And now Hip-o Select unveils its first new catalogue set of the New Year: a deluxe edition of Diana Ross' legendary 1976 self-titled album. Ross' first studio LP in three years, following 1973's Last Time I Saw Him, was produced by Michael Masser, who'd rose to prominence with his work on Last Time - writing the title track - as well as Motown stalwarts Hal Davis and Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson. The leadoff single had been released the previous year, a sweet, irresistible song from
Wouldn't It Be Good? Universal U.K. Expands Nik Kershaw's Debut LP
A pleasant surprise is coming from Universal's catalogue arm across the pond: an expanded edition of Nik Kershaw's excellent debut album Human Racing. Released in 1984, Human Racing gave the young Bristol-born, Suffolk-raised guitarist a big break after years of jobbing in local bands. Aided by a set of teen magazine-ready good looks and an ear for intricately arranged, vaguely theatrical pop tunes, the second single from Human Racing, the excellent "Wouldn't It Be Good," became a Top 5 smash
Goin' Back to New Orleans: Rounder Anticipates Mardi Gras With New Collection
Laissez les bons temps rouler! Each year, the good times do indeed roll in New Orleans, Louisiana, when the city throws the biggest Mardi Gras bash in the country. Though carnival season is celebrated around the world, the revelry in New Orleans surely has one of the richest legacies, and a major part of that legacy is, of course, its music. Rounder Records, founded in 1970 and now part of the Concord Music Group, has built a solid foundation of Cajun and carnival favorites in its impressive
Pulp on Fire: Early U.K. Albums Expanded for February Release
Yesterday's announcement of the lineup for the three-day Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in April was met with typical fanfare associated with major festival announcements. And why not? A veritable who's who of rising stars and legends across a wide swath of genres will be performing, including Radiohead, The Black Keys, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, Bon Iver, Madness, Squeeze, The Shins, ex-Oasis frontman Noel Gallagher, the newly-reunited At the Drive-In, James, Florence and The Machine,
Andy Gibb's Greatest Hits Reprised, and Flashback with Iron Butterfly
Two long out-of-print greatest hits collections are back in print today thanks to the fine folks at Rhino Records. Iron Butterfly’s Evolution: The Best of Iron Butterfly arrived on the Atco label in 1971 and brought together 11 tracks from the hard rock pioneers’ first four albums. Andy Gibb’s 1991 Greatest Hits, originally on the Polydor label, differed from the 1980 RSO Records hits compilation, and offered 12 prime pop cuts from the youngest of the Brothers Gibb. Although Rhino’s Light
Edsel January Preview: Rundgren, Chapin, Gosdin, Manhattan Transfer, Jo Jo Gunne Kick Off 2012
What kind of year will 2012 be? If the first batch of releases, slated for January 30 release, from the Edsel label is any indication, there's plenty of rare and well-done music on the way! A three albums-on-two-CDs package collects the entirety of Todd Rundgren's Warner Bros. Records period. A Cappella/Nearly Human/2nd Wind continues Edsel's definitive series which brings Rundgren's solo and Utopia output on both Bearsville and Warner Bros. under one umbrella. The studio wizard's decision
Friday's Child: David Bowie's "Hours" Expanded and Remastered
Has it really been over eight years since David Bowie released his final studio album to date, Reality? Bowie turned 65 yesterday, quietly enjoying what may be his retirement. But it doesn't seem like so long ago that the musician was still considered prolific; Reality came hot on the heels of 2002's Heathen. And Heathen seemed to signify a new era for Bowie, his first album for the venerable Columbia Records after a stint at Virgin, for which 1999's Hours... was the final release. All of
Rick Nelson, Mark Lindsay, McGough and McGear (with Hendrix and McCartney!) Are Real Gone In February
With another month comes another slate of rare music on both CD and vinyl from one of the real up-and-comers in the reissue biz, Real Gone Music! The label’s February centerpieces just might be Rick Nelson’s The Complete Epic Recordings and Mark Lindsay’s The Complete Columbia Singles, but those two releases are being joined by titles from Sean (T.S.) Bonniwell, McGough and McGear, Eddie Hazel and the girls of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller’s Red Bird label on CD, plus Hank Thompson on vinyl!
Another Year, Another Batch of "ICON" Titles
It's 2012, a new year full of new catalogue opportunities - and yet another batch of our favorite ridiculous, vaguely pointless series of compilations, UMe's ICON. The generic collections pack nothing but hits into an 11-track set list, enabling the uninitiated to get a simple primer of their favorite artist for maybe $8 and change. This time around, the batch is very rock-oriented (mid-'80s Deep Purple, Anthrax, Cinderella, Uriah Heep) with some traces of late-'90s rap and R&B (Dru Hill,
Mighty Love: Detroit Spinners' Best Compiled On New 2-CD Anthology
If an award were given for the Best Second Act in Popular Music, it might well go to The Spinners. Signed to Motown in 1963 after early successes at Gwen Gordy’s Tri-Phi label, The Spinners – singers Henry Fambrough, Pervis Jackson, Billy Henderson, C.P. Spencer and Bobbie Smith - had difficulty ascending to premier status at the Motor City label. After some moderate hits like “Truly Yours” in 1966, the group’s biggest brush with the charts came in 1970 when Stevie Wonder gifted them the song
Come Fly With Me: Bobby, Peggy, Ella, Buddy Take Off With "Pan Am" Soundtrack
Following in the footsteps of Matthew Weiner’s 1960s drama Mad Men, Jack Orman’s Pan Am takes to the airwaves each week on ABC with a period-perfect recreation of the days when "the world's most experienced airline" ruled the skies. Now, the show’s impeccably-selected music can be yours to keep - and perhaps used as the soundtrack to your very own swinging cocktail party! - on Verve’s Pan Am: Music From and Inspired by the Original Series, due to arrive on January 17. How appropriate that one
Not Pulling Your Chain: Captain Beefheart's Unreleased "Bat Chain Puller" Coming From Zappa Records
Though Frank Zappa had much to say as a musician and a social commentator throughout his lifetime, the keepers of the flame over at Zappa.com are a little more understated. But the team led by Zappa's widow, Gail, continues to offer a number of exciting projects relating to the Zappa legacy. One of the most unusual is on the way: the first-ever release of avant-garde wizard Captain Beefheart's original Bat Chain Puller. A lost 1976 album produced by Zappa, portions were re-recorded in later
The Dark Knight Returns: La-La Land Reissues "Batman Forever" Score
La-La Land Records continues their history with Gotham City's Caped Crusader on CD today, with the release of the complete score to 1995's Batman Forever. The third Bat-film sees Batman - the vigilante alter-ego of millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne (Val Kilmer) - square off against not one but two villains: Harvey "Two-Face" Dent (Tommy Lee Jones), the former district attorney whose facial disfiguration leads to a dual personality, and Edward Nygma (Jim Carrey), a disgraced employee of Wayne
Hello (Again), Louis! "Satchmo: Ambassador of Jazz" Distilled to Four Discs For U.S. Release
A favorite box set of both The Second Disc and Mr. Elvis Costello, Satchmo: Ambassador of Jazz is the hefty 10-CD treasure trove issued in the U.K. by Universal Music in 2011. The first comprehensive career-spanning look at the great bandleader's life in music, Satchmo is housed in a case resembling one of Armstrong's actual travel trunks, and includes a 200-page hardcover book in addition to some select sheet music replicas. Yet despite Armstrong's central place in the annals of American
This is Not a Love Song: PiL Remasters in U.K. in 2012
It looks like the first major remaster campaign for 2012 is going to be a re-release of the Public Image Ltd. catalogue, coming from EMI in England. The spectacular flameout of punk legends The Sex Pistols in 1978 wasn't enough to stop lead singer John Lydon - forever better known as Johnny Rotten - in his tracks. Lydon collaborated with guitarist Keith Levene and bassist Jah Wobble to form Public Image Ltd., a band as noisy and rebellious as the Pistols but with a bit more room for creativity
Ever Changing Times: Aretha In The 1980s, Anthologized by Legacy
On March 25, 2012, Aretha Franklin will turn 70 years old. That hardly means she's ready to slow down, however. 2011 found the Queen of Soul looking trim and sounding vibrant as she returned to the concert stage and released a new studio album. Surely her landmark birthday will be celebrated with countless airings of her 1960s golden hits like "Respect," "Natural Woman" and "Chain of Fools." But Legacy Recordings and Arista Records are seeing to it that a latter-day hitmaking period for the
The Year in Reissues: The 2011 Gold Bonus Disc Awards
What are you doing New Year's Eve? As we count down to that big celebration, we've been holed up at Second Disc HQ readying another year's Gold Bonus Disc Awards for you! We consider our annual awards a companion piece to Mike's round-up over at Popdose (essential reading, I might add!) and we endeavor to recognize as many of the year's most amazing reissues as possible as well as to celebrate those labels, producers and artists who have raised the bar for great music throughout 2011. These
The Second Disc Buyers Guide: The 100 Greatest Reissues of All Time, Part 20 (#5-1)
Welcome to the grand finale to our reissue rundown of the 100 Greatest Albums of All Time, as selected by Rolling Stone. It may be telling that the entirety of our Top 5 comes from the period between 1965 and 1967. Three of these albums are the work of the same band, while the other two artists had careers that have intersected in various ways with the members of those bands. Yes, The Beatles, Bob Dylan and The Beach Boys found inspiration from each other, and might even have felt a keen
Holiday Gift Guide Review: "Brunswick Lost Soul Vols. 1 and 2"
Welcome back to our Second Disc Holiday Gift Guide, in which we review some titles we might have missed over the past few weeks! The titles we’re spotlighting in this occasional series just might be candidates on your own holiday shopping list! The annals of popular music are littered with lost souls, which isn’t surprising for a business that can turn the street of dreams into the boulevard of broken dreams. But thanks to two recent releases from Brunswick Records, we can appreciate 30
The Second Disc Buyers Guide: The 100 Greatest Reissues of All Time, Part 19 (#10-6)
It's the penultimate entry in our list of Rolling Stone's greatest albums of all time, as seen through the reissues that have filled our shelves for years. We've got some heavy hitters here: Beatles, Stones, Dylan - plus what may be the greatest punk and R&B albums ever. 10. The Beatles, The Beatles (Apple, 1968) The double-LP the world knows mostly by three other words - "The White Album" - was difficult and unusual inside and out. Most of the songs were conceived during an ultimately
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Tony Bennett, "The Complete Collection"
Welcome back to our Second Disc Holiday Gift Guide, in which we review some titles we might have missed over the past few weeks! The titles we're spotlighting in this occasional series just might be candidates on your own holiday shopping list! Tony Bennett's heart may be in San Francisco, but his soul can be found in a case measuring roughly 11 x 5.5 x 5.5 inches. For within those modest dimensions is housed some 65 years of music, spanning 1946 to 2011, over 73 CDs and 3 DVDs. And
The Second Disc Buyers Guide: The 100 Greatest Reissues of All Time, Part 18 (#15-11)
And the Top 15 of our 100 Greatest Reissues list begins! We've taken Rolling Stone‘s list of the greatest albums of all time and investigated their many pressings and expansions over the years. Today, we're rocking in the 1960s, take a jazz detour to 1959, and remember a 1976 compilation of material circa 1955! 15. The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Are You Experienced (Reprise, 1967) If you weren’t experienced before listening to the 1967 debut of The Jimi Hendrix Experience, it’s safe to say
The Second Disc Buyers Guide: The 100 Greatest Reissues of All Time, Part 17 (#20-16)
We're in the Top 20 of Rolling Stone's Greatest Albums of All Time list, going through the various reissues and expansions of each one! This time, we have a Boss, a champion of a '90s rock revolution, a poet of the '60s - and starting right now, the King of Pop himself. Read on! 20. Michael Jackson, Thriller (Epic, 1982) Nine disparate songs, helmed by a producer of straightforward jazz and R&B, and performed by a 24-year-old former child star-turned-gawky but dedicated perfectionist. It
The Sixth Day of Second Discmas
Well, Week 2 of Second Discmas is in high gear, and here at Second Disc HQ, we can't get enough of the great music of the silver screen and the Great White Way! Today, we're sharing the immortal music of Hollywood and Broadway with you! Thanks to our fantastic friends at Kritzerland, we have two amazing prize packs for you today! Our "Screen" pack is a triple-threat of soundtrack classics, including two from the legendary Elmer Bernstein! From Bernstein's pen comes the Original Soundtrack
Analogue Launches Audiophile Reissue Series for Prestige Label with Davis, Rollins, Coltrane
With a brand-new decade just around the corner, and his finger on the pulse of the bustling, inventive New York City jazz scene, Bob Weinstock must have been reasonably confident that day in 1949 when he christened his record label "New Jazz." But he set his sights even higher when he renamed the label "Prestige" a year into its operations. That lofty moniker, of course, proved prescient when Prestige became home to the likes of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk and
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