Review: Aretha Franklin, "Aretha"

By Joe Marchese | August 13, 2021 | 8 Comments

R-E-S-P-E-C-T.  Otis Redding may have written the song, but Aretha Franklin owned it.  The singer was only in her mid-20s when she left Columbia Records after five years and seven albums but she wasted no time in making music history when she signed with Atlantic Records in December 1966.  By the middle of 1967, she'd […]

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I'm Leavin': Legacy Collects Elvis' Final Nashville Sessions in Remixed Form on "Back in Nashville"

By The Second Disc | August 13, 2021 | 5 Comments

The annual Elvis Week kicked off at Graceland on Wednesday, August 11 with numerous events, activities, and presentations honoring the King of Rock and Roll.  Yesterday, Legacy Recordings announced its major Elvis release for 2021, and it's one that picks up directly from last year's release.  Elvis: Back in Nashville, due on November 12, is […]

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Release Round-Up: Week of August 13

By The Second Disc | August 13, 2021 | 3 Comments

Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Various Artists, Rip It Up: The Best of Specialty Records (Craft Recordings) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Craft Recordings' 75th anniversary campaign for groundbreaking R&B label Specialty Records kicks off with Rip It Up: The Best of Specialty Records on CD, LP, and digital platforms.  The […]

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Kick Your Door Down: The Replacements Go Back to the Beginning for Deluxe Box of Debut Album

By The Second Disc | August 12, 2021 | 5 Comments

The Replacements burst onto the scene with 1981's Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash.  The Minneapolis band's debut arrived on the city's independent Twin/Tone label, its eighteen punk nuggets (more than half of which were under two minutes in length) imbued with a pop accessibility and reckless, rebellious spirit.  Lead singer/songwriter/guitarist Paul Westerberg, […]

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Put on a Happy Face: Jasmine Reissues, Expands Dick Van Dyke's "Songs I Like"

By Joe Marchese | August 11, 2021 | 5 Comments

In an extraordinary showbiz career spanning almost 75 years, perennial song-and-dance man Dick Van Dyke has only recorded three solo albums (in addition to his appearances on best-selling cast albums and soundtracks, that is!).  While two of those - 2017's Step Back in Time and 2009's Put on a Happy Face, the latter with his […]

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