Writer-director Gary Ross' 1998 fantasy Pleasantville transported modern-day high school students and twin siblings David (Tobey Maguire) and Jennifer (Reese Witherspoon) into the 1950s sitcom of the same name, where the pair proves to be the catalyst for the fictional community's shift from buttoned-up black-and-white to provocative color. To compose the score to his high-concept […]
Continue ReadingMore than 30 years after Natalie Merchant took her final bow with 10,000 Maniacs, the band's seminal set for MTV Unplugged will be reissued and expanded this fall. Available September 6 on CD or two LPs, this remastered presentation of the original multiplatinum disc adds three extra songs from the performance featuring another lead singer for […]
Continue ReadingThe Joni Mitchell renaissance continues. Following a triumphant surprise appearance in July 2022 at the Newport Folk Festival, the singer-songwriter returned to the stage for a full-length Joni Jam in June 2023 at Washington's Gorge Amphitheatre; tickets were quickly snapped up by ardent fans who had waited roughly two decades to see Mitchell in concert once […]
Continue ReadingIs it possible for a group like the Four Tops to be underrated? On its face, that question seems ridiculous. The Detroit vocal quartet had two dozen Top 40 hits in America between 1964 and 1988; they're in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame and the R&B Group Hall […]
Continue ReadingPaul Weller, late of The Jam and The Style Council, began his solo career in 1991 with a self-titled album on the Go! Discs label. He remained on the label for three albums, before moving to Island Records for 1997's Heavy Soul and 2000's Heliocentric. Weller would return to Island in 2008, but five years […]
Continue ReadingWelcome 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's got a new single by a comedy icon, some more Duran Duran EPs, a recent Paul McCartney 7" making its way to streaming and so much more. "Weird Al" […]
Continue ReadingWelcome 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. Mungo Jerry, Electronically Tested: Expanded Edition (7a Records) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Mungo Jerry's eclectic 1971 album Electronically Tested, featuring the global hit "In the Summertime," returns […]
Continue ReadingHot on the heels of the recent box set celebrating Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention's 1968 concert at the Whisky a Go Go, Zappa Records and UMe are turning the clocks forward to revisit the composer-guitarist-bandleader's most commercially successful LP. On September 13, the labels will mark the 50th anniversary of Apostrophe ('), […]
Continue ReadingNot long after Neil Finn suggested that Split Enz's catalogue affairs could be shaping up in the year to come, a very welcome CD premiere has been announced by Rubellan Remasters. They'll release the U.S. version of the New Zealand group's fourth album, Frenzy. The Enz recorded Frenzy with the core line-up that appeared on 1977's Dizrythmia: […]
Continue ReadingOoh-la-la! Following a pair of well-received releases for Record Store Day, Rhino is doing a deep-dive into Faces' BBC sessions on an 8-CD/1-Blu-ray box set due September 6. Faces at The BBC - Complete BBC Concert & Session Recordings 1970-1973 compiles all of the storied group's concerts and surviving studio sessions for the BBC in one package […]
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