Any Time at All Did The Beatles save rock and roll? If John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr didn't save the still-young form, they certainly gifted it with a reinvigorating, exhilarating jolt of musical euphoria the likes of which hadn't been seen before - and hasn't been duplicated since. The scene was early 1964. Buddy Holly was long gone, and the big hits had dried up - at the moment, at least - for Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard. Elvis had served his
Review: Joni Mitchell, "The Asylum Albums 1972-1975" in Quadio
The Joni Mitchell renaissance continues. Following a triumphant surprise appearance in July 2022 at the Newport Folk Festival, the singer-songwriter returned to the stage for a full-length Joni Jam in June 2023 at Washington's Gorge Amphitheatre; tickets were quickly snapped up by ardent fans who had waited roughly two decades to see Mitchell in concert once again. The evening was a transcendent one, a taste of which was supplied to the public when Mitchell and her band of friends performed
What's So Funny: Cherry Red, Lemon Collect Brinsley Schwarz Albums on "Thinking Back"
Brinsley Schwarz, the band, may be best-remembered today as the launching pad for singer-songwriter Nick Lowe and as a prime exemplar of the U.K. pub rock scene. The band's studio albums, though, reveal diverse influences and a vibrant sound that more than holds up today. In recent months, Cherry Red's Lemon Recordings imprint brought together the band's seven albums plus more than 60 bonus tracks on the whopping 7-CD box set Thinking Back: The Anthology 1970-1975. Guitarist Brinsley
UPDATE: Smokey Robinson and The Miracles Albums Coming from SoulMusic and The Second Disc
UPDATED 4/2: Smokey Robinson and The Miracles became Motown Records' first superstars when the group's 1960 single "Shop Around" ascended to No. 1 on both the Billboard R&B and Cash Box Pop charts and No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Motown's first million-selling song, "Shop Around" set the stage for a remarkable string of hits for William "Smokey" Robinson, his wife Claudette, her cousin Bobby, and friends Ronnie White, Pete Moore, and guitarist/honorary Miracle Marv Tarplin. Their
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Billy Joel, "The Vinyl Collection Vol. 2"
On July 25, 2024, Billy Joel will play his 150th lifetime show at New York's Madison Square Garden. It will be the 104th show of the first-of-its-kind residency which began in 2014. Remarkably yet unsurprisingly, his final ten shows are already sold out. More remarkably - but just as unsurprisingly to anyone who's followed the singer-songwriter over the past 30 years - he's filled the cavernous arena 100+ times over the past decade without introducing a single new song. (His last two pop
Freedom Is More Than a Word: Cherry Red, Grapefruit Collect Complete Recordings of Procol Harum Offshoot Band
Freedom...at last! Grapefruit has recently collected the five albums recorded by Procol Harum offshoot Freedom in one handsome box set. Born Again: The Complete Recordings has the band's album discography plus a handful of bonus tracks for easy, one-stop-shopping. Guitarist Ray Royer and drummer Bobby Harrison were enlisted by Gary Brooker and Keith Reid to join them in the initial lineup of Procol Harum. Royer played on their landmark debut single "A Whiter Shade of Pale," but Harrison was
Not Like We Love Our Freedom: Joni Mitchell's Third "Archives" Revisits 1972-1975 Period
"The sound of this thing was like, 'We're breaking some new ground here.'" Earlier this year, musician-arranger-bandleader Tom Scott of the L.A. Express reminisced to the U.K.'s MOJO magazine about working with Joni Mitchell on her 1972 album For the Roses. Indeed, Scott realized early on that the merging of folk and jazz sensibilities was about to take the singer-songwriter's music to the next level. Mitchell's creatively groundbreaking 1972-1975 albums - For the Roses, Court and Spark (1974),
The Second Disc's Record Store Day 2023 Shopping Guide
Record Store Day! It's that time again where music lovers and vinyl flippers get together at their favorite physical music retailers and wait in line to snag some treasured albums - almost all of which are pressed on vinyl instead of CD (or, you know, sold on secondary marketplaces for above their retail value). It's certainly easy to be cynical about this stuff, but the crux of the idea still lives: find some music that moves you, something from an old favorite you've maybe never heard
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Joni Mitchell, "The Asylum Albums (1972-1975)"
2022 has been Joni Mitchell's year. Following a triumphant surprise appearance in July at the Newport Folk Festival, the singer-songwriter announced a return to the stage for a full-length Joni Jam in June 2023 at Washington's Gorge Amphitheatre; tickets were quickly snapped up by ardent fans who had waited roughly two decades to see Mitchell in concert once again. More recently, she attended her first-ever Broadway musical, Cameron Crowe and Tom Kitt's Almost Famous - and made her Broadway
Cat's in the Cradle: Cherry Red Celebrates Harry Chapin on "Story Book: The Elektra Albums 1972-1978"
It's fair to say that when Harry Chapin's debut single "Taxi" peaked at No. 24 on the Billboard Hot 100, the ballad didn't sound like much else on the chart. The top spot was held by Sammy Davis, Jr.'s bouncy ode to "The Candy Man" while the upper reaches also featured gospel-tinged R&B (The Staple Singers' "I'll Take You There"), pristine pop (Neil Diamond's "Song Sung Blue," Carpenters' "It's Going to Take Some Time"), driving funk (Billy Preston's "Outa-Space"), raunchy rock-and-roll
The Second Disc's Guide to Record Store Day 2022: Our Essential Picks and More!
After a series of smaller "Drops" over the past two years, Record Store Day is (mostly) back to a one-day event, and the big day is tomorrow: Saturday, April 23. Over 250 titles will be available at independent stores everywhere - including some CD releases, too! That's plenty of albums in almost every genre imaginable, so visit RecordStoreDay.com in the U.S., RecordStoreDay.co.uk in the U.K., and RecordStoreDayCanada.ca in Canada for the complete list, and sound off below as to which titles
I Don't Do Gentle: Cherry Red's 7T's Imprint Reissues Two Albums from Suzi Quatro on New Collection
Since bursting onto the scene in the mid-1960s as a member of Detroit band The Pleasure Seekers, Suzi Quatro has enjoyed one of the most versatile careers in rock and roll. In addition to selling over 55 million LPs and singles, Quatro has starred on stage and screen and influenced an entire generation of artists including Joan Jett and The Go-Go's. Suzi's most recent studio LP, The Devil in Me, arrived in early 2021. Now, Cherry Red's 7T's imprint is looking back to her first two albums of
Three Cheers and Dammit, C'est La Vie: Eartha Kitt's "I'm Still Here" and "Live in London" Reissued by Cherry Red
Good times and bum times, I've seen them all and my dear, I'm still here... Eartha Kitt certainly earned the right to sing those famous lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The theatrical legend wrote the song for Yvonne DeCarlo to introduce in the 1971 Broadway production of Follies, but the seen-it-all anthem was later adopted by artists including Barbra Streisand, Carol Burnett, Elaine Stritch, Judy Collins, Dame Shirley Bassey, Cleo Laine, and Ann Miller. Kitt - a singer, dancer, actress,
Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life: Stage Door Preps Second Volume of RCA's "Show Time" Series of Classic Musicals
By 1953, RCA Victor already boasted a considerable number of Broadway classics in its catalogue - from original cast recordings of Brigadoon and Paint Your Wagon to studio cast renditions of South Pacific and Finian's Rainbow. But the label was eager to build up its musical theatre repertoire and compete with the likes of Columbia and Decca. To that end, the Show Time series was launched - a collection of 16 EPs, each dedicated to four songs from a beloved musical or operetta. The EPs were
People All Over the World, Join Hands: United Souls Announces First Philadelphia International Records Albums Box Set, "Get On Board the Love Train"
Back in late January, we shared news of Philadelphia International Records' 50th anniversary plans. The centerpiece of the campaign announced by Sony Music's Legacy Recordings was a series of CD box sets presenting every PIR album in chronological order. Now, the first of those box sets is available for pre-order with a release date of May 28. Get On Board the Soul Train: The Sound of Philadelphia International Records Vol. 1 is a product of the U.K.-based United Souls, an imprint of
Cherry Red, SoulMusic Round-Up, Part One: Labels Anthologize Solomon Burke, Esther Phillips' Complete Atlantic Recordings
In recent weeks, Cherry Red's SoulMusic Records imprint has launched a series of mini-box sets drawn from the Atlantic vaults including titles available now from Solomon Burke, Esther Phillips, Barbara Lewis, and Carla Thomas. Today we're looking at the releases from Burke and Phillips, while we'll next turn to Lewis and Thomas! The late Solomon Burke (who died in 2010 at the age of 70 or 74; reports vary) lived up to his moniker as The King of Rock 'n' Soul. SoulMusic's 3-CD set of that
That Happy Day: 50th Anniversary Editions of Yusuf / Cat Stevens' "Mona Bone Jakon" and "Tea For The Tillerman" Announced
On the heels of his acclaimed Tea For The Tillerman ² album, Yusuf/Cat Stevens will once again look back on his landmark 1970 albums with two new box sets arriving from A&M/UMe on December 4. Hitting shelves that day will be 50th anniversary editions of Mona Bone Jakon and Tea For The Tillerman. Released within 7 months in 1970, these albums saw Stevens redefining his sound. Following a battle with tuberculosis and a lengthy stay at in the hospital, Stevens had begun looking inward,
The Second Disc Guide to Record Store Day Drop 1 TOMORROW!
With the nation still fighting COVID-19, Record Store Day here in the U.S. looks a little - make that a lot - different this year. The usual offerings have been split among three dates with Drop 1 taking place tomorrow, August 29, at your local independent record retailer. Drop 2 is September 26, and Drop 3 is October 24. Every retailer is handling the Drop a bit differently thanks to the necessary accommodations for social distancing, smaller crowds, and better safety precautions. So please
Dancing Again: What To Expect for Record Store Day's RSD Drops Day 1, August 29
As the COVID 19 outbreak continues to impact our lives, it's heartening to know that some things are returning to some semblance of "normal," or as close as we can get to it during this unpredictable impasse. As we previously reported, Record Store Day has been split into three standalone "RSD Drop" days, occurring on August 29, September 26, and October 24. That's not the only thing changing this time around. It's been reported by Georgia-based shop Comeback Vinyl that the organization is
Endless Flight: New Andrew Gold Box Set From Esoteric Offers Albums, Unreleased Live Material
He was born on a summer day, 1951 - and through the '70s, Andrew Gold issued a handful of killer pop singles around the world while serving as an in-demand session musician. This summer, U.K. label Esoteric Recordings will collect his complete discography for Asylum Records along with some choice studio and live bonus material - a portion of which is being released for the first time! Lonely Boy: The Asylum Years Anthology illustrates how Gold - the son of film composer Ernest and Hollywood
Let's Do It Again: Playback Records Returns with Curtis Mayfield, Timi Yuro Collections
Australia's Playback Records label returned to the scene in 2019 with a pair of new releases and the promise of more to come. Today, we're looking at those new titles from Curtis Mayfield and Timi Yuro! As a writer, producer, and artist - both solo and with The Impressions - Curtis Mayfield (1942-1999) was one of the foremost exponents of Chicago soul. He penned such favorites as Jan Bradley's "Mama Didn't Lie" and Major Lance's "The Monkey Time," not to mention such Impressions hits as
The Year in Review: The 2019 Gold Bonus Disc Awards, From A to Z
Happy 2020 and welcome to The Second Disc's 10th Annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards! It's time once again to recognize this year's cream of the crop - those exemplary reissues and box sets big and small that proved to be truly outstanding products for music lovers worldwide. There was no shortage of great reissue titles in 2019; in fact, by our count, we covered over 700 releases in all! And after much deliberation, we're excited to unveil our favorites. This isn't your run-of-the-mill Top 10,
Holiday Gift Guide Reviews: A Rhino Round-Up with Bad Company, Rush, Van Halen, Hootie, STP and The Notorious B.I.G.
Many of this year's finest box sets came courtesy of the Rhino label. Here, Joe and Randy take a look at a few more of our favorites! First up are Randy's three picks... First up is Rhino's 25th anniversary 3-CD/1-LP Super Deluxe Edition of Stone Temple Pilots' Purple. Initially hitting shelves on June 7, 1994, the band's sophomore album would debut atop the Billboard 200 and stay there for three weeks, eventually becoming the group's second best-selling album after their debut effort,
The Year In Review - The 2018 Gold Bonus Disc Awards, From A to Z
Happy 2019 and welcome to The Second Disc's 9th Annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards! It's time once again to recognize this year's cream of the crop - those exemplary reissues and box sets big and small that proved to be truly outstanding products for physical media lovers worldwide. There was no shortage of great reissue titles in 2018; in fact, we covered over 700 releases in all! And after much deliberation, we're excited to unveil our favorites. This isn't your run-of-the-mill Top 10,
A Deal With God: Kate Bush's Catalogue Remastered For CD, Vinyl Box Sets
Kate Bush was just nineteen years old when her debut single "Wuthering Heights" topped the U.K. Singles Chart for four weeks in 1978. Since that time, the singer-songwriter has placed 25 singles within the chart's top 40 and released ten studio albums. She became the first British solo female artist to top the country's album chart and the first female artist, period, to enter the album chart at No. 1. Yet despite such accolades, Bush has never wavered from her own, truly singular career