If ever an album was lost in the shuffle, it was the 1968 debut LP by The Holy Mackerel. The LP, assigned as Reprise 6311, fell smack in between Jimi Hendrix's Electric Ladyland (Reprise 6307) and Neil Young's eponymous solo debut (Reprise 6317). But adventurous listeners would find themselves rewarded if they picked up the album by the oddly-named group, with its cover sleeve of five gents and a lady smiling for the camera under three-dimensional comic book-style lettering proclaiming them "The
Compilation Deluge Due from Legacy: Joplin, Presley, Dylan, Cash Included
The Second Disc kicks off the week with a bit of synergy. Our very own Mike Duquette contributed a wonderful piece over at Popdose looking at the hidden musical treasures you can find at your local grocery store - of all places! - including Sony/Legacy's Playlist: The Very Best of Daryl Hall & John Oates. If you haven’t checked out Mike’s incisive, entertaining feature, please do so now, and then rejoin me here. Okay? Good. Welcome back! With summer turning to fall, and fall traditionally
Intrada Delivers "SpaceCamp" and "Cohen and Tate"
For film score fans, this past Tuesday might as well have been called "Fat Tuesday." I'm going to keep this short and sweet, because the news speaks for itself: Intrada announced the much-anticipated CD release of John Williams' score to 1986's SpaceCamp in a 3,000-copy limited edition which literally sold out in a matter of hours! SpaceCamp is mastered from the original RCA tapes, which have been vaulted by Sony. And Bill Conti fans have reason to rejoice, too, as Intrada has also announced a
You've Got to Have "Faith" in Multiple Formats and Prices
August 10 brought news of Legacy's remastered, expanded reissue of George Michael's solo debut from 1987, Faith, and a link to pre-order a Limited Edition Numbered Collector's Box Set at the cost of $141.57 and filled with goodies including a vinyl replica of the original album and artist memorabilia. Now, details have finally emerged as to the other configurations in which Faith will be made available, and it's good news: a 2-CD/1-DVD set will include the same bonus disc of remixes and B-sides
The Madcap Laughs, Again: Barrett Anthologized by EMI
When Roger Keith “Syd” Barrett died on July 7, 2006 at the age of 60, rock music lost one of its most notorious and fascinating enigmas. A founding member of Pink Floyd, Barrett was the primary architect of the Floyd’s first studio album (1967’s The Piper at the Gates of Dawn) and author of the band’s first three singles: “Arnold Layne,” “See Emily Play” and “Apples and Oranges.” All of these accomplishments reveal Barrett’s unique psychedelic whimsy and stellar musicianship; despite going onto
News Round-Up: Release Date Changes, Hip-o Select Releases and More
A quick note that both Queensryche's 20th anniversary reissue of Empire and Morrissey's 20th anniversary reissue of Bona Drag - both from EMI - have been moved on the calendar. The latter will now street October 5 (the reissue of the "Everyday is Like Sunday" single will still street September 28) and the former will be released on September 28. MusicTAP tweeted this intriguing article from Billboard and Reuters: the Pink Floyd catalogue is now digitally out of print. There was talk for awhile
Friday Feature: The Rocky Story
Today saw the release of the widely-hyped The Expendables, in which Sylvester Stallone gathered as many action movie heroes, past and present, and shoved them all into a film. By all accounts, it doesn't seem to have worked as well as it could have. And that's more or less latter-day Stallone for you. (Seriously, have you seen Rambo?) With that in mind, this week's Friday Feature takes you to a simpler time. A time where Stallone was a young actor with a dream, which he turned into a
Back Tracks: The Spielberg-Williams Connection Part II
Our look at the work of John Williams for Steven Spielberg's filmography continues with this look at the rest of the 1990s and beyond. Also featured are a few compilations of performances devoted to one of the best partnerships in film music history. Enjoy after the jump!
Back Tracks: The Spielberg-Williams Connection
As I write this, Steven Spielberg is currently at work on his next film, an adaptation of the World War I-themed British play War Horse, due for a release a year from now. This means that, before long, composer John Williams will begin to write his 26th score for a Spielberg picture. The duo have been an almost immortal force in the film business for nearly 40 years, from their first collaboration, 1973's The Sugarland Express, to next Christmas' The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn,
Barry Manilow, "Weird Al" Yankovic Upgraded to 3.0
And Legacy’s Essential train just keeps on rolling along. Upgrades to Essential 3.0 have been announced for two popular volumes in the long-running series, The Essential "Weird Al" Yankovic and The Essential Barry Manilow. The new editions will expand the 2-CD releases with a third disc containing 6 and 7 tracks, respectively. While none of the tracks on the third discs appear to be rare, Essential 3.0 titles are usually priced very similarly to the original 2-CD sets (retailing for
New at La La Land: "Gunmen" and a Beach Party
La La Land announced their next batch of titles yesterday (their only two for the month), and they're a pair of appealing titles from the vault. In a bit of a teaser to October's planned box set of music from The X-Files, the label is prepping an offering of TV soundtracks composed by the same man (Mark Snow) for the same producer (Chris Carter). This CD (LLLCD 1135) will feature music from the short-lived X-Files spinoff The Lone Gunmen and the even more short-lived sci-fi series Harsh Realm.
Catching "Pac-Man Fever" Once More
It was one of the most unusual novelty records of the decade - not to mention one of The Second Disc's first Reissue Theory posts - and now it looks like it's coming back out on CD. That's right: Fuel 2000 is reissuing Buckner & Garcia's Pac-Man Fever. Such was the mania for the classic arcade game in 1981 that Columbia released this most unusual of singles, which hit the Billboard Top 10 in 1982. An LP of other game-oriented novelty tracks followed. What added to the kitsch value was the
EMI Sees Red and Blue
For casual buyers who didn't get swept up in Beatlemania with the massive remaster/reissue project last year, EMI will reissue The Beatles' 1962-1966 and 1967-1970, arguably two of the most recognizable compilations of The Fab Four in history. Known to many as the "Red" and "Blue" albums, these double-disc sets provided a concise anthology of John, Paul, George and Ringo's hits and notable album sides. (We wouldn't be surprised if some of our younger readers cut their teeth on these sets.) While
Tartare Mega-Post: 20 More Titles Now Available
You've got to hand it to the folks at Collectors' Choice Music: when they launch a new catalogue initiative, they don't mess around. After an initial offering last month of 10 releases on the new Tartare imprint, CCM has just announced a further 20 titles to bolster the budding Tartare lineup. The genres covered in this batch are incredibly diverse: from folk songs to groovy psychedelia, polkas to 1990s jangle pop, deep soul to disco, jazz to country. In short, there really is something for
Quite a Leap of "Faith"
This morning we come closer to unraveling the mysteries of Legacy's upcoming reissues of George Michael's Faith. The Limited Collector's Box Set edition was made available to order today, and if you like George a lot, this might be the set for you. The set includes: The original album, remastered A CD of remixes and B-sides A DVD featuring a vintage Channel 4 special, George Michael and Jonathan Ross Have Words, the original EPK entitled Music Money Love Faith and seven promo videos A
Mining Audiophile Treasures: Coming Soon from Audio Fidelity and MFSL
Some of rock’s finest will be receiving the deluxe treatment from audiophile specialist labels Audio Fidelity and Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (MFSL) in the coming months: The Beach Boys, The Band, Gram Parsons, Deep Purple, Foreigner, The Pretenders and Billy Joel. The earliest release in this bunch is also one of the most exciting. The Beach Boys' Today! was released in 1965 and is generally remembered as one of the first albums on which Brian Wilson displayed the sensitive studio wizardry that
Syl Johnson Box Set Coming (Not Because He's Black)
A hat tip to Record Racks (who are contributing a neat guest post later this week that I'm quite excited for) for passing this one along: Numero Group is prepping a box set due October 19 devoted to unjustly forgotten soul survivor Syl Johnson. Johnson was a soul musician in the James Brown or Al Green mold. He toured with Magic Sam and Howlin' Wolf, cut tracks for the Federal label (the same one that put out "Please, Please, Please," James Brown's first hit) and had a socially conscious Top 20
At What Price?
If there are any readers of The Second Disc from outside America, I'd like you to do us a favor. Go to iTunes or Amazon and download the bonus tracks included on the digital versions of the a-ha deluxe reissues. And enjoy them, please. Because American fans cannot. Not long after the release of the Web-exclusive deluxe editions of Hunting High and Low and Scoundrel Days, a-ha's official site announced that the digital editions of each title would include four additional bonus tracks, including
A Sign of Good "Faith"
This week's tease about the upcoming reissue of George Michael's Faith helps prove that the '80s, often thought to be an era of musical detritus, has its share of defining moments worth revisiting through catalogue titles. Of course, as time marches on, labels will continue to revisit the '80s for reissues and box sets, which will alternately confuse and delight listeners. Dozens of bands - Genesis, a-ha, Duran Duran, Michael Jackson, Tears for Fears, The Police, Bon Jovi and scores more - have
Back Tracks: The Buggles
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiJ9AnNz47Y] Famed U.K. producer Trevor Horn has done so much in his lengthy career, but his next step looks to be a revisiting of one of his most discreetly influential projects: The Buggles. Horn announced on his Web site that The Buggles - a synth-pop duo consisting of Horn and Geoff Downes - are returning in some capacity on September 28. The announcement may have been best time on August 1, a date which they will be forever identified with; on the
Friday Feature: "Footloose"
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsCO-YkDgnY] This week's theatrical release of Step Up 3D proves that young people everywhere still embrace the notion of defying authority by shaking one's ass on the dance floor. It's nothing new, of course; ever since Columbia Pictures turned Twist Around the Clock onto a dance-crazy culture in 1961, dance pictures have become a generational touchstone. Whether they're good, crowd-pleasing films (Saturday Night Fever (1977), Flashdance (1983)) or
Apple Announcements and Additions
Apple has announced the full, final specs for its upcoming swath of reissues, and they've managed to include some surprises that weren't previously known about. The Second Disc posted a rundown last month of some planned bonus tracks based on a beta version of Apple Records' Web site. Now, the site offers a full press release and track list details for every one of the upcoming releases. Not only does nearly every reissue now contain bonus tracks (including the James Taylor and Jackie Lomax
News Round-Up: Springsteen's "Darkness" Doc, Motown Treasures and Porcupine Tree Rarities
A new Springsteen documentary, to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival next month, is the latest piece of The Boss' upcoming Darkness on the Edge of Town box set. The Promise: The Making of "Darkness on the Edge of Town," directed by Thom Zimny (who directed the documentary in the Born to Run box), will feature unseen footage from the album sessions in 1976-1978 and has been confirmed to be a part of the box, which is due in time for this Christmas. Here's a fine surprise: Motown
We Gotta Have...You Get the Idea
Sony Music inches ever closer to uncovering what this new reissue of George Michael's Faith is going to have - but doesn't actually say much of anything. A press release issued today says the reissue "will be available in multiple special formats including [a] Limited Edition Numbered Collectors box set." Wow. Who'd have thought, all those years ago? So my guess is we're getting closer to getting this monkey off our backs.
Review: Danny Elfman, "Batman: Expanded Archival Collection"
It's a safe guess that your enjoyment of La La Land's new expansion of Danny Elfman's score to Batman (1989) (LLLCD 1140), like so many soundtracks, hinges on your enjoyment of the film itself. That sentiment, in turn, hinges on how much you can separate the idea of a fun movie from a good one. The blockbuster - drawn from the immortal DC Comics superhero - never falls short on action, thrills or compelling visuals. But it is too long and bloated, with thin characterization and a
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