Earlier this year, Joni Mitchell brought her now-famous Joni Jam shows to the Hollywood Bowl for two sold-out evenings. A little more than 45 years ago, Mitchell closed out her North American tour with a series of shows some fifteen minutes away from the Bowl at the Greek Theatre; a selection from that concert closes the fourth volume of the Joni Mitchell Archives series of box sets. The Bowl shows proved another triumph for the artist who's now widely recognized for the innovations that
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Bob Dylan and The Band, "The 1974 Live Recordings"
Big things often come in small packages. Such is the case with Legacy Recordings' recent excavation of Bob Dylan and The Band's 1974 tour. 40 concerts took place over 30 dates and 21 cities, with Dylan, Robbie Robertson, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, Levon Helm, and Rick Danko even playing two shows in one day in many markets. The 1974 Live Recordings takes the form of a tiny cube, packing in 27 discs and 431 tracks (417 of which are previously unreleased). The set contains every
Review: Joni Mitchell, "The Asylum Albums 1972-1975" in Quadio
The Joni Mitchell renaissance continues. Following a triumphant surprise appearance in July 2022 at the Newport Folk Festival, the singer-songwriter returned to the stage for a full-length Joni Jam in June 2023 at Washington's Gorge Amphitheatre; tickets were quickly snapped up by ardent fans who had waited roughly two decades to see Mitchell in concert once again. The evening was a transcendent one, a taste of which was supplied to the public when Mitchell and her band of friends performed
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Joni Mitchell, "The Asylum Albums (1972-1975)"
2022 has been Joni Mitchell's year. Following a triumphant surprise appearance in July at the Newport Folk Festival, the singer-songwriter announced a return to the stage for a full-length Joni Jam in June 2023 at Washington's Gorge Amphitheatre; tickets were quickly snapped up by ardent fans who had waited roughly two decades to see Mitchell in concert once again. More recently, she attended her first-ever Broadway musical, Cameron Crowe and Tom Kitt's Almost Famous - and made her Broadway
You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio: Joni Mitchell's "The Asylum Albums (1972-1975)" Coming from Rhino
On Sunday, happy tears flowed at the Newport Folk Festival when Joni Mitchell took the Rhode Island stage for a surprise set - her first full-length concert in roughly two decades, performed alongside her longtime champion Brandi Carlile and a host of illustrious friends. Soon, those tears were flowing everywhere when audio and video from the thirteen-song show was shared worldwide. Joni Mitchell was back, tapping into a deep well of vivid emotion on her beloved standards such as "Both Sides
"Harmony in My Head: UK Power Pop and New Wave, 1977-81" Collects Costello, Squeeze, Nick Lowe, Searchers, More
In recent years, Cherry Red Records has made waves with their box set celebrations of music eras gone by. From late-'70s Scottish independent releases and '60s Baroque pop, to '80s shoegaze and even the avant-garde sound explorations of Edgard Varese and Karlheinz Stockhausen, the label has a reputation for their meticulous deep-dives into music subcultures. In November, Cherry Red put the spotlight on the late-'70s U.K. pop-rock scene with Harmony In My Head: UK Power Pop & New Wave,
Holiday Gift Guide Review: "International Pop Overthrow: Volume 17"
We'd like to extend a big welcome to the newest member of our Second Disc family, author Ted Frank. Ted, a self-described "power pop-a-holic," kicks off his contributions to The Second Disc with a review of the latest collection from the fine folks at The International Pop Overthrow Festival. The Festival's seventeenth volume (yes, seventeenth - congratulations, IPO!) of pure pop for now people is just the latest in a smashing line of releases designed to introduce you to the best bands you've
Review: "Follies: Original 1971 Broadway Cast Recording" (Remixed and Remastered Edition)
Though the former showgirls and stage-door Johnnies of Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman’s Follies reunited in the 1971 musical for “one last look at where it all began,” it’s been rather difficult for those under the musical’s spell to take one last look (or listen, as it were) at the original production of Follies. Those who saw it routinely recall it as the grandest of all musicals; those who didn’t have had to make do with still photographs, grainy YouTube footage, talk show appearances,
The Way She Was: Stage Door Debuts Gloria Hunniford's "A Taste of Hunni" on CD
Today, Gloria Hunniford is best known throughout the U.K. as a television presenter for both the BBC and ITV, including as a panelist on Loose Women (Britain's equivalent to The View). But the Northern Ireland-born broadcaster and reporter began her career as a singer, first performing publicly as a child and later hosting her own radio show in Canada, on which she sang Irish songs. Hunniford, once dubbed "Ireland's Queen of Song," has returned to music with frequency - from sharing bills with
Shadows and Light: Joni Mitchell's Asylum Albums Go Quadio
Joni Mitchell has had quite the year, stopping the show at the Grammy Awards (did anybody watching not shed a tear?), reinventing "I'm Still Standing" at the Gershwin Prize celebration of Elton John and Bernie Taupin, and preparing for her Los Angeles concert return with sold-out, hotly-anticipated Joni Jams at the Hollywood Bowl in October. Today, Rhino announced one more jewel in Mitchell's crown. Her 2022 box set The Asylum Albums (1972-1975) has been reissued with a twist: all four albums
My Old School: UMe Reissues Steely Dan's "Countdown to Ecstasy"
Following the recent release of Steely Dan's debut album Can't Buy a Thrill in vinyl, audiophile vinyl, and hybrid stereo SACD formats, the jazz-rock heroes' second set will be receiving the same treatment. This Friday, May 26, Countdown to Ecstasy will be issued by Geffen/UMe on 180-gram black vinyl as remastered by Bernie Grundman at 33-1/3 RPM. A 200-gram, 45 RPM version on Ultra High-Quality Vinyl (UHQR) is already shipping from Acoustic Sounds with the SACD (playable on all CD players)
My Cup Runneth Over: Stage Door Reissues London Cast Recording of "I Do! I Do!"
Stage Door Records has said "I Do!" to the classic musical by the team of Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt. I Do, I Do! opened on November 5, 1966 at Broadway's 46th Street Theatre (today, the home of Hamilton) in producer David Merrick and director-choreographer Gower Champion's production starring Mary Martin and Robert Preston. The London production made its premiere on May 16, 1968 at the Lyric Theatre, soon to host 2:22: A Ghost Story. Lucia Victor's recreation of Gower Champion's original
In Memoriam: Christine McVie (1943-2022)
Many words have already been typed to memorialize Christine McVie, the stalwart Fleetwood Mac singer/songwriter/keyboardist who died November 30 after a brief illness. But really, it was right there in the name all along: before that fateful marriage to John McVie, she was born Christine Perfect. How she'd live up to that name over time. McVie, a founding member of the British blues band Chicken Shack, joined her bass-playing husband in Fleetwood Mac in 1970, a year after they were wed.
UMC to Spice Up 'Spiceworld' with New Reissues
England's pop exports are some of the biggest the world has ever known - and in the '90s, none were bigger than the Spice Girls. This fall, UMC will reissue Spiceworld, the group's second album and the one where they were metaphorically on top of the world, in a variety of formats with rare and unreleased material. Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton, Melanie Brown, Melanie Chisholm and Victoria Adams were irresistible to worldwide pop audiences not long after the release of debut Spice in 1996. With
The Weekend Stream Labor Day Special: Spotlight on WIWS Radio with John and Chrissy Sellards
Welcome to a special edition of The Weekend Stream for the long Labor Day weekend! Longtime readers might have noticed that adorable owl perched comfortably atop The Second Disc. He's the mascot for WIWS Radio, an online radio station dedicated to '50s and '60s classics in authentic AM radio sound. We'd like to introduce you to John and Chrissy Sellards, the couple behind WIWS. John is already well known to Second Disc readers for his design work on most of our Second Disc Records releases.
A Second Disc Special Feature: David Lasley and Rosie
The Second Disc is thrilled to welcome Charles Donovan for a very special guest post. In addition to being one of the finest music journalists working today, Charles has curated some of our favorite releases in recent years including Rupert Holmes' Songs That Sound Like Movies: The Complete Epic Recordings, Pamela Polland's Pamela Polland/Have You Heard the One About the Gas Station Attendant?, and Maxayn's Reloaded: The Complete Recordings 1972-1974. Today, Charles brings his knowledge,
Release Round-Up: Week of November 5
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Billy Joel, The Vinyl Collection Vol. 1 (Columbia/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) This 9LP slipcased box set collects Billy Joel's first six solo studio albums plus his first live album and a box set-exclusive pressing of Live at The Great American Music Hall - 1975, a previously unreleased concert recording on 2 LPs from the famed San Francisco venue. All of the albums have been sourced from the original master tapes and
I Like It: Croydon Municipal's "Britain's Finest Thespians Sing" and "Doo Wop Soda Shop" Collect Rarities
Bob Stanley's Croydon Municipal label closed out 2016 with a pair of releases continuing the Cherry Red imprint's mission of excavating some of the most rare and well-done pop music inside and outside of Great Britain. And This is Me might be thought of as a kind of Golden Throats precursor. Subtitled Britain's Finest Thespians Sing, this 24-track compendium features a host of the finest actors, comedians, and personalities from pre-Beatles Great Britain's golden age of entertainment across
At The Groovy Cellar: RPM Reveals "Another Splash of Colour: New Psychedelia in Britain 1980-1985"
Mention psychedelia and chances are you're transported to a certain patchouli-scented period in the late 1960s, a hazy period of high times and boundary-breaking musical creativity. The spirit of psychedelia didn't die with the advent of glam, hard rock or disco, however, though it may have been submerged for a time. In 1981, the 13-track album A Splash of Colour chronicled Great Britain's "New Psychedelia" with '60s-influenced cuts from The Mood Six, Miles Over Matter, The High Tide, The
Heat It Up: Groove Line Tells "The Salsoul Orchestra Story: 40th Anniversary Collection"
The title of The Salsoul Orchestra's second album said it all - Nice 'n' Naasty. The soul-disco orchestra, originally under the baton of MFSB alumnus Vincent Montana Jr., could serve up nice, shimmering and lushly elegant soundscapes...and naasty floor-filling grooves that practically demanded you hit the dancefloor! Happily, the group has recently received a lavish tribute in the form of a sizzling 3-CD collection from Groove Line Records (the label responsible for the recent, definitive
Dawn Of Creation: New Box Collects Early Years of Creation Label, with Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream and More
"Our master plan was destroy manufactured bands," writes Alan McGee in the foreword to Cherry Red Records' recent box set, Artifact: The Dawn of Creation Records '83-'85. "We lost," he adds. "But maybe we won for a while!" Surely the Creation label founded by McGee could be considered a winner, having given a platform in the 1980s and 1990s to bands including The Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine and Oasis. Only the first two of those are represented on this impressive
In Memoriam: Anne Meara (1929-2015)
Please excuse this interruption of The Second Disc's regular programming to allow for a personal remembrance of the late Anne Meara (Fame, Rhoda, The King of Queens, All My Children). Anne Meara was so much more than "mother of Ben Stiller." Though that famous credit - of which she was incredibly, enormously proud - adorns many of the headlines about her passing this weekend at the age of 85, let it be known that Anne was also a comedienne, an actress, a humorist, a playwright, an artist, a
From Polynesia To Belgium: Cherry Red Goes Exotic! Plus: The Singing Nun! George Melly's Hedonistic Fifties!
No slab of vintage vinyl is too obscure or too esoteric for the team at Cherry Red’s él label, as evidenced by a trio of its most recent offerings from Jeanine Deckers a.k.a. Sœur Sourire a.k.a. The Singing Nun, British critic and personality George Melly, and a whole host of masters of exotica. The mini-box set Exotica Classics features five albums on two discs, each housed in its own paper sleeve within the slipcased set. The first features two complete LPs (Miriam Burton’s African Lament
Cherry Red's él Heads to the Sixties for Pop Art, Bossa Nova, and Singing Celebs
What made the swinging sixties swing? Cherry Red’s él label continues to explore the various corners of early 1960s pop music with a trio of releases that, in large part, offer answers to that very question. Pop Goes the Easel: The Start of the Swinging Sixties takes its name from maverick director Ken Russell’s 1962 documentary film, and over two eclectic CDs, boasts 65 tracks from thirteen different films and television programs. Artists range from Buddy Holly to Anthony Newley. A fine
Feeling Good: Rare Albums From Henry Mancini, Anthony Newley Arrive From Vocalion
The U.K.’s Vocalion label is dedicated to exploring the corners of music catalogue too often overlooked by other labels: dance bands, big bands, “personalities,” “easy, light and Latin,” soundtracks, and classical titles, per its website. A new batch of rare and new-to-CD titles (including “easy listening” releases from Peter Nero, Floyd Cramer, Paul Mauriat and George Melachrino) is highlighted by a two-fer containing two rare Henry Mancini LPs, and another two-fer drawn from Anthony Newley’s