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
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
Short Takes: McCartney's "III"-Peat, The Rolling Stones' "Live" Racket
Paul McCartney's 2020 "lockdown" - make that "rockdown" - album, McCartney III, was seemingly ubiquitous upon its release with various-color editions on CD, LP, and cassette; Discogs currently shows 57 unique versions of the album. (That's not counting the remix album McCartney III-Imagined or the 2022 box set which bundled III with its two predecessors in the artist's self-titled trilogy.) Now, for its third anniversary, Macca is offering another release with yet more variants. McCartney
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
Release Round-Up: Week of December 15
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today. As the next two Fridays will bring few, if any, new releases, this will be the final Release Round-Up of 2024, but we'll continue to have news and reviews all next week. We'll be back with another Release Round-Up in 2024! As an Amazon associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Happy Holidays to all! Rosanne Cash, The Wheel: 30th Anniversary Edition (RumbleStrip Records) 2CD: Amazon
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Billy Joel, "The Vinyl Collection Vol. 2"
On July 25, 2024, Billy Joel will play his 150th lifetime show at New York's Madison Square Garden. It will be the 104th show of the first-of-its-kind residency which began in 2014. Remarkably yet unsurprisingly, his final ten shows are already sold out. More remarkably - but just as unsurprisingly to anyone who's followed the singer-songwriter over the past 30 years - he's filled the cavernous arena 100+ times over the past decade without introducing a single new song. (His last two pop
The Weekend Stream: December 9, 2023
Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc's review of notable catalogue titles making digital debuts. More Madonna remixes, a trove of rarities from Matt Monro, and two solo albums from an Elton John sideman are all here - plus new EPs from a current Broadway star and a neat new vocal group! Madonna, Love Profusion (The Remixes) (Warner/Rhino) (iTunes / Amazon) A super-sized bundle of mixes to the final single from 2003's American Life is the latest digital archival
Release Round-Up: Week of December 8
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. Dan Hartman, It Hurts to Be in Love (Iconoclassic) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Today, Dan Hartman would have turned 73. Sadly, the singer-songwriter-producer-musician-engineer's life was cut short by an AIDS-related brain tumor on March 22, 1994. He was just 43. The immense musical legacy of the "I Can Dream
I'll Meet You Anytime You Want: Billy Joel's "Live Through the Years" Comes to CD
On January 24, 2024, Billy Joel will take the stage at the Tokyo Dome for his first concert in Japan since 2008. To commemorate the occasion, Sony Japan is revisiting the 2019 digital release Live Through the Years on December 20 in the Blu-Spec CD2 format (playable on all CD players). It's being expanded from 20 tracks to a whopping 32. Of those, 13 are worldwide CD premieres, and six are new to Japanese CD; all have been freshly remastered for this debut physical release. In essence, this is
Let Me Roll It: Paul McCartney's 'Band on the Run' to Be Reissued with New "Underdubbed" Mixes
In 2010 - not even a year after this site was founded! - Paul McCartney announced the arrival of the Paul McCartney Archive Collection, a catalogue project involving his post-Beatles works (as a solo artist and Wings) in partnership with Hear Music/Concord. A baker's dozen of his works, from solo debut McCartney (1970) to the acclaimed Flaming Pie (1997), were given the box set treatment, occasionally baffling fans with omissions, from non-LP B-sides only being digitally available on the Flowers
The Weekend Stream: December 2, 2023
Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc's review of notable catalogue titles making digital debuts. This week's latest includes anniversary projects from Alicia Keys, live vault material from Bruce Springsteen, an oddity from The Alan Parsons Project and possibly the only article where Taylor Swift shares space with Minor Threat! Alicia Keys, The Diary of Alicia Keys 20 (RCA/Legacy) (iTunes / Amazon) Legacy Recordings celebrates two decades of R&B
Release Round-Up: Week of December 1
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. The Sound of Music: Super Deluxe Edition (Craft Recordings) 4CD/Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Craft Store (picnic meadow green) This remarkable new 4CD/1BD box set invites listeners to hear The Sound of
THE SECOND DISC'S 2023 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 around 50 essential selections: sprawling box sets and deluxe vinyl editions, as well as releases on CD from favorite artists that just might make great stocking stuffers. So
The Second Disc's Guide to Black Friday Record Store Day 2023: 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 24
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the titles in stores today. While today is traditionally not a big day for general retail releases, check out our coverage of Record Store Day's Black Friday event for more new releases! We are an Amazon affiliate, and we earn from qualifying purchases. Yes, The Yes Album: Super Deluxe Edition (Rhino/Atlantic) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Rhino.com) Rhino lavishly expands Yes' 1971 third LP, The Yes
The Weekend Stream: November 18, 2023
Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there's plenty of great new/old music to float you into the weekend. Our pre-Thanksgiving feast includes three legendary women of rock, a summit of country icons, and some unexpected live gems from an alternative '80s outfit - plus so much more. Tina Turner, Tina Turns the Country On! / Acid Queen / Rough / Love Explosion (Parlophone) Country: iTunes / Amazon Acid
Master of 'Dance Masters': An Interview with Reissue Producer Wayne A. Dickson
Wayne A. Dickson knows a thing or two about timing. The Scottish DJ, manager and compilation producer, perhaps best known for a staggering discography of soul and disco reissues for Cherry Red's Big Break Records label, recalled a passion for getting a proper collection of 12" mixes by CHIC and related artists on CD. "It was greenlit something like four times over six years, and then the project manager who'd greenlit it would get let go, and the project would die with it," Dickson recalled
Release Round-Up: Week of November 17
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the many titles available today in the final "big week" of the holiday release season. We are an Amazon affiliate and earn on qualifying purchases. We're kicking things off with our two Christmas releases from Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music! While Amazon's orders are unfortunately delayed, both of these titles are shipping now from Real Gone's webstore! Arthur Fiedler and The Boston Pops, The Ultimate Pops
Weekend Stream Extra: Talking Heads, "Stop Making Sense"
With the news that the theatrical re-release of Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense has exceeded the box office gross of the original film, we've given a listen to the recent release of the movie's soundtrack, now streaming everywhere, as we kick off the Weekend (Stream) early! Earlier this fall, the late Jonathan Demme's film of Talking Heads' Stop Making Sense returned to cinemas from buzzy studio A24 (Everything Everywhere All at Once, Priscilla) in a restored print. Variety has just
The Weekend Stream: November 11, 2023
Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there's plenty of great new/old music to float you into the weekend. A very chill weekend shows off the latest in Melissa Manchester's forthcoming new album of favorite classics, a stripped-down Record Store Day rarity from Soul Asylum and another trance treasure from the ZTT vaults. Melissa Manchester, Confide in Me (Green Hill) (iTunes / Amazon) Diana Ross' 1977
Release Round-Up: Week of November 10
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the titles available today! As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. The Beatles, 1962-1966 (Apple/Capitol/UMe) 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada The famous "red" compilation chronicling The Beatles' early years returns in a new, expanded edition featuring extra songs and brand-new stereo mixes by Giles Martin and Sam Okell. "I Saw Her
The Weekend Stream: November 4, 2023
Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there's plenty of great new/old music to float you into the weekend. We're headed into most wonderful time of the year territory with a few holiday rarities, plus more Madonna remixes, rare live tracks from Portishead and a forgotten link between Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship. Teddy Pendergrass, This Christmas (I'd Rather Have Love) (Craft) (iTunes /
Release Round-Up: Week of November 3
Welcome to another packed Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the many titles available today! As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. The Beatles, Now and Then (Apple/Capitol/UMe) Various Formats including CD single: The Beatles Online Store 7-inch clear single: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 7-inch blue single: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 12-inch black vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Target-exclusive red 12-inch
Greatest Hits Watch: New Compilations Coming from Bush, The Blasters and Johnny Marr
Today, we're taking a look at three upcoming greatest hits packages (and one essential related album!) from three very different artists. The Blasters formed in 1979 in Downey, California - home of Richard and Karen Carpenter - and immediately cut a striking figure on the Los Angeles club scene. Brothers Phil and Dave Alvin, drummer Bill Bateman, and bassist John Bazz blended muscular rock appropriate to the punk era with rockabilly, early rock-and-roll, and a rootsy sensibility that sounds
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