Anyone who saw the breakthrough of Pantera's Vulgar Display of Power as a fluke would be proven wrong in the spring of 1994, when the group's heavy-hitting Far Beyond Driven debuted atop the Billboard 200. Two decades later, Rhino is expanding the LP with a previously unreleased live bootleg. Far Beyond Driven continued the successful groove-metal formula established since the 1990 release of major-label debut Cowboys from Hell. The late guitarist Dimebag Darrell delivered some of the most
It's a "Solid Gold" March From Real Gone with Grass Roots, David Ruffin, Marilyn McCoo, and More
We all know that March comes in like a lion, so it's altogether appropriate, then, that Real Gone Music comes into March with a roar! The label's March 4 slate of eight titles emphasizes classic soul, with detours to vintage pop and country. And as Mardi Gras 2014 falls on that very date, the sound of New Orleans is celebrated with a few very special releases, too. From New Orleans, Real Gone presents titles from three bona fide Big Easy legends: Dr. John, Professor Longhair and Irma Thomas.
Silversun Pickups to Release "Singles Collection" on CD, Vinyl Box
If you'll pardon the lyrical callback, Silversun Pickups fans have been waiting for this moment all their lives: the release of the band's first greatest hits collection in February. Hailing from the Silverlake region of Los Angeles, the Silversun Pickups have one of the more unusual mainstream rock backgrounds of the past decade, thanks to the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences nominating them for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 2009 - even though their first album, Carnavas
Love Came Down Again: The Blue Nile's Third Album Expanded in March
A pleasant surprise for fans of The Blue Nile today: following the expansion of the band's first two albums in 2012, Virgin/UMC will expand The Blue Nile's third LP, 1996's Peace At Last, in March with a disc of unreleased material. Having released their last album, Hats, in 1989, the eclectic trio of Paul Buchanan (vocals/guitar/synthesizers), Robert Bell (bass) and Paul Joseph Moore (synthesizers) were finding themselves as in-demand musicians, despite the modest commercial reception of the
Welcome (Back) to The Black Parade: My Chemical Romance Announce Greatest Hits Album
Alt-rock darlings My Chemical Romance may have broken up in a surprise move last spring, but the band's getting a fitting postscript with a new compilation to be released almost a year after the split. May Death Never Stop You: The Greatest Hits 2001-2013 chronicles the entire discography of the New Jersey rockers. Led by singer-songwriter Gerard Way and anchored by his brother Mikey on bass, lead guitarist Ray Toro and rhythm guitarist Frank Iero (drummers Matt Pelissier and Bob Bryar were
Headed For The Future: Neil Diamond's Back Catalogue Moves to Capitol Records
Hell yeah, he did. Billboard reports that Grammy Award winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Neil Diamond has departed Columbia Records after a forty-plus-year association, and has brought his back catalogue to Capitol Records, now part of the Universal Music Group. The surprise move comes just a few months following the release of Diamond’s Classic Christmas Album, the latest in a string of recent archival projects from Diamond, Columbia and Legacy Recordings including the Grammy-nominated
Release Round-Up: Week of January 21
The Beatles, The U.S. Albums (Apple/Capitol/UMe) The centerpiece product of The Fab Four's 50th anniversary celebration (thus far, anyway) is a 13-disc box featuring the original, unique American releases on Capitol/United Artists from 1964 to 1970 (including six titles from that first year alone). All but the spoken-word documentary album The Beatles' Story will be available individually, and all but that and 1970's stereo-only Hey Jude compilation will be available in mono and stereo on the
There's No Place Like Oz: Sepia Celebrates 75th Anniversary of "The Wizard of Oz" With New Rarities Anthology
When L. Frank Baum published his novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz at the turn of the century in 1900, could the author have ever possibly imagined that his characters would still be known by virtually every man, woman and child some 114 years later? Much of that success, however, is attributable to MGM's lavish, Oscar-winning 1939 musical film adaptation which immortalized Judy Garland as Dorothy along with Ray Bolger, Jack Haley and Bert Lahr as, respectively, The Scarecrow, The Tin Man and
Feats Won't Fail You Now on New Rhino Box Set
Rhino is giving the complete albums treatment to another classic rock artist on the Warner Bros. label: the eclectic combo Little Feat. Rad Gumbo: The Complete Warner Bros. Years 1971-1990 will feature all 11 studio and live albums the band cut for the label, as well as two additional bonus discs of rare material. Formed by ex-Mothers of Invention guitarist Lowell George, Little Feat first rose to prominence for their killer rock-blues style, particularly both versions of the song "Willin'"
Get Ready: Tommy Hunt's "Sign of the Times" Revives Northern Soul Favorites
Trivia: who was the first artist to release Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "I Don't Know What to Do with Myself" in 1962? Hint: it wasn't Dusty Springfield (1964) or Dionne Warwick (1966). The answer is Tommy Hunt, onetime member of The Flamingos and a member of the Scepter Records family between 1961 and 1964. At Scepter, Hunt introduced both that now-classic song and scored hits like "Human" (No. 5 R&B/No. 46 Pop, 1961) and "I Am a Witness" (No. 71 R&B, 1963). Hunt followed his
Release Round-Up: Week of January 14
Bruce Springsteen, High Hopes (Columbia) It's a new album, but one assembled from songs and outtakes Bruce has been amassing for the last few years: we'll take it (in the hope that this new album means Bruce is in a vault mood for the rest of the year)! (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. - both with exclusive DVD of the entire Born in the U.S.A. album live on the Wrecking Ball tour) Elvis Presley, The Movie Soundtracks (RCA/Sony Music U.K.) Why should the States get all the fun? An import box set
If You've Got It, Flaunt It: Stage Door Records Brings "Privates on Parade" To CD
Reviewing The Michael Grandage Company’s 2012 production of Peter Nichols’ play with music Privates on Parade, critic Charles Spencer summed up the feelings of many of his colleagues when he called the production “gloriously entertaining and often deeply touching.” Nichols’ semi-autobiographical 1977 play drew on his own experiences as a young British serviceman with Combined Services Entertainment, providing song and dance to the country’s Armed Forces. Now, Stage Door Records is bringing the
The Other Side of "The '59 Sound": Gaslight Anthem to Release B-Sides Compilation
As rock fans prep for a new album from New Jersey rockers The Gaslight Anthem (one which they are reportedly hard at work on), the band will release a new compilation of early B-sides later this month. The New Brunswick outfit have steadily earned fans over the past few years with a deft blend of Clash and Replacements-esque punk and post-grunge, plus an emotional storytelling streak that has earned comparisons to another rocker from New Jersey (who guested with them at the Glastonbury Festival
"Catch the Love Parade" With Second Volume of Now Sounds' "Book a Trip"
Between 1965 and 1970, Los Angeles’ Capitol Tower – standing then, as it does now, near the intersection of Hollywood and Vine - was the place to be. Capitol Records had The Beatles, and the Beach Boys, too. But the label that Nancy Wilson and The Lettermen called home also hosted a number of bands with groovy names like The Tuneful Trolley, The Sugar Shoppe, The Pink Cloud, The New Kick and (my personal favorite) The Unforscene. These happening acts, and many more, take the spotlight on Book
Walk Out to Winter: Aztec Camera's Debut Expanded for 30th Anniversary
More than a year after Edsel expanded and reissued the Aztec Camera catalogue, the Scottish outfit's first album for Rough Trade will be reissued once again by Domino Records for its 30th anniversary. High Land, Hard Rain, originally released on the Rough Trade label in the U.K. and Sire Records in the U.S., is the first full-length to feature frontman Roddy Frame's prodigious gift as a sophisticated, dramatic pop writer, with tracks like "Oblivious" and "Walk Out to Winter" rich with evocative
Simply the Best: Romantic New Tina Turner Compilation Announced
Tina Turner knows plenty about love and loss, both on and offstage. The legendary performer shook up the '60s with her husband Ike and their relentlessly soulful revue, culminating with the Phil Spector-produced "River Deep - Mountain High" and an opening slot for The Rolling Stones on tour. But Ike's substance (and marital) abuse led Tina to divorce him in 1976 and struggled to make a name for herself as a solo artist. Of course, less than a decade later, 1984's iconic Private Dancer put her
From Brigadoon to Dogpatch, USA: Masterworks' Slate Features Robert Goulet Musicals, "Li'l Abner," "Virginia Woolf"
It might be a typical day in Dogpatch, USA, but it’s far from a typical one around these parts, for Sony’s Masterworks Broadway imprint has unveiled its first three releases of 2014 – each one a rare album never previously available in the compact disc/digital era. Next Tuesday, January 14, Masterworks will reissue the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to the movie musical Li’l Abner, arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle. Next month, on February 18, comes the spoken-word Original Broadway
Release Round-Up: Week of January 7
Peter Gabriel, Scratch My Back and I'll Scratch Yours (Real World) In 2010, Peter Gabriel released Scratch My Back, a new set of cover songs. The plan was to pair them up with covers of his own work by the artists he covered; some of them were released as B-sides but others never materialized. (Radiohead, David Bowie and Neil Young declined to contribute.) This version combines the original album with those covers (also separately released today), including cuts by Arcade Fire, Paul Simon, David
Shall We Dance: Fred Astaire's "Early Days at RKO" Collects Vintage Sides On 2 CDs
Today, more than 25 years after his passing, the name of Fred Astaire still instantly conjures up a world of top hat, white tie and tails; of sheer elegance, easygoing charm and abundant grace. His enduring talents have recently been celebrated by Sony’s Masterworks label and Turner Classic Movies on the latest in their series of joint CD releases, Fred Astaire: The Early Years at RKO. (Previous titles have been dedicated to Doris Day and Mario Lanza.) This 2-CD, 37-song anthology spans the
Come Into Their World: Dance Classics From The Emotions, Foxy Arrive On BBR
We have plenty of news coming your way from Big Break Records as the Cherry Red soul specialists have closed out 2013 and already announced plans for 2014 in a big way. Before we dive into recent releases from Joe Bataan, The Salsoul Orchestra, Chris Jasper and Herbie Mann, we wouldn’t want you to miss two recent disco-flavored releases from The Emotions and Foxy! The BBR label welcomes The Emotions, appropriately enough, with the R&B girl group’s 1979 album entitled Come Into Our World.
Todd's Blues: Rundgren's Live "Johnson" Captured On CD/DVD Set
When Todd Rundgren’s Johnson was released in April 2011, the singer-songwriter’s longtime fans were forgiven for greeting the album with surprise. While Toddheads have been trained to expect the unexpected, Johnson was a departure from even the artist’s most outré projects. It was Rundgren’s first-ever all-covers album, and its subject wasn’t a songwriter whose influence was readily apparent in Rundgren’s own music. (At various points in his career, a tribute to Laura Nyro or Kenneth Gamble,
Atlantic Goes for the Gold with New Grammy Compilation
To cap off a relatively all-over-the-place year in pop music for 2013, January 26 sees the 56th annual Grammy Awards, broadcast live as always from Los Angeles' Staples Center. The competition is particularly heavy with nominations for rappers, both veterans (Jay-Z) and upstarts (Kendrick Lamar, indie sensations Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, who continue to self-release their work without a major label behind them), but there's a little something for everyone on the 2014 Grammy Nominees album,
Here They Come! Complete Paul Revere & The Raiders Catalogue Now Available Digitally
Back to work today? Take your mind off the daily grind and enjoy a great soundtrack, with this week's surprise premiere digital release of the entire Columbia Records discography of Paul Revere & The Raiders. Previously only officially represented through several compilations, including the band's entry in Legacy Recordings' Essential series and 2010's triple-disc Complete Columbia Singles (originally released on the Collector's Choice label), fans can now stream and download the baker's
Here's to a "Brand New Year"
As I write this, we're one day closer to ending our fourth - fourth! - year of posting catalogue news and views on The Second Disc. To think a year or so ago people were worried the CD would cease to exist as a unit of transporting music to your ears; this year has seen one of the best box sets I have ever had the pleasure of hearing, with so many other wonderful treasures along the way. (And already we have a ton of heavy hitters to anticipate in 2014, including great new Omnivore reissues,
Holiday Gift Guide Review: The Who, "Tommy: Super Deluxe Edition"
The opening chords of The Who’s Tommy may be among the most famous in all of rock. By the time the horns kicked in, around the forty-second mark, it was already clear that this double-album wasn’t business as usual for the heavy mod-rockers. In fact, the melodic, thunderous, commanding piece of music that opened the 1969 album sounded a bit like the overture to a Broadway musical, weaving together themes that would follow. Thirty-four years later, it would become one. By the time The Who’s
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