"Phyllis sat right in my class. I can still see the pigtails." In a 2016 interview with The Second Disc, Thom Bell shared his earliest memories of the late Phyllis Hyman (1949-1995). The songwriter-arranger-conductor-producer would cross paths numerous times over the years with his childhood friend: first via Phyllis' hit recordings of his "Betcha By Golly Wow" and "Loving You - Losing You," and later, his own productions and songs for her. "She was a lonely individual," observed Thom,
Milk and Alcohol (New Recipe): Rhino Reissues Dr. Feelgood's "Singles" On Vinyl
Dr. Feelgood made their album debut early in 1975 with Down by the Jetty on the United Artists label. International audiences - not to mention artists including Paul Weller, Richard Hell, Blondie, and Ramones - took notice of the U.K. pub-rockers and lead guitarist Wilko Johnson. The band remained on UA through 1980's A Case of the Shakes when the label was merged with the revived Liberty Records. Now, the 1989 compendium Singles (The U.A. Years +), originally issued on the parent EMI label,
Rhythm of the New-Born Day: Cherry Red Revisits, Expands Al Stewart's "Year of the Cat"
Surely one of the most unlikely hits of 1976-77 was Al Stewart's "Year of the Cat." An atmospheric tale of romance in a faraway place with Casablanca name-checks of Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre, the song propelled the British singer-songwriter to the top of the pops: No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 (and even higher, No. 4, in Cash Box) and No. 8 AC as well as No. 31 in the U.K., his only chart appearance there. Following its expanded reissue late last year of Stewart's 24 Carrots, Cherry
Another Chance: Morello Collects Four Tammy Wynette Albums From The Early 1980s on New 2-CD Set
Since 2015, Cherry Red imprint Morello Records has been exploring the Epic catalog of country legend Tammy Wynette, releasing nine collections spanning 19 albums for the label. They have just released a new entry in the series, a 2-CD set featuring the albums Only Lonely Sometimes, Soft Touch, Good Love & Heartbreak and Even the Strong Get Lonely which saw Wynette enter the 1980s. The latter half of the 1970s were a turbulent time personally for Tammy Wynette. She divorced George Jones
From Hollywood to Veracruz: Van Dyke Parks Teams with Verónica Valerio For New EP
Over the course of a career spanning more than half a century, Van Dyke Parks has collaborated with Randy Newman, Harry Nilsson, Ry Cooder, Little Feat, Bonnie Raitt, and Silverchair; penned the legendary SMiLE with Brian Wilson; re-teamed with Wilson for the subsequent concept albums Orange Crate Art (recently reissued by Omnivore Recordings) and That Lucky Old Sun; played the accordion on The Beach Boys' chart-topping "Kokomo;" and even arranged Baloo the Bear's famous ode to "The Bare
Yes I'm Ready: Laura Nyro's First Seven Studio Albums Collected on New Madfish Box Set
We've long championed the extraordinary legacy of Laura Nyro here at The Second Disc, including with our own releases with Real Gone Music of A Little Magic, A Little Kindness: The Complete Mono Albums Collection and the first mono vinyl reissue of the singer-songwriter's debut More Than a New Discovery. Now, the U.K.'s Madfish label is returning her 1967-1978 catalogue for Verve and Columbia to vinyl in a new box set. The 8-LP box set American Dreamer is due on July 30. The slipcased
How My Heart Sings: Craft Recordings Readies New Career-Spanning Box for Bill Evans
Bill Evans would have earned his place in the jazz history books if only for his role on Miles Davis' landmark 1959 set Kind of Blue. But the pianist-composer and modal jazz innovator recorded over 50 live and studio albums as a leader before his untimely death in 1980 at the age of just 51, leaving behind a legacy of some of the most beautiful jazz ever committed to tape. In addition to Davis, he also served as a sideman to musicians including Chet Baker, Cannonball Adderley, Charles Mingus,
Ladies and Gentlemen...: Vinyl Me Please Marks 100 "Essentials" Releases with New Pressings of Sold-Out Titles
Today, the Vinyl Me Please record club celebrates its 100th Essential Record of the Month. The club's flagship line, the monthly Essentials program has encompassed titles from a wide variety of artists including John Prine, Aretha Franklin, Jorge Ben, Van Morrison, Mavis Staples, Miles Davis, Fiona Apple, Billie Holiday, The Notorious B.I.G., and Loretta Lynn. While VMP also offers Classics (Soul, Blues, and Jazz), Hip-Hop, and Country tracks (the latter a new addition for 2021), the
Same Page, Different Book: New Prince Album, 'Welcome 2 America,' Coming This Summer
After turning Sign O' the Times into one of 2020's best box sets, the Prince Estate will move forward in time with an unreleased album from 2010 due this summer. Welcome 2 America was completed in the wake of Prince's 20Ten (issued free with the purchase of different newspapers and magazines in Europe) but, like so many of The Artist's projects, put aside. The Minneapolis icon intended it as "a statement record...document[ing] Prince's concerns, hopes, and visions for a shifting society,
Short Takes: Triumph Prepares New Box Set as RSD Ambassadors; Omnivore Celebrates "Yesterday's Tomorrow;" and Evie Sands Releases New LP
Canadian hard rock heroes Triumph have been selected as the Canadian Ambassadors for Record Store Day 2021 - and the band isn't showing up empty-handed! As previously reported, RSD will be held in two "Drops" this year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The first of those drops is June 12, with the second to follow on July 17. On June 12, Triumph - Rik Emmett (guitars/vocals), Mike Levine (bass, keyboards) and Gil Moore (drums, vocals) - will release a 40th Anniversary vinyl box set of
Back to the Garden: Rhino Expands Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's "Déjà Vu" In New Box Set
Crosby, Stills, and Nash's eponymous debut was one of the most auspicious and omnipresent records of 1969, a remarkable and harmony-rich affair featuring such era-defining material as "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," "Marrakesh Express," "Guinnevere," "Wooden Ships," "Long Time Gone," and "Helplessly Hoping." CSN blended folk, country, jazz, rock, and a dash of pop into an often-imitated but never-duplicated sound. In the U.S. alone, the album reached No. 6 on the Billboard Top LPs chart and the top
Hear That Train A-Comin': Vinyl Me Please Introduces New Country Offerings, Announces Metal Blade Anthology Set
The Vinyl Me Please record club has announced two new campaigns to reach an even broader swath of vinyl aficionados. The first is the addition of a new, fourth "track" for the Record of the Month subscription series. In addition to Essentials, Classics, and Rap and Hip Hop, the Country genre will now be given a spotlight of its own. The first album to be reissued as part of the Country track is March 2021's Record of the Month: At Folsom Prison by Johnny Cash (1968). The landmark live LP
Red Hot: Mary Wilson's Solo Debut Receives First-Ever Reissue with New Expanded Edition
When news came of Mary Wilson's passing on the evening of February 8, 2021, a collective gasp could be heard around the world. Wilson was planning for an active 2021 once it was safe to resume performing, including a tour with B.J. Thomas and the release of previously unheard recordings. In her final message to fans shared on YouTube, the legendary Supreme confirmed that "I finally decided how to work with Universal, and they are going to release new Mary Wilson recordings. Yes! At last! At
Glory of Love: Cherry Pop Collects Peter Cetera's Full Moon-Warner Bros. Discography On New Box Set
UPDATED 1/22: As one of the seven members of Chicago as featured on their 1969 debut album Chicago Transit Authority, bassist-singer Peter Cetera's soaring tenor became an integral component of the band's sound on such hits as "25 or 6 to 4," "Feelin' Stronger Every Day," "Just You 'n' Me," and "(I've Been) Searching So Long." When his own composition "If You Leave Me Now" became Chicago's first-ever No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 - not to mention in international territories such as Canada,
Oh Me, Oh My: Crimson Collects Lulu's Hits and Rarities on New "Gold" Volume
Demon Music Group has recently celebrated the career of Scottish singer Lulu with projects including 2018's Decade, a definitive chronicle of her first ten years in music. Now, Demon's Crimson Productions imprint is releasing the first comprehensive, career-spanning anthology for Lulu as part of its ongoing, budget-priced but music-packed Gold series. Lulu's Gold volume encompasses a generous 60 songs on three CDs, and most significantly, is cross-licensed to include tracks from her various
Short Takes: Live Albums Coming from The Allman Brothers Band, New Order
The Allman Brothers Band Recording Company has announced a new addition to its live concert series. Recorded on September 28, 1971 at the Austin Municipal Auditorium in Austin, TX, Down in Texas '71 is available now for pre-order exclusively through Merch Mountain. Beginning March 26 (the anniversary of the band's formation), it will be available only at Macon, GA's Big House museum gift shop and online store, and as a digital release. Down in Texas '71 captures the Allman Brothers Band -
Better Get Hit In Yo' Soul: 60 Years of Impulse! Records Celebrated On New CD, LP Box Set
Since its initial 1961 releases produced by founder Creed Taylor, Impulse! Records has been synonymous with excellence in jazz. "The House That Trane Built" was stylish both in packaging (with its distinctive orange-and-black color scheme and exclamation point) and content, with a remarkable artist roster boasting not only John Coltrane but Charles Mingus, Ray Charles, Archie Shepp, Alice Coltrane, Quincy Jones, McCoy Tyner, Gil Evans, Oliver Nelson, Duke Ellington, Johnny Hartman, and Pharoah
Look at the View: Cherry Red's New Strawberry Imprint Collects Mod, Pop, Psych, and Freakbeat on "Halcyon Days"
Last year, Cherry Red's RPM imprint closed up shop after almost 30 years and some 600+ releases. But a new imprint was announced to pick up where RPM left off: Strawberry. Its inaugural collection, Halcyon Days: '60s Mod, R&B, Brit Soul, and Freakbeat Nuggets has proved an auspicious debut for the imprint with big shoes to fill. The 3-CD collection traces the development of '60s British soul and R&B from the mod period to the first flowering of psychedelia featuring a blend of names
Life Lessons: America's Gerry Beckley Looks Back on New Solo Career Retrospective "Keeping the Light On"
For over fifty years, Gerry Beckley has performed, written, and recorded with the group he co-founded with Dewey Bunnell and Dan Peek, America. But with his 1995 album Van Go Gan, Beckley began a parallel solo career that also continues to this very day. On the heels of his sublime 2019 release Five Mile Road, the singer-songwriter is looking back with a new solo retrospective. Keeping the Light On: The Best of Gerry Beckley will arrive in 2-CD and 2-LP formats via the Blue Élan label on
Heavy: Cherry Red, Esoteric Collect Iron Butterfly's "Unconscious Power" on New Box Set
Truth in advertising: Iron Butterfly's first album was titled Heavy. The 1968 Atco Records release introduced the band's dense sound fusing hard rock and psychedelia with a set of original songs plus a reimagining of Allen Toussaint's "Get Out of My Life Woman." While three-fifths of the band left after that debut, Heavy nonetheless began Iron Butterfly on a journey encompassing four studio LPs, one-off tracks, and live sets through 1971. Now, that journey has been lavishly chronicled on a
Point of Rising: Jeff Larson, Jeddrah Team Up for Collaborative Album "New Moon"
Who says that classy adult pop is a thing of the past? The California pop-rock sound is in gorgeous full bloom on Jeff Larson and Jeddrah's New Moon, available everywhere today on digital/streaming services as well as physical CD from Japan's Vivid Sound label. The first (but hopefully not the last) full-length collaborative album between the two artists, New Moon is collaborative in every sense. Larson, a mainstay of the West Coast scene who's worked extensively with America and recently
Share Your Love: Vinyl Me Please Announces New Reissues of Soul, Folk, Rock, and Hip-Hop Classics
Record subscription service Vinyl Me Please has announced the latest batch of reissues for this month, February, and March. These are split into three tracks: Essentials, curated from an array of genres; Classics, which focuses primarily on soul, jazz, and R&B; and Rap & Hip-Hop, which spotlights favorites These include lost classics from the Stax and Motown vaults, John Prine's masterful self-titled album, overlooked hip-hop gems, and a landmark rock album from the turn of the new
By the Forces of Nature: Rhino Celebrates Black History Month With Limited Edition Vinyl and New Digital Releases
Black History Month is on the way in February and to celebrate, Rhino will release a number of limited-edition colored vinyl reissues along with a digital initiative to bring legendary recordings to digital service providers for the first time ever. The Rhino Black initiative begins on February 5, with the vinyl reissue of George Benson's multi-platinum Breezin' (issued on blue and beige vinyl) and a the first-ever vinyl issue of the Donny Hathaway compendium, A Donny Hathaway Collection, which
Like Someone In Love: Craft Recordings Launches New "Small Batch" Audiophile Vinyl Series With John Coltrane's "Lush Life"
Craft Recordings has announced a new series of specially curated and high-quality vinyl reissues: the Small Batch collection. It kicks off with a new pressing of John Coltrane's Lush Life, due February 19. Each limited edition release in the Craft Recordings Small Batch series is a deluxe affair, combining audiophile-approved mastering techniques, a special vinyl lacquering process, and stunning design - adding up to what the label promises is the highest quality listening experience. The
Soundtrack Watch: Varese Expands 'Looney Tunes' and 'Babe,' La-La Land Sweeps New 'Cobra Kai' Albums
The year is still new, but archival soundtrack labels are already working overtime with some solid new releases, including two expanded versions of gems from Varese Sarabande's catalogue, and two new releases from La-La Land Records covering one of TV's hottest tickets. First up from Varese is a new expansion of Nigel Westlake's score to the film Babe. Based on a British book about a pig raised as a sheepdog on a country farm, the film was seven years in development by an unlikely producer:
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