Release Round-Up: Week of December 19
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today. Just a heads-up, friends, that this is our final Release Round-Up of the year…but this feature will be back in mid-January once the number of releases gets back to a state of relative normalcy. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Todd Rundgren, Solo in Clearwater (Cleopatra) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Cleopatra releases a set from Todd Rundgren’s 2003 solo tour recorded in Clearwater, Florida on January 28. Tunes include “Love…
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Frank Sinatra, “Long Ago, Far Away (1943-1951)”
This week, the a cappella vocal group Pentatonix notched its first-ever number one on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. More remarkably, the song was first recorded in 1937, written by a composer-lyricist who died in 1989, and features a vocalist who passed away in 1998. The song is “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm,” the songwriter is Irving Berlin, and the duet partner is, of course, Frank Sinatra. With this achievement, Sinatra returned to the top of the AC chart for the first time since September 30, 1967, when “The…
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Eternity’s Children, “Eternity’s Children” and “Timeless”
As temperatures drop and winter approaches, a little sunshine is always welcome…and High Moon Records has delivered with a pair of reissues from the cult-favorite pop band known as Eternity’s Children. The label behind Sly and The Family Stone’s The First Family: Live at Winchester Cathedral 1967 and the expanded edition of Lotti Golden’s Motor-Cycle has returned 1968’s Eternity’s Children and 1969’s Timeless to vinyl for the first time since their original releases. By the time the Mississippi band arrived on Capitol Records’ Tower imprint for their debut LP, the ranks had…
The Weekend Stream: December 13, 2025
Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. There’s even more holiday gifts today: new takes on a film music legend, a decade-spanning dance mash-up, more centennial celebrations for a Rat Pack icon, plus some deep country and modern rock treasures. Cécilia Tsan, Sara Andon & Simone Pedroni, John Williams Reimagined: Home Alone (Warner Classics/Erato/Parlophone) (Apple / Amazon) In 2024, soundtrack reissue producer Robert Townson assembled cellist Tsan, flautist Andon and pianist Pedroni for a most intriguing…
Release Round-Up: Week of December 12
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles in stores today. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here 50 (Pink Floyd/Legacy) 2CD/4LP/Blu-ray/7″: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada The 50th anniversary edition of the Pink Floyd classic is available in a variety of formats: A 2CD or 3LP set pairs the original album with nine bonus tracks: three from the “Immersion Edition” box set released in 2011 and six previously unreleased outtakes and…
Wired For Sound: Edsel Boxes Hank Marvin Solo Albums on “The Studio Album Collection 1982-1995”
Brian Robson Rankin of Newcastle-upon-Tyne moved to London while still a teenager, armed with a guitar and a dream. He adopted the name Hank Marvin, melding his childhood nickname of “Hank” with the first name of American country singer Marvin Rainwater, and put on a pair of glasses inspired by Buddy Holly’s. His school friend Bruce Welch joined him, and before long, the pair had met Cliff Richard’s manager. In 1959, Richard’s band then known as The Drifters became The Shadows, and Richard, Marvin, Welch, and Brian Bennett (who replaced drummer Tony…
Long Train Runnin’: The Doobie Brothers’ “The Captain and Me” Returns as Audiophile Blu-ray
Hot on the heels of a recent, lengthy 50th anniversary tour and the 2025 album Walk This Road (both of which reunited the band with Michael McDonald), The Doobie Brothers will revisit 1973’s their 2x Platinum third album, The Captain & Me, in a new Audiophile Edition. It’s due January 9 on Blu-ray from Rhino. The Captain & Me built on the success of its predecessor, the California band’s breakthrough Toulouse Street, and kicked off a run of seven consecutive top 10 album smashes for the Doobies. The album balanced Tom Johnston’s hard…
UPDATE: How’s About Some Hot Stuff: Massive Donna Summer Singles CD Box Set Now Due in January
It’s a box set fit for a queen (of disco): Donna Summer’s singles are being chronicled in a major way. Summer Time: The Singles Collection 1974-2010, coming January 30, 2026 from the late singer’s Driven by the Music catalogue imprint, is set to be a staggering tribute to Summer’s decades-long presence as a dancefloor filler. Timed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of her breakthrough hit “Love to Love You, Baby,” this 40CD set will highlight five decades’ worth of single sides she issued all over the world, from early Dutch single-only tracks…
Holiday Gift Guide Review: The Rolling Stones, “Black and Blue: Super Deluxe Edition”
The World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band was in a period of transition. In December 1974, guitarist Mick Taylor announced he was leaving The Rolling Stones. The Stones had already weathered the loss of Brian Jones in 1969 and now they were, once again, without a guitarist. The sound of music was changing, too, with the rise of punk and disco even as prog and heavy rock remained entrenched on the charts. Where did that leave the band who had just proclaimed “It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll (But I Like It)” on…
The Weekend Stream: December 5, 2025
Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. You’ve been good so far this Christmas season, so we’re giving you this present a day early – with new tracks from Guns N’ Roses, live tracks from The Hooters and one of our favorite bands for Bandcamp Friday! The Hooters, 45 Alive – Keswick Live in Concert (self-released) (Apple / Amazon) Philly band The Hooters – perhaps best known for the melodica-augmented 1985 hit “And We Danced” among its…
Release Round-Up: Week of December 5
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles out today! As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Judy Collins, The ’60s Singles (Second Disc/Real Gone) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Real Gone Music Judy Blue Eyes Vinyl LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Real Gone Music Judy Collins’ The ’60s Singles brings together, for the first time, the remarkable array of 45s on which the singer’s discography was built. With songs by Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Randy Newman, Sandy Denny, Eric Andersen, and Joni Mitchell – including the international smash “Both…
OUT TOMORROW! Judy Collins’ “The ’60s Singles” Arrives from Real Gone Music, Second Disc Records
It’s no exaggeration to state that Judy Collins transformed the sound of folk music. With a crystalline voice and a songbook blurring traditional genre lines, the Seattle native came to prominence in the fertile Greenwich Village stomping grounds of New York City. The luminous Collins – a classical piano prodigy, talented guitarist, gifted adapter and later, songwriter, and singer with a three-octave range – signed with Jac Holzman’s Elektra Records in 1961 and remained an Elektra artist for nearly two-and-a-half decades. Tomorrow, December 5, Real Gone Music and Second Disc Records will revisit…
Every Little Counts: New Order 2CD Expansions and Blu-ray Surround Mixes to Be Released
A quartet of slimmed-down New Order reissues are due this week, alongside new Blu-ray Audio editions of three of their early albums. Rhino has released “Definitive Edition” box sets of the influential British electronic band’s first four albums in recent years: 1981’s Movement in 2019, 1983’s Power, Corruption & Lies in 2020, 1985’s Low-Life in 2023 and 1986’s Brotherhood in 2024. Each heavy-duty set came with the remastered album on CD and vinyl, a bonus CD of mostly unreleased material and troves of rare video content on Blu-ray. (The original B-sides and 12″ versions, included on late ’00s…
Love’s Great Adventure: Ultravox’s ‘The Collection’ Goes Deluxe on CD/Blu-ray Box
One of the year’s last big catalogue titles is a new expansion of Ultravox’s The Collection, due out tomorrow, December 5. Originally released in 1984 and collecting more than a dozen singles from the band’s most popular early ’80s run, the set has now been greatly expanded to provide an even more complete picture of the group’s “classic,” Midge Ure-led line-up, encompassing hits, B-sides, 15 previously unreleased mixes and a trove of rare video footage. Central to all deluxe formats (a 4CD/2 Blu-ray box set and a 4LP edition pressed on clear vinyl)…
In Memoriam: Steve Cropper (1941-2025)
It’s a sad fact that so much of America’s musical infrastructure – the men and women whose session work powered thousands of pop chart hits and significant recordings – exists in near-obscurity. Consider The Funk Brothers, that collective of R&B musicians in Detroit who powered nearly every Motown session in the label’s golden age. Fans and collectors still sift through the vagaries of paperwork and memory to determine who lent their instruments to which song; the unofficial group’s members would be credited by name at the insistence of Marvin Gaye on his…
Bring Back All the Memories: Maroon 5 Release ‘Singles Collection’ in Japan
Though their decade-plus of radio ubiquity certainly merits a compilation of some sort in their homeland, Universal Music Group has yet to anthologize the work of pop band Maroon 5 stateside. However, a new compilation from UMG’s Japanese branch offers a summary of the group across nearly two decades. The Singles Collection offers 21 tracks, nearly all of which were Top 40 hits in America, including chart-toppers “Makes Me Wonder,” “Moves Like jagger,” “One More Night” and “Girls Like You” plus sizable radio staples like “She Will Be Loved,” “Payphone,” “Sugar” and “Memories.”…
Blockheads, Haircuts, Stones and a T. Rex: Edsel Preps Multiple Full-Album Box Sets
With only a few weeks until Christmas, Edsel is prepping a host of multi-album box sets and vinyl reissues up for consideration under your tree. The four below titles span a few icons and notable names of British rock in the ’70s and ’80s – and two of them even include unheard material from the artists’ respective vaults! First up is Too Nutty to Be Naughty (Studio Recordings 1977-2002), a celebration of the late Ian Dury. The post-punk renaissance man – as at home as the frontman of Stiff stalwarts The Blockheads (they…
Q’s Cues: New ‘Écoutez Le Cinéma’ Box Celebrates the Music of Quincy Jones
When Rhino released Q: The Musical Biography of Quincy Jones – a 4CD, 74-track collection – in 2001, it was a valiant attempt to tell a story that was still being written. The gifted bandleader, composer and producer, who passed away at the age of 91 in 2024, had an enduring way with sound, be it jazz, pop, R&B, rock or even film and television scoring. His decades of work with the 20th century’s greatest luminaries made him a tremendous (if controversial) raconteur, with countless stories to tell and luminaries to work alongside….
THE SECOND DISC’S 2025 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE IS HERE!
Well, today is Cyber Monday, 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 over 50 essential selections: sprawling box sets and deluxe vinyl editions, as well as noteworthy releases on CD from favorite artists that just might make great stocking stuffers. So just click here or visit the handy red…
TSD Announces “Once in a Lifetime: A Sammy Davis, Jr. Centennial Celebration”
He was an American original…He was one of the last great exponents of a disappearing art. He told me once, ‘The world doesn’t owe me anything, because I did it myself.’ – Tony Bennett [Sammy] literally could do everything and he just looked so good…I could only tap. – Gregory Hines I wish the world could have known Sam as I did. Sam never gave less than 100% when he was on stage, and he gave even more to those of us lucky enough to call him friend…It was a generous God…
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Prince and The Revolution, ‘Around the World in a Day (Deluxe Expanded Edition)’
In theory, the posthumous care and handling of an esteemed discography with the deep potential for archival excavation like Prince’s would be an easy if daunting task. When the pop icon died unexpectedly in 2016 with no will and considerable assets to settle, the art of memorializing him through reissues moved with almost shocking precision: solid expansions of several of his best-loved ’80s albums, a handful of notable archival one-offs, and the reinstatement of his digital and physical catalogue of the ’90s and ’00s back into print. After the estate settled in…
The Weekend Stream: November 29, 2025
Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. Our Black Friday bonanza offers the return of Let’s Active, a new Stranger Things mini-mixtape, an unlikely team-up between two recent Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees, and one Record Store Day title that dropped yesterday. Plus, a tribute to a Minneapolis legend who was always on Time. Let’s Active, Afoot / Cypress / Big Plans for Everybody / Every Dog Has His Day (I.R.S./Capitol) Afoot: Apple / Amazon Cypress: Apple / Amazon Big Plans: Apple…
The Second Disc’s Guide to Record Store Day Black Friday 2025
From all of us here at Second Disc HQ to all of you, we hope you’ve enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving in the company of beloved family and friends. (And with plenty of delicious food, too!) Now, Record Store Day’s annual Black Friday event is upon us, so we’re spotlighting a dozen of the most eagerly anticipated releases arriving to your local independent brick-and-mortar record shop! Here are our personal picks for RSD BF must-haves; visit Record Store Day’s official website for a list of participating retailers. Happy Listening, and have a great…
Release Round-Up: Week of November 28
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! With Record Store Day’s Black Friday event taking place today, the slate is usually a small one…not so this year, though, thanks to Rhino’s CD releases of numerous RSD titles. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Neil Young, Tonight’s the Night 50 (Reprise/NYA) 1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Greedy Hand Store 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Greedy Hand Store Clear Vinyl: Greedy Hand Store Neil Young’s sixth album, released in 1975 but mostly recorded two years earlier, was the closer to his “Ditch Trilogy.”…
Holiday Gift Guide Review: The Beatles, “Anthology Collection”
1995: Bill Clinton was President of the U.S., John Major was Prime Minister of the U.K., phones weren’t yet smart, Braveheart won Best Picture, the O.J. trial was on everyone’s mind, Jerry Garcia died, and the biggest songs of the year were Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” (U.S.) and Robson and Jerome’s “Unchained Melody/White Cliffs of Dover” (U.K.). In November, the band that changed pop music forever launched its first major archival project at a time when such vault deep dives weren’t yet (so) commonplace. The Beatles Anthology was a true multimedia venture, encompassing…