A couple short announcements to kick off your Friday morning - one regarding a Ray Charles compilation we've been waiting to learn more about, the other regarding a reissue of a classic '70s rock album. First, our gratitude to Vintage Vinyl News for lifting the curtain on Ray Charles' Rare Genius: The Undiscovered Masters, coming October 26 from Concord. This ten-track set includes entirely unreleased material from several phases of The Genius' career, from the '70s to the '90s. The first
Dio Catalogue Info Coming Up from the Midnight Sea
It turns out the planned vintage live set coming from Dio was just the first of many planned catalogue titles to honor the late, great metal vocalist Ronnie James Dio. Rolling Stone reports a whole bunch of stuff is forthcoming from the newly-founded Niji Entertainment Group, a venture headed by Dio's widow, Wendy, who had been in the process of co-founding the label when her husband passed on. Beyond the already-mentioned Dio at Donington U.K.: Live 1983 and 1987, Niji will oversee a 180-gram
Back Tracks: Laura Nyro
Laura Nyro (1947-1997) never became as famous as her songs. In an all-too-short 49 years, Nyro provided major hits for a diverse array of artists from Three Dog Night and Blood, Sweat & Tears to Barbra Streisand and most famously, The Fifth Dimension. Yet her own albums never achieved mainstream success, with audiences largely preferring to hear her compositions performed by others. (In this respect, she could be compared to her contemporary Jimmy Webb.) Perhaps this was just as well for the
Matador's Box Set is a Nice Hand
Venerable indie label Matador Records has had one of the most consistently impressive rosters for newer music during their existence. The list includes Pavement, Interpol, Ted Leo and The Pharmacists, Sonic Youth, Liz Phair, Yo La Tengo, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and scores more. This month, as the label prepares a 21st anniversary celebration at the Palms Resort in Las Vegas, they will chronicle that successful run in Matador at 21, a six-disc box full of notable tunes from Matador
News Round-Up: Rhino Cuts, CSNY Live Speculation, XTC Vinyl and More
We hate to start the day off with some bad news, but Rhino is apparently about to experience another depressing surge of layoffs, trade publication Variety reports. From the looks of it, expect a smaller slate of physical titles - even the Handmade stuff, some of which was in the can for years, the article says - and more of an emphasis on digital catalogue maneuvers or (at the very least) more on-demand releases like the Tartare program. Graham Nash mentioned to Billboard about the speculated
It's Monkee-Mania: "Head" Soundtrack Expanded as Deluxe Box Set
Just a few short weeks ago on August 19, The Second Disc reported on the Criterion Collection release of the Monkees’ trippy cinematic opus, Head. At the end of that article, we opined, “Perhaps the success of this set will inspire Rhino Handmade to revisit the Head soundtrack as a deluxe edition should its Monkees reissue program continue.” Well, we didn’t even have to wait that long. Rhino Handmade has announced a three-disc deluxe box set of the soundtrack to Head and much, much more.
La La Land's New Releases: Monkeying Around and Going to Hell
Two semi-obscure scores are coming from La La Land Records today: one's the music to an primate-oriented family film, the other is an early-'70s rock score. First up, Miles Goodman's complete score to Dunston Checks In (1996), the comedy about an orangutan in a fancy hotel. (Seriously.) It's a nice comedic romp, despite the fact that the source material isn't quite a classic, and it'll be a nice little limited edition at 1,200 copies. The label also has a reissue of the soundtrack to Hell's
Dylan Goes Mono-Lite, Too
Excited about Sony's new batch of Bob Dylan material? As if another entry in The Bootleg Series (with some additional live bonuses depending on where you buy it) and a mono box set wasn't enough, Columbia/Legacy is also releasing The Best of The Mono Recordings, a single-disc teaser culled from that box set. Of course, hardcore collectors are going to want to pick this set up in addition to the mono box; included on the 15-track sampler is the mono mix of a non-LP single, "Positively 4th
Some Like It Hotter: Kritzerland Follows “Promises” with Remixed “Sugar”
Kritzerland’s Bruce Kimmel wasn’t one to rest on his laurels over the Labor Day weekend. The soundtrack and cast album specialist label announced on Monday its latest two-CD deluxe release, a reissue of the 1972 Original Broadway Cast Recording of Sugar. For those who missed out on Kimmel’s Promises, Promises, don’t pass up the chance to hear this terrifically fun album in a new light. Sugar, the musical version of Billy Wilder’s seminal film Some Like It Hot, was assembled by a Broadway dream
Labor Day Special Reissue Theory: Stephen Schwartz and James Taylor, “Working”
The Second Disc Archives are open! We're reprising this look at a musical which united the talents of Stephen Schwartz, James Taylor, Mary Rodgers, Micki Grant and Craig Carnelia, while our story also features "appearances" along the way by Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Warnes and Rupert Holmes! Welcome to our Reissue Theory special: Working! On Monday, September 6, 2010, America celebrated its 128th Labor Day, all but the first 12 of them recognized as a
"TNG" Box Boldly Goes Where Few Have Gone Before
Film Score Monthly has announced its fifth box set, and like the others, it's quite an undertaking: Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Ron Jones Project collates 14 discs' worth of music from the famous television series plus a heap of other Trek goodies from composer Ron Jones. Jones, best known for some surprisingly notable scores to animated television works (including the Disney cartoons DuckTales and Chip n' Dale Rescue Rangers along with turns on Family Guy), composed scores to 42
Legacy Bumps Jayhawks Reissues to Next Year
We may have only fleetingly mentioned these before, but Legacy has prepped expanded reissues of Hollywood Town Hall and Tomorrow the Green Grass, the first two records that alt-country rockers The Jayhawks recorded for the American Recordings label in the early 1990s. Hollywood Town Hall, released in 1992, will feature five bonus tracks (two of which are unreleased) while Tomorrow the Green Grass (1995) will be presented as a double-disc Legacy Edition with a heap of bonus cuts, 20 of them
Friday Feature: The Terminator Saga
Every August 29, incredible geeks like myself look skyward and emit sighs of relief that no nuclear warheads are heading our way. Of course, on a fictitious August 29 - in 1997 to be exact - a nuclear attack did indeed happen, triggered by a dangerously self-aware defense network system called Skynet. A war would rage between these sentient machines and their human creators, ultimately climaxing with soldiers on each side being sent to the past (our present) to alter future events. That tale,
Rounder Records Adding Box Set to the Holiday Rush
Add another box set to the pile for this holiday season: The Rounder Records Story, an 87-track, four-disc chronicle of the Massachusetts-based indie folk label, celebrating its 40th year. The set includes tracks by notables names like Willie Nelson, NRBQ, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Rush, George Thorogood and The Destroyers, Bela Fleck and more. Pre-order it here and check the track list out after the jump.
Short Takes: Dylan Bonuses to Come with Bootlegs, Bernstein Box on the Way
A pair of notes from some Sony properties today: one focuses on a bonus with Bob Dylan's newest Bootleg Series release, the other is a big box coming from Sony devoted to one of America's greatest composers. Apparently, those who purchase The Bootleg Series Vol. 9: The Witmark Demos 1962-1964 from Amazon will get a bonus disc recorded at Brandeis University's First Annual Folk Festival in 1963. The reel-to-reel tape source had been in the collection of Rolling Stone co-founder Ralph Gleason.
Don't Dream the Compiling is Over
EMI has announced an October 26 release date for the cheekily-titled The Very Very Best of Crowded House, the latest compilation from the Australian pop masters. The 19-track compilation (14 of which appeared on the last EMI comp, Recurring Dream: The Very Best of Crowded House (1996)) features tracks from all of the band's albums save this year's Intriguer. Additionally, there will be an expanded digital-only version with a rare live cut, a cover of "Throw Your Arms Around Me" by fellow Aussie
Lennon Reissue Updates: "Power to the People," Kind Of
A few details have crossed the wires regarding the upcoming John Lennon reissue campaigns due for domestic release October 5. The aforementioned track lists for the new Power to the People: The Hits compilation, the Gimme Some Truth box set and the bonus discs in the John Lennon Signature Box we wrote about a few weeks ago is accurate (although the discs in Gimme Some Truth are presented in a different order - the set kicks off with the "Roots" disc thought to be Disc 4 then continues in proper
"Beauty and the Beast" Reissue Adds Something There That Wasn't There Before
Given The Walt Disney Company's notorious penchant for avoiding most soundtrack releases on CD - Michael Giacchino's score to Up is probably one of the few Oscar-winning scores in history to never have been pressed on CD, and Randy Newman's Toy Story 3 soundtrack is another digital-only affair - it's nice to see Walt Disney Records reissuing the soundtrack to Beauty and the Beast, one of their crowning achievements, on CD once more. However, it's far from the best presentation the music has ever
Review: Frank Sinatra, "September of My Years"
Frank Sinatra was always one to face the world head-on. So it was with his turning 50. The man who had pioneered the “concept album” with a string of themed records for Capitol began thinking of an LP that would allow him to plant his feet squarely in the present, 1965, and reflect with every ounce of experience he’d acquired in the many lives he’d led over a mere 50 years. The album that would become September of My Years began its life inspired by Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson’s “September
The Crazy Train is Running Behind Schedule
It's been reported that the upcoming reissues of Ozzy Osbourne's Blizzard of Ozz (1980) and Diary of a Madman (1981) - which would finally see the original bass and drum tracks (replaced on the 2002 CD reissues) restored - were delayed, based upon the fact that CD Japan had removed the preorder listings from their inventory. Allow The Second Disc to add further confirmation: we inquired about the status of the titles with Legacy Recordings, and they've been confirmed to have been bumped to next
A Heroic Selection of Music
It's always a blast to find out catalogue news from unexpected sources, so when I read a report from my favorite geek news site Topless Robot about a DC Comics music compilation, I got pretty darn excited. Set for release September 28, The Music of DC Comics: 75th Anniversary Collection collects 31 tracks from various DC-affiliated film and television projects - Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, The Flash and even Swamp Thing are all here - and the best part is that
New Concord Reissues on the Way, None of Which Are Ray Charles-Related
From Paste magazine, we have word of a few expanded reissues due from the Concord catalogue, which will include titles by The Vince Guaraldi Trio, Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins, Wes Montgomery, Chet Baker and The Bill Evans Trio. Still no word on another intriguing Concord catalogue title - Ray Charles' Rare Genius: The Undiscovered Masters, supposedly due for release October 26 - but these might be of interest to our jazz-minded readers. None of these have been reported on Concord's own site
A Year-Old Reissue That Mayer May Not Be of Interest
I sort of hesitate mentioning this on The Second Disc, but it does count as a reissue, even if it's an obvious grab for holiday shoppers: Columbia is releasing an expanded edition of singer-songwriter John Mayer's latest album, last year's Battle Studies. Depending on who you ask, Mayer is known as an engaging musician with guitar chops reminiscent of Stevie Ray Vaughan, or he's a womanizing jerk who can be too smart or too verbose for his own good. (To this longtime fan, who has caught the man
Reel Music, Hip-o Select Raid the Motown Vaults
Just a few days' away from its start, September is already looking to be a great month for Motown enthusiasts. For starters, an August 22 tweet from Hip-o Select's Twitter feed revealed the latest project in Motown Select's (busy) pipeline: Tammi Terrell's Come On and See Me: The Complete Solo Collection. While largely remembered for her classic duets with Marvin Gaye, Terrell was no slouch as a solo artist, and this compilation should go a long way in reminding audiences of that fact. As Tammy
Review: Various Artists, "Book a Trip: The Psych Pop Sounds of Capitol Records"
In 1970, Griffin’s “Yours Till Forever,” written by a young songwriter named Kenny Nolan, skyrocketed to No. 1 on the Billboard pop singles chart. A band called The Exception, led by singer/bassist Peter Cetera, became one of the biggest acts of the decade and kicked off their international success with the horn-driven hit “My Mind Goes Traveling.” And, of course, the Lettermen, those pioneers of psychedelic pop, are still remembered for their ode to “Mr. Sun.” Okay, none of that really
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