“No one mourns the wicked,” goes the opening song of Winnie Holzman and Stephen Schwartz’s musical Wicked. But the musical, which last night celebrated its tenth anniversary on Broadway, won’t have any need for mourners any time soon. “The Untold Tale of the Witches of Oz” is still going strong as it enters its tenth year and shows no signs of slowing down! Its fresh new perspective on The Wizard of Oz and intricate backstory of both The Land of Oz and the titular Witch has led Wicked to play
Merry Christmas, Baby! "A Very Special Christmas" Reissued with New DVD at Target Stores
If you can get over the shock of a good amount of holiday CDs available on the shelves at Target, you'll find a surprise new exclusive: a reissue of the classic 1987 compilation A Very Special Christmas with a brand new DVD about the long-running holiday benefit series. Produced by acclaimed engineer-turned-label impresario Jimmy Iovine, A Very Special Christmas featured the brightest stars in pop music, from Springsteen to Madonna, recording new versions of classic carols (plus one modern
The Best That He Could Do: John Mellencamp Collects Albums for New Box
While the 1980s have become synonymous with pop/rock music that allegedly valued image, craft and style above the emotional rush of the music itself, one of the decade's most popular entertainers had an image as rough-hewn and rugged as they could come: John Mellencamp. The Indiana-bred musician earned his keep making tuneful rock steeped in the traditions of the genre as well as the vision of the average, working-class middle American. And with a list of hits that includes "Jack and Diane,"
Review: Humble Pie, "Performance - Rockin' the Fillmore: The Complete Recordings"
Today, 105 Second Avenue in New York City looks inconspicuous enough, housing a branch of a savings bank. But for just over three years, between March 1968 and June 1971, that address was home to Bill Graham’s Fillmore East. The grandiose 2,830-capacity venue built in 1925 as a Yiddish theatre was sadly demolished around 1996, having survived transformations into The New Fillmore East and the landmark gay disco The Saint. Though the building no longer exists, with the bank occupying its
Pogues Box Up Complete Albums, Unreleased Live Show for "30 Years"
Celtic rockers The Pogues are releasing a new box set that collects all of their studio albums - two newly-remixed just for this release - and an unreleased live album with a very special frontman. Led by unforgettable frontman Shane Macgowan, The Pogues deftly combined the raucous traditions of traditional Celtic folk songs and sharp-edged punk rock, gaining a considerable live following when opening for The Clash on one of their last tours. A contract with Stiff Records followed, yielding Red
Omnivore Unveils Colorful Black Friday Slate with Van Zandt, Clark, Kovacs
Here at Second Disc HQ, we know that we can count on Omnivore Recordings for some of the most colorful and fun releases for Record Store Day's Back to Black Friday shopping event! On the day after Thanksgiving, you might find yourself at your local indie record store to pick up one of Omnivore's three Black Friday collectibles. As usual, it's a diverse trio, with releases from two late troubadours - Townes Van Zandt and Gene Clark - and one legendary late comedian, Ernie Kovacs. This past
Cherry Red, RPM Are "Looking Good" On New Girl Group Box
What is “femme mod soul,” you might ask? Cherry Red’s RPM imprint has the answer with a new 3-CD box set, Looking Good: 75 Femme Mod Soul Nuggets. This set aims to chronicle the girl group sound “from and for the underground.” As Lois Wilson points out in an introductory essay, the box doesn’t paint a full picture of the girl group era. Not only have there been countless compilations on the theme, but Rhino’s four-CD box set One Kiss Can Lead to Another: Girl Group Sounds Lost and Found
Release Round-Up: Week of October 29
Bananarama, Deep Sea Skiving / Bananarama / True Confessions / Wow! / Pop Life / Please Yourself: Deluxe Editions (Edsel) The pop trio's London discography gets the royal treatment with these 2CD/1DVD expanded editions featuring loads of rare and unreleased bonus tracks. Deep Sea Skiving: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Bananarama: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. True Confessions: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Wow!: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Pop Life: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Please Yourself: Amazon U.S. /
Review: Van Morrison, "Moondance: Deluxe Edition"
Over forty years after Van Morrison first declared it a “marvelous night for a moondance,” the Irish troubadour’s seminal 1970 album has become even more marvelous, ‘neath the cover of October skies. Warner Bros. Records has afforded Moondance the deluxe treatment, adding three CDs of session material and one Blu-ray with high-resolution stereo and surround mixes to the original 10-song album. With this truly immersive listening experience, Morrison’s third proper solo album takes its place
"Taxi" Driver Bob James' Funky Fusion Celebrated On New 2-CD Anthology
Every day, somewhere in the world, someone is watching Taxi – and hearing the catchy yet wistful theme song composed by Bob James. The television comedy, created by Mary Tyler Moore Show alumni James L. Brooks, Stan Daniels, David Davis and Ed. Weinberger, ran from 1978 to 1983 and netted eighteen Emmy Awards. But the original music of Taxi is just one of the many credits of jazz great Bob James. His spellbinding ouevre has just been compiled by the Decision Records label in association with
In Memoriam: Lou Reed (1942-2013)
Tough, uncompromising and honest – the music of singer, songwriter and guitarist Lou Reed might have been the very quintessence of New York rock and roll. Since first making a splash with 1967’s The Velvet Underground and Nico, Reed, who has died unexpectedly at the age of 71, doggedly pursued his own personal muse. Even as he synthesized numerous influences like doo-wop, jazz, R&B and Tin Pan Alley pop into his own ultimately influential rock style, he always stayed true to his roots as a
Review: Belinda Carlisle Deluxe Remasters From Edsel (1987-1993)
As lead singer of California rock group The Go-Go's, Belinda Carlisle conclusively proved that she, indeed, had the beat. In her solo career, she applied her powerfully soaring pipes - one minute honeyed, the next smoky - to some of the most iconic pop songs of the era. Edsel has recently repackaged Carlisle's second through fifth albums as truly deluxe, hardbound 2-CD/1-DVD editions, and they're a nostalgic trip back to the days when power ballads ruled the radio and one singer stood at the
Lose Yourself to Dance: Daft Punk's New Album Reissued as Mega Box Set
French dance duo Daft Punk is up all night to get lucky (and to reward deep-pocketed fans) with a lush deluxe box set version of their brilliant newest album, 2013's Random Access Memories. Though Random Access Memories doesn't entirely fit the catalogue description that usually guides discussion here at The Second Disc, you might not know that when you hear it. Guy Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter, known for their quirky, catchy dance tracks and identity-clouding robot costumes,
Say It Loud, Say It Clear: New Mike + The Mechanics Compilation Stacks Hits and Rarities (UPDATED 10/24)
UPDATE (10/24/2013): This set has been pushed back to January 20, 2014 (and duly retitled) to better coincide with some more Mike + The Mechanics events in the coming year, including a U.K. tour in the winter of 2014, a forthcoming memoir from Rutherford and a planned reissue of The Living Years for its 25th anniversary. Original post (9/12/2013):Although Phil Collins was the one member of Genesis it was impossible to escape during the '80s, thanks to an increasingly popular solo career and
Beyond "Baby Blue": Edsel Collects Badfinger Albums, BBC Sessions
An estimated ten million people watched the September 29 series finale of AMC’s Breaking Bad, with a memorable final scene set to Badfinger’s “Baby Blue.” By the following morning, the Pete Ham song produced by Todd Rundgren for the 1971 Apple Records release Straight Up had been downloaded more than 5,000 times – boosting its sales by some 3,000 percent! “Baby Blue” remained in the iTunes Top 20 for next two days. It also racked up roughly 30,000 downloads over the following week,
Back to "The Labyrinth": Sting's Lute Album Revisited with Live Tracks
It's likely the first time in history a "450th anniversary edition" of an album will ever be released! Universal is repackaging Sting's esoteric 2006 outing Songs from the Labyrinth to commemorate the anniversary of the birth of the 16th century English composer to which Sting paid tribute on the album. Even for a fellow as intensely...Sting-like as the man born Gordon Sumner, you could be forgiven for seeing Songs from the Labyrinth as a tough sell. Working solely with Bosnian lutenist Edin
Sweet Blues: Guitar Legend Mike Bloomfield Celebrated On New Box, Bob Dylan Tracks Debut on Set
The time was 1965, the place was Columbia Records' studios on Seventh Avenue in New York City between 52nd and 53rd Streets, the occasion was the recording of Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited. Al Kooper - he of the famed organ riff that propelled "Like a Rolling Stone" - recalled, "Suddenly Dylan exploded through the doorway with this bizarre-looking guy carrying a Fender Telecaster guitar without a case. It was weird, because it was storming outside and the guitar was all wet from the rain. But
All These Things: "Classified," From New Orleans Piano Great James Booker, Is Remixed, Remastered and Expanded
When it comes to New Orleans, there’s something about a piano. The Louisiana city has been home to some of the most famous players of that 88-keyed instrument: think Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, Jelly Roll Morton, Professor Longhair, Harry Connick, Jr. or Fats Domino. But ask Dr. John or Connick to single out one N’awlins piano influence, and either might be likely to name one James Booker. The good Doctor – a.k.a. Mac Rebennack – described Booker as “the best black, gay, one-eyed junkie piano
Waterboys Reel In "Fisherman's Blues" Box for October, November
In their heyday as one of Europe's premiere post-punk bands, there were three words associated with The Waterboys: "the big music." The Scottish-Irish-English band, led and anchored by singer/songwriter Mike Scott, hit it big on the other side of the Atlantic with emotionally resonant rock, awash in ringing guitars and evocative lyrics. Leave it to someone like Scott to break the mold with the band's fourth album, Fisherman's Blues - which is the subject of an exhaustive box set released
I Hear A Knockin': Legacy Explores "The Spiritual Side of Wynton Marsalis"
Though he’s just 52 years of age, there’s precious little that Wynton Marsalis hasn’t accomplished in music. The New Orleans-born trumpeter has won nine Grammy Awards and a Pulitzer Prize, performed with the likes of Sarah Vaughan, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins and Herbie Hancock, not to mention Eric Clapton and Crosby, Stills and Nash. He’s tirelessly promoted jazz to young audiences, and programmed the esteemed hall of Jazz at Lincoln Center, where he currently resides as Artistic
Neil Young Opens The "Cellar Door" With Vintage 1970 Concerts
No, there’s still not a date on the calendar for the much-talked-about release of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s 1974 concert tapes last scheduled for August 27 and currently anticipating release next year. (Or so it’s been reported.) But Neil Young has a solo live release scheduled for December 10 that should whet appetites for that CSNY project and excite fans and collectors in its own right, too. Young’s camp has confirmed Live at the Cellar Door, the latest installment of Young's
Release Round-Up: Week of October 22
Tears for Fears, The Hurting: Deluxe Edition (Mercury/UMe) The landmark debut album from the U.K. hitmakers celebrates its 30th anniversary with a new double-disc deluxe edition stocked with rare single-only material and a deluxe box set version with a bonus disc of John Peel sessions and the In My Mind's Eye live concert film on DVD. 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 3CD/1DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Van Morrison, Moondance: Expanded Edition (Warner Bros./Rhino) Though Van would rather you
Kritzerland Can't "Wait" For Two Dave Grusin Premieres; "Moon" Swings With Billy May, Too!
For more than fifty years, Robert David Grusin – or Dave Grusin, as he’s better known – has been making music to the tune of multiple Grammys and an Oscar, not to mention Golden Globes and various other honors. Grusin has successfully scored for motion pictures and kept a busy profile in pop, soul and jazz, co-founding GRP Records and encouraging compact disc technology at the dawn of the era. The Kritzerland label has visited the Grusin well before with releases of his scores to films as
Virgin Records Celebrates "40 Years of Disruptions" with New Compilation, Picture Discs
Virgin Records, one of England's most iconic labels, turns 40 this year - and they're celebrating with a new compilation full of hits from their storied existence. The Virgin label was largely the brainchild of one young businessman named Richard Branson. The London-born Branson began his career selling records by mail order and later opening a shop on Oxford Street. The Virgin label was blessed with early success thanks to a willingness to sign acts that major U.K. labels were keen to dismiss.
"Smile": Laura Nyro's 1976 Album Returns To CD From Iconoclassic
Iconoclassic Records is giving fans of the late Laura Nyro a reason to Smile with tomorrow’s expanded reissue of the singer-songwriter’s 1976 album of the same name. Smile marked Nyro’s return to music after a four-year hiatus following her Gamble and Huff-produced Philly soul gem Gonna Take a Miracle. This reissue – which appends three bonus tracks receiving their first domestic release – is the latest in Iconoclassic’s impressive series which also includes reissues of Season of Lights (1977),
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