Doo-wop veterans John Brown, Tim McQueen, Edward Schell, and Claude Johnson came together as New York City, hoping that the name of their new vocal quartet would reflect the melting pot that inspired it. "We feel personally that a group should be able to sing anything from the lowest, dirtiest blues," Brown wrote in the sleevenotes of New York City's 1973 debut LP, "through spirituals, right up through pop to the heaviest kind of music." I'm Doin' Fine Now, originally issued on Chelsea Records
A Miracle Happened: "A Cellarful of Motown" Returns with Gems from The Temptations, Martha and The Vandellas, Marvin Gaye, Kim Weston, Blinky, and More
The classic Motown vaults are, once again, open. This Friday, the U.K.'s Caroline label will release the long-anticipated fifth volume of A Cellarful of Motown, the rarities series which last saw a volume in 2010. But this 2-CD, 43-song collection promises to have been worth the wait as it features previously unreleased and new-to-CD tracks from such household name artists as Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Martha Reeves and The Vandellas, Gladys Knight and The Pips, and The (Detroit) Spinners
Fancy: Reba McEntire's "Rumor Has It" Gets 30th Anniversary Expanded Edition
Late last year, Reba McEntire celebrated 25 years of her Read My Mind album with an anniversary expanded edition. Now, she's following that up by revisiting her 3x platinum 1990 smash Rumor Has It in similar fashion. On September 11, Rumor Has It will return from MCA Nashville in a new edition with two bonus versions of its top ten hit "Fancy": a live acoustic take recorded at Music City's famed Ryman Auditorium and a dance remix by Dave Audé (who recently remixed Barbara Mandrell's "Sleeping
Release Round-Up: Week of July 10
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Grateful Dead, Workingman's Dead: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Grateful Dead/Rhino) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Often hailed as one of Grateful Dead's most accessible albums along with its follow-up, American Beauty, Workingman's Dead placed its focus on tighter songcraft in a country/folk-oriented vein that would later be described as "Americana." It introduced the group's
A Second Disc Interview: TJ Lubinsky Shares Details on New "Rock, Pop, and Doo Wop" DVD Set
"Be My Baby." "Can't Take My Eyes off You." "Stand by Me." "You Don't Own Me." Songs such as these not only defined the era in which they were first written and performed, but continue to resonate today. They're just four of the classic songs included on an upcoming 7-DVD set from Treasury Collection that serves as a definitive concert anthology of classic American R&B music. Rock, Pop, and Doo Wop has been curated by executive producer and director TJ Lubinsky from his acclaimed onstage
Zip! Stage Door Reissues, Expands London Cast Albums of "Zip Goes a Million" and "Happy Holiday"
Stage Door Records is heading back to the 1950s with a new CD presenting two U.K. musicals from the team of composer George Posford and librettist/lyricist Eric Maschwitz: Zip Goes a Million and Happy Holiday. It's due from the label on June 26. 1951's Zip Goes a Million was based on George Barr McCutcheon's 1902 novel Brewster's Millions about a young man left an inheritance by his grandfather with an unusual twist: he must spend the entirety of the inheritance within one year, resulting in
Ace Round-Up, Part Two: Spotlight on Merseybeat Girls, "Jon Savage's 1969-1971" and "Deep Soul Treasures"
Today, we're looking at another trio of recent releases from the team at Ace Records! If you missed Part One of our Ace Round-Up, click here! While The Beatles are no doubt Liverpool's most famous musical export, Merseyside - spanning 249 square miles (or 645 square kilometers) bordering Lancashire to the northeast, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south and southeast, and The Irish Sea to the west - yielded an abundance of groups like The Cryin' Shames, Gerry and The
Who's Gonna Stand Up: Neil Young Opens Fan Vote for Archives Projects
Once considered a pipe dream for longtime fans, The Neil Young Archives project continues to gain momentum. In the last few years, Young has released a number of standalone Archive Series albums like Hitchhiker, Roxy: Tonight's The Night Live, Songs for Judy, and Tuscaloosa. Looking ahead, it appears the lost 1975 album Homegrown may finally be released sometime this quarter, plus there's talks of a big Archives II box set. But in typical Neil Young fashion, it appears that many projects
The Year in Review: The 2019 Gold Bonus Disc Awards, From A to Z
Happy 2020 and welcome to The Second Disc's 10th Annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards! It's time once again to recognize this year's cream of the crop - those exemplary reissues and box sets big and small that proved to be truly outstanding products for music lovers worldwide. There was no shortage of great reissue titles in 2019; in fact, by our count, we covered over 700 releases in all! And after much deliberation, we're excited to unveil our favorites. This isn't your run-of-the-mill Top 10,
Rock Gently: Real Gone Music Remembers Rod McKuen in January with New CDs, Digital Debuts
We've already filled you on a number of titles from Real Gone Music's January slate, including our Second Disc Records release of Laura Nyro's rare mono More Than a New Discovery on vinyl and the first-ever reissue of Miss Barbara Eden on CD and vinyl. Now, Real Gone has announced a pair of titles from a true iconoclast: the late Rod McKuen. On January 31, the label will premiere New Ballads, the singer-songwriter-poet's highest-charting Warner Bros. album, on CD alongside a newly-expanded
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Bear Family Explores "The Bakersfield Sound" on New Box Set
Get Along Down to Town Bakersfield, California is a long way from Nashville - a little under 2,020 miles west, actually. But the distance isn't quite as great when one considers how much significant country music came out of the city in Kern County. Recent years have seen numerous reissues from legendary Bakersfield artists like Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, as well as a fine exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame. But now Bear Family Records has delivered the ultimate tribute to the
How Can I Keep From Singing: Pete Seeger's Centennial Celebrated With "The Smithsonian Collection," 6-CD Box Including Previously Unreleased Music
May 3rd will mark 100 years since the birth of Pete Seeger. He was a musician of incalculable influence, an activist, lyricist, banjo picker, and, most significantly, a unifier of the masses. Like a Johnny Appleseed of music, Pete Seeger spent his life spreading music to all that would listen. From "We Shall Overcome" and "If I Had A Hammer," and "The Bells of Rhymney," to "Turn! Turn! Turn!" "Wimoweh," and "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine," Seeger left an indelible mark on music history that
Let's Do It Again: Beach Boys Live Rarities Collected on (Another!) New Copyright Extension Release, "On Tour: 1968"
On the heels of two new collections of vault material celebrating the studio outtakes from Friends and 20/20, The Beach Boys have released a further copyright extension release featuring their work onstage. On Tour: 1968 presents 114 tracks recorded on the road in summer and winter 1968. The Beach Boys were on somewhat rocky ground in 1968. Their popularity in the rock sphere was waning and their seemingly diminishing significance in public perception came to a head when The Beach Boys
Yesterday's Dreams: UMe Releases "Motown Unreleased: 1968" and "In Loving Memory: Expanded Edition" Copyright Extension Collections
In a winter tradition that's as reliable as any, UMe has released the latest in the annual copyright extension series, entitled Motown Unreleased: 1968. The two-part compilation will arrive to digital download and streaming services today, December 14. Between the two volumes, there's a whopping 88 tantalizing, previously unreleased gems from the Motown vault! Motown heavy-hitters, soul superstars, and fan favorites abound on these two collections. There's a wealth of Stevie Wonder rarities,
In Memoriam: Aretha Franklin (1942-2018)
The Queen has left the building. Aretha Franklin has died the age of 76, having forever transformed the landscape of American popular music. That she was indisputably The Queen of Soul was most recently made it clear when her December 6, 2015 performance at Washington, DC's Kennedy Center quickly went viral. Audiences around the world reveled as she performed Carole King, Gerry Goffin and Jerry Wexler's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" with a blazing emotional honesty that couldn't
The Sun in Your Eyes: Real Gone's August Slate to Include Alan Parsons Project, Merry Clayton, Monk Higgins, More
Real Gone Music has just announced its slate for August, and the reissues are in a variety of genres and formats, all due on August 3. First up is a standalone release of the Blu-ray Audio edition of The Alan Parsons Project's 1982 hit album Eye in the Sky. The Project's sixth album (and fifth on Arista Records) employed a variety of musical styles within a radio-friendly soft-rock framework to address typically lofty themes. This Blu-ray reissue boasts a high-resolution stereo version of
Give 'Em The Old Razzle-Dazzle: Real Gone To Reissue "Chicago" Soundtrack on Vinyl in July
We have told you about the nearly all of Real Gone's titles for this July, including Second Disc Records' compilation of Bobby Darin's unreleased Motown recordings. Now, Real Gone has just announced the final reissue on their July slate: the first-ever vinyl reissue of the original soundtrack to 2002's Academy Award-winning musical Chicago, due July 13. The musical Chicago originally opened on Broadway on June 3, 1975 and is based upon the 1926 play of the same name written by reporter
Release Round-Up: Week of April 6
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, and one of the biggest Release Fridays of the year to date! Chicago, VI Decades Live: This is What We Do (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Chicago celebrates 50 years on the road with this expansive new box set featuring 4 CDs and 1 DVD of previously unreleased live music recorded between 1969 and 2014. This set includes two complete concerts - The Isle of Wight, 1970 on CD and a Rockpalast broadcast from Germany in 1977 on
RPM Round-Up, Part Two: Spotlight on The Dave Miller Set, The Deejays, and Elton's Friends Birds of a Feather
Welcome to Part Two of our RPM Records Round-Up, exploring another three titles from the Cherry Red retro imprint! If you missed Part One, just click here! The first release heads down under, collecting The Dave Miller Set's recordings for Australia's Spin label in the late 1960s. Mr. Guy Fawkes: The Complete Spin Recordings and More (1967-1970) has 19 tracks, including one previously unreleased, from the New Zealand-born frontman and his musical collaborators. The compilation takes its
Holiday Gift Guide Review: "The Stax Vinyl 7s Box"
When it comes to Stax Records' 60th anniversary celebration, why should CDs have all the fun? The vinyl release of The Stax Vinyl 7s Box from Concord and UMC (STX 00252) brings fourteen rare tracks from across the Stax family of labels to seven 45 RPM singles, all emblazoned with the familiar yellow, finger-snapping logo. Compiler Richard Searling's raison d'etre is a simple one, as he sets forth in the liner notes: "I've selected the content based on my experience of featuring these songs in
World Turning: Fleetwood Mac To Expand Self-Titled 1975 Album
Over the last few years, Fleetwood Mac and Warner Music have worked together to expand their most "classic rock" era--the albums recorded with the line-up of Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood between 1975 and 1987. After deluxe editions of Rumours, Tusk, Mirage and Tango In The Night, the group finally unites the chain with a new expansion of their self-titled 1975 album, the first to feature this line-up, due in January 2018. Before the album
Find Out What's Happening! Ace Celebrates "Marylebone Beat Girls" with Cilla Black, Julie Driscoll, More
Around this time last summer, we filled you in on two volumes of Ace's Beat Girls series focusing on sixties starlets from the Pye and Decca labels. Now, Ace has recently released another volume in the series. Marylebone Beat Girls looks at the big-city acts recording out of London's Marylebone district, home of EMI's headquarters and its labels like Parlophone, His Master's Voice, and Columbia. This 25-track collection of uptempo nuggets brings the Swingin' London fusion of pop, rock, and
See For Miles: The Who Compile "Maximum As and Bs: The Complete Singles" on 5-CD Box Set
Over the past two years, The Who have compiled their complete singles discography into a four-volume series of vinyl box sets, with each volume dedicated to one particular label and period: Brunswick, Reaction, Track and Polydor. Now, the band is bringing those volumes to the CD format as a 5-disc box set as part of a year-long campaign of Who-related releases. Maximum As & Bs: The Complete Singles is due from UMe/Polydor on October 27, collecting 86 sides (including EP tracks) from all
BREAKING! A Song Worth Singing: Johnny Mathis Special Airs This Saturday, New Box Set Arrives
Johnny Mathis is currently touring the U.S. on his Voice of Romance tour - and indeed, for over 60 years, that appellation has been apt. This Saturday evening, June 10, Mathis is coming to your own city, courtesy of Public Television and TJ Lubinsky's TJL Productions' popular and long-running My Music series. Yes, this Saturday is Johnny Mathis Night, because that's when Public Television stations nationwide will air Wonderful! Wonderful!, a concert film featuring all of Mathis' beloved
'Til You're Satisfied: Big Break Collects The Best of B.T. Express On New 2-CD Set
Big Break Records has just boarded the B.T. Express - destination: the crossroads of funk, soul, and disco. Give Up the Funk: The B.T. Express Anthology 1974-1982 is a comprehensive, career-spanning 2-CD, 31-track chronicle of the band that scored ten U.S. R&B chart entries (including two No. 1s) and five on the Pop chart (two top 5s). B.T. Express was formed by Richard "Rick" Thompson on guitar, Bill Risbrook (tenor saxophone), Carlos Ward (alto saxophone), Louis Risbrook (bass), Dennis
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