Intrada (hopefully) kicks off a robust fall for soundtrack collectors with the recent unveiling of two projects from the Universal Studios library released in 1978: one offering a box set of beloved sci-fi TV music, the other presenting a new release of a legendary composer’s first score for a sequel (the predecessor of which earned him an Oscar). Up first is that pretty fracking cool box set: Battlestar Galactica (The Classic Series Soundtrack Collection), an 8CD anthology featuring new presentations of the best of Stu Phillips’ long-unavailable music from the heroic outer space…
Release Round-Up: Week of September 25
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. Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, Freak Out! 60th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition (Zappa/UMe) 5CD/BD: Zappa.com (opens in new tab)/ uDiscoverMusic.com(opens in new tab)(opens in new tab) / Amazon U.S.(opens in new tab) / Amazon U.K.(opens in new tab) / Amazon Canada(opens in new tab) 5LP (Pre-Master Mix & Mono Mix + 60th Anniversary Highlights): Zappa.com(opens in new tab) / uDiscoverMusic.com(opens in new tab) 2LP (Remastered 1966…
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Release Round-Up: Week of September 18
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today…and it’s one of the biggest weeks in recent memory! As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. David Bowie, The Shel Talmy Recordings (Parlophone) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Official Store (180-gram red vinyl) The Shel Talmy Recordings collects 21 recordings the then-unknown David Bowie recorded with producer Talmy (The Who, The Kinks) during 1965, when he was a member of bands The Manish Boys and The Lower Third. Only four of these tracks…
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It’s a Mystery, Charlie Brown (Original Soundtrack Recording – Extended Edition)
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Barnes & Noble (teal) / Urban Outfitters (magenta) / RSD Outlets (white) The 11th animated Peanuts special, first released in 1974, gets a premiere soundtrack release. Longtime composer Vince Guaraldi flirted with a funkier direction than previous releases, performing piano, electric piano, clavinet and even electric guitar on this set of original cues. (There’s a few classic trio-style covers of jazz standards among the bonus tracks!)
The Weekend Stream: September 12, 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 some timely tributes to some recently deceased icons, plus rarities from The Alan Parsons Project and Matt Monro, a host of treasures from 1976, and a very unusual pair of compilations for four disco legends and a beloved San Francisco rock combo. Dolly Parton, The 1962 Mercury Recordings (Mercury Nashville/UMe) (Apple / Amazon) A surprising tribute from a label…
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Reissue Theory: 50 Years of ‘Muppet Show’ Memories (and More!)
Welcome to another installment of The Second Disc’s long-unused column Reissue Theory, where we reflect on well-known albums of the past and the reissues they could someday see. As a classic force of television scores big at the Emmys this year – 50 years after their most significant series first started – it’s time to play the music, light the lights, and dream of a wider availability for the music of Jim Henson’s Muppets! There’s a major diva looming over the 78th annual Primetime Emmy Awards this coming weekend. Hacks, HBO Max’s delightful…
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Release Round-Up: Week of August 28
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. Prince, Timeless (NPG/Legacy) CD: Amazon U.S.(opens in new tab) / Amazon U.K.(opens in new tab) / Amazon Canada(opens in new tab) LP: Amazon U.S.(opens in new tab) / Amazon U.K.(opens in new tab) / Amazon Canada(opens in new tab) / Official Store(opens in new tab) (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…
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The Weekend Stream: August 23, 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’re mostly looking at albums dug up from the crates of 1976, but there’s also some unreleased goodies from Peggy Lee and David Allan Coe, plus plenty more. Peggy Lee, My Guitar à la Lee (Capitol/UMe) (Apple / Amazon) A new digital EP celebrates the 60th anniversary of the late songstress’ 1966 album Guitars à la Lee…sort of! My Guitar…
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Release Round-Up: Week of August 21
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 B-52’s, Ancient Culture: Mesopotamia Revisited (Sire/Rhino) (Amazon U.S.(opens in new tab) / Amazon U.K.(opens in new tab) / Amazon Canada(opens in new tab)) The B-52’s are returning to Mesopotamia. The band has revisited their 1982 David Byrne-produced EP on Ancient Culture: Mesopotamia Revisited, a new and generously expanded 3CD/1LP box set premiering outtakes, alternate mixes, and a previously unreleased concert from the era. The new “Full-Length Version” of Mesopotamia featured on CD and LP in Ancient Culture reassembles the…
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The Weekend Stream: August 15, 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 lot of new singles from some old favorites, from Stephen Bishop to Jimmy Webb – plus even more outtakes from Ween, remixes from Whitney Houston, rare finds for country, comedy, hard rock and soundtrack lovers, and a must-read story about a fan letter to one of our most missed singer/songwriters. Stephen Bishop, “I Don’t Know You Anymore” (Life’s a Bish) (Apple…
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Release Round-Up: Week of August 14
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 Monkees, Made for TV (Rhino) (Amazon U.S.(opens in new tab) / Amazon U.K.(opens in new tab) / Amazon Canada(opens in new tab) / Rhino.com(opens in new tab) / Monkees.com(opens in new tab)) Rhino celebrates Season 1 of The Monkees just in time for its 60th anniversary. This new 2CD/1LP/1Blu-ray multimedia box set brings together all of the music heard on Season 1 of the groundbreaking television series in one deluxe…
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The Weekend Stream: August 8, 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. An unexpected return from a ’90s one-hit wonder, a team-up of two pop queens, and plenty of odds and ends from 1976 will satisfy your Saturday. Various Artists, One Night Only (Music from the Motion Picture) (Back Lot Music) (Apple / Amazon) The new comedy from director Will Gluck (Easy A) involving a meet-cute on the one day non-marital sex is legal…
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John Williams Legacy
Gold 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Official Store (with hand-numbered lithograph) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada John Williams Legacy is a 2LP, CD and digital album featuring Williams’ best-known works in renditions he recorded for the Deutsche Grammophon label, mostly in special concert halls around the world through the 2010s and 2020s. Star Wars, E.T., Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, the Harry Potter film series and even his stirring, still-used theme for the 1984 Summer Olympics will all be represented, taken from three of the five albums he’s recorded for Deutsche Grammophon: 2019’s Across the Stars – a reinvention of his catalogue highlighting solo…
The Weekend Stream: August 1, 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. It’s an alt-rock weekend to start, with a Southern country/rock rarity from the ’80s that’s worth checking out and a pop-punk favorite from the ’00s. And that’s only the start… Velvet Elvis, Velvet Elvis (Expanded Edition) (self-released) (Apple / Amazon) Velvet Elvis combined college rock with country in the late ’80s, tapping producer Mitch Easter of Let’s Active for their second…
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Release Round-Up: Week of July 31
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available this week. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Alice Cooper, The Studio Albums 1975-1978 (Warner/Rhino) 5LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 5CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Rhino celebrates 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…
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They Got It All: John Du Prez’s Score for “Weird Al” Yankovic’s ‘UHF’ to Get Premiere Release
For as long as it’s been since “Weird Al” Yankovic achieved the unlikely feat of topping the Billboard 200 with his 14th album Mandatory Fun in 2014, fans have wondered what’ll inspire him to start making more music. The generationally-beloved parodist indicated at the time that he wasn’t planning on focusing on full-length albums – indeed, he let his longtime contract, starting at Scotti Bros. in 1983 and ending at Sony Music’s RCA Records, lapse – and subsequent works were few and far between. Most notably, he recorded two polka medleys – one of songs from…
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I Get So Emotional: ‘WH1TNEY’ Puts Houston’s Chart-Toppers Together on LP
Whitney Houston’s most enduring contributions to pop music history – her 11 chart-topping singles – will be celebrated on a new LP this summer. The appropriately-titled WH1TNEY, pressed on grape-colored purple vinyl, will bring together every hit that topped the Billboard Hot 100 between 1985 and 1996. From her self-titled debut in 1985, there’s “Saving All My Love,” “How Will I Know” and “Greatest Love of All”; 1987 follow-up Whitney yields “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me),” “Didn’t We Almost Have It All,” “So Emotional” and “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” (these collective album…
The Weekend Stream: July 18, 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 throwbacks to the ’90s and the ’00s, a legend of film music conducting live for America, some deluxe editions of the current top-selling album in the country from a timeless pop icon, and so, so much more! Mariah Carey, Daydream (30th Anniversary Edition) (Columbia/Legacy) (Apple / Amazon) A sweet, sweet fantasy came true for all the Lambs out there: a…
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The Weekend Stream: July 11, 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’re catching up on some stray things we missed ahead of the Fourth of July holiday – so there’s certainly plenty to love! Beyoncé, “Morning Dew (Donk)” (Parkwood/Columbia) (Apple / Amazon) Queen Bey surprised the hive with a surprise release over the Fourth of July weekend: a fleshed-out version of the previously-leaked demo “Donk.” Though the track was believed to stem from…
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Soundtrack Watch: ‘Frankenstein’ from Intrada, Barry and Bond from La-La Land and Quartet, ‘SpongeBob’ and ‘Shrek’ At Varese, and Williams’ Full ‘Disclosure’
Recent weeks have seen some incredible archival soundtrack announcements from many of our favorite labels – as well as a physical release of a new film score we’re quite excited about here. Come take a deep dive with Mike and Randy in our latest Soundtrack Watch! INTRADA 1973’s Frankenstein: The True Story is a two-part British-American television film directed by Jack Smight and loosely adapted from Mary Shelley’s classic novel by Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy. Starring Michael Sarrazin as Frankenstein’s Monster, Leonard Whiting as Victor Frankenstein, David McCallum as Dr. Henry Clerval,…
The Force is with Him: New John Williams Addresses His Film Music ‘Legacy’
John Williams’ place in the canon of film music, Hollywood history and American popular culture is well solidified. The 94-year-old composer just saw the release of Disclosure Day, his 30th soundtrack for director Steven Spielberg – a collaboration that’s yielded three Oscar-winning scores in JAWS, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and Schindler’s List plus memorable themes to classic films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the Indiana Jones film series and Jurassic Park. Next year, his Oscar-winning work on 1977’s Star Wars – a musical odyssey that’s yielded a trio of film trilogies and multiple spin-off streaming shows and theme park…
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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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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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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