Review: Jimmy Webb, “Ten Easy Pieces Plus 4”
Often a reissue celebrates a classic album of years past. Through additional content, new remastering or expanded liner notes, the listener can put the original in perspective. It can be a reminder of just why we loved that album so much the first time around or take us to a special time in our own past. At other times, a reissue brings a forgotten album to light, revealing it as a lost treasure. Such is the case for Jimmy Webb’s Ten Easy Pieces, now Plus 4 courtesy the fine folks at DRG…
Solo Smokey, Thrice as Nice
It’s always a delight to see Hip-o Select dig up treasures from those fabled Motown vaults. It’s as much of a treat, too, to see Select tackle those hidden in plain sight bits – the music that has been around officially for years, but has yet to make its debut on CD. One of the most exemplary artists who until recently was hard to find on CD was the great Smokey Robinson. The angel-voiced Motown man had a phenomenal solo career for the label after separating from The Miracles, but those albums…
In Case You Missed It: Common’s “Resurrection,” Resurrected
The irony is so thick, you can cut it with a knife: lately, there’s been a lot of talk about the presence and/or absence of rap music being reissued, remastered and anthologized. The Guardian did a nice piece on the burgeoning rap reissue scene, and even yours truly threw his hat into the fray with a guest post on Record Racks back in August about seminal works of the genre that demand a reissue. It’s funny, then, that one particular rap reissue got lost in the shuffle a few months back. I’m…
From Marcy to Madison Square: Jay-Z Compilation Forthcoming (UPDATE 10/18)
A new compilation for rapper Jay-Z will be on store shelves very soon from Island Def Jam. The influential hip-hop artist/businessman has never had a compilation released stateside, outside of a bonus CD packed with special copies of last year’s DJ Hero video game. So this is quite a monument; the man born Shawn Carter is arguably the most pre-eminent figure in rap since the end of the 1990s. His career has weathered retirements, comebacks, feuds, reconciliations and the jump from Roc-a-Fella Records – the label he co-created – to new venture…
Reissue Theory: Chevy Chase
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we reflect on well-known albums of the past and the reissues they could someday see. This time around, we shine a light on a few unorthodox musical moments from a comedy legend. “I’m Chevy Chase, and you’re not.” For the past couple of years, no one would dare be envious of the man once considered one of the greatest comedians of the 1970s and 1980s. Today, however, The Second Disc not only defends him from his detractors but makes a case for his deserved…
Is Warner Seeing Double with Green Day Singles Box?
A doubly odd little note appeared while news gathering yesterday: a post at the Broadway World Web site noted a few upcoming box sets from Warner Music Group – the aforementioned Tim Burton/Danny Elfman box set, deluxe editions of new albums by adult contemporary stars Josh Groban and Michael Buble – and there was a strange little note at the end, for a vinyl box set devoted to pop-punk leviathans Green Day. If that news sounded odd (or oddly familiar) to you – the band hasn’t much to promote, outside of the…
Nelly Furtado to Say It Right with First-Ever Compilation
Another female pop star of the 2000s is getting her very first compilation for the holiday rush: Nelly Furtado, the Grammy-winnning Portugese-Canadian singer who first garnered attention for her folky pop sensibilities, then for her surprise reinvention as a dancehall goddess. Furtado first rose to the scene with Whoa, Nelly! (2000), a catchy debut LP with a lite-FM-ready sound. Sophomore release Folklore did have a few gems (including underrated first single “Powerless”) but suffered saleswise, bought on partially by her label being absorbed into another. Three years later, almost out of nowhere,…
Sellout!
It’s no longer a snarky term to throw at indie bands that sign to a major label. Right now, “sellout” makes this author think of The Complete Elvis Presley Masters, Legacy’s massive 30-disc box set devoted to The King of Rock and Roll. Several days ago, it was confirmed to have sold all 1,000 copies – a monumental achievement, if not a surprising one. Readers, we’ve seen a growing number of limited sets finding their way into our collective catalogue consciousness. The soundtrack world has been dealing in this kind of release…
I Wanna Rock! Eagle Rock Reissues Twisted Sister Reunion Show, Latter-Day Albums
As rock fans sit about and wonder if and when the Twisted Sister discography is ever going to be remastered and expanded in full, Eagle Rock Entertainment attempts to satiate TS fans’ appetites by reissuing Live at Wacken: The Reunion (2006). Recorded at the Wacken Open Air Festival in 2003, the set was one of the biggest venues Dee Snider, Eddie Ojeda, Jay Jay French, Mark Mendoza and A.J. Pero had performed at since intermittently reuniting the seminal ’80s glam metal band with all of its classic members in 2001. It was…
Heaven 17’s Debut to Be Reissued with Lots of Demos
Awhile back, the super-fantastic folks at Slicing Up Eyeballs had a chat with Martyn Ware of synthpop band Heaven 17, in which Ware discussed a series of recently unearthed demos of tunes from the band’s debut album, 1980’s Penthouse and Pavement. That set will be available on November 22 from EMI Music. The demos, Ware said in the interview, were recorded on an Ampex 1″ tape machine – of which only one allegedly still exists, at Abbey Road Studios. The tapes feature early sketches of songs like “(We Don’t Need This) Fascist…
A Relatively Clear “Vision”
Well, what do you know? TMZ got it right. Epic and Legacy have announced Michael Jackson’s Vision, a three-DVD set of Jackson’s videography. Some 42 videos are included, several of them unreleased on any format. It’s also the closest MJ fans in the U.S. have gotten to getting the entirety of Moonwalker released, as most of the vignettes from that film are included. Will you want to get rid of your old compilations (Video Greatest Hits HIStory, HIStory on Film Volume II, Dangerous: The Short Films)? No, because each has a piece…
Reissue Theory: Tony Bennett, “Tony Sings the Great Hits of Today!”
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we reflect on well-known albums of the past and the reissues they could someday see. This installment spins what may be the least-loved Tony Bennett LP into a lost classic for the ages. Today’s Reissue Theory takes a look at one of the most reviled albums of all time, the LP thought to be the nadir of a career still going strong after nearly 50 years. The artist is Tony Bennett, and the album is Tony Sings the Great Hits of Today! , released in…
Kritzerland Crosses “Bridge” and Unearths the Tortures of “Sadismo!”
Hopefully fans of classic 1960s film scores have been saving their pennies, as the limited editions just keep on comin’. Intrada just made available two classic western scores from Universal; Kritzerland has two briskly-selling new releases now available, both rescued from the MGM library. Making its debut in any medium is Les Baxter’s score to 1967’s shockfest, Sadismo. The American International release was one of a series of documentaries spawned by 1962’s Mondo Cane, each film featuring graphic scenes of torture and brutality. No wonder, then, that Sadismo hasn’t seen a video…
Legacy Plays Brubeck on New Compilation
Legacy Recordings recently announced the kick-off to a yearlong celebration of master jazz pianist Dave Brubeck – who turns 90 on December 6 – with a new compilation of Brubeck’s legendary Columbia material. Legacy of a Legend is a two-disc, 21-track compilation spanning from 1954 to 1970 and compiled by Brubeck himself, featuring great performances in studio and in concert from Brubeck and his classic quartet (including bassist Eugene Wright, sax player Paul Desmond and drummer Joe Morello). There’s also one previously unreleased gem on this set: a live version of “Three…
Universal, Intrada Raid Vaults for Western/War Scores
Intrada’s biggest release last year was the score for Back to the Future, but this month sees the label going back to the past with Universal Pictures’ help, with the premiere release of two 1960s soundtracks by Bronislau Kaper and Dimitri Tiomkin. It’s been a relatively big year for reissues of both mens’ work – Kritzerland reissued two of their Western scores on one disc last month, and Kaper was the subject of a three-disc set from Film Score Monthly in July – and now Intrada releases Kaper’s score to Tobruk, a 1967…
You Can Look At the Menu…
As previously speculated and promised, synth-pop stalwart Howard Jones is set to reissue his first two LPs on CD, digitally remastered for the first time. But fans have to wait a bit, or travel a great distance, for bonus material. These versions of Human’s Lib (1983) and Dream Into Action (1985), the records that spun off hits like “What is Love?”, “New Song,” “Things Can Only Get Better” and “No One is to Blame,” will be released through Jones’ own Dtox label. They retain their original track listings as seen on CD (thus,…
Review: David Bowie, “Station to Station” (2010)
There are box sets, and then there are box sets. EMI’s hulking, monster of a box dedicated to David Bowie’s 1976 Station to Station (EMI BOWSTSD2010) is one such box set. It’s even more massive than The John Lennon Signature Box, itself a lavish and large affair containing 11 discs. The multi-disc box celebrating a single album isn’t a new concept, although in the past such offerings were largely based upon session material. The format has proliferated in recent times as record labels have sought new revenue streams (in this case, from collectors)…
Just in Case You Had No Rolling Stones LPs on Vinyl… (UPDATED 10/12)
…or if you have no idea what to do with the $1,000 or so you put aside for gifts for that Stones fan in your family this year, you finally have an answer. MusicTAP reports that UMe’s releasing a massive pair of remastered, 180-gram vinyl box sets that cover a good chunk of the band’s discography. The Rolling Stones 1964-1969 features 11 of the band’s ABKCO-owned U.K. studio albums, from 1964’s self-titled LP to the 1975 outtakes compilation Metamorphosis, and also throws in two additional 12″ versions of the self-titled debut and…
He Will Still Burn On and On and On…
One might think nothing of MusicTAP‘s recent listing of The Very Best of Billy Joel as coming from Legacy on November 9. The Long Island native has been compiled a lot – his first, double-sized greatest-hits compilation in 1985, a third volume in 1997, an entry in Legacy’s Essential series and so on. Call it a hunch, but this author thinks there might be something to this set. For one, Amazon’s list price for the compilation is $9.99, suggesting a single-disc set…and when you think about it, the Piano Man has never…
UB40’s “Signing Off” Celebrates 30 Years with Deluxe Reissue
Another ’80s reissue from EMI – who’d have thought? This time, it’s an expansion of Signing Off, the seminal debut LP from British reggae band UB40. Though UB40 are best known in America for their reggae-infused covers of standards like Neil Diamond’s “Red Red Wine” and Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” their musical roots involve fusing that reggae sound to socially conscious lyrics about poverty, famine and race relations. (The band’s name in fact comes from one of the forms issued by the U.K.’s Department of Health and Social Security.)…
More UMe Deluxe Editions En Route for Petty, Lizzy
A few more deluxe editions are forthcoming from Universal Music Enterprises, and they’re jaw-droppers for a couple of different reasons. Depending on how long you’ve been following the reissue world, you’ve actually known about both of them. One is a deluxe edition of Damn the Torpedoes, the classic album from Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. (News of this broke not long after The Second Disc started doing what it does.) The surprising thing about this particular reissue is that it will be available in two formats: the by-now-standard Deluxe Edition, and a…
Tim McGraw’s Chart-Toppers Compiled on New Set
Add another compilation to the holiday pile: Curb Records has planned #1 Hits from country star Tim McGraw on November 30. The Louisiana-born singer/actor first rose to prominence in 1994 with the single “Indian Outlaw,” a controversial country tune that became McGraw’s first Top 10 country hit and a crossover single as well, peaking at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100. His next single, “Don’t Take the Girl,” was the first of 22 solo singles to top the country charts. Along the way, he’s scored ten platinum or multiplatinum albums, branched…
And They Just Can’t Hide It: Big Break Records to Reissue Two Pointer Sisters Classics
If you’re a reader of The Second Disc and you’re about to lose control, then we think you’ll like this story: Cherry Red’s Big Break imprint is reissuing two classic albums by The Pointer Sisters: Special Things (1980) and So Excited! (1982). The Pointer Sisters were instantly recognized as a unique R&B group with their self-titled debut LP in 1973. Their voices were strong and their style was distinctively retro, dealing heavily in jazz and be-bop. They even decked themselves out in costumes of the period, to boot. But by 1977, Bonnie…
UPDATE: Petula Clark’s “Complete Singles” Cancelled
Way back on July 26, The Second Disc reported on the rumored news that Collectors’ Choice Music was planning an expansive two-CD collection which would feature all of Petula Clark’s Warner Bros. singles recorded between 1964 and 1970. These plans were confirmed on September 13. After prominent placement in the label’s September and October catalogues displaying the finalized artwork and track listing, the Clark release disappeared from Collectors’ Choice’s website. Your humble correspondent is disappointed to now bring the news that Petula Clark: The Complete Warner Bros. Singles has officially been cancelled….