Holiday Gift Guide Review: ‘Mary Poppins: 60th Anniversary Collection’
I. In Every Job That Must Be Done, There is An Element of Fun When you’re a child – no matter where you’re from, or how perceptive you may be about such things – it’s easy to get a sixth sense about something you watch or read and just feel is different from the rest of what you’ve watched or seen. The Wizard of Oz is that way for many people. So too is Mary Poppins, P.L. Travers’ series of books about a magical nanny that was adapted into a colorful musical film by Walt…
Touchin’ The Wind: Iconoclassic Expands Dwight Twilley’s “Scuba Divers” with Long-Lost “Blueprint” Sessions
Iconoclassic Records is ushering in 2025 with the newest addition to its ongoing Dwight Twilley reissue series – and this one’s a doozy, with a whopping 25 tracks (eleven of which are previously unreleased). On January 31, the label will reissue the late artist’s 1981 album Scuba Divers as Scuba Divers: Blueprint Edition, with the subtitle nodding to Twilley’s much-coveted unreleased album. Twilley, the singer-songwriter’s first solo album following two acclaimed albums with The Dwight Twilley Band, originally arrived in 1979 on Arista Records in the United States (and was reissued last…
The Weekend Stream: December 6, 2024
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. Elton John’s most recent recording gets a remix, plus some rare Prince-produced ’90s R&B, a comeback track from one of 2010s pop’s most underrated performers, and some Christmas curios you’ll have to hear to believe. There’s even a tearjerker music video from…Coldplay? Check it all out! Elton John, “Never Too Late” (Acoustic Version) (Mercury/EMI) (iTunes / Amazon) Elton’s recently released team-up with Brandi Carlile, which closes the documentary…
Release Round-Up: Week of December 6
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. Laura Nyro, Hear My Song: The Collection 1966-1995 (Madfish) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Madfish) Over three years after the release of its 8LP vinyl box set American Dreamer 1967-1978, the Madfish label is returning to the discography of late singer-songwriter Laura Nyro for the 19CD box set Hear My Song: The Collection 1966-1995. This collection includes every one of Nyro’s original studio albums, six live albums (two of which are previously…
Johnny Remember Me: Joe Meek’s Tea Chest Tapes Series Continues with John Leyton Box Set
Cherry Red’s series of Joe Meek’s Tea Chest Tapes has been rolling along prolifically in 2024. Do the Strum! collected, on 3 CDs, many of the late Meek’s productions for girl groups and female artists including Billie Davis, Glenda Collins, The Honeycombs, and many more. The Cryin’ Shames’ Please Stay, a 2-CD set, chronicled Meek’s work with the Liverpool group that scored a U.K. hit with a cover of Burt Bacharach and Bob Hilliard’s Drifters oldie “Don’t Go (Please Stay).” Now, the comprehensive, collector-oriented series has returned with a 3-CD volume dedicated…
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Bob Dylan and The Band, “The 1974 Live Recordings”
Big things often come in small packages. Such is the case with Legacy Recordings’ recent excavation of Bob Dylan and The Band’s 1974 tour. 40 concerts took place over 30 dates and 21 cities, with Dylan, Robbie Robertson, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, Levon Helm, and Rick Danko even playing two shows in one day in many markets. The 1974 Live Recordings takes the form of a tiny cube, packing in 27 discs and 431 tracks (417 of which are previously unreleased). The set contains every professionally-recorded Dylan track from the concerts, and…
Holiday Gift Guide Review: The Beatles, “1964 U.S. Albums in Mono”
Any Time at All Did The Beatles save rock and roll? If John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr didn’t save the still-young form, they certainly gifted it with a reinvigorating, exhilarating jolt of musical euphoria the likes of which hadn’t been seen before – and hasn’t been duplicated since. The scene was early 1964. Buddy Holly was long gone, and the big hits had dried up – at the moment, at least – for Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard. Elvis had served his time in the Army and…
Forty Year Ache: Rosanne Cash Collects Favorites for New Compilation
Rosanne Cash, the oldest child of a country music icon and a superb, genre-hopping performer in her own right, will commemorate a museum exhibit of her life and career with a new career-spanning 2CD retrospective. The Essential Collection brings together 40 of Cash’s most treasured recordings – half from her tenure on Columbia Records and the other from mostly 21st century work on the Capitol, Manhattan and Blue Note labels. The non-chronological set, curated by Cash herself, features all 10 of her No. 1 country singles, including “Seven Year Ache,” “I Don’t…
THE SECOND DISC’S 2024 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…
Soundtrack Watch: Varese and La-La Land Bow Their Final Score Surprises, from Blade to Bond
When La-La Land Records announced a bunch of big archival score titles for the beginning of November instead of their usual calendar-closing Black Friday announcement, it was safe to assume there were no more surprises coming from the label this year. Once again, that turned out to be quite untrue: in a reprise of last year’s Christmas Day shocker and a follow-up to their reissue of Goldfinger in October, the label has announced two more titles for 2024: a pair of lovingly-restored John Barry scores to James Bond films The Man with the…
The Weekend Stream: November 30, 2024
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. The Christmas season means favorites (quite) old and (sort of) new, plus Wang Chung’s first album and a rock and hip-hop packed slasher film soundtrack. Band Aid, Do They Know It’s Christmas? EP (Band Aid Trading Limited/UMC) EP: iTunes / Amazon Single Version: iTunes / Amazon Extended Version: iTunes / Amazon Just over four decades from its original recording and release, Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas” returns for a…
The Second Disc’s Guide to Record Store Day Black Friday 2024
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 29
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! While most labels are concentrating today on Record Store Day’s Black Friday releases, we’ve chosen to spotlight a few non-RSD titles out today, as well. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Tommy Steele, On Air (Stage Door Pop) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Stage Door Records’ Pop imprint celebrates The Happiest Millionaire and Half a Sixpence star Tommy Steele with On Air, a collection of 31 tracks culled from his 1964 U.K. radio series The Tommy Steele Show. None of these tracks have been released since their original broadcast sixty…
Mellow as a Shower on a Summer’s Day: SoulMusic Celebrates Nancy Wilson on “You’re as Right as Rain: The Capitol Albums 1970-1980”
For over 20 years, Nancy Wilson was a mainstay of the Capitol Records label. Deftly blending jazz, pop, soul, and rhythm and blues, the late chanteuse’s distinctive tone anchored collaborations with the illustrious likes of Billy May, George Shearing, Cannonball Adderley, Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, Thom Bell, Eugene McDaniels, and numerous others. A sprawling new box set from Cherry Red’s SoulMusic Records in association with The Second Disc brings her second decade with Capitol into sharp focus. Due on December 6, You’re as Right as Rain: The Capitol Albums 1970-1980 contains…
May the Funk Be With You: Cherry Red’s Robinsongs Boxes Up Five Discs of George Duke
George Duke (1946-2013) wore many hats throughout his long and varied career: keyboardist, composer, producer, arranger, singer. His solo discography encompassed 40 albums while his collaborations included LPs with such jazz luminaries as Jean-Luc Ponty, Billy Cobham, Stanley Clarke, and Dexter Gordon. He produced records for A Taste of Honey, Sister Sledge, Barry Manilow, Melissa Manchester, Miles Davis, Al Jarreau, and Smokey Robinson. Jazz was only part of the George Duke story, as his music joyfully fused the genre with the strains of soul, rhythm and blues, dance, and pop. The Cherry…
The Weekend Stream: November 23, 2024
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. We’ve got Beach Boys covers with some fascinating history related to the band, a tribute to one of the greatest musical icons we lost this year, a new single from a legend of R&B and much more – plus a call to action to help a family in need. California Music, Don’t Worry Baby EP (RCA) (iTunes / Amazon) One of the most unusual branches of the sprawling family tree…
Release Round-Up: Week of November 22
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles in stores today including a Christmas classic from Second Disc Records/Real Gone Music and a whole bunch of massive box sets! As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Sings Christmas Carols (Expanded Edition) (Second Disc/Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Real Gone Music) Over the past decade, we here at TSD have happily partnered with Real Gone Music on an array of Christmas releases from such evergreen artists as Johnny Mathis, The Supremes, Chet Atkins,…
‘A Ghost’ is Re-Born: Wilco Expand 2004 Album Into New Box Set
Following an acclaimed, Grammy-winning deluxe edition of Wilco’s mainstream breakthrough Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, the same creative team will assemble a similar set for 2004 follow-up A Ghost is Born. The deluxe set – made up of either nine CDs or nine LPs and four CDs – packages the album alongside 65 previously unreleased tracks, including two sets of studio outtakes, a live concert and seven “fundamentals” from the band’s recorded workshops during this same period. A 48-page hardcover book features unpublished photos and new liner notes by Bob Mehr. (Mehr won a Grammy…
Longer After Dark: Third Man Prep Vinyl Bootleg of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers’ 1982 Tour
This fall, Tom Petty’s estate approved an expanded reissue of Petty and The Heartbreakers’ cult favorite Long After Dark as well as a limited theatrical reissue of Heartbreakers Beach Party, a legendary lost documentary created for MTV by Cameron Crowe in his directorial debut. But the party isn’t over yet: the estate is teaming up with Third Man Records to release a vinyl-only live set for the first time. Live in Edinburgh 1982: The Gennaro Tapes is a triple album capturing a set at the Edinburgh Playhouse in Scotland at the close of 1982,…
Gotta Get In to Get Out: Genesis’ ‘The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway’ Set for Deluxe Edition Next Year
Genesis will revisit one of their most beloved albums – and their final bow with original vocalist Peter Gabriel – in a new box set next year. Announced almost 50 years to the day of its original release in 1974, a new deluxe version of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway will be a multi-disc celebration – four CDs or five LPs, a Blu-ray Audio disc and a download card – of the group’s acclaimed work. Inside the box will be a new remaster of the original mix of the album, done by Miles…
Ike’s Mood: Isaac Hayes’ “Hot Buttered Singles 1969-1972” Arrives from Ace
Who’s the black private dick that’s a sex machine to all the chicks? If you answered “Shaft,” you’re damn right! When Isaac Hayes picked up the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1972 for the “Theme from Shaft,” he was only the third African-American to win an Oscar – and the first in the field of music. Shaft remains the best-selling album in the Stax Records catalogue and one of the most successful soundtracks of all time; for Isaac Hayes, it was a triumph that built on the commercial success he’d…
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Elvis Costello, “King of America and Other Realms”
It was a fine idea at the time/Now it’s a brilliant mistake… Elvis Costello delivered a powerful surprise in 1986 when he shed his backing band, The Attractions, and teamed up with T Bone Burnett for King of America. Originally credited in the U.K. to The Costello Show (Featuring The Attractions and Confederates) and in the U.S. to The Costello Show (Featuring Elvis Costello), the album backtracked from the sleek ’80s polish of its two immediate predecessors (Punch the Clock and Goodbye Cruel World) and instead tapped into a vein closer to…
The Weekend Stream: November 16, 2024
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. Iconic Seattle punk, a new Elton John single and fresh Duran Duran remixes kick things off – plus another round of esoteric Christmas cheer! The Gits, Frenching the Bully / Enter: The Conquering Chicken / Kings & Queens / Seafish Louisville (2024 Remasters) (Sub Pop) Frenching: iTunes / Amazon / Bandcamp Enter: iTunes / Amazon / Bandcamp Kings: iTunes / Amazon / Bandcamp Seafish: iTunes / Amazon / Bandcamp Though their punk sound was much rawer and…
Release Round-Up: Week of November 15
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today…and, with the holidays approaching, it just might be the biggest release week of the year! As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. George Harrison, Living in the Material World: 50th Anniversary (Dark Horse) 2CD/2LP/1BD/1-7″: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 1LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada As the studio follow-up to his landmark triple album All Things Must Pass, George Harrison further explored his spiritual and physical selves on…
The Last Word: Real Gone’s First November Releases Include 30th Anniversary Edition of Mary Chapin Carpenter’s “Stones In The Road” Plus Misery Signals, The Unfolding
As usual, Real Gone’s first releases in November are an eclectic bunch. The label is releasing the 30th anniversary edition of a contemporary country classic album, a psychedelic exploitation record from the 1960s, and a 20th anniversary edition of a metalcore album. Read on for more details for these releases all hitting store shelves tomorrow, November 15. In 1994, Mary Chapin Carpenter was at the pinnacle of country music. The singer-songwriter’s fourth album for Columbia, Come On Come On, was the biggest seller of her career. Singles were still being released from…