"If you're born a woman, you're born to be hurt..." The stark sentiment expressed by singer Sandy Posey in her 1966 recording of Martha Sharp's "Born a Woman" didn't keep the song from reaching the twelfth spot on the Billboard Hot 100 - effectively launching a career that's continued into the 21st century. Between 1966 and 1968, the Alabama-born songstress recorded four studio albums for MGM Records, all of which blended pop and country sounds in a Brill Building-meets-Memphis style crafted
Don't Look Down: Go West Expand 'Dancing on the Couch' with Remixes and Live Material
It was a pleasant surprise to see British '80s duo Go West get a deluxe edition of their debut album last year. Chrysalis is making lightning strike twice early this year for fans with a follow-up: an 3CD/1DVD expansion of the duo's 1987 release Dancing on the Couch. After Peter Cox and Richard Drummie scored a Top 5 hit in their homeland with "We Close Our Eyes" in 1985, they'd amassed a solid fan base who'd be curious to hear what a follow-up sounded like. Working again with producer Gary
Back On My Feet Again: Rhino Adds Randy Newman, WAR, AWB, Gil Evans to Quadio Roster
Today, Rhino announced four new titles in its ever-growing line of Quadio Blu-rays: Randy Newman's Good Old Boys (1973), WAR's The World Is a Ghetto (1972), Gil Evans' Svengali, and Average White Band's AWB. The Second Disc had the opportunity to preview this quartet of Blu-ray reissues of classic albums in quadraphonic (four-channel) sound, and we're happy to report that this is another feast for surround fans with all four titles making good - or better - use of surround. (Those equipped
Somewhere Along the Line: Japanese Expansion of Billy Joel's 'Piano Man' Includes Quad Mix, New-to-CD Tracks
Japan can't get enough of the Piano Man! Shortly after Sony Music's Japanese division released a newly-compiled collection of live odds and ends by Billy Joel, the label will next put out a deluxe edition of Joel's sophomore album (and first in a long line of albums for Columbia Records), 1973's Piano Man. Billed as a 50th anniversary edition (a few months late) and ostensibly meant to tie into his Japanese tour dates later this month, the 2CD/1DVD set features a few extra features for die-hard
Release Round-Up: Week of January 19
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. Bert Kaempfert, The Bert Kaempfert Decca Collection (Decca) (Amazon U.S. (not yet available) / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The Bert Kaempfert Decca Collection collects 24 of the German composer-bandleader's American LPs originally released in the 1960s and 1970s, including the worldwide CD debut of Pete Fountain Plays Bert
Leave Me Breathless: The Corrs' 2001 Compilation Reissued with Christine McVie Tributes
Originally released in 2001, The Corrs' first greatest-hits collection - The Best of The Corrs - became one of the most beloved and most successful releases in their catalogue. Tomorrow, Rhino is re-releasing the collection with three bonus tracks, all celebrating the late Christine McVie and extending The Corrs' relationship with one of their favorite bands, Fleetwood Mac. Siblings Jim Corr, Sharon Corr, Caroline Corr, and Andrea Corr of Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland came together in the
Make Your Own Sweet Sunshine: 7a Records Preps Davy Jones' "The Bell Records Story"
Less than a year and a half after Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz brought The Monkees' original discography to a close with the release of Changes, actor-singer Jones was back on Bell Records with a new studio album. His second solo LP, 1971's Davy Jones, was in a sunshine pop-meets-bubblegum vein, but it carried on the spirit of the early Monkees with strong tunes including some from songwriters who had written for the group (David Gates, Neil Sedaka). On February 23, 7a Records will release Davy
The Year In Review: The 2023 Gold Bonus Disc Awards, From A to Z - Part Two
Happy 2024! Welcome, friends, to Part Two of The Second Disc's 14th Annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards! As we yet again look to a new year with optimism and a hopeful spirit, we recognize the many roles music has played in our lives. With that spirit in mind, The Second Disc wishes to recognize 2023's cream of the catalogue music crop - those exemplary reissues and box sets, big and small, that proved to be truly outstanding for music lovers worldwide. After much deliberation, we're excited
The Year In Review: The 2023 Gold Bonus Disc Awards, From A to Z - Part One
Happy 2024! Welcome, friends, to The Second Disc's 14th Annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards! As we yet again look to a new year with optimism and a hopeful spirit, we recognize the many roles music has played in our lives. With that spirit in mind, The Second Disc wishes to recognize 2023's cream of the catalogue music crop - those exemplary reissues and box sets, big and small, that proved to be truly outstanding for music lovers worldwide. After much deliberation, we're excited to unveil our
The Weekend Stream: January 13, 2024
Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc's review of notable catalogue titles making digital debuts. Our first streaming round-up of the year has surprises from INXS, a '00s U.K. hit going viral, and some '90s alt-rock goodness! INXS, Selections from All Juiced Up Volume 2 (Petrol/Atlantic) "I'm Only Looking" (Morales Bad Yard Mix): iTunes / Amazon "Bitter Tears" (Lorimer 12" Mix): iTunes / Amazon "Need You Tonight" (Liebrand 12" Mix): iTunes / Amazon "Listen
Look Hear: 10cc Box Set Compiles Two Decades of Albums and B-Sides
10cc were one of the most formidable pop/rock bands to come out of England in the 1970s. A forthcoming box set from Edsel/Demon Music Group will put their output under a microscope. 20 Years: 1972-1982, due out January 26, offers 14 discs of the beloved group: all 11 studio albums issued on the UK, Mercury and Polydor labels between 1973 and 1992, the rare 1977 double live album Live and Let Live, and two collections of 33 additional B-sides, single versions and alternate mixes released
A Second Disc Interview: Mixing It Up with John Luongo
John Luongo is a good liar. Well, maybe he's good at being tongue-in-cheek. "I'm bashful," he says at the start of our interview back in October. "You're gonna have to really drag these things outta me, 'cause I'm a little shy!" What follows is about 100 minutes of captivating stories and thoughtful, enthusiastic lessons from one of the most notable names in dance music. The Boston-born DJ and mix engineer made a name for himself transforming dozens of soul and pop tracks for disco 12"
I've Been in Love Before: Cutting Crew's Albums Get Box Set Treatment from Cherry Pop
Second Disc HQ is always fascinated by British acts - and there were a few of these in the '80s - whose commercial success is far greater outside their home country. Cutting Crew, the rock combo led by singer/songwriter Nick Van Eede, were a classic example of this phenomenon, scoring a U.S. chart-topper with the emotional "(I Just) Died in Your Arms" and the Top 10 ballad "I've Been in Love Before"; next month, Cherry Red will expand the group's first three albums in a new 3CD package. All
The Morning Lasted All Day: The Dream Academy Get Comprehensive Box Set from Cherry Red
There was no Top 10 hit in 1985 quite like "Life in a Northern Town," a gentle-then-thundering folk-pop tune by British trio The Dream Academy. The gentle tribute to Nick Drake, counterpointed by an African-inspired, nearly wordless chorus, hit No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 15 in their native U.K. - but there was much more to their story. Cherry Red will tell that story - with input from the band's frontman, Nick Laird-Clowes - in a new deluxe box set to be released in
Freak Out in a Moonage Daydream: Early Version of Bowie's 'Ziggy Stardust' Announced for Record Store Day
On what would have been the 77th birthday of the incomparable David Bowie, his estate has announced a new catalogue title due out for Record Store Day, featuring an early track list for 1972's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars. Waiting in the Sky (Before the Starman Came to Earth) takes its title from "Starman," the U.K. Top 10 hit that helped propel Bowie from art-folk wonder to glam icon for a new decade. But when this line-up for the album was assembled onto a
Dear Little Buttercup: Rhino's "Start Your Ear Off Right" Features America, The Doors, Grateful Dead, "Three Amigos," More
Rhino is once again inaugurating the new year with a Start Your Ear Off Right campaign, launching this Friday in brick-and-mortar independent record stores (and if the past is any indication, at Barnes and Noble locations across the United States). The vinyl-only slate, which is spread out over the next four release weeks, concentrates on classic rockers (The Doors, Foghat, America, Grateful Dead, Velvet Underground, Black Sabbath, Stevie Nicks, Yes) with a healthy dose of R&B legends (Ray
L.O.V.E.: Decca Celebrates Bert Kaempfert Centennial on New Box Set
Bert Kaempfert (1923-1980) may best be remembered today for his brief association with The Beatles or as the composer of "Strangers in the Night," "L.O.V.E.," and "Spanish Eyes." Kaempfert, who died in 1980, would have turned 100 last October. Decca is celebrating his life, legacy, and centennial year with a major new 24-CD box set coming on January 19. The Bert Kaempfert Decca Collection collects 24 of the German composer-bandleader's American LPs originally released in the 1960s and
All-Time High: La-La Land Surprise Expands a Pair of James Bond Scores
Having delivered a typically stunning last batch of archival film score reissues last November, La-La Land Records is wasting no time at all kicking off 2024 with a bang. On Christmas Eve, they surprise-announced two pre-orders of expanded editions of soundtracks to two James Bond films from the '70s and '80s. La-La Land has long been the home of definitive presentations of 007 on CD, having licensed deluxe 2CD sets of three scores fan favorite composer David Arnold composed for Pierce
We Wish You (Another) Merry Discmas!
The stockings are hung, the presents are wrapped, and the time is now to wish all of our readers at The Second Disc a wonderful holiday season before we enter a brief winter hibernation until the new year! 2023 was our 13th year as (we hope!) one of the more fun destinations for music reissues, box sets and catalogue releases. The business has certainly changed a lot in that time - maybe too much vinyl, maybe not enough CDs? - but labels big and small keep finding new, old and interesting
Fascinated: Freestyle Trio Company B's Debut Reissued by Stereo Sonic
Cuban-born American producer Ish Ledesma made a big splash on the Miami music scene, becoming a fixture at Henry Stone's TK Records. Best known for his band Foxy's top ten Pop hit and R&B chart-topper "Get Off," Ledesma was also a prolific session player - Foxy was even enlisted by ABBA on the track for "Voulez-Vous," the Swedish quartet's only studio recording made outside of Sweden - and the creative force behind dance-rock outfit OXO ("Whirly Girl"). In 1986, Ledesma put together the
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Prince and The New Power Generation, 'Diamonds and Pearls (Super Deluxe Edition)'
I. Come On, Save Your Soul Tonight In the years since Prince's tragic death in 2016, one of the more shocking events in catalogue history has occurred: the construction of a cottage industry surrounding his vast recorded output - both his dozens of released albums and countless tracks rumored to exist in the mythic vault at his Paisley Park recording complex. As a lucrative artist who left no will, the matters of his heirs were not settled until 2022. In those intervening years - with only a
Stocking Stuffer Spotlight: Freddie Scott, "Other Lives," and International Pop Overthrow
We've covered a lot of box sets this holiday season but today we're taking a look at three more compact - but no less enjoyable! - stocking stuffers! The two titles carried by Amazon are shipping now with delivery before Christmas. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Freddie Scott (1933-2007) had been recording for seven years when his impassioned rendition of Carole King and Gerry Goffin's "Hey Girl" reached the top ten of both the Pop and R&B charts in 1963.
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Stevie Nicks, 'Complete Studio Albums and Rarities'
I. Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You? When was the moment that Stephanie Lynn Nicks became inevitable? It's not as though you can just forget a voice like hers. Ever since the start of her on-again, off-again tenure in Fleetwood Mac - when her dulcet tones powered songs like "Rhiannon," "Landslide," "Dreams" (the band's first No. 1 single in America), essential B-side "Silver Springs," "Gypsy" and others - Nicks' artistry and talent has been a given. But you can feel it in the air
The Weekend Stream: December 16, 2023
Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc's review of notable catalogue titles making digital debuts. Beyoncé repeats history, ZTT goes live and James gets more Whiplash, all streaming and on sale this week! Beyoncé, Grown Woman (Parkwood/Columbia) (iTunes / Amazon) Perhaps you remember where you were on December 13, 2013, when Beyoncé Knowles surprise-dropped her self-titled fifth album with a host of accompanying short films to boot. (I actually do: fans' reaction
Nice to Be Around: Extensive John Williams Box Set Released in France
If you're a Second Disc reader, you're no doubt aware of the immense musical power film composer John Williams has over us (and people like us!). Even a casual fan surely knows his most familiar works for the screen, from Star Wars and Indiana Jones to Jurassic Park and Harry Potter; the films of Steven Spielberg (JAWS, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Schindler's List); themes for everything from Superman to the Olympics. He's picked up five Oscars (53 nominations, second only to Walt Disney), 25
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