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
Big Break Goes Disco with KC and the Sunshine Band, George McCrae, Johnnie Taylor
The Temptations had sunshine on a rainy day, John Denver had it on his shoulders, and the O'Jays took their cue from an old standard to address a loved one as "my sunshine." But Harry Wayne Casey and Richard Finch, forming Miami's KC and the Sunshine Band, had sunshine both in the band name and in the joyful, exultant brand of music they played. Big Break Records has recently reissued one title recorded by those disco titans, one title produced by them, and one with another connection to the
Mary Wells' Early Motown Albums Collected in Mono on New Release
The third major Mary Wells release in recent months has arrived courtesy Ace Records’ Kent label. The One Who Really Loves You/Two Lovers combines Wells’ second and third Motown long-players on one remastered CD, with every track taken from the original mono masters for the first time in the compact disc era. Though Wells’ time at Motown was relatively brief, her star burned brightest there. The first true superstar to emerge from Hitsville, she was also the first of the company’s artists to
Don't Cry For Me, Princess Leia: John Williams, Andrew Lloyd Webber Go Disco
What do a beloved Broadway musical and an iconic sci-fi epic have to do with dance music pioneer Boris Midney? Plenty, as it turns out. Midney, a producer and arranger who came to prominence in the disco era with his expansive 48-track productions, recorded under a number of guises: Caress, Beautiful Bend, Masquerade, Double Discovery, to name a few. And The Demon Music Group’s Harmless Records imprint indeed does have a double discovery! On January 26 in the U.K. and one week later in the
Release Round-Up: Week of January 15
New Order, The Lost Sirens (Rhino) (Amazon U.S./Amazon U.K.) A cadre of outtakes from the Waiting for the Siren's Call sessions, this marks the last New Order material with original bassist Peter Hook. Johnny Mathis, A Special Part of Me: Expanded Edition (Amazon U.S./Amazon U.K.) (Funkytowngrooves) FTG's latest R&B expansion has a Michael Jackson connection: the future King of Pop co-wrote for Mathis "Love Never Felt So Good" with Paul Anka! Talk Talk, Natural History: The Very Best of
Dusty Groove Label Returns From Real Gone Music with Steig, Humphrey, Harris
The venerable Blue Note Records label was founded in 1939, and from the late 1940s onward emphasized what was most modern about jazz. Blue Note became well known, of course, for the hard bop classics recorded under its aegis. But the varied influences that created hard bop led Blue Note to explore how the avenues of soul, rock and blues intersected with that of jazz. Three new releases from Real Gone Music and the reactivated Dusty Groove Records label explore three sonically-diverse titles
Getting Away with It: Sumner and Marr's "Electronic" Gets a Confusing Expansion
It's not enough for Johnny Marr to be one of the greatest guitarists of the modern era (one with a solo album bowing today in the U.K.); this March, his acclaimed foray into dance music with Bernard Sumner will be reissued. But brace yourself, fans: it's a little weird. Frustrated by New Order's resistance to a more synth-based direction, Sumner began work on the Electronic by himself, but called longtime friend Marr - whose departure from The Smiths caused the band to dissolve - to
Real Gone Announces Hendrix-Produced LP from Cat Mother, Plus Grateful Dead, Rod McKuen, The Hello People, Freddie King, More
From a lost classic produced by Jimi Hendrix to Grateful Dead playing Warren Zevon, Real Gone Music’s February release slate has a little bit of soul, rock, pop, blues and even poetry! The label founded by Gordon Anderson and Gabby Castellana has an impressive line-up of titles due on February 26, including the first-ever standalone CD reissue of the Richard Perry-produced Reprise debut of Fanny (the first all-female rock group signed to a major label), a definitive 2-CD singles collection from
Beat The Boots: Digital Volumes of "Motown Unreleased 1962" Quietly Released Online
There's been much talk this week of Bob Dylan's 50th Anniversary Collection, a (very) limited edition title released in Europe to protect the singer's 1962 recordings from entering the public domain there. But we can report that it's not alone. On December 18, Universal Music very quietly released six exciting, digital-only compilations under the umbrella of Motown Unreleased: 1962. The New York Times has been among those speculating that the 120 tracks contained on the six "albums" have all
Deep Purple Duo: Blackmore's Final Show, "Slaves and Masters" to Be Reissued
Deep Purple fans have much to be excited about this month with two new catalogue projects covering two very different eras of the long-running rock group. Eagle Rock kicks things off with a new remaster and reissue of Live in Paris 1975, reportedly the first of 10 forthcoming titles from the band on the label. First released in full back in 2004 but excerpted on many Deep Purple live projects (starting with 1976's Made in Europe), this show, recorded at Paris' Palais de Sports in April 1975, is
Johnny Mathis' Expanded "Special Part of Me" Highlights Paul Anka and Michael Jackson Collaboration
It's been a wonderful, wonderful time to be a fan of Johnny Mathis, with the singer's long-lost Mercury Records catalogue recently having been upgraded to CD by Real Gone Music. As 2013 opens, another label is turning its attention to the Mathis catalogue. Funky Town Grooves is returning the 1984 album A Special Part of Me to CD in a first-ever expanded edition due on January 15. Mathis' association with Columbia Records began in 1956 when he was just 21 years of age, and these many years
30 Years of F#@$?!in' Up: NOFX Unveil Career-Spanning Vinyl Box
Long-running punk outfit NOFX will celebrate three decades of recording with a lavish vinyl box set next month. The iconoclastic group, led by punk elder statesman "Fat Mike" Burkett, has remained one of the most "pure" (for lack of a better term) American punk groups in their time together, largely eschewing press and having never signed to a major label. (Epitaph has distributed much of their catalogue, but Burkett has also operated indie label Fat Wreck Chords since 1990; that label issued
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
Burt Bacharach's "Together?" Finally Arrives On CD, Features Jackie DeShannon, Michael McDonald
Sexual liberation only goes so far… So went the tagline of director Armenia Balducci’s 1979 film Amo non amo. When the Italian drama starring Jacqueline Bisset, Maximilian Schell and Terence Stamp was slated for U.S. release, though, the decision was made to replace the score by Italian prog/symphonic “horror rock” band Goblin with a new, more accessible soundtrack. Burt Bacharach was tapped, and the Oscar-winning composer went far in lending an American flavor to the film, retitled for the
Information on "Inspiration": Shuggie Otis Returns with New Tour, Expanded Album with Unreleased Songs (UPDATED WITH TRACK LIST)
Shuggie Otis was born into a musical family, the son of Johnny Otis, the "Godfather of Rhythm and Blues." Bandleader, songwriter and performer Johnny (real name: Ioannis Alexandres Veliotes) scored successes with Etta James, "Little" Esther Phillips, Big Mama Thornton, Johnny Ace, Gladys Knight and the Pips, and more, so it could have been no surprise that Shuggie (born Johnny Alexander Veliotes Jr.) would follow in his father's footsteps. A multi-instrumentalist primarily known for his work
In Case You Missed It: Norah Jones' "Covers" Gets Domestic CD Release
Norah Jones sure is everywhere. The singer/songwriter with the smoky voice and a deep musical bloodline (being the daughter of Ravi Shankar) exploded onto the scene with 2002's Come Away with Me, a deft fusion of pop, jazz and country that topped the charts in nearly a dozen countries, won eight Grammy Awards and remains one of only 11 albums in this century to be certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America for over 10 million units shipped. She's also a reliable guest
Nearly Human, Completely Rundgren: Todd's 1990 San Francisco Concert Revisited
Todd Rundgren’s 1989 album Nearly Human was conceived with a simple mandate by the artist: record a set of songs that could be performed live in an “R&B revue”-style setting. To that end, it was recorded live with few overdubs. Rundgren intuitively knew that these songs needed to be strong enough to stand on their own; stand they did, and do. The album itself was reissued earlier this year by Edsel, and now the Esoteric Recordings label (part of the Cherry Red Group) has premiered a
Some Nice Things We've Missed: Quartet Records' Trio of Sondheim and Double Mancini
As 2012 yielded to 2013, more than a few noteworthy releases may have been lost in the shuffle. Some of the most impressive of those December releases came from Spain's Quartet Records. The label closed out the year with three particularly spectacular titles that no film score buff will want to miss. Two came from the prolific pen of Henry Mancini, perhaps the most-represented soundtrack composer in terms of 2012’s releases. Having previously issued the complete score to Curse of the Pink
Three From FiveFour: Jazz Label Offers Gil Evans on Hendrix, Plus Don Ellis and Duke Ellington
Cherry Red’s recently-reactivated FiveFour label’s latest trawl into the Sony jazz archives has delivered another three rare titles to CD. All have been available in the format before, though one is particularly difficult to find, and all three should have great appeal. The oldest selection of the trio hails from 1959. Duke Ellington’s Jazz Party welcomed Dizzy Gillespie as well as Jimmy Rushing, Jimmy Jones and Ellington’s longtime sax man, Jimmy Hodges. Ellington and his frequent
Simply Irresistible: Edsel Plans Expanded Robert Palmer Two-Fers
The point is irrefutable! Edsel is releasing two double-disc sets containing all of the late, great Robert Palmer's albums for EMI, with a few audio extras. One of the best blue-eyed soul singers from across the pond, Palmer had been well-known among pop gurus for his eclectic discography on Island Records in the 1970s and 1980s, including hits like "Every Kinda People" and "Bad Case of Loving You." His big break in the U.S., however, came when Andy and John Taylor, the guitarist and bassist
In Case You Missed It: Stand Up and Cheer! Intrada Releases "Hoosiers" Soundtrack and More
We begin our first day of catalogue coverage for 2013 by...keeping up with some titles that came out last year that slipped through our wires. (I know, I know. Really, it just sat in drafts for a week or two while I kept wrapping presents instead of finalizing it. -Ed.) Rest assured, though, that these - the final three catalogue soundtrack releases from Intrada Records - are worth your time in any year. First up is one of Intrada's most intriguing releases in awhile, in that it's two scores
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
The Year in Reissues: The 2012 Gold Bonus Disc Awards
Wow! Was it just over a year ago when a rather dubious report began circulating (that, shockingly, was picked up by many otherwise-reputable publications) that proclaimed the death of the CD was secretly scheduled by the major labels for 2012? Well, 2012 has come and (almost) gone, and it might have been the most super-sized year in recent memory for reissues, deluxe and otherwise, from labels new and old. Here at the Second Disc, we consider our annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards a companion
Second Discmas 2012: And The Winners Are...
Here at The Second Disc, the holiday season is the perfect time to do what we love to do best: share the gift of music. For the second year in a row, we have we reached out to some of our favorite reissue labels and we’ve teamed with them to play Santa Claus to our awesome and faithful readers. It’s called – what else? – Second Discmas, and it’s just drawn to its close. So, as we wish all of you a safe, healthy, happy and very merry Christmas, we'd like to congratulate the following winners.
In Memoriam: Jack Klugman (1922-2012)
On December 24, 2012, Jack Klugman (The Odd Couple, Quincy M.E.) passed away at the age of 90. Joe Marchese shares a personal reminiscence about this great actor, and The Second Disc celebrates the career of an actor for whom music always played a major role - on The Odd Couple (and its spin-off LP The Odd Couple Sings!), and even on a Broadway stage, where Jack once sang nightly opposite Ethel Merman in Gypsy. Rest in peace, Mr. Klugman. “Don’t believe a word she said about me!” The
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