"Tall and tan and young and handsome..." Those lyrics to Antonio Carlos Jobim's "The Boy from Ipanema" kicked off a bossa nova boom that saw virtually every noteworthy vocalist and jazz musician of the 1960s recording in the mellow Brazilian style. Frank Sinatra, though, was hardly one to follow a trend for hipness' sake. By 1967, the […]
Continue Reading
Today is Cinco de Mayo, so The Second Disc is going to bring you two of the most unusual Spanish-oriented pop music endeavors in recent memory. These are two deluxe editions with very different sounds, but they're connected not only by record label group but their wacky reinterpretation for Spanish audiences. Viva la musica after the […]
Continue ReadingIt's odd that the work of Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr., known more commonly as The Big Bopper, doesn't get reissued nearly as much as one would think. The Big Bopper was, along with Buddy Holly and Richie Valens, one of the victims of the infamous Feb. 3, 1959 plane crash - "The Day the Music […]
Continue ReadingIt was during a recent, animated conversation about back catalogue affairs that a stunning realization was made. Of all the major companies dealing in music and pop culture, there is one that has a surprisingly subdued place in the world of reissues. Were this company to change their mind about catalogue affairs and start utilizing their vast […]
Continue ReadingThere's some new info to post about Revolutions: The Very Best of Steve Winwood, the upcoming four-disc Steve Winwood box that may or may not be as good as the last Winwood box. This comes from a comment by an admin on Winwood's official Web site. Also, note that the Amazon selling price is a not-terrible $39.98: All […]
Continue Reading
The recent realization that Cherry Pop has been remastering and expanding the Kim Wilde catalogue to considerable reaction (enough to warrant two waves of reissues, at least), it makes you wonder what other female pop acts might get the same treatment someday. If you're an '80s fan and you're wondering the same thing, there's little […]
Continue Reading
It's somewhat ironic that a man so closely associated with the lush, timeless music of Frank Sinatra would find such great fame (or notoriety?) as a composer scoring one of the most over-the-top television series ever. Yet such was the case of Nelson Riddle, who as arranger and conductor was a chief sonic architect of Sinatra's […]
Continue Reading[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teSmRfAtDOU] As a forgiving film fan, I was appalled by the recent news that 20th Century Fox was planning on remaking Commando, the 1985 action flick that became Arnold Schwarzenegger's first star vehicle after The Terminator the previous year. Hollywood's fascination with remakes is too well-known, but surely someone could have drawn a line with […]
Continue Reading
The way culture advances nowadays, it's not surprising to realize you've forgotten certain ways you might have thought or felt about a musician in particular. For instance, when singer Bret Michaels was rushed to the hospital last week after suffering a massive brain hemorrhage, I'm sure many people (especially younger ones with less perspective) immediately […]
Continue Reading
“Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow.” “(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman.” “Up on the Roof.” “You’ve Got a Friend.” All of these songs have found a permanent home as part of The Great American Songbook, and all come from the pen of one Carole King. Her repertoire as both singer and songwriter is celebrated with this […]
Continue Reading