With the recent wave of expanded reissues of the Thin Lizzy catalogue across the pond (in some cases after years of waiting), it's easy for eager fans to ask what comes next. The answer is quite a doozy: November sees the release of a massive seven-disc box set that captures the band's various live stands recorded by the BBC. The set has everything stored in the BBC archives, including sessions with the likes of Bob Harris and John Peel through the '70s, two sets at London's Golders Green
Costello's Wheel Good Tour Captured on New Live Box Set
In 1986, Elvis Costello and The Attractions did something bizarre for rock musicians: they reinvented the wheel. Okay, maybe that's pushing it, but the introduction of "The Spectacular Spinning Songbook" to Costello's tour itinerary remains among the most treasured of memories for longtime fans. Costello, who only used The Attractions once on his then-new album, King of America (opting instead for a number of other musicians, including a studio-created group, The Confederates, featuring T-Bone
Gilbert O'Sullivan "Himself" Coming Soon, Naturally
In a little while from now, if I'm not feeling any less sour, I promise myself to treat myself...and listen to a Gilbert O'Sullivan record. The quirky Irish singer/songwriter topped the charts in 1972 with "Alone Again, Naturally," proclaimed by American Top 40 as the fifth most popular song of the entire decade. But it's also one of the most unusual. As the song begins, the narrator is left at the altar and is contemplating "climbing to the top" of a "nearby tower" to throw himself off. He
Review: Phil Spector, "The Philles Album Collection" and "The Essential Phil Spector"
Whoa-oh, a-whoa-oh-oh-oh! Think of The Ronettes' wail, every bit as iconic a cry as a-whop-bop-a-loo-a-whop-bam-boom. Doesn't rock and roll have a way of elevating onomatopoeia to poetry? And no label made sweeter poetry in the first half of the 1960s than Philles Records. The voices of Ronnie Spector, Darlene Love, La La Brooks, Barbara Alston and the rest spoke directly to America’s teenagers. These women, alternately vulnerable and defiant, were little more than girls when they began
Lost Highway, Found on Vinyl: 10th Anniversary Box Coming Next Month
With a name like Lost Highway Records, it might be tough to parse the mission statement of such a company - unless, of course, you know your Hank Williams. In fact, they've been supplying fans with some of the best in alternative rock and country. And now, to celebrate a decade in business, next month sees the release of a mega-vinyl box set highlighting some of the label's best output. Lost Highway, founded in 2000 by Luke Lewis, started their existence off with a bang, distributing the
Release Round-Up: Week of October 24/25
It's Tuesday, but most of the new music this week has already been out for a day. But assuming you were too busy to get out to the shops, here's a look at what's new. And there's quite a bit! Various Artists, Phil Spector Presents The Philles Album Collection (Phil Spector Records/Legacy) Six of the first seven Philles albums presented in mono, along with a bonus disc of those delightfully out-there instrumental B-sides. Seriously, have you heard any of them? They're crazy. In a good way, that
Review: Paul Simon, "Songwriter" and Expanded, Remastered Albums (1980-1990)
It's 1971, and Aretha Franklin has just introduced the world to "Bridge Over Troubled Water," a rousing, spiritual anthem that could have been written decades if not centuries ago. She takes the song to the top of the charts. Its notoriety leads to the rise of jobbing songwriter Paul Simon, who no longer needs to kick around the Brill Building in its waning days. Simon's career kicks off in earnest the following year with the release of his self-titled solo album. It's a quirky, offbeat
A Fantasmagorical Second Disc Interview! Bruce Kimmel Talks New, Expanded 2-CD "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"
When Richard M. Sherman introduces his Academy Award-nominated song “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” in concert, he often has to remind his audience that the film of the same name wasn’t a Walt Disney production. Producer Albert R. Broccoli, best-known for the James Bond series of films, signed Richard and his brother Robert M. Sherman for their very first film score outside of the Disney sphere. Like the Bond films, United Artists’ Chitty was based on the writing of Ian Fleming. For Fleming’s story
Pink Floyd, Beatles, Nirvana, Doors Lead Off Record Store Day Exclusives On "Black Friday"
For those of us who still savor the experience of shopping in a physical environment, Record Store Day has become a yearly tradition. It’s sometimes frustrating and sometimes exciting, but few could argue with an event that spotlights the hard-working independent music retailers out there who believe that brick-and-mortar retail can still thrive in the iTunes era. (Amen to that!) A more recent offshoot of Record Store Day has been the mini-event held each Black Friday, or the day after
Reissue Theory: Aerosmith, "Box of Fire II: The Geffen Years"
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we focus on notable albums and the reissues they may someday see. As Aerosmith come ever closer to finishing another new album, we imagine a box set that celebrates their first great, entirely unexpected comeback. If all goes according to plan, by next spring you could be hearing the first new, original Aerosmith album in more than a decade. Frontman Steven Tyler anticipates a March release date on the new disc, to be produced by Jack
Seger Takes Old (and New) Records Off the Shelf on New Hits Set
As if getting some of Bob Seger's albums back on CD wasn't exciting enough this year, a new double-disc compilation puts some of his greatest hits (and a few rarities) back on shelves, where they belong. Ultimate Hits: Rock and Roll Never Forgets, boasts 26 tracks of Bob Seger on his own, with The Silver Bullet Band and - most exciting of all - with The Bob Seger System. The original mono single version of "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" will feature on this set alongside classics like "Old Time Rock
Stephen Sondheim, Angela Lansbury, Mary Martin Feature in Latest Masterworks Line-Up
Some of The Great White Way's brightest stars will be on the receiving end of the latest reissue bonanza from Sony's Masterworks Broadway label. Leading the pack is the 1985 Original Cast Recording of Stephen Sondheim's Follies in Concert. Lee Remick, Barbara Cook, Mandy Patinkin and George Hearn star in the 1985 recording of Sondheim's 1971 musical currently enjoying a critically-acclaimed, hit revival on Broadway. Follies in Concert will arrive at general retail on CD in a new eco-friendly
Short Takes: Beatles May Finally "Let It Be" on DVD, Big Country Goes Back to "The Crossing"
Could a release of Let It Be, The Beatles' harrowing 1970 documentary/epitaph, finally be happening? Director Michael Lindsay-Hogg says so. In an interview with WNYC-FM, Lindsay-Hogg discussed the film, saying, "we have been been working on it pretty much every year for the last couple of years. And the plan is, at the moment, to have it come out, I think, in 2013." A premiere release of the DVD, featuring outtakes and additional footage highlighting the making of the film, would follow a
Legacy Orders Another Round of "Playlist"
It feels like it's been a long time since the last batch of Playlist titles from Legacy (by our records, it's been five months), but a bunch of new titles are on shelves as of yesterday. There's a lot of country and modern rock in this batch, including titles from Gene Autry, Phil Vassar and Joe Diffie (on the country end) and Say Anything, Coheed and Cambria and Mudvayne (on the rock end). There's also one from rap/reggae artist Matisyahu (surely you recall the Orthodox Jewish musician, whose
Pink Floyd "Wish You Were Here" Arriving From Analogue Productions on SACD (UPDATED)
Why Pink Floyd? EMI answered that question with the May 10 announcement of a stunning new reissue campaign for the legendary band. That program kicked off on September 27 with straight remasters of each Floyd album under the banner Discovery, plus a 2-CD Experience Edition and 4 CD/1 DVD/1 BD Immersion Edition of 1973's Dark Side of the Moon (reviewed here!). November 7 is the date for a new "greatest hits" compilation entitled A Foot in the Door, plus Experience and Immersion sets for 1975's
Springsteen, U2, Queen, Joel, McCartney, Taylor Featured On "Rock Hall of Fame" Live Box Set
Since its formation on April 20, 1983, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has inducted a slate of accomplished musicians into its ranks on a yearly basis, causing excitement, consternation and everything in between. Though the worthiness of nominees and inductees is hotly debated with each “class” and a number of distinguished artists continue to be ignored year after year, one thing can be agreed upon: a lot of great music has been played for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It continues to host
Review: Ben Folds, "Ben Folds Fifty-Five Vault"
When "Brick" ascended the Billboard Hot 200 to a No. 17 peak in 1998, it seemed possible that Ben Folds Five would join the ranks of Chumbawamba, Semisonic and Marcy Playground in the annals of the nineties one-hit wonder. But the band's charismatic frontman envisioned a different path. Witness some of the other artists who only scored one Top 40 hit: Janis Joplin ("Me and Bobby McGee"), Jimi Hendrix ("All Along the Watchtower"), Frank Zappa ("Valley Girl"), The Grateful Dead ("Touch of Grey")
Harry Belafonte Still Singing His "Song" On New Masterworks Release
Harry Belafonte has worn many hats in his 84 years: recording artist, film star, civil rights crusader, tireless humanitarian. Though he gracefully and modestly bowed out of performing some years back with little fanfare, Belafonte has returned to the spotlight this month to narrate a documentary on his life and author an autobiography. Though the book is entitled My Song, the film and its musical companion both bear the name Sing Your Song. Sony Masterworks' collection is a sixteen-track
Ever the Individualist: Todd Rundgren Goes Esoteric
By the time 1993 rolled around, devotees of the musical wizardry of Todd Rundgren only knew to expect the unexpected. Warner Bros. Records had rescued 1985’s A Cappella after the album had been rejected by Rundgren’s longtime home, Bearsville. The maverick artist followed that with two efforts recorded expressly for the label, Nearly Human (1989) and 2nd Wind (1991). These two albums showed the artist as a supreme pop craftsman with would-be classics like “The Want of a Nail” and “Parallel
Review: Ben Folds, "The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective"
Opening the four-panel digipak that houses Ben Folds' The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective (Epic/Legacy 88697 92683-2), listeners are treated to an unsettling and hilarious sight: the bespectacled, slightly quizzical face of the singer/songwriter, superimposed onto bodies he clearly has no place being attached to. Those off-kilter images are exactly the kind of strange silliness fans have come to expect from Folds over a career that stretches more than 15 years, starting with the
Friday Feature: "The Thing"
Our enjoyment of music takes many shapes and sizes, from the most basic of digital files to the vast quantities of reissues and box sets we all enjoy around The Second Disc. Part of the nervous excitement in being a collector is really never knowing what your latest musical obsession will look or sound like - and that's, I think, what keeps us coming back. Now, replace "music" with "an alien virus from another planet" and "nervous excitement" with "crippling terror" and you have the subject of
Rush To A "Sector" With Band's Remastered and Boxed Mercury Catalogue
Rush may be Canadian, but the classic rock trio has the perfect soundtrack for your Thanksgiving! On November 21, Universal Music Enterprises will follow their acclaimed reissue earlier this year of 1981’s Moving Pictures with the release of three separate six-disc box sets. Collecting the entire Rush output between 1974 and 1989, including both live and studio albums, the Rush Sector box sets span the entire historic Mercury Records tenure of Geddy Lee (bass, keyboard, vocals), Alex Lifeson
Intrada Scares Up Some Special Soundtracks
It's always a cause for celebration when a label gets some long-lost piece of music out to the public for consumption. And Intrada's special mid-week batch of archival film scores is no different, offering two premiere horror scores, one of which was presumed lost for years. First up is the score to Fright Night, the 1985 horror classic (recently remade this past summer) about a teen who has to stop his next-door neighbor, a bloodthirsty vampire, from feeding on the innocent. The score is the
"Looking Good, La-La Land." "Feeling Good, The Second Disc."
As previously reported, La-La Land Records' newest release is the premiere of Elmer Bernstein's score to the classic comedy Trading Places, available as of yesterday. One of the most fondly remembered films of the 1980s, Trading Places is the story of a rich banker (Dan Aykroyd) conned by his bosses to lose everything as part of a "social experiment" to switch a rich man with a poor man and observe the results. The poor man who assumes Aykroyd's life is a street hustler played by Eddie Murphy -
Review: Matt Monro, "The Man Behind The Voice"
In Michele Monro’s The Man Behind the Voice, the author sums up the career of her subject, who also happened to be her father: “Matt never acquired the ‘superstar’ tag, but quality was his code, and he earned the reputation for being a class act with a superlative gift.” Though Matt Monro died in 1985 aged just 54, his music continues to flourish today. Monro’s voice is as vibrant now as when he first recorded “Born Free,” “To Russia with Love” or any of the countless other songs, both
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