Can anyone dispute that the Master of Space and Time has returned? Leon Russell is currently touring the country with none other than Bob Dylan, riding the wave of adulation he's received for 2010's high-profile Elton John collaboration The Union, as well as an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On August 9, the Omnivore label will remind listeners of just why Russell is so revered today. On that date, Omnivore will release Live in Japan, restoring to a print a 1974 Japan-only LP
Crom Smiles Upon Intrada (But Not Surround Fans)
Fans of Basil Pouledoris' scores to Arnold Schwarzenegger's Conan the Barbarian (1982) and Conan the Destroyer (1984) had a reason to be excited when the Tadlow label recorded the City of Prague Philharmonic performing the complete score to each film (the first score has already been released, the second is forthcoming). The late composer had expressed disappointment with the original film recordings (particularly that of Destroyer), and his family participated in the release in full. Plus, with
Pop-Punkers Yellowcard on Yellow Vinyl (and More) in New Box Set
If you're a vinyl collector or have an incredibly strong sense of nostalgia for recent things, this one's for you: pop-punk band Yellowcard are compiling their discography onto a collector's vinyl box set. The Florida-formed, L.A.-based outfit enjoyed mainstream success with the upbeat "Ocean Avenue" (once expertly described by SPIN magazine as the song that plays right after Hoobastank's "The Reason" at school dances nationwide). The band's sound was pure pop with clean production and a
Review: The Beau Brummels, "Bradley's Barn: Expanded Edition"
Before Abbey Road or Caribou, The Beau Brummels immortalized a famous recording studio as the title of Bradley’s Barn, their 1968 album for Warner Bros. Records. The San Francisco pop-rock outfit had travelled to Nashville, Tennessee to record at Owen Bradley’s storied venue at roughly the same time their contemporaries, The Byrds, were on the other side of town cutting Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Though the “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “Turn! Turn! Turn!” hitmakers beat the Brummels to the punch
Sit Down I Think It's Van Dyke Parks: Music Man's "Arrangements" Arrive on CD
Forgive the hyperbole, but there’s nobody quite like Van Dyke Parks. Composer, arranger, producer, singer, musician, actor, author, raconteur, Parks is one-of-a-kind. Known for his dazzling, sometimes oblique wordplay, and sheer musical invention, Parks has contributed production, arrangements and songs to an incredible number of renowned artists over the years, often blazing new trails while harnessing his vast knowledge of popular music. For the first time, the renaissance man's work as a
Elton, Orbison, Plant, Mellencamp, Allman Salute "The Producer" On New T Bone Burnett Comp
T Bone Burnett epitomizes cool. The former Joseph Henry Burnett, with his omnipresent sunglasses, is so cool, in fact, that he makes the name “T Bone” sound hip! He’s the producer as rock star, an artist whom superstars and fresh-faced talents alike seek out for a shot in the arm. He’s also the man who made bluegrass trendy. And lest his cool credentials be in doubt, the man toured with Bob Dylan on the Rolling Thunder Revue! Raised in Texas, by way of Missouri, Burnett relocated to
Queen Break Free, Go Deep on Third Wave of Reissues (UPDATED)
UPDATE: One unreleased track has been added to the reissue of The Miracle; in addition, the iTunes video content - much of it previously released - has been added to the post. Original Post: The U.K. is rushin' headlong into the last batch of Queen reissues (available September 5 everywhere but the U.S.), and now there are track lists for each bonus EP, included with these reissues of The Works (1984), A Kind of Magic (1986), The Miracle (1989), Innuendo (1991) and the posthumous Made in
Release Round-Up: Week of August 2
Arcade Fire, Scenes from the Suburbs (Merge) Last year's Grammy winner for Album of the Year is newly expanded with two unreleased tracks and a bonus DVD documentary. (Official site) Various Artists, Mightier Than the Sword: The Ronnie James Dio Story (Sanctuary U.K.) This new double-disc set, in honor of the late, beloved metal singer, is the first to compile just about every band Dio ever sang for - Elf, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio and Heaven and Hell. (Official
Breaking Benjamin Add Deluxe Compilation in Their Diary
In our coverage of Queen reissues, we've bemoaned the lack of catalogue coverage at the band's U.S. label, Hollywood Records. Granted, the Disney-owned label doesn't need much catalogue attention when there are Disney Channel soundtracks and tween-friendly records to promote. But there is one rather interesting band on the label roster that isn't the label's typical fare: Breaking Benjamin, a hard-rock quartet from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Their alt-metal sound - hard-driving and insistent
Reissue Theory: Bruce Hornsby and The Range, "The Way It Is"
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we look back at notable albums and the reissues they could someday see. Exactly 25 years ago today, a classic pop album was released, with a sound that was totally different from what was the norm at that time. Now, we look back at the debut of Bruce Hornsby, and why a deluxe version would be a good idea. There were plenty of great songs to top the Billboard charts in 1986, but only one had any sort of conscious reflection behind it. Only
A Salvo of Madness Coming in September
Many of the box sets announced this year have been pretty nuts, in some way, shape or form. But none have been quite as nutty as this one: a career-spanning box by those nutty boys in Madness. The long-running British ska band, whose large handful of U.K. hits like "Our House" and "One Step Beyond" have filled dance floors the world over, has had an exceptionally busy few years with their catalogue, offering nearly all their discography, from their early hits on Stiff Records to their late-'90s
En Garde! Hugo Friedhofer's "Casanova" Rediscovered
Composer Hugo Friedhofer picked up the 1947 Academy Award for his score to the William Wyler-directed The Best Years of Our Lives. All told, Friedhofer would rack up nine nominations for the coveted gold statuette. But despite this success, he didn’t work strictly within the major studio confines. The 1948 Eagle-Lion film Adventures of Casanova is a B-movie take on the legendary ladies’ man, but it boasts an A-movie score by Friedhofer. Following Intrada’s release of the composer’s score to
Special Weekend Post: Fourth-Quarter Straw Poll!
Here at Second Disc HQ, it's safe to say that catalogue music is still very much alive. After a week in which very little news was up for reporting, this week was a smorgasbord of box sets and vault titles. Add to that some really well-placed links to some of our posts, and we broke our all-time traffic record on Tuesday, followed by our second and third-highest traffic days on Wednesday and Thursday. It's clear to Joe and myself that The Second Disc must be doing something right in terms of
Reissue Theory: The Time, "All-Time Greatest"
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we focus on notable albums and the reissues they could someday see. On the 30th anniversary of the first album by one of Prince's most notable associated acts, we picture a release that's never happened: a career-spanning compilation for The Time. Thirty years ago, a major musical milestone occurred: Prince started transforming from a freaky, funk-rock gem of the Minneapolis music scene into an all-consuming musical entity. The conduit
Reach Out For Them: New 2-CD Comps Coming In September For Dionne, Chicago
Following collections devoted to Foreigner, Christopher Cross, Otis Redding and Yes, the U.K.’s Music Club Deluxe label (a member of the Demon Music Group family) continues its exploration of the Warner Music Group catalogue with new compilations focusing on the long, diverse careers of Dionne Warwick and Chicago. Either of these esteemed acts would be solid candidates for our Greater Hits feature, in which we compare an artist’s “greatest hits” output. Both certainly have been the subjects of
ZTT News: Art of Noise Get Close (to the Reissue)
Another reissue in ZTT/Salvo's ongoing Element Series has been announced: the first full-length by The Art of Noise. Earlier this year, ZTT expanded the group's debut EP, Into Battle with The Art of Noise, adding a host of vault content meant for their first album but ultimately scrapped. This album - featuring contributions by all five of the original Art of Noise collective (Trevor Horn, Paul Morley, Anne Dudley, Gary Langan and J.J. Jeczalik) - reprises "Beat Box" and "Moments in Love" from
Where The Hits Are: Sedaka and Greenfield Profiled in "Songwriters" Series
Doo doo doo down doo be do down down/Come a come a down doo be do down down… One year before “Da Doo Ron Ron,” eleven before “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)” and eighteen before “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da,” Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield taught the world that “Breakin’ Up is Hard to Do” with their immortal wordless refrain. Sedaka went on to become the king of the “Tra-la-las” and “shoo-be-doos” with his early rock-and-roll records, and the Juilliard-trained musician was one of the
A Small Morsel of Live Dead Coming from Rhino
Was the insanely large Europe '72 box set from The Grateful Dead (which should be making its way to fans pretty soon) too much for you? Rhino's breaking off a little piece for you in the form of Europe '72 Volume 2, a double-disc set compiled from those 22 legendary shows. This sequel to the original triple-LP has 20 remastered performances from those wild shows on two discs, mixed from the original 16-track recordings by Dead archival mixer Jeffrey Norman and mastered by David Glasser to HDCD
Another EMI Budget Box for Barclay James Harvest
One last new release that slipped through our fingers yesterday: a budget box from EMI U.K., collating five discs of material by Barclay James Harvest. Taking Some Time On: The Parlophone-Harvest Years 1968-1972 collects all of the band's first few albums - Barclay James Harvest (1970), Once Again (1971), Barclay James Harvest and Other Short Stories (1972) and Baby James Harvest (1972) - along with all the non-LP singles and B-sides at the time, BBC sessions and other outtakes. This includes
Smells Like More Details on 20th Anniversary "Nevermind" (UPDATED WITH TRACK LIST)
UPDATE: The track listing is now at the bottom of the post, courtesy of the NME! Original post: Back on June 22, we reported on Geffen Records/Universal Music Enterprises' plans for a 20th anniversary edition of Nirvana's 1991 Nevermind, originally released on September 24 of that year. New details have been released on the set which will arrive in stores on September 27, just three days after the exact anniversary. Universal has stopped short of providing a complete track listing, but one
The Smiths Are Out of the Bag: Massive U.K. Box Planned
As we at The Second Disc HQ love to point out, Morrissey once set his scathing lyrical pen on record companies' propensity for reissues on The Smiths' "Paint a Vulgar Picture." Currently, he must be shitting bricks: Rhino U.K. is planning The Smiths - Complete, a box set compiling the influential band's entire discography, all newly remastered. Clever fans spotted the presence of the set on the label's site late last night (we have super-reader Dean H. to thank for hipping us to it), and our
What The World Needs Now Is Rockbeat Records
Billy Vera, Alberta Hunter and Jackie DeShannon may not have terribly much in common at first glance. But they're just a few of the artists coming your way thanks to Rockbeat Records. Yes, there's a new player in the catalogue field, and their slate of reissues proves that they're ready to make a big impression! Founded by Arny Schorr of S'more Entertainment and distributed by eOne, Rockbeat counts among its team an alumnus of Rhino Records. James Austin, the former Vice President of A&R
One Stop Shopping: "Complete Collections" Coming From Denver, Washington, Kansas and Shorter
No sooner did your catalogue correspondent pop a very old disc of John Denver's 1985 Dreamland Express into the CD player than the news arrived that Dreamland Express would be collected along with 23 (!) other Denver LPs in Legacy's new The Complete Albums Collection. But that's not all. Following the first wave of releases which arrived just over two months ago, the catalogue initiative continues! For the uninitiated, The Complete Album Collection box sets bring together an artist's entire
Impulse Buys Abound from UMe
Universal Music Group got off to a great start anthologizing the deep catalogue of Impulse! Records with a four-disc box set from Hip-o Select earlier this year. Today, that catalogue is revisited yet again, in the form of 28 albums from the jazz label's catalogue collected as two-on-one discs. The titles are pretty diverse, collecting sets from Duke Ellington, McCoy Tyner, Alice Coltrane, Art Blakey, Sonny Rollins, Milt Jackson and others. You can order each of the titles on Amazon here and
Harrison and Shankar's "Concert For Bangladesh" Goes Digital
“It was such a unique thing. Everybody was so moved and touched. It had a special feeling apart from just a performance. Overnight everybody knew the name of Bangladesh all over the world.” So said Ravi Shankar about The Concert For Bangladesh, the 1971 performances he organized with George Harrison at New York’s Madison Square Garden that set the standard for all-star benefits to come. Monday, August 1, marks the 40th anniversary of The Concert, and in commemoration, Apple and EMI have
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