Remember Universal's Rarities Edition sets? The sets that issue the bonus material of a previously-released Deluxe Edition on its own? A trio of new Rarities Edition titles will street on Tuesday, November 2, and like the last two batches, The Second Disc wants to give a clear perspective to you, the reader, as to whether they're worth getting if you never upgraded to the original Deluxe Edition in the first place. Luckily, unlike the last two batches of Rarities Editions (which had some
Halloween Special Back Tracks: Anthony Perkins
Welcome to a very special edition of Back Tracks! For this week's Friday Feature, Mike took a look back at the music of Psycho. One of the few films still retaining the power to shock and thrill after some 50 years, the repercussions of Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece are still felt today. And its musical legacy, enhanced via some very controversial sequels and remakes, encompasses some of the greats, with Jerry Goldsmith, Danny Elfman and Carter Burwell all having built on the foundation laid by
Friday Feature: "Psycho" Sequels
Back in May, The Second Disc did a Friday Feature on the chilling, iconic and somehow commercially unreleased score to Alfred Hitchock's Pyscho, written by Bernard Hermann. With Halloween approaching (and a killer screening of Psycho planned tonight at New York's Film Forum), what else is there to write about? Those of you with particularly steel-trap-like memories may recall a set of sequels - sequels! - to the film, released in the 1980s. If that weren't inexplicable enough for you, they
Reissue Theory: New Radicals, "Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too"
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we reflect on well-known albums of the past and the reissues they could someday see. A wave of '90s nostalgia leads this column to look back at one of the best one-hit wonders of the latter part of the decade. The presence of The New Radicals on that NOW '90s compilation brought some memories flooding back. Remember the first time you heard "You Get What You Give"? It was insanely poppy, it sounded kind of like a U2 outtake from an era U2
The Second Disc Interview #3: What's Happening "Now" with Steve Stanley!
The music may be then, but the place to be is undoubtedly Now. By that, of course, I mean Now Sounds. Launched in 2007 by Steve Stanley, the producer of over 50 titles for the Rev-Ola label, Now Sounds celebrates the rich and varied melodies created between 1964 and 1972, though the label isn't limited to that period. A labor of love for its founder, Now Sounds has established itself as the go-to label for fans of this golden era of both songwriting and record production. We've seen a career
Release Round-Up: Week of October 26
And now, here it is: the catalogue titles coming to your local stores this week. Various Artists including James Taylor, Billy Preston and Badfinger, The Apple Records remasters (Apple/EMI) This year's Beatles remasters are remasters of albums on The Beatles' short-lived Apple label. There's a lot of great, varied stuff to be hand across many genres. There's 14 individual remasters plus a new compilation with some other hard-to-find tunes (Come and Get It: The Best of Apple Records), not to
Tell Us About It: Analyzing the Potential Billy Joel Slate for 2011
It's no surprise that Legacy's intention to reissue the Billy Joel catalogue in 2011 has been met with a lot of enthusiasm and expectation. For better or worse, Joel has been one of the most intriguing artists in the American rock canon: he found success writing deceptively traditional pop songs in an AOR era, he performed them from behind a piano, he used that talent to springboard a relationship with one of the hottest supermodels in recorded history and - unlike nearly all of his
Review: Bob Dylan, "The Bootleg Series Volume 9: The Witmark Demos"
Artie Mogull of Music Publishers' Holding Company believed he may have been among the first people in the music business to hear Bob Dylan sing "Blowin' in the Wind." Before his death in 2004, he recounted that he "flipped" upon hearing "How many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry?" It's not hard to see why. To a melody adapted from the spiritual "No More Auction Block for Me," Dylan succinctly, eloquently and powerfully gave lyrical voice to a generation of youth struggling
Nine Inch Nails Get "Pretty" Again
Trent Reznor may be considered a music industry maverick among most fans and critics, but even he can't resist a good old-fashioned reissue. The musician best known as the sole brain trust behind Nine Inch Nails, is reissuing his first, frequently out-of-print album under the NIN banner, 1989's Pretty Hate Machine, as a joint venture between The Bicycle Music Company and his former label group at Universal. Reznor was a janitor at Right Track Studios who used unassigned time at the studio to
Short Takes: Apple Indie Sampler, Collins Goes Gold and Stills in Surround
Even with most of the major holiday product announced (and much, though far from all, of it in stores!), a few new catalogue releases have slipped through the cracks with little fanfare. This Tuesday, Beatles completists (you know who you are!) can check their local indie retailer for a swell little compilation entitled 10 Green Apples; it's a sampler disc for the full EMI/Apple Records reissue campaign (all individual releases hit stores Tuesday, as does an import box set with those 15 discs
Friday Feature: "Alien" and "Aliens"
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojhGdRSkiUw] With Halloween almost approaching, there's never been a better time to revisit notable horror film scores than with our ongoing series of Friday Features. This week, we cover the first two, multiply-reissued scores in the infamous Alien franchise. Happily, both of the reissues discussed herein are readily available, so if you're inspired to hear the music of these classic films, you don't have to dig particularly deep. Have a read after the
Bad Religion Celebrate 30 Years with a Lot of Vinyl
Longtime punk rockers Bad Religion just celebrated their third decade of existence with a new album, last month's The Dissent of Man. Now, they're giving fans an even bigger present: a massive vinyl box set spanning almost their entire discography. Bad Religion 30th Anniversary Box Set gathers 15 studio albums in one spot, from debut LP How Could Hell Be Any Worse in 1981 to The Dissent of Man. This is significant for a number of reasons - it brings together the band's output on original and
All Things Come to Pass
A quick nugget for you audiophiles, collector's and vinyl-heads out there: George Harrison's All Things Must Pass is being reissued on vinyl to commemorate its 40th anniversary. It's going to be a straight new remaster of the original, triple-disc set, which featured hits like "My Sweet Lord" and "What is Life." (A 2001 CD remaster featured some extra vault material with new input from Harrison.) The domestic version, sold at all Record Store Day-participating indie shops, will be a numbered
Release Round-Up: Week of October 19
It's hard to believe The Second Disc has never done an ongoing round-up of all the reissues, remasters, compilations and box sets. (Perhaps it felt redundant? Everyone does it.) But sometimes there's just so much stuff to consider - especially with the holiday season fast approaching - so it's time to jump on the bandwagon and give you, the treasured reader, a comprehensive list of what's coming out in the catalogue world this week. The Beatles, The Beatles 1962-1966/ The Beatles 1967-1970
Back Tracks: Culture Club
It's safe to say we've given Boy George more than enough time to realize his crime. The beleaguered singer has had more than his share of legal troubles throughout the '90s and 2000s, and that has occasionally overshadowed the music he put out in the 1980s. This is a shame, since Culture Club was one of the better U.K. pop bands of the early '80s. Don't let George's gender-bending look fool you. Heaven knows that's become the primary takeaway for nostalgists, but there's a lot more underneath
Perseverance Leads to Two New Score Reissues
To be honest, The Second Disc hadn't heard of Perseverance Records until yesterday, but they sure did score a nice pair of score reissues for November. The label, which has specialized in smaller-scale soundtracks and soundtrack reissues since 2002 (most notably the score to the 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers), will release expanded scores of the '80s action epic Red Sonja (1985) and the hugely successful drama Rain Man (1989). Red Sonja, based on the Marvel Comics character,
Review: Jimmy Webb, "Ten Easy Pieces Plus 4"
Often a reissue celebrates a classic album of years past. Through additional content, new remastering or expanded liner notes, the listener can put the original in perspective. It can be a reminder of just why we loved that album so much the first time around or take us to a special time in our own past. At other times, a reissue brings a forgotten album to light, revealing it as a lost treasure. Such is the case for Jimmy Webb's Ten Easy Pieces, now Plus 4 courtesy the fine folks at DRG
Is Warner Seeing Double with Green Day Singles Box?
A doubly odd little note appeared while news gathering yesterday: a post at the Broadway World Web site noted a few upcoming box sets from Warner Music Group - the aforementioned Tim Burton/Danny Elfman box set, deluxe editions of new albums by adult contemporary stars Josh Groban and Michael Buble - and there was a strange little note at the end, for a vinyl box set devoted to pop-punk leviathans Green Day. If that news sounded odd (or oddly familiar) to you - the band hasn't much to promote,
Nelly Furtado to Say It Right with First-Ever Compilation
Another female pop star of the 2000s is getting her very first compilation for the holiday rush: Nelly Furtado, the Grammy-winnning Portugese-Canadian singer who first garnered attention for her folky pop sensibilities, then for her surprise reinvention as a dancehall goddess. Furtado first rose to the scene with Whoa, Nelly! (2000), a catchy debut LP with a lite-FM-ready sound. Sophomore release Folklore did have a few gems (including underrated first single "Powerless") but suffered
Reissue Theory: Tony Bennett, "Tony Sings the Great Hits of Today!"
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we reflect on well-known albums of the past and the reissues they could someday see. This installment spins what may be the least-loved Tony Bennett LP into a lost classic for the ages. Today's Reissue Theory takes a look at one of the most reviled albums of all time, the LP thought to be the nadir of a career still going strong after nearly 50 years. The artist is Tony Bennett, and the album is Tony Sings the Great Hits of Today! ,
Playlist Tracks Aplenty
Way back in August, The Second Disc reported on a flood of titles in Legacy's budget Playlist series. Today, a whole bunch of them are released, and if you haven't yet made your weekly trip to the record store and were wondering what might be in store, you'll have your answer after the jump. Read on to see the newest compilations for Barry Manilow, Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Isley Brothers, gospel titles from Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and Dolly Parton and much more!
Review: David Bowie, "Station to Station" (2010)
There are box sets, and then there are box sets. EMI's hulking, monster of a box dedicated to David Bowie's 1976 Station to Station (EMI BOWSTSD2010) is one such box set. It's even more massive than The John Lennon Signature Box, itself a lavish and large affair containing 11 discs. The multi-disc box celebrating a single album isn't a new concept, although in the past such offerings were largely based upon session material. The format has proliferated in recent times as record labels have
He Will Still Burn On and On and On...
One might think nothing of MusicTAP's recent listing of The Very Best of Billy Joel as coming from Legacy on November 9. The Long Island native has been compiled a lot - his first, double-sized greatest-hits compilation in 1985, a third volume in 1997, an entry in Legacy's Essential series and so on. Call it a hunch, but this author thinks there might be something to this set. For one, Amazon's list price for the compilation is $9.99, suggesting a single-disc set...and when you think about it,
UB40's "Signing Off" Celebrates 30 Years with Deluxe Reissue
Another '80s reissue from EMI - who'd have thought? This time, it's an expansion of Signing Off, the seminal debut LP from British reggae band UB40. Though UB40 are best known in America for their reggae-infused covers of standards like Neil Diamond's "Red Red Wine" and Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love," their musical roots involve fusing that reggae sound to socially conscious lyrics about poverty, famine and race relations. (The band's name in fact comes from one of the forms
Tim McGraw's Chart-Toppers Compiled on New Set
Add another compilation to the holiday pile: Curb Records has planned #1 Hits from country star Tim McGraw on November 30. The Louisiana-born singer/actor first rose to prominence in 1994 with the single "Indian Outlaw," a controversial country tune that became McGraw's first Top 10 country hit and a crossover single as well, peaking at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100. His next single, "Don't Take the Girl," was the first of 22 solo singles to top the country charts. Along the way, he's scored
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 146
- 147
- 148
- 149
- 150
- …
- 158
- Next Page »