When Mercury Records sent Illinois vocal group The Dells to the City of Brotherly Love in 1977, the meeting of Chicago and Philadelphia was long overdue. The group had formed in 1952 and was already legendary by the late seventies thanks to its longevity, consistency of personnel and a phenomenal streak at Chess Records’ Cadet label mainly with arranger/producer Charles Stepney. (In fact, the group’s core membership of five – Mickey McGill, Verne Allison, Marvin Junior, Chuck Barksdale and
Take A Giant Step: Taj Mahal Celebrates 70th Birthday With Release of "Hidden Treasures" From The Vaults
Today, May 17, 2012, Taj Mahal turns 70. Though the bluesman has reached a venerable age, he’s still some 289 years younger than his namesake structure in Agra, India. But the man born Henry Saint Clair Fredericks Jr. has packed in at least a couple lifetimes of breaking new musical ground. A singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Taj Mahal has fused traditional blues with rock, pop, jazz, folk and world music influences drawing on his own West Indian heritage and beyond. In
In Memoriam: Donna Summer (1948-2012)
Who among us hasn't been touched by the music of Donna Summer? One of the defining voices of the disco era, Summer has been silenced today after a brave battle with cancer. Yet the music of LaDonna Adrian Gaines, born on New Year's Eve in 1948, will doubtless continue to transport us back to a time when vivacious music blared "On the Radio." Donna Summer implored us to take that "Last Dance" on the disco floor with some very "Bad Girls" in a nearly unrivalled string of hits. She reminded us
Review: Diana Ross, "Live in Central Park"
The hair is the first thing you notice when Diana Ross emerges from a troupe of grass skirt-clad dancers on stage at Central Park in New York City on July 21, 1983. Miss Ross, as she's gotten older, is easily distinguished for that dark, curly mane, like a proud lioness. But while her hair was as resplendent as usual on this night, it was...askew. Musicologists and hardcore Diana fans know why without any explanation: Ross' Central Park concert had the unfortunate circumstance of being schedule
Singin' to the Music: Davy Jones' "Bell Recordings" Joins Monkees' Deluxe "Pool It!" in April, Rhino Offers Limited Vinyl 45
It's no exaggeration to state that the entertainment world was shaken by the sudden passing of Davy Jones on February 29 of this year, responding not only with an outpouring of grief, but with genuinely fond memories of the actor, singer and Monkee. Friday Music is joining Rhino Entertainment in keeping Jones' rich legacy of music alive, with two new releases slated for April 24. After having recently reissued Jones' pre-Monkees debut, the label turns its attention to Jones' 1971-1972 recordings
It's A Happening World: Real Gone Announces Sixties Bonanza of Electric Prunes, Tokens, Timi Yuro, More
It will be a sixties flashback on June 26 when Real Gone Music ushers in the summer with five releases from that golden decade of music. “Complete Singles” collections are due from experimental rockers The Electric Prunes and big-voiced soul queen Timi Yuro, and the label is also anthologizing the legendary folk group The New Christy Minstrels. Last but certainly not least, two original LPs are being remastered and expanded: an outré pop classic from The Tokens and the debut of “international
Needles and Pins: Searchers Box Set Finally Back on Schedule
Back on July 26, 2010, we reported on Sweets, Spice, Sugar, Pins and Needles, a 4-CD, 120-track boxed retrospective dedicated to The Searchers, the second-most famous band to emerge from Liverpool during the British Invasion! We wrote: One of the best and most successful bands to come out of Liverpool, The Searchers may have toiled in the shadow of that other band from Liverpool, but hits like “Sugar and Spice,” “Pins and Needles” and “When You Walk in the Room” remain some of the strongest
Release Round-Up: Week of May 15
Pantera, Vulgar Display of Power: 20th Anniversary Edition (ATCO/Rhino) One of the heaviest albums of the '90s, expanded with one bonus track from the vault and a bonus DVD of live material and music videos. Diana Ross, Live in Central Park (Shout! Factory) Both of Miss Ross' iconic nights in Central Park in 1983 - one with rain, one without - on DVD for the first time anywhere. The Tubes, Outside Inside: Expanded Edition (Iconoclassic) Step inside another world with The Tubes' most famous
Review: Real Gone Goes Country with Eddie Rabbitt, Mel McDaniel, Cowboy Copas
What defines country music? The answer isn’t an easy one. Dolly Parton is undoubtedly singing a country-and-western song when she reminisces about “My Tennessee Mountain Home,” but how about when she’s warbling “Here You Come Again” by the Brill Building team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil? Are Shania Twain, Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift country artists as pop stars, or pop stars as country artists? Billboard recently described none other than Bruce Springsteen as “a symbolic fencepost
Never Say Die: New Black Sabbath Compilation Coming to U.K. in June
It's been a winding road for Black Sabbath fans, likely anxious over the band's somewhat perilous reunion late last year. Original members Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward announced their plans late last year to tour and release a new album in 2012 - a plan that's been semi-sidelined by Iommi undergoing treatment for lymphoma and contractual disagreements with Ward. Only three dates have been announced for the band this year, including a pair of overseas gigs and a stint at
More Ventures in Summer from Sundazed
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRQljAZ9xlA] Following a successful reissue of five Ventures titles on LP and CD earlier this year, Sundazed has four more in the pipeline for June. The guitar-rock pioneers recorded with a frequent intensity that earned them the moniker of "The Band That Launched a Thousand Bands." These four albums, the live The Ventures on Stage, Wild Things!, Super Psychedelics and Hawaii Five-O, released between 1965 and 1969, feature a fantastic cluster of
Review: The Ad Libs, "The Complete Blue Cat Recordings"
Ooh-wah, ooh-wah, cool, cool kitty! Tell us about the boy from New York City… And indeed, much of America listened to the Ad Libs tell of that kinda tall, really fine guy in his mohair suit. The Top 10 hit turned radio’s attention from Swinging London back to New York City for a brief moment, but the group was never able to repeat the song’s success. It wasn’t for lack of trying, though, as Real Gone Music’s The Complete Blue Cat Recordings (Real Gone RGM-0500, 2012) proves. Though the Ad
Wir Lieben Bacharach! And Quincy, Too: Jazz Club Label Compiles Rare Bacharach, Jones On CD
Great catalogue music often arrives in the unlikeliest of places. Universal Music Classics and Jazz’s German division has created the budget Jazz Club label, celebrating artists from the various labels under the Universal umbrella. And though its titles may not be available at your local shop, they’re well worth seeking out, offering plenty of material not available elsewhere. Two of the most recent Jazz Club releases are of a particularly rare vintage. Wir Lieben Bacharach! collects 18
A Brief Note on MusicTAP
On a typical day, longtime readers of The Second Disc would do well (if you aren't already) to check out Matt Rowe's excellent MusicTAP site. It's harder to imagine a bigger music fan than Matt, who's got a knack for posting great, thought-provoking pieces on favorite albums, artists and genres and is a valuable asset to any music enthusiast's online conversations. It's safe to say that without his spirit, there might have never have been the impetus to start The Second Disc, so for that, we
Review: Shorty Long, "The Complete Motown Stereo Masters"
Frederick Long's nickname "Shorty" was ironic considering his surname, but the diminutive pianist, songwriter and vocalist was indeed a mere 5'1". Yet Shorty was Long on talent. Harvey Fuqua brought Long to Motown with him from Tri-Phi, and Long was eventually selected by Berry Gordy to inaugurate the new Soul label, designed to showcase the funkier side of the Sound of Young America. That single arrived in 1964, but Gordy didn't release a Long solo album until 1968, just one year before the
What Kind of Love: Ike Turner's Sixties "Studio Productions" Compiled By Ace
Though some credit him with creating the very first rock and roll song (1951’s “Rocket 88,” credited to Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats), Ike Turner’s tumultuous personal life has long taken priority in the public eye over his groundbreaking musical achievements. Yet Turner, in addition to maintaining a grueling schedule on the road with the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, turned out a prodigious amount of studio material on a variety of labels. The latest addition to Ace Records’ Producers
Release Round-Up: Week of May 8
Barenaked Ladies, Stop Us If You've Heard This One Before! (Rhino) A single-disc compilation of mostly unreleased odds and ends from the BNL catalogue. Bill Withers, Just as I Am: 40th Anniversary Edition (Big Break) A remaster of Withers' breakthrough 1971 album, featuring the immortal "Ain't No Sunshine" and "Grandma's Hands." Phil Collins, ...But Seriously (Audio Fidelity) Collins' 1989 solo album, featuring hits "Another Day in Paradise" and "Something Happened on the Way to
All Together Now: The Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" Remastered Songtrack and Blu-Ray to Bow in June [UPDATED]
Last Tuesday saw the American release on Blu-Ray and DVD of Martin Scorsese's 2011 documentary on the life of George Harrison, Living in the Material World. That notable title, however, isn't the only Beatles-related film coming to home video. On June 5, the Fabs' delightfully trippy 1968 animated film Yellow Submarine will be reissued on DVD and make its Blu-Ray debut in a brand-new transfer. That same day, the 1999 Yellow Submarine Songtrack CD will also see a remastered reissue. Directed
Kylie Minogue Celebrates Quarter Century with New Compilation
Twenty-five years is quite a long time for any pop star to survive, much less thrive. Australia's darling Kylie Minogue has been doing just that for a quarter century, and is celebrating that landmark with a new greatest hits album to be released this summer. The Best of Kylie Minogue compiles 21 tracks - 18 of them Top 5 hits in the U.K. - to celebrate the anniversary of the singer's first single, a cover of Little Eva's "The Loco-Motion" produced by the Stock Aitken Waterman team that became
Back Tracks: The Beastie Boys
With the heartbreaking news of the passing of Adam "MCA" Yauch of The Beastie Boys, who'd been battling cancer for several years, we invite you to enjoy this Back Tracks special from October 27, 2010, in which we revisited the band's discography and its reissues. The slightly bizarre news that The Beastie Boys' upcoming album Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 2, slated for release this coming spring, will feature virtually every track recorded for the delayed Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 1 is classic Beastie
Digging in the Dirt: Peter Gabriel's "Secret World Live" to Be Released on Blu-Ray
While you count down the months until Peter Gabriel's 25th anniversary reissue of So later this year, we have another catalogue project of his to anticipate this year: an expanded Blu-Ray release of 1993's Secret World Live. After the much-anticipated release of Us in 1992, Peter Gabriel had a big surprise up his sleeve: his (arguably) most ambitious solo tour, a multimedia event so big it took two stages to perform. (For pop trivialists out there, it was also the first major appearance by
Do Not See "Lady in a Cage" Alone! Thrills and Chills Come From Kritzerland On New Soundtrack
The name of Paul Glass isn't nearly as well-known as that of many of his contemporaries, but the Los Angeles-born composer (b. 1934) has carved out a distinguished career writing for the concert stage and the big screen. Yet none of his soundtracks have ever been released on CD until now. Kritzerland is offering the first-ever release in any format of Glass' score to the 1964 thriller Lady in a Cage. Directed by Walter Grauman (television's The Fugitive, The Twilight Zone, Streets of San
Not Too Late: Norah Jones Box Set Due On SACD, Vinyl
Much has always been made of the success rate of Grammy recipients in the Best New Artist category, with some artists damning the prize as a curse. While some winners have, indeed, been unable to match their initial success, the list of winners also includes such long-running artists as Tom Jones, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Carly Simon, Bette Midler, and Sheryl Crow plus unlikely but distinguished names like Bob Newhart and Marvin Hamlisch, and a little band known as The Beatles! One more recent
Short Takes, Bonus Tracks Edition: Paul Simon, Paul McCartney, Carole King Offer Exclusives
In recent years, the retailer-exclusive bonus track has become an important if controversial part of music sales. Today’s Short Takes, then, is your public service announcement and guide to the bonus tracks available with three recent and upcoming titles from some of music’s most legendary artists. Chances are you might want to own these previously-unreleased rarities! Last week saw the release of Carole King’s The Legendary Demos from Rockingale Records and Hear Music. Its thirteen
Beggars Archive Tellin' Charlatans' "Stories" Once More
Madchester band The Charlatans (known in America with the redundant appellation "The Charlatans UK") will reissue their 1997 album Tellin' Stories through Beggars Archive this month, for the album's 15th anniversary. The enduring alt-rock band - who made humorous headlines earlier this year when a joking tweet from frontman Jim Burgess turned into a limited-edition cereal in England - suffered major tragedy during the recording of Stories, with the death of keyboardist Rob Collins in a car
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