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…
A Second Disc Interview: Let’s Revisit Let’s Active with Mitch Easter
“Making records is a really good idea,” Mitch Easter says, partway through a chat with The Second Disc. He’s, of course, absolutely correct, and he would know. The Winston-Salem, North Carolina native founded the seminal Drive-In Studio in 1980, collaborating as a producer and engineer with a host of notable alternative rock acts including R.E.M., Game Theory, Pylon and others; since 2000, he’s run Fidelitorium Recordings in nearby Kernersville. But Easter is more than a whiz behind the boards. In the 1980s, he founded and fronted the jangle-pop group Let’s Active. Their…
In Memoriam: Jimmy Cliff (1944-2025)
Before The Rocky Horror Picture Show, there was The Harder They Come. Director Perry Henzell’s film inspired by the life of Jamaican outlaw Ivanhoe “Rygin” Martin, starring Jimmy Cliff in the title role, failed to make a splash at the box office upon its initial U.S. release in early 1973. But canny exhibitors realized its similarity to Blaxploitation films such as Shaft and Superfly, and it quickly became a mainstay of midnight movies. The New York Times noted that it ran for 26 weeks at a Cambridge cinema in 1973 before returning…
The Weekend Stream: November 22, 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. A real grab bag for you before the Thanksgiving holiday: cut songs from Broadway comedies, rarities from a ’60s soul/rock legend, an inexplicably remastered charity single, rare 12″ mixes and remastered jazz. Have a listen, won’t you?? Various Artists, Monty Python’s Spamalot (Original Broadway Cast Recording/20th Anniversary Edition) (Decca Broadway) (Apple / Amazon) Something to (always) look on the bright side of life over: a new reissue of the music…
Release Round-Up: Week of November 21
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. The Beatles, Anthology Collection (Capitol/Apple/UMe) 8CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Official Store 12LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Official Store The Beatles’ Anthology Collection premieres remastered editions of the original three collections of rarities and outtakes compiled by George Martin and released through 1995 and 1996, available across six CDs or nine LPs. Martin’s son Giles, who remastered those albums for this release, also curates a new collection, Anthology 4, across a further two CDs or…
Mardi Gras Day: Omnivore Celebrates Dr. John with “Live at The Village Gate”
The Doctor is in! Today, November 20, would have been Dr. John’s 84th birthday. While The Night Tripper, a.k.a. Mac Rebennack, himself passed away in 2019 at the age of 77, his musical legacy lives on – and Omnivore Recordings is celebrating in high style. Tomorrow, the label will premiere Live at the Village Gate, a previously unreleased concert, in 2CD and digital formats. Live at The Village Gate captures the singer-songwriter-pianist in his element at one of his favorite venues, New York City’s Village Gate, on March 5, 1988. Impresario Art…
Sign Your Name: Sananda Maitreya’s Early Works Due for Vinyl Box Set
What’s in a name? The world didn’t know Sananda Maitreya as such in the ’80s and ’90s, but his arresting early works will finally be remastered and reissued on vinyl next year under the moniker he is now known by. Juvenilia: The Columbia Years, available February 6, offers on six LPs the four albums Maitreya released in the U.S. and the U.K. under the name Terence Trent D’Arby: Introducing the Hardline According to… (1987), Neither Fish Nor Flesh: A Soundtrack of Love, Faith, Hope and Destruction (1989), Symphony or Damn (Exploring the Tension Inside the Sweetness) (1993) and Vibrator…
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Split Enz, ‘Encyclopedia Volumes 1 & 2’
It’s kind of a minor miracle that Enzyclopedia Volumes 1 & 2 (Chrysalis CRC/CRV1899) – the first in what we hope is an ongoing reissue campaign for Antipodean rock icons Split Enz – exists at all. Their catalogue is probably a tough sell if you live outside of Australia or New Zealand (none of their discography is consistently available worldwide), and their best-known work, where they became a razor-sharp, New Wave-adjacent ensemble, doesn’t come until years after what’s covered in this collection (available as a 5CD or 3LP set). And that’s before you get…
The Weekend Stream: November 15, 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. We got comebacks aplenty: new songs from Squeeze and Robyn, old favorites from Art in America, Jim Reeves and Outkast; a whole ton of jazz and a toast to an unsung hero of the early rock and roll years. Squeeze, “Trixies, Pt. 1” (Love/BMG) (Apple / Amazon) As speculated last week, Squeeze have a new album coming through BMG! Trixies, due March 6, is a loose concept album…
Release Round-Up: Week of November 14
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. Nicolette Larson, Look in My Direction: The Warner Bros. Recordings (Cherry Red/Lemon/Second Disc) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Cherry Red) Look in My Direction: The Warner Bros. Recordings from Cherry Red’s Lemon imprint and TSD presents all of the late Nicolette Larson’s original studio and live albums for Warner Bros. Records on 4 CDs, produced by Ted Templeman (The Doobie Brothers, Van Halen) and singer-songwriter Andrew Gold (“Thank You for Being…
OUT TOMORROW! The Second Disc, Lemon Collect Nicolette Larson’s Warner Bros. Albums on “Look In My Direction”
On the evenings of February 21 and 22, 1998, a host of musicians took the stage of the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium to pay tribute to one of their own. Linda Ronstadt, Carole King, Jackson Browne, Jimmy Buffett, Bonnie Raitt, and Crosby, Stills and Nash were just a few of the artists who paid their respects in song to the late Nicolette Larson. The luminous singer with the honeyed voice had unexpectedly died just a couple of months earlier at the far too young age of 45. In the decades since her…
Holiday Gift Guide Review: The Monkees, “Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd.” [Super Deluxe Edition]
Next year marks the 60th anniversary of The Monkees, an occasion soon to be commemorated by last Monkee standing Micky Dolenz with a new tour. The group’s home of Rhino Records has started the party early with the recent release of the latest (and last?) of the label’s series of lavish album reissues. 1967’s Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. has been expanded as a comprehensive 4CD/1-7″ box set by producer/annotator Andrew Sandoval, and as usual, the result is manna for longtime fans and collectors. Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd. found Davy Jones,…