Just as we noted the box sets and other catalogue sets that were nominated for Grammys this year, we would also like to tip the hat to the recordings that were put into the Grammy Hall of Fame, as announced Monday. Thirty recordings, including nine LPs, have been added to a group that now includes 881 classic pieces of music. The oldest recordings on the list are two singles, "Dark Was the Night - Cold Was the Ground" by Blind Willie Johnson and "My Mammy" by Al Jolson (both released in 1927);
"They're Here...": FSM Closes Year with "Poltergeist," "Horse"
Film Score Monthly has readied its last two titles of the year to order: one a classic Western, one a spooky horror treat. As mentioned months ago (in a rare up-front statement by FSM honcho Lukas Kendall), FSM fully expands Jerry Goldsmith's classic score to the Tobe Hooper-directed, Steven Spielberg-produced Poltergeist (1982) to completeness. As one of the most popular scores by one of the most popular modern composers, Poltergeist has been reissued before, on Rhino Records in 1997. This
Back Tracks: The Christmas Music of Johnny Mathis
Today's second installment in a special series of holiday-themed Back Tracks explores the holiday catalogue of legendary Columbia recording artist Johnny Mathis. Earlier this year, Columbia Records released Let It Be Me, a new set by the 75-years-young singer with the smooth voice and big vibrato. This is no small feat considering that Mathis made his Columbia debut in 1956, and other than a brief tenure at Mercury, has remained at the label for the 54 years since. With six decades of LPs in
In Praise of Box Set Sales
As any music collector can tell you, buying box sets and reissues is an expensive hobby. It's not often that fans catch a break, either; outside of the occasional Cyber Monday deal before the holidays, prices on box sets rarely go down, unless you've found the right connections in the secondary market. So it's refreshing to see labels taking a nice step toward alleviating the financial crunch that comes with box set collecting. Fans of Sony and Legacy may have noted their recently-created Web
Review: Mr. Mister, "Pull"
It's a story that's been done to death: band releases hit album, changes direction ambitiously for follow-up, is met with critical or commercial indifference - or worse, the disapproval of a label leads to said ambitious follow-up never happening. Sometimes, though, there's a post-script, Eddie and The Cruisers-style, where the music is freed from captivity to the delight of adoring fans. In some ways, this is the story of Pull, the mythical fourth album by Mr. Mister, one of the more notable
Back Tracks: John Lennon
Whether you thought he was the smartest of The Beatles, the best writer, the most politically astute, the one with the most interesting solo career - or if you disagree with any of those statements - I daresay I cannot allow you to disagree with this one: it is not fair that John Lennon is not still alive today. Regardless of your take on his input into the Fab Four (or their eventual demise), Lennon was very much an intelligent, caring, smart musician, who spent much of his career using those
Re-eh-sue Theory
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we reflect on well-known albums of the past and the reissues they could someday see. Today's focus is on two hosers from the Great White North and the strangely funny musical legacy they left behind. The first flurries of the new winter stuck to the lawn outside The Second Disc HQ yesterday. Inevitably, we're going to need something to warm us up into the holiday season and the bitterest cold months of 2011. Sweaters? Check. Tuques? Check.
Back Tracks: Andy Williams at Christmas
Welcome to the first installment in a special series of holiday-themed Back Tracks in which we’ll explore an artist’s entire seasonal catalogue! When it comes time each year to create my annual Christmas mix for family and friends, it’s always an uphill battle to not open with Andy Williams’ “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” From the brassy fanfare to the upbeat chorus, it may be one of the ultimate Christmas anthems. This cherished song from the team of Edward Pola and George Wyle
Release Round-Up: Week of December 7
ABBA, ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits - Special Edition / The Vinyl Collection (Polydor/UMe) The most popular ABBA compilation ever gets expanded with a DVD of music videos, including a previously unreleased animated clip. Also, a deluxe box of the band's eight LPs on vinyl alongside a ten-track record of single and non-LP tracks will be released the same day. (Official site) Joy Division, +- (Rhino U.K.) A box of ten partially fictional singles on vinyl to honor deceased frontman Ian Curtis, 30
Miles Davis' Wight Stuff and More on New Live Disc
Columbia and Legacy are releasing a semi-new disc of live performances from Miles Davis in 2011. Bitches Brew Live is a nine-track disc that features Davis and an all-star lineup (including Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette and Chick Corea) across two historic live settings. Three tracks, never released on CD, come from a performance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1969; the remainder of the disc comes from the iconic performance at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970, previously released as part of
New Order Box in the Cards?
+-, the new U.K. vinyl singles box from Joy Division, may be followed up with a New Order box set, drummer Stephen Morris said recently. In an interview with The Quietus, Morris - a member of the short-lived post-punk outfit and its post-Ian Curtis New-Wave counterpart, oversaw the remastering of the new vinyl set, which collates 10 7" singles from the band's short tenure (some of them crafted just for this box). When asked about the possibility of a similar box for New Order, he had this to
ABBA Vinyl Box to Make Fans Dance, Jive, Have Time of Lives
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/aBBa#p/u/3/dBcEz5d5R6E] If the previously-reported expansion of ABBA's best-selling ABBA Gold compilation with a bonus DVD hasn't excited your inner dancing queen, here's another collectible that might pique your interest: the same day (tomorrow in the U.S.), Polydor and UMe are releasing ABBA: The Vinyl Collection, a newly-remastered box set. The set contains nine records in total: the first eight are all the ABBA studio albums internationally released by Polar
Review: Bing Crosby, "The Crosby Christmas Sessions"
It’s beginning to sound a lot like Christmas when you hear the voice of Bing Crosby. It would hardly be considered a stretch to credit Crosby as one of the inventors of the art of popular singing. Crosby was among the first performers to conversationally and intimately sing as an extension of speech; he also pioneered the technique of the microphone so a singer wouldn’t have to belt to the rafters. Despite these accomplishments that seismically shifted the sound of American music, the late
Marshall Tucker Box Coming Soon
Southern rockers The Marshall Tucker Band will commemorate their near-40-year legacy with a new box set next week. The Capricorn Years is a 10-disc affair that collates the first seven MTB LPs (from the self-titled 1973 album to 1978's Together Forever), all of which were originally released on Capricorn Records (and many of them reissued on Shout! Factory with a live bonus track or two in recent years). It also includes another Shout! Factory-originated product: the two-CD/one-DVD Carolina
Friday Feature: "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol"
This special holiday-themed Friday Feature originally appeared in December 2010, but we've rescued it from The Second Disc Archives to share it with you! It is dedicated to the memory of Leslie Nielsen, who could count Mr. Magoo as just one of many of his indelible film creations, as well as to the gone-but-not-forgotten Jim Backus, Morey Amsterdam, Jack Cassidy and Paul Frees. Before Rudolph, Frosty and Charlie Brown ruled the television airwaves each December, there was the nearsighted Mr.
Editors Going "Unedited" with New Box Set
If you keep kicking yourself for not picking up anything by British rock group Editors, now's your chance to get it all in one buy - and then some. The Birmingham band has recently begun work on their fourth studio album, and has put together a massive compilation of nearly all of their work to date for release in February. Unedited collates the band's first three albums - 2005's The Back Room and U.K. chart-toppers An End Has a Start (2007) and In This Light and On This Evening (2009) - along
The Search is Over: Two Survivor LPs Coming Back to CD
British indie label Rock Candy Records is putting two Survivor albums back in print: 1983's Caught in the Game and 1984's Vital Signs. These two LPs followed Survivor's 1982 smash "Eye of the Tiger," famously featured on the soundtrack to Rocky III; interestingly, only one of them had any degree of success. Caught in the Game was mostly a stiff, only managing No. 82 on the Billboard charts (the same position as pre-success LP Premonition in 1981) and the title track, the only single, did not
What Catalogue Titles Got Grammy Nominations?
While you may or may not be fussing over this year's mainstream Grammy nominees (count this writer in the latter category), The Second Disc wanted to congratulate nominees for catalogue-related pursuits. One catalogue title has been nominated for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package, two got nods for Best Album Notes and Best Historical Recording is pretty self-explanatory. (Also, interestingly, the title track from posthumous Michael Jackson compilation This is It was nominated for
The Second Disc's Crystal Ball
Today being the first day of December, we're really entering the home stretch of another year. With that in mind, we present a neat little discussion topic for your perusal. With a new year creeping around the corner, there's going to be an inevitable crop of reissues coming our way next year. Billy Joel and Paul Simon are having their catalogues redone, and reissues from George Michael and Thin Lizzy are going to brighten up the bleaker months of winter. We can even expect offerings from Ozzy
Reissue Theory: Andy Gibb
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we reflect on well-known albums of the past and the reissues they could someday see. The new Bee Gees box set prompts this post to look at the "other" Gibb brother who enjoyed a great deal of success - yet is sadly not around to continue making great music. As Joe's review of the new Bee Gees box set Mythology shows, young Andy Gibb was a pretty integral member of the musical family. Though he wasn't part of the ensemble that Barry, Robin
Review: Bee Gees, "Mythology: The 50th Anniversary Collection"
I've gotta get a message to you. The Bee Gees are celebrating half a century in the business we call show, and Rhino has invited fans to the party with the release of Mythology: The 50th Anniversary Collection, a new four-disc box. There's always something unmistakable about a family's vocal blend. The Gibbs belong to the same tradition alongside the Everlys, the Wilsons, the Jacksons, the Carpenters, and so many others. Family was foremost on Barry and Robin Gibb's mind when creating
Review: "Michael Jackson's Vision"
When Michael Jackson was declared dead on that fateful Thursday in June of 2009, most of us healed our pain through the songs. Compact discs flew off store shelves and MP3s funneled through Internet connections in an attempt to recall those days when MJ was the King of Pop. It was these kinds of public celebration - I recall at least one set of speakers blaring "The Way You Make Me Feel" that week in midtown Manhattan - that took center stage for most of us. As a result, it seemed that the music
Details on the Graham Parker Box
To clarify from a post from earlier today, we present some info on Offical Bootleg: The Bootleg Box, the new box set from Graham Parker. It's six discs of bootleg shows from the British singer's career, all previously released for download by Parker himself. Most of the shows are solo, save for the first disc, an ill-quality but widely traded show with The Rumour in 1975. It looks to be a nice treat for fans of Parker and his music, and the set is actually quite a steal, particularly for an
Review: Paul Williams, "Someday Man: Deluxe Expanded Edition"
There are certain albums a person returns to, over and over again. These albums often transcend time and genre, and chances are you can name a few of them that reside in your own music collection. I'm talking about that special album you might play when you're down, or when you just need a visit from an old friend to remind you of another time. At The Second Disc, we frequently strive to remind you of those albums. Through the years, one such record for me has been Paul Williams' Someday Man.
Release Round-Up: Week of November 30
Dinah Washington, The Fabulous Miss D! The Keynote, Decca and Mercury Singles 1943-1953 (Verve/Hip-o Select) The early, pre-LP singles of Dinah's pre-Mercury career, on four discs in Verve Select style. (Hip-o Select) The White Stripes, The White Stripes / De Stijl / White Blood Cells (Third Man/Warner Bros.) Everyone's favorite garage-blues band puts their first three albums back in print on 180-gram vinyl. (Amazon) Tim McGraw, Number One Hits (Curb) A straightforward package of McGraw's
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