It's been a very good year for Beatles fans, especially those with deep pockets! First came The John Lennon Signature Box and reissue campaign, then George Harrison's Collaborations box set preserving his work with Ravi Shankar. Last Tuesday delivered a sparkling batch of Apple Records remasters, and after months of anticipation, Concord's Paul McCartney reissue campaign finally kicks off next Tuesday with the reissue of Band on the Run. The 1973 Wings smash takes flight in four configurations:
Release Round-Up: Week of November 2
Another week, another batch of reissues! Wings, Band on the Run: Special Edition (Concord) After reissues of John Lennon's solo catalogue and the Apple Records discography, another Beatles-oriented campaign kicks off with a new reissue of Band on the Run, Paul McCartney and Wings' classic LP. It's the first of his classic discs to be re-released on Concord, and will be available in a wide variety of formats. (Best of all, it's the first drop in the bucket - an insert inside the sets
On False Icons
From the very beginning, the compilation record was at once a blind cash grab and an attempt at convenience. After a handful of years buying vinyl singles, what would be the point of buying a selection of those hits? Ah yes, the extra tracks were sometimes dealmakers. And if you'd never bought said hits, it was hard to beat a tightly packed compilation disc. Times have, of course, changed. Compilations should be rendered nearly obsolete by digital downloading; retailers like iTunes and Amazon
The Great Purple Freak-Out
It's no secret that The Second Disc HQ holds a lot of love for Prince - remember our weeklong blitz for The Artist back around his birthday this past June? - so this bit of news is, to put it mildly, rather massive. After the jump, learn what an Australian podcast got His Royal Badness himself to say about the potential future remastering of the Prince catalogue.
Rarities Editions, Round Three (UPDATED 11/1)
Remember Universal's Rarities Edition sets? The sets that issue the bonus material of a previously-released Deluxe Edition on its own? A trio of new Rarities Edition titles will street on Tuesday, November 2, and like the last two batches, The Second Disc wants to give a clear perspective to you, the reader, as to whether they're worth getting if you never upgraded to the original Deluxe Edition in the first place. Luckily, unlike the last two batches of Rarities Editions (which had some
Halloween Special Back Tracks: Anthony Perkins
Welcome to a very special edition of Back Tracks! For this week's Friday Feature, Mike took a look back at the music of Psycho. One of the few films still retaining the power to shock and thrill after some 50 years, the repercussions of Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece are still felt today. And its musical legacy, enhanced via some very controversial sequels and remakes, encompasses some of the greats, with Jerry Goldsmith, Danny Elfman and Carter Burwell all having built on the foundation laid by
Friday Feature: "Psycho" Sequels
Back in May, The Second Disc did a Friday Feature on the chilling, iconic and somehow commercially unreleased score to Alfred Hitchock's Pyscho, written by Bernard Hermann. With Halloween approaching (and a killer screening of Psycho planned tonight at New York's Film Forum), what else is there to write about? Those of you with particularly steel-trap-like memories may recall a set of sequels - sequels! - to the film, released in the 1980s. If that weren't inexplicable enough for you, they
Reissue Theory: New Radicals, "Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too"
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we reflect on well-known albums of the past and the reissues they could someday see. A wave of '90s nostalgia leads this column to look back at one of the best one-hit wonders of the latter part of the decade. The presence of The New Radicals on that NOW '90s compilation brought some memories flooding back. Remember the first time you heard "You Get What You Give"? It was insanely poppy, it sounded kind of like a U2 outtake from an era U2
A Heatwave in November
This week has been unseasonably warm around The Second Disc HQ, and while that's not particularly fun, there is news of some heat of another kind - particularly, expanded reissues of the Heatwave catalogue coming your way from Cherry Red next month. The immortal disco band, which had a string of classic dance/soul cuts in the late '70s from the pen of member Rod Temperton (who also of course wrote some instant classics for Michael Jackson in the Off the Wall and Thriller days), will see no less
The Second Disc Interview #3: What's Happening "Now" with Steve Stanley!
The music may be then, but the place to be is undoubtedly Now. By that, of course, I mean Now Sounds. Launched in 2007 by Steve Stanley, the producer of over 50 titles for the Rev-Ola label, Now Sounds celebrates the rich and varied melodies created between 1964 and 1972, though the label isn't limited to that period. A labor of love for its founder, Now Sounds has established itself as the go-to label for fans of this golden era of both songwriting and record production. We've seen a career
Intrada Releases Two Classic '60s Scores from the Vault
Intrada's latest batch of titles may be on the shorter side when it comes to pure musical recognition, but they have three scores released for the first time anywhere - two of which are from two classic adapted film works of the early '60s. Those scores are to 1961's Raisin in the Sun and 1962's Requiem for a Heavyweight, both penned by Laurence Rosenthal. Requiem is an adaptation of the famous Playhouse 90 teleplay penned by Rod Serling (this adaptation stars Anthony Quinn as the boxer and
Tell Us About It: Analyzing the Potential Billy Joel Slate for 2011
It's no surprise that Legacy's intention to reissue the Billy Joel catalogue in 2011 has been met with a lot of enthusiasm and expectation. For better or worse, Joel has been one of the most intriguing artists in the American rock canon: he found success writing deceptively traditional pop songs in an AOR era, he performed them from behind a piano, he used that talent to springboard a relationship with one of the hottest supermodels in recorded history and - unlike nearly all of his
Review: Bob Dylan, "The Bootleg Series Volume 9: The Witmark Demos"
Artie Mogull of Music Publishers' Holding Company believed he may have been among the first people in the music business to hear Bob Dylan sing "Blowin' in the Wind." Before his death in 2004, he recounted that he "flipped" upon hearing "How many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry?" It's not hard to see why. To a melody adapted from the spiritual "No More Auction Block for Me," Dylan succinctly, eloquently and powerfully gave lyrical voice to a generation of youth struggling
Friday Feature: "Alien" and "Aliens"
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojhGdRSkiUw] With Halloween almost approaching, there's never been a better time to revisit notable horror film scores than with our ongoing series of Friday Features. This week, we cover the first two, multiply-reissued scores in the infamous Alien franchise. Happily, both of the reissues discussed herein are readily available, so if you're inspired to hear the music of these classic films, you don't have to dig particularly deep. Have a read after the
Reissue Theory: Blind Melon
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we reflect on well-known albums of the past and the reissues they could someday see. Today, on the anniversary of the death of a well-known alt-rock vocalist, we reflect on his band's first album, which would "bee" a treat if it were reissued. "All I can say is that my life is pretty plain..." Those immortal opening lines to "No Rain," the biggest hit by alternative rock band Blind Melon, couldn't be any further from the truth. The story
Bad Religion Celebrate 30 Years with a Lot of Vinyl
Longtime punk rockers Bad Religion just celebrated their third decade of existence with a new album, last month's The Dissent of Man. Now, they're giving fans an even bigger present: a massive vinyl box set spanning almost their entire discography. Bad Religion 30th Anniversary Box Set gathers 15 studio albums in one spot, from debut LP How Could Hell Be Any Worse in 1981 to The Dissent of Man. This is significant for a number of reasons - it brings together the band's output on original and
Back Tracks: Culture Club
It's safe to say we've given Boy George more than enough time to realize his crime. The beleaguered singer has had more than his share of legal troubles throughout the '90s and 2000s, and that has occasionally overshadowed the music he put out in the 1980s. This is a shame, since Culture Club was one of the better U.K. pop bands of the early '80s. Don't let George's gender-bending look fool you. Heaven knows that's become the primary takeaway for nostalgists, but there's a lot more underneath
Review: Jimmy Webb, "Ten Easy Pieces Plus 4"
Often a reissue celebrates a classic album of years past. Through additional content, new remastering or expanded liner notes, the listener can put the original in perspective. It can be a reminder of just why we loved that album so much the first time around or take us to a special time in our own past. At other times, a reissue brings a forgotten album to light, revealing it as a lost treasure. Such is the case for Jimmy Webb's Ten Easy Pieces, now Plus 4 courtesy the fine folks at DRG
Reissue Theory: Chevy Chase
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we reflect on well-known albums of the past and the reissues they could someday see. This time around, we shine a light on a few unorthodox musical moments from a comedy legend. "I'm Chevy Chase, and you're not." For the past couple of years, no one would dare be envious of the man once considered one of the greatest comedians of the 1970s and 1980s. Today, however, The Second Disc not only defends him from his detractors but makes a case
Nelly Furtado to Say It Right with First-Ever Compilation
Another female pop star of the 2000s is getting her very first compilation for the holiday rush: Nelly Furtado, the Grammy-winnning Portugese-Canadian singer who first garnered attention for her folky pop sensibilities, then for her surprise reinvention as a dancehall goddess. Furtado first rose to the scene with Whoa, Nelly! (2000), a catchy debut LP with a lite-FM-ready sound. Sophomore release Folklore did have a few gems (including underrated first single "Powerless") but suffered
Reissue Theory: Tony Bennett, "Tony Sings the Great Hits of Today!"
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we reflect on well-known albums of the past and the reissues they could someday see. This installment spins what may be the least-loved Tony Bennett LP into a lost classic for the ages. Today's Reissue Theory takes a look at one of the most reviled albums of all time, the LP thought to be the nadir of a career still going strong after nearly 50 years. The artist is Tony Bennett, and the album is Tony Sings the Great Hits of Today! ,
Legacy Plays Brubeck on New Compilation
Legacy Recordings recently announced the kick-off to a yearlong celebration of master jazz pianist Dave Brubeck - who turns 90 on December 6 - with a new compilation of Brubeck's legendary Columbia material. Legacy of a Legend is a two-disc, 21-track compilation spanning from 1954 to 1970 and compiled by Brubeck himself, featuring great performances in studio and in concert from Brubeck and his classic quartet (including bassist Eugene Wright, sax player Paul Desmond and drummer Joe Morello).
You Can Look At the Menu…
As previously speculated and promised, synth-pop stalwart Howard Jones is set to reissue his first two LPs on CD, digitally remastered for the first time. But fans have to wait a bit, or travel a great distance, for bonus material. These versions of Human's Lib (1983) and Dream Into Action (1985), the records that spun off hits like "What is Love?", "New Song," "Things Can Only Get Better" and "No One is to Blame," will be released through Jones' own Dtox label. They retain their original track
Just in Case You Had No Rolling Stones LPs on Vinyl... (UPDATED 10/12)
...or if you have no idea what to do with the $1,000 or so you put aside for gifts for that Stones fan in your family this year, you finally have an answer. MusicTAP reports that UMe's releasing a massive pair of remastered, 180-gram vinyl box sets that cover a good chunk of the band's discography. The Rolling Stones 1964-1969 features 11 of the band's ABKCO-owned U.K. studio albums, from 1964's self-titled LP to the 1975 outtakes compilation Metamorphosis, and also throws in two additional 12"
He Will Still Burn On and On and On...
One might think nothing of MusicTAP's recent listing of The Very Best of Billy Joel as coming from Legacy on November 9. The Long Island native has been compiled a lot - his first, double-sized greatest-hits compilation in 1985, a third volume in 1997, an entry in Legacy's Essential series and so on. Call it a hunch, but this author thinks there might be something to this set. For one, Amazon's list price for the compilation is $9.99, suggesting a single-disc set...and when you think about it,
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