How terribly strange to be seventy. Today, October 13, Paul Simon reaches that milestone, over forty-three years after he first mused what it would be like to be sitting on that park bench with his friend, like bookends. Yet in that time, Simon’s music has remained resonant and timely, a point driven home when the singer paid tribute on September 11, 2011 to the fallen at New York City’s Ground Zero with a poignant performance of “The Sound of Silence.” His music has been a soundtrack to
Intrada Scares Up Some Special Soundtracks
It's always a cause for celebration when a label gets some long-lost piece of music out to the public for consumption. And Intrada's special mid-week batch of archival film scores is no different, offering two premiere horror scores, one of which was presumed lost for years. First up is the score to Fright Night, the 1985 horror classic (recently remade this past summer) about a teen who has to stop his next-door neighbor, a bloodthirsty vampire, from feeding on the innocent. The score is the
What a Fox! KISS Drummer Eric Carr Celebrated with Rarities Set
While Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss are known as the definitive lineup of iconic rock band KISS, longtime fans know the lineup has changed countless times in the past few decades. (Today's incarnation of the band only features Stanley and Simmons as original members, with guitarist Tommy Thayer and drummer Eric Singer wearing the original Spaceman and Catman makeup, respectively.) One of the most notable other members of KISS, though, was Eric Carr. The first
Steve Perry's "Street Talk" Gets Vinyl Reissue
It'd be easy to imagine former Journey frontman Steve Perry doing little besides sitting on a pile of money and denying the opportunity to reunite with his old band. In fact, the singer has been hard at work revisiting his solo debut, Street Talk, for an audiophile release. Perry, who has effusively praised the quality of Journey's forthcoming Greatest Hits Volume 2 release, recently took to The Mastering Lab in Ojai, California, to remaster his hit album alongside engineer Robert Hadley for a
Columbia Compiles "Classic Christmas" From Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett once famously asked in song, “When do the bells ring for me?” Well, this week, sleigh bells are ringing for the 85-years-young crooner. Bennett, who recently topped the charts for the first time in his long career with Duets II, has added yet another title to his considerable catalogue. The Classic Christmas Album was released yesterday by RPM, Columbia and Legacy, and brings together 18 holiday-themed recordings recorded between 1968 and 2008. With Bennett’s typical class, the
"Looking Good, La-La Land." "Feeling Good, The Second Disc."
As previously reported, La-La Land Records' newest release is the premiere of Elmer Bernstein's score to the classic comedy Trading Places, available as of yesterday. One of the most fondly remembered films of the 1980s, Trading Places is the story of a rich banker (Dan Aykroyd) conned by his bosses to lose everything as part of a "social experiment" to switch a rich man with a poor man and observe the results. The poor man who assumes Aykroyd's life is a street hustler played by Eddie Murphy -
Review: Matt Monro, "The Man Behind The Voice"
In Michele Monro’s The Man Behind the Voice, the author sums up the career of her subject, who also happened to be her father: “Matt never acquired the ‘superstar’ tag, but quality was his code, and he earned the reputation for being a class act with a superlative gift.” Though Matt Monro died in 1985 aged just 54, his music continues to flourish today. Monro’s voice is as vibrant now as when he first recorded “Born Free,” “To Russia with Love” or any of the countless other songs, both
Review: Johnny Cash, "Bootleg Vol. III: Live Around the World"
The legend of Johnny Cash has been told and retold since the man’s passing in 2003, and so much is often made of his demons over the years. But as the old folk song goes, “the old account was settled long ago.” Intrinsic though those troubles are to Cash’s mythos, his devotion to family and God were both just as deeply ingrained. Whatever may have lurked beneath the surface is largely absent from the 53 joyous songs that make up Bootleg Vol. III: Live Around the World (Columbia/Legacy 88697
Williams, Herrmann, Conti Join Varese Club
The sleeping giant that is Varese Sarabande's CD Club awoke for the second time yesterday, announcing four killer soundtracks from the film score vaults for your perusal. Chief among the surprises in this week's batch was the announcement of a John Williams score from the Universal Pictures film Midway (1976) - a major coup for fans of the Maestro. A gripping World War II drama starring Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, Toshiro Mifune and a host of A-list actors, Midway sees
Release Round-Up: Week of October 11
Ben Folds, The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective (Epic/Legacy) Ben Folds-mania - at least around Second Disc HQ - hits a fever pitch with the first compilation from everyone's favorite piano-playing smartass. You have your single-disc version, the excellent three-disc version and the digital vault, featuring another 55 tracks at 320 kbps MP3s. (Five of those tracks are yours free when you buy the three-disc set.) (Official site) James Brown, The Singles Vol. 11 (1979-1981) (Hip-o
Friday Feature: "An American Werewolf in London"
In 1941, the werewolf mythology gained an iconic set of lines in the Universal horror classic The Wolf Man: "Even a man who is pure at heart/and says his prayers by night/May become a wolf when the wolfsbane blooms/and the autumn moon is bright." Forty years later, from the same studio, a less delicate line was added to the lycanthrope canon: "I will not be threatened by a walking meat loaf!" Such is the tone of An American Werewolf in London, one of the best horror-comedies of the past few
No Kontroversy Here: Kinks Mono Box Set Coming Soon
It's been a banner year for the Kinks. Under the supervision of reissue producer (and Monkees guru!) Andrew Sandoval, Sanctuary and Universal U.K. have rolled out an impressive series of Deluxe Editions bringing together mono and stereo album versions, single and EP tracks and related ephemera from the Kinks' Pye Records heyday. Now, that campaign has gotten a bit bigger in scope, with the announcement of The Kinks in Mono. This new box set, due in the U.K. on November 29, follows in the
Stay Awhile: Dusty Springfield Box Set Packed With Rarities, Due This Month In Two Editions
UPDATE 10/6: We're just a few short weeks away from the release of Goin' Back: The Definitive Dusty Springfield, a super deluxe box set by any standards. With its four CDs, three DVDs and two hardback books, Goin' Back may be the ultimate holiday gift for the Dusty diehard. Of its 92 audio tracks, 22 are previously unreleased, 10 are making their U.K. debut and five are appearing for the very first time on CD. Of its 98 video performances, a full 32 are premiering on DVD. But if Goin' Back
Greater Hits: Going Barenaked
In one of our newest features, Greater Hits, we pit two greatest hits compilations by the same artist against each other and see which one comes out on top. Today's installment: we take one of Canada's most successful alt-rock bands, compare their compilations and figure out which one's most worth your time, whether you have $1,000,000 or not. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfdTnpV03p8] It's been just more than one week since the Barenaked Ladies' Hits from Yesterday & The Day
The Takeover, The Break's Over: Jay-Z Reissues "The Blueprint" on Vinyl
Timing is everything, especially in the hip-hop world. So what does it say about Jay-Z that he somehow managed to make a positive out of one of the darkest days in American history? A vinyl reissue of his landmark The Blueprint may provide some answers to that question. The man born Shawn Carter had already established himself as a rapper/entrepreneur of the highest order. The grit and realism of his first album, 1996's Reasonable Doubt, placed him high on the list of rappers to watch,
What's in Ben's Vault?
As if getting a set of Ben Folds Five rarities on disc with next week's Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective wasn't enough, Folds, along with Legacy Recordings, vowed to open the vaults even further with the Ben Folds Fifty-Five Vault, a 55-track digital companion, five tracks of which would be given away free with purchase of the new compilation. Today, all the tracks were announced from the vault, and while not all of it is entirely unreleased, there's more than enough to satisfy the
Review: Pink Floyd, "The Dark Side of the Moon: Immersion Box Set"
At what point in a super deluxe - or Immersion - box set does the music itself become, if not irrelevant, an afterthought? It's hard not to wonder, sifting through the treasure chest - or toy chest, perhaps - that's the Immersion Box Set of Pink Floyd's landmark 1973 rock opus The Dark Side of the Moon (EMI 50999 029431 2, 2011). It's not hard to imagine many Floyd devotees finding themselves over the rainbow with this package, and of course that famous rainbow is everywhere in this box
Gorillaz to Release First Compilation in November
Gorillaz don't look 10 years old, do they? Granted, it's not easy to assess the age of a band made almost entirely out of cartoons. Adding to the confusion, the band's future-forward hip-hop doesn't sound much like a product of any time period. Regardless, the band is indeed at the decade mark - and they're being commemorated with a new compilation. The fictitious members of the band - vocalist/keyboardist 2D, bassist Murdoc Niccals, guitarist Noodle and drummer Russel Hobbs - actually have a
Bernstein Bonanza: Intrada Goes On A "Rampage," It's "Summer" at Kritzerland, and La-La Land is "Trading Places"
If Elmer Bernstein had only composed the indelible theme to The Magnificent Seven, the composer would have been considered a legend. How lucky for us, then, that Bernstein (1922-2004) wrote the scores for more than 200 films and television shows including Sweet Smell of Success, The Ten Commandments, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Airplane! and Ghostbusters, contributing memorable themes to each. The music of Bernstein has been incredibly well-represented on compact disc this year. Kritzerland has
Mumford & Sons Go Back to "The Cave" for Expanded Album
In case you've been living under a rock for the past year or so, Mumford & Sons isn't the name of a trendy country boutique. It's a rather great, roots-oriented band turning out some of the best, harmonically dense Americana-tinged rock on the scene right now. (Naturally, they're not from around these parts, calling West London their home.) In the year since Mumford & Sons' Sigh No More was released in the U.S., the quartet's songs, namely "Little Lion Man" and "The Cave," have become
Better Than Barbecued Iguana: Varese to Release New Wall of Voodoo Compilation
There's a good chance that, if you own at least one '80s compilation CD released in the past 10 or 15 years, you've heard "Mexican Radio" by Wall of Voodoo. Though the song - with its distinctively sung couplets from vocalist Stan Ridgeway and a propulsive, rhythmic backing track featuring some great guitar work and a distinctive, mariachi-flavored harmonica/synth lick - peaked outside of Billboard's Top 40 almost three decades ago, it's become one of those tunes that sums up the New Wave sound
Even Better Than the Real Thing? U2 Uber-Box Details Unveiled (UPDATED WITH TRACK LISTS)
Well. U2 have finally unveiled the preliminary details for the Achtung Baby box set, and it's particularly insane. Of the five formats available for this set, most of them could be predicted. You have your single-disc remaster, a two-disc edition featuring B-sides and remixes and a quadruple-vinyl set featuring Achtung Baby and its remixes and B-sides. Fine enough. Then we have the big box set. Well, two versions of the big box set. At the heart of each is 10 discs - six CDs and four DVDs -
Back Tracks: Paul McCartney, Working Classical - From "Liverpool Oratorio" to "Ocean's Kingdom"
Tucked between album opener “Taxman” and “I’m Only Sleeping” on Side One of The Beatles’ 1966 LP Revolver, “Eleanor Rigby” heralded an explicit attempt by the pop giants at pushing the musical envelope, both with its despairing lyrics and classical-inspired arrangement for a string octet. Primarily the composition of Paul McCartney, “Eleanor Rigby” defied the odds to hit the top spot on the British charts (a double A-side single with “Yellow Submarine”) and hit the No. 11 spot in the United
Short Takes: Jesus and Mary Chain Error Addressed, Meat Loaf Catalogue Could Be in Doubt
A few brief notes from around the catalogue world on this Tuesday afternoon! Slicing Up Eyeballs reports that the deluxe edition of The Jesus and Mary Chain's Darklands has an error on one disc, but Demon Music Group is ready to replace your copies. A mastering error caused eight tracks on the first CD to become improperly indexed, meaning the starts of those tracks will be cut off if you shuffle or skip through the program. Replacement discs are already being pressed and should be ready in
Ain't They Sweet: The Beatles' Hamburg Recordings Revisited By Time-Life
Reissue! Repackage! Repackage! We’ve occasionally used that tag here at The Second Disc to signify that rare breed of reissue, the kind that simply regurgitates extant material in one dizzying configuration after another. And few titles have been repackaged more times than the set variously known as The Beatles’ First!, In the Beginning, Savage Young Beatles and The Early Tapes. These eight songs, performed by the embryonic Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Pete Best)
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