There may not be enough positive words to write about Nile Rodgers. The sole surviving member of The CHIC Organization (which included bassist Bernard Edwards and drummer Tony Thompson), Rodgers helped shape the sound of late '70s and early '80s pop and R&B, either as a performer with CHIC, a producer - often alongside Edwards - for Diana Ross, Sister Sledge, Madonna and others or even as a sampled artist (see The Sugar Hill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" and "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash
Every Day Should Be Record Store Day
And perhaps it is, depending on how often you buy from one. The fourth annual Record Store Day is happening in less than a month (April 17) but already a lot of releases have been announced for the occasion. Best of all, there are some neat releases for catalogue fans out there, too. You can have a look at the full list here, but here are some of the neatest catalogue offerings coming on Record Store Day. Devo, Duty Now for the Future (1979) (Warner Bros.) As previously mentioned, Devo's
Back Tracks: Alex Chilton
A potentially embarassing confession: it took the death of Big Star frontman Alex Chilton for me to realize just what I knew about him. I knew his name was the title of a Replacements song (thanks, Rock Band), I'd known of Big Star thanks to the justifiable hype over last year's box set from Rhino and I'd known a handful of his most famous, very solid compositions that he either wrote or popularized ("Thirteen," "The Letter," "In the Street") through inevitable cultural osmosis (thanks, That
Slightly Cynical News Round-Up
To the surprise of almost nobody and the anguish of '80s catalogue fans, EMI has again reshuffled the dates for the next batches of Duran Duran reissues. Duran Duran, Seven and the Ragged Tiger and Arcadia's So Red the Rose are set for April 20 in the U.S. (note that the U.K. March 29 date for Duran and Tiger still stands - impatient fans, go for an import if you can). Additionally, Notorious and Big Thing will street on July 6, not June 7. Phil Collins hinted to The Rock Radio that more
Back Tracks: U2
Is it inherently lazy to do a U2 post on a music blog for St. Patrick's Day? Whether it is or not, it's done for two reasons. First, since The Second Disc is all about reissues, it's worth tipping a hat to Universal's ongoing series of U2 reissues. They have been some of the best on the market in recent years. The packaging is nice, the content is comprehensive and groundbreaking (in other words, the fan gets all those hard-to-find tracks he or she is looking for plus a score of vault material)
Reissue Theory: - Public Enemy, "Fear of a Black Planet"
Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of Fear of a Black Planet, the third album by hip-hop legends Public Enemy. Billboard did a great write-up about the album's impact after two decades, which dovetails rather interestingly into a highly-recommended recent documentary I had the pleasure to see last week. The film, Copyright Criminals, is a thought-provoking look into the rise of sampling in music and the ongoing legal challenges faced by samplers. Public Enemy frontman Chuck D, as well as
Five Things the Michael Jackson-Sony Deal Should Consider
After a deafening silence broken only by the just-OK This is It album, Michael Jackson's posthumous release projects at Sony just amped up. The King of Pop's estate and Sony Music have brokered a $250 million, ten-album deal that will keep the Jackson train rolling at Sony through 2017. Speculation has already begun over what the nine forthcoming titles (the This is It soundtrack is retroactively included in the deal) will be. Rumored audio titles include: New reissues of Off the Wall and
Cratediggers
Inspiration comes from strange places. My latest bout would never have happened if it hadn't been for a burst water heater. That part of the story's not worth recounting - suffice to say that a new carpet had to be installed in the basement - but while my family began moving furniture back downstairs, I made a crucial discovery: a shelf full of records and tapes that I'd never bother to look through. As we put the boxes back in their place, I intended to take a cursory glance through the
Reissue Theory x2: Phil Collins - "No Jacket Required" and Peter Gabriel - "So"
It has been encouraging to see, in light of Genesis' impending induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a number of commenters showing their respect for the Phil Collins-led, pop-savvy incarnation of the band. The group's output was always listenable - one could argue the 1990s was largely an exception - but it always seemed popular opinion was against them around the Invisible Touch era. This is ironic, since the same year Invisible Touch was released, former Genesis frontman Peter
Back Tracks: ABBA
Continuing the Rock and Rall Hall of Fame coverage leading up to Monday night's induction, here is another catalogue retrospective for one of the artist inductees. In his latest book, 2009's Eating the Dinosaur, Chuck Klosterman includes an essay praising ABBA for their intriguing critical status (contending that, like AC/DC, ABBA's work never operated near relevance or irrelevance, thereby guaranteeing that it will have a more lasting impact) as well as their somewhat unusual commercial
Back Tracks: The Stooges
We continue our ongoing Rock and Roll Hall of Fame pre-game coverage by looking back at another batch of reissue offerings from one of the inducted artists. The Stooges were one of those bands that were in the right place at the wrong time. Their music was raucous and energetic, their antics were nothing short of ostentatious. But when they rolled onto the scene in 1969, they really had no place in the rock music landscape behaving the way they did. Sure, other big rock bands of the day were
Back Tracks: Genesis
Continuing with our Rock and Roll Hall of Fame pre-coverage, we have the first of five catalogue overviews from our artist inductees. Genesis is one of many bands without a definitive entry point into their catalogue. As a five piece outfit composed of Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins through the early 1970s, the band put out some delightful prog-rock that was surprisingly accessible. (Considering that their live sets consisted of twenty-minute jams and
News Round-Up: Meet The Supremes (Again), Costello Clues and More Stones
Amazon has posted the track list for Hip-o Select's upcoming deluxe reissue of Meet The Supremes before Hip-o Select actually did. Read it here and expect an analysis here soon. It seems that Japan is getting a SHM-CD release of Live at Winterland, San Francisco by Elvis Costello and The Attractions in June. It'll be out on Universal, but not part of The Costello Show series of live material. Will it end up part of the series in America? Doubtful, since the show was recorded only a few days
Rock Hall: Fame or Shame?
From now until Monday, The Second Disc will be bringing out some features and opinions on Monday's upcoming Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions. Let's start with a column that ultimately addresses what a mixed blessing the Hall can be. Few music-oriented entities draw so much criticism and debate as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In its 25-year history, it has inducted 165 artists into its ranks (with another five to be inducted on Monday), spurring decades-long debates about which of them
Reissue Theory: Various Artists, "Miami Vice"
Two days of nice weather in a row - especially after the kind of winter the northeast U.S. has had - will make you think of warmer climates really quickly. Music always seems to go well with higher temperatures (i.e.: barbecues, school dances, anything The Beach Boys sang about) - and one of the best pop cultural examples of this idea would be Miami Vice. The genesis behind the 1980s police show is the stuff of legend; NBC exec Brandon Tartikoff allegedly penned a memo that simply said "MTV
News Round-Up: Today's the Day to Kiss the Sky
Unless you've been living under a rock this year, you know that today's the day Experience Hendrix LLC partners with Legacy to release a new batch of Jimi Hendrix products (CD/DVD versions of Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold as Love, Electric Ladyland and First Rays of the New Rising Sun as well as the new Valleys of Neptune rarities set). For those of you who are into such a thing, Valleys comes with two extra tracks at Target stores. (Disclosure: the author works for Target but would not in
Back Tracks: James Horner
As this post is being written, the Oscars have wrapped up. Exciting, right? Of course not. The Oscars are perhaps as ridiculous as the Grammys, and usually don't have a heck of a lot to offer fans of any music in general. Perhaps this year was a bit of an exception - it was very exciting to see Michael Giacchino score his first Oscar for the excellent score to Up - but for someone raised on ultra-thematic scores such as John Williams' work for Star Wars, Jaws and others, there's usually not much
Order in the Court
The artist-specific compilation almost seems like a useless gesture in the digital age. Now that anyone can buy a song for around a dollar, there's seemingly no need to buy a CD full of singles for more than pocket change. That's simply not true, though; such discs represent more than just songs everyone loves. It's ideally the chronicle of hard-earned success within a lengthy body of work. It's sometimes a chance to visit a catalogue unified by certain musical or lyrical themes. And for
Rarities Editions: Half of a Good Idea?
A few weeks before I started this blog, I kept seeing pre-order links for a bunch of catalogue titles from Universal Music Enterprises under the banner of "Rarities Edition." By the time the first batch of them came out in January, I had found out that the sets were essentially the bonus discs from some of UMe's unmistakable Deluxe Edition titles, priced to entice those collectors who wanted those bonus cuts on disc without purchasing (or re-purchasing) a more expensive set. Now at first blush,
That's Why They've Done It Again (UPDATED 3/4)
A break from the usual weekend radio silence to report on a very exciting story over at Slicing Up Eyeballs: EMI's Dutch Web site has added reissues of Duran Duran's Notorious and Big Thing to their catalogue schedule. Both titles have a release date of June 7, and will ostensibly serve as companion pieces to the great, recent deluxe editions of the Duran discography (Rio and a vintage live show, Hammersmith '82, were released last fall, and 2 CD/1 DVD versions of Duran Duran, Seven and the
The Paradox
If you're an avid follower of the music business at large, you know the common narrative that defines the industry: once, record labels signed great talents and earned lots of money and influence off the back of that art. Gradually, that art became secondary to business and excess, and as labels became absorbed into bigger corporations and followed trends instead of setting them, music fans got increasingly put off by the product. By the time rapid technological advances changed the way we
Reissue Theory: The Family, "The Family"
Tuesday was the 20th - count it! - anniversary of I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got, the polarizing breakthrough LP by Sinead O'Connor. There's a fascinating write-up about the record and its aftermath over at Popdose that really shows off what an intriguing figure O'Connor was at the time. It certainly says something that an album with one Top 40 hit (her only one) sold over 7 million copies in its day. Clearly something was up here. I completely forgot that the record was given a double-disc
Did You (Ever) Hear?
It greatly pleases me that The Second Disc has attracted an interested readership. It's a pleasure that there are many out there interested in how the industry behaves and evolves. And as a writer and enthusiast with such devotion to the niche, it's just exciting to connect with like-minded individuals. To that end, I pose something of a catalogue-oriented challenge to you. In all my years collecting and listening to pop music, I have only come across the following track once. The complete lack
Reissue Theory: The Art of Noise, "In Visible Silence"
The Art of Noise usually gets lumped into that U.K. '80s esoterica category that a lot of their early labelmates on ZTT (Frankie Goes to Hollywood, 808 State, The Buggles and so on) seem to be in. Their sound was hip, catchy and weird, they say, and maybe a bit too much so for their own good. This is kind of funny, particularly because it's kind of wrong. The Art of Noise were indeed hip, catchy and weird. Their early work on ZTT, like the sample-heavy "Close (To the Edit)" and "Beat Box," set
Reissue Theory: Novelty Edition
One of the potential hazards of being a music collector is that sometimes, if you're feeling adventurous, you spring for an all-too-dangerous impulse buy. I'm guilty of this all the time, especially when the music in question is cheap. Put me within 25 yards of a garage sale or a cutout bin at a supermarket and I'm probably going to walk away having bought at least one disc. Sometimes this strategy works out in my favor: a random purchase of Squeeze's Singles 45 and Under from my local ShopRite