him a piano and hoped he would honor the Lord in song. What they got instead was a firebrand, whose boogie-woogie sensibilities galvanized and scandalized the
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