Some have said, "It's Frank's world. We just live in it." And today at The Second Disc, we're in Frank's world. We'll soon bring you a review of Concord's Frank Sinatra - Count Basie: The Complete Studio Recordings, but first comes news of an upcoming anthology that's the first of its kind. Sinatra's Best of the Best arrives on November 1 from Capitol Records and Frank Sinatra Enterprises, and is a compilation with a difference. For the first time, Ol' Blue Eyes' recordings for both Capitol
UPDATED: Short Takes: "Some Girls" Super Deluxe Set Due In November, Seger Goes Digital...and Beatles in 5.1?
Mick Jagger has been hitting the promotion trail to hype his upcoming SuperHeavy album (a group consisting of Jagger, Joss Stone, Damian Marley, Dave Stewart and A.R. Rahman) which is due in stores on September 20. But the moonlighting Rolling Stones frontman let slip the news of a deluxe edition of the band's 1978 classic Some Girls, in the style of last year's revamp of 1972's Exile on Main Street. That news has since been made official. (Thank you to the dynamite folks at MusicTAP for the
Review: Jimi Hendrix, "Winterland" and "Hendrix In The West"
"The story of life is quicker than the wink of an eye, the story of love is hello and goodbye...until we meet again." That poem, reportedly written by Jimi Hendrix some hours before his death, has added to the guitarist’s mystique over the years, but as usual, the restless musician was prescient. Although his entire recorded solo catalogue amounts to the work of a mere four-year period between 1966 and 1970, we’ve continued to say hello to Jimi Hendrix’s music many years after having said
Friday Feature: "Lost Horizon" (1973)
Have you ever dreamed of a place far away from it all? Where the air you breathe is soft and clean, and children play in fields of green? And the sound of guns doesn't pound in your ears anymore? Hal David's lyrics expressed a sentiment shared by many of the optimistic generation who hadn't yet felt their ideals vanquished by the reality of Vietnam and growing dissension under the White House of President Richard M. Nixon. David's words were captivatingly sung by folk artist Shawn Phillips,
Review: "Godspell: 40th Anniversary Celebration"
When Hair ushered in the Age of Aquarius on April 29, 1968, it heralded the arrival of the rock revolution on Broadway. The New York Times' influential critic Clive Barnes didn't mince his words, declaring that the musical was a "long-term joust against Broadway's world of Sigmund Romberg [the composer of such operettas as The Student Prince]" and more importantly, "the first Broadway musical in some time to have the authentic voice of today rather than the day before yesterday." And while the
No Longer Wond'ring Aloud: Details Finally Arrive For "Aqualung" Super-Deluxe Box
The super-deluxe parade continues. We first reported on the 40th anniversary box set of Jethro Tull’s Aqualung back on June 3, and now we can thank our pals at MusicTAP for revealing details of the set’s rather overwhelming contents! On October 31 in the U.K., EMI will unveil the 2-CD/1-LP/1 DVD/1 BD Aqualung box set alongside a 2-CD distillation, housed in a digipak and containing a 48-page booklet. Amazon isn’t currently showing an American release date, though a domestic arrival is
Listen to the Music of the Night: "Phantom" Box Coming to the U.K.
Two decades after The Beatles ushered in the first British Invasion, the Brits were back. This time, they had their sights set on Broadway, traditionally home to one of America’s great indigenous art forms, the musical. The British Invasion of the 1980s saw the work of American musical theatre legends like Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman, Cy Coleman and John Kander and Fred Ebb take a seeming back seat to lavish spectaculars imported from London, often with iconic logos and some kind of special
Review: John Barry, "The Black Hole: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack"
When John Barry won two 1967 Academy Awards for his work on Born Free, the trophies were a vindication. Over the initial objections of his director, Barry envisioned his score to reflect a "Disneyesque kind of movie, lovely family entertainment" and fought for the dramatic integrity of that sound. Twelve years later, Barry actually got his chance to score a Walt Disney Productions motion picture. One of many science-fiction epics produced in the wake of Star Wars, Disney's The Black Hole was
It's Better Down Where It's Wetter: "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" Arrives On CD, Plus Rare Goldsmith "Explorers"
Not even a holiday can slow down the folks at Intrada. On Monday, Labor Day, the Intrada team announced its two latest releases, both of which will begin shipping on Wednesday, September 7. The Intrada Special Collection welcomes Jerry Goldsmith’s score to Joe Dante’s 1985 The Explorers, while the Walt Disney Records/Intrada co-branded line brings Paul J. Smith’s score to the 1954 film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to CD. The very first film adaptation of Jules Verne’s classic undersea fable
Listen To The Music: Doobie Brothers Catalogue Expanded In The U.K.
Are you ready to listen to the music? If you are, you're in for quite a treat. The U.K.'s Edsel label has just launched a series of expanded Doobie Brothers remasters, encompassing the band's first eight studio albums (1971-1978) as four 2-CD packages. Doobie Brothers/Toulouse Street and The Captain and Me/What Once Were Vices were just released this past Monday, while Stampede/Takin' It to the Streets and Livin' On The Fault Line/Minute by Minute follow on September 26. These eight albums
Review: Alberta Hunter, "Downhearted Blues"
Alberta Hunter may have sang the blues, but she was far from forlorn when she took the stage at New York’s Cookery, at 8th Street and University Place, in 1981 to record the gig captured on Downhearted Blues: Live at the Cookery. Newly remastered on both CD and 180-gram vinyl from Rockbeat Records (ROC-CD-3024, 2011), this 18-track live set captures the bawdy blues singer at the ripe age of 86 and just as vibrant than she was in the 1920s and 1930s recording for storied labels like OKeh,
Who's Next? "Quadrophenia" Gets The "Director's Cut" Treatment In November [UPDATED 8/31 WITH TRACK LIST]
UPDATE: The full press release with track list is now after the jump. Original post:After Tommy, there was Jimmy. He’s the protagonist of Pete Townshend’s rock opera Quadrophenia, first a 1973 2-LP studio album by The Who, then a 1979 film and most recently a 2009 musical. Never one for small ideas, Quadrophenia was Townshend’s way of working out the relationship between the band and its fans while telling the story of a prototypical Mod Who fan. The album yielded some of The Who’s most
Review: Charles "Packy" Axton, "Late Late Party: 1965-67"
Were there a Stax family portrait, label founders Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton would undoubtedly be surrounded by any number of the famed artists they shepherded to fame: Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Steve Cropper, Booker T. Jones, Donald “Duck” Dunn, Eddie Floyd and the Wicked Wilson Pickett, to name a few. And lurking somewhere near the corner of the frame, in the shadows, would be Charles “Packy” Axton, his saxophone in tow, looking for the nearest party. Though Axton is far from a household
From Monro With Love: "The Singer's Singer" Box Set Due From EMI
Matt Monro never met a genre of music he didn’t like. Whether covering standards, tackling contemporary pop hits or singing in Spanish, that reassuring, velvet croon, unerring interpretive skills and all-around good taste made Matt Monro “the singer’s singer.” A 2001 EMI box set of that title was a limited edition of 3,000 copies, and quickly disappeared from store shelves, but EMI will re-offer that 103-track box set in a budget-priced reissue due in the U.K. on September 12. And it gets
BREAKING NEWS! Good, Good, Good Vibrations: The Beach Boys' "SMiLE" Arrives November 1
Surf's up. At long last, we can finally announce that SMiLE is coming to a shop near you. On November 1, Capitol Records will release The Beach Boys' 1967 lost masterwork as The SMiLE Sessions in three editions: a 5-CD/2-LP/2 7-inch single box (yes, 9 discs!), a slimmer 2-CD version and a 2-LP set. Where to start? First, I recommend digging that artwork at your left. Has it settled in that this set is becoming a reality? Good. Read on, friends. The saga of SMiLE, 2011, was becoming
Miles Davis' "Blue Flame" Continues To Burn Bright With New Fan-Selected Comp
For many, the very art of jazz is inextricably tied to the art of improvisation, or creating in the moment. So it’s both innovative and altogether appropriate that Legacy Recordings is spearheading an improvised album of a sort for one of jazz’s true greats, the trumpeter and composer Miles Davis. Though christened Blue Flame, little else has been set in stone for the digital-only album which will be released on September 26. (And even that title was chosen via a fan poll! Doesn’t it tip the
Review: Original Cast, "Half-Past Wednesday"
Anyone have a little love for Rumpelstiltskin? The Brothers Grimm popularized the story of the mischievous imp in the early part of the 19th century, but he has never received the same kind of commercial fame as many of the Grimms’ other creations. No wonder, then, that Rumpelstiltskin was so ornery when he appeared as the villain of Shrek Forever After. And how many indignities did he survive as the titular character of a 1996 grade B horror film! Rumpelstiltskin has had a few moments in
What's the World? James Offer Up New Rarities Box
Manchester's James have been going strong for nearly 30 years, amassing some 19 Top 40 singles in their native England. It's kind of a surprise, then, that the recently-announced The Gathering Sound is only their first box set. But it sure is a good one. The set chronicles James' discography, from their earliest recordings in 1982 to last year's EPs The Night Before and The Morning After, across three CDs, one DVD, a vinyl record and a USB stick. The three CDs feature a program of studio
It Might As Well Be Swing, Again: Complete "Sinatra-Basie" Coming Soon From Concord
When Frank Sinatra launched Reprise Records in 1961 with Ring-a-Ding Ding!, the greats of the jazz world came to the future Chairman of the Board. Johnny Mandel arranged that volcanic first offering, and Sinatra’s next concept albums teamed the singer’s singer with a top flight of talents, past and present: Billy May, Sy Oliver, Don Costa, Gordon Jenkins, Robert Farnon and a trumpeter, arranger and composer named Neal Hefti. That last-named gent would figure prominently in a 1963 collaboration
Review: Patti Smith, "Outside Society"
The calling came early for Patti Smith. At twelve years of age, a family excursion to the Museum of Art in Philadelphia brought the young Smith in contact with Modigliani, Sargent and Picasso, the latter affecting her with his “brutal confidence.” It was with a similar confidence that Smith, not even in her teenage years, concluded that “to be an artist was to see what others could not.” Smith was steadfast in her determination to make her mark in the turbulent art world of New York in the
UPDATED 8/24: Steppin' Out: Tony Bennett Reveals Plans For Complete Album Box Set
He may have left his heart in San Francisco, but Tony Bennett dropped a big secret to The Los Angeles Times when he told the newspaper's Pop and Hiss music blog of major plans to celebrate his 85th birthday in style. Pop and Hiss revealed that Columbia Records will soon release "a $500 box set of every album Bennett has ever recorded, dating back to 1950 [sic], an achievement the performer said he was especially proud of." The singer confirmed these plans: "I'm thrilled about it, because 50
UPDATED 8/23: Ben Folds Unfolds Box Set Track List For "Retrospective"
Ben Folds' first proper album, 1995's Ben Folds Five, was named for his band. And although Alanis Morissette had her breakthrough hit that same year with "Ironic," I'll put money down that nobody was more ironic that year than Ben Folds. After all, there were only three members of this Ben Folds Five! The pianist/singer/songwriter wore his sensibilities on his sleeve, and that slightly skewed - and yes, ironic - worldview has served him well over the years. "Underground," off that first album,
Intrada, Disney Reach a "Hole" New World!
You know how it goes: When you wish upon a star…your dreams come true! Well, if that’s not always quite so cut-and-dried in the real world, it certainly happened over the past couple of days in the film score and catalogue music world! I’m recently returned from Anaheim, California and the second-ever D23 Expo, where thousands of fans and collectors descended on the Anaheim Convention Center to spend a weekend immersed in all things Disney. On Friday, I shared some of our personal wishes
Live From D23: When We Wish Upon A Star
Greetings from beautiful downtown Anaheim! Your catalogue correspondent is reporting from the D23 Expo, or "The Ultimate Disney Fan Event." Every arm of The Walt Disney Company is here on the packed show floor, with special panels, presentations, signings and giveaways pertaining to each aspect of the company: film, television, theme parks, animation, publishing, and of course, music. As I'm immersed in all things Disney this weekend, both Mike and I thought it would be the perfect time to
Weekend Wround-Up: Pat Metheny, Nat "King" Cole and More!
href="https://theseconddisc.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/nat-cole-st-louis-blues.jpg"> Analogue Productions continues its indispensable SACD reissue series of some of Nat King Cole’s finest releases on the Capitol label with the September 13 arrival of Just One of Those Things (1957) and St. Louis Blues (1958). Billy May handles the orchestrations for Just One of Those Things, which is playable as follows: a three-channel SACD section and Stereo SACD section include all songs except for
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