7a Records, hot off its recent reissue of Macy Gray's jazz/R&B gem Stripped, has returned to the milieu of The Monkees with the latest in its series of expanded and remastered 50th anniversary reissues from the catalogue of Michael Nesmith. Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash is out now in CD and 180-gram gray vinyl formats, both of which add the alternate RCA version of "Marie's Theme" as a bonus track. As detailed in the always-compelling liner notes by Andrew Sandoval, Nesmith's
Release Round-Up: Week of March 17
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! U2, Songs of Surrender (Interscope) 4CD (40 tracks): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 4LP (40 tracks): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Deluxe CD (20 tracks): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada CD (16 tracks): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP (16 tracks): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada U2 is revisiting its discography on the new project Songs of Surrender. The album takes its name from the
First Time: 7a Records Reissues Macy Gray's Jazz Gem "Stripped" on CD and Vinyl
In April 2016, Macy Gray entered an old church in Greenpoint, Brooklyn to record one of the most distinctive albums of her career. Stripped, originally released on the Chesky Records label, matched the R&B diva with a jazz quartet. On original songs, favorites from her discography, and unexpected covers alike, Gray's smoky rasp took full flight. On March 17, 7a Records - the label best-known for its deep dives into the world of The Monkees - reissues Stripped for the very first time on
Holy Mackerel! Hanky Panky Collects Early Paul Williams on Two New LPs
He might have been born a someday man, but Paul Williams has proven himself to be a forever artist. A modern-day renaissance man, the Nebraska native tried his luck as an actor, a songwriter, and a singer from his earliest days in Los Angeles. A brief three-month stint peddling his tunes at The Turtles' home of White Whale Records ended in disappointment when Williams was shown the door. But he didn't have to wait long for a new opportunity. A friend played his songs for Herb Alpert and
The Year In Review: The 2022 Gold Bonus Disc Awards, From A to Z - Part One
Happy 2023! Welcome, friends, to The Second Disc's 13th Annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards! A lot has happened in the last twelve months, but as we look to a new year with optimism and a hopeful spirit, we recognize the many roles music has played in our lives. With that spirit in mind, The Second Disc wishes to recognize 2022's cream of the catalogue music crop - those exemplary reissues and box sets, big and small, that proved to be truly outstanding for music lovers worldwide. Despite the
THE SECOND DISC'S 2022 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE IS HERE!
Cyber Monday is upon us today, which means one thing at Second Disc HQ: it's time to launch our annual Holiday Gift Guide, featuring (more than) a few of our favorite things for the music enthusiast in your life. Sure, we might not have included raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens, but we've filled the guide with more than 50 essential selections: sprawling box sets as well as releases from favorite artists that just might make great stocking stuffers. So just click here or visit the
The Weekend Stream Labor Day Special: Spotlight on WIWS Radio with John and Chrissy Sellards
Welcome to a special edition of The Weekend Stream for the long Labor Day weekend! Longtime readers might have noticed that adorable owl perched comfortably atop The Second Disc. He's the mascot for WIWS Radio, an online radio station dedicated to '50s and '60s classics in authentic AM radio sound. We'd like to introduce you to John and Chrissy Sellards, the couple behind WIWS. John is already well known to Second Disc readers for his design work on most of our Second Disc Records releases.
In Memoriam: Olivia Newton-John (1948-2022)
Olivia, we honestly love you. Sandy, the good girl of Rydell High. Kira, the Olympian muse who inspires the roller disco paradise, Xanadu. Livvy, the girl singer who dreams of the big time but must first take to the cosmos. Olivia Newton-John was all of these and more. The singer who sweetly asked "Have You Never Been Mellow" and implored us to get "Physical" in the 1980s' longest-charting Number One was a dedicated activist for environmental and animal rights, and a courageous advocate
Loose Salute: Michael Nesmith's "Different Drum: The Lost RCA Victor Recordings" Comes to Vinyl in August
You asked, we answered! Since Michael Nesmith's Different Drum: The Lost RCA Victor Recordings premiered on CD in April 2021 from Real Gone Music and Second Disc Records, we've been inundated with requests for a vinyl edition. In a little over two weeks, on August 5, the 22-track anthology will make its debut in the format as a deluxe gatefold 2-LP set pressed on "blue smoke" vinyl. Let's fill you in with our official press release: Michael Nesmith long travelled to the beat of a "Different
Release Round-Up: Week of July 15
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! The Beatles, Get Back (Apple/Disney) DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada After a manufacturing delay scuttled a release earlier this year, The Beatles: Get Back finally made it to DVD and Blu-ray on Tuesday. Both presentations offer director Peter Jackson's three-part, 468-minute Get Back on three discs - one part per disc. No additional bonus features have been included, although
Release Round-Up: Week of July 8
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles out today! George Michael, Older: Deluxe Edition (Legacy) 5CD/3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada George Michael's third solo album - and the one he believed to be his finest - returns from Legacy Recordings in a new 5CD/3LP edition and a 2LP set. This expansion of 1996's Older features both the remastered album and the EP Upper (included with
Never Enough: 7a Reissues, Expands Micky Dolenz's "Demoiselle"
7a Records' debut release in 2015 was Micky Dolenz's The MGM Singles Collection, a lavish package (first on vinyl and then on expanded CD) collecting the singer and forever Monkee's early '70s output for the MGM family of labels. 7a has released a number of Dolenz titles over the years including his acclaimed new studio album Dolenz Sings Nesmith; on August 5, the label will return to his discography with an expanded reissue of 1998's Demoiselle. The private-press CD was offered via mail order
I Remember the Feeling: 7a Records Reissues Studio and Live Albums from Dolenz, Jones, Boyce and Hart
The names of Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart have long been inextricably linked with that of The Monkees. The duo penned many of the band's most familiar songs including "(Theme From) 'The Monkees,'" "I Wanna Be Free," "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone," "Valleri," and the chart-topping "Last Train to Clarksville." So when promoters were seeking a Monkees reunion in the mid-1970s, and with Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork unavailable, it's unsurprising that Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz turned to Boyce
You Are My One: 7a Records Reissues Michael Nesmith's "Tantamount to Treason Volume One" in June
Even before the May 13 reissue of Michael Nesmith's And the Hits Just Keep on Comin' arrives from 7a Records, the Monkees-focused label has announced a second 50th anniversary reissue from the late singer-songwriter. On June 3, 7a will reissue 1972's Tantamount to Treason Volume One on vinyl and in an expanded edition on CD. Tantamount to Treason Volume One was actually Nesmith's first album of 1972, preceding Hits by roughly six months. The LP was the first and only one credited to Michael
Harmony Constant: 7a Records Reissues, Expands Michael Nesmith's "And The Hits Just Keep On Comin'" For Its 50th Anniversary
"I realized early on that Red was the magic carpet," the late Michael Nesmith observed to this author in 2020 of his longtime collaborator Orville "Red" Rhodes. "I began to realize this guy is on another level...He's playing music up at the highest jazz levels, but he's playing all by himself. I thought it was some of the most inspired and celestial pedal steel guitar music -which was like an impossibility, but it really was." Perhaps no release better epitomizes the intuitive, almost
In Memoriam: Michael Nesmith (1942-2021)
Less than one month ago, on November 14, Michael Nesmith and Micky Dolenz brought their final tour as The Monkees to a close on the stage of Los Angeles' Greek Theater. The show opened with Nesmith's "Good Clean Fun," released in 1969 on The Monkees Present. The wistful reflection builds to a sweetly triumphant proclamation which the duo delivered with relish: Well, the plane is finally down/And the engines stopped their sound And I look in the crowd and there you stand And the gap that
In Memoriam: Keith Allison (1942-2021)
The Second Disc mourns the loss of singer-songwriter-musician-producer Keith Allison, 79, best known for his time as a member of Paul Revere and The Raiders. The Texas-born singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist had already toured with artists including Ray Peterson and The Crickets when he was plucked from the audience at the Whisky A' Go-Go and groomed for stardom on the weekday music show Where the Action Is. In a classic case of "right place, right time," busy session musician
Take The Red Pill: Real Gone Reissues "The Matrix" and "Vanilla Sky" Soundtracks on Vinyl In December
Adding to its eclectic slate, Real Gone Music has announced a pair of soundtrack vinyl reissues hitting stores in December: The Matrix: Music from the Motion Picture due on December 3 and Music from Vanilla Sky, due on December 10. To tie in with The Matrix: Resurrections, the somewhat unexpected fourth movie in the sci-fi franchise due in theaters on December 22, Real Gone is re-releasing a vinyl edition of the soundtrack to the original Matrix film on December 3. Real Gone first brought
OUT TOMORROW: Michael Nesmith's "Different Drum: The Lost RCA Victor Recordings" from Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music
Tomorrow - Friday, April 30 - is the date for the first Second Disc Records/Real Gone Music release of 2021 - and it's one that's been years in the making! Michael Nesmith has always travelled to the beat of a "Different Drum" - whether as the writer of that classic hit for Linda Ronstadt and The Stone Poneys, the wool hat-clad member of The Monkees, or one of the earliest progenitors of the country-rock genre. In recent years, Nesmith has penned the critically acclaimed
Pretend to Be Nice: Adam Schlesinger Tribute Album Gets 3LP Release from Vinyl Me, Please
Fans all over the world were pained when Adam Schlesinger died a year and a day ago - one of pop music's first major casualties of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Dozens of musicians turned that pain into celebration over the summer with Saving for a Custom Van, a lengthy tribute album from Father/Daughter Records and Wax Nine that raised money for MusiCares' ongoing COVID relief efforts. Now vinyl lovers can add the set to their collection, thanks to a 3LP release coming from Vinyl Me,
Release Round-Up: Week of April 2
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Allen Ginsberg, At Reed College: The First Recorded Reading of Howl and Other Poems (Omnivore) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The first public reading of Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" took place at San Francisco's Six Gallery in October 1955, but that performance wasn't recorded. It was long believed that the first recorded reading was in March 1956 in Berkeley, California, but that turned out not to be the case. On February 13 and 14,
Propinquity: 7a Records Announces Micky's "Dolenz Sings Nesmith" For May Release
Micky Dolenz and Michael Nesmith have shared a musical journey together since 1966 when The Monkees first hit the NBC airwaves and the group's chart-topping debut album arrived in stores on the Colgems label. When COVID-19 unexpectedly struck one year ago, Dolenz and Nesmith were preparing to take to the road once again for An Evening with The Monkees; once the virus rendered that impossible, Dolenz got to work on a celebration of his dedicated friend's classic songs. The result is Dolenz
Second Disc Records, Real Gone Music Premiere Michael Nesmith's "Different Drum: The Lost RCA Victor Recordings" on CD in April
The Second Disc is proud to announce the first Second Disc Records/Real Gone Music release of 2021 - and it's one that's been years in the making! Michael Nesmith has always travelled to the beat of a "Different Drum"-whether as the writer of that classic hit for Linda Ronstadt and The Stone Poneys, the wool hat-clad member of The Monkees, or one of the earliest progenitors of the country-rock genre. In recent years, Nesmith has penned the critically acclaimed autobiography Infinite Tuesday,
"It's What's Happening, Baby!" Historic, All-Star Music Special Returns To TV After 55 Years
It's What's Happening, Baby! That's the name of the 1965 television special hosted by influential New York disk jockey Murray Kaufman, a.k.a. Murray The K. Over the course of 90 minutes, the jocular, hep-talking Murray (who christened himself The Fifth Beatle as an early friend and supporter of the Fab Four) shared musical performances by the day's biggest pop and soul acts including The Supremes, Dionne Warwick, Ray Charles, The Righteous Brothers, The Miracles, Marvin Gaye, Johnny Rivers,
Short Takes: Cherry Red Spotlight on Tasmin Archer and Kevin Rowland
Today's Short Takes looks at some nice things we've missed over the past few months from Cherry Red! Yorkshire-born singer-songwriter Tasmin Archer has only released three full-length studio albums in nearly thirty years, but there's no doubt that she has practiced "quality over quantity." The title of her first LP, 1992's Great Expectations, might have been tongue-in-cheek as Archer exceeded all expectations. The opening track and first single, the rhythmic ballad "Sleeping Satellite,"
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