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/ Search Results for: "best"

FSM Readies Rare Astaire Musical and Two by Rosenthal

May 23, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

belle of new york

Film score collectors, don’t put those wallets away just yet.  Kritzerland announced a rare treat from Pino Donaggio, The Berlin Affair, on Friday.  Varese Sarabande’s CD Club makes its release announcement today, and Film Score Monthly has just confirmed another two titles including one unique surprise.  First up is a two-for-one CD from the pen of Laurence Rosenthal, 1966’s Hotel Paradiso and 1967’s The Comedians.  Second is a rare musical to be released on the Film Score Monthly label.  Until

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Categories: News Genre: Soundtracks

Richard Thompson Box Highlights Rare Live Recordings

May 23, 2011 By Mike Duquette Leave a Comment

richardthompsonliveatthebbcbox

Universal's U.K. arm recently announced a four-disc box set highlighting Richard Thompson's many musical appearances on the BBC. The Live at the BBC box set features 61 tracks over three CDs and 19 video performances on a DVD. The first disc is devoted entirely to performances by Richard and Linda Thompson, including their three Peel sessions (portions of which were released on a 2004 reissue of their Hokey Pokey album in the U.K.) and a portion of a show from their beloved final tour (also

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets Tags: Richard and Linda Thompson

Release Round-Up: Week of May 23

May 23, 2011 By Mike Duquette Leave a Comment

monkees present

Thanks to everyone's favorite all-consuming pop star Lady Gaga, this week's releases actually start a day earlier. Think of it as like being in England!   New Kids on the Block/Backstreet Boys, NKOTBSB (Columbia/Jive/Legacy) Imagine a greatest hits EP for each band, augmented with three bonus tracks featuring all nine boy band members working together like some sort of insane, teenybopper Voltron. (Official site) The Monkees, The Monkees Present: Expanded Edition / Changes: Expanded

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Categories: News Tags: Louis Armstrong, New Edition, New Kids on the Block, The Mamas and The Papas, The Monkees

Who Loves Them? Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons Mix Hits, Rarities On New U.K. Comp

May 20, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

four seasons working

Could anyone have expected the resurgence of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons that occurred in 2005 when the musical Jersey Boys opened at the Virginia Theatre on Broadway?  Suddenly, Valli’s profile was higher than it had been at any time since the mid-1970s, and today he continues to reap the rewards of the musical’s exposure in multiple cities in America, Canada, England and Australia.  Collector’s Choice launched a comprehensive album reissue program in 2007 which was the best such

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Categories: News

What the Franke? Friday Music Prepares for a Knockout

May 19, 2011 By Mike Duquette Leave a Comment

the best of franke the knockouts

If you're a voracious reader of pop liner notes, there's a good chance you might have come across the name Franke Previte. If not, you're about to have a chance to reconnect with the man and his music. Previte was the lead singer of Franke & The Knockouts, a New Jersey band whose best-known song, "Sweetheart," went to No. 10 in 1981. Of course, like so many other bands, they're probably best known for what they did after splitting up; the band's second drummer, Tico Torres, went on to sit

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Categories: News Genre: Soundtracks

Foot Foot, Reissued: The Shaggs' "Philosophy of the World" Is Back!

May 19, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

shaggs

Raise your hand if you’re a fan of The Shaggs.  We know you’re out there. Frank Zappa called the band “better than The Beatles.”  Kurt Cobain admired them as unwitting founders of the DIY/alternative movement.  The New York Times proclaimed The Shaggs’ 1969 Philosophy of the World “maybe the best worst rock album ever made.”  Lester Bangs called them an “anti-power trio,” while Rolling Stone chimed in that The Shaggs most resemble “lobotomized Trapp Family singers.”  What to make of Dot, Betty

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Categories: News Tags: The Shaggs

Joy Division, New Order United for the First Time on New Comp (UPDATED 5/18)

May 18, 2011 By Mike Duquette Leave a Comment

from joy division to new order

UPDATE (5/18): Rhino has released the unreleased track "Hellbent" for your streaming pleasure! Listen to it here. Original post: Can you believe, in this crazy world of music catalogue titles, that nobody's ever thought to do this before? Rhino's U.K. arm is releasing Total: From Joy Division to New Order next month, marking the first time a commercial compilation collates the best of both bands. (A 2001 New Order promo compilation tacked a few Joy Division songs on the end of its running

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Categories: News Tags: New Order

Where Are All The "Magic Colors": Lesley Gore's Lost Album Arrives on CD

May 18, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

lesley gore magic colors

Lesley Gore epitomized the sound of American pop in the early-to-mid 1960s with hits like "It's My Party" and its answer/follow-up, "Judy's Turn to Cry."  For my money, there may never have been a greater one-two punch in pop than that pair, produced by Quincy Jones and arranged by Claus Ogerman.  But where was the teen pop queen by the Summer of Love?  The U.K.'s Ace label answers that question with the June release of Magic Colors: The Lost Album with Bonus Tracks 1967-1969, unearthing a lost

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Pop Tags: Lesley Gore

Before Blondie and Talking Heads: Now Sounds Presents The Original "New Wave"

May 18, 2011 By Joe Marchese 3 Comments

new wave cover

Blame it on the bossa nova.   It was at a Westwood record store that Reid King first heard Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “One Note Samba,” performed by the great Brazilian guitarist Laurindo Almeida and the Modern Jazz Quartet.  In no time at all, King found inspiration in the tricky chords of the bossa nova.   He mastered them and went on to write his own songs, often in collaboration with one-time child actor Thom Andriola, who performed under the stage name of Tommy André.  By 1966, King and

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Categories: News Tags: The New Wave

Release Round-Up: Week of May 17

May 17, 2011 By Mike Duquette Leave a Comment

supremes final

Queen, Queen / Queen II / Sheer Heart Attack / A Night at the Opera / A Day at the Races: Deluxe Editions (Hollywood) No, you're not seeing double. The first batch of 40th anniversary Queen expanded editions, available in the U.K. since March, make their stateside debuts. There's an Amazon-exclusive box with all of them included, too. Dear readers: any big box retailers carrying these? The only one I imagine that is would be Best Buy. (Official site) The Go-Go's, Beauty and the Beat: 30th

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Categories: News, Release Round-Up Formats: Box Sets Tags: Queen, Queens of the Stone Age, The Go-Go's, The Hollies, The Supremes, The Waterboys

Welcome to the "City of Fear": Intrada Unearths Early Goldsmith

May 17, 2011 By Mike Duquette Leave a Comment

goldsmith

Intrada's newest release batch has only one catalogue score (the other is a symphonic piece by Arthur Rubenstein) but it's a keeper: it's the earliest film work of legendary composer Jerry Goldsmith currently on CD. City of Fear, a 1959 thriller about an escaped convict who believes himself to be in possession of a canister of heroin - but in fact has something much more dangerous - was only one of the first half-dozen credits for the young Goldsmith, and only his second film score after a host

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Categories: News Genre: Soundtracks

Review: Jimi Hendrix, "South Saturn Delta" and "Band of Gypsys: Live at the Fillmore East"

May 16, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

band of gypsys dvd

When Jimi Hendrix wrote the lyrics, "Well, she's walking through the clouds, with a circus mind that's running 'round?," is it possible that he was writing about himself? Hendrix isn't generally considered part of the school of autobiographical singer/songwriters, and appreciation of his lyrical and melodic craft usually takes a backseat to his dazzling virtuosity as a musician. So while "Little Wing" isn't precisely about Hendrix, the vivid lyrical imagery of a dreamer with a "circus mind"

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Categories: Reviews

La-La Land May Report Third Bat Sighting

May 13, 2011 By Mike Duquette Leave a Comment

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGytaGTK7j8] It started, as these things so often do, with a question on composer Elliot Goldenthal's Facebook page: "What's the score?" Just a fan making simple conversation about the composer's music, past, present and future. The answer was a shocker: Goldenthal's camp confirmed that La-La Land Records was following up their great releases of the complete scores to Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), each composed by Danny Elfman, with

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Categories: News Genre: Soundtracks

Review: Derek and the Dominos, "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs: 40th Anniversary Edition"

May 13, 2011 By Joe Marchese 5 Comments

layla

Size isn’t everything. Though Universal’s new super-deluxe box set of Derek and the Dominos’ Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (Polydor/Universal 0600753314326) is about as hefty as these packages come, the best of the box set could fit into a standard jewel case.  The 40th anniversary collection includes (drum roll, please) 4 CDs, an audio DVD (though not DVD-Audio – more on that later), 2 LPs, a 48-page hardcover book, an art print, badges, pop-up artwork and a scratch-plate sticker.  But

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Categories: Reviews

It's the Summer of "SMiLE"!

May 13, 2011 By Mike Duquette Leave a Comment

We've got a pair of dueling release dates for you regarding the long-awaited release of The Beach Boys' legendary lost SMiLE set. Depending on what you've read, the sets - a two-disc "best of" from the sessions as well as a four-disc box set with a double-vinyl LP set, two vinyl singles and a hardbound book - will be released either July 12 or August 9. It seems that the source for both dates is a report from Direct Current Music, which has been duly picked up by several sources, including our

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets Tags: The Beach Boys

Greater Hits, Volume I: The Sweetest Sade Set

May 12, 2011 By Mike Duquette Leave a Comment

sade band shot

The Second Disc has always meant to be a source of decently-reported news and discussion on the goings-on of the music catalogue world, as well as a resource to the new fan on what catalogue product is out there. With that in mind, today introduces a new feature that looks at one of the most common catalogue items: the greatest hits collection. It's perhaps been outmoded by the ability to pick and choose tracks to download online, but when you're a new fan of an artist, the compilation is

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Categories: Reviews Tags: Greater Hits, Sade

What's New, Pussycat? Classic Burt Bacharach and Lalo Schifrin Soundtracks Reissued

May 12, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

pussycat 1

Burt Bacharach turns 83 today on May 12, 2011, and we've got some news to celebrate! "Pussycat, pussycat, I love you..." Chances are you can sing along to the hip-swiveling melody of those lyrics, sung by Tom Jones and written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for the 1965 film comedy What's New Pussycat?. But raise your hand now if you remember the sequel! Five years after the success of the original film, United Artists released Pussycat, Pussycat, I Love You, a half-sequel, half-remake moving

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Categories: News Genre: Soundtracks Tags: Burt Bacharach

Music Club Deluxe U.K. Preps Double-Disc Compilations for Redding, Cross, Foreigner

May 12, 2011 By Mike Duquette Leave a Comment

cross

Music Club Deluxe, part of the U.K.'s Demon Music Group, has prepped a trio of new budget-minded, double-disc sets for a few legendary artists. While there's nothing new on the forthcoming compilations by dearly departed soul legend Otis Redding, soft-rock maestro Christopher Cross and platinum-selling hard rock band Foreigner (and only one general rarity among any of the three - a non-LP B-side closing out the Foreigner set), their two-disc running times and decent price tag might be of

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Categories: News Tags: Otis Redding

The Seventies Preservation Society: Audio Fidelity Revisits Bad Company and Ten Years After

May 11, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

straight shooter

Audio Fidelity is getting back to the basics of classic rock with two upcoming 24k Gold CD reissues scheduled for May 24. Mastering engineer Steve Hoffman will work the controls for both 1971's A Space in Time from Ten Years After and 1975's Straight Shooter from Bad Company. While these two albums may not share much on the surface, both albums represent a return to back-to-basics blues-rock from two successful British bands. 1971's A Space in Time was the seventh album by Ten Years After,and

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Categories: News Tags: Ten Years After

A Quartet of Broadway Classics Coming From Masterworks

May 11, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

merry widow

Back on April 5, we filled you in on the latest slate of reissues from Sony's Masterworks Broadway division, available as digital downloads or discs-on-demand from Arkiv Music. Next week, May 17, sees release of RCA Victor's 1964 Music Theater of Lincoln Center Recording of Franz Lehar's The Merry Widow, making its very first appearance in the CD age. The classic operetta is joined by four new releases returning to print: the Original Broadway Cast Recordings of Irving Berlin’s Mr. President and

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Categories: News Genre: Cast Recordings

BREAKING NEWS! Why Pink Floyd? Prepare for Discovery, Immersion and Experience!

May 10, 2011 By Joe Marchese 37 Comments

dark side

UPDATE: Thanks to reader Alan for passing along the track listings for these sets! You can read them after the jump. ORIGINAL POST: Why Pink Floyd? Why not? Whatever the answer, though, Why Pink Floyd is the name of the major new catalogue intiative for the legendary band, and while matters have sometimes been contentious between band members, they appear to be in perfect harmony for the launch of this campaign! The expansive collection is a three-tiered celebration of the work of Syd Barrett,

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets Tags: Pink Floyd

Superman and Green Lantern Still Ain't Got Nothin' On Him: Donovan Preps Expanded "Sunshine Superman"

May 10, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

sunshine superman us1

It wasn’t easy for Donovan (real name: Donovan Philips Leitch) to shake the early accusation that he was merely a Scottish-born clone of Bob Dylan.  Surely songs like 1965’s “Catch the Wind” did nothing to dispel the myth.  Donovan himself acknowledged the debt in 2001, confessing “I sounded like him for five minutes” while pointing out the musical heroes referenced by both artists.  But any Dylan comparisons were passé by the time Donovan released Sunshine Superman, one of the first truly

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Categories: News

The Box is Out There: "X-Files" Compilation Due Today from La-La Land

May 10, 2011 By Mike Duquette Leave a Comment

x box

UPDATE: This set's now ready to ship. Order here and hit the jump for the track list. ORIGINAL POST: Just a quick reminder that today, after months and months of anticipation from the soundtrack community, La-La Land Records will release the first-ever box set of music from the popular sci-fi series The X-Files. From 1993 to 2002, composer Mark Snow was the go-to composer for the hit FOX series starring Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny as two FBI agents following a myriad of paranormal

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets Genre: Soundtracks

INXS Catalogue Expansion Due in U.K. - America Needs This Tonight

May 10, 2011 By Mike Duquette Leave a Comment

kick deluxe

There are some acts that don't get their due even at the points one would imagine they'd have earned it. The painful loss of Michael Hutchence, lead singer of INXS, didn't give the Australian pop-rockers the posthumous respect they deserved; the remaining members did that whole reality show thing and Rhino reissued a few of the band's albums in the U.S., and that was it. This year, however, with a new album full of guest vocalists, it's a pretty fair-sized year for INXS. And Universal Music

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets

Release Round-Up: Week of May 10

May 10, 2011 By Mike Duquette Leave a Comment

vinyl

Aerosmith, Tough Love: Best of the Ballads (Geffen/UMe) Geffen augments the craziness of American Idol host/Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler (who has a solo single out today) by putting out a compilation of the band's Geffen-era ballads hits ("Love in an Elevator" isn't a ballad in any configuration). Apparently it's only available at Target, so if you visit a local indie store you should be fine. (Official site) Booker T. & The MG's, McLemore Avenue / The Staple Singers, Be Altitude:

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Categories: News, Release Round-Up Formats: Box Sets Tags: Matthew Sweet, Prince, Teena Marie, The Cars, The Psychedelic Furs, The Staple Singers

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