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Euphoric Bells: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings Invites Listeners to Another World With New Batch of Reissues

May 29, 2020 By Sam Stone 2 Comments

Just last week, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings - the label that tirelessly documents "the people's music" and houses the catalogues of 20 legendary labels - released the latest batch of vinyl reissues that have been excavated from the vaults and issued on quality vinyl from the original master tapes.  Previous volumes include albums by Lead Belly, Woody Guthrie, Elizabeth Cotten, Lucinda Williams, Dave Van Ronk, and many more.  The newest batch digs even deeper to unearth gems spanning new age

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Categories: News Formats: Vinyl Genre: Everything Else Tags: Ann McMillan, Craig Kupka, The Entourage Music and Theater Ensemble

She Satisfies: Cherry Red Laces Up Shoes' Elektra Years on Box Set

May 26, 2020 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

Shoes Elektrafied

For more than 40 years, Shoes has been celebrating the art of pop with its compact, melodic nuggets worthy of The Beatles, The Raspberries, or Big Star. Hailing from the town of Zion, Ill. on the banks of Lake Michigan, Shoes was formed by Gary Klebe and brothers John and Jeff Murphy, three kids united in their love of music. Between 1979 and 1982, Shoes - still going strong today, by the way - was signed to Elektra Records where they released three acclaimed albums. Cherry Red has recently

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Pop Tags: Shoes

Peggy Lee at 100: Grammy Museum Presents Panel Discussion and Virtual Exhibit; Documentary, CD, and DVD Coming This Summer

May 25, 2020 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

Peggy Lee 100 Logo

100 years ago tomorrow - May 26, 1920 - Norma Deloris Egstrom was born in Jamestown, North Dakota. You know her as Peggy Lee: groundbreaking singer, songwriter, actress, and artist. Though she passed away in 2002, her music is as present today as ever - and her influence just as strong. Peggy's songs have recently scored such television shows as Ryan Murphy's Hollywood and Amy Sherman-Palladino's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and have been heard in commercials promoting Samsung and Tropicana

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Categories: News Formats: CD, DVD Genre: Popular Standards/Vocal Tags: Peggy Lee

UPDATE WITH LINKS: Are You Ready? Neil Young Confirms "Homegrown" Release Date and Track Listing, Plots Further Archive Releases

May 18, 2020 By Sam Stone 1 Comment

For nearly 45 years, Neil Young fans have been clamoring for Homegrown, the lost album that was nearly released in 1975 and most recently slated for the still-yet-to-happen Record Store Day 2020. Now, it's been announced that the album described by Neil as "the missing link between Harvest, Comes A Time, Old Ways and Harvest Moon" will finally reach fans on June 19. "[Homegrown] is all analog! The purest sound," Young wrote in a post on his Neil Young Archives site. "Hear the vinyl. Get a

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock Tags: Neil Young

Go For It: Real Gone Music Set to Reissues Cult Classics From the '70s and '80s in June

May 14, 2020 By Sam Stone 4 Comments

fanny

Real Gone Music is winding back the clock a few decades with reissues that are sure to please crate-diggers.  First, on June 12, the label will release two mid-'80s cult classics - Kleeer's Intimate Connection and the Predator soundtrack.  Fiftieth anniversary reissues of Eugene McDaniels' Outlaw and Fanny's self-titled debut will follow on June 26. Long a favorite of electro-funk connoisseurs, New York-based Kleeer recorded half a dozen acclaimed albums for Atlantic.  One of their most

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Categories: News Formats: Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Disco/Dance, Funk, R&B/Soul, Soundtracks Tags: Alan Silvestri, Eugene McDaniels, Fanny, Gene McDaniels, Kleeer

Sweeter Than Ever: Nick Kamen's Discography Compiled By Cherry Pop

May 12, 2020 By The Second Disc Leave a Comment

Nick Kamen 1

Cherry Pop will compile the works of U.K. model-turned-singer Nick Kamen this summer. Available July 24, the 6CD The Complete Collection offers remastered versions all four albums Kamen recorded for Warner Music between 1987 and 1992, plus dozens of bonus tracks and remixes, many of them previously unreleased or new to CD. (The label notes that 20 mixes are previously unreleased, though we suspect this number is higher.) Two never-before-heard tracks are also available: covers of The Everly

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Pop Tags: Madonna, Nick Kamen

Stone Crush on You: Light in the Attic Collects Memphis Soul from 1977-1987

May 12, 2020 By Sam Stone Leave a Comment

Stone Crush Memphis Modern Soul

Light in the Attic is at it again with another exercise vault-digging that may well be the definitive word on Memphis' soul scene of the late-'70s and '80s.  Stone Crush: Memphis Modern Soul 1977-1987  is now available in an array of configurations.  Each documents the modern soul scene of Bluff City's post-Stax years.  Available on CD, double vinyl, or a special 2LP/7" set, Stone Crush is a labor of love from collectors/DJs Daniel Mathis and Chad Weekly that's over a decade in the

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Vinyl Genre: R&B/Soul

Are You Ready? Neil Young Confirms "Homegrown" Release Date and Track Listing, Plots Further Archive Releases

May 7, 2020 By Sam Stone 19 Comments

For nearly 45 years, Neil Young fans have been clamoring for Homegrown, the lost album that was nearly released in 1975 and most recently slated for the still-yet-to-happen Record Store Day 2020. Now, it's been announced that the album described by Neil as "the missing link between Harvest, Comes A Time, Old Ways and Harvest Moon" will finally reach fans on June 19. "[Homegrown] is all analog!  The purest sound," Young wrote in a post on his Neil Young Archives site.  "Hear the vinyl.  Get a

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock Tags: Neil Young

Ready or Not: Ace Sets Release for Thom Bell Anthology featuring Mathis, Warwick, Spinners, Stylistics, More

May 7, 2020 By Joe Marchese 7 Comments

Thom Bell Ready or Not

After having previously celebrated two of his musical inspirations - Burt Bacharach and Teddy Randazzo - with their own volumes, Ace's Songwriters and Producers series is turning its attention to legendary soul maestro Thom Bell. On June 26, the label's Kent imprint will release Ready or Not: Philly Soul Arrangements and Productions 1965-1978. As the title indicates, all 23 tracks were either produced or arranged (or both!) by the multi-hyphenate musician-composer-producer-arranger-conductor who

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Pop, R&B/Soul Tags: Connie Stevens, Dionne Warwick, Dusty Springfield, Jerry Butler, Johnny Mathis, Lesley Gore, The O'Jays, The Spinners, The Stylistics, Thom Bell, Various Artists

Come Hear Uncle John's Band: Grateful Dead's "Workingman's Dead" Gets 50th Anniversary Reissue with Unreleased Concert

May 6, 2020 By Joe Marchese 7 Comments

Grateful Dead Workingmans Dead

The ongoing Grateful Dead anniversary reissue series is marching on with the July 10 celebration of the 50th anniversary of Workingman's Dead featuring two new releases from the band and Rhino Records. Often hailed as one of the 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 first chart hit, the timeless

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock Tags: Grateful Dead

The Force Is Still With Us: #TSDTweet Returns At a New Time With Original 'Star Wars' Soundtrack

May 6, 2020 By The Second Disc Leave a Comment

Darth

The week started with May the Fourth, so it might as well end with another trip to a galaxy far, far away! Our latest #TSDTweet will take a listen to John Williams' original soundtrack to Star Wars: the 1977 double album that launched one of the composer's most lengthy and recognizable works. Williams composed the music to eight other Star Wars films between 1980 and 2019, in addition to contributing new works for the 2018 spin-off Solo: A Star Wars Story and the newly-opened Galaxy's Edge at

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Categories: Features Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Soundtracks Tags: John Williams

Sunshine and Shadows: Cherry Red, Esoteric Reissue '60s NY Psych Band Ars Nova on New 2-CD Set

May 6, 2020 By Joe Marchese 4 Comments

Ars Nova Fields of People

In Latin, ars nova translates to new art - and that's precisely what the band of the same name was seeking to conjure on two albums originally released in 1968 and 1969. Now, Cherry Red Group's Esoteric Recordings imprint has reissued both of Ars Nova's LPs - Ars Nova and Sunshine and Shadows - on one 2-CD set entitled Fields of People: The Atlantic and Elektra Recordings 1968-1969. The group was the brainchild of recent Mannes College musical conservatory graduates Wyatt Day

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Classic Rock, Pop Tags: Ars Nova

Song To The Siren: Unreleased Tim Buckley, Reissued Electric Prunes Arriving From Real Gone Music

May 4, 2020 By Sam Stone 5 Comments

On June 12, Real Gone Music will dig into the '60s underground with a pair of exciting vinyl releases. The first is a reissue of The Electric Prunes' Release of an Oath.  By the time the album was released in 1968, the band - known for "I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)" - featured none of its original members, yet two key players in the band's success remained: engineer-producer Dave Hassinger and composer-arranger extraordinaire David Axelrod.  It's said that Axelrod's complex

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Categories: News Formats: Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Folk Tags: The Electric Prunes, Tim Buckley

Bandcamp Blow-Out: Support Your Favorite Artists Today For a Good Cause!

May 1, 2020 By The Second Disc Leave a Comment

Boy Classic

Despite the challenges facing the music business amid the COVID-19 pandemic, there are some bright spots. On March 20, indie music service Bandcamp waived their revenue share for 24 hours, allowing artists and labels to support themselves even more robustly. Thanks to impressive results ($4.3 million spent on music and merch, 15 times an average Friday's revenue), Bandcamp will repeat the strategy not once, but thrice: the first Fridays of each month (today, May 1; June 5 and July 3). To

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Categories: News Formats: Digital Download, Digital Streaming Genre: Country, Pop, Rock Tags: Mark Mulcahy, Miracle Legion, Polaris, X

What a Wonderful World: Omnivore Reissues, Expands Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks' "Orange Crate Art" on CD, LP

April 30, 2020 By Joe Marchese 3 Comments

Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks Orange Crate Art

Brian Wilson found himself an artistic crossroads in 1995. His first solo album was seven years in the rearview mirror. He had begun rebuilding his life with new wife Melinda three years after being extricated from the "care" of disgraced doctor Eugene Landy. Now, it was time for a creative rebirth, too. It began in January with the release of Don Was' documentary film I Just Wasn't Made for These Times and its accompanying soundtrack. It continued later in the year when Wilson reunited with one

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Vinyl Genre: Pop Tags: Brian Wilson, Van Dyke Parks

Wonderful! Wonderful! Crimson Collects "Gold" Volumes for Johnny Mathis, George Jones

April 29, 2020 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

Johnny Mathis Gold

The ongoing series of budget-priced 3-CD Gold compilations from Demon Music Group's Crimson Productions continues with a pair of releases from artists for whom "legendary" is no understatement: Johnny Mathis and the late George Jones. Curating a representative sampling of Johnny Mathis' singular career in under 50 tracks is no small task, and this set is indeed decades-spanning from his first commercially released single (1956's pairing of "Wonderful! Wonderful!" and "When Sunny Gets Blue")

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Country, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal Tags: George Jones, Johnny Mathis

Empyrean Isles: Herbie Hancock Classics To Be Collected on Upcoming Vinyl Me Please Anthology Set

April 23, 2020 By Sam Stone Leave a Comment

bio

The music subscription service Vinyl Me Please is back with another installment of its Anthology series, which seeks to reinvent the box set as an interactive medium.  Volumes so far have shone a light on legendary record labels like Blue Note, Motown, Ghostly International, and Stax.  For the last volume, the company paired up with Now Again Records to take a look at the Zamrock phenomena out of Zambia. This summer, Vinyl Me Please will switch focus to an individual artist as they highlight

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, Vinyl Genre: Jazz Tags: Herbie Hancock

Do You Like Huey Lewis and The News? Join Us For Another #TSDTweet This Friday!

April 21, 2020 By The Second Disc 2 Comments

Fore gatefold

A sincere thanks to our readers and friends who joined in to last Friday's live tweet of Prince and The Revolution's Around The World In a Day. It was a nice way to revisit a classic album, a fine memorial to one of our favorite artists, and a nice little show of community in some unusual times. So it's only natural that we'd do it again - and this time, we're celebrating the 20th anniversary of the striking slasher film American Psycho by giving a listen to one of the albums it gave a most

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Categories: Features Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Pop, Rock Tags: Huey Lewis and The News

What a Wonderful World: Dr. John's "Ske-Dat-De-Dat" Tribute to Louis Armstrong Returns to Vinyl

April 16, 2020 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

Dr. John Ske Dat De Dat

The late Mac Rebennack, a.k.a. Dr. John, frequently drew on the classic sounds of New Orleans as he conjured his own musical voodoo. Appropriately enough, his final studio album was a tribute to one of the most significant figures to ever emerge from the Crescent City. 2014's Ske-Dat-De-Dat: The Spirit of Satch celebrated the legendary Louis Armstrong as only Dr. John and his friends could do. Now, it's returning from The Last Music Company in a new vinyl pressing on June 5, one day before the

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Categories: News Formats: Vinyl Genre: Jazz, R&B/Soul Tags: Dr. John, Louis Armstrong

Lost in Music: Cherry Red Boxes Sister Sledge Classics on "Thinking of You"

April 16, 2020 By Joe Marchese 7 Comments

Sister Sledge Thinking of You

While 1979's anthemic "We Are Family" broke Sister Sledge into the mainstream, Kathy Sledge and her older sisters Debbie, Joni, and Kim were hardly overnight sensations. They paid their dues, and had been recording for Atco Records since 1973 when all four members were still teenagers. Now, Cherry Red's SoulMusic Records imprint has compiled all of the Sledges' recordings for Atco, its parent Atlantic, and sister imprint Cotillion into one tidy 6-CD box set. Thinking of You: The

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Disco/Dance, R&B/Soul Tags: Sister Sledge

Practice, Practice, Practice (Redux): Zappa Records Revisits 1971 Carnegie Hall Shows

April 15, 2020 By Joe Marchese 16 Comments

zappa carnegie hall

Eddie, are you kidding? Is Zappa Records revisiting Frank Zappa's October 11, 1971 concerts at New York's Carnegie Hall?  Yes, indeed.  When Frank Zappa and his Mothers of Invention took the stage at that historic venue nearly fifty (!) years ago, the performances were recorded for possible future release on the artist's then-home of Warner Bros. Records.  Back in 2011, Zappa Records issued a "warts and all" ticket to both complete shows performed on that date as a 4-CD box set simply

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Classic Rock Tags: Flo and Eddie, Frank Zappa

Paisley Park Is In Your Heart: Join Us For a #TSDTweet On 'Around The World In a Day'

April 15, 2020 By The Second Disc 3 Comments

ATWIAD gatefold

We're a little more than a month into COVID-19 lockdown here at TSD HQ, and we know things are still tough for everyone. (Things are tough for the music business, too, but they have more money than most of us! So this post is for you.) As Mike noted in his last missive to our awesome readers, one of the things getting us through the situation is sharing the gift of music with each other. Neil Finn's Fangradio has been a balm, and Steve Nieve's The Daily Improvisation recently remotely

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Categories: Features Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock Tags: Prince

Devoted to You: Edsel Collects Everly Brothers' "Cadence Recordings" on CD, Reissues Albums on Vinyl

April 13, 2020 By Joe Marchese 3 Comments

Everly Brothers Cadence Recordings

Brothers Don and Phil Everly successfully straddled the line between country and rock-and-roll (with a healthy dollop of R&B) beginning with their first hit record, 1957's "Bye Bye Love."  Still an oldies-radio staple today, the Felice and Boudleaux Bryant classic began a long stretch of successes for the duo.  Archie Bleyer, of Cadence Records, signed the boys in February 1957 and was keenly aware of their potential to appeal to both teenaged and adult markets.  At his behest, the Everlys

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD, Vinyl Genre: Country, Pop Tags: The Everly Brothers

Try a Little Tenderness: Capitol Remixes, Reissues, Expands Frank Sinatra's "Nice 'n' Easy" for 60th Anniversary Release

April 10, 2020 By Joe Marchese 4 Comments

Frank Sinatra Nice n Easy Cover

In 1960, Nice 'n' Easy did it for Frank Sinatra. Following his masterpiece of melancholy, No One Cares, he returned with a set of romantic, reflective ballads anchored by a quintessentially breezy title track. Featuring The Voice at his deeply felt best and the orchestrations of Nelson Riddle at their lushest, Nice 'n' Easy spent nine weeks at the top of the Billboard stereo album chart of a total 86 chart weeks. It received multiple Grammy Award nominations including Album of the Year and was

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Popular Standards/Vocal Tags: Frank Sinatra

Paradise: Edsel Celebrates the Music of Change on CD Box Set, Vinyl Collection

April 9, 2020 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

Change Everything and More

It's been said that the only true constant is change - and that's certainly been borne out by the group bearing that moniker. Between 1980 and 1985, the rotating line-ups collectively known as Change released six albums built around insistent rhythms, catchy hooks, and commanding vocals. Unexpectedly in 2018, Change returned from a three-decade-plus hiatus with a new album that captured the old magic. Late last year, Demon Music Group's Edsel label chronicled Change's discography on CD in a

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD, Vinyl Genre: Disco/Dance, R&B/Soul Tags: Change, Luther Vandross

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