In the past decade, there have been plenty of bands hawked as the one to save rock music and radio from the doldrums it's sat in for far too long. But few were agreed upon quite like Kings of Leon, whose Southern and blues influences, coupled with some alternative sensibilities and an arena-worthy sound, made them one of the hottest bands in the world of late. And this December, RCA is set to celebrate their path to "hottest band" status with The Early Vinyl, a lavish, seven-LP box set
The Second Disc Buyers Guide: The 100 Greatest Reissues of All Time (Part 2: #95-91)
Welcome to our brand-new, exhaustive feature to take us to the end of another great year for reissues and box sets: our first-ever official Second Disc Buyers Guide! From now until Christmas, we’re taking you on a delightful trip through the 100 greatest albums of all time, as selected by Rolling Stone in 2003, through the filter of when and how these classic albums have been reissued, remastered and repackaged. If you’ve ever wondered to yourself which versions of these albums to buy for
Soundtrack Round-Up: Intrada Commits "Robbery," La-La Land Bows Final Titles for 2011
The end of the calendar year is a boom time for all those working in reissues, especially the soundtrack labels. Today, six major titles go on sale that are certainly worth a look here at Second Disc HQ. Intrada's two latest sets, announced last night, are pretty major. One is a brand new reissue of the score to The Great Train Robbery, Jerry Goldsmith's classic soundtrack to the film directed by author Michael Crichton from his best-selling novel. Though the score is no stranger to CD, having
UPDATE: Doris Day Opens The Vaults For “My Heart” and There's Plenty For Beach Boys Fans, Album Gets U.S. Release
The vault has finally been opened! Sony Music U.K. has confirmed a release date and track listing for singing legend Doris Day’s long-awaited My Heart, on which your humble correspondent first reported in August 2010 and revisited back in November! Thanks to the fine folks at Doris Day Tribute for spreading this news! My Heart marks Doris’ first album of original studio material in some seventeen years, since The Love Album, and it features a number of tracks that will be of interest to the
Release Round-Up: Week of November 29
Now begins the drought. A couple of respectable catalogue titles, but it's going to be shorter round-ups from here through 2011. The Monkees, Instant Replay: Deluxe Edition (Rhino Handmade) Three discs and 87 tracks worth of this underrated entry in The Monkees' catalogue, featuring stereo and mono mixes and session takes galore. Smashing Pumpkins, Gish / Siamese Dream: Deluxe Editions (Virgin/EMI) The first releases in a planned three-year reissue project for Billy Corgan and his Pumpkins,
The Second Disc Buyers Guide: The 100 Greatest Reissues of All Time (Part 1: #100-96)
Welcome to our brand-new, exhaustive feature to take us to the end of another great year for reissues and box sets: our first-ever official Second Disc Buyers Guide! From now until Christmas, we're taking you on a delightful trip through the 100 greatest albums of all time, as selected by Rolling Stone in 2003, through the filter of when and how these classic albums have been reissued, remastered and repackaged. If you've ever wondered to yourself which versions of these albums to buy for
Start Me Up: Rolling Stones' Digital Archive Unveils Vintage Concerts and More
Once famously reluctant to unlock their vault, The Rolling Stones are swinging those doors wide open. Following the deluxe, expanded editions of Exile on Main St. (1972) and Some Girls (1978), the world’s greatest rock and roll band has turned its attention to the aptly-titled Stones Archive, a digital repository of all things that Glimmer. The band’s official site promises fans “can listen to unheard music, view unseen photographs and films, and look at rare merchandise. Fans have the
Friday Feature: Muppet Memories
This month, it's finally time to play the music and light the lights, with the release of The Muppets, a brand new film featuring Kermit The Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, The Great Gonzo and just about all of Jim Henson's furry, felt-covered creations in an all-new story co-written by fabulous funnyman and human co-star Jason Segel (star of TV's How I Met Your Mother and co-writer and star of Forgetting Sarah Marshall). The film, which sees the Muppet gang reunite after years out of the
Thanks!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfM9gQkfwyg] With Thanksgiving approaching at Second Disc HQ, we're doing what most folks are doing this weekend and engaging in radio silence, more or less. There might be a Friday Feature coming up, timed to one of the big, excellent new movies in theaters this weekend. And you'll definitely want to keep an eye out for La-La Land Records, who will announce their last four catalogue soundtrack titles for the year at midnight (Pacific time) on
Pet Shop Boys Flush "Format" with New B-Sides Compilation
Add another catalogue set for 2012 to the list: this winter will see the release of the Pet Shop Boys' second B-sides compilation, spanning the past 15 years of their recording career. As reported by our dear friends at Slicing Up Eyeballs, the Boys (who are also working on a new LP for the new year) revealed to Varsity, Cambridge University's paper, their intent of releasing a new B-sides set, following the tradition of 1995's Alternative, the group's first two-disc set of rarities from 1986
Entering the Culture Factory: New Reissue Label Launches with Robert Palmer, Paul Williams' "Paradise"
Despite the spurious reports of the “death of the CD,” the reissue biz is still thriving on the little silver platter, offering up all manner of deluxe editions for the discerning customer. (That means you, dear reader!) In 2011, we’ve seen the launch of such heavyweights-to-be as Real Gone Music, Omnivore Recordings and RockBeat Records, and we’re now happy to welcome another name to the fold. Culture Factory USA quietly launched this past September, with releases from Mink DeVille, Moon
Expanded "Elvis Country" Coming From Legacy, Joined with "Love Letters"
One of the lynchpin songs on Elvis Presley’s 1971 Elvis Country was the singer’s reading of Willie Nelson’s “Funny How Time Slips Away.” Presley undoubtedly connected with Nelson’s lyrics: “Well, hello there/My, it's been a long, long time/How am I doing?/Oh, I guess that I'm doing fine…” Though Nelson’s narrator is addressing an old flame, Elvis could have been speaking directly to his fans. When Elvis walked through the doors of RCA’s Nashville Studio B in June 1970, the last time Elvis had
Test of True Faith: New Order End Peter Hook Era with Outtakes Album
It looks like it finally may be time to end the classic chapter of alt-rock icons New Order, with the upcoming release of a set of outtakes from the band's 2005 album Waiting for the Sirens' Call, their last album with original bassist Peter Hook. Recent years have been tough for longtime fans of the band. The British outfit formed out of improbable circumstances - the tragic suicide of Ian Curtis, frontman for Joy Division, caused the band to rename itself and shift direction toward danceable,
Q Applause For Mr. Jones and Mr. Hefti: "Enter Laughing" and "Synanon" Come to CD
If you don’t know the name Neal Hefti, you undoubtedly know the man’s music…whether it’s the indelible, insinuating, harpsichord-and-brass theme to The Odd Couple, or the frenetic, groovy Batman theme from the Caped Crusader’s campy television show. And Quincy Jones, the man known as Q, needs no introduction. Like Hefti a veteran of jazz and big band, Jones’ trailblazing productions on landmark albums such as Michael Jackson’s Thriller (to name just one) ensured his place in the pantheon.
Jackson, Cymone, Hendryx Move to Funky Town
It seems that the rush of catalogue titles for 2012 is starting earlier than normal. This week, we've already seen a lot of announcements and plans from the major labels, the likes of which are probably going to get us through the rest of the calendar year as day-to-day news goes. The advance notice trend is hitting some of the indie labels, too - Funky Town Grooves just announced a bumper crop of expanded releases for January and February. And we think some of them will be right up your
Reissue Theory: The Andrea True Connection
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we focus on notable albums and the reissues they may someday see. Today, we honor a recently deceased disco queen by telling the story of her unusual brush with chart success. Word crept out last night that former disco diva and adult film actress Andrea True passed away earlier this month. At Second Disc HQ, it certainly prompted a few spins of her signature hit "More, More, More," one of disco's most senseless earworms. It also prompted
Concord Collates "Charlie Brown Christmas"
Christmas time is here! Okay, maybe not yet, but that's not stopping Concord Music Group from releasing another set of holiday-ready discs from the Peanuts universe today. The Charlie Brown Collection is a four-disc set featuring some of the best seasonal music written for Charles M. Schultz's boy named Charlie Brown. Of course, much of that musical credit goes to Vince Guaraldi, the composer of 17 Charlie Brown television specials, including the iconic A Charlie Brown Christmas in 1965.
Soulful and Seductive: Grateful Dead, Glen Campbell, The Roches, Bill Medley, Maynard Ferguson Kick Off Real Gone 2012
Are you ready to get gone, Real Gone, with the new kids on the reissue block? The label founded by Gordon Anderson and Gabby Castellana is following its debut slate (reviews to come!) with an eclectic group of releases for January 2012 that will start the New Year off right! One batch of titles is due January 24, with the remaining releases arriving the following week. Few artists have had a career as legendary as that of Glen Campbell, and few have been as brave in the face of tragedy.
Release Round-Up: Week of November 21
Another Monday release date, ostensibly to get the jump on an abbreviated week with the Thanksgiving/Black Friday holiday! And it's another big week, to be sure. The Rolling Stones, Some Girls: Deluxe Edition (Rolling Stones/UMe) Whether you think it's the last truly great Stones album or not, it's hard to deny that this is the biggest of the deluxe releases this week. (That super-deluxe edition, with a bonus DVD and vinyl, doesn't disprove the notion, either.) Bob Seger, Ultimate Hits: Rock
Review: The Cool Revolution Continues - Four From CTI and Kudu
When he established Kudu as an offshoot of his titanic jazz label CTI, Creed Taylor wore his ambitions on his sleeve. The label was named after the long-horned African mammal and its logo adorned with Afro-centric colors, as Taylor intended to do no less than make Kudu a home for releases "indigenous to the black popular music of the United States." Taylor always knew the importance of a visual, and much as CTi releases were recognizable for their striking, provocative cover photographs and
U.K. Joy Division Box Collects Singles (and More) on Vinyl (UPDATED 11/17/2011: and CD)
UPDATE: More than a year after this set came out, a U.K. CD counterpart has been noticed on Amazon with a December 27 street date. Like the original post, this was also first noticed by our friends at Slicing Up Eyeballs. Original post: As reported by Slicing Up Eyeballs, Rhino's U.K. branch is releasing a special collector's box of Joy Division singles in December, to commemorate the 30 years since iconic frontman Ian Curtis died. The vinyl box, +- (Plus Minus), will feature ten 7" records
Review: R.E.M., "Part Lies Part Heart Part Truth Part Garbage 1982-2011"
R.E.M.'s Part Lies Part Heart Part Truth Part Garbage 1982-2011 (Warner Bros. 529088-2) marks the fourth compilation by the Athens band in my collection. As a young teen, I fell in love with their melodic, confident pop/rock with In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003 - but that was only part of the picture. The rest would be filled in by the 2006 release of And I Feel Fine...The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987, which captured the quartet at what may be their creative peak. (The third
Rammstein Zusammenstellung
How metal is metal? For 16 years, German band Rammstein has pushed the limits of the genre, in the studio and onstage - and next month, they're going to celebrate their work with their first compilation, Made in Germany 1995-2011. With songs like "Mein Herz Brennt," "Engel," "Pussy" and "Du Hast" (arguably their most notable song in America), Rammstein took the best of industrial and symphonic rock, added a dash of electronica and techno and created a sound that was hard for metal audiences to
Reissue Theory: Barry Manilow, "Live at the Troubadour 1975"
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we take a look back at notable albums and the reissues they could someday see. Today's column takes a slight departure, looking at an album that never was, but certainly could be. We present Barry Manilow's Live at the Troubadour! Rolling Stone may have famously proclaimed him "the showman of our generation," but when Clive Davis signed Barry Manilow to the fledgling Arista label, he was anything but. Manilow was a longtime accompanist,
ODB's "36 Chambers" Reloaded for Deluxe Set
Indie label Get On Down Records is preparing a lavish deluxe reissue of Return to the 36 Chambers, the solo debut by late, iconic Wu-Tang Clan member Ol' Dirty Bastard. Almost no one could have predicted the meteoric success of the Wu-Tang Clan, upon the release of 1993's landmark Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers, a seminal East Coast hip-hop record that slow-burned its way to a million copies by 1995 and spawned definitive tracks like "C.R.E.A.M." and "Method Man." That said, the gritty,
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