“Just one word…plastics.” With that one word, spoken to the disaffected Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) by an associate of his father’s, the audience viewing 1967’s film The Graduate, could both laugh and sneer along with Benjamin. After all, “plastics” stood for all that was superficial and fake in society. Mike Nichols, directing only his second feature film after a successful Broadway career, was anything but subtle as he masterfully threaded the film’s themes throughout every aspect of
More Queen Details Emerge, Copy Editor Badly Needed for Band Website
Two quick notes from the official Queen website on the upcoming reissues: The reissues, already confirmed for release in America (woo hoo!), now have a firm release date! (Double woo hoo!!) The deluxe editions of Queen, Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack, A Night at the Opera and A Day at the Races will come out on Hollywood Records May 17. For the U.K. (who will be receiving the reissues in a week and a half), all the reissues are going to be available together as a box set. The set will be
More Imperial-Era Hollies Reissues Headed Your Way
It's Hollies-mania all over again! Back on February 15, we tipped you to a vinyl box set due April 19 collecting some of the Manchester quintet's toughest-to-find tracks. But it gets better. On the same date that Sundazed releases the Lost Recordings and Beat Rarities box, the label will also continue its vinyl LP reissue series for the band with brand-new releases of Beat Group! and Bus Stop. These 1966 albums for Imperial Records were, respectively, The Hollies' third and fourth American
La-La Land's Going "Mad" Next Week
Not too long ago, La-La Land Records announced it had only one title due out March 15. Now they've revealed what score they've unearthed - but it's something that's been reissued before. It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) is one of the most madcap comedies ever released by Hollywood. Part road picture - groups of people working against each other to find a hidden stash of cash in California - and part Tinseltown epic (dozens of comedians and movie stars appear in the film, including Sid
Another "Promise" to Keep
Even though the Darkness on the Edge of Town box from last winter was as exhaustive as anyone could wish for a box set, there's a last trickle of material coming to DVD with a forthcoming standalone release of the accompanying documentary, The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town. The documentary, directed by Grammy and Emmy winner Thom Zimny, chronicled the making of one of The Boss' most landmark albums through both new interviews with Bruce, The E Street Band and other
Review: Simon and Garfunkel, "Bridge Over Troubled Water: 40th Anniversary Edition"
"What's the point of [making] this album?," an impossibly youthful Paul Simon asks in the 1969 television special Songs of America. "The world is crumbling." If Simon didn't know then why he was "just" recording an album despite all of the tumult around him, he almost certainly knows now. After all, he and partner Art Garfunkel have seen Bridge Over Troubled Water make it to 40 years (actually, 41!), and have even participated in the celebration. The duo have also seen the accompanying album and
Experience Hendrix/Legacy, Round 3
Mark your calendars, Hendrix fans: another batch of Experience Hendrix/Legacy reissues are coming your way. Next month, Legacy will reissue three more titles in the Hendrix catalogue. The first is South Saturn Delta, a 1997 outtakes compilation first released during Experience Hendrix's partnership with MCA. That set, which featured plenty of sought-after outtakes in a more official context, will be pressed onto compact disc as well as vinyl. Then there's a DVD reissue of Hendrix's January 1,
Reissue Theory: R.E.M., From Start to Finish
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we reflect on notable albums and the reissues they could someday see. With a new R.E.M. LP in stores today, we think about something that's missing from their extensive discography: a full, career-spanning compilation. Today is the day that R.E.M.'s fourteenth studio LP, Collapse Into Now, hits stores. I haven't bought it yet myself, but I have been keeping the Athens, Georgia-based rock icons in heavy rotation today; their lengthy, Rock
Is Billy Squier's Latest Your Kinda Compilation?
Billy Squier fans who wore out their copies of 16 Strokes (1995) or Absolute Hits (2005) now have a new compilation opportunity at the end of the month. Essential Billy Squier takes 15 of the singer/guitarist's best cuts, spanning from 1980's Tale of the Tape to 1993's Tell the Truth. All the usual suspects are here, including U.S. Mainstream Rock chart-toppers "Everybody Wants You" and "Rock Me Tonite"; the latter-day hit "Don't Say You Love Me" and of course Squier's endearing single "The
Review: Neil Diamond, "The Bang Years 1966-1968"
When it comes to Neil Diamond, I'm a believer. There's not a trace of doubt in my mind that Diamond burst onto the scene at the right time - not necessarily the night time, though I, too, thank the lord for it. No, Diamond made a big noise in the corridors of Bang Records in the period between 1966 and 1968, an era when the music business was experiencing change more rapidly than anyone could have predicted. And it was far from predictable that the somber and intense young man pictured on The
Paul Rutherford Says "Oh World" Once More
Since The Second Disc has started, we've seen some pretty neat catalogue projects tied to Frankie Goes to Hollywood, namely reissues of the band's original two LPs from ZTT/Salvo and a 12" remix compilation featuring rare tracks from the band. Cherry Pop has another FTGH-oriented catalogue project coming out in U.K. next week. Oh World was the first LP by Paul Rutherford, known as a backing vocalist and dancer with Frankie (and one of the two openly gay members of the band). In 1989, not long
Warner Classics Coming Back to Vinyl for Record Store Day
Warner Bros. Records issued a press release last week touting their forthcoming vinyl reissues for Record Store Day, and the results are pretty neat for catalogue enthusiasts. We already told you about the upcoming Flaming Lips vinyl box, and several other classic WB-oriented LPs are coming for the special event, too. Audiophile editions of Eric Clapton's Unplugged, Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, Jimmy Eat World's Bleed American and the first two LPs by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers will be pressed
Review: Billy Joel, "Live at Shea Stadium" and "Last Play at Shea"
One of the biggest pitfalls as a music writer is reading something - usually a review - that spells out your thoughts so well that you have no idea where to go with your own piece. Popdose editor-in-chief Jeff Giles did that alarmingly well with his scathing assessment of Billy Joel's Live at Shea Stadium: The Concert (Columbia/Legacy 88697 85424-2, 2011), calling it "pungently shitty, the nadir of a relatively distinguished career, and the type of release that justifies the awful music business
Nektar's "A Tab in the Ocean" Released in Expanded Edition
"I wonder what would happen if a giant tab of acid was dropped into the sea?" asked a member of the progressive rock band Nektar some forty years ago, recalled Roye Albrighton, Nektar's guitarist and vocalist. Albrighton and his mates parlayed their curiosity into the group's acclaimed second album, appropriately titled A Tab in the Ocean. Philadelphia's ItsAboutMusic.com label has just reissued that recording in a deluxe two-CD set also containing a bonus "lost album," In the Beginning: The
Ike and Tina Turner! Phil Spector! "River Deep" Returns in April
Producer Phil Spector should have been sitting on top of the world in 1966, just one year after The Righteous Brothers continued their wave of success with “Just Once in My Life,” “Ebb Tide” and of course, “Unchained Melody.” He had recently signed Ike and Tina Turner to Philles, but the male half of that duo was of little consequence to him. In Tina Turner’s force-of-nature voice, Spector saw the latest and arguably most powerful vehicle for his increasingly majestic musical statements. When he
Weekend Discussion: Box Set Cornerstones
Here's a topic for discussion for you, our awesome readers, as we head toward the weekend. We're getting close to about a quarter-century or more since the box set entered the CD era. (Bruce Springsteen's Live 1975/85 and Bob Dylan's Biograph would be among the first great examples of such anthologies.) Lately, we've started to see a strange pattern of artists who received great early box sets getting revisited yet again in new sets. The next few months will see boxes devoted to Derek and The
Friday Feature: "Fast Times at Ridgemont High"
More than 30 years ago, Dave Cameron walked through the halls of Clairemont High School in San Diego. He had a colorful collection of friends: a middle-class, business-oriented guy, his sexually naive sister, her sophisticated best friend, the jock and nerd duo that lusted after the girls and a colorful surfer dude. What none of them knew at the time was that Dave Cameron wasn't really a high school student. He was 22, and had already graduated high school seven years prior, at the age of 15. In
Review: Jackie DeShannon and Doris Troy, Anthologized by Ace
It may have been sheer coincidence that Ace dropped I'll Do Anything: The Doris Troy Anthology 1960-1996 and Jackie DeShannon's Come and Get Me: The Complete Liberty and Imperial Singles Volume 2 on the same day. But different though these two singers may be, their similarities are striking. Both were pioneering female songwriters, with Troy penning her biggest hit, "Just One Look," and DeShannon offering up the likes of "When You Walk in the Room" and "Put a Little Love in Your Heart." Both had
Florence and The Machine Expansion Coming to U.S. Shores
If you've been waiting to pick up Lungs, the impressive debut album by Florence and The Machine, you now have a new incentive to buy it: an expanded edition is hitting U.S. shelves this month. Lungs was a smash hit upon its release in the band's native England in 2009; the album debuted at No. 2, held off only by The Essential Michael Jackson after the week of his passing. Sixty-two weeks later, the album still resides in the U.K. Top 40, and the album has since peaked within the Top 20 in the
Masterworks Jazz Continues "Cool Revolution" with a Quartet from CTI
Chances are, if you think of a jazz artist, it wouldn't take many degrees of separation to reach Creed Taylor. The esteemed producer began his career at Bethlehem Records overseeing a roster including Herbie Mann, Charles Mingus, Carmen McRae, J.J. Johnson and Kai Winding. In 1956, he departed Bethlehem for ABC-Paramount, where in 1960 he launched the Impulse! label with artists like Johnson, Winding, Ray Charles and John Coltrane. It was at Impulse! that Taylor came into his own, emphasizing
Iconoclassic Adds Three Titles to Reissue Slate (UPDATED)
The Iconoclassic label kicks off their year in reissues with some exciting surprise expansions of some great '70s and '80s titles. The three titles, which have no street dates or official track lists as of yet, are nonetheless tantalizing. The label has handled a good portion of expanding and remastering the catalogue of Canadian rockers The Guess Who; this campaign's latest installment will see the reissue of Flavours (1975) for its 35th anniversary. The album, which included the last Guess
Legendary Lost Love LP to Be Unearthed in June
One of the more legendary lost albums of the 1970s - Love's Black Beauty - is getting its first legitimate release this summer. Love remains one of the great unsung bands of the 1960s. Known for its racially diverse lineup - black singer/songwriter/guitarist Arthur Lee is arguably the best-known member of the group - and the psych-folk-rock style of their critically acclaimed 1967 LPs Da Capo and Forever Changes, Love left a legacy that has outlived most of its members (including Lee, who died
Prince Comes Back 2 Vinyl
It's perhaps the second-best Prince news next to CD remasters: Prince's three albums of the 1980s are being repressed on vinyl. Dirty Mind (1980), Controversy (1981) and the double-album 1999 (1982) are all being repressed on 180-gram vinyl. While they don't seem to (and likely will not) boast new remastering, it's particularly interesting to see Prince's Warner Bros. catalogue getting any kind of attention by Rhino - especially some of the earlier, bawdier works that the devout Jehovah's
Back to the Grid: "TRON: Legacy" Remixes Coming in April
It's not often here at The Second Disc that we get to report on a reissue project devoted to a release that's only three months old. But that's just the case of Daft Punk's acclaimed score to Tron: Legacy. The novice film composers deftly paid homage to Wendy Carlos' score to the original TRON, judiciously incorporating it into their work while carving out their own territory with a mix of ambient sounds, techno-style synthpop and traditional orchestral motifs. While the Academy Awards
Reissue Theory: Debbie Harry, "Rockbird"
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we reflect on notable albums and the reissues they could someday see. What does the most ridiculous celebrity meltdown at the moment have to do with the second solo LP by the leader of Blondie? The answer may shock you. "Fools and trolls." "Gnarly gnarlingtons." "Winning!" The ongoing, eminently quotable, six-cylinder meltdown of Charlie Sheen is a bizarre conversation starter around the world. (Your mileage may vary of course: to this
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