Ace Records has long been, well, aces where soul music is concerned. Three recent releases have arrived courtesy of the Ace and Kent labels, and connoisseurs, collectors and casual fans alike will all find plenty to enjoy on these incendiary new compilations. The rich recorded legacy of black artists has been a cornerstone of the Kent soul and R&B library. Kent launched a “Black America Sings…” series with titles dedicated to the Lennon and McCartney and Bob Dylan songbooks, a sort of
Cyber Monday Deal Week is Here: Your Music Deals Calendar and Daily Pick!
Every day from Monday November 19 through Saturday December 1, Amazon.com is offering a variety of deals that steeply slash the prices on many releases we've featured right here at The Second Disc. Every morning during this period, we'll spotlight one of those deals, but you can click on the banner above NOW through December 1 to access the complete Cyber Monday Music Deals Calendar! Keep checking back as deals are updated often. Remember: any time you purchase something from Amazon after
Career Man: Franz Waxman Score to Dean Martin, Shirley MacLaine Drama Premieres on CD
Releasing vintage film scores has long been “all in a night’s work” for the Kritzerland label. In June, Kritzerland issued Andre Previn’s score to the 1962 comedy All in a Night’s Work, a Paramount Picture starring Dean Martin and Shirley MacLaine. That was hardly the first onscreen pairing between the two offscreen pals, however. Dino and MacLaine first lit up the screen together in 1955’s Artists and Models, MacLaine’s second film and the fourteenth starring the Martin and Lewis comedy
Holiday Gift Guide Review: The Chipmunks, "Chipmunks Christmas"
There’s only one “Christmas Song” – chestnuts roasting on an open fire, and all that. And there’s only one “Chipmunk Song” – in which Alvin never gets his much hoped-for hula hoop. What began as a novelty for Ross Bagdasarian, a.k.a. David Seville, led to three Grammy Awards for “The Chipmunk Song” alone and a chart-topping berth. Indeed, it remains the only Christmas song to have ever reached No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart. But that wasn’t all for Alvin, Simon and Theodore, with two
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Elvis Presley, "Prince from Another Planet"
"I'm not kidding myself. My voice alone is just an ordinary voice. What people come to see is how I use it. If I stand still while I'm singing, I'm dead, man. I might as well go back to driving a truck." Though Elvis Aron Presley's vocal instrument was one of the greatest in the entirety of American popular music, the singer wasn't simply being modest. Whether threatening staid fifties culture in a pair of tight pants, shaking his famed pelvis, or taking to the Las Vegas concert stage in
Many a Tear Has to Fall: RPM Collects Tommy Edwards' "MGM Recordings 1958-1960"
Trivia time: name the only No. 1 Pop single to have been written by a United States Vice-President. If you answered “It’s All in the Game,” recorded in 1958 by Tommy Edwards, you win our Second Disc No-Prize! In 1951, Carl Sigman (“Ebb Tide,” “What Now My Love”) set lyrics to the 1912 (!) melody by Charles Dawes, Vice President under Calvin Coolidge and a Nobel Peace Prize recipient. Although the song was recorded by Nat “King” Cole, Louis Armstrong and Dinah Shore, it had its most enduring
Frank Zappa Hits the Road: First Volume of "Road Tapes" Arrives, Track Listing Confirmed [UPDATED 11/14]
It really is Mothermania. With Zappa Records' and Universal Music's campaign to reissue the Official Albums of Frank Zappa drawing to a close in December, there are still a few surprises up the Zappa Family Trust's sleeves. In our newly-updated ongoing rundown of the main campaign, we have already reported on the reissue of the Mothers of Invention's "greatest hits" Mothermania, originally released on Verve Records in 1969 and only now appearing on authorized CD. We've also passed on news of
It's Mancini! It's Disney! It's "Condorman" and It's Flying to You from Intrada! Plus: "Battlestar" and More!
The Intrada label is going up, up and away with their latest slate of releases – but Superman doesn’t have much to fear. No, the Intrada/Disney partnership is taking off instead with another heroic release: Henry Mancini’s original soundtrack of the zany family comedy Condorman! Last August, when prepping a Wish List of possible releases from the Disney vaults, I wrote of Condorman that “this loopy superhero comedy can count among its assets a high-flying, fun score by Henry Mancini. The
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Ultimate CCR: Greatest Hits and All-Time Classics"
Did John Fogerty write “Proud Mary,” or did it come to the Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman by some kind of divine inspiration? After all, the modern folk song has become such a part of the American cultural tapestry that it’s hard to believe the song’s origins were so, well, ordinary: Fogerty cobbled together a spontaneously-improvised riff at San Francisco’s Avalon Ballroom with lyrics inspired by diverse sources and experiences to create the song that anchored the band’s sophomore album
The Second Disc's HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 2012
Looking for that perfect present to place under the tree this holiday season? Look no further! 2012 has been an amazing year for deluxe (and super deluxe!) box sets, so we have highlighted the creme of the crop right here to make your spirits bright, whatever your musical taste! Plus: selected holiday-themed releases and more! 10cc, Tenology (UMC U.K.) One of the more underrated bands of the '70s, 10cc finally gets their due with a multi-disc CD/DVD box set. Hits, album cuts and
From Bakersfield to You: Newly-Discovered Recordings of Buck Owens, Don Rich Arrive in January
Omnivore Recordings is bound for Bakersfield, and the honky-tonks are still open! With Fresno to the north and Los Angeles to the south, the town of Bakersfield, California might have been an unlikely candidate for Nashville West, but so it was when Buck Owens, Ferlin Husky, Merle Haggard and other back-to-basics country stars called it home. Owens made the town his adopted residence from the age of 21, and directly answered the “countrypolitan” sound coming out of Tennessee with an
Holiday Gift Guide Review: The Comedy and Music of Ernie Kovacs and Edie Adams
Welcome to 2012's Second Disc Holiday Gift Guide! We'll use these special reviews to highlight not only seasonally-themed releases, but box sets, deluxe reissues and other special titles that might make the perfect gifts under your tree this holiday season! Groucho Marx once observed that "marriage is a wonderful institution," before adding, "but who wants to live in an institution?" A few lucky couples have not only thrived in that institution, however, but also in the world of comedy:
Attention All Planets of the Solar Federation: Rush's "2112" Returns in Deluxe Editions
2011 wasn’t a bad year to be a Rush fan, with the legendary Canadian band offering a deluxe edition of 1981’s Moving Pictures and three Sector box sets covering Rush’s entire 1974-1989 Mercury Records tenure. Now, Geddy Lee (bass, keyboard, vocals), Alex Lifeson (guitar) and Neil Peart (drummer) are preparing to close out this year by celebrating 2112 (yes, 2112 in 2012!) in a variety of deluxe formats. Amazon.com has confirmed December 18 as the release date for three editions of the classic
JSP Goes Beyond the Rainbow with 4-CD Collection of "Creations" by Judy Garland
Judy Garland’s place in the annals of popular music would have been all but assured if she had only introduced Harold Arlen and E.Y. “Yip” Harburg’s “Over the Rainbow” to the world. After all, the Academy Award-winning song from The Wizard of Oz (1939) was ranked the No. 1 Song of the Century by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and the NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) and topped a list of the 100 Greatest Movie Songs compiled by the American Film Institute. Garland
Vocalists Corner: Sinatra and McCartney on DVD, Christine Andreas' "Carlyle" Reissued
In 2010, Shout! Factory and Frank Sinatra Enterprises (FSE) released an impressive DVD box set collecting 7 discs and over 14 hours’ worth of Frank Sinatra’s television performances from the 1950s through the 1980s. On November 13, one of those discs from The Concert Collection will be available as a standalone DVD following similar releases of other DVDs from the set. Primetime includes three programs from 1968, 1969 and 1977, respectively, in which Sinatra welcomes a bevy of guests. In
T.S.O.P., The Early Years: BBR Collects The Three Degrees on Roulette
Big Break Records, an imprint of the U.K.'s Cherry Red Group, doesn't have an office in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. But it might as well. Much of the remarkable music that emanated from ZIP Code 19107 has been revisited of late by BBR, and the latest title is one of the most fully loaded in the label's catalogue. The Three Degrees' Maybe actually combines two early albums from that "When Will I See You Again" trio, both from the catalogue of Roulette Records: 1970's Maybe and 1975's So Much
Rip It Up! "The London American Label: 1956" Spotlights Rock and Roll from Little Richard, Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry, More
Did any label impact the taste of record-buyers in the United Kingdom in the early rock-and-roll era than that of London? Ace Records has been chronicling the activities of the London American label on a series of definitive releases culling the best of the label's 45s from one given year. Previous volumes have covered every year between 1957 and 1963, and for the most recent addition to the series, Ace has turned the clock back to 1956. In that year, London's output included American singles
Reviews: Dion's "Complete Laurie Singles," David Cassidy's "Romance"
Today, we're taking a look at two recent releases from Real Gone Music! Dion DiMucci greeted the 1960s on his own, just 20 years old but already a chart veteran with soon-to-be-classics like “I Wonder Why” and “A Teenager in Love” under his belt. Those songs, though, were recorded with his friends The Belmonts. When Carlo Mastrangelo, Angelo D’Aleo and Fred Milano wanted to emphasize doo-wop harmonies and Dion wanted to rock and roll, Dion and the Belmonts split. How would the Italian kid
The Digital Master Company Turns 30: GRP Records Celebrated with New Compilation
Though the 50th anniversary of Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss’ A&M Records got some well-deserved attention earlier this year, another unit of Universal Music Group was also celebrating a milestone anniversary. GRP Records, founded by Dave Grusin and Larry Rosen, was founded in 1978, as an imprint of Arista Records known as “Arista/GRP.” This arrangement was similar to Creed Taylor’s CTI label, which first existed as part of A&M. Much as Taylor struck out on his own, so did Grusin and
Honey Don't! Rockstar Records Releases Live Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, But Ringo Says "It's Not Me"
Among the many footnotes in Beatles lore has been Ringo Starr's tenure with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. The group was one of the most popular acts on the early Merseybeat scene, playing Liverpool and Hamburg, and alternating sets with The Beatles at the Kaiserkeller. Yet there's precious little recorded evidence of the band and even less of Starr's tenure as drummer. An Oriole label single in 1963 yielded "Dr. Feelgood" b/w "I Can Tell." Parlophone released "America" (from West Side
More "Essentials" Arrive From Jefferson Airplane and Starship, Martina, Run-D.M.C., Incubus
Tomorrow might be Halloween, but there’s nothing scary about Legacy Recordings’ four latest additions to the Essential series roster! Today sees the release of career-spanning anthologies from a diverse group of artists: alt-metal rockers Incubus, hip-hop pioneers Run-D.M.C., country queen Martina McBride and ever-evolving Bay Area legends Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship/Starship! All of these double-CD anthologies combine familiar hit singles, album tracks and rarities to create what
Gems from the Diamond Mine: Blue Rodeo Collect Early Albums, Unreleased Demos on New Box
Fans of Canadian country-rockers Blue Rodeo have something to get excited about, with the recent release of a box set collecting their first five albums with another three discs of unreleased material. Blue Rodeo 1987-1993 celebrates the Northern rockers, who have won 11 Juno Awards in their native Canada and placed 10 singles in the Top 10 of the Canadian charts, including "Try," "Til I Am Myself Again," "Lost Together" and "5 Days in May." Anchored by singer/songwriter/guitarists Jim Cuddy
Real Gone Music Partners with Dusty Groove, Releases Hartford, Mathis and Grateful Dead in December
If you’re in the market for any last-minute holiday gifts, Real Gone Music has got you covered. The reissue specialists have announced their December slate of six titles, including three from an exciting new partnership! As usual for the eclectic Real Goners, the releases cover a wide spectrum of genres, from traditional vocal pop to country, rock and jazz! On December 4, the label will unveil these six titles: Johnny Mathis’ So Nice/Johnny Mathis Sings;John Hartford’s Aereo-Plain/Morning
Something So Strong: Jim Capaldi's "Some Come Running" with Clapton, Harrison, Winwood Reissued
There’s been some heavy Traffic at the record store lately. This month has already seen a 2-CD edition of Steve Winwood’s Arc of a Diver, and it’s recently been joined by Esoteric Recordings’ latest offering from the catalogue of Winwood’s Traffic cohort, the late Jim Capaldi. Following reissues of the songwriter and drummer’s Oh, How We Danced (1972), Whale Meat Again (1974), The Sweet Smell of Success (1980) and Let the Thunder Cry (1981), the Cherry Red Group imprint has turned its
In Case You Missed It: "Frankie Said" is a Force from Above
Two albums and seven singles might not seem like enough to base a whole compilation from - unless, of course, you're Frankie Goes to Hollywood. The barrier-breaking Liverpudlian quartet haven't been active in their original form for some 25 years, but their legacy on ZTT Records has been kept alive through various compilations, remixes and reissues - the most recent of which is Frankie Said, released this week in England. Frankie Said is the first FTGH compilation released under ZTT's
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