British postpunk band The Wild Swans, led by singer/songwriter/keyboardist Paul Simpson, have recently reissued their most recent album with a raft of bonus material. The haunting work of Simpson first came to prominence in the late '70s as member of the short-lived A Shallow Madness, which featured two future frontmen from the same genre: Julian Cope of The Teardrop Explodes and Ian McCulloch of Echo & The Bunnymen. His Wild Swans project has existed in three phases: once from 1980 to
Dial-a-Reissue: Edsel to Release Two-Fers by They Might Be Giants
"I'm your only friend I'm not your only friend But I'm a little glowing friend But really I'm not actually your friend But I am" If those lyrics mean anything to you, you'll probably dig Edsel's next round of two-fers: all four albums released by quirk-rock band They Might Be Giants on the Elektra label. Formed by John Flansburgh and John Linnell, two teenage friends from Massachusetts who found themselves moving to the same building in Brooklyn on the same day, TMBG gained early cult success
Back To Muscle Shoals: Ace Revives Classic Southern Soul From Dan Penn, James Govan
Director Greg “Freddy” Camalier’s 2013 documentary Muscle Shoals brought some long-overdue attention to Rick Hall’s Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama – a hotbed of southern soul that attracted some of the most notable artists in rock and soul, from The Rolling Stones to Aretha Franklin. But the folks at Ace Records have never overlooked Muscle Shoals’ immeasurable contribution to the sound of American soul. Two recent compilations cast further light on the historic music that made the
Purple Reign: Numero Anthologizes Early Minneapolis Funk Bands
It was something like Sly Stone or James Brown for the New Wave set: tight, sparse R&B jams peppered with funky guitar and pulsating bass, sweetened with electronic accoutrements in the percussion section and dazzling synthesizers where a horn section might be. The "Minneapolis sound" changed soul music dramatically in the '80s, with Prince and his collaborators, associates and followers (The Time, Andre Cymone, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Alexander O'Neal) helping rewrite musical style for
BBR Completes Pointer Sisters' Planet Catalogue with "Priority" and "Black and White" Remasters
Between 1978 and 1988, The Pointer Sisters recorded a stunning series of nine albums with producer Richard Perry (Barbra Streisand, Harry Nilsson), first for his Elektra-distributed Planet Records label, and then for RCA, to whom Perry eventually sold Planet. During this period, June, Ruth and Anita finally were able to Break Out on the U.S. charts - to quote the title of the group's multi-platinum 1983 album which introduced four U.S. Top 10 hits. Previously the Pointers had mastered jazz,
Something to Remember: How Alex Chilton (and Jeff Vargon) Generated "Electricity by Candlelight"
The recent release of Alex Chilton's Electricity by Candlelight on Bar/None Records turns a "you had to be there" moment into a "you are there moment." The late, great singer/songwriter and Big Star frontman took a major setback - a sudden power outage between two sets at New York City's Knitting Factory in 1997 - and spun it into a most magical listening experience: Chilton picked up an acoustic guitar and regaled a small audience with a clutch of covers, from standards ("My Baby Just Cares for
Review: Bob Dylan, "The Complete Album Collection Volume One"
Tucked away on Bob Dylan’s 23rd studio album Empire Burlesque, the troubadour sings simply but sternly, “Trust yourself/Trust yourself to do the things that only you know best/Trust yourself/Trust yourself to do what’s right and not be second-guessed...” Dylan had trusted himself since he first arrived on the scene in 1962, engaging in a series of transformations that enthralled, angered, transfixed and bewildered those that followed his career – from folk troubadour to electric rocker to
WE HAVE OUR WINNERS! Humble Pie's "Performance: Rockin' the Fillmore - The Complete Recordings" is Served!
STEVE HARRIS, WARD WHIPPLE and RICH KAMERMAN - you've won a copy of this great box set! Message us on Facebook and tell us where to send them!
Hey, Lady (and Gentlemen)! Kritzerland Releases Two Scores for Jerry Lewis Comedies
In the golden age of Hollywood, comedy rarely was better than when Jerry Lewis took his act to the silver screen. With a knack for moving kinetically through zany situations, Lewis earned high regard as a movie star, first with his inimitable partner, singer Dean Martin, on stage, radio, television and film, and ultimately on his own in the 1950s, 1960s and beyond. The newest archival soundtrack release from Kritzerland brings two soundtracks from some of Lewis' first solo projects to CD for the
It's Love That Really Counts: Él Continues Vintage Burt Bacharach Series
In 1962 alone, Burt Bacharach premiered more than 30 new compositions, recorded by a variety of artists from Marlene Dietrich to The Drifters. It's even fair to say that '62 was the year the composer truly came into his own. While previous years offered their share of hits for the songwriter - "I Wake Up Crying," "Tower of Strength," "Baby, It's You," "Magic Moments," "The Story of My Life" - the Bacharach sound hadn't completely crystallized. With Jerry Butler's July 1962 single of Bacharach
Strictly Tabu: Edsel Readies Reissue Campaign for R&B Label (UPDATED 8/29)
UPDATE (11/4): This post now has confirmed track lists for the FIRST EIGHT WAVES of reissues. The long-gestating reissue campaign for Tabu Records by Demon Music Group looks to be taking shape - not only for the first wave of titles in the spring, but for a slew of content ambitiously planned through 2014. Founded in 1976 by Clarence Avant (who'd previously started the Venture and Sussex labels), Tabu scraped by for six years until a chance meeting and an inconvenient snowstorm gave the label
BBR Reissues "More More More" of Joe Tex, Latimore, Timmy Thomas
Joe Tex certainly didn’t hide his Bumps and Bruises when he arrived at Epic Records in 1977 after a five-year retirement. In fact, he titled the album after them! Only the self-described Clown Prince of Soul could have gotten away with song titles like “Ain’t Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)” and the even more politically incorrect “Be Cool (Willie Is Dancing with a Sissy).” Big Break has revisited this slab of funky southern soul in a remastered edition with three bonus cuts. Joe
Slowly It's Coming Back: Universal U.K. Plans Del Amitri Reissues
If you've been wanting to dive deep into the discography of Scottish rock band Del Amitri, Universal Music is satisfying your needs with a trio of double-disc reissues of the band's first three albums for A&M Records in 2014. While the group, anchored by singer/bassist Justin Currie and singer/guitarist Ian Harvie (both principal songwriters as well), only achieved one hit of note in the U.S., the peppy Top 10 single "Roll to Me," Del Amitri managed a solid streak of reliable album alt-rock
Review: Perry Como, "Just Out of Reach: Rarities from Nashville Produced by Chet Atkins"
“Hey, let’s do it again and again,” invited Perry Como on the bouncy opening track of 1975’s Just Out of Reach. The Tony Hatch/Jackie Trent song, previously recorded by singer-actor Jim Dale on This is Me, was perfectly suited to Como’s warm, soothing tones. Who wouldn’t take him up on the offer to do it again and again? As the musical landscape of the 1960s and 1970s drastically shifted, the one-time big band “boy singer” wasn’t quite as ubiquitous a presence as he once was. Still, the
The Best That He Could Do: John Mellencamp Collects Albums for New Box
While the 1980s have become synonymous with pop/rock music that allegedly valued image, craft and style above the emotional rush of the music itself, one of the decade's most popular entertainers had an image as rough-hewn and rugged as they could come: John Mellencamp. The Indiana-bred musician earned his keep making tuneful rock steeped in the traditions of the genre as well as the vision of the average, working-class middle American. And with a list of hits that includes "Jack and Diane,"
Pogues Box Up Complete Albums, Unreleased Live Show for "30 Years"
Celtic rockers The Pogues are releasing a new box set that collects all of their studio albums - two newly-remixed just for this release - and an unreleased live album with a very special frontman. Led by unforgettable frontman Shane Macgowan, The Pogues deftly combined the raucous traditions of traditional Celtic folk songs and sharp-edged punk rock, gaining a considerable live following when opening for The Clash on one of their last tours. A contract with Stiff Records followed, yielding Red
Omnivore Unveils Colorful Black Friday Slate with Van Zandt, Clark, Kovacs
Here at Second Disc HQ, we know that we can count on Omnivore Recordings for some of the most colorful and fun releases for Record Store Day's Back to Black Friday shopping event! On the day after Thanksgiving, you might find yourself at your local indie record store to pick up one of Omnivore's three Black Friday collectibles. As usual, it's a diverse trio, with releases from two late troubadours - Townes Van Zandt and Gene Clark - and one legendary late comedian, Ernie Kovacs. This past
Review: Van Morrison, "Moondance: Deluxe Edition"
Over forty years after Van Morrison first declared it a “marvelous night for a moondance,” the Irish troubadour’s seminal 1970 album has become even more marvelous, ‘neath the cover of October skies. Warner Bros. Records has afforded Moondance the deluxe treatment, adding three CDs of session material and one Blu-ray with high-resolution stereo and surround mixes to the original 10-song album. With this truly immersive listening experience, Morrison’s third proper solo album takes its place
"Taxi" Driver Bob James' Funky Fusion Celebrated On New 2-CD Anthology
Every day, somewhere in the world, someone is watching Taxi – and hearing the catchy yet wistful theme song composed by Bob James. The television comedy, created by Mary Tyler Moore Show alumni James L. Brooks, Stan Daniels, David Davis and Ed. Weinberger, ran from 1978 to 1983 and netted eighteen Emmy Awards. But the original music of Taxi is just one of the many credits of jazz great Bob James. His spellbinding ouevre has just been compiled by the Decision Records label in association with
Review: Belinda Carlisle Deluxe Remasters From Edsel (1987-1993)
As lead singer of California rock group The Go-Go's, Belinda Carlisle conclusively proved that she, indeed, had the beat. In her solo career, she applied her powerfully soaring pipes - one minute honeyed, the next smoky - to some of the most iconic pop songs of the era. Edsel has recently repackaged Carlisle's second through fifth albums as truly deluxe, hardbound 2-CD/1-DVD editions, and they're a nostalgic trip back to the days when power ballads ruled the radio and one singer stood at the
Lose Yourself to Dance: Daft Punk's New Album Reissued as Mega Box Set
French dance duo Daft Punk is up all night to get lucky (and to reward deep-pocketed fans) with a lush deluxe box set version of their brilliant newest album, 2013's Random Access Memories. Though Random Access Memories doesn't entirely fit the catalogue description that usually guides discussion here at The Second Disc, you might not know that when you hear it. Guy Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter, known for their quirky, catchy dance tracks and identity-clouding robot costumes,
Beyond "Baby Blue": Edsel Collects Badfinger Albums, BBC Sessions
An estimated ten million people watched the September 29 series finale of AMC’s Breaking Bad, with a memorable final scene set to Badfinger’s “Baby Blue.” By the following morning, the Pete Ham song produced by Todd Rundgren for the 1971 Apple Records release Straight Up had been downloaded more than 5,000 times – boosting its sales by some 3,000 percent! “Baby Blue” remained in the iTunes Top 20 for next two days. It also racked up roughly 30,000 downloads over the following week,
I Hear A Knockin': Legacy Explores "The Spiritual Side of Wynton Marsalis"
Though he’s just 52 years of age, there’s precious little that Wynton Marsalis hasn’t accomplished in music. The New Orleans-born trumpeter has won nine Grammy Awards and a Pulitzer Prize, performed with the likes of Sarah Vaughan, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins and Herbie Hancock, not to mention Eric Clapton and Crosby, Stills and Nash. He’s tirelessly promoted jazz to young audiences, and programmed the esteemed hall of Jazz at Lincoln Center, where he currently resides as Artistic
Neil Young Opens The "Cellar Door" With Vintage 1970 Concerts
No, there’s still not a date on the calendar for the much-talked-about release of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s 1974 concert tapes last scheduled for August 27 and currently anticipating release next year. (Or so it’s been reported.) But Neil Young has a solo live release scheduled for December 10 that should whet appetites for that CSNY project and excite fans and collectors in its own right, too. Young’s camp has confirmed Live at the Cellar Door, the latest installment of Young's
"Smile": Laura Nyro's 1976 Album Returns To CD From Iconoclassic
Iconoclassic Records is giving fans of the late Laura Nyro a reason to Smile with tomorrow’s expanded reissue of the singer-songwriter’s 1976 album of the same name. Smile marked Nyro’s return to music after a four-year hiatus following her Gamble and Huff-produced Philly soul gem Gonna Take a Miracle. This reissue – which appends three bonus tracks receiving their first domestic release – is the latest in Iconoclassic’s impressive series which also includes reissues of Season of Lights (1977),
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