On September 13, 1985, Japanese game manufacturer Nintendo released one of the most revolutionary products in history: the game Super Mario Bros. for the Family Computer System (or Famicom, for short). It's nowhere near an exaggeration to call this release historical for popular culture. Sure, video games were known entities since the early 1970s, when Nolan Bushnell's Atari manufactured some of the first coin-operated arcade machines. And even home consoles were nothing new (the Atari Video
Queen Complete the Circle with Fourth Singles Box
The fourth and last box set in Queen's Singles Collection series will bow on October 18 in the U.K. from EMI/Parlophone. In this 13-disc set, which recreates vintage Queen 45s and CD singles (and only some material from 12" singles, making it a not-quite-complete set), the last chapter of the venerable rock band's career will be chronicled - from The Miracle (1989) and Innuendo (1991) to all the singles released after lead singer Freddie Mercury's death at the end of 1991. Expect a few rarer
Tartare and Cameo Parkway Heat Up: Morris Day, Ric Ocasek, Dee Dee Sharp, Dino, Desi & Billy On Tap
On September 9, The Second Disc sadly reported on the axe falling on more of the beleaguered Rhino Records staff, and the company's plans to delve further into the on-demand CD realm. One such initiative is the Tartare imprint being offered by WMG/Rhino in conjunction with Collectors' Choice Music. Another 20 Tartare titles are on the way from Collectors' Choice, and this group again spans decades, from the 1950s through the 1990s. Track listings are not available (indeed, not every title has
Sixties Girl Bonanza: Complete Petula Confirmed, Plus Connie, Joanie, Shelby and Julie
I know a place where we can go to finally hear the complete Warner Bros. singles of one of the most acclaimed singers of all-time, Petula Clark. On July 26, The Second Disc reported on Collectors' Choice's complete singles collection for Clark's swinging tenure on Warner. Well, that auspicious project has finally been confirmed, but Collectors' Choice has sweetened the pot: also coming are Complete Warner Bros. Singles sets for fellow 1960s female icons Connie Stevens and Joanie Sommers, and a
UMe Brings the Goods in the U.K. with New Deluxe Editions
If you have a sinking suspicion that more and more reissues are going to come from foreign shores, the next batch of titles aren't going to convince you otherwise. Universal Music Enterprise's U.K. arm has announced several new deluxe edition titles from The Who, The Jam, Supertramp and Cast. First up, it looks like The Who's iconic Live at Leeds is getting the super-deluxe treatment in England on November 8 (a U.S. date has not been locked down). The set will include the complete Leeds show on
Friday Feature: "The Naked Gun"
It was a show so ridiculous, it'd make you wonder how it made the airwaves. It boasted some of the most out-there moments and uproarious sight gags on television. It was consistently funny, no matter how many times you watched an episode. Naturally, it was canceled. I'm of course talking about Police Squad!, the madcap spoof of police dramas that aired for six episodes on ABC in the spring and summer of 1982. Despite its creative pedigree - it was created by Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams and David
Short Takes: Ray Charles Unearthed, Steve Miller Band Reissued
A couple short announcements to kick off your Friday morning - one regarding a Ray Charles compilation we've been waiting to learn more about, the other regarding a reissue of a classic '70s rock album. First, our gratitude to Vintage Vinyl News for lifting the curtain on Ray Charles' Rare Genius: The Undiscovered Masters, coming October 26 from Concord. This ten-track set includes entirely unreleased material from several phases of The Genius' career, from the '70s to the '90s. The first
Dio Catalogue Info Coming Up from the Midnight Sea
It turns out the planned vintage live set coming from Dio was just the first of many planned catalogue titles to honor the late, great metal vocalist Ronnie James Dio. Rolling Stone reports a whole bunch of stuff is forthcoming from the newly-founded Niji Entertainment Group, a venture headed by Dio's widow, Wendy, who had been in the process of co-founding the label when her husband passed on. Beyond the already-mentioned Dio at Donington U.K.: Live 1983 and 1987, Niji will oversee a 180-gram
Back Tracks: Laura Nyro
Laura Nyro (1947-1997) never became as famous as her songs. In an all-too-short 49 years, Nyro provided major hits for a diverse array of artists from Three Dog Night and Blood, Sweat & Tears to Barbra Streisand and most famously, The Fifth Dimension. Yet her own albums never achieved mainstream success, with audiences largely preferring to hear her compositions performed by others. (In this respect, she could be compared to her contemporary Jimmy Webb.) Perhaps this was just as well for the
Matador's Box Set is a Nice Hand
Venerable indie label Matador Records has had one of the most consistently impressive rosters for newer music during their existence. The list includes Pavement, Interpol, Ted Leo and The Pharmacists, Sonic Youth, Liz Phair, Yo La Tengo, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and scores more. This month, as the label prepares a 21st anniversary celebration at the Palms Resort in Las Vegas, they will chronicle that successful run in Matador at 21, a six-disc box full of notable tunes from Matador
Weez Like to Know What's on This Set
A substantiative update from Weezer webmaster/archivist Karl Koch about the planned catalogue efforts of one of the most intriguing bands of the past few decades was posted on the band's Web site back in August. It's making the rounds now, and while it should have Weezer fans excited, it might make them a bit confused as well. Longtime Weezer fans know that the band - who just signed with indie label Epitaph after 15 years with Geffen and have a new, ridiculously-packaged record due out next
News Round-Up: Rhino Cuts, CSNY Live Speculation, XTC Vinyl and More
We hate to start the day off with some bad news, but Rhino is apparently about to experience another depressing surge of layoffs, trade publication Variety reports. From the looks of it, expect a smaller slate of physical titles - even the Handmade stuff, some of which was in the can for years, the article says - and more of an emphasis on digital catalogue maneuvers or (at the very least) more on-demand releases like the Tartare program. Graham Nash mentioned to Billboard about the speculated
Reissue Theory: Max Q
This is an unusual segue for today's Reissue Theory, so please bear with me: Miss Disc recently lost a family member - one who knew well of my own passion for keeping catalogue music discussion alive. In an odd way, moments like these help put things in perspective; we all slump our shoulders in defeat when a catalogue title is delayed or mishandled, because it sucks. But at the end of the day, all of this - from the labels conceiving and releasing product to sites like The Second Disc or
You Must Remember This: Classic Gerhardt Titles Being Reissued
A surprise find on Amazon today: it looks like RCA is reissuing six classic film score compilations recorded by Charles Gerhardt and The National Philharmonic Orchestra. The American conductor, who made a name for himself as a producer/compiler of LP box sets sold through Reader's Digest, founded The National Philharmonic Orchestra, a crack team of London session musicians, in 1970. Within two years, the unit was earning high marks in the film world for "The Classic Film Scores" series,
It's Monkee-Mania: "Head" Soundtrack Expanded as Deluxe Box Set
Just a few short weeks ago on August 19, The Second Disc reported on the Criterion Collection release of the Monkees’ trippy cinematic opus, Head. At the end of that article, we opined, “Perhaps the success of this set will inspire Rhino Handmade to revisit the Head soundtrack as a deluxe edition should its Monkees reissue program continue.” Well, we didn’t even have to wait that long. Rhino Handmade has announced a three-disc deluxe box set of the soundtrack to Head and much, much more.
Have the Time of Your Life
An interesting story perhaps best reported in my state newspaper: today sees a digital-only release of some archival material from the undying 1987 film Dirty Dancing. As The Second Disc pointed out during a Friday Feature back in May, Dirty Dancing refuses to budge from the collective consciousness, some 23 years after it was released. The soundtrack has been reissued and remastered in a variety of ways, but none of them had these tracks: a handful of original demos of the film's hits,
La La Land's New Releases: Monkeying Around and Going to Hell
Two semi-obscure scores are coming from La La Land Records today: one's the music to an primate-oriented family film, the other is an early-'70s rock score. First up, Miles Goodman's complete score to Dunston Checks In (1996), the comedy about an orangutan in a fancy hotel. (Seriously.) It's a nice comedic romp, despite the fact that the source material isn't quite a classic, and it'll be a nice little limited edition at 1,200 copies. The label also has a reissue of the soundtrack to Hell's
Dylan Goes Mono-Lite, Too
Excited about Sony's new batch of Bob Dylan material? As if another entry in The Bootleg Series (with some additional live bonuses depending on where you buy it) and a mono box set wasn't enough, Columbia/Legacy is also releasing The Best of The Mono Recordings, a single-disc teaser culled from that box set. Of course, hardcore collectors are going to want to pick this set up in addition to the mono box; included on the 15-track sampler is the mono mix of a non-LP single, "Positively 4th
C'est CHIC, Indeed: More Nile Rodgers Box Set Details Released
If you've followed the legendary producer/CHIC co-founder Nile Rodgers on Facebook or Twitter, you've no doubt realized that he's been combing through his archives for some projects, including his autobiography and a forthcoming box set chronicling The CHIC Organization and its productions. Finally, news of the latter has broke from someone other than Rodgers himself: Rhino France, through their Facebook page, has issued the first details about Nile Rodgers Presents The CHIC Organization Vol. 1:
Some Like It Hotter: Kritzerland Follows “Promises” with Remixed “Sugar”
Kritzerland’s Bruce Kimmel wasn’t one to rest on his laurels over the Labor Day weekend. The soundtrack and cast album specialist label announced on Monday its latest two-CD deluxe release, a reissue of the 1972 Original Broadway Cast Recording of Sugar. For those who missed out on Kimmel’s Promises, Promises, don’t pass up the chance to hear this terrifically fun album in a new light. Sugar, the musical version of Billy Wilder’s seminal film Some Like It Hot, was assembled by a Broadway dream
Labor Day Special Reissue Theory: Stephen Schwartz and James Taylor, “Working”
The Second Disc Archives are open! We're reprising this look at a musical which united the talents of Stephen Schwartz, James Taylor, Mary Rodgers, Micki Grant and Craig Carnelia, while our story also features "appearances" along the way by Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Warnes and Rupert Holmes! Welcome to our Reissue Theory special: Working! On Monday, September 6, 2010, America celebrated its 128th Labor Day, all but the first 12 of them recognized as a
"TNG" Box Boldly Goes Where Few Have Gone Before
Film Score Monthly has announced its fifth box set, and like the others, it's quite an undertaking: Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Ron Jones Project collates 14 discs' worth of music from the famous television series plus a heap of other Trek goodies from composer Ron Jones. Jones, best known for some surprisingly notable scores to animated television works (including the Disney cartoons DuckTales and Chip n' Dale Rescue Rangers along with turns on Family Guy), composed scores to 42
Legacy Bumps Jayhawks Reissues to Next Year
We may have only fleetingly mentioned these before, but Legacy has prepped expanded reissues of Hollywood Town Hall and Tomorrow the Green Grass, the first two records that alt-country rockers The Jayhawks recorded for the American Recordings label in the early 1990s. Hollywood Town Hall, released in 1992, will feature five bonus tracks (two of which are unreleased) while Tomorrow the Green Grass (1995) will be presented as a double-disc Legacy Edition with a heap of bonus cuts, 20 of them
Friday Feature: The Terminator Saga
Every August 29, incredible geeks like myself look skyward and emit sighs of relief that no nuclear warheads are heading our way. Of course, on a fictitious August 29 - in 1997 to be exact - a nuclear attack did indeed happen, triggered by a dangerously self-aware defense network system called Skynet. A war would rage between these sentient machines and their human creators, ultimately climaxing with soldiers on each side being sent to the past (our present) to alter future events. That tale,
Rounder Records Adding Box Set to the Holiday Rush
Add another box set to the pile for this holiday season: The Rounder Records Story, an 87-track, four-disc chronicle of the Massachusetts-based indie folk label, celebrating its 40th year. The set includes tracks by notables names like Willie Nelson, NRBQ, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Rush, George Thorogood and The Destroyers, Bela Fleck and more. Pre-order it here and check the track list out after the jump.
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