R&amp;B/Soul

Formats:

Genres:

Classic Rock, Electronic, Everything Else, Latin, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rap/Hip-Hop, Rock

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Billy Joel, Captain Beefheart, Chappell Roan, Coolio, Elton John, Fania All-Stars, Groove Armada, Hayley Williams, Lauren Christy, Maren Morris, Natalie Cole, Spinal Tap

Release Round-Up: Week of August 1

August 1, 2025 by The Second Disc | 9 Comments

Marianne Faithfull Cast Your Fate to the Wind

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles in stores this week. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Dionne Warwick, Make It Easy on Yourself: The Scepter Recordings 1962-1971 (SoulMusic/Second Disc/Cherry Red) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Cherry Red) Naturally, we’re bursting at the seams that today is finally Release Day (*) for this massive labor of love. SoulMusic Records and Second Disc Records are proud to present Dionne Warwick’s Make It Easy on Yourself: The Scepter Recordings 1962-1971, a 12CD box set with 280 tracks encompassing every one of…

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Release Round-Up

Formats:

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

Genres:

Blues, Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Folk, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock

Tags:

Buddy Guy, Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick, Elvis Presley, Jeffrey Runnings, Marianne Faithfull, Richard Hawley, Roger Waters, Vicki Lawrence

OUT TOMORROW! Dionne Warwick’s “Make It Easy on Yourself: The Scepter Recordings 1962-1971” Arrives from SoulMusic, Second Disc

July 31, 2025 by The Second Disc | 30 Comments

Today’s the day when we can finally share Dionne Warwick’s Make It Easy on Yourself: The Scepter Recordings 1962-1971 with our readers! Though today is the official release date and copies should be shipping within the U.K., Amazon U.S. currently shows August 15 as the release date stateside. To our American friends, we hope you will find this set worth the wait! Here are the full details on this release. “I am so very thrilled about this wonderful collection of my recordings! It is truly something that I myself would buy.” –…

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Box Sets, CD

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BJ Thomas, Burt Bacharach, Chuck Jackson, Dionne Warwick, Hal David, Leslie Uggams, Sacha Distel

The Weekend Stream: July 26, 2025

July 26, 2025 by The Second Disc | 7 Comments

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. Billy Joel fans have it good this week, with seven hours of hits and rarities from his new documentary. If you’ve got room after that, there’s an anniversary reissue for literally the last five decades in a few different genres, too! Billy Joel, And So It Goes (The Musical Companion to the HBO Documentary Film) (Columbia/Legacy) (Apple / Amazon) If you’ve watched all five hours of the new two-part Billy…

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Genres:

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

Tags:

311, Ashley Monroe, Dr. Feelgood, Elliott Smith, Heatmiser, Marina and The Diamonds, Oasis, Paramore, Richard Barone, Ronan Keating, The Bongos

The Weekend Stream: July 19, 2025

July 19, 2025 by The Second Disc

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. We’ve got a gem from Linda Ronstadt’s vault, a new update of a Disney classic and a fascinating sit-down with one of folk’s most important matriarchs – plus tributes to artists we lost this week and a potential hint at a very exciting reissue from one of the pivotal duos in ’70s rock. Linda Ronstadt, “How Do I Make You” / “Rambler Gambler” (Asylum/Rhino) (Apple / Amazon) This week, song…

Release Round-Up: Week of July 18

July 18, 2025 by The Second Disc | 2 Comments

Sly and the Family Stone Winchester Cathedral

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. Scissor Sisters, Scissor Sisters: 20th Anniversary Edition (Republic) 3CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada The Scissor Sisters’ 2004 debut gets a (slightly belated) 20th anniversary expansion offering the album in a digipak alongside two bonus discs of B-sides, remixes, and seven previously unheard tracks. A truncated offering of the B-sides and outtakes will be included on a double vinyl edition. “Take Your Mama” to get the…

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Release Round-Up

Formats:

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

Genres:

Classic Rock, Country, Everything Else, Jazz, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock

Tags:

Beaver and Krause, Bush, Colin Hay, Rod Stewart, Scissor Sisters, Sly and the Family Stone, Styx, The Modern Jazz Quartet, Trisha Yearwood, ZZ Top

Jump to the Beat: Edsel Reissues “Disco Ladies” and “Disco Boogie” Collections

July 14, 2025 by Joe Marchese | 2 Comments

Late in 2023, Demon Music Group revived its Disco Discharge series on the Edsel label. Two recent 2CD volumes, Disco Ladies and Disco Boogie, continue presenting the series in a deluxe, oversized seven-inch format. These titles, chockablock with disco deep cuts and hits alike, were originally issued on the Harmless label in 2009 and 2010, respectively, and have been tweaked (likely due to licensing restrictions) for this go-round. Disco Ladies offers a cross-section of the many women with varied styles who ruled the dancefloor. As original compiler/annotator Alan Jones notes in his…

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Disco/Dance, Funk, R&B/Soul

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A Taste of Honey, Alisha, Cheryl Lynn, Deniece Williams, Glenn Jones, Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes, Melba Moore, Nona Hendryx, Silver Convention, Sister Sledge, Skyy, Teena Marie, Toto, Various Artists

Everybody Say Yeah: Real Gone’s July Slate Includes Vinyl Reissues of Mary Chapin Carpenter, “Kinky Boots,” Rusted Root, More

July 10, 2025 by Randy Fairman | 2 Comments

As summer heats up, Real Gone has another slate of six varied releases hitting store shelves, tomorrow, July 11. You’ll find a variety of genres here from Broadway to nu metal to rock to country to jazz. First up is a vinyl reissue of the Broadway cast album Kinky Boots. The 2013 show is based on the 2005 movie of the same title. The story revolves around Charlie, who inherits a failing shoe factory from his father. To turn the business around, he teams with drag performer Lola to begin manufacturing high-heeled…

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Formats:

Vinyl

Genres:

Cast Recordings, Country, Jazz, R&B/Soul, Rock

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Bernard "Pretty" Purdie, Cyndi Lauper, Fear Factory, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Rusted Root, Static-X

The First Family: Live at Winchester Cathedral 1967

July 9, 2025 by Joe Marchese

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada With Sly Stone fever at a high thanks to the recent documentary from The Roots’ drummer Questlove, High Moon’s The First Family offers a 1967 live set that just predates the band’s tenure with Epic Records. Previously available for Record Store Day, the concert comes to wide-release vinyl and CD. Songs include “Funky Broadway,” “Baby, I Need Your Lovin’,” and “I Can’t Turn You Loose,” capturing the early days of a group destined to change the…

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Formats:

CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

R&B/Soul

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The Weekend Stream: July 5, 2025

July 5, 2025 by Mike Duquette | 5 Comments

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. Lots of Fourth of July musical statements were made this week, from a Prince rarity coming out of the vaults to Ben Folds’ surprisingly politically charged, surprise live album. Plus, the last two albums by a terrific British rock band and a new song from an American classic rock act reflecting on its 30 years together (even the last few tough ones). Prince and The Revolution, “America” (NPG/Legacy) (Apple /…

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

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Ben Folds, Foo Fighters, Prince, XTC

Baby I’m-A Want You: Elektra Celebrates 75 Years with Monthlong Initiative

July 2, 2025 by Joe Marchese | 6 Comments

Jac Holzman was still in college when he and pal Paul Rickolt each chipped in three hundred bucks to start a record company. That label, Elektra Records – so named for Greek mythology’s daughter of Atlas and Pleione, but with the “c” swapped out for a “k” – inaugurated its catalogue with the simply-titled New Songs, an album of poetry settings by composer-pianist John Gruen. Elektra soon shifted its emphasis to folk music, growing its discography with recordings by Theodore Bikel, Josh White, Judy Collins, Oscar Brand, and Tom Paxton before branching…

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Formats:

CD, Vinyl

Genres:

Classic Rock, Folk, Jazz, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock

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Anita Baker, Bob Dylan, Bread, Grover Washington Jr., Keith Sweat, Love, Nanci Griffith, Public Image Ltd., Sisters of Mercy, Superdrag, Television, The Afghan Whigs, The Cars, The Doors, The Stooges, , Tim Buckley

The Blues Brothers: The Escape of Joliet Jake

June 30, 2025 by Joe Marchese

Standard: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Deluxe with LP: Z2 Comics A previously unreleased set of recordings by The Blues Brothers is set for release as part of a new illustrated story featuring the beloved characters. The Blues Brothers: The Escape of Joliet Jake will pick up the story of Jake and Elwood Blues in 1997, when Jake goes missing after a jailbreak. It’s up to a detective and a youth from the same Chicago orphanage the brothers were raised in (with a little help from Elwood, of course) to pick up the trail and…

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Formats:

Books, Vinyl

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Blues, R&B/Soul

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The Weekend Stream: June 28, 2025

June 28, 2025 by The Second Disc | 1 Comment

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. There’s new music from Sarah McLachlan, Public Enemy and Liam Finn, plus a new video to a one-hit wonder, a Record Store Day single gone digital, and tributes to musicians we lost this week. Peter Gabriel, In the Big Room (Real World) (Apple / Amazon) The legendary pop/rock voice has loosed a recording from his vault for larger public consumption: highlights from an intimate 2003 performance at his Real World…

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Classic Rock, Disco/Dance, Electronic, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rap/Hip-Hop, Rock, Soundtracks

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Alexandre Desplat, Camouflage, David Gilmour, Judas Priest, Kool and the Gang, Leo Sayer, Liam Finn, Marcella Detroit, Norman Greenbaum, Peter Gabriel, Public Enemy, Sarah McLachlan

Disco Connection: Ace Releases Isaac Hayes’ “Hot Buttered Singles Volume 2”

June 26, 2025 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

Last year, Ace released the first of a two-volume series collecting Isaac Hayes’ single sides for the Stax label and his own Hot Buttered Soul imprint of ABC Records. As Hayes was known for his epic productions, the shorter single edits offered a very different listening experience than the full album tracks. Earlier this year, the second volume arrived, and though Hot Buttered Singles Volume 2: 1972-1976 chronicles a period in which Hayes had less crossover success, it’s nonetheless filled with the kind of grooves that only the writer-composer-singer-producer could have created….

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Formats:

CD, Vinyl

Genres:

Disco/Dance, Funk, R&B/Soul, Soundtracks

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Isaac Hayes

Messin’ with the Kid: Lost Blues Brothers Recordings Accompany New Graphic Novel Featuring the Band

June 24, 2025 by Mike Duquette | 4 Comments

Here’s one that might excite you no matter how many miles to Chicago you are: an unreleased set of recordings by The Blues Brothers is set for release later this year as part of a new illustrated story featuring the beloved characters. The Blues Brothers: The Escape of Joliet Jake, hitting bookshelves October 7, will pick up the story of Jake and Elwood Blues in 1997, when Jake goes missing after a jailbreak. It’s up to a detective and a youth from the same Chicago orphanage the brothers were raised in (with…

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The Weekend Stream Extra: A Guide to ‘MTV Unplugged’ on Paramount+ (Part 5)

June 22, 2025 by Mike Duquette | 1 Comment

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 running a five-part deep-dive on every episode of MTV Unplugged that’s currently streaming on the station’s parent streaming network Paramount+! (Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4 can be read here, here, here and here.) The turn-of-the-millennium shot in the arm afforded to MTV by a big-budget teen-pop explosion and the channel’s eventual 20th anniversary in 2001 – growth not immediately deterred by the explosion…

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Formats:

CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming

Genres:

Latin, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rap/Hip-Hop, Rock

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Alanis Morissette, Alicia Keys, Dashboard Confessional, Jodeci, Korn, Queen Latifah, R.E.M., Redman, Shakira, Shawn Mendes, Staind, The Sugarhill Gang, Wyclef Jean

The Weekend Stream: June 21, 2025

June 21, 2025 by The Second Disc | 3 Comments

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 classic film score gets remixed for a major anniversary; a modern jazz great reunites two-thirds of a classic rock band; and it’s funny how time flies for Tears for Fears. All this, plus morsels of news on potential reissues from Bruce Springsteen and Duran Duran, and two tributes to singers we lost this week. John Williams, JAWS (Original Motion Picture Score – Remastered) (Back Lot Music) (Apple /…

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Genres:

Disco/Dance, Folk, Jazz, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock, Soundtracks

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Andy Summers, Bruce Springsteen, Christian McBride, Duran Duran, Evelyn "Champagne" King, John Williams, Lou Christie, Preston Glass, Sting, Tears for Fears, The New Christy Minstrels, The Police, Yarbrough and Peoples

You Can’t Hip a Square: The Doc Pomus Songwriting Demos

June 15, 2025 by Joe Marchese

You Can’t Hip a Square: The Doc Pomus Songwriting Demos collects more than 160 tracks from the late, legendary songwriter, who died in 1991 at the age of 65 and was subsequently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Blues Hall of Fame. Over 120 of these demos are previously unreleased, while still others are making their CD and digital debuts. Many of these songs are familiar, while others never received an official recording. What they share in common is the impeccable songwriting…

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Formats:

Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming

Genres:

Pop, R&B/Soul

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Stax Revue Live in ’65!

June 15, 2025 by Joe Marchese

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada The 2CD or 2LP Stax Revue: Live in ’65! expands a pivotal pair of concerts undertaken at the 5-4 Ballroom in Los Angeles 60 summers ago when the Memphis label – newly bolstered by a distribution deal with Atlantic Records – took several of its marquee acts to the West Coast (many for the first time) for a spirited club set packed with favorites by William Bell (“You Don’t Miss Your Water”), Rufus Thomas (“Walking the Dog”), his daughter Carla (“Every Ounce of Strength”) plus…

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Formats:

CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

R&B/Soul

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The Weekend Stream Extra: A Guide to ‘MTV Unplugged’ on Paramount+ (Part 4)

June 15, 2025 by Mike Duquette | No Comments

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 running a five-part deep-dive on every episode of MTV Unplugged that’s currently streaming on the station’s parent streaming network Paramount+! (Parts 1, 2 and 3 can be read here, here and here.) The seventh and eighth seasons of MTV Unplugged aired in 1996 and 1997, which were sort of its last years as a regular program. By then, the show locked into a comfortable…

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Formats:

CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming

Genres:

Classic Rock, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock

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Alice in Chains, Babyface, Bryan Adams, Chris Isaak, Hootie and The Blowfish, Jakob Dylan, Jewel, Oasis, Seal, Stevie Wonder, The Wallflowers, Tori Amos

The Weekend Stream: June 14, 2025

June 14, 2025 by The Second Disc | 6 Comments

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 we’ve got it all, from Bakersfield country to Billy Joel on Broadway; actors who sing and singer-songwriters who act in short films; Tony Joe White going disco and Josh Groban’s hits going super-size. You’ll find something to love – we guarantee it! Wynn Stewart, Songs of Wynn Stewart (Capitol Nashville) (Apple / Amazon) After starting his major label career in the mid-’50s on Capitol, country singer/songwriter Wynn Stewart…

Release Round-Up: Week of June 13

June 13, 2025 by The Second Disc | 3 Comments

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. Grateful Dead, Gratest Hits (Grateful Dead/Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Rhino assembles a single-CD or single-LP, nine-song Gratest Hits [sic] from Grateful Dead, marking the band’s 60th anniversary with the original studio versions of such classics as “Truckin’,” “Sugar Magnolia,” and “Touch of Grey.” Read more here. Neil Sedaka, Sedaka’s Back [Expanded Edition] (Neil Sedaka Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Neil Sedaka remasters and reissues the 1974 Rocket Records…

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Release Round-Up

Formats:

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

Genres:

Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock

Tags:

Alice Ripley, Grateful Dead, Metallica, Neil Sedaka, Neil Young, New Kids on the Block, Oasis, Queen, Tom Kitt, Ultravox, Van Morrison

You Can’t Sit Down: Craft Offers Rare Memphis Soul in Concert on ‘Stax Revue: Live in ’65!’

June 12, 2025 by Mike Duquette | 2 Comments

The Southern soul of Stax Records truly knew no boundaries. This summer, a classic instance of its staying power, recorded live in concert, will be revisited on a new 2CD/2LP set. Stax Revue: Live in ’65! expands a pivotal pair of concerts undertaken at the 5-4 Ballroom in Los Angeles 60 summers ago when the Memphis label – newly bolstered by a distribution deal with Atlantic Records – took several of its marquee acts to the West Coast (many for the first time) for a spirited club set packed with favorites by…

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Formats:

CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

R&B/Soul

Tags:

Booker T. & The MG's, Carla Thomas, David Porter, Rufus Thomas, William Bell, Wilson Pickett

In Memoriam: Sly Stone (1943-2025)

June 10, 2025 by Joe Marchese | 4 Comments

“I am everyday people,” boldly proclaimed Sly Stone on Sly and The Family Stone’s 1968 chart-topping single. “I am no better and neither are you/We are the same, whatever we do/You love me, you hate me, you know me and then/You can’t figure out the bag I’m in…” Using straightforward, direct language, a penchant for nonsense words that nonetheless carried weight (ooh-sha-sha, scooby-dooby-dooby, boom-laka-laka-laka), and the funkiest grooves ever to find their way to a vinyl platter, the artist born Sylvester Stewart pointedly commented on the era in which he lived. Leading…

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Sly Stone, Sly and the Family Stone

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Genres:

Classic Rock, Funk, Pop, R&B/Soul

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These Magic Moments: Omnivore Collects Doc Pomus Demos on New Box Set

June 9, 2025 by Joe Marchese | 4 Comments

Over a career spanning five decades, Doc Pomus – born Jerome Solon Felder in 1925 – penned some of the most memorable songs of all time: “Viva Las Vegas.” “Save the Last Dance for Me.” “Lonely Avenue.” “Can’t Get Used to Losing You.” “Sweets for My Sweet.” “This Magic Moment.” “Hushabye.” With hits performed by the likes of Ray Charles, The Drifters, Andy Williams, Dolly Parton, Bobby Darin, and, of course, Elvis Presley, Pomus’ songs transcended genre and era. Bob Dylan dedicated his 2022 book The Philosophy of Modern Song to Pomus,…

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