Elo, kiddies! An out-of-print Cheap Trick box set is coming back to CD as well as a first-time LP adaptation for Music on Vinyl. The Complete Epic Albums Collection, originally released in 2013 as part of a flurry of similar box sets from Legacy Recordings, captured just nearly everything Rockford's finest put out between 1977 and 1990, including their first 11 studio albums (including the first-time physical release of the "authorized" version of 1983's Next Position Please), an expanded
Hello There! Real Gone Prep Limited CD Box Set of Cheap Trick's 1977 Whisky Gigs
As the 1970s drew to a close, the world became well aware of the live concert power of Cheap Trick. The Rockford, Illinois quartet broke through in a big way thanks to their seminal At Budokan, recorded in Japan in 1978 and belatedly released stateside a year later, yielding a Top 10 hit in "I Want You to Want Me." The audience response on the record was undeniable - and still is in many ways - but there were lucky concertgoers who already knew thanks to some seminal American club gigs. As the
You'll Want It: Real Gone Announces Cheap Trick Rarities Set "Epic Archive Vol. 3" and Reissue of Nitro's "O.F.R."
Real Gone Music has announced its latest releases - due on April 26 - which celebrate rock of the '80s and '90s. First up is the 1989 album O.F.R. by the late-'80s hair metal group Nitro, which will appear on limited-edition red and yellow explosion vinyl. Real Gone will also release a CD edition of the third and final volume of Cheap Trick's vault-dive series with The Epic Archive, Vol. 3 (1984-1992). This follows the previously announced red vinyl edition for Record Store Day. Both titles will
Real Gone Music's Record Store Day Slate Includes Badfinger, Cheap Trick, More
Real Gone Music has announced its offerings for the 2019 Record Store Day celebration, taking place at your local brick-and-mortar shop Saturday, April 13, and they include a pair of rarities releases from two beloved bands, and a new-to-vinyl soundtrack. Check out all three titles below, with descriptions for each provided by the label! Badfinger, So Fine--The Warner Bros. Rarities (2-LP Red Vinyl Edition) (2,000 copies) Most folks point to Badfinger as the greatest power pop band of all
Dream A Little Dream: Real Gone's Black Friday RSD Slate Includes The Mamas and the Papas, Cheap Trick and Roy Buchanan
Our continuing look at this year's Black Friday Record Store Day offering now brings us to Real Gone Music's three selections which will be available the day after Thanksgiving, November 23. You may purchase these at any participating independent record shop. (See the full list of shops here!) Roy Buchanan - Live at Town Hall 1974 Blues-rock guitarist Buchanan was famous for playing the Fender Telecaster with an effects-free technique and influencing many other musicians despite never
Dancing the Night Away: Real Gone Collects Cheap Trick Rarities on "The Epic Archive Vol. 2"
Yesterday, we told you about Real Gone's upcoming reissue of The Quick's Mondo Deco. Today, we've got the news of another Real Gone project featuring a group with power-pop roots. This time it's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Cheap Trick with The Epic Archive Vol. 2 (1980-1983), due June 1. The Epic Archive is a 3-part series which debuted digitally in 2015, collecting rarities from across the band's Epic tenure from 1979 to 1992. Last year, Real Gone debuted the first volume on CD
Feelin' Good: Real Gone's Record Store Day 2017 Offerings Feature Cheap Trick and The Meters
We've been taking you through many of the releases to come for this year's 10th anniversary Record Store Day on April 22, and now it is time to turn our attention to the offerings from Real Gone Music who will be releasing two titles for the event. (Just click on the "Record Store Day" tag below to access all of this year's RSD coverage!) Both of these are limited edition vinyl versions of previous Real Gone CD favorites - and one has a very special "golden ticket" incentive! Cheap Trick -
This Is All Right: Real Gone's Late April Slate Includes Cheap Trick, Girl Groups and Marc Jonson
We recently told you about Real Gone Music's April line-up. Typically, the label only has one round of releases in a month, but in April, you'll getting more as the label just announced some more titles to come out later in the month following the April 7 releases from B.J. Thomas, David Allan Coe, Jack Kerouac, and others. (Read all about those here!) First up is a collection of rarities from one of the biggest bands of the 1970s and 1980s and recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees:
I Want You To Want Me: Cheap Trick "Complete Epic Albums" Box Offers Remastered Classics, U.S. CD Debuts
"ELO kiddies, ELO kiddies, whatcha gonna do when the lights start shining?" went the musical question in the first song on Cheap Trick's very first album. But one question, naturally, leads to another. Was the song title simply saying a British 'elo in a cheeky salute? Or was it alluding to ELO, a.k.a. Electric Light Orchestra, the orchestral rock outfit founded by Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood? Why the heck does the song sound more like Gary Glitter than those Brummies? And where did the boys
Reissue Theory: Cheap Trick, Squeeze Do-Overs
Today's installment of Reissue Theory is going to tread over familiar ground, in honor of two bands who turned out some great live sets last night at New Jersey's State Theater: Cheap Trick and Squeeze. Though both bands have their share of hardcore fanatics, they didn't seem to be as vocal last night - at least one person was heard musing after the show that neither band catered to the greatest-hits crowd (Cheap Trick's set mixed most of the favorite early tracks with new material - the band
Back Tracks: Cheap Trick
In reading about Cheap Trick on Web sites like the All Music Guide, one keeps finding aspects of the band's work described as "perverse." That's a weird way of defining it - not in the sexual sense, mind you, but as a means of describing how unusual they are - but I guess it fits well enough, for a number of reasons. In the Rockford, Ill.-based band are, visually, one of the most arresting bands ever; vocalist Robin Zander and basist Tom Petersson look like your typical gorgeous rockers, while
The Weekend Stream: April 25, 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. Strap in for a killer line-up of titles this week: two more Record Store Day debuts, an incredible posthumous collaboration between two '80s icons, the return of one of glam's most beloved bands, new music by some of our favorite pop girls, a hotly anticipated new take on a Broadway favorite, exciting moments in gospel/soul, an exciting new song
That's the Way (I Like It): Edsel Collects "More Sin," "More Deep '70s"
Edsel has recently continued a pair of box set series with the release of Disco Discharge Presents More Sin (1980-1989) and David Hepworth: More Deep '70s. In late 2023, Edsel revived the long-dormant Disco Discharge series with the first Box of Sin. This second volume, More Sin: Full Length Gay Clubbing, follows the template of the first, taking listeners on a journey through the gay club scene of the 1990s and tracing the development of dance music from disco to house. As Ian Wade puts it
Do Ya, Do Ya Want This Disc? The Move's Transition to Something Electric Comes Alive from Esoteric
The final works from British rockers The Move were relatively ignored by everyone, including the band themselves - until listeners started to realize how it marked the trio's transition into a whole new sound. Cherry Red's Esoteric label will revisit the group's fourth album Message from the Country in a newly remastered and expanded package, available February 28. The Move started life as a harmony-rich quintet from Birmingham in the late '60s, enjoying a half dozen Top 10s on the U.K.
They Will Have Their Way: Legacy Plans Packed Record Store Day Slate
Is it just us, or has Record Store Day felt a little muted in recent years? Obviously the annual Black Friday celebration boasts less titles than the festivities held every April, but it's sometimes been a struggle to identify great archival titles or worthy re-pressed discs. Well, that certainly isn't the case this year: labels seem to have gone into overdrive stockpiling interesting LPs and singles worth a second (or first!) look - and one of the strongest showings might be Sony Music's Legacy
The Weekend Stream: September 14, 2024
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. This week brings new songs from two of our '80s favorites, a reissue from a rock supergroup, the first release from a hard-working film composer and a new stand-up comedy album with a little something extra. Duran Duran, "New Moon (Dark Phase)" (Tapemodern) (iTunes / Amazon) Friday the 13th was a perfect day for this to drop! Duran Duran
Soundtrack Watch: Intrada Heats Up 'Backdraft,' Kickstarts 'Abbott and Costello' Recording; La-La Land Expands 'Last Action Hero' and 'Heavy Metal'
Leave it to Intrada and La-La Land to cook up some appropriately blazing soundtrack reissues in recent weeks! Intrada has expanded an early classic by Hans Zimmer, bowed a selection of re-recordings of TV work by Jerry Goldsmith, and is prepping another re-recording project to crowdfund; meanwhile, La-La Land (in addition to releasing the only John Williams score to a Steven Spielberg film without a soundtrack) has expansions of works by Elmer Bernstein and Michael Kamen. Quite the selection of
The Need for Speed: La-La Land Debuts Harold Faltermeyer's Score to 'Top Gun'
La-La Land Records continues its hot streak with an expanded score and soundtrack release of one of the biggest blockbusters of the '80s: Harold Faltermeyer's score to the 1986 action classic Top Gun. The 2CD set, limited to 5000 copies, features Faltermeyer's complete, electronic-infused score to Tony Scott's film about a squadron of Navy pilots training in an elite program colloquially known as - you guessed it - Top Gun. Tom Cruise stars as Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, a talented but reckless
A Second Disc Interview: Mixing It Up with John Luongo
John Luongo is a good liar. Well, maybe he's good at being tongue-in-cheek. "I'm bashful," he says at the start of our interview back in October. "You're gonna have to really drag these things outta me, 'cause I'm a little shy!" What follows is about 100 minutes of captivating stories and thoughtful, enthusiastic lessons from one of the most notable names in dance music. The Boston-born DJ and mix engineer made a name for himself transforming dozens of soul and pop tracks for disco 12"
Is Your Love in Vain? Bob Dylan Expands Budokan Live Album for New Box Set
There was something about Midwestern-born rockers on the CBS Records roster making stops at the Nippon Budokan Hall in Japan. In 1979, Columbia issued not one but two live albums from the Tokyo venue, both simply titled At Budokan. While the one by Cheap Trick essentially made them stars in their home country, a double album of rearranged hits from Bob Dylan sharply polarized fans and critics. Now, on November 17, the Dylan camp is re-examining the artist's time in Japan with a brand-new box
The Weekend Stream: July 2, 2023
Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there's plenty of great new/old music to float you into the weekend. This week brings an R.E.M. classic given new life by a hit TV show, another side of one of Motown's sultriest crooners, two Prince-related artists gone solo, dance grooves from Janet Jackson and Paula Abdul and an early version of one of the greatest epic film scores of the '50s. R.E.M., Strange
Wonderful Tonight(s): Eric Clapton Announces '24 Nights' Box Set
Like Cheap Trick and Budokan or The Allman Brothers Band and the Beacon Theatre, Eric Clapton has a kind of bond with London's Royal Albert Hall. He's played there more than 200 times in the last 60 years - more than any other artist - and condensed two runs of shows at the venue into the live album 24 Nights in 1991, the start of a critical and commercial renaissance for the guitar legend. On June 23, Rhino rolls out a series of products telling an even deeper story of the period that
The Year In Review: The 2022 Gold Bonus Disc Awards, From A to Z - Part Two
Happy 2023! Welcome, friends, to The Second Disc's 13th Annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards! A lot has happened in the last twelve months, but as we look to a new year with optimism and a hopeful spirit, we recognize the many roles music has played in our lives. With that spirit in mind, The Second Disc wishes to recognize 2022's cream of the catalogue music crop - those exemplary reissues and box sets, big and small, that proved to be truly outstanding for music lovers worldwide. Despite the
Release Round-Up: Week of December 16
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the week's most notable new titles! As next week will see very few releases, this will be our final Release Round-Up of 2022...regular daily coverage will continue, though! See you in the new year! Frank Zappa, Waka/Wazoo (Zappa/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / uDiscoverMusic.com / Zappa Online Store) UMe and Zappa Records are chronicling Frank Zappa's 1972 in a new 4CD/1BD box set. The original
Release Round-Up: Week of December 9
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles in stores today! BUY NOW FROM AMAZON.COMCheap Trick, Live at The Whisky 1977 (Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) This 4CD set compiles a quartet of Cheap Trick's complete, uncut shows recorded at the Whisky-a-Go-Go in Los Angeles in the summer of 1977. It's limited to just 2,000 copies and chronicles when Robin Zander, guitarist/songwriter Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- Next Page »