Though 1997's Too Far to Care was actually the third album from Texan band Old 97's, it was an album of firsts. The major label debut of Rhett Miller and his musical cohorts, Too Far to Care placed the band at the vanguard of alt-country. It combined the muscularity of rock and the songcraft of pop with the traditional country sound on which the band had earned an Elektra Records contract, and led to performances in front of Lollapalooza crowds. In celebration of the album's 15th anniversary,
MC Squared = A Lost Sixties Treasure Unearthed By Now Sounds
Though Albert Einstein popularized a rather different equation, Now Sounds has revealed to us that Michael Crowley + Michael Clough + Linda Carey + Randy Sterling + Jim Keltner = MC Squared. The group released four singles on Reprise Records in the heady days of 1967 and 1968, the first of which was sandwiched between releases by Dino’s daughter Deana Martin and South African vocalist Miriam Makeba! Throughout MC Squared’s tenure at Reprise, the band was in good company; 1968’s “Smilin’” b/w
Live Killer, No Filler on Hip-o Select's Latest
This week's Release Round-Up gave some illumination on Hip-o Select's latest, a triple-disc anthology of live material from the one and only Jerry Lee Lewis. But we wouldn't be doing our jobs right if we didn't elaborate on that one for you! The Killer Live! 1964-1970 collates, for the first time on CD, four underrated live records from the irascible rocker's lengthy career - beginning at a time when the world had passed The Killer by. Five years before signing to Smash Records after his Sun
Get Pissed, Destroy: Contents of Sex Pistols' "Bollocks" Box Unveiled
You can argue whether or not punk is dead until you're blue in the face - but you can't deny catalogue music is on the ropes, as the recently-announced details of a super deluxe edition of Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols, arguably the primo example of the punk genre. Not long ago, we noticed that Never Mind The Bollocks - that incendiary album that seemed to threaten to upend social order in England, with sneering single "God Save the Queen" released in step with the royal
Tomorrow Never Knows: The Beatles Offer Rock-Themed Digital LP
Although albums like Rock ‘n’ Roll Music (1976), Love Songs (1977) and Reel Music (1982) have all yet to be released in any CD or digital format, Apple and EMI are reviving the spirit of those LP compilations with a new release available exclusively as an “iTunes LP.” Tomorrow Never Knows, subtitled File Under “Rock,” collects fourteen of The Beatles’ heaviest tracks including the psychedelic title track from 1966’s Revolver. Somewhat surprisingly, some harder-edged hits have been eschewed;
Who Knows What Evil Lurks In The Hearts of Men? Only "The Shadow" Knows! Soundtrack Features Goldsmith Score, Steinman Song
Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? Indeed, only The Shadow knows. And who knows the way to the hearts of film buffs everywhere? Certainly Intrada knows! The soundtrack specialist label has just announced its two latest limited editions: a deluxe double-CD expansion of the 1994 film The Shadow including Jerry Goldsmith’s complete score as well as the original Arista LP with songs by Jim Steinman (Bat Out of Hell), plus Craig Safan’s discarded score to Wolfen, the 1981 horror
Peel Slowly: "Velvet Underground & Nico" Gets Six-Disc Treatment This Fall
Are there somehow not enough super deluxe box sets in the pipeline for you? Universal added another to the pile today: a 45th anniversary deluxe edition of The Velvet Underground & Nico. The iconic, Andy Warhol-produced LP, released to almost no fanfare in 1967 but today recognized as a classic example of art-rock, is no stranger to CD reissues. Two different remasters appeared in stores in 1986 and 1996, and the album (along with various bonus material) appeared in the career-spanning 1995
Reviews: Three From Real Gone - The Electric Prunes, Timi Yuro, The New Christy Minstrels
It might be tough to find three artists as different as Timi Yuro, The Electric Prunes and The New Christy Minstrels, but all three have been treated with similar care on recent projects from Real Gone Music! The Electric Prunes, The Complete Reprise Singles (Real Gone Music OPCD-8574, 2012) In the annals of the One-Hit Wonder, one might stumble upon the name of The Electric Prunes. The group achieved notoriety (and a No. 11 pop hit!) with the original Nugget “I Had Too Much to Dream (Last
"Sugar Man" Revealed: Legacy, Light in the Attic Team to Rediscover Lost Folk Hero Rodriguez
The story of Rodriguez may not be a famous one (yet!), but it’s so big that it takes not one, but two, of our favorite labels to bring it to life! Legacy Recordings and Light in the Attic have teamed up to release the soundtrack to Malik Bendjelloul’s film Searching for Sugar Man about a “lost” singer-songwriter who made a big, and unusual, impact. The adjective "remarkable" may be overused, but it certainly applies to the life and career of Rodriguez. The film, distributed by Sony Pictures
Release Round-Up: Week of July 24
Booker T. & the MGs, Green Onions (Concord/Stax) The 1962 album from the Stax legends is expanded with two previously issued, live bonus tracks from Los Angeles in 1965. Read more here. David Cassidy, Cherish / Rock Me Baby (7Ts/Cherry Red) The Partridge Family star was on top of the world when he released his first two solo albums in 1972. They arrive on American shores today as one two-fer! Read more here. The Guess Who, # 10 / Road Food (Iconoclassic) Iconoclassic’s series of
The DJ That Rocked: "Singles Collection" Compiles Best of Tony Blackburn
Richard Curtis’ 2009 film The Boat That Rocked paid affectionate homage to the pirate radio stations of the 1960s, but real-life pirate DJ Tony Blackburn said that “we didn’t have the fun that they obviously had in the film.” Rose-colored glasses or not, Curtis’ film dramatized the period when offshore radio stations challenged the rigid formatting of the BBC. Blackburn was just 21 in 1964 when he first set sail on Radio Caroline. He jumped ship two years later for Radio London, and survived
A&M Records Celebrates Half-Century Mark with Three-Disc Compilation
Ask the most voracious of music trivia buffs what "A&M Records" stood for and they'll tell you simply: Herb Alpert, noted jazz trumpeter and bandleader; and music promoter Jerry Moss, a duo who crafted the label from Alpert's garage in 1962. 50 years later, with the upcoming release of the three-disc A&M 50: The Anniversary Collection, it's clear that A&M stood for something else, too: one of the most intriguingly eclectic rosters in pop history, encompassing everything from jazz
I Don't Know Where, But It Sends Me There: "Good Vibrations: The Beach Boys Songbook" Arrives
2012 has been a big year for The Beach Boys, and the fun, fun, fun shows little sign of abating any time soon. While we still wait for more details on the possible U.S. arrival of a series of reissued original albums, Sony Music Japan is celebrating with a unique tribute to America's band. Good Vibrations: The Beach Boys Songbook is a 25-track compilation drawn mostly, but not exclusively, from the Sony family of labels including Columbia, RCA Victor, Arista, Buddah and Bang, and offers a number
Saturday Spotlight: From Eelwax Jesus to Declan's Well
We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming... Another Saturday night and you ain't got nobody? Well, it has been called the loneliest night of the week. It's also been said that S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y night is alright for fighting. But here at Second Disc HQ, this evening will hardly be lonely, because Mike and I will be indulging in some of our favorite new music. Yup, that's right! For this special weekend update, if you will, we're turning the spotlight from back-catalogue favorites to
Lee Hazlewood Makes "A House Safe For Tigers"
One of our favorite characters here at Second Disc HQ is the one and only Lee Hazlewood. Whether singing psychedelic duets with the daughter of the Chairman of the Board, proving that Hollywood kids Dino, Desi and Billy were “Not the Lovin’ Kind” or going all twangy with Duane Eddy, Hazlewood made his mark wherever he went. Light in the Attic kicked off a new Hazlewood reissue campaign in April with the release of the deliciously offbeat The LHI Years: Singles, Nudes and Backsides 1968-1971,
One Vision: Queen Repackage Video Compilations for New Release
If news of the super deluxe edition of Freddie Mercury's Barcelona album didn't have enough Queen in it for you, you're in some luck now: a new compilation of the band's videos is headed to DVD at the end of the month. The band's Greatest Video Hits is a new repackaging of two earlier compilations on disc - Greatest Video Hits 1 (2002) and Greatest Video Hits 2 (2003). Together, they chronicle just about all of the band's promo videos from the 1970s and 1980s. All clips were remastered and
Cherish Is The Word: David Cassidy Reissues Arrive From 7Ts
Everyone remembers David Cassidy, the bubblegum pop king and teen idol supreme. But Cassidy - still an active entertainer, singer, and actor today - was also a persuasive and versatile vocalist who stepped out of, and prospered beyond, the shadow of the fictional Partridge Family. Far from being simple fodder for the teenybopper crowd, the records he released as a solo artist were in many ways a continuation of the sophisticated pop sounds of the 1960. Cassidy enlisted top-tier songwriters,
Are You Ready for a New Sensation? INXS' "Kick" Expands for 25th Anniversary (UPDATED)
INXS' Kick is a favorite around The Second Disc parts. We envisioned another deluxe reissue (after two on both sides of the Atlantic) in one of our first Reissue Theory posts, and its slinky, perfectly-crafted blend of pop, R&B and hard rock - combined with a host of non-LP material - makes it a perfect candidate for the growing trend of super-deluxe box sets. So when such a set was first reported and then recently confirmed, you can imagine our excitement at bringing on the news to you. So
Review: Sam Phillips, "Martinis & Bikinis"
To call the career of Sam Phillips a varied one is a colossal understatement. The singer and songwriter born Leslie Ann Phillips has played a mute terrorist opposite Bruce Willis, placed several singles in the contemporary Christian Top 10, and today can be found scoring the exploits of a headstrong dancer and her imperious mother-in-law on ABC Family’s drama Bunheads. Though Phillips has hardly slowed down in the intervening years, fans still hold close the creative period she shared with
Get Up! KISS' "Destroyer: Resurrected" Brings Classic Album to Life with New Remix
Buildings reduced to rubble. The jeering ring of electric guitars. Lots of black and white makeup. Yep, another KISS Katalogue title is koming...er, coming. Universal has set an August 21 date for Destroyer: Resurrected, a new version of what might be the band's best-known studio effort. A project for Destroyer's 35th annversary last year has been in the cards for some time, and while the final effort - a sort of teaser for the band's upcoming Monster album this fall - is certainly far shorter
The Feeling Is Right: Kent Offers Expanded Etta James LP, Clarence Carter Singles Collection
When Argo Records crowned Etta James The Queen of Soul on the cover of a 1964 LP, Aretha Franklin hadn't yet staked claim to that title. Revisiting that album today, Etta's status as royalty still seems unassailable. Thankfully, we have that opportunity thanks to Kent Records via its new expansion of Queen of Soul with fourteen bonus tracks added to the original LP's ten songs. Plus, Kent has delivered a new release from one of the undisputed kings of soul: Clarence Carter. The Fame Singles
Back to "Barcelona": Queen Frontman's Final Solo Disc Gets Super Deluxe Treatment
"I'm moving into opera now. Forget rock and roll." With those words, Queen frontman Freddie Mercury moved in on what may be the most grandiose phase in a long career full of theatrics. In 1987, with Queen not yet knowing they would have played their final live show one year before, the band's whimsical frontman ventured into uncharted waters with Barcelona, an operatic rock album featuring a talented soprano whose voice he idolized, and put one of the final great flourishes on a career (and a
Wonderful! Wonderful! Johnny Mathis' Long-Lost Mercury Catalogue Comes to CD from Real Gone Music
Johnny Mathis’ association with Columbia Records began in 1956, which makes it one of the longest relationships between artist and label in popular music. But it’s often overlooked that Mathis departed Columbia for a brief period at rival Mercury Records, right as some young upstarts from across the pond were changing the face of music forever. (Keep in mind that Mathis himself wasn’t even 30 when he made the shift!) During a prolific three years (1963-1966) at Mercury, Mathis recorded eleven
Some Kind of a Summer: Real Gone Offers David Cassidy, Gary Lewis, Grateful Dead, Johnny Mathis In August
Real Gone Music is looking ahead to August, and it's going to be one hot summer! The label has just announced new titles from all around the pop/rock spectrum: Gary Lewis and the Playboys, David Cassidy, The Grateful Dead and Johnny Mathis! Gary Lewis and the Playboys' Complete Liberty Singles first arrived in 2009 from the late Collectors' Choice Music label, with 45 tracks on 2 CDs. This anthology definitely proved that there was much more to the group than just "This Diamond Ring,"
Be Their Guest: "Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives" Digital Album Offers Souvenir of New Exhibition
57 years ago today, on July 17, 1955, The Happiest Place on Earth became a reality when Disneyland opened its doors in Anaheim, California! What better day to take a virtual trip to the Walt Disney Archives? Touted as “the largest Disney archives exhibit in the world,” Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives officially opened on July 5 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California. At over 12,000 square feet, the exhibition boasts 500+ artifacts from every area
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