Sundazed Records, one of our favorite independent catalogue labels, has announced their exclusive titles for Record Store Day. This year, the label has prepped some killer cuts from some of the best '60s folk and garage-rock ensembles - including a few rare tracks making vinyl debuts and even some unreleased treasures. The late, great Gene Clark is the standout artist in the batch, with a three appearances on Record Store Day - one with Doug Dillard (in which two non-LP A-sides are released on
Love in Action: Todd Rundgren Goes "Back to the Bars," To "Mink Hollow" and Beyond
Welcome back to our Rundgren Round-Up, spotlighting the final installments in Edsel’s series of the complete Bearsville Todd Rundgren and Utopia reissues! On 1978’s Back to the Bars, Todd Rundgren was in gentle, intimate mode, feeding off audiences in New York, Los Angeles and Cleveland eager to hear his most accessible tunes on a “retrospective” tour. For this look back at a near-decade’s worth of music making, Rundgren enlisted the classic Utopia line-up of Kasim Sulton, Willie Wilcox and
Review: Big Brother and the Holding Company Featuring Janis Joplin, "Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968"
Journey back with me to 1968, will you? Your time machine is courtesy Owsley “Bear” Stanley, visionary sound engineer and renowned LSD chemist. But you don’t need any lysergic acid to enjoy the music contained on the little silver disc known as Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968 (Columbia/Legacy 88697 96409 2, 2012), billed as the first release from Bear’s Sonic Journals. That said, a little Southern Comfort probably wouldn’t hurt. (Or a toke or two, as per the suggestion of Stanley’s son
Ring Them Bells: Liza Minnelli's Triumphant "Live at the Winter Garden" Expanded For CD Premiere
Liza Minnelli turns 66 today, and could rightfully relax, look back and celebrate over six decades in show business. But the daughter of Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli, who made her first onscreen appearance as a baby in 1949's MGM extravaganza In the Good Old Summertime, has never been one to rest on her considerable laurels. Minnelli is still touring, recording and doing what she does best: entertaining, whether on the big screen (Sex and the City 2), the small screen (Arrested
City In His Head: Todd Rundgren's Utopia Reissues Continue From Edsel
Todd Rundgren’s tenure at Albert Grossman’s Bearsville Records label took him from his days as a singer/songwriter/self-described Runt in 1970 through his cutting-edge avant garde experiments, both solo and with his band Utopia, culminating in 1985’s A Cappella, rejected by the label and eventually released on Warner Bros. instead. The U.K.’s Edsel label has recently completed its catalogue overhaul for Rundgren, including the entirety of his tenures at Bearsville and Warner. The most recent
Natural Woman: Hear Music Unveils Carole King's "Legendary Demos" At Long Last
Some years back, I was attending a performance of Carole King’s Living Room Tour at New York’s theatre-in-the round then known as the Westbury Music Fair, its cozy environs just perfect for King’s intimate show. Midway through the set, a fan shouted to the stage, “Release your demos, Carole!” King smiled knowingly. “Talk to the publisher!” she replied. It clearly wasn’t the first time she had heard the request; indeed, legendary isn’t too strong a word for the original vocal-and-piano tracks
About "Last Night": Expanded Trans-Siberian Orchestra Album to Be Released on Tour
Christmas isn't anywhere near our minds at Second Disc HQ, but a band typically associated with the season has a reissue coming out next week. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra, the successful symphonic rock band whose guitar-heavy versions of traditional carols are radio staples at Christmas, have released two non-holiday albums in their almost 20-year history: 2000's Beethoven's Last Night and 2009's Night Castle. Now, with the group playing Beethoven's Last Night in its entirety on a tour that
Eight More ICON Sets for You to Briefly Consider
What you will see after the jump are eight more of Universal's generic ICON titles, released this past Tuesday. There are two country acts, two Motown acts, two Motown compilations, one from Dean Martin and one from pop/rock band Fall Out Boy. A stranger collection you'll rarely find. I'd give a halfhearted recommendation to the Motown ones if you want to spend a little money on someone who has the distinct displeasure of never having heard any Motown song, ever. If you have more money to spend,
Reissue Theory: Tears for Fears, "Big Ideas: The Singles 1982-1993"
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we focus on notable albums and the reissues they may someday see. In honor of a recent milestone for one of the '80s' best synthpop bands, we present the idea of something their catalogue doesn't have but could totally need: a box set. Our friends at Slicing Up Eyeballs reminded us yesterday that March 7, 1983 was the day that Phonogram Records (and Mercury in the U.S.) released The Hurting, the debut album by British synth-rockers Tears
Ooh Wah, Ooh Wah, Cool Cool Kitty: Grateful Dead, Ad Libs, Eddie Rabbitt Coming From Real Gone Music
Yee-haw! Real Gone Music has announced its late April/early May slate of releases, and you can count on plenty of country plus helping heapings of R&B, pop and, well, The Grateful Dead! On April 17, the label will release the Complete Hit Singles As and Bs from soul legend Little Willie John as well as a vintage Complete Hit Singles As and Bs collection for “Cowboy” Copas. Then on May 1 comes The Complete Blue Cat Recordings of The Ad Libs, straight from the vaults of Leiber and
In Case You Missed It: Five Times the Fun for Fats
Ace Records has released its final volume of singles recorded by Fats Domino for the Imperial label. The aptly-titled The Imperial Singles Volume 5: 1962-1964 features 26 tracks - including two rarer LP-only bonus tracks - taken from the end of Domino's impressive run with Imperial label. While this era was nowhere near the commercial success of the late '50s and early '60s - only "Jambalaya (on the Bayou" and "You Win Again" were Top 40 hits - Fats' work here clearly proves why he's an elder
It's Alive! FSM Inches Toward Finish Line with Their Final Herrmann Title
Film Score Monthly's 247th title (three more to go, folks!) is a keeper: the third-to-last score by Bernard Herrmann, for the 1974 horror flick It's Alive! The score to the Larry Cohen film about a murderous infant (effects of which were designed by a young Rick Baker!) was part of a Herrmann renaissance; the composer had moved to England after a falling-out with Alfred Hitchcock over the score to Torn Curtain, but was championed and utilized by a younger crop of directors, including Francois
A World of Laughter, A World of Tears: The Second Disc Remembers Robert B. Sherman
Sher ·man ·ism (sher'maniz'em) NOUN: The creation of music abundant in optimism and heart, written for kids of all ages. OTHER FORMS: sher man·ist (Noun), sher man·esque (Adjective) Okay, so that’s not really in the dictionary. But then again, neither is “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” “fortuosity,” “fantasmagorical” or “gratifaction.” But perhaps they should be. Have any other songwriters broadened the English language as much as Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman? The
I'm Sticking with You: The Velvet Underground's Moe Tucker Gets Career-Spanning Anthology
She may have been a self-described “schlep from Levittown,” but Maureen “Moe” Tucker of The Velvet Underground always beat to the sound of her own drum. Tucker shed her suburban roots when she joined with Lou Reed, John Cale and Sterling Morrison in The Velvet Underground, replacing drummer Angus MacLise. (His tenure was a brief few months.) It’s fair to say that The Velvets changed the sound of rock and roll forever, breaking long-held lyrical taboos and musically drawing from both
"Predator" De-Cloaks Again and More Disney from Intrada
Intrada's latest batch of soundtrack releases should be cause for celebration, if you're not an easily offended fan. First, and most controversially, the label has announced a second pressing of the score to Alan Silvestri's score to the 1987 sci-fi/action classic Predator. One of the best soundtrack's of Silvestri's mid-to-late-'80s period of greatness (which also saw the scores to gems like Back to the Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit), Predator is a kinetic, rhythmic score that fits
World Party Dig Deep on New Box Set
Acclaimed British alt-rocker Karl Wallinger will release the first-ever box set for his long-running project, World Party, next month. Arkeology collates 70 unreleased tracks, featuring B-sides, live cuts, demos, outtakes and other ephemera across five discs. The set will be uniquely packaged with a 142--page "Any Year Diary," featuring liner notes, rare photos and memorabilia from Wallinger's archives as well as a day calendar for fans to use however they please. “The reason it’s all inside an
The Knack (And How to Get It): Omnivore Offers Knack EP, Rare Buck Owens Coloring Book For Record Store Day
We’re less than two months away from Record Store Day, and with that means the promise of major limited edition releases from many of the labels you read about each day here at The Second Disc. Los Angeles’ Omnivore Recordings, one of our favorite new labels of 2011, is leading the pack with its announcement of two unique titles to be made available on April 21 for Record Store Day. The more unusual of the two is, believe it or not, a coloring book! Yes, Omnivore is offering a 2,500-copy
Reissue Theory: Van Halen, "The Best of 1978-1984"
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we focus on notable albums and the reissues they may someday see. As Van Halen prepares to take Second Disc HQ by storm, we reflect on a compilation that almost was, and how it could've been done, TSD-style... Van Halen are mere hours away from their second show at Madison Square Garden in New York City, part of their latest tour in support of their first album in 13 years (and first with lead vocalist David Lee Roth since 1984), A
Come Rain or Shine: Legendary Diana Ross Concert Debuts on DVD
Time and taste have been kind to Diana Ross, recent recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award. From the moment The Supremes broke into the national consciousness, it was clear there was something special about that pretty lead singer with the unmistakable voice. And believe it or not, nothing can stop her - not even the elements, as a classic 1983 live event, bowing on DVD this spring from Shout! Factory, is quick to prove. On July 21, 1983, Miss Ross - at the time, two years into a
Flyin' the Flannel, Again: Reunited fIREHOSE to Reissue Two Albums
California alt-rock legends fIREHOSE are reuniting for a tour this spring, and to celebrate, Legacy is releasing their last two albums on one set with rare and unreleased bonus tracks. fIREHOSE was the musical progression for bassist/singer Mike Watt and drummer George Hurley of The Minutemen, after that band's guitarist and longtime friend, D. Boon, was killed in a car accident in 1986. Watt and Hurley were all but ready to cease playing altogether, but were convinced otherwise by an unlikely
Take a Bow: Warner U.K. Preps Madonna Albums Box, Vinyl Reissues
As the calendar turns over into March, Madonna fans are predictably going into overdrive thanks to the release of MDNA, her latest studio album, on the 26th. It's going to be her first effort not distributed by Warner Bros.; she left the label to sign an all-encompassing deal with Live Nation in 2007, and while Warner distributed her live Sticky & Sweet Tour set in 2010, Universal's Interscope Records will distribute MDNA. Her rich back catalogue is very much in Warner Music's archives,
Un homme et une Femme: Classic Francis Lai Score Reissued, Plus Billy May, Maurice Chevalier and More
Johnny Mathis, Robert Goulet and Engelbert Humperdinck sang it. Ella Fitzgerald sang it. Claudine Longet even sang it in its original French! The song was “A Man and a Woman,” or “Un Homme et une Femme,” from the 1966 film of the same name. The Francis Lai composition was a favorite of pop singers and jazz musicians alike, and was quite ubiquitous; as Kritzerland’s Bruce Kimmel asks, “Is there a person anywhere in the world who was around in the 1960s and 1970s who could not instantly
In Memoriam: Hey, Hey, It's Davy Jones!
UPDATE 2/29/12: Today at The Second Disc, we join music fans all over the world in mourning the loss of Davy Jones, who died this morning at the age of 66. The worlds of music, stage and screen all lost an icon with the passing of the actor, singer, comedian and beloved Monkee. Davy brought a little of the British Invasion to the California band, as well as lot of talent, sweetness, heart and chutzpah. New York DJ Cousin Brucie Morrow took the airwaves on Sirius/XM satellite radio early
Good Lovin': Felix Cavaliere Teams with Todd Rundgren, Laura Nyro, Leslie West, Dino Danelli On Bearsville Reissue
The union of singer/songwriter Felix Cavaliere and producer Todd Rundgren might have seemed like a marriage made in heaven, with Cavaliere having specialized in blue-eyed soul with The Rascals, and the wunderkind Rundgren no slouch in that field, either. But in fact, it was more like a shotgun wedding. You can hear for yourself, as Cavaliere’s Rundgren-produced, self-titled 1974 album for Bearsville Records has just been coupled with its follow-up, Destiny (1975) on a stellar new two-for-one
To Japan and Back: New David Sylvian Compilation Available in the U.K.
If all you know of David Sylvian is his excellent work in the New Wave band Japan, some would say you have a lot to learn. Fortunately, a new compilation from EMI U.K. is here to help. A Victim of Stars 1982-2012 collates the best works of the erstwhile Japan frontman, from their biggest hit single "Ghosts" to the present day, with a new single, "Where's Your Gravity?" Along the way, there are a host of intriguing collaborations with some of the best avant-garde rockers in the business, from
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