When Margaret Whiting scored a No. 26 Pop/No. 1 Easy Listening hit with 1966's "The Wheel of Hurt," she was surrounded by the aura of a comeback. But the veteran songstress was only in her early forties. Three albums and a clutch of singles recorded for London Records between 1966 and 1970 proved that Whiting was most definitely still a contender. Now, the recordings from Whiting's London period have finally arrived on CD, filling in a major gap in the Margaret Whiting discography. Real Gone
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
Soundtrack Watch: La-La Land Issues a "Challenge," Intrada Premieres Goldsmith, Bernstein, Jarre Classics
Here's some recent soundtrack news from the last month to keep you up to date on two of our favorite score labels: La-La Land and Intrada. La-La Land's released several archival scores in the past few weeks. First there was The Challenge, a film written by John Sayles and directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Scott Glenn and Toshirō Mifune as two unlikely partners tasked to obtain a rare sword in Japan. Jerry Goldsmith provided a fine action score for the flick; first released on
Come Aboard, He's Expecting You: Vintage Jack Jones Albums Arrive From Zone Records
For eight seasons beginning in 1977, the voice of Jack Jones came into households singing the praises of The Love Boat via Paul Williams and Charles Fox's famous theme song. Yet long before The Love Boat, the smooth-voiced singer had established himself as a premier vocalist comfortable with both jazz and changing pop styles. To date, Jones has recorded over fifty albums, yet many of his finest album achievements still remain unreleased on CD. Zone Records is rectifying that with the reissue
Review: Julio Iglesias, "1 - Greatest Hits: Deluxe Edition"
How to define Julio Iglesias? Perhaps the iconic Spanish entertainer can be best summed up by the numbers. In a career spanning well over 40 years, Iglesias has recorded 80 albums, sold 300 million records, and sung in 14 languages. Now, Iglesias, who will turn 70 later this year, has been feted with the first American release of a new collection with a number in the title. 1 – Greatest Hits, already a multi-platinum seller in numerous Spanish-speaking territories, has arrived in the U.S.
Review: Paul Anka, "Duets"
Whether you prefer your “My Way” by Sinatra or Sid (Vicious, that is), you have Paul Anka to thank. It was Anka who took the melody to the chanson “Comme d’habitude” and crafted the ultimate anthem of survival and tenacity with his English-language lyrics. When Sinatra recorded the song, a gift to him from Anka, he was just 53 years of age yet could still ring true when singing of that “final curtain.” Today, Paul Anka is 71, and his new memoir is entitled, what else, My Way. Thankfully, the
Release Round-Up: Week of April 9
Brainstorm / S.O.S. Band / Cherrelle / Alexander O'Neal, "Tabu Reborn" Expanded CD Editions (Wave 1) (Tabu/Edsel) After a fresh batch of vinyl last week, the Tabu Records reissue campaign (going strong through next year) kicks off with expanded editions of Brainstorm's Stormin', The S.O.S. Band's III, Cherrelle's Fragile and Alexander O'Neal's self-titled debut. All feature bonus tracks (Alexander O'Neal has a bonus disc) and fresh deluxe packaging. Stormin': Amazon U.S. / Amazon
Review: Albert King, "Born Under a Bad Sign"
The familiar cover artwork to Albert King’s 1967 Stax album Born Under a Bad Sign hardly gives any indication as to its heavy contents. A calendar reading Friday the 13th, the Ace of Spades, snake eyes on the dice, and an almost-cute black cat (!) adorned with a skull and crossbones all reinforce the title of the album but offer precious little hint as to the smoking electric blues within the sleeve. Following 2012’s reissue of King’s 1972 Stax album I’ll Play the Blues for You, Concord Music
In Memoriam: Phil Ramone (1934-2013)
Today, The Second Disc remembers Phil Ramone. The multiple Grammy-winning producer, 79, died on Saturday, leaving behind a legacy of song from artists ranging from Barbra Streisand to Paul McCartney, Barry Manilow to The Band. Yet unlike so many of his contemporaries, Phil Ramone didn’t have a signature style. Instead of molding a band or singer to a preferred sonic specialty, he was a true architect of sound, tailoring each production to the individual artist. Ramone was equally comfortable
Those Oldies But Goodies: Bear Family Offers Up Vintage Everly Brothers, Paul Anka
Though best known for its definitive box sets spanning careers or large swaths of them, Germany’s historically-minded Bear Family label also keeps busy with a steady flow of single-disc anthologies, all with the label’s hallmarks of quality. Three such anthologies have recently arrived from Bear Family, two focusing on The Everly Brothers and one on Paul Anka. Brothers Don and Phil Everly successfully straddled the line between country and rock-and-roll (with a healthy dollop of R&B in
Review: Elvis Presley, "Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite: Legacy Edition"
Elvis Presley never did anything small. When he stepped onstage at 1:00 a.m. at Honolulu's International Center on January 14, 1973 for a scheduled 12:30 a.m. concert, satellites were beaming the most expensive entertainment broadcast ever to an audience of over one billion (yes, one billion) people around the world. The subsequent RCA album quickly was certified gold, and eventually went five times platinum. Now that world-famous LP, Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite, is the latest Legacy
Release Round-Up: Week of March 19
Duane Allman, Skydog: The Duane Allman Retrospective (Rounder) A massive seven-disc box set celebrates the life and work of a guitar legend, gone far too soon. Read Joe's review here! (Amazon U.S.) Elvis Presley, Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite: Legacy Edition (RCA/Legacy) The classic best-selling live album, taken from the famed TV special, is paired with a newly-remixed version of The Alternate Aloha (a rehearsal show recorded days earlier) and rare bonus performances. You'll find Joe's
Coming Up Roses: Sepia Reissues Ethel Merman's "Greatest" On CD
When Ethel Merman opened on Broadway in 1930’s Girl Crazy, introducing the world to George and Ira Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm,” The New Yorker described her, precisely and accurately, as “imitative of no one.” She was only 22 at the time, but already Ethel Merman was recognized as having a tone unlikely any before or since. The actress-singer with the booming, clarion voice called the Great White Way her home for the next forty years with regularity, going from triumph to triumph via the likes
No April Fool: Real Gone Announces Packed Line-Up For Month with Grateful Dead, Whiting, Jans, Atkins, More
April is known for showers, so why shouldn’t Real Gone Music shower collectors with a big line-up encompassing not just some super-rare rock and soul, but also country, film soundtracks, pop vocals and even crossover classical? Nine releases, all due on April 2, run the gamut for this busy label. On the rock front, fans will likely snap up the first-time domestic CD release of the 1971 solo album by Memphis music legend Don Nix. Featuring the Muscle Shoals rhythm section, Living by the Days
Review: Barbra Streisand, "Classical Barbra: Expanded Edition"
The title said it all: Classical Barbra. Here was a singer who needed no surname, diving headfirst into a new repertoire, that of art songs and arias. Streisand’s 1976 “crossover” album, created in collaboration with arranger, pianist and conductor Claus Ogerman, has recently arrived on CD in a newly-remastered, expanded edition from Sony’s Masterworks label (88691 92255 2, 2013). And if Classical Barbra might not have been every fan’s first choice for a deluxe Streisand reissue, producer
To All The Fans He's Loved Before: Julio Iglesias Revisits His Legacy on New "Greatest Hits"
The artist born Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva practically defines “international superstar.” Iglesias, with roughly eighty albums under his belt since his 1969 debut, can boast over 300 million units sold worldwide, and has recorded in fourteen languages. On April 9, Legacy Recordings will recognize his extensive career with the first American release of 1 – Greatest Hits. Already certified multi-platinum in many Spanish-speaking territories, the 2-CD Greatest Hits differs from the typical
That Was "Laura": Classic Soundtrack Arrives on CD as Film Debuts on Blu-ray
Goodbye, Laura. Goodbye, my love… Director Otto Preminger’s 1944 film Laura remains one of the film noir dramas against which all others will be measured, the rare picture that transcended its troubled behind-the-scenes production to become an all-time classic. All the elements came together, from the cast (Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Vincent Prince, Judith Anderson) to the screenplay by Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein, and Elizabeth Reinhardt (based on Vera Caspary’s novel) to,
Review: The Miles Davis Quintet, "The Bootleg Series Volume 2: Live in Europe 1969"
“Directions in music by Miles Davis,” read the subtitle of the trumpeter’s late-1968 Columbia album Filles de Kilimanjaro. It was the first, but not the last, of his albums to bear those words. But listeners couldn’t have been expected to know which direction Davis would take with each album. Nefertiti, recorded in June-July 1967 but released in March 1968, turned out to be Davis’ last fully acoustic LP, with its follow-up Miles in the Sky (recorded January and May ’68 and released in
Duke Ellington Is "In Grand Company" with Ella, Basie, Satchmo, Coltrane and More
The legendary composer-arranger-pianist-bandleader Duke Ellington is In Grand Company on a new collection of the same name from Starbucks Entertainment, Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings. Much has been written of Ellington’s fertile creative partnership with “Take the ‘A’ Train” composer Billy Strayhorn, and indeed, Strayhorn is represented on this disc. But he’s just one of the many, varied artists represented on this collection’s fifteen tracks. Spanning four decades of recording on
Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues: Jack White's Label Issues Rare Blues Masters on Vinyl
Jack White's Third Man Records label, not merely content to issue unique offerings of the ex-White Stripe's music on a variety of formats, is now getting into the historical catalogue business with three forthcoming LPs of vintage blues masters. The new venture, Document Records, will present "the building blocks and DNA of American culture," as the announcement put it. This first wave of recordings features the early works of Charley Patton, the lauded "Father of the Delta Blues"whose powerful
Bob Dylan's (Copyright) Blues: "Freewheelin'" Outtakes and More Get a Limited, Pricey Release
January 2013 is barely one week old, but a candidate for strangest catalogue music story of the year has already broken. A 4-CD set of outtakes from the early career of Bob Dylan has recently been released, but don’t look for it in your local record shop, or even online. The 50th Anniversary Collection contains 86 Dylan songs, all recorded in 1962. But despite the interest that fans worldwide might have in this material (some of which has never circulated, even in collectors’ circles), the
No-Guilt Trip: Barbra Streisand Releases More From The Vaults on "Classical Barbra"
Nobody’s gonna rain on Barbra Streisand’s parade. Earlier this year, the Columbia Records artist earned her seventh consecutive Top 10 entry and 32nd overall Top 10 disc with Release Me, a collection of previously-vaulted material spanning her entire career. Streisand embarked on a series of sold-out concert dates in support of the album, and has just seen the big screen release of The Guilt Trip, a comedy in which she stars opposite Seth Rogen. Though a second volume of Release Me was
And Now She Sings! Chita Rivera Solo Albums Coming to CD from Stage Door
Chita Rivera was the toast of the musical stage in 1961, reprising her New York triumph in Bye Bye Birdie in London's West End. Over fifty years later, the resplendent Ms. Rivera is still the toast of the musical stage, wowing audiences nightly as the decadent Princess Puffer in the Broadway revival of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Yet the triple-threat dancer/actress/singer who originated roles in musicals including West Side Story and Chicago has made all too few trips to the recording studio
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Louis Armstrong, "The OKeh, Columbia and RCA Victor Recordings 1925-1933"
Duke Ellington famously stated, “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing,” but without Louis Armstrong, Duke would assuredly have had to pose some other question. Bing Crosby, the man owed a debut by every popular singer of the past eighty or so years, described Armstrong as “the beginning and end of music in America” while fellow trumpeter Miles Davis acknowledged that “you can’t play anything on a horn that Louis hasn’t played.” Yet Armstrong is arguably most remembered today by the
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Duke Ellington, "The Complete Columbia Studio Albums Collection 1951-1958"
What made Ellington a Duke? Though born in the final year of the 19th century, few figures in 20th century music were as influential as composer, pianist and bandleader Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington. By the time of his first ever long-playing album, 1951’s Masterpieces by Ellington, he was already American royalty, well-established via films, Broadway musicals and the enduring compositions he gifted to the Great American Songbook. Masterpieces also kicks off the nine-disc journey through
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