Dean Martin only recorded two Christmas albums in his career, one for Capitol (1959’s A Winter Romance) and one for Reprise (1966’s The Dean Martin Christmas Album). Yet every year, Martin’s holiday catalogue from both labels is usually reconfigured for a new release, often with songs added (singles, alternate takes, remixes), dropped or otherwise altered. 2011 is no exception, so completists might want to be on the lookout for this year’s edition of My Kind of Christmas on the Hip-o Records
Cherry Pop Laces Up Dancing Shoes with Compilation of Rare '80s, Motown Mixes
Cherry Pop Records has a major treat next week for British club junkies of the '80s: a double-disc set of rare and unreleased remixes by noted engineer Phil Harding. If you're a British pop junkie who came of age in the '80s, you're doubtlessly familiar with three names: Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman. The trio of producers hit it big with Hi-NRG pop, all clean beats and shimmering synths, from Bananarama's "Venus" to Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up." All told, the trio racked
Universal Europe Offers "Complete Masters" For Armstrong, Fitzgerald, Bechet, Parker, Holiday
If you’ve ever been looking to build a solid jazz library without spending too much coin, look no further. The European arm of Universal Music Group, through its EmArcy and Decca labels, has announced a series of Complete Masters boxes that offer considerable bang for your buck! The Complete Masters slate kicks off with five box sets devoted to Louis Armstrong (1925-1945, 14 discs), Ella Fitzgerald (1935-1955, 14 discs), Billie Holiday (1933-1959, 15 discs), Sidney Bechet (American Masters
The Wonderful World of Elvis: Follow That Dream Offers New Releases For Fall and Winter
Since its establishment in 1999, the Follow That Dream label has been a collector’s dream for fans of Elvis Presley. Taking its name from Presley’s 1962 film of the same name, Follow That Dream has operated as an authorized “bootleg series,” reissuing Elvis titles of varying origins (soundtracks, studio albums, live gigs) in expanded editions with an emphasis on previously unreleased session material, alternate takes and unheard performances. These titles are available exclusively through
From "Space" to "The Bottom of the Sea" in La-La Land's Penultimate Releases for 2011
La-La Land Records inched closer to the end of their 2011 reissue slate yesterday with a pair of sci-fi-oriented releases - one a reissue, and one appearing for the first time anywhere. Television fans are going to enjoy the label's newly-released three-disc set of music from the cult classic series Space: Above and Beyond. Though it only ran for one season, the scope of the show - a planned, five-year saga about a war between Earth and an alien race in the mid-21st century - anticipated the
Dreams Stay With You: Big Country's Debut to Be Expanded With Archival Demos
It looks like we've got the first deluxe edition of 2012 locked down - at least across the pond. Scottish band Big Country today announced the details for a new expansion of their fantastic debut, The Crossing, to coincide with a 30th anniversary tour across the United Kingdom. (The band reunited first in 2007 and again in 2010, both times with new vocalist Mike Peters of The Alarm, replacing late lead singer/guitarist Stuart Adamson, who died in 2001.) Released in 1983, The Crossing was a
Review: Pink Floyd, "Wish You Were Here: Immersion Box Set"
Maybe it should have been called Wish You Were Here: Unwrapped. There’s no dark shrinkwrap on the new Immersion Box Set of Pink Floyd’s 1975 Wish You Were Here, the album that followed the landmark Dark Side of the Moon. The original LP pressing of the album, of course, was wrapped and adorned with a “four elements” sticker, obscuring the photograph that gives the album its cover. The 3-CD/1-DVD/1-BD Immersion edition (EMI 50999 029435 2, 2011) is not only “naked,” but offers a different,
Tuesday Takes: Rolling Stones Offer "Some Girls" Vinyl Single, Ace Goes to Muscle Shoals with Aretha, Etta and Irma
When a classic soul fan thinks of the "Muscle Shoals" sound, chances are he's referring to the music made at Rick Hall's FAME (that's Florence Alabama Music Enterprises!) Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Though the House that Hall Built has been celebrated on past anthologies, none has been quite so comprehensive as the 3-CD set due for release from U.K.-based Ace Records. The FAME Studios Story 1961-1973 (KENTBOX 12, 2011) is the result of two years' worth of research conducted by Ace in
Hell Yeah: "The Very Best of Neil Diamond" Set For December
Neil Diamond announced himself to the world in 1966 with the lyrics to his song “Solitary Man." He sang with both defiance and resignation, “I’ll be what I am, a solitary man…” At no time, then, was that more evident than Diamond’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2010. His old friend Paul Simon pointed out in his introduction that Diamond had first been eligible for the Rock Hall in 1991 and asked, "What took so long?" Simon then, a bit devilishly, answered his own
Kritzerland Goes "Inside Out" with Jan Maxwell and Ann Crumb
The Kritzerland team would be forgiven for slowing down after such an exciting fall, what with the sold-out, 2-CD deluxe edition of Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (read our interview here!) and the expanded release of Elmer Bernstein’s score to Summer and Smoke. But the label isn’t slowing down, at all, but barreling towards 2012 with a full slate of more exciting releases. Today, Kritzerland announced not one, but two, new titles. In addition to the
Review: Billy Joel, "Piano Man: Legacy Edition"
Since the dawn of the new millennium, most of the archival material that catalogue enthusiasts want come to us in the form of the dreaded deluxe edition: a bonus disc of rarities or outtakes appended to a long-released, newly-remastered album. With the record industry at a crossroads unlike anything it's ever had to deal with, it's astounding that most treats for die-hard music aficionados come at a higher price tag, filled sometimes in large part with material one already owns in at least one
Hip-o Select Gets on the Good Foot with Lost Fred Wesley Album
Hip-o Select's James Brown singles sets may be done with the recent release of Volume 11, but the Godfather of Soul's catalogue has a lot of uncovered treasures, and a new release from the boutique label continues to uncover the legend of Brown and his crack team of musicians - in particular one Fred Wesley. Wesley, Brown's longtime trombonist, arranger and musical director in the 1960s and 1970s, is best known to casual J.B. fans as the credited force behind the funky No. 1 soul single "Doing
Of Dead and Downloads: Grateful Dead's "30 Days of Dead" Free Program Returns
The long, strange journey continues! The 2011 calendar has been dotted with plenty of releases to sate even the most voracious Deadhead, with live concerts preserved in the recently-concluded Road Trips series and the Blu-Ray debut of The Grateful Dead Movie, the massive Europe ’72 box set and some vinyl exclusives, like a Record Store Day release for Black Friday and Dick’s Picks LPs arriving through Gordon Anderson and Gabby Castellana’s newly-launched Real Gone Music. As a “token of our
Soundtrack Round-Up: Intrada Cuts to "The Core," Music Box Goes "Overboard," FSM Inches Toward the Finish Line
With the release of another major holy grail in the world of soundtrack collecting yesterday, it's worth pointing out another four awesome archival titles that may have been lost in the shuffle this past week. First, Intrada's latest batch of catalogue soundtrack releases, announced Monday, bring to light two underrated gems from two very different composers. First up, after years of waiting, is an official release to the score to the 2003 sci-fi cult-classic The Core. Composer Christopher
EMI Dives Into BBC Vaults for Deep Purple
The recent reissue of John Peel sessions isn't EMI's only new batch of treasures from the BBC vaults. The label is releasing a compilation of classic sessions from rock legends Deep Purple next week. BBC Sessions 1968-1970 is a two-disc set collecting all the surviving sessions in the BBC archives from the first two iterations of Deep Purple's lineups. Deep Purple Mk. 1 featured singer Rod Evans, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, bassist Nick Simper, drummer Ian Paice and keyboardist Jon Lord; Mk.
A Dream Goes On Forever: Rundgren's Live "Todd" Comes To CD and DVD
Who's that on the racks again? A portrait of a crazy man, trying to make a living off an elpee's worth of toons! Well, the man in question was Todd Rundgren, the year was 1974, and he was appearing on the record racks with his fifth LP (elpee?) simply entitled Todd. The name was the only simple aspect of the album, however! Though Rundgren was, in fact, making a living as a prolific songwriter, artist, arranger and producer, the restlessly creative polymath wasn’t taking things easy. Todd
All In Good Time: Final Brubeck Quartet Concert Arrives From Legacy
Time has been very good to Dave Brubeck. The legendary jazz pianist and composer, 90 years young, has both a Kennedy Center Honor and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award under his belt, and his 1959 Time Out remains one of the biggest-selling albums jazz of all time, not to mention the genre’s first million seller. Alto saxophonist Paul Desmond’s sinuous, sophisticated “Take Five” became a signature song for the Dave Brubeck Quartet and one of the most recognizable pieces of music, anywhere.
"Gremlins" Are Loose! FSM Bows Long-Awaited Complete Score
Here is one of the most exciting sentences we could ever type for soundtrack fans on The Second Disc: Jerry Goldsmith's score to Gremlins is coming to CD from Film Score Monthly. "Cute. Cuddly. Mischevious. Intelligent. Dangerous." Those five words roped audiences into one of the most exciting horror-comedies of the 1980s, Joe Dante's Gremlins. The tale of a storybook American small town rocked by wacky creatures with razor-sharp claws on Christmas Eve was a perfect marriage of humor and
German Is The Loving Tongue: "Pure Dylan" Import Anthology Offers New-to-CD Tracks
Though Bob Dylan has disowned the phrase, his Never-Ending Tour is as strong as ever. Dylan and his band are currently canvassing Europe, with eight of those gigs taking place in Germany. The German stand began on October 23 and concludes next week, on November 7. A total of over 100,000 German spectators will have attended Dylan's concerts, performed with special guest (and past Dylan collaborator) Mark Knopfler. In conjunction with the German leg of the tour, Sony Music Germany has
New Diana Ross Compilation "Coming Out" in the U.K.
Miss Diana Ross - arguably the Queen of Motown both with The Supremes and on her own, varied solo ventures - easily has one hit for every one of her 67 years on Earth. A new U.K. compilation, The Greatest, packs 44 tracks onto two discs, providing the market with a new way to discover her. The Greatest brings together just about all the facets of Ross' career: ten tracks from The Supremes, the Motown label's white-hot girl group supreme, a healthy helping of tracks from Diana's solo years on
Review: The Beach Boys, "The Smile Sessions" Part Three: It's In Great Shape
Welcome to the third and final part of our review series celebrating the release of The Beach Boys’ The SMiLE Sessions. In Part 1, we revisited the history of the album, and in Part 2, we examined the music and lyrics of Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks that created the legend. In today’s concluding chapter, we explore "the sessions" of The SMiLE Sessions and compare the various releases! What’s the biggest surprise of The SMiLE Sessions? It’s the sound of five young men optimistically
Review: The Beach Boys, "The Smile Sessions" Part Two: Surf's Up, At Last
Today sees the first release, after 47 years, of The Beach Boys’ SMiLE. The Second Disc celebrates this event with a three-part review series dedicated to what was once the greatest lost album of all time. In Part 1, we looked back at the story of SMiLE. In today’s Part 2, we explore the most legendary aspect of the album: the music itself, created by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, as recorded by The Beach Boys. The SMiLE Shop is finally open for business! It’s only taken some 44
The "Lioness" Roars: Posthumous Amy Winehouse LP Due in December
Whether you were surprised or not by the death of talented yet troubled singer Amy Winehouse this past summer, it's hard to deny that her tragic passing at age 27 of alcohol poisoning cut short one of the most promising young careers of the 2000s. In December, Island Records is set to commemorate that promise with an album of unreleased demos and outtakes from Winehouse's final years. Lioness: Hidden Treasures captures Winehouse's powerful, retro-soul voice through demos and rarities recorded
Happiness Is: The Association's "Insight Out" Expanded and Remastered
Who's trippin’ down the streets of the city / Smilin' at everybody she sees / Who's reachin' out to capture a moment? Everyone knows it’s Windy! And most everyone knows Ruthann Friedman’s 1967 pop classic which not only hit No. 1 on the Billboard chart but was featured on The Association’s third album and first long-player for Warner Bros. Records, Insight Out. But everyone would be forgiven for thinking that the LP was entitled Windy, so prominent was the name of the single on the album
Back in the Saddle Again: Aerosmith's "Rocks" Receives Lavish Japanese Reissue
Sony Music Japan has an interesting treat for Aerosmith fans this week: a special anniversary edition of the band's classic Rocks with all sorts of bonus swag. The news of new Japanese remaster/reissues of Columbia's Aerosmith catalogue (as well as some Joe Perry Project titles) wouldn't normally be much to write about on The Second Disc. All sorts of SHM-CD remasters and repackaged titles come out in the East all the time. But the particularly lavish treatment of Rocks, in honor of the LP's
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