Long before CSI, there was Dragnet. The granddaddy of the television procedural drama, Dragnet actually began on radio in 1949, moving to television in 1951, where it has remained a staple ever since in both repeats and revivals. So it’s appropriate that the ominous theme to Dragnet both opens and closes Ace’s rip-roaring new compilation, Criminal Records, subtitled “Law, Disorder and the Pursuit of Vinyl Justice.” Between Ray Anthony’s treatment of that famous theme and Stan Freberg’s
California Feelin': The Beach Boys' Al Jardine Reissues and Expands "Postcard From California"
Dennis Wilson did it in 1977. Carl Wilson did it in 1981. So did Mike Love. Brian Wilson waited until 1988. But it wasn't until 2010 that Al Jardine released his first solo studio album. Entitled A Postcard from California, Jardine had to content himself with a limited release via Amazon's MOD (Made on Demand) system. Now, with the surviving Beach Boys reuniting for a hotly-anticipated 50th anniversary tour beginning later this month and gearing up for the band's first studio album since
Rolling Stones Flash Back To 1975 With New Archive Release "LA Friday"
Since inaugurating the digital-only Stones Archive in late 2011 with the release of 1973’s The Brussels Affair, The Rolling Stones have made good on their promise to rescue never-before-available concerts and make them available to the public in higher quality than previous bootleg editions. The new LA Friday follows the late January release of Hampton Coliseum: Live 1981, which preserved a show from Hampton, Virginia. LA Friday was recorded on July 13, 1975 at the venue known as The Forum.
Happy Birthday, Doris Day! Screen Legend Celebrated With "Ultimate Collection" and TCM "Smile and a Song"
Doris Day made quite a splash in 2011 when My Heart, her first album of primarily original material in some seventeen years, entered the British album charts with a Top 10 placement. The singer, actress and animal rights activist turns 88 today, April 3. Day remains greatly beloved around the world, and our coverage of My Heart quickly became one of The Second Disc’s most-visited articles since our inception in January 2010. Now, two new releases are looking back on her rich musical legacy.
Review: Tom Northcott, "Sunny Goodge Street: The Warner Bros. Recordings"
Extra! Extra! Lost Folk Singer Found! His name is Tom Northcott, and had things turned out a little differently, he might be remembered in the same breath as Joni Mitchell or Gordon Lightfoot, fellow Canadian troubadours. After founding the Tom Northcott Trio, he headed for California during perhaps the most fertile period ever for creative, boundary-breaking musical exploration, the mid-1960s. Northcott opened for The Who, The Doors and Jefferson Airplane, and was signed to Warner Bros.
Review: John Williams, "Hook: Expanded Original Motion Picture Soundtrack"
After more than three years of planning, preparing and waiting, audiences finally have a chance to enjoy an expanded edition of John Williams' score to Steven Spielberg's 1991 cult classic Hook (La-La Land Records LLLCD 1211). The world had been "getting by," so to speak, with the Epic label's original 75-minute CD presentation - a generous offering, to be sure, but one that only sort of did the score justice. While critics remain divided to indifferent on the celluloid continuation of James M.
Bowie, McCartney, Joplin, Springsteen, Clash, Davis, Small Faces, More Lead Record Store Day Pack
We're just three weeks away from Record Store Day on April 21, and following individual announcements from fantastic labels like Omnivore Recordings, Concord Records, Sundazed Music and Rhino/Warner Bros., we can finally reveal the full line-up of RSD-related goodies! These limited editions, available at independent music retailers across the U.S. and even internationally, are primarily vinyl releases in various formats (7-inch, 10-inch, 12-inch, etc.) and range from replicas of classic albums
All Around the World, Or the Myth of "Graceland" Revisited: 25th Anniversary Box Set Due in June
Paul Simon was back. With a vengeance. The sixties wunderkind and one-half of Simon and Garfunkel had greeted the 1980s uneasily. The film One-Trick Pony, for which he served as writer, star and composer in 1980, was tepidly-received. An underperforming LP (Hearts and Bones) followed in 1983, his first solo album since 1965 not to hit the Billboard Top 10. It peaked at No. 35. Simon’s biggest success of the first half of the decade was a headline-making reunion concert with his old friend
Behind That Locked Door: George Harrison Demos Surface on "Early Takes Volume 1"
As if yesterday's announcement of Paul McCartney's reissue plans for Ram wasn't enough... Martin Scorsese's documentary Living in the Material World, exploring the life and legacy of George Harrison, premiered in October 2011, broadcast in the United States on HBO. Roger Ebert wrote of the film, "Scorsese has accomplished the best documentary that is probably possible," noting that the film is a "more objective, less personal documentary than Scorsese usually makes." Todd McCarthy in The
Intrada Rescues "White Fang" from the Wild
Intrada's latest releases were supposed to be a double shot of Disney, but changes in the label's schedule have yielded just one new title for this week: the first release of the multifaceted score to 1991's live-action Disney flick White Fang. Based on Jack London's novel of the same name, White Fang told the tale of a Yukon explorer (Ethan Hawke) and the wolfdog he befriends. The acclaimed film's music was conducted primarily by two very different composers: an orchestral old hand in Basil
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
The People Tree: Anthony Newley, Leslie Bricusse and Hugo Friedhofer Classics Reissued by Kritzerland
Barbarians, Man, God, The Devil… Kritzerland’s latest two reissues sure aren’t shying away from big subjects! The label began accepting pre-orders today for one never-before-on-CD cast recording and one first-time soundtrack pairing. Both titles are sure to send your temperatures rising! Two Golden Age film scores from Hugo Friedhofer, a Kritzerland favorite, are brought together for the first time on one CD with The Barbarian and the Geisha/Violent Saturday, while the legendary team of
Keep On Dancing: Elvis, Dusty, The Wicked Pickett All Appear on "Memphis Boys"
Just last year, Ace Records' Kent imprint issued a definitive 3-CD survey of Fame Studios, the Muscle Shoals, Alabama home of many of the greatest soul records ever committed to vinyl. Over in Tennessee, however, another joyful noise was arriving courtesy of the musicians at Memphis, Tennessee's American Studios. Ace is celebrating the multifaceted sounds of Chips Moman and Don Crews' American Studios with the new Memphis Boys: The Story of American Studios, a 24-track tribute featuring such
Broadway Babies: Sony's Masterworks Label Reissues Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett Classics on CD
In 1962, Carol Burnett was one of America's fastest-rising comedy stars, having reigned on Broadway as a brassy princess in Once Upon a Mattress and endeared herself to the rest of America as a regular on The Garry Moore Show. Julie Andrews shared a stage pedigree with Burnett, a performer since childhood and the originator of iconic roles in Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's My Fair Lady and Camelot. When Andrews teamed with Burnett as a guest on Moore's program, the chemistry was all too
Couldn't I Just Tell You: Shout! Factory Premieres Vintage Rundgren and Utopia Concert
We kicked off our week here at Second Disc HQ yesterday with a veritable smorgasbord of Utopia news, and today that feast grows even more bountiful! The Shout! Factory label is joining the ranks of Edsel, Esoteric and Rockbeat as yet another purveyor of all things Rundgren. Live at Hammersmith Odeon ’75 has been set for release on April 10, and the 10-track CD (also available as a digital download) captures the first U.K. concert of the band then billed as Todd Rundgren’s Utopia. Recorded by
Review: Big Brother and the Holding Company Featuring Janis Joplin, "Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968"
Journey back with me to 1968, will you? Your time machine is courtesy Owsley “Bear” Stanley, visionary sound engineer and renowned LSD chemist. But you don’t need any lysergic acid to enjoy the music contained on the little silver disc known as Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968 (Columbia/Legacy 88697 96409 2, 2012), billed as the first release from Bear’s Sonic Journals. That said, a little Southern Comfort probably wouldn’t hurt. (Or a toke or two, as per the suggestion of Stanley’s son
Natural Woman: Hear Music Unveils Carole King's "Legendary Demos" At Long Last
Some years back, I was attending a performance of Carole King’s Living Room Tour at New York’s theatre-in-the round then known as the Westbury Music Fair, its cozy environs just perfect for King’s intimate show. Midway through the set, a fan shouted to the stage, “Release your demos, Carole!” King smiled knowingly. “Talk to the publisher!” she replied. It clearly wasn’t the first time she had heard the request; indeed, legendary isn’t too strong a word for the original vocal-and-piano tracks
Wear Your Love Like Heaven: New "Essential Donovan" Arriving From Legacy
I’m just mad about Donovan, and while I don’t know whether Donovan’s mad about me, you just might be mad about The Essential Donovan! Though a single-disc compilation of that name arrived from Epic Records and Legacy Recordings in 2004, the 2012 edition does it one (or a few, actually) better. Slated for April 17, the new Essential Donovan coincides with Donovan Leitch’s long-overdue induction next month into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It features 36 songs on two discs, including every
Eight More ICON Sets for You to Briefly Consider
What you will see after the jump are eight more of Universal's generic ICON titles, released this past Tuesday. There are two country acts, two Motown acts, two Motown compilations, one from Dean Martin and one from pop/rock band Fall Out Boy. A stranger collection you'll rarely find. I'd give a halfhearted recommendation to the Motown ones if you want to spend a little money on someone who has the distinct displeasure of never having heard any Motown song, ever. If you have more money to spend,
Ooh Wah, Ooh Wah, Cool Cool Kitty: Grateful Dead, Ad Libs, Eddie Rabbitt Coming From Real Gone Music
Yee-haw! Real Gone Music has announced its late April/early May slate of releases, and you can count on plenty of country plus helping heapings of R&B, pop and, well, The Grateful Dead! On April 17, the label will release the Complete Hit Singles As and Bs from soul legend Little Willie John as well as a vintage Complete Hit Singles As and Bs collection for “Cowboy” Copas. Then on May 1 comes The Complete Blue Cat Recordings of The Ad Libs, straight from the vaults of Leiber and
A World of Laughter, A World of Tears: The Second Disc Remembers Robert B. Sherman
Sher ·man ·ism (sher'maniz'em) NOUN: The creation of music abundant in optimism and heart, written for kids of all ages. OTHER FORMS: sher man·ist (Noun), sher man·esque (Adjective) Okay, so that’s not really in the dictionary. But then again, neither is “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” “fortuosity,” “fantasmagorical” or “gratifaction.” But perhaps they should be. Have any other songwriters broadened the English language as much as Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman? The
One Step Beyond: New Compilation Honors Nutty Band's Ska Roots
Madness' "Our House" is just one of those songs that's impossible to forget. From that opening hook to the singalong chorus, you can recognize "Our House" from a mile away - even if you don't know Madness was, first and foremost, a ska outfit. And if you didn't know that, there's a new compilation coming from Salvo Records to fill in the gaps for you. Forever Young: The Ska Collection focuses on the tunes that made Madness a staple of the 2 Tone movement in the late 1970s as well as the tracks
Listen, Whitey! Incendiary New Compilation Features Bob Dylan's Rare "George Jackson" and Much More
In her 1989 autobiography And a Voice to Sing With, Joan Baez recalled once asking Bob Dylan what was the difference between them. It was simple, he replied: she thought she could change things, and he knew that no one could. But one could argue that music did indeed, change things. Youth were politically engaged as never before, and awareness was raised of many crucial issues still debated today. Author Pat Thomas recalls “those turbulent years (approximately 1967 to 1974) when revolutionaries
Flyin' the Flannel, Again: Reunited fIREHOSE to Reissue Two Albums
California alt-rock legends fIREHOSE are reuniting for a tour this spring, and to celebrate, Legacy is releasing their last two albums on one set with rare and unreleased bonus tracks. fIREHOSE was the musical progression for bassist/singer Mike Watt and drummer George Hurley of The Minutemen, after that band's guitarist and longtime friend, D. Boon, was killed in a car accident in 1986. Watt and Hurley were all but ready to cease playing altogether, but were convinced otherwise by an unlikely
Take a Bow: Warner U.K. Preps Madonna Albums Box, Vinyl Reissues
As the calendar turns over into March, Madonna fans are predictably going into overdrive thanks to the release of MDNA, her latest studio album, on the 26th. It's going to be her first effort not distributed by Warner Bros.; she left the label to sign an all-encompassing deal with Live Nation in 2007, and while Warner distributed her live Sticky & Sweet Tour set in 2010, Universal's Interscope Records will distribute MDNA. Her rich back catalogue is very much in Warner Music's archives,
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