Before The O'Jays or Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes, The Intruders were the first stars in Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff's orbit. Founded in 1960, the group formed an association with the duo beginning in 1966 for the pre-Philadelphia International labels named Gamble and Excel. "(We'll Be) United," produced and penned by the label's namesake and his partner, earned The Intruders a No. 14 R&B/No. 78 Pop hit. In 1968, "Cowboys to Girls" earned them an R&B chart-topper and Top 10 Pop
EXCLUSIVE! Merry Christmas, Darling: Carpenters Public TV Special and DVD Coming Soon
It's that time of year again! There's a crisp chill in the air, Christmas decorations are finding their way to storefronts and malls everywhere, and the sounds of the season are beginning to hit the airwaves. Among the most beloved classic holiday songs heard on radios and playlists each winter are those by Karen and Richard Carpenter. The brother and sister duo proved to be the most successful American popular music act of the 1970s (20 Billboard Top 40 hits including three #1s and five #2s,
Quark, Strangeness and Charm: Cherry Red Collects Hawkwind Albums On Two New Box Sets
Earlier this year, Cherry Red Records released The Machine Stops, the new studio album from prog-rockers Hawkwind. The Machine Stops continued the label's long association with the band which has also encompassed deluxe remastered editions of albums such as Palace Springs and Warrior on the Edge of Time and expanded live releases like Coded Languages - Live at Hammersmith Odeon November 1982. Now, Cherry Red's Stonehenge imprint (itself an offshoot of Esoteric Recordings) has collected
Release Round-Up: Week of October 21
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up - one of the year's biggest! Frank Sinatra, World on a String (Capitol/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K./ Amazon Canada) Featuring performances spanning 1953 to 1982, this new live collection boasts more than four hours' worth of rare audio and video from the legendary Chairman of the Board - over 90 tracks on CD alone including such Sinatra favorites as "I Get a Kick Out of You," "I've Got You Under My Skin," "The Lady is a Tramp," "Witchcraft"
Review: Keely Smith, "The Intimate Keely Smith: Expanded Edition"
Rarely has an album so lived up to its name as in the case of The Intimate Keely Smith. The 1965 Reprise record, just brought to CD for the first time in a top-notch expanded edition via Real Gone Music, puts the song stylist front and center onstage in a tiny club, backed by just a small combo. The listener has a stage-side table. Other than the happy lack of clinking glasses and billowing smoke, you are there for a romantic, sensual, and yes, intimate set of classic ballads by Harry Warren,
Doin' the Do: Cherry Pop Reissues, Expands Betty Boo's "Boomania"
Boomania is back! Earlier this year, Cherry Red's Cherry Pop imprint reissued GRRR! It's Betty Boo, the 1992 sophomore album by Alison Clarkson, a.k.a. pop/dance/hip-hop chanteuse Betty Boo. Now, the label has turned the clock back to Boomania, the infectious 1991 debut album by the stylish and genre-bending multiple hyphenate rapper-singer-songwriter-producer. The Beatmasters' 1989 U.K. No. 7 hit "Hey DJ/I Can't Dance (To That Music You're Playing)" – based on Martha and the Vandellas' 1968
Ace Collects Classic Beatles Covers On "Let It Be: Black America Sings Lennon, McCartney and Harrison"
If there was ever any doubt as to the versatility, adaptability and endurance of the songs of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison, it would certainly be dispelled by Ace’s new release of Let It Be: Black America Sings Lennon, McCartney and Harrison. The latest volume in the label’s Black America Sings series (also encompassing volumes dedicated to Sam Cooke, Bob Dylan, Otis Redding, and the team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David) and the second dedicated to the music of The Beatles,
Special Book Review: Thomas Dolby's Memoir "The Speed of Sound"
When a music fan thinks of Thomas Dolby, the first thing that springs to mind is probably "She Blinded Me With Science," his classic 1982 new wave hit. He has been labeled as a "one-hit wonder" by several music trade publications and programs. (He actually charted three Hot 100 hits in the United States and sixteen Pop hits in the United Kingdom.) However, as is usually the case in real life, there is much more to his story...and that story is told in Dolby's just-released autobiography, The
Child of the Universe: Esoteric Reissues Two From Barclay James Harvest
Esoteric Recordings has recently turned its attention to the Polydor discography of prog giants Barclay James Harvest for a pair of 2-CD/1-DVD reissues. John Lees founded Barclay James Harvest in 1966 with Les Holroyd, Mel Pritchard and Stuart "Wooly" Wolstenholme. After one single for EMI's Parlophone imprint in 1968, the progressive four-piece was moved over to the Harvest imprint. Barclay James Harvest remained on Harvest for four LPs, but didn't score their commercial breakthrough until a
Leather and Lace: Rhino Expands Stevie Nicks' "Bella Donna" and "The Wild Heart" In November
Stevie Nicks is launching her 24 Karat Gold tour later month, named for her acclaimed 2014 studio album consisting of new recordings of previously unheard compositions. Now, Nicks is looking back once more with two more 24-karat gold Deluxe Editions of her first two solo albums, Bella Donna and The Wild Heart. Both releases arrive from Rhino on November 4, along with remastered, stand-alone editions of the original albums on LP, CD and DD. 1981's solo debut Bella Donna will be released as a
Let's Dance: "Legacy" Collects David Bowie's Best Singles and More
Roughly two years ago, David Bowie announced the release of Nothing Has Changed, a career-spanning retrospective available in 2-CD, 3-CD and 2-LP configurations from Columbia/Legacy in the United States and Parlophone in the United Kingdom. Since then, much has changed. Most tragically, Bowie passed away earlier this year at the age of 69, just two days after the release of his final album, Blackstar. Now, a new compilation follows in the footsteps of Nothing Has Changed, bringing the
One Way Ticket: BBR Reissues Disco Hits From Coffee, Eruption
Big Break Records has dug into the vaults of De-Lite Records for a heady brew. The 1980 album Slippin' and Dippin' from the trio known as Coffee ("hot, black and sweet," per group founder Elaine Sims!) has newly arrived on CD in an expanded edition boasting five bonus tracks. Elaine Sims, Gwen Hester and Dee Dee Bryant got their start on the streets of Chicago. Though they initially comprised a line-up of the quartet Portraits of Black, the departure of Portraits member Betty Caldwell left
'Tis the Seasons
Frankie Valli has reunited with producer and fellow Four Season Bob Gaudio for an all-new Christmas album. 'Tis the Seasons, says Gaudio, "is definitely eclectic by most standards - conventional in choice of material but not treatment...So if you guess this effort is a little of what you haven't heard from Frankie, your guess would be a lot right." Tracks include favorites such as "Winter Wonderland," "The Christmas Song," "Jingle Bell Rock," "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve" and "Frosty the
A Swingin' Safari: El Reissues Classics From James Last, Bert Kaempfert, Bernard Herrmann
Cherry Red's El imprint has recently turned its attention to a trio of disparate composer-conductors. Happy Sounds Forever reissues the 1963 album from James Last, the king of "happy music," and adds selections from the catalogue of Bert Kaempfert ("Strangers in the Night") to round out the disc. On the other end of the spectrum, the label also has The Fantasy Film World of Bernard Herrmann, a collection dedicated to film score maestro and Alfred Hitchcock's most notable musical
Intervention Records Brings "Stealers Wheel" To Hybrid SACD/CD
Clowns to the left of me...jokers to the right...It must be Stealers Wheel! Earlier this year, Intervention Records released exquisite vinyl reissues of the first two albums from the Scottish folk-rock band. Now, the label has revisited the group's 1972 self-titled debut album (originally released on A&M Records) in the hybrid SACD format, playable on all CD players. Stealers Wheel - featuring lead guitarist Paul Pilnick, bassist Tony Williams and drummer Rod Coombes - boasts some
So Let It Be Written: Intrada Announces "Ten Commandments" Box
We're continuing our Movie Monday here at The Second Disc with more great film score news! From high atop the mountain comes Intrada's newest release--an incredibly ambitious and definitive box set edition of Elmer Bernstein's score to the Hollywood epic The Ten Commandments. The final film of Cecil B. DeMille, based in part on his silent adaptation of the film from 1923, The Ten Commandments dramatizes the Biblical tale of Moses (Charlton Heston), the adopted Egyptian prince whose divine
Behind The Wall of Sleep: Rhino Expands Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" To Four Discs
Upon its release in September 1970, Black Sabbath's sophomore album Paranoid helped make clear the transition from "hard rock" to "heavy metal" and remains one of the most essential albums of the metal canon. On November 11, Rhino will revisit Paranoid in a 4-CD Super Deluxe box set edition. Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward followed up their self-titled debut album of early 1970 with Paranoid, recording it in London in June. Whereas Black Sabbath placed impressively at
A Summer Song: RPM Collects Chad and Jeremy's Complete Early Years On "Yesterday's Gone"
In the halcyon days of the British Invasion, Chad Stuart and Jeremy Clyde notched an impressive eleven Hot 100 singles and six Top 100 albums in the United States. Their appealing blend of folk and pop, with soft, often hushed vocals and tight harmonies, earned them the attention of Columbia Records, where they recorded five albums before disbanding. Cherry Red's RPM imprint has recently released a 2-CD, 57-track collection bringing together Chad and Jeremy's early recordings for Ember (in the
Here We Come A-Caroling: Real Gone's November Christmas Slate Features Ray Conniff, The Ventures, Robert Shaw and Norman Luboff
As we are still over a month away from Halloween, it may seem a bit early to be thinking about Christmas. But stores have already bringing out small bits of Christmas merchandise and the merriest season seems to start a little earlier each year. Real Gone Music is ready to get in the holiday mood with the announcement of their Christmas-related November 4 line-up, which has become a yearly tradition for the label! We've already told you about the three Second Disc Records releases: Jack
Knock On Wood: Cherry Pop Collects Amii Stewart's "The Hits: Remixed"
Cherry Pop is knocking on wood with the new reissue of Amii Stewart's 1985 remix collection The Hits: Remixed. Though often characterized as a one-hit wonder for her storming 1979 disco cover of Eddie Floyd's "Knock on Wood," there was much more to the talented disco chanteuse's career, as this vibrant set so aptly proves. Washington, DC-born Amy Paulette Stewart was performing in a London company of the musical Bubbling Brown Sugar when she was spotted by Hansa Records' Barry Leng. The
It Was A New Day Yesterday: Jethro Tull Continues Reissue Series with "Stand Up" In New Stereo, Surround Mixes
For the past several years, Jethro Tull has been releasing expanded editions of their albums featuring new remixes by Steven Wilson. Coming on November 18, just under a year after the release of the last reissue in the series of 1976's Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die!, is a 2CD/1DVD version of 1969's Stand Up, entitled Stand Up: The Elevated Edition. The sophomore album by the band, Stand Up was the first to feature music written completely by Ian Anderson (with the exception of
With Their New Face On: RPM Collects Spencer Davis Group's "Complete Recordings 1967-1969"
Cherry Red's RPM Records has just celebrated the legacy of The Spencer Davis Group with a new 3-CD box set. Taking Out Time: Complete Recordings 1967-1979 brings together two complete albums with a host of singles, soundtrack performances, BBC sessions and rarities to paint a full portrait of the group's "Mk. II" years in which Eddie Hardin, Phil Sawyer, Ray Fenwick, Nigel Olsson and Dee Murray all passed through its ranks. This release can be considered an expansion of RPM's 2000 release of
Warm Ride: HNE Collects Graham Bonnet's Pre-Rainbow Albums Including Lost LP
Cherry Red's Hear No Evil Recordings imprint has returned to the catalogue of Graham Bonnet with a pair of recent releases. Before stepping into the role vacated by Ronnie James Dio in Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, the big-voiced Bonnet had cut a number of records in a pop/R&B, rather than a hard rock, vein. HNE has reissued and expanded the vocalist's never-before-released 1974 DJM album Back Row in the Stalls on one CD, as well as Graham Bonnet (1977) and No Bad Habits (1978) on a
Steppin' Out: Intervention Records Reissues Two From Joe Jackson
Look Sharp! Joe Jackson certainly did as nattily attired on his debut release of that name. Joined by Graham Maby on bass, Gary Sanford on guitar and Dave Houghton on drums, pianist-singer Jackson delivered a record for the ages. Both Look Sharp! and Night and Day, Jackson's fifth album for A&M Records, have recently been reissued as deluxe audiophile vinyl editions by the team at Intervention Records. Happily, they're sonically every bit the equal of the label's stellar reissue earlier
Major Tom (Coming Home Again): Hot Shot Revisits Peter Schilling's "Error in the System"
Ground control to Major Tom...Big Break Records' sister imprint Hot Shot Records has recently reissued Peter Schilling's 1983 synthpop favorite Error in the System on CD in a newly expanded edition boasting a full complement of nine bonus tracks. Error marked the first English-language album by German singer-songwriter Schilling and was, in turn, based on his German debut long-player Fehler im System of the previous year. Schilling's sleek, New Wave-influenced sounds won him attention in
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