John Luongo is a good liar. Well, maybe he's good at being tongue-in-cheek. "I'm bashful," he says at the start of our interview back in October. "You're gonna have to really drag these things outta me, 'cause I'm a little shy!" What follows is about 100 minutes of captivating stories and thoughtful, enthusiastic lessons from one of the most notable names in dance music. The Boston-born DJ and mix engineer made a name for himself transforming dozens of soul and pop tracks for disco 12"
I've Been in Love Before: Cutting Crew's Albums Get Box Set Treatment from Cherry Pop
Second Disc HQ is always fascinated by British acts - and there were a few of these in the '80s - whose commercial success is far greater outside their home country. Cutting Crew, the rock combo led by singer/songwriter Nick Van Eede, were a classic example of this phenomenon, scoring a U.S. chart-topper with the emotional "(I Just) Died in Your Arms" and the Top 10 ballad "I've Been in Love Before"; next month, Cherry Red will expand the group's first three albums in a new 3CD package. All
Death Warmed Up: Esoteric Collects Proto-Metal Band High Tide's "Complete Liberty Recordings"
Cherry Red's Esoteric Recordings imprint has recently celebrated the recordings of prog-rock band High Tide on a lavish new 3-CD box set. The Complete Liberty Recordings brings together the short-lived group's two albums and adds a bonus disc of demos and studio sessions recorded in 1969-1970. As with so many bands of the era, High Tide refused to be boxed into one specific genre, melding a hard rock sound with psychedelic, progressive, folk, and classical flourishes. Tony Hill
The Morning Lasted All Day: The Dream Academy Get Comprehensive Box Set from Cherry Red
There was no Top 10 hit in 1985 quite like "Life in a Northern Town," a gentle-then-thundering folk-pop tune by British trio The Dream Academy. The gentle tribute to Nick Drake, counterpointed by an African-inspired, nearly wordless chorus, hit No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 15 in their native U.K. - but there was much more to their story. Cherry Red will tell that story - with input from the band's frontman, Nick Laird-Clowes - in a new deluxe box set to be released in
Freak Out in a Moonage Daydream: Early Version of Bowie's 'Ziggy Stardust' Announced for Record Store Day
On what would have been the 77th birthday of the incomparable David Bowie, his estate has announced a new catalogue title due out for Record Store Day, featuring an early track list for 1972's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars. Waiting in the Sky (Before the Starman Came to Earth) takes its title from "Starman," the U.K. Top 10 hit that helped propel Bowie from art-folk wonder to glam icon for a new decade. But when this line-up for the album was assembled onto a
Find Your Note: Light in the Attic Reissues Lou Reed's Penultimate Studio Album
Following the 2022 debut of The Lou Reed Archive Series with Words and Music - 1965, a collection of the late singer-songwriter-legend's earliest recordings, the Light in the Attic label is looking to one of his final works. On Friday, January 17, LITA will reissue 2007's Hudson River Wind Meditations, Reed's twentieth and final solo record. (The Metallica collaboration Songs for Lulu followed in 2011 and became Reed's last-ever full-length studio set.) An album of meditative music, Hudson
Dear Little Buttercup: Rhino's "Start Your Ear Off Right" Features America, The Doors, Grateful Dead, "Three Amigos," More
Rhino is once again inaugurating the new year with a Start Your Ear Off Right campaign, launching this Friday in brick-and-mortar independent record stores (and if the past is any indication, at Barnes and Noble locations across the United States). The vinyl-only slate, which is spread out over the next four release weeks, concentrates on classic rockers (The Doors, Foghat, America, Grateful Dead, Velvet Underground, Black Sabbath, Stevie Nicks, Yes) with a healthy dose of R&B legends (Ray
L.O.V.E.: Decca Celebrates Bert Kaempfert Centennial on New Box Set
Bert Kaempfert (1923-1980) may best be remembered today for his brief association with The Beatles or as the composer of "Strangers in the Night," "L.O.V.E.," and "Spanish Eyes." Kaempfert, who died in 1980, would have turned 100 last October. Decca is celebrating his life, legacy, and centennial year with a major new 24-CD box set coming on January 19. The Bert Kaempfert Decca Collection collects 24 of the German composer-bandleader's American LPs originally released in the 1960s and
All-Time High: La-La Land Surprise Expands a Pair of James Bond Scores
Having delivered a typically stunning last batch of archival film score reissues last November, La-La Land Records is wasting no time at all kicking off 2024 with a bang. On Christmas Eve, they surprise-announced two pre-orders of expanded editions of soundtracks to two James Bond films from the '70s and '80s. La-La Land has long been the home of definitive presentations of 007 on CD, having licensed deluxe 2CD sets of three scores fan favorite composer David Arnold composed for Pierce
We Wish You (Another) Merry Discmas!
The stockings are hung, the presents are wrapped, and the time is now to wish all of our readers at The Second Disc a wonderful holiday season before we enter a brief winter hibernation until the new year! 2023 was our 13th year as (we hope!) one of the more fun destinations for music reissues, box sets and catalogue releases. The business has certainly changed a lot in that time - maybe too much vinyl, maybe not enough CDs? - but labels big and small keep finding new, old and interesting
Fascinated: Freestyle Trio Company B's Debut Reissued by Stereo Sonic
Cuban-born American producer Ish Ledesma made a big splash on the Miami music scene, becoming a fixture at Henry Stone's TK Records. Best known for his band Foxy's top ten Pop hit and R&B chart-topper "Get Off," Ledesma was also a prolific session player - Foxy was even enlisted by ABBA on the track for "Voulez-Vous," the Swedish quartet's only studio recording made outside of Sweden - and the creative force behind dance-rock outfit OXO ("Whirly Girl"). In 1986, Ledesma put together the
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Prince and The New Power Generation, 'Diamonds and Pearls (Super Deluxe Edition)'
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
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