My Music Is Hot: Lalomie Washburn exuded confidence with the very title of her 1977 LP debut. With a husky voice entrenched in the spirit of the blues and a keen sense of herself as both a singer and songwriter, she seemed a prime candidate for soul stardom. While solo fame eluded Washburn, she left behind a great legacy of music that's gone overlooked for far too long. Happily, Cherry Red's Robinsongs label has just resuscitated My Music Is Hot for its first-ever CD version. This edition is
Release Round-Up: Week of July 13
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Today might be Friday the 13th, but when it comes to catalogue music, it's a lucky day! Bobby Darin, Go Ahead & Back Up: The Lost Motown Masters (Second Disc/Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Naturally, we're most excited about this release - our landmark 25th title on Second Disc Records, and certainly the most rarities-packed! Go Ahead & Back Up: The Lost Motown Masters premieres a never-before-heard Bobby Darin
The Sun in Your Eyes: Real Gone's August Slate to Include Alan Parsons Project, Merry Clayton, Monk Higgins, More
Real Gone Music has just announced its slate for August, and the reissues are in a variety of genres and formats, all due on August 3. First up is a standalone release of the Blu-ray Audio edition of The Alan Parsons Project's 1982 hit album Eye in the Sky. The Project's sixth album (and fifth on Arista Records) employed a variety of musical styles within a radio-friendly soft-rock framework to address typically lofty themes. This Blu-ray reissue boasts a high-resolution stereo version of
It's Been a Long, Long Time: Omnivore Rescues Lost Buck Owens Album from the Vaults
2018 has already seen the announcement of lost albums and never-before-heard recordings by Prince, John Coltrane, and Bobby Darin. Now a fourth late icon is recipient of a vault excavation that's sure to delight his fans. On August 17, Omnivore Recordings will issue Country Singer's Prayer from the great Buck Owens. The country hero was in the final year of his contract to Capitol Records in 1975 when he recorded Country Singer's Prayer in his Bakersfield studio. Buck had
Give 'Em The Old Razzle-Dazzle: Real Gone To Reissue "Chicago" Soundtrack on Vinyl in July
We have told you about the nearly all of Real Gone's titles for this July, including Second Disc Records' compilation of Bobby Darin's unreleased Motown recordings. Now, Real Gone has just announced the final reissue on their July slate: the first-ever vinyl reissue of the original soundtrack to 2002's Academy Award-winning musical Chicago, due July 13. The musical Chicago originally opened on Broadway on June 3, 1975 and is based upon the 1926 play of the same name written by reporter
One Up, One Down: Lost 1963 John Coltrane Album Premieres In June
2018 has already seen the announcement of never-before-heard recordings by the late legends Prince and Bobby Darin. Now, a third artist joins that elite club with Impulse! Records' discovery of a lost 1963 album from The John Coltrane Quartet. Saxophone titan Coltrane was joined by Jimmy Garrison on double bass, Elvin Jones on drums, and McCoy Tyner on piano - the same group behind the monumental A Love Supreme and other Coltrane classics - for a March 6, 1963 session that will see release on
Good Times: Real Gone To Reissue Rare Willie Nelson, Statler Brothers In July
We've recently told you about Go Ahead & Back Up: The Lost Motown Masters, Real Gone Music and Second Disc Records' CD of unheard Bobby Darin Motown recordings due in July. Now we've gotten word of two more Real Gone July releases, both in the country genre: one for Willie Nelson and one for The Statler Brothers. Country legend Willie Nelson hardly needs an introduction. The 85-year-old is one of the biggest names in country and has been recording for over six decades, including up
Go Ahead & Back Up: The Lost Motown Masters
Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music's Go Ahead & Back Up: The Lost Motown Masters lifts the curtain on the final years of Bobby Darin's life and career with 24 never-before-released recordings directly from the Motown vaults, their existence largely unknown to even Darin's most ardent collectors and biographers. This years-in-the-making project (the landmark 25th release for Second Disc Records) premieres a lost album produced by Bobby in the raw, stripped-down style of his stage shows
Review: Frank Sinatra, "Standing Room Only"
Throughout his lifetime, Frank Sinatra grew accustomed to his concerts being Standing Room Only. Now, that's the title of a sensational new box set from UMe and Frank Sinatra Enterprises. This 3-CD book-style release under the Signature Sinatra banner follows the 2016 box World on a String as well as earlier celebrations of the artist's live performances in New York, Vegas, and London. Standing Room Only brings together three complete concerts, two of which have never been previously released
Land of a Thousand Dances: Ace Salutes Music of 1965, Plus Rock Instrumentals and Spanish Pop
Ace Records rightfully has a reputation for its top-notch collections, and three recent releases are no exception to that rule. Jon Savage's 1965: The Year The Sixties Ignited follows previous releases compiled for Ace by historian Savage covering the years 1966 and 1967. This latest volume, with 48 tracks on 2 CDs, explores how the various strains of pop music came together to awaken the culture: whether the power of Motown (the label had six number ones) or Bob Dylan (who inspired an
Ace Spotlight, Part Two: The Detroit Emeralds' "Westbound Singles" and Northern Soul Rarities
Welcome to Part Two of our Ace Records Round-Up! If you missed Part One's spotlight on releases from Clarence Carter and James Carr, just click here! Abe Tilmon, Iry Tilmon, and James Mitchell, a.k.a. The Emeralds, hailed from Little Rock, Arkansas, but once the vocal trio moved to the Motor City in 1967, they rechristened themselves The Detroit Emeralds and signed to Ed Wingate's waning Ric-Tic label. It proved an auspicious start when their debut single, "Show Time," made No. 22 on the
The Year In Review - The 2017 Gold Bonus Disc Awards, From A to Z
Happy New Year, and welcome to The Second Disc's Eighth Annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards! As with every year's awards, our goals are simple: to recognize as many of the year's most essential reissues and catalogue titles as possible, and to celebrate as many of those labels, producers and artists who make these releases happen in the current retail landscape. The labels you'll read about below have, by and large, bucked the trends to prove that there's still a demand for physical catalogue
See Clearly Now: SoulMusic Anthologizes Johnny Nash, Labelle, Teena Marie, Angela Bofill
SoulMusic Records, in association with Cherry Red Group, has recently continued its Classic Artist Anthology Series with another round of titles from bona fide R&B legends including Labelle, Angela Bofill, Johnny Nash, and the late Teena Marie. Before reinventing themselves as purveyors of funky cosmic soul, Patti LaBelle, Sarah Dash, and Nona Hendryx had comprised three-fourths of Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles, alongside future Supreme Cindy Birdsong. In 1971, the streamlined trio
Higher and Higher: Real Gone's June Slate Features Rita Coolidge, Kris Kristofferson, Doris Day, Larry Coryell, Jesse Ed Davis and More
As we get further into the spring season, we've begun to hear about releases that will be coming out more towards summer. Among these are the new announcements of titles from Real Gone Music due on June 2. As always, they are an eclectic group featuring CDs and vinyl reissues. First up are two titles from Rita Coolidge featuring liner notes from our very own Joe Marchese. 1973's Full Moon was the first duet album Coolidge made with her then-husband Kris Kristofferson. It was the first of
Somewhere In The World: Playback Collects Sixties Pop, Jazz and Gospel From Judy Jacques
Playback Records' second recent jazz-oriented release comes from Melbourne's Judy Jacques. Whereas Sue Barker's brand of jazz was a soulful one with strains of pop and rock, Jacques' style was firmly in the "trad jazz" camp derived from New Orleans and Dixieland. The Sixties Sessions collects 24 tracks recorded between 1962 and 1966 from the solo artist (including some atypical pop sides) as well as The Yarra Yarra New Orleans Jazz Band, and Judy Jacques and Her Gospel Four. When she was
Release Round-Up: Week of March 24
Welcome to this week's packed Release Round-Up, featuring hotly-anticipated box sets, an extensive campaign from an iconoclastic artist, and much, much more! Paul McCartney, The Paul McCartney Archive Collection: Flowers in the Dirt (Capitol/MPL) DELUXE EDITION (3CD/1DVD) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) SPECIAL EDITION (2CD) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) VINYL (2LP) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Paul McCartney reassesses his 1989 album
He's Only Just Begun: "Roger Nichols Treasury" Collects Demos, Jingles, Paul Williams Collaborations
If you don't know the name of Roger Nichols, you know the man's songs. His compositions have been sung by the Carpenters, Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross, Petula Clark, Jackie DeShannon, Bobby Darin, Paul Anka, The Monkees, and Nichols' most frequent lyrical collaborator, Paul Williams - just to name a few. Many of those songs have become bona fide American standards, among them "We've Only Just Begun," "Rainy Days and Mondays," "I Won't Last a Day Without You," and "Times of Your Life." He and
Two of a Kind [Expanded Edition]
Omnivore expands Bobby Darin and Johnny Mercer's freewheelin', swingin' classic from 1961 - arranged and conducted by the great Billy May (Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald) - with seven previously unreleased bonus tracks, including two outtakes and five session alternates!
Happy Holidays and Release Round-Up: Weeks of December 23 and 30
Christmas is just around the corner, and here at The Second Disc, we're hoping that you'll join us in celebrating the spirit of the season - heading home for the holidays, spending time with cherished family and friends, enjoying bounties of food, love, and music, and reflecting on the good times you shared in 2016. Our year was, by and large, a wonderful one. We released six titles on our Second Disc Records imprint of the amazing Real Gone Music label, from a Bobby Darin anthology that
Accentuate The Positive: Capitol Records Turns 75, Plans New Vinyl Reissues
Capitol Records, the venerable label founded by Johnny Mercer with B.G. DeSylva and Glenn Wallichs and now a unit of Universal Music Group, turns 75 next year. In celebration of this landmark anniversary, the label has announced three new initiatives. The first of these endeavors is The Capitol Records 75th Anniversary Collection, a series of 75 vinyl reissues from various genres curated by "noted music journalists, authors and other renowned creative figures." The Beatles are represented
Review: Big Star, "Complete Third"
Will the real Big Star’s Third please stand up? That’s a loaded question, for it’s possible that there never, in fact, was a “real” version of the album recorded at Memphis’ Ardent Studios in 1974 by Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens with producer-engineer Jim Dickinson, studio owner John Fry and engineer Richard Rosebrough. Chilton even asserted numerous times that the sessions were never intended to yield a Big Star album at all. (One potential name for the duo of Chilton and Stephens was
Release Round-Up: Week of October 14
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Big Star, Complete Third (Omnivore Recordings) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Omnivore does an in-depth vault dive into the creation of Big Star's Third for a new 3-CD box set. Complete Third includes every demo, rough mix, outtake, alternate take and final master from the Third sessions known to exist. The 69 tracks on this set represent the culmination of a decade-long search to assemble all extant recordings for the album
The 25th Day of December
Friday Music returns Bobby Darin's heartfelt 1960 Christmas album The 25th Day of December, originally issued on the Atco label, to vinyl in this deluxe 180-gram edition remastered from the original tapes. Features "Go Tell It on the Mountain," "Silent Night," "O Come All Ye Faithful," "Ave Maria" and more, all rendered in Darin's most tender style.
Release Round-Up: Week of September 2
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up highlighted by the latest release from Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music! The Isley Brothers, Groove with You...Live! (Second Disc Records/Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) We're incredibly excited and proud to bring this sizzling, swooning and immersive double-album document of The Isley Brothers at the peak of their powers to CD for the very first time! Groove with You...Live! features powerful renditions of
You Keep Me Swinging: Parlophone Collects Matt Monro's "The George Martin Years"
Earlier this year, George Martin passed away at the age of 90. Among the great producer's most lasting associations was with vocalist Matt Monro. Martin and Monro's professional partnership endured for more than fifteen years, while their friendship survived until the singer's untimely death in 1985 at just 54 years old. Now, the joint Martin/Monro legacy has been celebrated on a wonderful new anthology. Matt Monro's The George Martin Years is available now from Rhino and Parlophone U.K.,