A “Runaway” Hit: Bon Jovi Prep Physical Deluxe Edition of Debut Album
Earlier this year, UMe celebrated the 40th anniversary of Bon Jovi’s debut album with an extras-packed digital deluxe edition. Just in time for Christmas, that set is getting a physical 2CD release. The self-titled effort from the New Jersey rockers sports nine extra tracks, including previously unreleased early versions of debut single “Runaway” and new mixes of previously released live material from the band’s longtime engineer Obie O’Brien. The set is packaged in a standard jewel case and will hit stores November 22. Perth Amboy, NJ-born Jon Bongiovi was a hardworking singer…
The Weekend Stream: October 5, 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. This Saturday brings remixes from James Brown, live rarities from Daryl Hall and – yes – a jump on some Christmas catalogue. James Brown, We Got to Change / Soul Power: The Remixes (Republic/UMe) (iTunes / Amazon) “We Got to Change” was an exciting find earlier this year: an unreleased 1970 track featuring an early version of The J.B.’s, issued to promote a multi-part documentary on The Godfather of Soul….
Release Round-Up: Week of October 4
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Joni Mitchell, Archives Vol. 4: The Asylum Years (1976-1980) (Rhino) 6CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 4LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Joni Mitchell Archives Vol. 4: The Asylum Years (1976-1980) features six CDs (also available as a “highlights” set on four LPs) chronicling the Canadian icon’s trek through the latter half of the ’70s, peeling away from her always-eclectic folk-pop sound, venturing into territory inspired by jazz and fusion. Sourced from variously…
Sing Along With the Mummy: Real Gone’s Halloween Line-Up Includes Rare 1959 Album From McFadden and McKuen with Second Disc Records, Rare Soundtracks
Real Gone’s Halloween line-up began last month and now that October has rolled around, the label is continuing the party with more reissues to play on October 31 filled with material from the 1950s to the 1980s. All of these titles hit store shelves, tomorrow, October 5. First up is a Real Gone/Second Disc Records vinyl reissue: Songs Our Mummy Taught Us by Bob McFadden and Dor. This one-of-a-kind LP was the creation of voiceover artist Bob McFadden – best-known as the voice of Frankenberry, the Thundercats’ pal Snarf, Cool McCool,…
Back to ‘Back to Bedlam’: James Blunt Expands Brilliant Debut
Two decades ago, an earnest British singer-songwriter with a distinctive, keening voice had a hit that would, for better or worse, define the arc of his career as a musician. This month, James Blunt is gamely revisiting his debut album, Back to Bedlam, with a new deluxe edition and an outlandish promise of what he’ll do if it’s a chart success at home. Available on October 11, the remastered and expanded Bedlam will come with a bonus disc of demos of the entire album, plus four additional demos and a B-side. (Just less than half…
Quadio Spotlight: Bette Midler, “The Divine Miss M” and Bread, “Baby I’m a Want-You”
Way back in Ye Olden Days of 2011, The Second Disc advocated for the release of the original quadraphonic mix of Bette Midler’s 1973 debut, The Divine Miss M. Well, lo these many years later, Rhino has granted our wish, and it’s been released on Blu-ray as part of the label’s still-growing Quadio series of four-channel reissues. In Craig Anderson’s stellar remaster, it’s happily as good as we remember it! The 4.0 mix by Atlantic Records veteran Tom Dowd, a legendary producer in his own right, is immersive from the get-go. The…
Can’t Wait Till Tomorrow: Cherry Red Expands Sheena Easton’s ‘Do You’
With 1984’s A Private Heaven, Sheena Easton successfully followed in the footsteps of Olivia Newton-John in shedding her “girl next door” persona – so much so that future U.S. Second Lady Tipper Gore’s Parents Music Resource Center “honored” Sheena’s Prince-penned “Sugar Walls” with a slot on its “Filthy Fifteen” list. No wonder Gore and co. were threatened by the success of “Sugar Walls;” A Private Heaven became the singer’s most successful album to date. How to follow it up? Enter Nile Rodgers. The CHIC co-founder and uber-producer who had helmed albums for…
In Memoriam: Kris Kristofferson (1936-2024)
On a Sunday mornin’ sidewalk/I’m wishin’, Lord, that I was stoned/’Cause there’s somethin’ in a Sunday/That makes a body feel alone… With songs such as “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” Kris Kristofferson expanded the vernacular of country music, bringing realism, gritty authenticity, and a literate sensibility – he was an Oxford-schooled Rhodes Scholar – to a genre already known for its unvarnished musical stories of pain and heartbreak. Kristofferson would find himself at the vanguard of the so-called outlaw country movement, but his songs and career far eclipsed that tag. The singer-songwriter, who…
Wild and Crazy: Rhino Collects Steve Martin’s Comedy Albums
There aren’t many comedians funnier than Steve Martin. Though the gray-haired funnyman only spent the better part of a decade performing as a stand-up before pursuing acting, writing, and even bluegrass originals, Martin’s brilliant blend of highbrow, lowbrow and absurdist humor made him one of the most head-turning entertainers of his generation. Rhino Records will celebrate his funniest sides with a new box set in November. Steve in a Box: The Warner Years (1977-1981) brings together all four of Martin’s albums for Warner Bros. Records, which became some of the best-selling comedy…
The Weekend Stream: September 28, 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. There’s a lot of killer stuff on the list today, including two new singles from rock icons, a digital expansion of one of Sting’s best-loved albums, live David Bowie coming from the vaults, a Stevie Wonder syllabus and much more! The Cure, “Alone” (Polydor) (iTunes / Amazon) For the first time in 16 years, The Cure are set to release a new album. Songs of a Lost World is out November…
All Around Man: Rory Gallagher’s BBC Recordings Set for Heavy Duty Box
The influential guitar work of Rory Gallagher will be celebrated next month in an exhaustive box that collects hours of his live recordings for the BBC. The BBC Collection, available October 11, is an 18CD/2 Blu-ray set that mines both the radio service and the late musician’s personal archives to bring together his in-studio appearances, live concerts, television specials and even a radio documentary. This box, of course, supersedes a 1999 double-disc collection of BBC highlights, offering not only about 75% previously unreleased material but even recordings that never even hit the…
The Jungle is Your Head: U2 Prep ‘Atomic Bomb’ Box
Hello, hello: U2 will revisit their 11th album – and, depending on where you stand, the end of one era and the start of another – with a deluxe box set edition of How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. The set, available November 22 – exactly 20 years to the day of its original release – will feature five CDs or eight LPs of music: the original album, new collections of unreleased demos and vintage remixes, and the debut audio release of Vertigo 2005 – Live from Chicago, released on DVD in 2005 in…
Release Round-Up: Week of September 27
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. Chicago, Chicago at the John. F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington D.C. (9/16/1971) (Rhino) 3CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 4LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Chicago at the John. F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington D.C. (9/16/1971) arrives on 3 CDs, 4 LPs, and digital formats, preserving the band’s show in the U.S. capital. The concert was recorded just eight days after the opening of the Kennedy Center. …
It’s a Beautiful Day: Michael Bublé Collects Greatest Hits on “The Best of Bublé”
With nearly one dozen studio albums, three live sets, and numerous EPs, it’s surprising that Michael Bublé is now announcing his first physical greatest hits collection. With 75 million records sold and four Billboard No. 1 albums, he’s the third best-selling Canadian artist of all time, behind only Celine Dion and Shania Twain. The Best of Bublé arrives tomorrow, September 27, on CD and digital formats from Reprise Records, while 2LP vinyl editions (standard at all stores, clear at his webstore, olive green at Barnes & Noble, and white at Amazon) are…
Hold Me Now: Thompson Twins Go Back ‘Into the Gap’ with Deluxe Reissue of Breakthrough Album
Beloved British pop group Thompson Twins will revisit their seminal fourth album, 1984’s Into the Gap, in a new deluxe edition from BMG this fall. Newly remastered by Frank Arkwright, the triple-disc set will include the original album – including U.K. Top 10s “Hold Me Now,” “Doctor! Doctor!” and “You Take Me Up” – alongside 30 bonus tracks, including all the extras from the original British cassette edition of the album, nine B-sides and single edits making their CD/digital debuts, and several unreleased mixes of “Hold Me Now” and fourth single “Sister of…
Pictures Came and Broke Your Heart: Cherry Red to Release Bruce Woolley and The Camera Club Collection
Everyone knows the story: at the stroke of midnight on August 1, 1981, the new cable station Music Television (MTV) first aired, playing a steady stream of heretofore little-seen “music videos” that redefined pop music for the rest of the decade. Their first, of course, was The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star”: a prescient choice, though not even a single from the ’80s (it topped the U.K. charts and dented the U.S. Top 40 in 1979!) – and, as a new collection from Cherry Red underlines, The Buggles didn’t record it…
Crawling from the Wreckage: Omnivore Preps Double-Disc Collection of Dave Edmunds’ Complete Swan Song Singles
From his very first solo hit in 1970 (a cover of Dave Bartholomew’s “I Hear You Knocking”) to his final album release (2015’s On Guitar…Rags and Classics), Welsh guitarist-singer-songwriter-producer Dave Edmunds proselytized for the power of pure rock-and-roll. Whether stripping the sound down to basics or doing a spot-on emulation of Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound, Edmunds emphasized the joy of the genre. In January 1972, he released his first solo album: Rockpile. Its title would augur prominently for Edmunds’ future when, four years later, he co-founded a band of that name with…
Needless to Say: Al Stewart’s “Past, Present and Future” Goes Deluxe From Esoteric
Al Stewart fans have been rather well-served in recent years. The historically-minded troubadour recently released a new live album with the band The Empty Pockets, preserving a concert set on 2 CDs. Earlier this summer, Al received a volume of Rhino’s Now Playing series of vinyl compilations. Last year, TSD teamed up with Real Gone Music for Songs on the Radio: The Complete U.S. Singles 1974-1981, and in 2022, Madfish issued The Admiralty Lights, a massive 50-CD box set featuring (almost) all of Stewart’s catalogue. (Those U.S. singles were a notable exception!) …
On the Way Home: CSNY Releases “Live at Fillmore East, 1969”
On the morning of Monday, August 18, 1969, at 3:30 a.m., David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash took the stage at Max Yasgur’s farm. The threesome’s self-titled debut album had been released in May, peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 and yielding a pair of hit singles, Nash’s “Marrakesh Express” and Stills’ “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes.” But CSN wasn’t done yet. On August 16, they’d launched a tour in Chicago with a new bandmate, Neil Young. The Woodstock performance was CSNY’s second ever, and the audience wasn’t expecting Young’s…
The Weekend Stream: September 21, 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. Some socially minded rock is on the digital docket, as well as more than a dozen releases from one of England’s best-known frontmen. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, The Live Series: Songs of Conscience (Columbia/Legacy) (iTunes / Amazon) Who but The Boss to offer a selection conscientious tunes with a whole new spin? These tracks are, as on all Live Series releases, sourced from multi-track recordings of shows…
Release Round-Up: Week of September 20
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today! As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Bob Dylan, The 1974 Tour Recordings (Columbia/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) In 1974, Bob Dylan embarked on an extensive tour with his old backing band. Now, they, too, were universally known – as The Band – and the double bill hit indoor arenas across North America for 40 concerts over 30 dates and 21 cities. The tour became one of the largest and highest-profile of the era, in…
Try Some, Buy Some: George Harrison’s “Living in the Material World” Gets Expanded For Its 50th
As the studio follow-up to his landmark triple album All Things Must Pass, George Harrison further explored his spiritual and physical selves on 1973’s leaner Living in the Material World. On November 15, the album will return from Dark Horse and BMG in a belated 50th anniversary edition comprising 2 CDs, 2 LPs, and a Blu-ray. It’s limited to 5,000 units worldwide. The original album, newly remixed by Paul Hicks, will also be available in 2LP & 2CD Deluxe Editions, Limited Edition color vinyl versions (including an exclusive George Harrison Online Store…
Dying to Meet You: Judas Priest’s Debut Revisited with Definitive Remix
It took 50 years, but Judas Priest have finally perfected the way they want their debut to sound. The British metal icons will reissue 1974’s Rocka Rolla on November 22 – one of the first truly sanctioned releases of the first album by the group – with a brand-new remix from the original multi-track tapes by producer Tom Allom. “I’m just thrilled,” frontman Rob Halford said in a statement. “Tom Allom is giving us a second chance here with the way that a lot of the elements were lost in Rocka Rolla. And it’s…
What a Difference You’ve Made: Ronnie Milsap’s Greatest Hits Come Back to Vinyl
The smooth, blockbuster country sound of Ronnie Milsap is coming back to vinyl. Craft Recordings will issue a wide-release black LP pressing of 2020’s The Best of Ronnie Milsap, issued on CD and digitally not long after the label became the home for Milsap’s winning streak of RCA Records albums and singles through the ’70s, ’80s and beyond. (A dark-red vinyl was issued exclusively for Cracker Barrel stores back then; this time around, a “tan smoke” variant will be available to Milsap’s top listeners on Spotify through their “Fans First” initiative.) As before,…
In Memoriam: JD Souther (1945-2024)
“We always said our motto was ‘we’re building to last.’ We really spent a lot of time on the songs. The other motto was, ‘no filler.’ You don’t make a single and then put a bunch of filler on an album. You make an album and hope you have a single,” JD Souther shared with me earlier this year. The singer-songwriter’s extraordinary body of work, one of the cornerstones of the Southern California rock sound, reflected that ethos: “You’re Only Lonely.” “Faithless Love.” “Her Town Too.” “Best of My Love.” “Heartache Tonight.” …