How lucky can one guy be? Although Dean Martin's exhaustive catalogue has been definitively anthologized on four massive box sets released by Germany's Bear Family label between 1997 and 2001, unheard material from the King of Cool continues to be discovered. Reporting in February 2011 about the then-recent Cool Then, Cool Now 2-CD/book box set, this writer opined: "A true career retrospective box with material from each label and era would be essential for those Martin fans looking for more
More Ways to Connect with The Second Disc!
Do you enjoy the news, reviews and features you find here at The Second Disc? We're thrilled to let you know about a few new ways to stay even more connected with us! Since our launch in January 2010, we have endeavored, in the words of founder Mike Duquette's initial post, to be "an all-purpose stop for those who are interested in the back catalogue offerings of the day." We've had the great pleasure of getting to know many of you through your thoughtful and incisive comments on a variety of
Bacharach, Sondheim, Lloyd Webber Honored by Melissa Manchester, Dave Koz, Stephen Bishop and More on New Kritzerland Releases
Kritzerland is reaching into the vaults of Los Angeles’ S.T.A.G.E. charitable organization for three star-filled releases celebrating composers who need no introduction: Burt Bacharach, Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber. These live concert recordings feature renowned artists from the worlds of pop (Melissa Manchester, Stephen Bishop) and jazz (Dave Koz, Ann Hampton Callaway) plus stars from stage, screen and television (Tyne Daly, Felicity Huffman, Len Cariou, Charlotte Rae, Donna
Get Down: Gilbert O'Sullivan's "I'm A Writer, Not A Fighter" Remastered and Expanded
Are you ready for another trip through Gilbertville? The fine folks at Salvo and Union Square Music have just released the latest title in their acclaimed Gilbert O’Sullivan reissue series, and though the album is called I’m a Writer, Not a Fighter, it might as well have been named Another Side of Gilbert O’Sullivan. On this 1973 set, the singer/songwriter placed less emphasis on the acoustic piano, his usual instrument of choice, and more on keyboards. These electronic textures musically
Information Society: In Praise of Passions Just Like Mine and Other Uber-Fan Sites
Today bought a major dark cloud over the days of Morrissey and The Smiths fans everywhere, even more so than the reissue of Viva Hate. Passions Just Like Mine, the long-running discography/videography/gigography for Manchester's favorite singer/songwriter, has closed up shop. In a statement, the site's founder, Stephane, announced a desire to pursue "a few other personal projects in mind (unrelated to Morrissey)" but was still taking suggestions as to "what to do with the body." (The body of
I Second That Emotion: Thelma Jones' Columbia Debut Reissued On Big Break Label
Trivia time: name the singer who recorded the original version of “The House That Jack Built.” If you guessed Thelma Jones, you go to the head of the soul music class! While at the small Barry Records label, it was Jones who introduced the song later made famous by Aretha Franklin, but for reasons lost to time, the singer was never able to turn her solid-gold pipes into chart success. Her discography isn’t very deep, but a career highlight of the North Carolina native can now be reappraised
By Grabthar's Hammer! "Galaxy Quest" Score Unearthed from Vaults
With all the Star Trek soundtrack love expressed in the reissue world lately, it's awesome to report the premiere release of the score to the best Trek satire there ever was. The soundtrack to the excellent 1999 comedy Galaxy Quest is making its commercial debut from La-La Land Records. Galaxy Quest is the tale of a group of struggling actors known for playing the crew of a short-lived cult favorite show of the same name. Tim Allen is the William Shatner-esque captain, Sigourney Weaver the
Love So Fine: Nick DeCaro's "Works" Features James Taylor, B.J. Thomas, Andy Williams, More
Though the A&M stands for (Herb) Alpert and (Jerry) Moss, A&M Records has meant a great many things to a great many people since its founding in 1962. Those who came of age in the 1980s may think of the famous logo adorning records by Sting, Janet Jackson or Bryan Adams. In the 1970s, the label was home to The Carpenters, Cat Stevens and Joe Cocker. In the 1960s, A&M was not only a label but a “sound.” That sound was a certain, beguiling style of sophisticated adult soft-pop
Release Round-Up: Week of April 10
Howard Jones, One to One / Cross That Line / In the Running: Remastered Edition (Dtox) HoJo's last set of remasters is a five disc set featuring his last three Warner-era albums from 1986 to 1992, plus two generous discs of B-sides and remixes. Parts of this era are really underrated, and if this box is as loving as the last one was, it may well earn your everlasting love. Various Artists, Philadelphia International Classics: The Tom Moulton Mixes (Harmless) This gorgeous four-disc set,
Put Your Hands Together: Massive 10-CD Philadelphia International Box Due [UPDATED]
Philadelphia International Records has turned 40, and you're invited to the party! Sony's Legacy Recordings thrilled fans earlier this year with the archival release of Golden Gate Groove, a Don Cornelius-hosted concert that brought together many of the label's biggest and brightest stars, from the O'Jays to Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes featuring Teddy Pendergrass. The folks across the pond at the Harmless label have already dropped Philadelphia International: The Re-Edits, with 21 tracks
First Stop on the Love Train: The O'Jays' "Imperial Years" Collected On Shout Label
The music business has always had a funny way of turning artists into overnight sensations. But although The O’Jays achieved widespread fame on the Philadelphia International label with 1972’s one-two punch of “Back Stabbers” and “Love Train,” the group hardly broke through overnight. As the Mascots, the Ohio natives recorded their first single in 1960. As the O’Jays (named after their manager, Cleveland DJ Eddie O’Jay), they recorded for the Daco, Apollo and Little Star labels. It was
Essentially Repackaged: Legacy Reissues Double-Disc Compilations Under New Names
There's something familiar about many of Legacy's new entries in their ongoing The Essential series hitting stores in April and May. Of the four double-disc compilations - one for prog-rock masters Blue Öyster Cult, one apiece for country stars Alan Jackson and Brooks & Dunn and one for pop chanteuse Mariah Carey - three have already been reissued under different names. The country ones are repackages of each performer's latest hits set (Jackson's 2010 contract-closing 34 Number One Hits
EMI Releases Second Budget Box by UFO
UFO are getting their second budget box set from EMI in the U.K., covering the band's work in the '80s on Chrysalis Records. A follow-up to last year's budget set from the label, The Chrysalis Years Volume 2 follows the hard-rocking band through several periods of transition. In 1978, virtuosic guitarist Michael Schenker, formerly of Scorpions, left the band, to be replaced by Paul "Tonka" Chapman, the band's guitarist from 1974 to 1975. (This was far from the only lineup change through the
First Name Basis: Ozzy, Willie, Janis, Iggy Among Legacy's Offerings For Record Store Day
Here at Second Disc HQ, we're eagerly anticipating April 21, or Record Store Day, the industry-wide celebration of all things vinyl (and a few CDs, too!). Record Store Day, now in its fifth year, gives shoppers the chance to interact with big crowds of fellow music enthusiasts in the brick-and-mortar retail environment cherished by so many of us. Legacy Recordings has announced its impressive line-up of limited edition releases that will line the shelves of your favorite independent music
Review: Johnny Cash, "Bootleg IV: The Soul of Truth"
“John, let’s do a shot for the warden,” photographer Jim Marshall reportedly implored Johnny Cash during the singer’s 1969 performance at San Quentin Prison. Cash’s snarling response, with his middle finger in air, made for one of the most famous music photographs of all time. Cropping up on T-shirts, posters and the like, Marshall captured the outlaw side of Johnny Cash like no photographer before or since. Though it might have, indeed, been worth a thousand words, the image still only
Happy Birthday, Doris Day! Screen Legend Celebrated With "Ultimate Collection" and TCM "Smile and a Song"
Doris Day made quite a splash in 2011 when My Heart, her first album of primarily original material in some seventeen years, entered the British album charts with a Top 10 placement. The singer, actress and animal rights activist turns 88 today, April 3. Day remains greatly beloved around the world, and our coverage of My Heart quickly became one of The Second Disc’s most-visited articles since our inception in January 2010. Now, two new releases are looking back on her rich musical legacy.
Release Round-Up: Week of April 3
Johnny Cash, Bootleg IV: The Soul of Truth (Columbia/Legacy) Three complete gospel albums - one of which was never released - and a heap of unreleased material make this one to look out for if you like The Man in Black at his sacred best. Morrissey, Viva Hate: Deluxe Edition (Liberty/EMI) If you can call it that, an expanded edition of Moz's debut album, remastered with one bonus track, one edited track and one excised track. Elvis Costello & The Imposters, The Return of the
Review: Tom Northcott, "Sunny Goodge Street: The Warner Bros. Recordings"
Extra! Extra! Lost Folk Singer Found! His name is Tom Northcott, and had things turned out a little differently, he might be remembered in the same breath as Joni Mitchell or Gordon Lightfoot, fellow Canadian troubadours. After founding the Tom Northcott Trio, he headed for California during perhaps the most fertile period ever for creative, boundary-breaking musical exploration, the mid-1960s. Northcott opened for The Who, The Doors and Jefferson Airplane, and was signed to Warner Bros.
Barenaked Rarities Arriving in May
Canadian rockers Barenaked Ladies are releasing a compilation of outtakes and rarities that, fortunately, more or less lives up to the title. Stop Us If You've Heard This One Before!, a counterpoint to last year's Hits from Yesterday and the Day Before, features 12 tracks, only two of which have ever seen the official light of day. (Those tracks are a remix of megahit "One Week" and "Yes, Yes, Yes," a bonus track on some versions of the band's 2003 album Everything to Everyone.) The remainder
Review: John Williams, "Hook: Expanded Original Motion Picture Soundtrack"
After more than three years of planning, preparing and waiting, audiences finally have a chance to enjoy an expanded edition of John Williams' score to Steven Spielberg's 1991 cult classic Hook (La-La Land Records LLLCD 1211). The world had been "getting by," so to speak, with the Epic label's original 75-minute CD presentation - a generous offering, to be sure, but one that only sort of did the score justice. While critics remain divided to indifferent on the celluloid continuation of James M.
Shining Like a "Ruby": Kaiser Chiefs to Release New Compilation
Indie rockers the Kaiser Chiefs are set to release their first career-spanning collection, Souvenir: The Singles 2004-2012, this summer. The Leeds-based quintet formed in 1996 under the name Parva, and released one album on Beggars Banquet's short-lived Mantra label. After their label shuttered, they rebuilt from the ground up, writing new, New Wave and punk-inspired songs under the Kaiser Chiefs moniker (named for the South African football club). Their buzzworthy live sets got them a deal
Bowie, McCartney, Joplin, Springsteen, Clash, Davis, Small Faces, More Lead Record Store Day Pack
We're just three weeks away from Record Store Day on April 21, and following individual announcements from fantastic labels like Omnivore Recordings, Concord Records, Sundazed Music and Rhino/Warner Bros., we can finally reveal the full line-up of RSD-related goodies! These limited editions, available at independent music retailers across the U.S. and even internationally, are primarily vinyl releases in various formats (7-inch, 10-inch, 12-inch, etc.) and range from replicas of classic albums
In Case You Missed It: Join the (Music) Club!
If you're a British compilation hunter or fan of imports, it's tough to go wrong with Demon Music Group's Music Club Deluxe label. The relatively inexpensive double-disc sets the label turns out might look simple or quickly assembled, but they're in fact often packed with a few rarities for your buck. In recent weeks, Music Club Deluxe has issued a half-dozen compilations, all for '80s pop/rock artists. You likely know their hits, but there are some great album cuts, B-sides and remixes to go
The Road to Tarkio: Brewer and Shipley's Debut "Down in L.A." Remastered and Expanded By Now Sounds
Oklahoma-born Michael Brewer and Ohio native Tom Shipley found fame on Missouri's mythical Tarkio Road, thousands of miles away from Hollywood's La Brea Avenue and the headquarters of A&M Records. But before they took one pivotal toke over the line into stardom, Brewer and Shipley recorded an album for Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss' label that couldn't have been recorded at any other time and place than Los Angeles, circa 1967-1968. Down in L.A. was almost entirely written by Brewer and
An Awfully Big Adventure: La-La Land Releases "Hook," "The Robe"
It's a doubly monumental day for soundtrack collectors, with two hotly-anticipated expansions of monumentally popular soundtracks unleashed today by La-La Land Records. The first almost doesn't need an introduction - so excited have we been at Second Disc HQ, long before and after its advance announcement - but John Williams' score to Steven Spielberg's Hook is the first bounty of the day. Spielberg's fantastical sequel to James M. Barrie's immortal Peter Pan - where the onetime boy who
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