We kicked off our week here at Second Disc HQ yesterday with a veritable smorgasbord of Utopia news, and today that feast grows even more bountiful! The Shout! Factory label is joining the ranks of Edsel, Esoteric and Rockbeat as yet another purveyor of all things Rundgren. Live at Hammersmith Odeon ’75 has been set for release on April 10, and the 10-track CD (also available as a digital download) captures the first U.K. concert of the band then billed as Todd Rundgren’s Utopia. Recorded by
The "Empire" Strikes Back: La-La Land Expands Classic Tiomkin Soundtrack Album
And the next 200 starts today. La-La Land Records has announced their latest release, partnering with Sony Music for a long-in-development expansion of Dimitri Tiomkin's score to The Fall of the Roman Empire. The epic, Samuel Bronston production, which starred Alec Guinness and Christopher Plummer as Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus during the last days of the Roman empire, is notable for three unique traits: its standing among its contemporary sword-and-sandal epics for its intelligent
Love in Action: Todd Rundgren Goes "Back to the Bars," To "Mink Hollow" and Beyond
Welcome back to our Rundgren Round-Up, spotlighting the final installments in Edsel’s series of the complete Bearsville Todd Rundgren and Utopia reissues! On 1978’s Back to the Bars, Todd Rundgren was in gentle, intimate mode, feeding off audiences in New York, Los Angeles and Cleveland eager to hear his most accessible tunes on a “retrospective” tour. For this look back at a near-decade’s worth of music making, Rundgren enlisted the classic Utopia line-up of Kasim Sulton, Willie Wilcox and
Contest: Win Meat Loaf's "Hell in a Handbasket"
The weather is warming up around Second Disc HQ, and as our way of celebrating, we're giving away a "hot" disc from our friends at Legacy Recordings. Released in Australia last fall and in stores in the U.S. today, Hell in a Handbasket is the 12th and latest album by rock icon Meat Loaf. Produced by Meat Loaf's longtime lead guitarist Paul Crook, the disc features 12 new recordings (including a cover of The Mamas & The Papas' "California Dreamin'") and guest appearances by Public Enemy's
Review: Big Brother and the Holding Company Featuring Janis Joplin, "Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968"
Journey back with me to 1968, will you? Your time machine is courtesy Owsley “Bear” Stanley, visionary sound engineer and renowned LSD chemist. But you don’t need any lysergic acid to enjoy the music contained on the little silver disc known as Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968 (Columbia/Legacy 88697 96409 2, 2012), billed as the first release from Bear’s Sonic Journals. That said, a little Southern Comfort probably wouldn’t hurt. (Or a toke or two, as per the suggestion of Stanley’s son
Release Round-Up: Week of March 12
Earl Van Dyke, The Motown Sound: The Complete Albums & More (Hip-o Select/Motown) Two discs of classic instrumentals and rare single sides from Motown's legendary Funk Brothers - their first and some of their only recordings to be credited just to them. Big Brother and The Holding Company featuring Janis Joplin, Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968 (Columbia/Legacy) From the archives of late engineer Owsley "Bear" Stanley, an unreleased show featuring Joplin and band at the legendary San
Ring Them Bells: Liza Minnelli's Triumphant "Live at the Winter Garden" Expanded For CD Premiere
Liza Minnelli turns 66 today, and could rightfully relax, look back and celebrate over six decades in show business. But the daughter of Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli, who made her first onscreen appearance as a baby in 1949's MGM extravaganza In the Good Old Summertime, has never been one to rest on her considerable laurels. Minnelli is still touring, recording and doing what she does best: entertaining, whether on the big screen (Sex and the City 2), the small screen (Arrested
City In His Head: Todd Rundgren's Utopia Reissues Continue From Edsel
Todd Rundgren’s tenure at Albert Grossman’s Bearsville Records label took him from his days as a singer/songwriter/self-described Runt in 1970 through his cutting-edge avant garde experiments, both solo and with his band Utopia, culminating in 1985’s A Cappella, rejected by the label and eventually released on Warner Bros. instead. The U.K.’s Edsel label has recently completed its catalogue overhaul for Rundgren, including the entirety of his tenures at Bearsville and Warner. The most recent
Natural Woman: Hear Music Unveils Carole King's "Legendary Demos" At Long Last
Some years back, I was attending a performance of Carole King’s Living Room Tour at New York’s theatre-in-the round then known as the Westbury Music Fair, its cozy environs just perfect for King’s intimate show. Midway through the set, a fan shouted to the stage, “Release your demos, Carole!” King smiled knowingly. “Talk to the publisher!” she replied. It clearly wasn’t the first time she had heard the request; indeed, legendary isn’t too strong a word for the original vocal-and-piano tracks
About "Last Night": Expanded Trans-Siberian Orchestra Album to Be Released on Tour
Christmas isn't anywhere near our minds at Second Disc HQ, but a band typically associated with the season has a reissue coming out next week. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra, the successful symphonic rock band whose guitar-heavy versions of traditional carols are radio staples at Christmas, have released two non-holiday albums in their almost 20-year history: 2000's Beethoven's Last Night and 2009's Night Castle. Now, with the group playing Beethoven's Last Night in its entirety on a tour that
Wear Your Love Like Heaven: New "Essential Donovan" Arriving From Legacy
I’m just mad about Donovan, and while I don’t know whether Donovan’s mad about me, you just might be mad about The Essential Donovan! Though a single-disc compilation of that name arrived from Epic Records and Legacy Recordings in 2004, the 2012 edition does it one (or a few, actually) better. Slated for April 17, the new Essential Donovan coincides with Donovan Leitch’s long-overdue induction next month into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It features 36 songs on two discs, including every
Soundtrackus Maximus: "Ben-Hur" Gets Five-Disc Expansion by FSM
UPDATE: After selling through its initial pressing of 2,000 in two weeks, Film Score Monthly has pressed another 2,000. As label head Lukas Kendall cheekily explained, "I NEED THE MONEY!" Original post: One of Hollywood's greatest film scores and one of the catalogue world's greatest soundtrack labels have finally, excitedly joined forces to produce a definitive box set edition of the Oscar-winning soundtrack William Wyler's classic Ben-Hur. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Ben-Hur, released in 1959 (and
Eight More ICON Sets for You to Briefly Consider
What you will see after the jump are eight more of Universal's generic ICON titles, released this past Tuesday. There are two country acts, two Motown acts, two Motown compilations, one from Dean Martin and one from pop/rock band Fall Out Boy. A stranger collection you'll rarely find. I'd give a halfhearted recommendation to the Motown ones if you want to spend a little money on someone who has the distinct displeasure of never having heard any Motown song, ever. If you have more money to spend,
Carefree Highway: Rhino Offers Rare "Moments" With Gordon Lightfoot
Gordon Lightfoot’s stands at Toronto’s Massey Hall have become a cherished tradition over the past forty years, with the Canadian troubadour having taken the stage more times than any other artist in the Hall’s 117 year history. Last May 25, 2011, Lightfoot performed his 150th concert there, and as he prepares for this year’s stand in November, Rhino Records is reminding fans of his rich legacy there with the April 17 release of Massey Hall Moments - All Live. Why not just plain Live?
Warner Waxes Nostalgic for Record Store Day
Believe it or not, Record Store Day is almost upon us. (It's April 21 - just over a month away!) We've been anxiously awaiting word from the labels on what's coming out this year, and it looks like Warner Music Group is one of the first to the scene. While there's not much in the way of unreleased goodies on the catalogue side of things - there are certainly plenty new or unearthed songs from current acts, which you can read about here - there are a couple of vintage and contemporary classics
Reissue Theory: Tears for Fears, "Big Ideas: The Singles 1982-1993"
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we focus on notable albums and the reissues they may someday see. In honor of a recent milestone for one of the '80s' best synthpop bands, we present the idea of something their catalogue doesn't have but could totally need: a box set. Our friends at Slicing Up Eyeballs reminded us yesterday that March 7, 1983 was the day that Phonogram Records (and Mercury in the U.S.) released The Hurting, the debut album by British synth-rockers Tears
Ooh Wah, Ooh Wah, Cool Cool Kitty: Grateful Dead, Ad Libs, Eddie Rabbitt Coming From Real Gone Music
Yee-haw! Real Gone Music has announced its late April/early May slate of releases, and you can count on plenty of country plus helping heapings of R&B, pop and, well, The Grateful Dead! On April 17, the label will release the Complete Hit Singles As and Bs from soul legend Little Willie John as well as a vintage Complete Hit Singles As and Bs collection for “Cowboy” Copas. Then on May 1 comes The Complete Blue Cat Recordings of The Ad Libs, straight from the vaults of Leiber and
In Case You Missed It: Five Times the Fun for Fats
Ace Records has released its final volume of singles recorded by Fats Domino for the Imperial label. The aptly-titled The Imperial Singles Volume 5: 1962-1964 features 26 tracks - including two rarer LP-only bonus tracks - taken from the end of Domino's impressive run with Imperial label. While this era was nowhere near the commercial success of the late '50s and early '60s - only "Jambalaya (on the Bayou" and "You Win Again" were Top 40 hits - Fats' work here clearly proves why he's an elder
It's Alive! FSM Inches Toward Finish Line with Their Final Herrmann Title
Film Score Monthly's 247th title (three more to go, folks!) is a keeper: the third-to-last score by Bernard Herrmann, for the 1974 horror flick It's Alive! The score to the Larry Cohen film about a murderous infant (effects of which were designed by a young Rick Baker!) was part of a Herrmann renaissance; the composer had moved to England after a falling-out with Alfred Hitchcock over the score to Torn Curtain, but was championed and utilized by a younger crop of directors, including Francois
A World of Laughter, A World of Tears: The Second Disc Remembers Robert B. Sherman
Sher ·man ·ism (sher'maniz'em) NOUN: The creation of music abundant in optimism and heart, written for kids of all ages. OTHER FORMS: sher man·ist (Noun), sher man·esque (Adjective) Okay, so that’s not really in the dictionary. But then again, neither is “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” “fortuosity,” “fantasmagorical” or “gratifaction.” But perhaps they should be. Have any other songwriters broadened the English language as much as Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman? The
Here They Go Again: The Hollies Reveal BBC "Radio Fun"
2011 was a good year to be a Hollies fan, and it seems that 2012 might follow in its footsteps! Last year, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees saw a plethora of releases on both CD and vinyl from labels like EMI, Sundazed and BGO, reissuing individual albums and offering comprehensive new compilations. This May, a heretofore-unreleased area of the band's history will be rediscovered when EMI issues Radio Fun, a 32-track compilation of some of the classic group's best BBC radio
I'm Sticking with You: The Velvet Underground's Moe Tucker Gets Career-Spanning Anthology
She may have been a self-described “schlep from Levittown,” but Maureen “Moe” Tucker of The Velvet Underground always beat to the sound of her own drum. Tucker shed her suburban roots when she joined with Lou Reed, John Cale and Sterling Morrison in The Velvet Underground, replacing drummer Angus MacLise. (His tenure was a brief few months.) It’s fair to say that The Velvets changed the sound of rock and roll forever, breaking long-held lyrical taboos and musically drawing from both
"Predator" De-Cloaks Again and More Disney from Intrada
Intrada's latest batch of soundtrack releases should be cause for celebration, if you're not an easily offended fan. First, and most controversially, the label has announced a second pressing of the score to Alan Silvestri's score to the 1987 sci-fi/action classic Predator. One of the best soundtrack's of Silvestri's mid-to-late-'80s period of greatness (which also saw the scores to gems like Back to the Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit), Predator is a kinetic, rhythmic score that fits
Release Round-Up: Week of March 6
Mark Lindsay, The Complete Columbia Singles (Real Gone) Joe calls this collection of the Paul Revere and The Raiders frontman's solo single sides "one of (Real Gone's) finest and most consistently enjoyable releases to date." If that doesn't get your catalogue muscles moving, it may be time to check your pulse! Clannad, Timeless / The Essential Clannad (RCA/Legacy) Alternately given both titles (the package has the latter while the sticker atop the disc has the former), this double-disc
Details Revealed For George Harrison Film "Material World" Deluxe Edition, CD To Feature Unreleased Recordings
UPDATE 3/5/12: Our friends at MusicTAP are reporting a May 1 release date for the American video premiere of Living in the Material World on both DVD and Blu-Ray. Watch this space for details on whether the American editions will mirror the contents of the British releases, as described below! ORIGINAL POST (10/5/11): DVR Alert! Martin Scorsese’s documentary Living in the Material World premieres on American television tonight on HBO, proving that – at least for tonight – it’s not TV; it’s
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