In today’s radically-changed music climate, it should come as no surprise that record labels are trying many different series and business models to figure out just what the heck will sell. These releases aren’t necessarily aimed at the audience reading this site, most often targeting the casual music buyer. As such, these greatest hits series – whether Sony’s The Essential…, Universal’s 20th Century Masters or EMI’s Classic Masters, just to name a few – tend to be scorned by many collectors as
Reissue Theory: Tears for Fears, "Elemental"
One of the hardest parts of being a reissue fan is waiting. Sometimes a project will get announced, then delayed or cancelled outright. Those long gaps between reissues can be irksome, particularly when the delay time fails to lead to any improvement or innovation in the packaging and presentation of a catalogue title. Other times, though, the reason behind the lack of a reissue is simply that nobody thinks to re-release it. Take, for instance, one of the better bands of the 1980s - Tears for
Boldly Going Back
Man, it's been a good week for Star Trek music enthusiasts. First Film Score Monthly announces a brand-new deluxe reissue of James Horner's score to Star Trek III: The Search for Spock last week. And now, Varese Sarabande has jumped ahead on the Trek timeline to give fans another new deluxe set: starting June 14, the label will ship Star Trek: The Deluxe Edition, featuring the complete score to last year's fantastic reboot of the sci-fi series. As if the movie wasn't great enough on its own
The Second Disc State of the Union
Readers: we need to talk. It's nothing bad. The Second Disc isn't going away, isn't reducing its output, nothing like that. We just need to talk about a few things. Around five months ago, The Second Disc was started with a list of great reissues that were released in 2009. It was a post copied from a Facebook note written some weeks before. A modest beginning, to be sure. It's hard to have high expectations about anything you're just starting out on, particularly a blog. How many blogs must
Hip-o Loves Lofgrin
A late announcement for readers: Hip-o Select has begun taking pre-orders for another reissue from Nils Lofgren. Since 2007, the label has been remastering and reissuing the solo works of Lofgren, of course best known as one of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band members for the past quarter-century. Thus far, his original band Grin's final LP, Gone Crazy (1973) and solo efforts Nils Lofgren (1975), Back It Up!! Live-An Authorized Bootleg (1975) and Cry Tough (1976) - all originally released on
Friday Feature: A Discful of "Dollars"
Blame the continuing heat in the Northeast. Blame the recent release of video game Red Dead Redemption. But it's just a good time for some great music from the "spaghetti Westerns," that subgenre of film where the Italian film community emulated and built upon the traditions of the American Western picture. Ask any film scholar and they'll likely tell you that few directors contributed more for the genre than Sergio Leone - and futhermore, that his best works had Ennio Morricone providing a
Back Tracks: Billy Idol
Lately, I've been unable to turn the radio dial to a rock-oriented radio station without happening on the music of Billy Idol. There's nothing wrong with that - Idol was one of the best artists of the '80s - but it's a bit jarring, if only because it's hard to think of Billy Idol as a rocker, in the truest sense. Sure, his music is dominated by some excellent guitar (usually from the axe of the fantastic Steve Stevens), and it has a bit of an edge thanks to Idol's irrepressible snarling vocals.
Paying the Price
Next week is going to be much more comfortable when it comes to posting on The Second Disc. After several months of bitterly typing and researching over a creaky, aging Dell PC (having lost a nearly-just-as-creaky Thinkpad T60 laptop), the weekend should see your humble correspondent upgrading to a Macbook. As a lifelong Windows user (barring my time writing and editing for my newspaper in college), it's an unusual but worthwhile transition, and I can't wait to regain simple pleasures like
Our Castle and Our Keep
After yesterday's Miles Davis pricing madness, The Second Disc brings you some much more appreciable madness, through another set of reissues by Madness, one of the best-known ska acts of the '80s. Continuing the band's ongoing reissue project, Salvo and Union Square Music has prepped the band's fourth and fifth LPs, The Rise & Fall (1982) and Keep Moving (1984), as double-disc deluxe reissues. Both sets will feature various remixes, B-sides and promo videos to boot. It's notable that The
Review: Otis Redding, "Live on the Sunset Strip"
“Are you ready for star time?” Considering that the star in question was “the one and only, Volt recording star Otis Redding," the answer was bound to be in the affirmative. That was the introduction granted Redding by emcee Al Brisko Clark at West Hollywood’s Whisky A Go Go on the evenings of April 8, 9 and 10, 1966. The Whisky was the happening nightspot on the Sunset Strip in ’66, immortalized by Johnny Rivers on a 1964 LP and frequented by a who’s who of the Los Angeles music scene. (See
Miles More
Eighty-four years ago today, Miles Dewey Davis III was brought into the world. His contributions to the fabric of American music - jazz, pop, rock, whatever you want to call it - are immense. Accordingly, he has been celebrated often by the label with which he had his greatest successes, Columbia Records. Last year, the label released The Complete Columbia Album Collection, a 70 CD/1 DVD box set which captured just that: every one of the LPs Davis recorded for the label from 1957 to 1985. It
Put Him Back In, Coach
It's been known for awhile that John Fogerty's 1985 album Centerfield was slated for a reissue by the folks at Geffen and UMe. Now, the bonus tracks are known. According to both the press release and this story from Billboard, Fogerty - who, in a perfect stroke of timing and publicity, is being honored in July by the Baseball Hall of Fame for the album's iconic title track - will include two B-sides released during the Eye of the Zombie era, "My Toot Toot" and "I Confess," in addition to the
The Setlist Situation
When Legacy announced a new compilation series called Setlist, featuring some of their roster's greatest hits in a live setting, some fans understandably started scratching their heads. The label's Playlist series, from which this new series obviously drew inspiration, made sense on a few levels. They were compilations priced for the budget-conscious, and sometimes had a few bones thrown to hardcore collectors in the form of single-only mixes or edits. For Setlist, however, the premise seems
SRV Track List Unveiled
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble's second LP, Couldn't Stand the Weather, was recently confirmed to be reissued as a Legacy Edition title from Sony. Now, it has a track list. The two-disc set will feature the original LP and 11 outtakes on Disc 1. (Three of them are unreleased, the others are from a previous reissue and/or the posthumously assembled LP The Sky is Crying.) Disc 2 captures the complete late set from the band's performance at Montreal's Spectrum in August 1984. Pre-order
What They Did is No Longer Secret
Depending on who you ask, West Coast hardcore pioneers The Germs wanted to do one thing when they reunited at L.A.'s Starwood Club: they wanted to put punk rock into perspective for a new generation unfamiliar with their style. By all accounts, that happened; fans have called that show - done just four days before lead singer Darby Crash overdosed on heroin - The Germs' greatest ever. Now, fans will have the opportunity to judge for themselves, thanks to Rhino Handmade's newest release, Live at
Soundtrack News Round-Up: Spock, Mancini and Spartacus
Well, here's a nice surprise. Following their masterfully-done expansion of James Horner's score to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan last year, Film Score Monthly presents a double-disc reissue of Horner's Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. The unlimited set includes the complete score on one disc and the original LP presentation on the other. Intrada's announced some new titles as well. Les Baxter's score to The Beast Within and Henry Mancini's jazzy soundtrack to 99 and 44/100% Dead!, both
R&B Releases: A Classic "Thing," Plus Some Buried Grooves
If you're itching for some vintage R&B from around the way, a few labels have some new releases to keep you satisfied. One is a classic soul LP making its debut on CD, the other two are some solid disco efforts with some bonus cuts to boot. Iconoclassic Records has planned a June 22 reissue of It's Our Thing by The Isley Brothers. Released on the Isleys' own label after leaving a solid but fleetingly successful tenure at Motown, this disc includes the funky, anthemic "It's Your Thing." This
News Roundup: Going for the Gold
Yet another sub-genre of the catalogue world is the audiophile reissue. Companies like Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, Audio Fidelity and Analogue Productions specialize in reissuing classic titles for an audiophile audience, often utilizing the original master tapes for a release on gold CD, hybrid SACD or high-quality LP. With excellent sound quality as the main mandate, bonus tracks and new liner notes are rare on these releases which generally intend to replicate the original artwork and
From The King of the New York Streets to The Wolf King of L.A.
It seems that the Cherry Red family of labels' slogan should be "expect the unexpected." Each label is run by a different team, resulting in an extremely diverse array of offerings. Steve Stanley's Now Sounds celebrates, but isn't strictly limited to, the musical era of 1964-1972. Past reissues have encompassed such styles as harmony and sunshine pop (Roger Nichols and the Small Circle of Friends, The Association), folk (Janis Ian), light psychedelia (Colours), "Bacharock" (The Golden Gate) and
The Trend
When The Second Disc's Exile on Main St. poll was posted, I mentioned that I had noticed a rather unusual trend in the purchase of the various deluxe sets that were available. As a member of the electronics/entertainment staff at a Target store, I was able to track a few of the big sets, some of which were only available through our retailers. Target was the only place to get the bonus disc of the deluxe edition (that is, the Rarities Edition), as well as the fan pack which bundled a t-shirt
Weekend Release Round-Up: SRV, Jayhawks, Sum 41 and More
This was a busy week for catalogue fans, what with the Elvis revelation from the other day and reactions to the new Exile on Main St. sets. Here, to close out the week, are a few announcements that fell through the cracks. The long-planned Legacy Edition of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble's 1985 sophomore LP Couldn't Stand the Weather now has a release date: July 27. The set will feature bonus tracks from the original recording sessions and a previously-unreleased live show on Disc 2.
Reissue Theory: Galactic Novelties
The Star Wars saga continues at The Second Disc with a trove of often-ridiculous but always intriguing musical curios devoted to the films. It's as much a story of disco and a rock legend from New Jersey as it is about Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. And it's yours to read after the jump.
Friday Feature: The Star Wars Trilogy
It was three decades ago today that The Empire Strikes Back was released. Much has been written about what the movie did for the Star Wars trilogy as a cultural force (no pun intended), for sequels in general and so on. But let's not kid ourselves here: when Empire first came out, it was not seen as the masterpiece it is now. The New York Times gave this film - easily the most watchable of the three Star Wars movies - a largely negative write-up. But whatever the merit of such reviews nowadays,
Fit for a King
Count your pennies, readers: Legacy is set to announce a box set that will be one heck of a collector's item. You might want to sit down for these, especially if you're a fan of...The King. Elvis Presley: The Complete Masters. It's happening. Thirty(!) discs of 711 tracks. It's everything you could imagine for Elvis - listed as "every song Elvis recorded for release during his lifetime in a single collection" plus "103 additional tracks, rarities and a 240-page hardbound book featuring an
Miles and Miles of Miles
Well, damn. After blowing minds in the jazz world with last year's The Complete Columbia Album Collection, Legacy gears up a few more Miles Davis reissues that are sure to pique the interests of devoted listeners and rarity hunters. On August 31, Columbia and Legacy will re-release the trumpeter's acclaimed Bitches Brew as a Legacy Edition. The original album in its eight-track studio mix (as opposed to more recent digital remixes) will be enhanced with bonus session tracks and a newly-released
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