Bitter Sweet Symphony: The Verve’s ‘Urban Hymns’ Gets Box Set Edition
The Verve’s third album, 1997’s Urban Hymns, may be the band’s most famous in any part of the world. It’s little surprise, then, that Universal is going big for the album’s 20th anniversary with a multi-format deluxe edition due in the fall. Recorded after the band’s first breakup and reformation (with the subsequent addition of guitarist/keyboardist Simon Tong), Urban Hymns was an ambitious piece of Britpop and balladry, recorded with producers Youth and Chris Potter. Three of its singles were Top 10 hits in the U.K., including “Bitter Sweet Symphony,” the chart-topping…
Color Us Impressed: 1986 Replacements Set Makes CD Debut from Rhino
The Replacements may be done as a band (again), but Rhino is giving fans something exciting to remember, with the release of a vintage live show in October. For Sale: Live At Maxwell’s 1986 captures the Minneapolis legends (lead singer Paul Westerberg, guitarist Bob Stinson, bassist Tommy Stinson and drummer Chris Mars) for a raucous set at the famous Hoboken, New Jersey club in the winter of 1986. The band had signed to Sire Records the previous year and released their fourth album Tim; a good deal of that album features on…
Kinda Got Lost: Omnivore Details Chris Bell’s ‘I Am The Cosmos’ Reissue, Vinyl Box Set
Omnivore’s Looking Forward: The Roots of Big Star Featuring Chris Bell was the first of several planned releases from the Grammy Award-winning label showcasing the talents of Big Star co-founder Bell, who passed away in 1978. The label recently announced their next two Bell projects: a new expanded edition of the quintessential Bell collection I Am The Cosmos, and a definitive archive of his work as a 6LP box set. Prior to Rykodisc’s I Am The Cosmos in 1992, only two of the tracks (the title cut and “You and Your Sister”)…
Take My Anthem: Live’s First Album Expanded in August
Fans of ’90s alternative staple Live have had a lot to be happy about in the last few months. Late last year, after an acrimonious split, lead singer Ed Kowalczyk returned as lead singer of the band after seven years apart. With tour dates and a new album in the works, the quartet are also taking time to look back, with a newly expanded edition of their first album as Live, 1991’s Mental Jewelry. After a self-released album and EP under the moniker Public Affection, Live (Kowalczyk, guitarist Chad Taylor, bassist Patrick…
Those Dreamin’ Eyes: D’Angelo’s Debut to Be Expanded
A dip into the Second Disc Archives shows us one of our earliest Reissue Theory posts was a look at D’Angelo’s 1995 debut Brown Sugar. A lot has changed since that post was written–not only here at The Second Disc, but with D’Angelo’s career. At the tail end of 2015, the man born Michael Archer ended a 15-year silence with the release of Black Messiah, an emotionally charged old-school soul album that earned a rapturous response from critics. And with D’Angelo back in the spotlight, UMe has announced some fantastic news in…
They Can’t Take That Away From Me: Real Gone’s August Slate Concludes with Rare Radio Performances from Jo Stafford and Rosemary Clooney
We’ve told you previously about some of Real Gone Music’s releases for August, and now we’ve got the final two titles for that month: unreleased 1950s radio performances from Jo Stafford and Rosemary Clooney, both due on August 4. Jo Stafford’s It Had To Be You: Lost Radio Recordings features 24 performances from her stint as co-host (with crooner Tony Martin) of The Carnation Contented Hour on CBS Radio from 1950-1951. It features liner notes from our very own Joe Marchese. Stafford got her start in the mid-1930s as part of The Stafford…
Release Round-Up: Week of July 14
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Dusty Springfield, A Brand New Me: The Complete Philadelphia Sessions (Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Dusty Springfield’s 1970 A Brand New Me LP (her follow-up Atlantic effort to the landmark Dusty in Memphis) found Dusty traveling to Sigma Sound in Philadelphia to work with Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff and Thom Bell, architects of the orchestrated soul known as “The Philadelphia Sound.” Springfield would have a #3 AC hit with the album’s title song. Brand New Me forms the basis of…
Adventure On Earth: “E.T.” Soundtrack Album Remastered In New Blu-ray Box
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is celebrating the 35th anniversary of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial this fall–and fans of the Oscar-winning original soundtrack are in for an unexpected treat tastier than a bag of Reese’s Pieces. Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece (and the author’s unquestionable favorite film) will be released in several new packages on September 12, including a bow on the 4K Ultra HD format and a new deluxe gift set. Included in that set is a soundtrack release, which The Second Disc has confirmed is the original soundtrack album from 1982, newly remastered for…
Ace Throws a Philly Soul “House Party” with The Delfonics, Len Barry, Jerry Butler, More
What is the sound of Philadelphia? As Kent Records’ exciting compilation Nothing But a House Party: The Birth of The Philly Sound 1967-1971 readily admits, there were many such sounds – the sound of teen idols Fabian and Frankie Avalon; of “South Street” and “The Mashed Potato” and Cameo-Parkway Records; of the doo-wop of The Dreamlovers, and before that, of Italian-American singers like Mario Lanza and Al Martino. But the sound of Philadelphia referenced here is the one with capital letters – TSOP, the style perfected by the Mighty Three of Kenny…
Intrada Goes to Vietnam for Two Rare Disney Scores
Intrada has released two very different scores to two live action Disney comedies, both based on true events of the Vietnam War–as unbelievable as that may seem. Alex North’s score to Good Morning, Vietnam and David Newman’s score to Operation Dumbo Drop have been dusted off for a 2-for-1 release on CD. Good Morning, Vietnam featured late funnyman Robin Williams as Adrian Cronauer, a real-life disc jockey on the Armed Forces Radio Service. His irreverent broadcasts confound his superiors but provide a much-needed respite from the horrors of the conflict in Vietnam….
Omnivore Aim to Please with Expansion of Bash & Pop’s Debut
Tommy Stinson kicked off 2017 with a revival of his post-Replacements group Bash & Pop, featuring an all-new lineup and album. This fall, Omnivore will revisit Bash & Pop’s first album, Friday Night is Killing Me, in a generously-expanded deluxe edition. From the ashes of the ‘Mats (and with a fitting name selected through a radio station contest), Bash & Pop was Stinson (switching from bass to guitar), Replacements drummer Steve Foley, his brother Kevin on bass and second guitarist Steve Brantseg. Produced by Don Smith of Cracker and Keith Richards fame…
Berlin and Beyond: Third Bowie Box Set Announced
The newest career-spanning David Bowie box set chronicles the icon as he ends the ’70s with some of his most experimental work yet, adding rarities to spare. A New Career in a New Town (1977-1982) follows 2015’s Five Years (1969-1973) and 2016’s Who Can I Be Now? (1974-1976), offering material from five major studio and live albums: Low (1977), “Heroes” (1977), Stage (1978), Lodger (1979) and Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980). Low, “Heroes” and Lodger are, of course, referred to as the “Berlin” trilogy, wildly creative, celebrated and cutting edge albums…
Love Never Dies: Belinda Carlisle Plans ‘Heaven On Earth’ Vinyl Box
Vinyl enthusiasts and fans of Belinda Carlisle have quite the package to look forward to this year, when Edsel releases a vinyl box set edition of her second solo album, 1987’s Heaven On Earth, for its 30th anniversary. The former Go-Go’s frontwoman hit it big with her first solo single, the Top 5 hit “Mad About You,” a year prior in 1986. But Heaven On Earth is what established Carlisle as a solo performer for the ’80s and ’90s, with three Top 10 hits in the U.S. and the U.K. with the…
Say Hello to Yesterday: Mark Wynter Anthology Traces Career From Pop Hits to Rare Showtunes
Mark Wynter scored his first hit pop single at the age of seventeen in 1960 with “Image of a Girl” on the Decca label, paving the way for future U.K. smashes like “Venus in Blue Jeans” and “Go Away Little Girl.” By the end of the decade, he had taken his first steps towards an enduring theatrical career with a lead role in the musical Phil the Fluter. Flash-forward to 2016, and after decades onstage in such diverse musicals as Robert and Elizabeth, Cats, On the Twentieth Century, and Phantom of the Opera, Wynter…
I’m Goin’ Back Someday: Linda Ronstadt’s “Simple Dreams” Gets Expanded In September
Trivia: What album replaced Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours on top of the Billboard Album Chart after its 29-week stay? The answer: Linda Ronstadt’s Simple Dreams. Ronstadt’s eighth studio album, it became one of her most successful and most beloved. Now, on the occasion of its 40th anniversary, the Grammy Award-winning Simple Dreams is receiving an expanded edition from Rhino Records. It’s due on CD, vinyl LP, DD, and streaming platforms on September 22. The multi-platinum smash was Ronstadt’s fifth consecutive release to cross the one-million sales threshold in the United States, also reaching…
Really Wanna Make You Mine: Rhino Expands Jet’s First Two Albums
This summer has seen a wave of nostalgia for the modern rock boom of the early ’00s. Lizzie Goodman’s book Meet Me In the Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001-2011 has reminded music lovers of the heyday of bands like The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, LCD Soundsystem and others. But New Yor, wasn’t the only home of rock during this period; Rhino’s throwing it back to the Jet age–the Australian rock group, that is. The Melbourne-based quartet courted brief success during the early part of the last…
Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere: Ace Collects Shel Talmy Productions From The Who, David Bowie, More
An advertisement reprinted in Ace Records’ splendid new collection Making Time: A Shel Talmy Production reads, “Artistes Shel Talmy Has Recorded: The Kinks, The Bachelors, The Who, Chad and Jeremy” and so on. Add to that list Manfred Mann, The Creation, The Fortunes, Trini Lopez, Lee Hazlewood, and a certain David Bowie, and you have an idea of the scope of this first-of-its-kind collection dedicated to the work of the producer-engineer-impresario. Though born in Chicago, Talmy made his name in British pop and rock, and this collection features some of his spectacular…
Release Round-Up: Week of July 7
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up featuring our latest Second Disc Records title and much, much more! Laura Nyro, A Little Magic, A Little Kindness: The Complete Mono Albums Collection (Second Disc Records/Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music are proud to present, for the first time on CD, the ultra-rare, original mono mixes of Laura Nyro’s first two albums: More Than a New Discovery (Verve Folkways, 1967) and Eli and the Thirteenth Confession (Columbia, 1968), plus new-to-CD bonus tracks! Both albums have been newly remastered from the original mono…
COMING TOMORROW! Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music Release Laura Nyro’s “Complete Mono Albums Collection”
TOMORROW, July 7, Second Disc Records is proud to unveil its fifteenth release in conjunction with Real Gone Music – and quite possibly the title of which we’re most proud. We’re inviting you to surry to a stoned soul picnic to celebrate the music of visionary singer-songwriter Laura Nyro in the 50th anniversary year of her first release, More Than a New Discovery. Throughout the course of her life, Nyro wrote and introduced some of the most beloved popular songs of all time with her singular fusion of pop, jazz, R&B, soul,…
Home Again: Carole King Brings “Tapestry: Live in Hyde Park” to CD/DVD in September
On July 3, 2016, those people in and around London’s Hyde Park could feel the earth move. That was the date that Carole King performed her first U.K. show in 27 years, performing her complete Tapestry album in front of 65,000 enrapt fans. Now, King’s performance of the seminal 1971 album – and a few additional favorite songs – is coming to CD/DVD on September 1 in a new package from Legacy Recordings and Rockingale Records. Carole King had nothing to prove when she decamped from New York to Los Angeles at…
Up, Up and Away: Cherry Red Collects Charlie Byrd’s Sixties Pop-Jazz Recordings
Today, the name of Charlie Byrd (1925-1999) remains synonymous with jazz guitar and moreover, with the soft sounds of Brazil’s bossa nova, which he helped bring into the mainstream of American popular culture. Cherry Red’s El Records imprint has recently celebrated a key decade in Byrd’s career with a fun new compilation. Sixties Byrd draws on eight albums from the prolific artist originally released on Columbia Records between 1965 and 1969, all produced by Teo Macero (Bitches Brew, Time Out). This 24-song collection features Byrd’s soft takes on some of the decade’s…
A Second Disc Encore: July 4 Special Reissue Theory: “1776: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack”
Happy 4th of July! Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we take a look back at notable albums and the reissues they could someday see. In 1969, a Broadway musical about a most unlikely subject became the toast of New York. Three years later, a movie mogul in the twilight of his years shepherded it to the big screen, and while the film has lived on, its soundtrack album has all but disappeared. Today’s Reissue Theory, pulled from The Second Disc archives, imagines a long-overdue expansion of the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack…
Review: The Beach Boys, “1967: Sunshine Tomorrow” and “Wild Honey” (Stereo LP)
There’s nothing quite nice as a kiss of wild honey… Carl Wilson – the angelic voice from on high of “God Only Knows” – unleashed his inner soul man with a fury on “Wild Honey,” the title track of The Beach Boys’ second album of 1967. The funky, Theremin-driven ode to a “girl with the sweetness of a honey bee” opened the LP which turned out to be one of the most singular in the band’s storied catalogue. Its fusion of pulsating R&B and raw rock-and-roll, anchored by nine Brian Wilson/Mike Love…
You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Shelf: “JAWS” Score Surfaces on Vinyl by Mondo
How appropriate on this, the eve of the Fourth of July, that Mondo announces a vinyl title to keep audiences out of the water and off the beach! The specialty vinyl label will premiere John Williams’ original Oscar-winning score to Steven Spielberg’s JAWS this fall. Based on the bestseller by Peter Benchley, JAWS focused on a bustling beach community whose summer tourism boom is threatened by a massive great white shark. The chief of police (Roy Scheider), a young oceanographer (Richard Dreyfuss) and a modern-day Captain Ahab (Robert Shaw) form an unlikely…
The Monkees Celebrated On New Benefit Release “Listen to the Bands”
With its latest project, 7a Records has invited Monkees fans to Listen to the Bands – yes, plural. This recent 25-track collection features modern, independent artists all tackling Davy, Micky, Mike, and Peter’s classic songbook – and making it even more special, all profits from the limited edition album will be donated by the label to the Davy Jones Equine Memorial Foundation. Appropriately, curators Glenn Gretlund and Iain Lee of 7a have made sure that many of the famous songwriting names that dot the band’s discography are here, too, including Tommy Boyce…