We've covered a lot of box sets this holiday season but today we're taking a look at three more compact - but no less enjoyable! - stocking stuffers! The two titles carried by Amazon are shipping now with delivery before Christmas. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Freddie Scott (1933-2007) had been recording for seven years when his impassioned rendition of Carole King and Gerry Goffin's "Hey Girl" reached the top ten of both the Pop and R&B charts in 1963.
An Interview with Scott Davies, Rubellan Remasters' One-Man Band
Scott Davies has learned a lot on the job. Once toiling in the business of IT, music fans now know him as the singular creative force behind Rubellan Remasters - the sole curator, engineer, designer and distributor of a handful of CDs covering respected catalogues by New Wave/alternative acts including Visage, Missing Persons, Divinyls and most recently Oingo Boingo, the alt-rock band led in the '80s and '90s by future film composer Danny Elfman. From 2021 to the present Rubellan remastered
Second Chance: Cherry Red, Lemon Collect Bon Scott's Fraternity on "Seasons of Change: The Complete Recordings 1970-1974"
Before achieving international fame as the high-powered vocalist of AC/DC, Bon Scott earned his bona fides in his native Australia - first with The Valentines and then with Fraternity. A few years back, Cherry Red's RPM imprint traced Scott's journey with the pop-oriented Valentines. Now, the Lemon imprint has collected his work with Fraternity in a new 3-CD box set Season of Change: The Complete Recordings 1970-1974 which includes an entire disc of never-before-released
A SECOND DISC EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Marty Scott and Kenneth Womack Discuss "JEM Records Celebrates John Lennon"
It was 40 years ago this year that John Lennon tragically left the world. Yet his legacy remains strong by way of numerous reissues, compilations, books, and films. Moreover, the timeless message of his songs continues to resonate with audiences everywhere and inspire new interpretations by artists of all genres. Tomorrow, October 9, marks what would have been John's 80th birthday. On that date, the New Jersey-founded indie label JEM Records will commemorate Lennon's life and music by
Roxy Special: Real Gone Music Unearths Jazz Titles From Kellee Patterson, Raymond Scott Big Band
Jazz fans will no doubt be setting their sights on September 25, as Real Gone Music releases two lost gems of jazz: Kellee Patterson's Maiden Voyage , another slice of the seventies from the Black Jazz Records catalog, and Hemidemisemiquaver: Buried Treasures of the Raymond Scott Big Band, which celebrates an often overlooked period in the career of the Warner Bros. cartoon composer and electronic music trailblazer. First up, the exciting reissue of Kellee Patterson's first album for the
I'm Dreamin' A Dream: Real Gone Music Revisits Out-Of-Print Titles From Norma Tanega, Tom Tom Club, Horace Tapscott, and Charles Bukowski
Real Gone Music has announced the re-release of four albums from the label's vault which are being brought back in print on new vinyl colorways: Charles Bukowski Reads His Poetry, Norma Tanega's Walking My Cat Named Dog, Horace Tapscott Quintet's The Giant Is Awakened, and Tom Tom Club's self-titled album. All these sought-after titles will return to shops on August 21, so whether you like free jazz, profane poetry, singer-songwriters, or funky dance grooves, Real Gone has you covered once
The Giants Awakened: Real Gone Preps Art Blakey Anthology and Horace Tapscott Quintet LP Reissue
Real Gone Music has announced two exciting jazz titles due the last week of February and the first week of March. Arriving first on February 28 is the first-ever vinyl reissue of The Horace Tapscott Quintet's 1969 album The Giant Is Awakened. Originally released on the Flying Dutchman label, the recording is a masterful mix of free jazz and pan-African influences. Pianist Tapscott leads the band, which also features alto saxophonist Arthur Blythe, bassists David Bryant and Walter Savage,
Your Soul and Mine: Gil Scott-Heron's "I'm New Here" Receives 10th Anniversary Expanded Edition and New Remix Album
A decade ago, influential proto-hip-hop performer and writer Gil Scott-Heron released his final solo album, I'm New Here. XL Recordings will revisit the acclaimed album with an expanded edition that hits shops on February 7, exactly ten years after the original was unleashed to the public. The revisited 2-CD or 2-LP color vinyl set features the original album alongside two unreleased recordings - a newly unearthed original called "King Henry IV" and a take on Richie Havens' arrangement of
In Memoriam: Scott Walker (1943-2019) - Back Tracks: Part II (1975-2018)
"Imagine Andy Williams reinventing himself as Stockhausen," The Guardian once wrote of the amazing journey of Scott Walker. The pop idol turned crooner turned shocking avant-garde auteur died this week at age 76, but not before leaving behind one of the most fascinating catalogues of the rock era. An American and child actor on Broadway who found his success in England as one third of The Walker Brothers, Scott could have been content reliving his glory days of "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine
In Memoriam: Scott Walker (1943-2019) - Back Tracks: Part I (1967-1974)
"Imagine Andy Williams reinventing himself as Stockhausen," The Guardian once wrote of the amazing journey of Scott Walker. The pop idol turned crooner turned shocking avant-garde auteur died this week at age 76, but not before leaving behind one of the most fascinating catalogues of the rock era. An American and child actor on Broadway who found his success in England as one third of The Walker Brothers, Scott could have been content reliving his glory days of "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine
Hit The Motherlode: UMe Prepares Vinyl Reissues of James Brown, Scott Walker, Meat Loaf and U2
Over the past few weeks, Universal has announced a varied assortment of upcoming vinyl releases, including a rarities collection from the Godfather of Soul, a compilation of early Scott Walker, two Meat Loaf titles arriving on vinyl for the first time ever in the States, and a celebratory 10th Anniversary edition from U2. It's set to be a vinyl-filled February and March, and The Second Disc has all the details! First up, Geffen/UMe is serving up two new editions of celebrated Meat Loaf
On The "Highway to Hell": RPM Collects Bon Scott's Early Music with The Valentines
The late Bon Scott once topped a list of The 100 Greatest Frontmen of All Time; on another occasion, he was voted fifth on a list of 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Vocalists of All Time. Such accolades stemmed from Scott's 1974-1980 tenure with AC/DC, the band he was leading at the time of his death in 1980. But before taking hard rock to the next level with AC/DC and even before going prog with Fraternity, Scott fronted pop groups in his native Australia such as The Valentines. Their complete
Cherry Red's él Label Offers Rod McKuen, Wally Stott, Bobby Scott Rarities
Cherry Red's él imprint has a trio of recent releases continuing its commitment to truly eclectic sounds of the pre-1964 era. Two of these are musical odes to the big city life of London and New York, from arrangers Wally Stott and Bobby Scott, respectively; the third reissues and expands a compilation from the late Rod McKuen. Singer-songwriter-poet-author-renaissance man McKuen, who died earlier this year, was recently the subject of Varese Vintage's Reflections: The Greatest Songs of Rod
Great Scott! "Back to the Future" Trilogy Reissued on CD and Vinyl
"Wait a minute, wait a minute. Doc, ah...are you telling me that you built a time machine...out of a DeLorean?" With those words, audiences were in for the ride of a lifetime with Back to the Future, 1985's hit sci-fi comedy about a teenager who accidentally ends up 30 years in the past and has to ensure his existence by setting up his parents before making it back to his present day. With a winning cast that included Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd as the dynamic duo of young Marty McFly
Back Tracks: Scott Walker, Part 2 (1975-2014)
Where Part 1 of our Back Tracks feature left Scott Walker, he was in a creatively barren period, cranking out albums of AM pop and country, a far cry from the Brel songs and even the Brill Building tearjerkers that characterized his best work. Having left the sublime pop symphonies and edgy chansons behind, he found inspiration in the unlikeliest of places. In 1975, The Walker Brothers reformed, much to the surprise of many. The group recorded the LP No Regrets, which they followed up with
Back Tracks: Scott Walker, Part 1 (1967-1974)
This week, Scott Walker released his latest studio album, Soused, a predictably unpredictable collaboration with drone-metal band Sunn O))). To mark the occasion, we’re reviewing the musical iconoclast’s complete discography in this two-part Back Tracks series originally presented in June 2010 and freshly updated! The music business is famous for hyperbole, but it’s no exaggeration to say that few have had a career anything like that of Scott Walker. An American who skyrocketed to fame on
I Know A Place: Petula Clark, Scott Walker, Connie Francis Celebrate "The Songs of Tony Hatch"
Ace Records’ latest addition to its Songwriters Series, Colour My World: The Songs of Tony Hatch, should come with a warning label – CAUTION: THESE SONGS WILL MAKE YOU HAPPY. A composer, lyricist, producer, arranger and A&R man (whew!), Hatch was a hitmaker par excellence, and one of no small skill for imparting joy through his music. Petula Clark’s bright 1964 single “Downtown” alone would likely have assured Hatch a place in the Book of Pop, Swingin’ Sixties chapter. But listening to a
Gotcha! Raven Collects Three Essentials From Saxophone Great Tom Scott
Chances are if you’re reading these words, you’re intimately familiar with at least one performance by Tom Scott. The saxophonist played the part of the titular “Jazzman” on Carole King’s 1974 No. 2 single of the same name, helped take Paul McCartney’s “Listen to What the Man Said” all the way up to No. 1 in 1975, and lent support to Whitney Houston as she professed to be “Saving All My Love for You.” But the Grammy-winning Scott was also a prolific recording artist, both solo and with his
INTERVIEW: Excavating Jem with Marty Scott
The list of American cities tied to record labels is small, but certainly notable. Memphis has Stax and Sun, Detroit is defined by Motown, Sub Pop defined the Seattle sound...and then there's Jem Records, which made its home in the middle-class borough of South Plainfield, New Jersey. Jem, as well as its sub-labels like Passport (a joint venture with Seymour Stein of Sire Records) and PVC, became something of a cratedigger's dream in the 1970s and 1980s, licensing content from all over the
Back To Montague Terrace (In Blue): Scott Walker's Early Solo Albums Are Remastered and Boxed
Upon the late 2012 release of Scott Walker's album Bish Bosch, U.K. newspaper The Guardian posed the question, "Were you hoping this might be the album that would see Scott Walker return to lush, beautiful balladry?" The answer: "Well, tough." Indeed, the iconoclastic singer-songwriter has pursued a defiantly singular path creating intense, nightmarish and never-uninteresting soundscapes on albums such as Bish Bosch. His work over the past two-plus decades has been removed, of course, from
The Weekend Stream: November 9, 2024
Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc's review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. This week brings new remixes from Pet Shop Boys, old remixes from INXS, plus rare folk, jazz and alt-rock favorites - plus another bounty of unusual Christmas albums and EPs! Pet Shop Boys, New London boy / All the young dudes EPs (x2/Parlophone) Standard: iTunes / Amazon Remixes: iTunes / Amazon A new double A-side single from Pet Shop
In Memoriam: Quincy Jones (1933-2024)
Quincy Delight Jones was just 14 years old when he introduced himself to Ray Charles. Though the pianist-singer was just two years older, he was already an inspiration to the younger musician. Charles had the gift of synthesizing the various strains of music - jazz, folk, country, pop, soul, rhythm and blues, and gospel, among them - into a sound both wholly new and wholly American. Jones was struck by how Charles overcame adversity, and their shared ethos became one which shaped young
The Weekend Stream: October 26, 2024
Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc's review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. We're positively packed this Saturday: posthumous tracks from Van Halen, Luther Vandross and DMX; a great deluxe live set from Linda Ronstadt; plus some Halloween and Christmas surprises...and, to top it all off, a call to action to aid one of our favorite power-pop acts of the last 40 years. Edward & Alex Van Halen, "Unfinished (Between
Soundtrack Watch: September Score Releases Abound at La-La Land, Intrada and More
The end of the year always brings a deluge of news and releases for archival film score fans. While October is nearly over and has had its share of killer announcements, we'd first like to shine a light on some of the biggest titles released back in September! La-La Land had a busy ninth month of the year, featuring a lot of other long-running partnerships and favorites from the label discography. First, there's the seventh and final release in the label's Star Trek: The Original Series - The
Mama, Cradle Me Again: Madfish Collects Laura Nyro Albums, Rarities on New CD Box
Over three years after the release of its 8LP vinyl box set American Dreamer 1967-1978, the Madfish label is returning to the discography of late singer-songwriter Laura Nyro for the December 6 release of Hear My Song: The Collection 1966-1995. Whereas American Dreamer chronicled Nyro's first decade of music, the 19CD Hear My Song is a career-spanning appreciation of the artist who influenced such talents as Elton John, Barry Manilow, Todd Rundgren, Stephen Schwartz, Rickie Lee Jones, Melissa
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 39
- Next Page »