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/ Search Results for: "book"

The Two Things In One: Omnivore, Ace/BGP Team Up For "Together Forever"

October 10, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

the two things in one

You can’t keep a good Rhino down. Many alumni associated with the heyday of the Rhino label (still active and producing some remarkable releases under the Handmade banner, by the way) have recently launched new labels, among them James Austin and Rockbeat Records, and Cheryl Pawelski and Omnivore Recordings.  Omnivore, founded by Pawelski and partners Greg Allen and Brad Rosenberger, announced an impressive and diverse slate with releases by Leon Russell, The Motels, and Jellyfish.  The young

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Categories: News Tags: The Two Things in One

No Kontroversy Here: Kinks Mono Box Set Coming Soon

October 7, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

kinks mono box

It's been a banner year for the Kinks.  Under the supervision of reissue producer (and Monkees guru!) Andrew Sandoval, Sanctuary and Universal U.K. have rolled out an impressive series of Deluxe Editions bringing together mono and stereo album versions, single and EP tracks and related ephemera from the Kinks' Pye Records heyday.  Now, that campaign has gotten a bit bigger in scope, with the announcement of The Kinks in Mono.  This new box set, due in the U.K. on November 29,  follows in the

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets Tags: The Kinks

Stay Awhile: Dusty Springfield Box Set Packed With Rarities, Due This Month In Two Editions

October 6, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

dusty and phonograph

UPDATE 10/6: We're just a few short weeks away from the release of Goin' Back: The Definitive Dusty Springfield, a super deluxe box set by any standards.  With its four CDs, three DVDs and two hardback books, Goin' Back may be the ultimate holiday gift for the Dusty diehard.  Of its 92 audio tracks, 22 are previously unreleased, 10 are making their U.K. debut and five are appearing for the very first time on CD.  Of its 98 video performances, a full 32 are premiering on DVD. But if Goin' Back

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Pop, R&B/Soul Tags: Burt Bacharach, Dusty Springfield

Review: Pink Floyd, "The Dark Side of the Moon: Immersion Box Set"

October 6, 2011 By Joe Marchese 13 Comments

dark side

At what point in a super deluxe - or Immersion - box set does the music itself become, if not irrelevant, an afterthought? It's hard not to wonder, sifting through the treasure chest - or toy chest, perhaps - that's the Immersion Box Set of Pink Floyd's landmark 1973 rock opus The Dark Side of the Moon (EMI 50999 029431 2, 2011).  It's not hard to imagine many Floyd devotees finding themselves over the rainbow with this package, and of course that famous rainbow is everywhere in this box

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Categories: Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Classic Rock Tags: Pink Floyd

Bernstein Bonanza: Intrada Goes On A "Rampage," It's "Summer" at Kritzerland, and La-La Land is "Trading Places"

October 6, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

rampage ost

If Elmer Bernstein had only composed the indelible theme to The Magnificent Seven, the composer would have been considered a legend.  How lucky for us, then, that Bernstein (1922-2004) wrote the scores for more than 200 films and television shows including Sweet Smell of Success, The Ten Commandments, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Airplane! and Ghostbusters, contributing memorable themes to each.  The music of Bernstein has been incredibly well-represented on compact disc this year.  Kritzerland has

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Categories: News Genre: Soundtracks

Mumford & Sons Go Back to "The Cave" for Expanded Album

October 5, 2011 By Mike Duquette Leave a Comment

mumford

In case you've been living under a rock for the past year or so, Mumford & Sons isn't the name of a trendy country boutique. It's a rather great, roots-oriented band turning out some of the best, harmonically dense Americana-tinged rock on the scene right now. (Naturally, they're not from around these parts, calling West London their home.) In the year since Mumford & Sons' Sigh No More was released in the U.S., the quartet's songs, namely "Little Lion Man" and "The Cave," have become

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Categories: News Tags: Mumford & Sons, Reissue! Repackage! Repackage!

Even Better Than the Real Thing? U2 Uber-Box Details Unveiled (UPDATED WITH TRACK LISTS)

October 4, 2011 By Mike Duquette 31 Comments

u2 ab uberbox lo crop

Well. U2 have finally unveiled the preliminary details for the Achtung Baby box set, and it's particularly insane. Of the five formats available for this set, most of them could be predicted. You have your single-disc remaster, a two-disc edition featuring B-sides and remixes and a quadruple-vinyl set featuring Achtung Baby and its remixes and B-sides. Fine enough. Then we have the big box set. Well, two versions of the big box set. At the heart of each is 10 discs - six CDs and four DVDs -

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets Tags: U2

Back Tracks: Paul McCartney, Working Classical - From "Liverpool Oratorio" to "Ocean's Kingdom"

October 4, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

oceans kingdom

Tucked between album opener “Taxman” and “I’m Only Sleeping” on Side One of The Beatles’ 1966 LP Revolver, “Eleanor Rigby” heralded an explicit attempt by the pop giants at pushing the musical envelope, both with its despairing lyrics and classical-inspired arrangement for a string octet.  Primarily the composition of Paul McCartney, “Eleanor Rigby” defied the odds to hit the top spot on the British charts (a double A-side single with “Yellow Submarine”) and hit the No. 11 spot in the United

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Categories: News Tags: Back Tracks, Paul McCartney, The Beatles

Ain't They Sweet: The Beatles' Hamburg Recordings Revisited By Time-Life

October 4, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

beatles 50th

Reissue! Repackage! Repackage!  We’ve occasionally used that tag here at The Second Disc to signify that rare breed of reissue, the kind that simply regurgitates extant material in one dizzying configuration after another.  And few titles have been repackaged more times than the set variously known as The Beatles’ First!, In the Beginning, Savage Young Beatles and The Early Tapes.  These eight songs, performed by the embryonic Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Pete Best)

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Categories: News Tags: The Beatles

Review: Nirvana, "Nevermind: 20th Anniversary Edition"

October 3, 2011 By Mike Duquette Leave a Comment

nevermind 20

It finally happened. After around 20 months at the helm of The Second Disc, I think I've finally stumbled over a reissue that feels...dare I say it...misguided. Not entirely misguided, mind you, but misguided enough that it took me far longer than anticipated to bang out some thoughts on the title at hand, to understand what it meant for all of us as collectors and enthusiasts of catalogue material. Not a total strikeout, but a hit that barely gets a runner to second base, when it should have

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Categories: Reviews Formats: Box Sets Tags: Nirvana

These Are the Good Times: U.K. Gets New CHIC Compilation, Too

September 30, 2011 By Mike Duquette Leave a Comment

chicmagnifique

As if the revelation of a new U.K. compilation for today's birthday boy Johnny Mathis (with an unreleased track from the CHIC-produced I Love My Lady, no less) wasn't exciting enough, Edsel's Music Club Deluxe imprint has also announced a similar set for CHIC themselves - and rarity-seekers are going to be excited. Magnifique! The Very Best of CHIC captures the greatest hits and album cuts from the inimitable disco band, spanning not only through their biggest period of success from 1977 to

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Categories: News

Perversion! "The First Nudie Musical" Arrives On CD and Blu-Ray

September 29, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

nudie musical large1

Few disputed the title of 1976’s The First Nudie Musical.  And if there’s been a second nudie musical, nobody’s told me about it.  But even if a second one does exist, chances are it doesn’t have a fraction of the satirical charm of the film described by the New York Post’s Judith Crist as “the Star Wars of nudie musicals!”  In fact, the Paramount Picture sat just beneath the science-fiction behemoth and the James Bond thriller The Spy Who Loved Me during its first week of wide release in 1977. 

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Categories: News Genre: Soundtracks

Review: Elvis Presley, "Young Man with the Big Beat: The Complete '56 Elvis Presley Masters"

September 28, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

elvis 1956

Well, it's one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, now go, cat, go! With such words was a revolution born!  Those simple lyrics were the first sung by Elvis Presley on his 1956 RCA Victor debut, accompanied by the blasts of Scotty Moore's guitar, then the frantic beats of D.J. Fontana's drums.  It's unlikely that Presley ever anticipated that his recording of Carl Perkins' "Blue Suede Shoes" would provide the soundtrack to a country's coming of age, or for that matter, lead

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Pop Tags: Elvis Presley

TGI Friday Music : Monkees, Zevon, Midler, Rundgren, Beck, Yes, Jefferson Starship On Tap

September 28, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

warren zevon bad luck

The temperatures might be dropping, but as sure as fall turns to winter, the slate of catalogue reissues heats up each year for the lucrative holiday market.  Friday Music, the CD and vinyl reissue label, sure hasn't wasted any time in preparing an eclectic slate of killer releases slated for the months ahead.  The label's Joe Reagoso, a.k.a. Joe Friday, has taken to Twitter and Facebook announcing a number of exciting projects.  And here, without further ado, are just the facts... The

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Categories: News Tags: The Monkees, Todd Rundgren, Warren Zevon

Howlin' Wolf Boxed Up from Hip-o Select

September 26, 2011 By Mike Duquette Leave a Comment

howlin wolf chess 5160 300

The name Chester Arthur Burnett might not mean anything to the average music fan, but mention his famous nickname - Howlin' Wolf - and the game changes. Howlin' Wolf was one of the pioneers of the blues, a legend on the Chicago scene and a powerful force to be reckoned with on the electric guitar. Hip-o Select celebrates his lengthy legacy through a new four-disc box set of recordings for his longtime home base, Chess Records. Wolf was signed to Leonard Chess' label in 1951, and began to craft

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets

UPDATED: What Is The "Pink Floyd Sampler" Coming From Best Buy?

September 26, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

pink floyd sampler

Browsers of Sunday morning's Best Buy circular might have been surprised to find Pink Floyd Sampler pictured among the long-awaited titles arriving Tuesday as the first salvo in EMI's Why Pink Floyd? reissue series.  Though the electronics retailer is also offering both the Discovery (single-disc) and Immersion (4 CD/1 DVD/1 BD) box set editions of Dark Side of the Moon (1973) as well as the Discovery box set collecting fourteen remastered albums from the classic rockers, the Best Buy-exclusive

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Categories: News Tags: Pink Floyd

Come to the Pop Market: Complete Collections Due From ELO, EWF, Cohen, Simone, Desmond and More

September 22, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

popmarket boxes

And the (complete) hits just keep on comin’.  Sony’s PopMarket site has become a must-visit destination for many music fans, not only due to daily deals on existing box sets and back catalogue titles but also due to a line of new boxes under the Complete Albums Collection umbrella.  Initial recipients of this treatment were Sam Cooke, The Byrds. Stan Getz and Return to Forever.  A second wave offered collections from John Denver, Grover Washington Jr., Kansas and Wayne Shorter.  Another eight

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Categories: News Tags: Nina Simone, Paul Desmond

Review: Rufus Thomas, Shirley Brown and The Dramatics, "Stax Remasters" Series

September 22, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

stax logo

When Stax Records severed its distribution deal with Atlantic in 1968, it was time to rebuild from the ground up.  The entire back catalogue went to Atlantic, as did Sam and Dave’s contract.  Gone was the “Stax o’wax” label logo; in its place was a new, finger-snapping Stax.  The stewards of the Stax legacy at Concord Music Group have recently launched a series branded as Stax Remasters, and the three latest additions to the reissue program have arrived from Rufus Thomas, Shirley Brown and The

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Categories: News, Reviews Tags: Rufus Thomas, Shirley Brown, The Dramatics

EMI U.K. Opens Up a "Box O' Snakes"

September 22, 2011 By Mike Duquette Leave a Comment

whitesnake snake logo

Here they go again: EMI is releasing a hefty box of the earlier works of acclaimed rock band Whitesnake, according to Classic Rock. While most remember Whitesnake for the leadership of onetime Deep Purple vocalist David Coverdale - the sole original member of the band, as it stands - and the 1987 smash hit "Here I Go Again" (aided by that oft-referenced music video featuring Tawny Kitaen slithering on the hood of a Jaguar) - the band in fact traces their roots to 1978, in what began as the

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets

Review: Miles Davis Quintet, "The Bootleg Series Vol. 1: Live in Europe 1967"

September 21, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Reflecting on Miles Davis’ so-called Second Great Quintet to director Mark Obenhaus, Herbie Hancock recalled that “when people were hearing us, they were hearing the avant-garde on one hand, and they were hearing the history of jazz that led up to it on the other hand - because Miles was that history.  He was that link.  We were sort of walking a tightrope with the kind of experimenting we were doing in music, not total experimentation, but we used to call it ‘controlled freedom.’”  What exactly

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Categories: Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Jazz Tags: Miles Davis

Singular Genius, Revisited: Ray Charles' "Complete ABC Singles" Coming In November, Plus Live DVD

September 21, 2011 By Joe Marchese 4 Comments

ray charles singles box

For Ray Charles, creative freedom was as easy as ABC.  After a successful tenure at Atlantic spanning the years 1952 and 1959, the Genius was ready to move on, or hit the road, as a later album title would proclaim.  Under the auspices of Atlantic producer Ahmet Ertegun, Charles recorded a seminal series of history-making recordings in both the jazz and R&B fields, the latter a particular Atlantic specialty.  With the 1959 single “What’d I Say,” Charles crossed over to the burgeoning teen

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, DVD Tags: Ray Charles

The Piano Man, Boxed: Billy Joel Celebrated With "Complete Albums Collection" and "Piano Man" Legacy Edition

September 20, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

piano man legacy edition

The music and lyrics of Billy Joel run deep in the fabric of American popular song: "Sing us a song, you're the piano man."  "I'm in a New York state of mind."  Joel was that rare singer/songwriter whose career took off in the 1970s, with one foot rooted in the Tin Pan Alley tradition and another squarely in rock-and-roll, who continued to soar in the 1980s with indelible videos for the MTV era, among them "Uptown Girl" opposite his soon-to-be-wife Christie Brinkley.  He had proven his

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets Tags: Billy Joel

Soundtrack Round-Up: Intrada Loads "Guns," Kritzerland Goes "Nudie" and FSM Goes to Space

September 20, 2011 By Mike Duquette Leave a Comment

first nudie musical blu ray cover

Even in the wake of some heartbreaking news in the soundtrack catalogue business, there's a lot of excellent goings on with some of your favorite soundtrack labels: First up, Intrada announced yesterday just one new CD release, but it's a big one: the world premiere of Alan Silvestri's score to 1990's Young Guns II. The Generation X-friendly Western series, which starred Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips and Emilio Estevez as notorious outlaw Billy the Kid, had a strong pedigree for the

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Categories: News Genre: Soundtracks

Requiem For A Heavyweight: Film Score Monthly, The Label, Bows Out

September 16, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

wait until dark

Here’s looking at you, kid. Film Score Monthly founder Lukas Kendall sent shockwaves through the film score collectors’ community with a blog post yesterday morning announcing the end of the Film Score Monthly reissue label. Having recently released the label’s 240th and 241st titles (the second volume of music from “Johnny” Williams’ score to 1966’s Not with My Wife, You Don’t! and a Nathan Van Cleave "double feature" of The Space Children and The Colossus of New York), Kendall confirmed

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Categories: News Genre: Soundtracks

Review: Frank Sinatra and Count Basie, "The Complete Reprise Studio Recordings"

September 15, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

sinatra basie swing

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

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Categories: Reviews Formats: CD Genre: Jazz, Popular Standards/Vocal Tags: Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Quincy Jones

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