A substantiative update from Weezer webmaster/archivist Karl Koch about the planned catalogue efforts of one of the most intriguing bands of the past few decades was posted on the band's Web site back in August. It's making the rounds now, and while it should have Weezer fans excited, it might make them a bit confused as well. Longtime Weezer fans know that the band - who just signed with indie label Epitaph after 15 years with Geffen and have a new, ridiculously-packaged record due out next
C'est CHIC, Indeed: More Nile Rodgers Box Set Details Released
If you've followed the legendary producer/CHIC co-founder Nile Rodgers on Facebook or Twitter, you've no doubt realized that he's been combing through his archives for some projects, including his autobiography and a forthcoming box set chronicling The CHIC Organization and its productions. Finally, news of the latter has broke from someone other than Rodgers himself: Rhino France, through their Facebook page, has issued the first details about Nile Rodgers Presents The CHIC Organization Vol. 1:
Some Like It Hotter: Kritzerland Follows “Promises” with Remixed “Sugar”
Kritzerland’s Bruce Kimmel wasn’t one to rest on his laurels over the Labor Day weekend. The soundtrack and cast album specialist label announced on Monday its latest two-CD deluxe release, a reissue of the 1972 Original Broadway Cast Recording of Sugar. For those who missed out on Kimmel’s Promises, Promises, don’t pass up the chance to hear this terrifically fun album in a new light. Sugar, the musical version of Billy Wilder’s seminal film Some Like It Hot, was assembled by a Broadway dream
Labor Day Special Reissue Theory: Stephen Schwartz and James Taylor, “Working”
The Second Disc Archives are open! We're reprising this look at a musical which united the talents of Stephen Schwartz, James Taylor, Mary Rodgers, Micki Grant and Craig Carnelia, while our story also features "appearances" along the way by Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Warnes and Rupert Holmes! Welcome to our Reissue Theory special: Working! On Monday, September 6, 2010, America celebrated its 128th Labor Day, all but the first 12 of them recognized as a
Rounder Records Adding Box Set to the Holiday Rush
Add another box set to the pile for this holiday season: The Rounder Records Story, an 87-track, four-disc chronicle of the Massachusetts-based indie folk label, celebrating its 40th year. The set includes tracks by notables names like Willie Nelson, NRBQ, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Rush, George Thorogood and The Destroyers, Bela Fleck and more. Pre-order it here and check the track list out after the jump.
Review: Frank Sinatra, "September of My Years"
Frank Sinatra was always one to face the world head-on. So it was with his turning 50. The man who had pioneered the “concept album” with a string of themed records for Capitol began thinking of an LP that would allow him to plant his feet squarely in the present, 1965, and reflect with every ounce of experience he’d acquired in the many lives he’d led over a mere 50 years. The album that would become September of My Years began its life inspired by Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson’s “September
Intrada Goes "Deep"
Chalk up another in-demand title getting resurrected from the soundtrack honchos at Intrada: an expanded presentation of John Barry's score to the 1977 underwater thriller The Deep. Based on the novel by Peter Benchley (who of course wrote that other undersea horror tale, JAWS), the film - centered around a quest for undersea treasure - had only a few similarities to Steven Spielberg's fish story from two years earlier: both films shared a star (Robert Shaw, although Louis Gossett Jr. would
News Round-Up: Sinatra TV Specials Boxed, Handmade Does Comedy
Rhino Handmade has revealed the latest addition to its catalogue, and it's an unexpected one. The State began its MTV run in 1993, and ran for three seasons, showcasing its young ensemble in edgy sketch comedy. The troupe spent January 1996 recording an album for Warner Bros. Records, but it was ultimately shelved. That album, Comedy for Gracious Living, gets its first-ever release on September 20 from the busy Handmade folks. Cast members are recognizable from their work in Wet Hot American
Springsteen Reveals Details for "Darkness" Mega-Box
Folks, Bruce Springsteen doesn't kid around when it comes to keeping promises. The specs are in for The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story, and this monster box set due on November 16 is going to be a doozy, to put it mildly. Boasting three packed CDs and three DVDs or Blu-Rays, The Promise is a treasure chest for longtime Springsteen fans: 21 unreleased audio tracks on two CDs, four hours of concert footage (including 12 performances dating between 1976 and 1978, a whopping 26
The Answer's No Longer Blowin' in the Wind: Columbia Confirms Dylan Tracks
On July 30, The Second Disc reported on Bob Dylan: The Original Mono Recordings and the ninth volume of Dylan's acclaimed Bootleg Series, both due in stores on October 19. Well, Volume 9 has an official name and an official track listing. The Bootleg Series Volume 9: The Witmark Demos 1962-1964 will contain a whopping 47 songs (plus one fragment) recorded by Hibbing, Minesota's favorite son in demo form not only for M. Witmark & Sons, but for Leeds Music as well. 15 songs were recorded
Reissue Theory: Go West
Reading Rob Sheffield's Talking to Girls About Duran Duran was a mistake. I don't mean that in a literal sense; the Rolling Stone writer's newest book is a great read (as good as his incredibly bittersweet memoir Love is a Mix Tape), especially for an '80s enthusiast like myself. But reading the author's meticulous combing of tracks from his youth (everything from A Flock of Seagulls to the truly obscure Hayzi Fantayzeee) and how they inspired his ability to engage in dialogues with the women
Holy Mackerel! Early Paul Williams Expanded and Remastered by Now Sounds
If ever an album was lost in the shuffle, it was the 1968 debut LP by The Holy Mackerel. The LP, assigned as Reprise 6311, fell smack in between Jimi Hendrix's Electric Ladyland (Reprise 6307) and Neil Young's eponymous solo debut (Reprise 6317). But adventurous listeners would find themselves rewarded if they picked up the album by the oddly-named group, with its cover sleeve of five gents and a lady smiling for the camera under three-dimensional comic book-style lettering proclaiming them "The
Band (Still) on the Run: McCartney Reissue Set for November, Tracks Revealed
Fans of Paul McCartney are going to have to wait just a little bit longer for Concord to kick off its catalogue reissue campaign, as the remastered editions of Band on the Run have been pushed back from September 28 to November 2, a little less than a month after EMI’s massive batch of John Lennon reissues drop. Concord has been keeping all information pertaining to this release close to the vest, but details have finally emerged. The 1973 classic by McCartney and Wings (his fifth solo release
You've Got to Have "Faith" in Multiple Formats and Prices
August 10 brought news of Legacy's remastered, expanded reissue of George Michael's solo debut from 1987, Faith, and a link to pre-order a Limited Edition Numbered Collector's Box Set at the cost of $141.57 and filled with goodies including a vinyl replica of the original album and artist memorabilia. Now, details have finally emerged as to the other configurations in which Faith will be made available, and it's good news: a 2-CD/1-DVD set will include the same bonus disc of remixes and B-sides
The Porpoise is Waiting No More: Monkees Flick Hits Blu-Ray
Hey hey! Attention all readers! We take a break from our regularly-scheduled coverage of audio reissues to bring you news of an important music-related video release: the Blu-Ray debut of the Monkees’ 1968 surreal film odyssey Head! With the Criterion Collection’s November 23 release as part of a massive box set dedicated to the films of BBS Productions, Head makes its eagerly-awaited appearance on Blu-Ray. (The box set will also be available in the DVD format.) To call Head a trip is to put it
Quite a Leap of "Faith"
This morning we come closer to unraveling the mysteries of Legacy's upcoming reissues of George Michael's Faith. The Limited Collector's Box Set edition was made available to order today, and if you like George a lot, this might be the set for you. The set includes: The original album, remastered A CD of remixes and B-sides A DVD featuring a vintage Channel 4 special, George Michael and Jonathan Ross Have Words, the original EPK entitled Music Money Love Faith and seven promo videos A
News Round-Up: More Morrissey, Live Dio, A Change at Disney and More
Our inimitable alt-rock flame-keeper friends at Slicing Up Eyeballs point us toward a trail of additional Morrissey rarities leading up to the 20th anniversary reissue of his excellent compilation Bona Drag. It seems that early single "Everyday is Like Sunday" is going to be reissued on CD and 7-inch vinyl, and will include some interesting bonus tracks. Both vinyl singles include live renditions of "Sunday" from the Hollywood Bowl in 2007 and The New York Dolls' "Trash" from 1991, while the CD
Friday Feature: "Footloose"
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsCO-YkDgnY] This week's theatrical release of Step Up 3D proves that young people everywhere still embrace the notion of defying authority by shaking one's ass on the dance floor. It's nothing new, of course; ever since Columbia Pictures turned Twist Around the Clock onto a dance-crazy culture in 1961, dance pictures have become a generational touchstone. Whether they're good, crowd-pleasing films (Saturday Night Fever (1977), Flashdance (1983)) or
The Second Disc Interview #2: From Hollywood, It's Bruce Kimmel!
Producer, director, writer, actor, composer, lyricist, raconteur – any and all of those words could be used to describe Bruce Kimmel. After helping to launch the Varese Sarabande label over thirty years ago and christening its still-ongoing soundtrack series with his score to The First Nudie Musical (which he also wrote, co-directed and acted in), Kimmel founded the Bay Cities label. Between 1989 and 1993, he and his Bay Cities colleagues were among the very first to reissue classic film
"Listen" to Gary Lewis' Solo Reissue, Coming Soon from Now Sounds
Everybody loves a clown, so why don't you? Many did indeed love acclaimed comedian and filmmaker Jerry Lewis, but it must have been a surprise when his 20-year old son, Gary, received quite a lot of chart love in 1965. Discovered at Disneyland and signed to Liberty Records by ace producer Snuff Garrett, Gary Lewis and the Playboys had a smash right out of the gate with "This Diamond Ring." Hitting No. 1 in the middle of the British Invasion, that Al Kooper/Bob Brass/Irwin Levine song remains a
The Times, They Are Indeed A-Changin': Mono Dylan Reissues Coming
It's been bandied about for a little bit now, but it looks like it's true: there's an Amazon listing for Bob Dylan's The Original Mono Recordings. It's an eight-disc set of the first eight Dylan LPs - his 1962 self-titled debut to 1967's John Wesley Harding in their original mono mixes (or more specifically, according to this Rolling Stone article: "reportedly mastered using 'first issue copies of the mono LPs' in order to recreate the sound of the original LPs") - with a new 60-page book of
Back Tracks: The Cars
The above picture is a bit of a shock, if you haven't seen it yet: all four of the surviving members of The Cars - Ric Ocasek, Elliott Easton, Greg Hawkes and David Robinson - in a recording studio. It was posted to the official Facebook page for the Boston-based rockers on Thursday. No caption, no explanation. Just the members of The Cars, possibly gearing up for some new music. And who'd have thought? Since the band broke up in 1988, chances seemed slim where a reunion was concerned. The
Back Tracks: Burton and Elfman
It turns out the reissue of Batman wasn't the only Danny Elfman-related catalogue news at this year's San Diego Comic-Con: Elfman shared at a panel discussion that Warner Bros. is planning a box set devoted to the composer's longtime collaboration with director Tim Burton. It's not much of a surprise that such a set would happen. Burton and Elfman's collaboration is one of the strongest director-composer bonds in Hollywood. And while neither men are collaborating with the kind of urgently great
More Score to Adore
With no shortage of catalogue film score news and announcements in the past week, The Second Disc adds to that with two releases from Intrada and a few rumblings about La La Land. First, the releases: Lalo Schifrin's score to the newspaper drama The Mean Season and George Delerue's fanciful score to the Glenn Close comedy Maxie, both released in 1985, are getting their first-ever releases as part of Intrada's Special Collection. Both albums feature a new sequencing experiment for the label: big
News Round-Up: New Stage and Screen Releases from Kaper, Loesser and More
There's rarely such a thing as a Monday matinee, but that won't keep The Second Disc from ushering in the week with news of a quintet of reissues from our friends at Film Score Monthly and Sepia Records. These exciting releases are sure to please devotees of both soundtracks and cast albums. Film Score Monthly kicks things off with their new release of BUtterfield 8: Bronislau Kaper at M-G-M, Volume 1 (FSM 1309). Kaper rarely seems to be afforded the acclaim given to many of his contemporaries,