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
Stocking Stuffer Spotlight: Freddie Scott, "Other Lives," and International Pop Overthrow
We've covered a lot of box sets this holiday season but today we're taking a look at three more compact - but no less enjoyable! - stocking stuffers! The two titles carried by Amazon are shipping now with delivery before Christmas. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Freddie Scott (1933-2007) had been recording for seven years when his impassioned rendition of Carole King and Gerry Goffin's "Hey Girl" reached the top ten of both the Pop and R&B charts in 1963.
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
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Frank Zappa, "Over-Nite Sensation: 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition"
Had Frank Zappa gone commercial? Surely the artist who proudly embraced the slogan "No Commercial Potential" hadn't sold out to the masses. Yet, with 1973's Over-Nite Sensation, the composer-guitarist-bandleader found himself in a particularly purple patch that resulted in two consecutive Gold albums and four straight top 40 entries on the Billboard 200. The title of Over-Nite Sensation was, of course, sarcastic; the record was Zappa's seventeenth overall and twelfth with The Mothers of
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
Nice to Be Around: Extensive John Williams Box Set Released in France
If you're a Second Disc reader, you're no doubt aware of the immense musical power film composer John Williams has over us (and people like us!). Even a casual fan surely knows his most familiar works for the screen, from Star Wars and Indiana Jones to Jurassic Park and Harry Potter; the films of Steven Spielberg (JAWS, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Schindler's List); themes for everything from Superman to the Olympics. He's picked up five Oscars (53 nominations, second only to Walt Disney), 25
Soundtrack Watch: Intrada, Quartet and Varese's Last Batches for 2023, 'The Naked Gun' Gets Solo Shot
With a few weeks left in the year, film score labels are still working hard to get out some choice archival releases on CD! Here's the latest from Intrada, Quartet Records, Varese Sarabande's CD Club, and a reissue from the folks at Rusted Wave. The estate of James Horner has worked overtime to get a myriad of scores from the late composer out into the market. Two major ones come from Intrada and Quartet, respectively: Intrada delivers a reissue of his third film score, to the sci-fi
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 Music's Too Sweet Not to Dance: Real Gone Collects Andy Williams' "Lost Columbia Masters 1977-1982"
Turn on any radio station playing Christmas music today, or walk into any department store celebrating the season, and chances are you'll soon hear Andy Williams joyfully extolling "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year." But that all-time Christmas classic is just part of the story of the vocalist's extraordinary career - one which encompassed six Grammy nominations, 43 albums (seventeen Gold and three Platinum), 53 Pop chart entries, and ten years as host of his own Emmy-winning television
Heart Food: Intervention Records Revisits, Re-Presses Long Out-of-Print Judee Sill Albums
Q: Who was the first artist to release an LP on David Geffen's Asylum label? A: It wasn't Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, or Eagles - though all three all released albums in the label's first year of 1972. It was Judee Sill. Who is Judee Sill? In her all too short lifetime, the artist released just two albums, both of which revealed an unusual yet mesmerizing voice as a singer and a songwriter. She's recently been celebrated as the subject of the 2022 documentary Lost Angel: The Genius
Holiday Gift Guide Review: John Williams, 'Hook (The Ultimate Edition)'
I. Kindest Personal Regards When critics walked out of screening rooms for Steven Spielberg's Hook, they - not inaccurately - saw a film that possessed the childlike whimsy and rollercoaster thrills the director was a sure hand at ever since JAWS scared its way to the top of the all-time box-office charts. And yet, it was hard not to feel a bit overwhelmed by it all. "Hook is a huge party cake of a movie, with too much frosting," David Ansen opined for Newsweek. "After the first delicious bite,
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
Smell of Incense: Cherry Red's Grapefruit Label Collects The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band's Reprise Recordings
Cherry Red's Grapefruit Records has kept a busy schedule throughout 2023 with a number of artist anthologies and various-artists compilations. We'll be looking at a few of those sets, beginning with today's spotlight on The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band released three albums in 1967 and 1968 on the Reprise Records label, blending straightforward late-'60s L.A. rock with dark, often surreal lyrics and psychedelic soundscapes. All of these
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
Love Will Save the Day: Edsel's "Disco Discharge Presents Box of Sin" Chronicles '80s Gay Club Scene
The Disco Discharge series, dormant for over a decade, has been recently reactivated by Demon Music Group's Edsel label for one of its boldest projects yet. The 5-CD collection Disco Discharge Presents Box of Sin (also available on 4 LPs of highlights) is a journey through the gay club scene of 1980-1989 via 54 full-length or extended tracks from artists both expected and unexpected - including Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Donna Summer, Dreamgirls Sheryl Lee Ralph and Jennifer Holliday,
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
Only Country Music: Garth Brooks Boxes 2014-2020 Albums, Premieres "Time Traveler," On New Box Set
Garth Brooks' first edition of The Limited Series arrived in 1998. The collection of the superstar artist's first six albums became the first-ever box set to debut at No. 1 on two charts, and set a record for the best first-week sales of any box set to that point in the SoundScan era. He followed it with the second Limited Series in 2005. The Walmart/Sam's Club-exclusive set collected his next three albums plus the previously unreleased The Lost Sessions and a DVD of music and interviews.
Heaven In Your Arms: Iconoclassic Brings Dan Hartman's "It Hurts to Be in Love" to CD for First Time
On December 8, 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 About You" hitmaker hasn't been forgotten, though. On his birthday, Iconoclassic Records will bring his 1981 solo album It Hurts to Be in Love to CD for the very first time. This newly remastered, expanded edition adds a pair of rare outtakes from the
Freedom Is More Than a Word: Cherry Red, Grapefruit Collect Complete Recordings of Procol Harum Offshoot Band
Freedom...at last! Grapefruit has recently collected the five albums recorded by Procol Harum offshoot Freedom in one handsome box set. Born Again: The Complete Recordings has the band's album discography plus a handful of bonus tracks for easy, one-stop-shopping. Guitarist Ray Royer and drummer Bobby Harrison were enlisted by Gary Brooker and Keith Reid to join them in the initial lineup of Procol Harum. Royer played on their landmark debut single "A Whiter Shade of Pale," but Harrison was
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
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