Johnny Mathis, Robert Goulet and Engelbert Humperdinck sang it. Ella Fitzgerald sang it. Claudine Longet even sang it in its original French! The song was “A Man and a Woman,” or “Un Homme et une Femme,” from the 1966 film of the same name. The Francis Lai composition was a favorite of pop singers and jazz musicians alike, and was quite ubiquitous; as Kritzerland’s Bruce Kimmel asks, “Is there a person anywhere in the world who was around in the 1960s and 1970s who could not instantly
From Motown to the Bay Area! The Apollas' "Absolutely Right!" and Eddie Holland's "It Moves Me: The Complete Recordings 1958-1964" Available Now
Are you thinking you should take a chance on Ace Records’ supremely soulful duo of releases from The Apollas and Eddie Holland? If so…you’re absolutely right! For The Apollas’ Absolutely Right: The Complete Tiger, Loma and Warner Bros. Recordings (Kent CDKEND 365, 2012) and Holland’s It Moves Me: The Complete Recordings 1958-1964 (Ace CDTOP2 1331, 2012) both belong on the shelf of any serious fan of classic soul and R&B. If you haven’t heard of The Apollas, you’re forgiven. This Bay Area
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Have Yourself a Real Gone Christmas
Welcome to our Second Disc Holiday Gift Guide, in which we review some titles we might have missed over the past few weeks! The titles we're spotlighting in this occasional series just might be candidates on your own holiday shopping list! ‘Tis the season to be jolly, and what better way to alleviate holiday stress than with the sounds of the season? Terrestrial radio stations are sending holiday music over the airwaves earlier with every passing year, and by now, it’s hard to turn the dial
Gilbert O'Sullivan "Himself" Coming Soon, Naturally
In a little while from now, if I'm not feeling any less sour, I promise myself to treat myself...and listen to a Gilbert O'Sullivan record. The quirky Irish singer/songwriter topped the charts in 1972 with "Alone Again, Naturally," proclaimed by American Top 40 as the fifth most popular song of the entire decade. But it's also one of the most unusual. As the song begins, the narrator is left at the altar and is contemplating "climbing to the top" of a "nearby tower" to throw himself off. He
Rhino Unleashes "Original Album Series" in Europe
Ever feel like all the fancy bonus content and packaging on some reissues totally overshadows the music? Rhino's European division must've felt so, too: they released a handful of Original Album Series boxes a few weeks ago, featuring a lot of music with a minimum of frills and a relatively low price. The titles - five albums by one artist, housed in mini-LP cardboard sleeves and put into a box - are the ideal quick, easy discography builder for new fans or collectors with a few notable gaps on
Review: Frank Sinatra and Count Basie, "The Complete Reprise Studio Recordings"
When Frank Sinatra met Count Basie, it was far from a clash of the titans. No, the "historic musical first" that occurred between the grooves of Reprise 1008 in 1962 was more like a perfect union. Both were Jersey boys, with Basie's formative years spent south of Hoboken, in Red Bank, New Jersey. The men were unusually simpatico, similar in their enormous respect for musicians. Though Basie titled a 1959 album Chairman of the Board, the title was later bestowed upon Sinatra. When Basie put
More Garland: First Hand Reveals "The London Studio Recordings 1957-1964"
The British Film Institute describes Ronald Neame’s 1963 film I Could Go on Singing as a “made-to-measure portrait of a singer grappling with her many demons before a London Palladium concert.” With the singer in question portrayed by the incandescent Judy Garland in what would turn out to be her final film role, it’s only natural to wonder just how much of the film was art imitating life. Or was it the other way around? Garland herself had performed triumphantly on the famed London stage as
Collectors' New Choice: Gordon Anderson Launches New Label
Eagle-eyed crate diggers might have noticed a major disappearing act of late. Collectors’ Choice Music, long renowned for its diverse and eclectic line-up of releases by artists ranging from Bing Crosby to Jefferson Airplane, has quietly been allowing its label’s releases to go out-of-print. In fact, many of those titles are already commanding high prices on the second-hand market. (The beginning of the end of the Collectors’ Choice label can be read here.) Though the company’s famed
Where The Hits Are: Sedaka and Greenfield Profiled in "Songwriters" Series
Doo doo doo down doo be do down down/Come a come a down doo be do down down… One year before “Da Doo Ron Ron,” eleven before “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)” and eighteen before “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da,” Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield taught the world that “Breakin’ Up is Hard to Do” with their immortal wordless refrain. Sedaka went on to become the king of the “Tra-la-las” and “shoo-be-doos” with his early rock-and-roll records, and the Juilliard-trained musician was one of the
Release Round-Up: Week of July 5
Erasure, Wonderland / The Circus: Deluxe Editions (EMI) Vince Clarke and Andy Bell's first two albums, expanded with bonus B-sides and remixes across two CDs and DVDs full of live footage. (Official site) Jim Capaldi, Dear Mr. Fantasy: The Jim Capaldi Story (Universal U.K.) The late Traffic legend is memorialized in a four-disc box set. (Official site) Paul McCartney, Driving Rain (MPL/Concord) Another Macca remaster, this one of Paul's 2001 album. No frills, but I imagine "Freedom" will
A Compilation to Leave You Speechless
Here at The Second Disc, it's always about the music. The team at Eric Records takes this mission seriously, too: its newest release provides three discs of nothing but music, with nary a lyric to be found. Complete Pop Instrumental Hits of the Sixties, Volume 1 collates, for the first time on three CDs, every instrumental track that hit the Billboard Hot 100 in 1960. Some of them are chartbusters that we all know and love - Percy Faith's "Theme from 'A Summer Place'," The Ventures' "Walk -
Cash, Perkins, Lewis and...The Chipmunks? Ace Revisits 1958 On "The London American Label"
After a terrifically eclectic volume dedicated to the hits, misses and everything in between of 1963, Ace’s London American Label turns the clock back to the early days of rock and roll via the pioneering British imprint. The London American Label: 1958, the sixth volume of the series, similarly offers something for everyone. Unlike so many other British labels mining this period thanks to public domain law, Ace licenses each and every track from the current copyright owners and remasters them
Review: The Crystals, The Ronettes and Darlene Love: "The Very Best Of"
If Phil Spector didn’t exist, someone would have had to invent him. Spector scored his first chart-topper as writer, artist and arranger in 1958 with “To Know Him is to Love Him” performed his by group, the Teddy Bears. But a 1960 apprenticeship with famed songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller convinced the ambitious young man that his future was behind the scenes as a producer. (His 1960 stint with Leiber and Stoller also yielded “Spanish Harlem,” which Spector co-wrote with Leiber.) With
How "Cool" Is New Dean Martin Box Set?
Don't move those Bear Family boxes over quite yet, Dean Martin fans. Between 1997 and 2001, the German label issued four remarkable boxes collecting virtually every note ever recorded by Dean Martin not only for Capitol and Reprise (his two most famous label associations) but for Diamond, Embassy, Apollo, Warner Bros. and MCA. So what could a new box offer to collectors and fans? On June 7, Hip-o will release a two-CD box set dedicated to the perennially cool singer and swinger in a hardcover
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
The (Original) Sound of Philadelphia
Long before the triumvirate of Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff and Thom Bell immortalized "The Sound of Philadelphia" as silky, smooth soul, Cameo-Parkway Records supplied the soundtrack to the City of Brotherly Love. The label may be best known for dances like the 81, the Twist, the Hully Gully, the Wah-Watusi and the Mashed Potato, or for teenage icons like Bobby Rydell. But Cameo-Parkway's roster was in fact much more diverse, from garage rockers ? and the Mysterians to doo-wop legend Johnny
In Memoriam: Jeff Beck (1944-2023)
Almost two months ago to the day, on November 12, 2022, Jeff Beck took the stage at Reno, Nevada's Grand Sierra Resort. Performing with his friend Johnny Depp, Beck ran through a setlist of fan favorites and covers. The guitar virtuoso made every song his own, with razor-sharp precision, an elegant tone, and a spellbinding touch. Little did anyone in attendance know that the concert would be Beck's last. After a short battle with bacterial meningitis, Jeff Beck has passed away at the age of
Release Round-Up: Week of August 6
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! George Harrison, All Things Must Pass: 50th Anniversary [Various Formats] (Capitol/UMe) 5CD/BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 8LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 5LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 3CD (contains CD 1, CD 2 & CD 5, below): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2CD (contains CD 1 & CD 2 only): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon
Sure Thing: Light in the Attic Preps "Country Funk Vol. 3" with Dolly Parton, Ronnie Milsap, Jerry Reed, Eddie Rabbitt, More
Over seven years after the last volume, Light in the Attic has announced a third entry in the label's Country Funk series. Country Funk Volume III (1975-1982) continues the story begun on the first two volumes which collectively covered the period of 1967-1975. Compiled by Bay Area DJ Jason Morgan and producer Patrick McCarthy, this volume welcomes Conway Twitty, Brian Hyland, Ronnie Milsap, Eddie Rabbitt, and Jerry Reed to a line-up featuring returning artists such as Dolly Parton, J.J. Cale,
Ace Explores Rock, Jazz Through the Lens of History with "Three Day Week" and "If You're Not Part of the Solution"
Ace Records, as always, has delivered some of 2019's finest collections including Songwriter Series volumes dedicated to Eddie Hinton, Leonard Cohen and Merle Haggard, and celebrations of producer Mickie Most and musician Reggie Young. Today, we're taking a look at a pair of the label's other recent releases. Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs present Three Day Week: When the Lights Went Out 1972-1975 (Ace CDCHD 1542) is another sublimely curated compilation focusing on a particular period of
Review: John Lennon, "Imagine: The Ultimate Collection"
You May Say I'm a Dreamer Much like the artist who created it, John Lennon's Imagine has always been an album of contradictions. While its dreamy, idealized title track has become an anthem for generations, the same LP veers from heartbreaking vulnerability ("Jealous Guy") and expressions of romance ("Oh My Love," "Oh Yoko!") to a withering, personal jab at a friend ("How Do You Sleep") to powerfully pointed social commentary ("Crippled Inside," "I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier Mama I Don't Wanna
Oh, What a Groove: Barry White's 20th Century Sides Compiled On New Sets
Barry White's final album, released in 1999, was fittingly titled Staying Power--and with a career that stretched across three decades and produced some of the most enduring pop-soul of the disco era and beyond, it's as good as any a description for the late, great White's discography. Just in time for Valentine's Day, UMe puts fans in the mood for love with an assortment of new compilations devoted to his tenure on 20th Century Records Born Barry Eugene Carter in Galveston, Texas, the
Review: The Shirelles, "Happy and in Love/Shirelles"
It's an early "Happy New Year" from Real Gone Music, as the label has just announced its January 6 slate! Look for a full rundown soon on a super slate featuring two classic RCA albums from The Main Ingredient, the complete Atlantic recordings of Jackie Moore (Sweet Charlie Babe), a hilarious (and need we say profane?) comedy classic from Redd Foxx, a vintage 1981 Grateful Dead concert, and two soundtracks from the films of auteur Alejandro Jodorowsky! Full details are coming up, but we're first
"Pin Ups" In Reverse: Ace Explores The Roots of Ziggy Stardust With "Bowie Heard Them Here First"
David Bowie did the unthinkable in this media-obsessed age when, on the date of his sixty-sixth birthday (January 8, 2013), he managed to catch the world off-guard to announce his first new album in a decade. Bowie and his cohorts had kept The Next Day a secret, proving that the iconoclastic artist could still do things his way. In six decades, from the 1960s through the present, David Bowie has kept his fans guessing what might come next. And while Bowie's sound is one of the most
Holiday Gift Guide Spotlight: Diamond, Streisand, Williams, Cash, Jones, Wynette and More Join "Classic Christmas Album" Roster [UPDATED]
Legacy Recordings’ Classic Christmas Album series has grown this holiday season. Last year brought volumes from a variety of artists across the rock, pop, country and R&B spectrum including Barry Manilow, Luther Vandross, John Denver, Willie Nelson, Kenny G and Elvis Presley. For 2013, another eight seasonal anthologies have arrived under the Classic Christmas Album umbrella from Neil Diamond, Johnny Cash, Andy Williams, Barbra Streisand, Alabama, George Jones and Tammy Wynette, Gladys
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