Steve Winwood, Arc of a Diver: Deluxe Edition (U.S./U.K.) (Island/UMC) While you see a chance, take one on this new edition of Winwood's 1980 album, expanded with a handful of bonus tracks and a lengthy audio documentary. Louis Armstrong & The All-Stars, Satchmo at Symphony Hall 65th Anniversary: The Complete Performances(U.S.) (Hip-O Select/Verve) A classic 1947 performance first released in 1951 is fully expanded to include both complete performances from that lauded night, with new
Love Is (Still) The Message: MFSB Classic Expanded and Remastered by Big Break
There was clear irony in Bart Forbes’ cover artwork for MFSB’s Love is the Message. The 1973 album showed off Philadelphia International Records’ hallowed house band at its smoothest, espousing the gospels of peace, love, tolerance and unity. The cover illustration, however, depicts a skull clad in a military helmet, a mushroom cloud, a swastika, death, a howling dog, a Klansman and a grief-stricken man among its disturbing images. This was heady stuff, but then again, Kenneth Gamble and Leon
Happy Together: "Sunset Strip to Haight-Ashbury" Features Jefferson Airplane, Mamas and the Papas, Turtles, Love and More
John and Michy were gettin' kind of itchy/Just to leave the folk music behind/Zal and Denny workin' for a penny /Tryin' to get a fish on the line.. Those lyrics from The Mamas and the Papas’ 1967 “Creeque Alley” begin to tell the story of the famous band, and it’s one of eighteen tracks on a new compilation aiming to tell a bigger story: that of “The California Scene in the 1960s.” Yes, this story has been told more comprehensively elsewhere; see two of our favorite box sets dedicated to San
Review: Jellyfish, "Live at Bogart's"
When Jellyfish's Live at Bogart's was recorded on February 21, 1991, did anybody realize that neither the band nor the venue were long for this world? On December 2, 1993, The Los Angeles Times lamented the closure of the Long Beach, California club, calling it a "mighty blow" to the local music community. Yet Bogart's actually outlasted the first iteration of the band that hailed from miles up north in the San Francisco Bay Area. Andy Sturmer (drums/vocals), Roger Joseph Manning Jr.
Review: Deluxe Editions from Everything But The Girl
The band’s name is Everything But The Girl, but the reissue campaign might as well be titled Everything But the Kitchen Sink. Over the course of four 2-CD sets, the Edsel label has crafted a comprehensive, definitive retrospective of Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt’s early years as merchants of cool, sophisticated and literate pop. EBTG’s first four albums, originally released on the Blanco Y Negro label, have each been granted the deluxe treatment with an additional disc of non-LP singles, B-sides,
Review: Big Brother and the Holding Company Featuring Janis Joplin, "Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968"
Journey back with me to 1968, will you? Your time machine is courtesy Owsley “Bear” Stanley, visionary sound engineer and renowned LSD chemist. But you don’t need any lysergic acid to enjoy the music contained on the little silver disc known as Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968 (Columbia/Legacy 88697 96409 2, 2012), billed as the first release from Bear’s Sonic Journals. That said, a little Southern Comfort probably wouldn’t hurt. (Or a toke or two, as per the suggestion of Stanley’s son
UPDATE 1/19: Flower In The Sun: "The Pearl Sessions" Joins "Carousel Ballroom" To Celebrate Janis Joplin
41 years ago this month, Columbia Records unleashed Pearl, the final musical statement of Janis Lyn Joplin, on the world. A firebrand till her untimely death at the age of 27, Joplin didn’t live to see the release of Pearl, but the album summed up her deep blend of soul, psychedelia, rock and country, even touching on jazz and pop. Joplin honed her style in a brief but intense period of impassioned live performances and recording. She had a penchant for living life on the edge; in her recent
The Second Disc Buyers Guide: The 100 Greatest Reissues of All Time (Part 1: #100-96)
Welcome to our brand-new, exhaustive feature to take us to the end of another great year for reissues and box sets: our first-ever official Second Disc Buyers Guide! From now until Christmas, we're taking you on a delightful trip through the 100 greatest albums of all time, as selected by Rolling Stone in 2003, through the filter of when and how these classic albums have been reissued, remastered and repackaged. If you've ever wondered to yourself which versions of these albums to buy for
"Gremlins" Are Loose! FSM Bows Long-Awaited Complete Score
Here is one of the most exciting sentences we could ever type for soundtrack fans on The Second Disc: Jerry Goldsmith's score to Gremlins is coming to CD from Film Score Monthly. "Cute. Cuddly. Mischevious. Intelligent. Dangerous." Those five words roped audiences into one of the most exciting horror-comedies of the 1980s, Joe Dante's Gremlins. The tale of a storybook American small town rocked by wacky creatures with razor-sharp claws on Christmas Eve was a perfect marriage of humor and
Of Wizzards and Electric Light Orchestras: Roy Wood Opens His "Music Book" and ELO Goes "Essential"
Electric Light Orchestra may not have been the first band to merge a classical sensibility with the power of rock, but the group was undoubtedly the most successful. Yet the group of “Mr. Blue Sky” and “Evil Woman” began as a decidedly different aggregation, born out of the ashes of Birmingham, England’s The Move. When lead singer Carl Wayne departed The Move, his bandmate Roy Wood invited one Jeff Lynne, of The Idle Race, to join him. This revitalized line-up of The Move produced two
Pink Floyd, Beatles, Nirvana, Doors Lead Off Record Store Day Exclusives On "Black Friday"
For those of us who still savor the experience of shopping in a physical environment, Record Store Day has become a yearly tradition. It’s sometimes frustrating and sometimes exciting, but few could argue with an event that spotlights the hard-working independent music retailers out there who believe that brick-and-mortar retail can still thrive in the iTunes era. (Amen to that!) A more recent offshoot of Record Store Day has been the mini-event held each Black Friday, or the day after
Stephen Sondheim, Angela Lansbury, Mary Martin Feature in Latest Masterworks Line-Up
Some of The Great White Way's brightest stars will be on the receiving end of the latest reissue bonanza from Sony's Masterworks Broadway label. Leading the pack is the 1985 Original Cast Recording of Stephen Sondheim's Follies in Concert. Lee Remick, Barbara Cook, Mandy Patinkin and George Hearn star in the 1985 recording of Sondheim's 1971 musical currently enjoying a critically-acclaimed, hit revival on Broadway. Follies in Concert will arrive at general retail on CD in a new eco-friendly
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
Cold Chisel Expanded Reissues Arrive in Australia
Raise your hand if you're familiar with Cold Chisel! If you're not, don't worry - you can still pass "Go" and collect your 200 bucks. The band known as Cold Chisel comes from the home of Men at Work (of course), AC/DC, Olivia Newton-John, Peter Allen and Helen Reddy: Australia. Although the band never gained the international fame those other artists did, they remain one of the biggest acts ever in the land down under. Almost forty years after the band's founding, Cold Chisel kicked off
The Smiths Are Out of the Bag: Massive U.K. Box Planned
As we at The Second Disc HQ love to point out, Morrissey once set his scathing lyrical pen on record companies' propensity for reissues on The Smiths' "Paint a Vulgar Picture." Currently, he must be shitting bricks: Rhino U.K. is planning The Smiths - Complete, a box set compiling the influential band's entire discography, all newly remastered. Clever fans spotted the presence of the set on the label's site late last night (we have super-reader Dean H. to thank for hipping us to it), and our
Omnivore to Sting Fans with Jellyfish Vinyl Reissues
The reign of Jellyfish was a devilishly short one. Yet with only two albums and a cataclysmic lineup change at the halfway point, Jellyfish's output deserves a place in the edifice of power pop, alongside such luminaries as Badfinger, Cheap Trick and XTC. And now, fans will be able to enjoy those two albums on vinyl - one for the first time in the U.S. and one of them for the first time anywhere - thanks to the good folks at Omnivore Recordings. Jellyfish was the brainchild of singer/drummer
Back Tracks: CHIC
It's a crime that when you talk about CHIC, many of the players who made up arguably the greatest band of the disco era aren't alive to hear your words of praise. Bernard Edwards, CHIC's bassist and co-producer, died in 1997; drummer Tony Thompson passed away in 2003. Nile Rodgers, guitarist, co-producer and keeper of the CHIC flame, could easily have met the same early fate had he not been lucky enough to discover the cancer that he's been since late last year. (Rodgers, one of the best users
Review: Ozzy Osbourne, "Blizzard of Ozz: Expanded Edition" and "Diary of a Madman: Legacy Edition"
There's something wonderful about seeing things in a different light than before. Some of us go through our lives thinking certain things are one way, when others might see the same thing in a totally opposite way. If those two sides see eye-to-eye, though? It's a beautiful thing. I'd like to think that there's a bit of that eye-to-eye business with Epic/Legacy's new reissues of the first two Ozzy Osbourne albums. New fans who pick these packages up will learn that there is so much more to the
Jethro Tull's "Aqualung" Turns 40, Gets Deluxe Edition From EMI
First Quadrophenia, now Aqualung! Yes, in advance of an official announcement, remix producer Steven Wilson has spilled the beans on an upcoming deluxe reissue of Jethro Tull’s Aqualung! (Big thanks to our friends at MusicTAP for passing the news on!) The British band’s fourth album, Aqualung remains Jethro Tull’s all-time biggest seller, not to mention one of the most beloved rock albums of all time. It’s tentatively scheduled for September release from struggling juggernaut EMI, and like
"House of Rufus" Has Lots of Furnishings
Just in case you were waiting on a track list to buy Rufus Wainwright's mega-box House of Rufus, the wait is over. The 19-disc box set, which encompasses all the albums and DVDs the baroque-pop tunesmith has released in his career, is packed with some intriguing extras, too. Many of the CDs are augmented with some sort of bonus tracks, either extra songs that were released as retail exclusives, old or new live performances and outtake material. And there are another four discs of rarities as
Weekend News Round-Up: Doobies, Peter Gabriel, Stax and Kansas
It was such a busy week that reporting has spilled over into the weekend! Enjoy these tidbits from around the rest of the catalogue music world. Eagle Rock is releasing a vintage live CD/DVD by The Doobie Brothers, from their 1982 farewell tour. Live at the Greek 1982 sees a lineup that included sole original member Patrick Simmons on guitar, longtime co-drummer Keith Knudsen (who shared the kit with Chet McCracken, a member since 1980's One Step Closer), guitarist/violinist John McFee,
Welcome to the "House of Rufus"
Think Loudon Wainwright III's Forty Odd Years box set is exhaustive? The singer-songwriter's son, Rufus, just topped it - and then some. We previously reported that Rufus Wainwright was planning a massive career-spanning box set, but Universal Music just revealed details on the scope of House of Rufus, due out this summer. Altogether, the set includes 19 - count 'em, 19! - discs, featuring every studio and live record Wainwright's ever released and then some. According to a post on Rufus'
Back Tracks: The Shirelles on Scepter
Diana Ross, Martha Reeves and Mary Weiss – and even Joan Jett, Victoria Beckham and Nicole Scherzinger – all owe a debt to Shirley Owens, Doris Coley, Addie Harris and Beverly Lee. That quartet doesn’t have the name recognition of those that followed them, but those four young women from Passaic, New Jersey ignited the girl group phenomenon when they joined forces as The Poquellos, soon to be renamed The Shirelles. Were The Shirelles the first girl group? Probably not. Were they the first to
Rhino Resurrects "L.A. Woman" This Fall
It was hard not to worry about Rhino for awhile. Since the new year kicked off, things have been eerily quiet from the venerable label and catalogue arm of Warner Music Group (currently prepping for a major reorganization). Outside of the largesse of the Europe '72 box set from The Grateful Dead and a few soundtrack selections, all was quiet. Now, one of Warner's most enduring catalogue artists looks to be getting another reissue: hot off the presses, Rhino's announced a 40th anniversary
Back Tracks: The Police
On this day in 1978, A&M Records signed a bunch of blonde guys masquerading as punk rockers to their label. That doesn't sound like a blueprint for success, but those guys - vocalist-bassist Gordon Sumner (better known as Sting), guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Stewart Copeland - were well on their way to becoming one of the biggest bands in the world, then one of the most lamented and celebrated after their messy breakup (and inevitable reunion). The Police were like few others,
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