It looks like we've got the first deluxe edition of 2012 locked down - at least across the pond. Scottish band Big Country today announced the details for a new expansion of their fantastic debut, The Crossing, to coincide with a 30th anniversary tour across the United Kingdom. (The band reunited first in 2007 and again in 2010, both times with new vocalist Mike Peters of The Alarm, replacing late lead singer/guitarist Stuart Adamson, who died in 2001.) Released in 1983, The Crossing was a
Tuesday Takes: Rolling Stones Offer "Some Girls" Vinyl Single, Ace Goes to Muscle Shoals with Aretha, Etta and Irma
When a classic soul fan thinks of the "Muscle Shoals" sound, chances are he's referring to the music made at Rick Hall's FAME (that's Florence Alabama Music Enterprises!) Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Though the House that Hall Built has been celebrated on past anthologies, none has been quite so comprehensive as the 3-CD set due for release from U.K.-based Ace Records. The FAME Studios Story 1961-1973 (KENTBOX 12, 2011) is the result of two years' worth of research conducted by Ace in
Hell Yeah: "The Very Best of Neil Diamond" Set For December
Neil Diamond announced himself to the world in 1966 with the lyrics to his song “Solitary Man." He sang with both defiance and resignation, “I’ll be what I am, a solitary man…” At no time, then, was that more evident than Diamond’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2010. His old friend Paul Simon pointed out in his introduction that Diamond had first been eligible for the Rock Hall in 1991 and asked, "What took so long?" Simon then, a bit devilishly, answered his own
Kritzerland Goes "Inside Out" with Jan Maxwell and Ann Crumb
The Kritzerland team would be forgiven for slowing down after such an exciting fall, what with the sold-out, 2-CD deluxe edition of Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (read our interview here!) and the expanded release of Elmer Bernstein’s score to Summer and Smoke. But the label isn’t slowing down, at all, but barreling towards 2012 with a full slate of more exciting releases. Today, Kritzerland announced not one, but two, new titles. In addition to the
Review: Billy Joel, "Piano Man: Legacy Edition"
Since the dawn of the new millennium, most of the archival material that catalogue enthusiasts want come to us in the form of the dreaded deluxe edition: a bonus disc of rarities or outtakes appended to a long-released, newly-remastered album. With the record industry at a crossroads unlike anything it's ever had to deal with, it's astounding that most treats for die-hard music aficionados come at a higher price tag, filled sometimes in large part with material one already owns in at least one
Hip-o Select Gets on the Good Foot with Lost Fred Wesley Album
Hip-o Select's James Brown singles sets may be done with the recent release of Volume 11, but the Godfather of Soul's catalogue has a lot of uncovered treasures, and a new release from the boutique label continues to uncover the legend of Brown and his crack team of musicians - in particular one Fred Wesley. Wesley, Brown's longtime trombonist, arranger and musical director in the 1960s and 1970s, is best known to casual J.B. fans as the credited force behind the funky No. 1 soul single "Doing
Of Dead and Downloads: Grateful Dead's "30 Days of Dead" Free Program Returns
The long, strange journey continues! The 2011 calendar has been dotted with plenty of releases to sate even the most voracious Deadhead, with live concerts preserved in the recently-concluded Road Trips series and the Blu-Ray debut of The Grateful Dead Movie, the massive Europe ’72 box set and some vinyl exclusives, like a Record Store Day release for Black Friday and Dick’s Picks LPs arriving through Gordon Anderson and Gabby Castellana’s newly-launched Real Gone Music. As a “token of our
EMI Dives Into BBC Vaults for Deep Purple
The recent reissue of John Peel sessions isn't EMI's only new batch of treasures from the BBC vaults. The label is releasing a compilation of classic sessions from rock legends Deep Purple next week. BBC Sessions 1968-1970 is a two-disc set collecting all the surviving sessions in the BBC archives from the first two iterations of Deep Purple's lineups. Deep Purple Mk. 1 featured singer Rod Evans, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, bassist Nick Simper, drummer Ian Paice and keyboardist Jon Lord; Mk.
A Dream Goes On Forever: Rundgren's Live "Todd" Comes To CD and DVD
Who's that on the racks again? A portrait of a crazy man, trying to make a living off an elpee's worth of toons! Well, the man in question was Todd Rundgren, the year was 1974, and he was appearing on the record racks with his fifth LP (elpee?) simply entitled Todd. The name was the only simple aspect of the album, however! Though Rundgren was, in fact, making a living as a prolific songwriter, artist, arranger and producer, the restlessly creative polymath wasn’t taking things easy. Todd
All In Good Time: Final Brubeck Quartet Concert Arrives From Legacy
Time has been very good to Dave Brubeck. The legendary jazz pianist and composer, 90 years young, has both a Kennedy Center Honor and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award under his belt, and his 1959 Time Out remains one of the biggest-selling albums jazz of all time, not to mention the genre’s first million seller. Alto saxophonist Paul Desmond’s sinuous, sophisticated “Take Five” became a signature song for the Dave Brubeck Quartet and one of the most recognizable pieces of music, anywhere.
"Gremlins" Are Loose! FSM Bows Long-Awaited Complete Score
Here is one of the most exciting sentences we could ever type for soundtrack fans on The Second Disc: Jerry Goldsmith's score to Gremlins is coming to CD from Film Score Monthly. "Cute. Cuddly. Mischevious. Intelligent. Dangerous." Those five words roped audiences into one of the most exciting horror-comedies of the 1980s, Joe Dante's Gremlins. The tale of a storybook American small town rocked by wacky creatures with razor-sharp claws on Christmas Eve was a perfect marriage of humor and
New Diana Ross Compilation "Coming Out" in the U.K.
Miss Diana Ross - arguably the Queen of Motown both with The Supremes and on her own, varied solo ventures - easily has one hit for every one of her 67 years on Earth. A new U.K. compilation, The Greatest, packs 44 tracks onto two discs, providing the market with a new way to discover her. The Greatest brings together just about all the facets of Ross' career: ten tracks from The Supremes, the Motown label's white-hot girl group supreme, a healthy helping of tracks from Diana's solo years on
Review: The Beach Boys, "The Smile Sessions" Part Three: It's In Great Shape
Welcome to the third and final part of our review series celebrating the release of The Beach Boys’ The SMiLE Sessions. In Part 1, we revisited the history of the album, and in Part 2, we examined the music and lyrics of Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks that created the legend. In today’s concluding chapter, we explore "the sessions" of The SMiLE Sessions and compare the various releases! What’s the biggest surprise of The SMiLE Sessions? It’s the sound of five young men optimistically
Review: The Beach Boys, "The Smile Sessions" Part Two: Surf's Up, At Last
Today sees the first release, after 47 years, of The Beach Boys’ SMiLE. The Second Disc celebrates this event with a three-part review series dedicated to what was once the greatest lost album of all time. In Part 1, we looked back at the story of SMiLE. In today’s Part 2, we explore the most legendary aspect of the album: the music itself, created by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, as recorded by The Beach Boys. The SMiLE Shop is finally open for business! It’s only taken some 44
The "Lioness" Roars: Posthumous Amy Winehouse LP Due in December
Whether you were surprised or not by the death of talented yet troubled singer Amy Winehouse this past summer, it's hard to deny that her tragic passing at age 27 of alcohol poisoning cut short one of the most promising young careers of the 2000s. In December, Island Records is set to commemorate that promise with an album of unreleased demos and outtakes from Winehouse's final years. Lioness: Hidden Treasures captures Winehouse's powerful, retro-soul voice through demos and rarities recorded
Release Round-Up: Week of November 1
Nothing important comes out today, right?
La-La Land Scares Up "Friday the 13th" Box Set
Ki-ki-ki-ki ma-ma-ma-ma. These wordless sounds have become shorthand for fear in the form of Jason Voorhees, the antagonist in the long-running Friday the 13th horror film series. Since the low-budget flick bowed in 1980, grossing nearly $40 million domestically on a budget of $550,000, it spawned a massive cottage industry of sequels and spin-offs. (All told, ten Friday the 13th films, one remake and one crossover, 2003's Freddy vs. Jason - which pitted the series' murderer against Freddy
Start of a New "Movement": EMI Releases New Peel Sessions Compilation
Last week's revelation that American media conglomerate Clear Channel had let go of dozens of local radio DJs made music fans yearn for the simpler times of when jockeys weren't limited to playlists from on high and could shape the public's music taste in a positive way. Ironically, as the Clear Channel news spread, EMI prepares the release of a new compilation devoted to one of England's most famous radio presenters, the late, great John Peel. Peel, a jockey on BBC's Radio 1 from 1967 until
Happy Halloween! Taking a Bite Out of "Son of Dracula"
Happy Halloween! To celebrate this spookiest of holidays, we're bringing you a special holiday reprise from The Second Disc Archives in which we revisit the immortal, undead "Son of Dracula," starring Harry Nilsson and Ringo Starr! October 2010 will bring a major reissue campaign devoted to the Apple Records discography, seeing most of that storied label’s output arrive in editions remastered by the same team behind the Beatles’ catalogue overhaul last year. But one Apple-related LP is among
Crosby, Stills and Nash, Gary Wright Get 24K Gold Treatment From Audio Fidelity
The busy Audio Fidelity label is adding two more classic rock landmarks to its growing catalogue of 24K Gold compact discs. Crosby, Stills & Nash’s self-titled 1969 Atlantic debut and Gary Wright’s 1975 Warner Bros. platter The Dream Weaver both spawned radio hits still played today and remain cornerstones of many classic rock libraries. These latest gold discs will arrive in stores on November 15. Though many have followed, the ultimate supergroup still remains that of David Crosby,
The Boys Are Boxed: Thin Lizzy "BBC Sessions" Set Coming Soon
With the recent wave of expanded reissues of the Thin Lizzy catalogue across the pond (in some cases after years of waiting), it's easy for eager fans to ask what comes next. The answer is quite a doozy: November sees the release of a massive seven-disc box set that captures the band's various live stands recorded by the BBC. The set has everything stored in the BBC archives, including sessions with the likes of Bob Harris and John Peel through the '70s, two sets at London's Golders Green
Costello's Wheel Good Tour Captured on New Live Box Set
In 1986, Elvis Costello and The Attractions did something bizarre for rock musicians: they reinvented the wheel. Okay, maybe that's pushing it, but the introduction of "The Spectacular Spinning Songbook" to Costello's tour itinerary remains among the most treasured of memories for longtime fans. Costello, who only used The Attractions once on his then-new album, King of America (opting instead for a number of other musicians, including a studio-created group, The Confederates, featuring T-Bone
Gilbert O'Sullivan "Himself" Coming Soon, Naturally
In a little while from now, if I'm not feeling any less sour, I promise myself to treat myself...and listen to a Gilbert O'Sullivan record. The quirky Irish singer/songwriter topped the charts in 1972 with "Alone Again, Naturally," proclaimed by American Top 40 as the fifth most popular song of the entire decade. But it's also one of the most unusual. As the song begins, the narrator is left at the altar and is contemplating "climbing to the top" of a "nearby tower" to throw himself off. He
La-La Land Spends "55 Days at Peking," Releases Full Golden Age Score
La-La Land Records yesterday took a break from contemporary film score reissues and presented an expanded version of a classic score by Dimitri Tiomkin from 1963: 55 Days at Peking. A dramatization of the Boxer Rebellion in 1900 China, 55 Days at Peking depicts the Battle of Peking from the perspective of a group of foreign diplomats protected by the Chinese government in Peking's legations district. Charlton Heston stars as an American major defending the ambassadors, and David Niven and Ava
Review: Phil Spector, "The Philles Album Collection" and "The Essential Phil Spector"
Whoa-oh, a-whoa-oh-oh-oh! Think of The Ronettes' wail, every bit as iconic a cry as a-whop-bop-a-loo-a-whop-bam-boom. Doesn't rock and roll have a way of elevating onomatopoeia to poetry? And no label made sweeter poetry in the first half of the 1960s than Philles Records. The voices of Ronnie Spector, Darlene Love, La La Brooks, Barbara Alston and the rest spoke directly to America’s teenagers. These women, alternately vulnerable and defiant, were little more than girls when they began
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