Greetings from beautiful downtown Anaheim! Your catalogue correspondent is reporting from the D23 Expo, or "The Ultimate Disney Fan Event." Every arm of The Walt Disney Company is here on the packed show floor, with special panels, presentations, signings and giveaways pertaining to each aspect of the company: film, television, theme parks, animation, publishing, and of course, music. As I'm immersed in all things Disney this weekend, both Mike and I thought it would be the perfect time to
Review: Three From Dave Grusin, Cy Coleman and Henry Mancini
With hyperbole the norm, it's questionable just how many buyers took notice of a 1957 album on the Liberty label entitled The Versatile Henry Mancini. Yet fewer record titles have proven as apt. As frequent collaborator Blake Edwards noted, "Whether the situation is romantic, humorous, tragic, ironic or full of action, Mancini creates exactly the right musical mood." Mancini's breakthrough came two years after that LP's release, when Edwards enlisted him to provide the cool jazz-inflected
Ride That Train: Johnny Cash "Bootleg III" Takes the Live Route
“Ah, I’d love to wear a rainbow every day/And tell the world that everything’s okay. But I’ll try to carry a little darkness on my back/Till things are brighter, I’m the Man in Black.” And though Johnny Cash appeared as that Man in Black, immortalized in his song, he was in reality a man of many colors. His music reflected a crucial empathy that guided his career as he embraced the various strains of America itself, both its people and its music. Records preserve Cash walking with superstars
Review: Bobby Charles, "Bobby Charles: Rhino Handmade Edition"
Gumbo’s on the menu, and Rhino Handmade is serving. The self-titled Bearsville debut LP from Bobby Charles is a N’awlins stew of roots music, laid-back country, soul and pure rock-and-roll from the man who gave the world “See You Later, Alligator,” and Rhino Handmade has expanded the original 1972 LP with two discs of delicious bonus material (RHM2 52663, 2011), shipping today from the label. It’s somewhat ironic that Bobby Charles was recorded in Woodstock, New York, as the man born Robert
Release Round-Up: Week of August 16
Breaking Benjamin, Shallow Bay: The Best of Breaking Benjamin (Hollywood) A decade of Breaking Benjamin is collected on this new compilation, available in both standard and deluxe editions. The deluxe edition offers an additional disc of rare and unreleased bonus material. (Amazon) Dazz Band, Hot Spot: Expanded Edition (Funkytowngrooves) The Dazz Band's 1985 swan song on Motown Records is expanded with five remixes. (Amazon) Nick Heyward, Tangled and The Apple Bed (Cherry Red) Heyward's
On Target: Audio Fidelity Introduces New Retro Reissue Line
Can anybody doubt that Audio Fidelity knows its audience? The audiophile label is taking niche marketing to another level with the introduction of its new line of reissues. To the average consumer, a “Target CD” might be one purchased at that retail giant. To certain collectors, though, the words “Target CD” have a different meaning altogether. In the infancy of the compact disc, target CDs were pressings released by WEA (Warner-Elektra-Atlantic) in the early-to-mid 1980s. Most were
You Gotta Have Heart: Audio Fidelity Preps Gold Heart, "Sweet Baby James"
Audiophile specialty label Audio Fidelity continues to revisit familiar titles in 24k Gold CD editions with its two latest releases, both due August 23: James Taylor's 1970 breakthrough Sweet Baby James, and Heart's 1998 retrospective Greatest Hits. In the documentary film Troubadours, Carole King comments that due to the "generational and cultural turbulence...there was a hunger for the intimacy of what we did." And as 1970 began, listeners certainly did hunger for James Taylor. After the
Cold Chisel Expanded Reissues Arrive in Australia
Raise your hand if you're familiar with Cold Chisel! If you're not, don't worry - you can still pass "Go" and collect your 200 bucks. The band known as Cold Chisel comes from the home of Men at Work (of course), AC/DC, Olivia Newton-John, Peter Allen and Helen Reddy: Australia. Although the band never gained the international fame those other artists did, they remain one of the biggest acts ever in the land down under. Almost forty years after the band's founding, Cold Chisel kicked off
Collectors' New Choice: Gordon Anderson Launches New Label
Eagle-eyed crate diggers might have noticed a major disappearing act of late. Collectors’ Choice Music, long renowned for its diverse and eclectic line-up of releases by artists ranging from Bing Crosby to Jefferson Airplane, has quietly been allowing its label’s releases to go out-of-print. In fact, many of those titles are already commanding high prices on the second-hand market. (The beginning of the end of the Collectors’ Choice label can be read here.) Though the company’s famed
Superstar: Leon Russell's "Live in Japan" Arrives In Newly-Expanded Edition
Can anyone dispute that the Master of Space and Time has returned? Leon Russell is currently touring the country with none other than Bob Dylan, riding the wave of adulation he's received for 2010's high-profile Elton John collaboration The Union, as well as an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On August 9, the Omnivore label will remind listeners of just why Russell is so revered today. On that date, Omnivore will release Live in Japan, restoring to a print a 1974 Japan-only LP
Review: The Beau Brummels, "Bradley's Barn: Expanded Edition"
Before Abbey Road or Caribou, The Beau Brummels immortalized a famous recording studio as the title of Bradley’s Barn, their 1968 album for Warner Bros. Records. The San Francisco pop-rock outfit had travelled to Nashville, Tennessee to record at Owen Bradley’s storied venue at roughly the same time their contemporaries, The Byrds, were on the other side of town cutting Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Though the “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “Turn! Turn! Turn!” hitmakers beat the Brummels to the punch
En Garde! Hugo Friedhofer's "Casanova" Rediscovered
Composer Hugo Friedhofer picked up the 1947 Academy Award for his score to the William Wyler-directed The Best Years of Our Lives. All told, Friedhofer would rack up nine nominations for the coveted gold statuette. But despite this success, he didn’t work strictly within the major studio confines. The 1948 Eagle-Lion film Adventures of Casanova is a B-movie take on the legendary ladies’ man, but it boasts an A-movie score by Friedhofer. Following Intrada’s release of the composer’s score to
Can't Get You Out of My Box: Kylie Albums Collected in New U.K. Set
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBT9WSwIT7g] Next up in our continued coverage of today's new catalogue releases is a new, semi-notable box set from pop star extraordinaire Kylie Minogue. Though the Australian singer/actress is unfairly known in the U.S. for two songs - a Stock-Aitken-Waterman-produced cover of Little Eva's "The Loco-Motion" that hit No. 3 in 1988 and the slinky club track "Can't Get You Out of My Head," which hit No. 7 in 2002 - Minogue has rarely stayed away from the
The Adventure Begins With Safan's "Remo Williams" and Mancini's "Moneychangers"
Raise your hand if you remember the golden age of the television miniseries! Once upon a time, the miniseries was king: Rich Man, Poor Man, QB VII, North and South, Roots, The Thorn Birds. Sprawling novels were translated into multiple evenings of rich, dramatic television, with the small screen taking advantage of a length that even big screen fare couldn’t offer. One such miniseries was 1976’s The Moneychangers, based on a novel by Arthur Hailey (Hotel, Airport) and scored by the same man
Back Tracks: CHIC
It's a crime that when you talk about CHIC, many of the players who made up arguably the greatest band of the disco era aren't alive to hear your words of praise. Bernard Edwards, CHIC's bassist and co-producer, died in 1997; drummer Tony Thompson passed away in 2003. Nile Rodgers, guitarist, co-producer and keeper of the CHIC flame, could easily have met the same early fate had he not been lucky enough to discover the cancer that he's been since late last year. (Rodgers, one of the best users
Armstrong, Fitzgerald, Peterson Featured on Hip-o's Expanded "Hollywood Bowl"
The names of the greatest producers in jazz history still resonate today. The likes of Orrin Keepnews, Creed Taylor and Norman Granz (to name a mere three) all pioneered production and promotion styles that made their releases both identifable and enduring. Next week will see the release on Hip-o Select of a major project by that third-named gentleman. Granz (1918-2001) founded five record labels in his lifetime, but none more renowned than Verve. That label was created by Granz in 1956, and
Steps In Time: Dave Grusin and Cy Coleman, Meet Dick Van Dyke!
What Oscar-winning composer let the world know “And Then There’s Maude,” joined Billy Joel on 52nd Street and The Nylon Curtain, and shared the music of The Graduate with Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel? Something’s telling me it might be Dave Grusin. His score to The Goonies was described as a “holy grail” by this very site back in March 2010 upon the occasion of its first release on the Varese Sarabande label, and it was indeed snapped up near-immediately. But when it comes to a Grusin
Review: Michael Giacchino, "Up: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack"
Well, the release of Up is such big news here at Second Disc HQ that we felt one review just wasn’t enough! We hope you’re as excited as we are about our first-ever “tag team” review. To start things off, here’s Mike Duquette… It's fitting, really, that Intrada's first soundtrack reissue in conjunction with The Walt Disney Company is a score to a film about fulfilling a lifelong dream. It's been a dream of Disney fans for years to see some sort of stable catalogue presentation from the
Eagles, Deep Purple, Yes! Out-Of-Print DVD-Audios Coming To SACD
It wasn't so long ago that high-resolution audio formats like SACD and DVD-Audio were shelved alongside CDs at major retailers such as Best Buy, Barnes and Noble and Borders. Yet with today's retail landscape perhaps irrevocably altered (and still evolving and shrinking, thanks to the likely-imminent liquidation of Borders), those formats have been consigned to niche shoppers. For those who discovered high-rez and 5.1 audio late, the best source for many releases has been eBay, often at
Now Sounds Continues Its Association "Renaissance" With Expanded Mono Edition
If you cherish The Association, you’re in for a treat! August 29 will bring the release of the group’s second long-player, Renaissance, in an expanded mono edition. It’s indeed been a bit of a renaissance for The Association thanks to Now Sounds’ continuing series which launched with Birthday (The Association’s 1968 pop masterwork) and back-tracked to And Then…Along Comes The Association, their debut album. The original twelve-track album, produced by Jerry Yester on the Valiant label, will
La-La Land's "Golden Child" Ready to Order
La-La Land's newest title, a three-disc expansion of The Chosen One, is ready to order. By now you already know the story behind this new release (a sort-of fake-out following La-La Land's scheduling shift ahead of Comic-Con), so it's worth noting instead the kind of music we're dealing with on this set. Barry's epic, James Bond-esque score was largely rejected by the producers for Michel Colombier's atmospheric, synth-heavy score. But elements of Barry's work did figure into the movie, not
Review: The Left Banke, "Walk Away Renee/Pretty Ballerina" and "The Left Banke Too"
After listening to The Left Banke's two original albums, just reissued by Sundazed, I have only one question: what took so long? The group's recorded output was collected back in 1992 by Mercury on There's Gonna Be A Storm: The Complete Recordings 1966-1969. Besides getting my vote for Best Rhino Album Not Actually Produced By Rhino (Bill Inglot produced and Andrew Sandoval annotated...'nuff said!), the single disc compilation offers a remarkable view of the group that soared with 1966's
Review: Neil Young, "A Treasure"
Are you ready for the country? In 1984, Neil Young certainly was. His Geffen Records debut, Trans, had just a couple of years earlier plunged Young into a “high tech” world of vocoders, synthesizers and dance beats while the singer ruminated about “The Computer Age,” “Computer Cowboy” and “Transformer Man.” 1983’s Everybody’s Rockin’ was an exercise in recreating rockabilly, with Young’s band billed as The Shocking Pinks. Originals like “Kinda Fonda Wanda” blended right in with covers of
Gentle On His Mind: Two Early Glen Campbell Classics Reissued By BGO
It’s knowing that your door is always open and your path is free to walk/That makes me tend to leave my sleepin’ bag rolled up and stashed behind your couch… For nearly fifty years, many of us have opened our doors to Glen Campbell on record and on television. So it came as a shock that, just two months before the release of what’s being billed as his final studio recording, Campbell announced that he has been diagnosed with the early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease. The beloved singer and
Review: Sam Cooke, "The RCA Albums Collection"
In 1963, RCA Victor dubbed its young star Sam Cooke “Mr. Soul” as the title of his latest LP. Today, few would argue with that appellation as we remember the roof- (and consciousness-) raising “A Change is Gonna Come,” the ultimate festive anthem “Havin’ a Party” or the bluesy R&B “Chain Gang.” But Mr. Soul, the album, offered a more complex portrait of the artist, offering “These Foolish Things,” “I Wish You Love” and “Cry Me a River” alongside Ahmet Ertegun’s “Chains of Love,” Johnny
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