Meat Loaf’s new studio album reunites him with Jim Steinman, the musical maestro behind Bat Out of Hell I & II. Braver Than We Are features new renditions of Steinman songs never previously recorded by Meat Loaf including tracks from his musicals Tanz der Vampire, The Dream Engine, Rhinegold and More Than You Deserve. Ellen Foley and Karla DeVito guest on the album. Aside from the standard CD, Amazon is listing an exclusive autographed 2-LP vinyl and an exclusive CD/DVD version with the DVD containing a making-of featurette. Retailer exclusives are also promised…
At The Groovy Cellar: RPM Reveals “Another Splash of Colour: New Psychedelia in Britain 1980-1985”
Mention psychedelia and chances are you’re transported to a certain patchouli-scented period in the late 1960s, a hazy period of high times and boundary-breaking musical creativity. The spirit of psychedelia didn’t die with the advent of glam, hard rock or disco, however, though it may have been submerged for a time. In 1981, the 13-track album A Splash of Colour chronicled Great Britain’s “New Psychedelia” with ’60s-influenced cuts from The Mood Six, Miles Over Matter, The High Tide, The Marble Staircase and others. Cherry Red’s RPM label has recently reworked and reconfigured…
Release Round-Up: Week of June 17
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Chicago, Quadio (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. TBD / Amazon Canada) This week’s biggest and most hotly-anticipated release, Chicago’s Quadio, brings together nine albums from the legendary band in remastered high-resolution 192/24 DTS-HD Master Audio in both their original quadraphonic and stereo mixes on nine Blu-ray discs. This lavish celebration of the Windy City’s favorite band is housed in a rigid two-piece box, with every album presented in a replica sleeve promised to “replicate the original release down to the last detail, including mini-posters, and the iron-on that…
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Going All The Way Is Just The Start: Meat Loaf to Reunite with Jim Steinman on New Album
Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman have been inextricably linked since the beginning of their careers with the release of the classic Bat Out of Hell in 1977. The rock heroes have gone their separate ways in the four decades since that album’s release but they always seem to come back together and they are doing it once again. A new Meat Loaf album entitled Braver Than We Are has just shown up on Amazon for release on September 16 with the subtitle reading “All Songs By Jim Steinman.” This album will mark Meat Loaf’s…
The Big Rock: Expanded Edition
Omnivore expands The Kingbees’ 1981 RSO swansong with four bonus tracks appearing for the first time on CD! The Big Rock, celebrating its 35th anniversary, features The Kingbees’ trademark blend of rock-and-roll, punk and country in full force. After the original release of the album in 1981, The Kingbees disbanded. Shortly thereafter, Jamie James recorded four new songs with a brand new rhythm section. Those songs comprise the bonus tracks for this expanded edition. James also supplies his own recollections in the liner notes! Available on CD and DD.
Randy Scouse Git: Micky Dolenz Teams with Christian Nesmith, Circe Link on 7a’s New EP
Is there any doubt that 2016 truly is The Year of The Monkees? Following its acclaimed releases earlier this year of Micky Dolenz’s “Chance of a Lifetime” single and An Evening with Peter Noone and Micky Dolenz, 7a Records is continuing its relationship with Monkee Micky for a new vinyl release. Micky has teamed with his bandmate Michael’s son Christian Nesmith and Christian’s partner in music and life, Circe Link, for a brand-new EP! On June 24, 7a will release a translucent, purple-colored vinyl EP with four tracks recorded by the trio…
They Care a Lot: Faith No More to Expand Debut Album
Alt-metal icons Faith No More are visiting their earliest material with a deluxe edition of debut album We Care a Lot this summer. Released in 1985, the low-budget We Care a Lot was the band’s first recording as Faith No More; bassist Billy Gould and drummer Mike Bordin had played together as Sharp Young Men in the late ’70s and early ’80s, changing their name to Faith No Man in 1983 and recruiting keyboardist Roddy Bottum shortly thereafter. This trio would leave Faith No Man for their own Faith No More, with…
A Decade of Dio 1983-1993
A Decade of Dio 1983-1993 collects all six studio albums released by Warner Bros. and Reprise in the first decade of the band Dio’s soaring career. Formed by Ronnie James Dio and drummer Vinny Appice after their split from Black Sabbath in 1982, the group first gained prominence with the title track of debut Holy Diver, a staple of MTV and a recurring metal cult classic. Decade features new remasters of all this material (the latter two albums receiving their first digital remaster) on six CDs with new box artwork by Marc Sasso,…
Reason To Believe: New Springsteen Live Archive Release from 1990 Features Two Acoustic Shows
For most of last year, Bruce Springsteen released archival concerts about once every month and a half. That pace has slowed this year. Perhaps this is due to Springsteen and the E Street Band’s current The River tour, where each new show is soon ready for purchase shortly after its performance. But a new archival concert has just become available as we hit nearly the halfway point of 2016. This release, from November 16 and 17, 1990 and is a slightly more low-key affair than some of the others in the archival series. It features a solo…
Lock Up the Wolves: Rhino Plans “Decade of Dio” CD and Vinyl Box
A new box set from Rhino Records celebrates the life and work of the late metal legend Ronnie James Dio with the band that bore his last name. A Decade of Dio 1983-1993 collects all six studio albums released by Warner Bros. and Reprise in the first decade of the band Dio’s soaring career. Formed by Ronnie James Dio and drummer Vinny Appice after their split from Black Sabbath in 1982, the group first gained prominence with the title track of debut Holy Diver, a staple of MTV and a recurring metal…
Playing Favorites
10,000 Maniacs lives up to the title of this new release: Playing Favorites. This hometown show from Jamestown, New York features 14 tracks, including hits and fan favorites from throughout the group’s career. Current band members Jerome Augustyniak, Dennis Drew, Jeff Erickson, Steven Gustafson, John Lombardo and Mary Ramsey are joined by strings, horns, and backing vocalists on such songs as “More Than This,” “Because the Night,” “What’s the Matter Here?” and “These Are Days.” Available on CD and DD.
Laura Nyro, David Bromberg, Ann Wilson Headline Rounder’s June Reissue Campaign
The venerable Rounder Records label, currently enjoying its 45th anniversary, has long been a leading light in the realm of roots music and Americana. But those terms need not be applied solely to one type of music. This month, as part of its ongoing digital catalogue initiative, Rounder is reissuing a number of titles blurring the genre lines of roots-rock and Americana. Some of the familiar names represented in this go-round include Ann Wilson of Heart, Laura Nyro, David Bromberg, Martha Wainwright, and Tiny Tim. So if you’re ready to get into…
Ramones: 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition
This 3-CD/1-LP box set marking the 40th anniversary of the New York punk classic features: – The original remastered album – A new mono mix, recreated by producer Leon and available on both CD and 180-gram LP. (“All the original monitor mixes and early mixes we did in the studio were mono,” he told Observerearlier this year, “so I recreated the mono mix out of my original notes, which luckily were quite meticulous.”) – A disc of 18 single mixes, outtakes and demos, eight of which are previously unreleased – Two fast-paced…
Release Round-Up: Week of May 27
Hey! Hey! Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! The Monkees, Good Times (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Good Times sure lives up to its name, and then some! Here’s a new Monkees album featuring Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, Mike Nesmith and the late Davy Jones, produced by Fountains of Wayne’s Adam Schlesinger and featuring a slew of exciting new songs by Schlesinger, Noel Gallagher, Rivers Cuomo, Ben Gibbard, and Andy Partridge alongside newly-completed recordings of tunes by Neil Diamond, Carole King, Jeff Barry and the late Harry Nilsson (who duets…
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La-La Means I Love You: The Delfonics, Survivor, Brook Benton and Sea Level Join Eddy Arnold On Real Gone’s July Slate
Yesterday we told you about Second Disc Records’ and Real Gone Music’s July 1 release of Eddy Arnold’s Chet Atkins and Lee Hazlewood albums from 1970 and now we’ve got the news of the rest of Real Gone’s line-up for right before Independence Day. First up is a compilation featuring notes by our very own Joe Marchese: 40 Classic Soul Sides from The Delfonics. When Stan Watson introduced a group (including brothers William and Wilbert Hart and Randy Cain) he was managing to a young Thom Bell at Cameo in the late 1960s, magic…
Blonder and Blonder
The Muffs’ 1995 Blonder and Blonder featured 14 Kim Shattuck-penned originals, including the hit single “Sad Tomorrow.” With Shattuck, Ronnie Barnett and new drummer Roy McDonald comprising the line-up, the Rob Cavallo-produced Blonder became the band’s biggest selling album. Omnivore adds seven bonus tracks (2 U.K. B-sides, and 5 previously unissued Shattuck demos) on CD and also presents the original LP on vinyl for the first time in over two decades (first pressing on baby blue vinyl, with black to follow). The reissue includes photos, drawings, memorabilia, and essays from Barnett and McDonald, as well as track-by-track…
Blitzkrieg Bop! Ramones’ Debut Expanded for 40th Anniversary
It was unlike anything audiences had heard or seen: four leather jacket-clad, shaggy-haired ne’er do wells from Forest Hills, Queens, offering loud bursts of sneering rock and roll as grimy as the streets they stumbled across. Almost no one knew it then, but this was a musical movement, as potent as Elvis Presley’s first swivel or the first haze over Woodstock. Four decades later, Rhino Records celebrates the incredible legacy of the self-titled debut album by the Ramones with a 3CD/1LP box set, due this summer. The Ramones–lead singer Joey, guitarist Johnny,…
Release Round-Up: Week of May 20
Welcome to this week’s packed Release Round-Up! David Bowie, ChangesOneBowie (Parlophone/Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) ChangesOneBowie returns from Parlophone in a 40th anniversary edition available on vinyl, CD and digital formats. Originally issued on RCA in May 20, 1976, ChangesOneBowie was the first key compilation album from superstar David Bowie. Collecting songs dating back to 1969, the 11-track album introduced the single “John, I’m Only Dancing” on LP alongside highlights from his remarkable string of releases: David Bowie(“Space Oddity”), Hunky Dory (“Changes”), The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and…
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This is My Happy Hour: Perth Punks The Scientists Anthologized in New Numero Box
Punk rock’s coming up from down under on the newest box set from The Numero Group, dedicated to Australian punk pioneers The Scientists. Born in Perth in 1978, The Scientists, fronted by teen singer/guitarist Kim Salmon, were Australia’s answer to The Stooges or The Velvet Underground, offering snotty rebellion and jagged, melodic riffs in their music. Moving from Oz to England, the group found several of their releases on Au Go Go Records, including the EP This Heart Doesn’t Run on Blood, This Heart Doesn’t Run on Love and subsequent album You…
Walk On The Wild Side: Lou Reed’s “RCA and Arista Album Collection” Arrives in October
Lou Reed’s last project is finally seeing release this fall…and it may well be the last word on a major chunk of the late, influential singer-songwriter’s career. Rolling Stone reports that The RCA and Arista Album Collection is due on October 7 from Legacy Recordings. This set spans sixteen albums and seventeen compact discs encompassing Reed’s solo output from 1972-1986 – including such key LPs as the David Bowie-produced Transformer, Berlin and the controversial Metal Machine Music. The box set contains the following albums, all of which were remastered for this project under the…
Night Games: Graham Bonnet’s “Line-Up” Is Expanded By Cherry Red’s HNE Label
Graham Bonnet rose to prominence filling the large shoes of Ronnie James Dio when he replaced Dio in Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow. Bonnet only recorded one album with Rainbow, but with two U.K. Top 10 singles and a Top 10 placement on the LP chart too, Down to Earth was an unqualified success. Following his time with Blackmore’s band, Bonnet resumed his solo career with 1981’s Line-Up. Cherry Red’s hard rock-oriented Hear No Evil label has recently reissued Line-Up with four bonus tracks as well as earlier albums Graham Bonnet and No Bad Habits (as…
Release Round-Up: Week of May 6
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up featuring Second Disc Records’ very first title of 2016, plus more fantastic releases from our partners at Real Gone Music and titles from Brian Wilson, The Cars, and more! Bobby Darin, Another Song on My Mind: The Motown Years (Second Disc/Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) We know that you all know about this one…it’s the ultimate celebration of Bobby Darin’s time at Motown Records on 2 CDs, newly remastered from the original analog tapes by Kevin Reeves and featuring my liner notes based on new interviews…
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Even The Nights Are Better: Real Gone’s June Slate Features Petula Clark, Air Supply, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Fairport Convention, More
With spring having just begun, it might be hard to believe that summer is going to be here before we know it. But the year marches on and Real Gone Music is kicking off the summer with its June 3rd slate of titles. As per usual with the label, there are a wide variety of genres being represented, including one that Real Gone has never dipped into before. We’ll begin with the two titles that feature liner notes by our very own Joe Marchese. The first is a collection from sixties British hit-maker…
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Heartbreaker [2-CD/DVD Deluxe Edition]
Ryan Adams’ debut solo album from 2000 is expanded with unreleased outtakes, pre-album demos, exclusive photos, and a never-before-released DVD of a solo acoustic club show from 2000.
In Memoriam: Prince (1958-2016)
The Second Disc joins the world in mourning the unexpected loss of Prince, a true American original. Please welcome our founder, Mike Duquette, in sharing his memories of this visionary artist. First U Have 2 Purify Yourself I’m 16 years old in the Menlo Park Mall in Edison, New Jersey. It’s 2004, and the Sam Goody is liquidating. Sometimes, at such an age, you do things that don’t make sense to yourself, or to anyone else. You remember the reasons you give, and maybe you don’t question them until later. This was…
