Sessions for The Waterboys’ 1988 album Fisherman’s Blues have yielded a new 3CD box set. Atlantic Rain is drawn from a reported 150 hours of recording and 400 multi-track tapes reviewed by the band’s Mike Scott; the resulting box boasts 25 tracks (including covers of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” “When Doves Cry,” “Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground,” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”) and a book containing a 15,000-word essay by Scott plus lyrics and previously unpublished photos. (As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.)
Season of Glass: Expanded Edition
Yoko Ono’s 1981 album Season of Glass – released just seven months after the shocking murder of John Lennon and featuring his blood-stained glasses on its front cover – returns to CD in an expanded edition. Composed by Ono and produced by the singer-songwriter and Phil Spector, Season of Glass was harrowing yet cathartic, an album of enormous anguish but also of hope. It gains two bonus tracks here: the non-LP hit single “Walking on Thin Ice” (recorded by Ono and Lennon just hours before his murder; he was carrying a cassette of…
In Memoriam: Bonnie Tyler (1951-2026)
For more than 50 years, the gravelly voice of Bonnie Tyler was one of pop and rock’s most distinctive. Whether bringing to life the rootsy “It’s a Heartache” or the majestic theatrical drama of “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” Tyler sounded like nobody else. The Welsh singer born Gaynor Hopkins in 1951 died earlier today at the age of 75, following a recent illness that left her hospitalized since May. Bonnie decided to pursue singing as a career after performing in a talent competition in 1969. Though she took second place to an…
Everything’s Heavy Underground: Ben Folds Five to Reissue Debut with ‘Shelved First Attempt’ Bonus Disc
Piano-pounding alternative trio Ben Folds Five will revisit their first album this fall – both versions of their first album. The group’s self-titled debut will be remastered and expanded on September 4, a year after its 30th anniversary mark. This 2CD or 180-gram 2LP release pairs that original album, featuring seminal tracks like “Underground” and “Philosophy,” with a mostly unreleased “Shelved First Attempt” featuring many of the same tracks (and a few others) recorded in an earlier session. Both sets will offer expanded liner notes featuring rare photos and commentary by Folds. It…
Runs In The Family: The Warner Bros./Rykodisc Albums
Runs in the Family, from TSD and Cherry Red’s Lemon Recordings imprint, is the first-ever albums collection from the genre-bending trio of Maggie, Suzzy, and Terre Roche, a.k.a. The Roches. The set features the sisters’ debut The Roches (1979) produced by King Crimson legend Robert Fripp; Nurds (1980) produced by Simon and Garfunkel collaborator Roy Halee; Keep On Doing, also with Fripp (1982); Another World (1985) with productions by Richard Gottehrer (“My Boyfriend’s Back,” “I Want Candy”), Edd Kalehoff (the themes to The Price Is Right, Double Dare), and others; and Can We Go Home Now (1995), helmed by the group…
Release Round-Up: Week of July 3…Plus The Weekend Stream!
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Due to the U.S. holiday, there’s less than usual on offer this week, but our usual large gathering of titles will resume soon! In the meantime, here’s a rundown of some highlights from today’s releases plus a truncated version of The Weekend Stream (on hiatus this weekend). As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. From all of us at TSD HQ to all of you, we wish you and your loved ones a very happy Fourth of July weekend! Grateful Dead, Fillmore Audtitorium, San…
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Give the Kid a Break: Alice Cooper’s Early Solo Material Remastered in New Box Set
On July 31, Rhino will celebrate the early years of shock rock legend Alice Cooper with a new 5CD or 5LP box set. The Studio Albums 1975-1978 begins with 1975’s Welcome to My Nightmare, his first proper solo album, and continues with Alice Cooper Goes to Hell (1976), Lace and Whiskey (1977), and From the Inside (1978). The collection is rounded out with a 7-track collection of bonus material encompassing rarities and unique single versions. (In the vinyl set, this bonus album is cut at 45 RPM.) The band Alice Cooper began…
The Weekend Stream: June 27, 2026
Welcome back to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles making digital debuts, plus new works from legacy acts and even some personally curated favorites. A solo record from a Prince associate gets expanded with rare tracks, another classic Tom Petty track gets a new mix, and new music from Sugar, a Monkee and a killer pop songstress (those are all different songs!) help kick off our latest round-up! Morris Day, Color of Success (Deluxe Edition) (Warner/Rhino) (Apple / Amazon) Rhino offers a dual celebration of Black…
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Release Round-Up: Week of June 26
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles in stores today! As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Metallica, Reload: Deluxe Edition (Blackened Recordings) 15CD/5LP/7″/4DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 3CD (* included on bonus discs): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Cassette: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Metallica’s seventh studio album is their latest to get a massive box set treatment: 29 hours of audiovisual material on 15 CDs, five LPs, a 7″ single and four DVDs. Fans will get a deep dive…
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In Memoriam: Clive Davis (1932-2026)
Today, The Second Disc remembers Clive Davis. Mike kicks things off… It was not entirely hubris that spurred Clive Davis to title his second memoir The Soundtrack of My Life in 2013 (which, in turn, inspired the career-spanning documentary on him to be named The Soundtrack of Our Lives). Here was a man who, with very few peers, was the sort of self-styled “record men” that fueled phases of incredible music industry growth in the back half of the 20th century. Next to perhaps only Berry Gordy, Davis’ label tenures at Columbia, Arista and…
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Gimme A Slice: Cherry Red, Second Disc Collect The Roches’ Warner Bros. and Rykodisc Albums on “Runs In The Family”
The world first heard the voices of Maggie and Terre Roche on Paul Simon’s 1972 LP There Goes Rhymin’ Simon. With youngest sister Suzzy, The Roches soon carved out a remarkable career of their own. Between 1979 and 2007, Maggie, Terre, and Suzzy pushed the boundaries of so-called folk music. The songs of The Roches were personal, funny, heartbreaking, vulnerable, witty, sad, joyful, and utterly original as the sisters bared their hearts and souls in striking harmony. Now, on September 11, Cherry Red’s Lemon Recordings and Second Disc Records will celebrate The…
The Weekend Stream: June 21, 2026
Welcome back to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles making digital debuts, plus new works from legacy acts and even some personally curated favorites. We’ve got a last little Toy Story update, plus an unreleased XTC concert, great late-period Ben Folds Five, some British acts that couldn’t be more different, and plenty of others! Randy Newman/Taylor Swift, Toy Story 5 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (Walt Disney Records) (Apple / Amazon) “I Knew It, I Knew You,” Taylor Swift’s new song from the soundtrack to Disney and Pixar’s…
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Release Round-Up: Week of June 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. Sheena Easton, The Singles: 1980-1987 (Cherry Pop) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Cherry Pop’s Sheena Easton series has a new crown jewel: a 25CD box set chronicling her singles from the EMI years in the ’80s – and yes, this set has unreleased material as well. The Singles 1980-1987 follows two recent boxes following Easton’s EMI recordings in full (not strictly the original albums, but plenty of unreleased and alternate material in the mix)….
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Review: Hank Marvin, “The Studio Album Collection 1982-1995”
Brian Robson Rankin of Newcastle-upon-Tyne moved to London while still a teenager, armed with a guitar and a dream. He adopted the name Hank Marvin, melding his childhood nickname of “Hank” with the first name of American country singer Marvin Rainwater, and put on a pair of glasses inspired by Buddy Holly’s. His school friend Bruce Welch joined him, and before long, the pair had met Cliff Richard’s manager. In 1959, Richard’s band then known as The Drifters became The Shadows, and Richard, Marvin, Welch, and Brian Bennett (who replaced drummer Tony…
I Feel Free: Esoteric Collects Jack Bruce Albums, Concerts on “Halfway to the Stars”
The recording career of the late Jack Bruce (1943-2014) spanned the 1960s through the 2010s, encompassing tenures in the Graham Bond Organisation, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Manfred Mann, West, Bruce and Laing, and, of course, Cream (among other bands). Between 1969 and 2014, Bruce released fourteen solo studio albums as well as numerous live sets, videos, and compilations. Now, Cherry Red’s Esoteric Recordings imprint has recently bundled two studio albums and two live sets from the turn of the (new) century as Halfway to the Stars: The Recordings 2001-2003. The bassist/singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist was known…
Never Get Away from the Sound: Fleetwood Mac Expands Quintet-Era ‘Greatest Hits’ Set
Rhino is revisiting the first compilation of Fleetwood Mac’s “classic” quintet era – a push, it appears, ahead of a long-awaited, as-yet unreleased documentary on the band. 1988’s Greatest Hits will be reissued on July 31 in a new double-disc edition on CD and vinyl. In addition to the plethora of smash hits like “Rhiannon,” “Go Your Own Way,” “Dreams,” “Don’t Stop,” “Tusk,” “Gypsy,” “Little Lies” and “Everywhere” – as well as the then-new tracks “As Long As You Follow” and “No Questions Asked” – the set now includes a bonus disc of…
Timeless
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Official Store (140-gram Purple Marbled Vinyl) Ten years after his tragic passing, a newly-curated release from Prince’s vault offers 10 unreleased tracks spanning his entire recording career – mostly unconsidered, in their respective forms, for any formal versions of his albums. Advance highlights include “With This Tear,” a song Prince gave to Celine Dion early in her English-language singing career, and the ’90s pop/funk “Stone.”
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(the best & the rest of) New Order
4CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada (the best of) 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada (the rest of) 3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Less than a decade from the beloved compilation Substance, New Order issued (the best of) New Order in 1994 that chronicled their ’90s transitions into house and traditional alt-rock music, with a few new mixes to boot. The following year, (the rest of) New Order compiled recent and new remixes of the same material. (the best & the rest of) New Order brings together both collections with a further two discs of rare, new-to-CD and unreleased remixes…
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To Live and Die in L.A. (Deluxe Edition)
Available exclusively through Interscope Records’ online store, Wang Chung’s soundtrack to William Friedkin’s 1985 neo-noir will be pressed on two opaque orange “L.A. sunset” LPs. The first offers a chronological sequence of the music from the film, with two additional tracks: the hit single “Dance Hall Days” and the unreleased “This One’s for You, White Boy.” The second LP offers eight bonus remixes and edits, five of which are previously unreleased. (A futher expanded digital edition is promised, but the long-discussed CD edition seems to be off the table.)
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Thin Lizzy (Deluxe Edition)
3CD/Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 4LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP (green): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Official Store (blue) Though markedly different from the twin-guitar attack they’d be known for later in the decade, Thin Lizzy’s 1971 debut makes for a fascinating listen, taking cues from folk and Celtic rock and introducing the burgeoning mastery of much-missed singer/songwriter/bassist Phil Lynott. This 55th anniversary deluxe box set offers the group’s self-titled debut and the New Day EP in their original forms as well as new stereo remixes by Richard Whittaker, more than a dozen unreleased outtakes and BBC sessions and…
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The Weekend Stream: June 13, 2026
Welcome back to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles making digital debuts, plus new works from legacy acts and even some personally curated favorites. Olivia Rodrigo makes a triumphant return, Blink-182 dip into the CD bin, Taylor Swift and John Williams (separately) flesh out their latest projects, and an unexpected return from one of pop/folk’s living legends sets the mood for our latest rundown. (As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.) Olivia Rodrigo, you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love (Geffen)…
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Release Round-Up: Week of June 12
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. The 5th Dimension, Let the Sunshine In: The Soul City & Bell Albums 1967-1974 (Second Disc/Cherry Red/Strawberry) Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Cherry Red 2026 marks 60 years of The 5th Dimension–and the celebration is kicking off with the first-ever box set dedicated to the legendary “champagne soul” fivesome! Second Disc Records is proud to team with Cherry Red’s Strawberry imprint for Let the Sunshine In: The Soul City &…
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Spill the Wine: WAR’s “Greatest Hits” Returns in Expanded Form
Rhino is revisiting the 1976 collection which reaffirmed WAR’s status as reliable hitmakers. On July 31, the label will reissue WAR’s Greatest Hits on both CD and vinyl. Whereas the 2021 edition entitled Greatest Hits 2.0 added an entire disc’s worth of favorites, this release is more compact. The CD version adds four cuts (including “Spill the Wine”) to the original collection while the LP, part of Rhino’s Spirit of ’76 summer vinyl campaign, replicates the original album track listing. (The campaign encompasses 23 releases from 1976 including Yes’ Live at Roosevelt Stadium.)…
Review: Frank Zappa, “Zappa ’66, Vol. 1: Live at TTG Studios”
Freak Out! Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention’s 1966 debut record on the venerable Verve label introduced an artist for whom no cow was sacred; Zappa spent his entire career successfully pushing the boundaries of popular music and, some might add, of taste. He always had his finger on the pulse of pop culture, unafraid to poke fun at its excesses. Now, with Zappa ’66, Vol. 1: Live at TTG Studios – No. 134 in the Official Release Series – Zappa Records’ recently-relaunched Vaulternative imprint has given fans a real treat:…
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The Weekend Stream: June 6, 2026
Welcome back to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles making digital debuts, plus new works from legacy acts and even some personally curated favorites. A Tom Petty classic gets a new mix, Taylor Swift emerges from the toybox and John Williams returns to the film scoring stage in our latest round-up – plus rarities from Foreigner, Jim Reeves, Reba Rambo and a reissue we think you’ll love more than donuts from the good donut shop, eh? Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, “American Girl (2026…
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