It might be seen as unfair to criticize the catalogue-oriented decisions of INXS. Since losing lead singer Michael Hutchence in 1997, they've tried hard to find their way - finding a new singer through a reality show, recording an album with him, prepping a new album with a rotating stable of lead singers and so on. Rhino, the label that controls their back catalogue in the U.S., has released a lot of compilations in the interim as well, plus a few reissues of their late '80s/early '90s work
La La Land Blows Up White House, Catches a Wave
Wow! Commenter ~Rupe was some sort of a prophet today when he discussed the need for soundtrack labels to repress certain out-of-print soundtracks. The second of La La Land Record's soundtrack releases today (after David Arnold's complete score to the 1996 blockbuster Independence Day) fulfills that need in spades: the label is releasing a brand-new pressing of John Williams' score to the 1972 disaster classic The Poseidon Adventure. Williams gained early mainstream recognition as the musician
Reissue Theory: Shania Twain, "Come On Over"
Behind every devoted catalogue fan is a long-suffering but good-natured band of friends who smile politely and listen to us jaw on about liner notes, bonus tracks and the like. Those readers with partners or spouses are probably grinning right now, and so am I. Today is the birthday of a special someone (in a hat tip to MusicTAP, I'll call her Miss Disc) and in a show of geeky affection I have put together a Reissue Theory for one of her favorite records, which is thankfully one that could
Reissue Theory: Neil Diamond with a Bang!
Long before he read about a frog who dreamed of being a king – and then became one – Neil Diamond was an up-and-coming songwriter in the waning days of the Brill Building. After a few unsuccessful stabs at recording in the early part of the decade, Diamond was taken under the wing of Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich and Bert Berns. In January 1966, the hits started coming: first “Sunday and Me” for Jay and the Americans, then “I’m A Believer” and “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You,” both for the
On the Right (Sound)Track
Here at The Second Disc, there's a lot of coverage of soundtracks. (For proof, check Joe Marchese's recent exciting review of a few vault reissues by Henry Mancini.) Granted, not every fan of classic pop, rock and R&B catalogue releases is big on orchestral scores and whatnot, but it's an integral genre in the wide, wild world of reissues and worth covering from an artistic point of view. But recent revelations have shown that soundtrack catalogue comings and goings are worth covering from
Say Hey, It's Record Store Day
If today is April 17 (which it likely is) and you're reading this post and not going to your local indie record store, then stop reading and go! Today is indeed Record Store Day, a celebration of one of the best things music has to offer us - great places to find great music. As someone who works in a store that sells music (but is the antithesis of an indie store), I can comfortably say that there's nothing better than going to a real record store and coming home with a bag full of good tunes.
Unforgettable - I Think
For someone with such an iconic tune in "Unforgettable," there seems to be a lot of Nat "King" Cole's discography that gets lost in the shuffle. While he's known for his work as founder of The Nat "King" Cole Trio, and later a pop crooner with few equals, for Capitol Records starting in 1943 (indeed, the label's famous Hollywood offices are informally called "the house that Nat built"), he did a great deal of work for other labels - not only with The King Cole Trio, but as a piano man for other
Review: Two by Mancini
Henry Mancini would have gone down in film history had he only composed the instantly recognizable “Pink Panther Theme,” or supplied the melody to Johnny Mercer’s wistful lyric “Moon River.” But those accomplishments are mere tips of the iceberg for the man who scored over 80 films and recorded over 90 albums, garnering 20 Grammys and 4 Oscars along the way. Hardly a year goes by without a CD reissue of one of his classic scores, and 2010 is no exception, with 2 very different works given new
Reissue Theory Three-Peat: The Stray Cats
Musical inspiration can come from anyone, anywhere - even if you're not a musician. Consider the notion of talking with friends about evolving musical tastes. The conversation shifts to music enjoyed during early adolescence - when suddenly, you discover a revelation: a friend secretly spent their early middle school years enamored of the swingin' sounds of The Brian Setzer Orchestra. You laugh and joke about it - because what pre-teen in the past decade could possibly jazzed by Setzer's swing
EXCLUSIVE: More Info on the Bon Jovi Reissues
It is with great pleasure that The Second Disc can divulge a few more details on the forthcoming Bon Jovi reissues due on May 11 from Island Records and Universal Music Enterprises. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time any of this information is coming out - something of an exclusive! Some of these details are more on the technical side, but anyone wondering for more Bon Jovi tidbits (including how much of the promised live content is unreleased) will be in for a nice surprise.
The Chairman from Ipanema
Frank Sinatra. Antonio Carlos Jobim. Two great musical tastes that taste great together. Ol' Blue Eyes brought his inimitable voice to the smooth bossa nova compositions of Jobim in 1967 with the LP Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim, in which the two teamed up on Jobim's best tracks ("The Girl from Ipanema," "How Insensitive") and some great standards as well (Berlin's "Change Partners," Porter's "I Concentrate on You"). Four years later, another Sinatra-Jobim session yielded one
Something to Shout About
A few new titles coming our way from Shout! Factory. The label perhaps best known for being born of Rhino ex-pats - ex-pats who got one of the best live concert films ever out on DVD for the first time - have announced reissues of two very different titles that will please rock fans out there. First up, Concrete Blonde - the seminal Los Angeles alt-rockers of the late '80s and early '90s - had previously announced a reunion tour to commemorate the 20th anniversary of their most famous LP
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
Reissue Theory: Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Blood Sugar Sex Magik"
The fearful question reissue enthusiasts have to ask - particularly those who might have a hand in putting them out for public consumption - is: when is the reissue wave going to crash? I don't pose the question in terms of when people will stop paying money for physical media, because I don't think that's a particularly relevant problem right now. As long as fans keep buying enough reissued CDs now and future generations take a moment to ponder the merits of sound quality, this isn't an issue.
Hot Fudge Sundae!
Their repertoire was pretty standard for the late 1960s: a Lennon/McCartney tune here, a Bacharach and David song there, a Motown cover for good measure, even "The Windmills of Your Mind." But similarities ended there between Vanilla Fudge and their MOR-covering contemporaries. Over the course of five albums for the Atco label, the Fudge brought a psychedelic touch to the gestating sound of so-called "heavy rock" with blues-drenched, extended takes on familiar songs. Shadow Morton, famed
Review: Chicago - "Chicago Transit Authority" Quadradisc
What is Quadio? That's the question currently being posed by the fine folks over at Rhino.com. For an answer and some fun interactivity, click here. But in short, Quadio describes the new series of four-channel audio DVDs (or "Quadradiscs") being introduced by Rhino with the reissue of 1969's Chicago Transit Authority, the first album by the band later known simply as Chicago. This release is a landmark in a number of ways. For one thing, it signals a new attempt to court the dedicated
Reissue Theory: Malcolm McLaren, "Duck Rock"
The recent passing of music impresario Malcolm McLaren has led to a lot of emotions. Some hate McLaren for his self-aggrandizing ways and mismanagement of The Sex Pistols' supernova career. Others laud him for his contribution to music history as not only a tastemaker and agent provocateur, but as a semi-successful musician as well. There's something to be said about some of that music, too. McLaren's debut LP, 1983's Duck Rock, has been championed - thanks to both the quality of the music and
Tommy and Gina Redux
If you're from New Jersey, chances are you are (or know someone who is) a Bon Jovi fan. They were perhaps the best of the big-haired arena-rockers in the late '80s and '90s, and still know how to pack 'em in to this day. And now, it looks like they're reaching the rarified ranks of solid catalogue artists, thanks to a pretty wide series of reissues from Island and Universal Music Enterprises. Amazon is listing reissues of ten Bon Jovi albums - everything from 1984's self-titled debut to 2007's
Reissue Theory: The Smiths - "The Smiths"
One of the books devoured by this author over the Easter break was The Smiths: Songs That Saved Your Life by Simon Goddard. If you're a fan of The Smiths, are thinking about being a fan of The Smiths or just like '80s alt-rock in general, you would do well to add this to your bookshelf. It provides an in-depth account of every song released or recorded by the band in their too-brief career and covers Morrissey, Johnny Marr, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce through prose that's both artistic and
News Roundup: Back from Hiatus Edition, Part 1
Well! After a fun weekend of sun and Easter candy, it's back to tracking the catalogue world at The Second Disc. A hearty thank-you to Joe for his contributions over the weekend, and a welcome back to our loyal readers. A few release nuggets came through the pipeline over the weekend, so let's clean house by getting some of them out of the way. More to come before the end of the day, so stick around! NME reported that a new Oasis compilation would see a U.K. release on June 14. Time Flies
You've Still Got A Friend: "The Essential Carole King"
The Second Disc is pleased to introduce our first contributor, Joe Marchese. Joe is a NY/NJ-based writer, theatre director and music enthusiast, and is thrilled to be on board. For many of her fans, Carole King's career begins and ends with Tapestry. It's not hard to see why; the seminal 1971 album spent fifteen weeks perched at No. 1 on Billboard’s album chart, remained on the chart for six years, spawned two chart-topping pop singles, and influenced an entire generation of introspective
The Not-So-Finer Things
The announcement of Revelutions: The Very Best of Steve Winwood - a new compilation from Island available as either a single-disc compilation or a four-disc box set - should be exciting. Winwood is a hell of a musician whose illustrious career has seen him work with Blind Faith, Traffic and The Spencer Davis Group, not to mention his own successful solo work. But this set is boring, not just for its lack of vault content but because it's essentially been released before. The Finer Things was a
In Case You Missed It: Monsieur Hathaway
A little bit of old news for you, but a must-know if you didn't already: the folks at Rhino have put together Someday We'll All Be Free, a four-disc overview of soul singer Donny Hathaway's brief but powerful career. The set includes all four studio albums, a heap of live tracks, and seven previously unreleased recordings. Here's the catch, though: it seems that it's only available - as a 5,000-copy limited edition, at that - in France. While I had little to no idea of Hathaway's apparently
Guessing Game: Devo - "New Traditionalists" (UPDATED 3/30)
It was recently announced that, not long after Devo's Duty Now for the Future reissue and upcoming new single, Warner Bros. will be continuing the reissue chain with New Traditionalists, the band's fourth LP from 1981, due back in stores on May 11. To date, no bonus tracks have been announced. Prior reissues have seen bonus tracks ranging from new live material (the 2009 live performance of Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! that accompanied the reissue of the original) to old live material
Reissue Theory: Tracy Chapman, "Tracy Chapman"
We music fans live for that moment when a song comes from nowhere - through a radio, perhaps, or more likely through your computer speakers nowadays - grabs us and doesn't let go. That was undoubtedly the case with "Fast Car," the first single by singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman. The song - for the ten or so of you who might have missed it over the better part of 20 years - is an achingly bittersweet, first-person ballad about a woman planning to escape her impoverished, broken family only to
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