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/ Back Tracks

January 22, 2013 By Mike Duquette 3 Comments

adam ant redux

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o41A91X5pns] It's the statement few in the Internet age expected to type: today, Adam Ant releases his first album in nearly 20 years. Adam Ant is the Blueblack Hussar in Marrying the Gunnar's Daughter (try saying that three times fast) features brand-new original compositions by Ant with longtime collaborators/guitarists Marco Pirroni and Boz Boorer, and is the first album on his new label, the eponymous Blueblack Hussar Records. Early critical notes

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets Tags: Back Tracks

May 20, 2012 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

robin gibb secret agent

May 20, 2012: We're deeply saddened to report that Robin Gibb of The Bee Gees passed away this morning in England at 10:47 a.m. (5:47 a.m. ET) at the age of 62.  Gibb's passing comes following a brave battle with cancer, courageously fought in the public eye.  Robin Gibb will always be remembered for his great gift of song, with his angelic voice having provided comfort to so many of us in our saddest times and pure joy in our most upbeat moments.  Robin, we will miss you.  In honor of this

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Disco/Dance, Pop Tags: Back Tracks, Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb, Robin Gibb, The Bee Gees

May 4, 2012 By Mike Duquette 4 Comments

pauls boutique foldout

With the heartbreaking news of the passing of Adam "MCA" Yauch of The Beastie Boys, who'd been battling cancer for several years, we invite you to enjoy this Back Tracks special from October 27, 2010, in which we revisited the band's discography and its reissues. The slightly bizarre news that The Beastie Boys' upcoming album Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 2, slated for release this coming spring, will feature virtually every track recorded for the delayed Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 1 is classic Beastie

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Categories: News Tags: Back Tracks, The Beastie Boys

April 23, 2012 By Mike Duquette Leave a Comment

men at work two hearts

The sudden, recent news of the passing of Greg Ham, saxophonist/flautist and founding member of Australian rock band Men at Work, comes at a strange and sad time. Yesterday in fact marked the 30th anniversary of the release of the band's breakthrough debut, Business As Usual, in America. More importantly, though, it's the sad loss of a figure who contributed a lot to early '80s rock music. Ham, who was 58, was the spice that set Men at Work's hard driving, New Wave-inspired sounds apart from

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Categories: News Tags: Back Tracks, Men at Work

February 13, 2012 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

whitney houston

Music was in both the bloodline and the spirit of Whitney Elizabeth Houston (1963-2012).  The native of Newark, New Jersey called Cissy Houston of The Sweet Inspirations her mom, while Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick were her beloved cousins.  Aretha Franklin was a close family friend and honorary aunt.  Following in her mother's footsteps, she began performing at Newark's New Hope Baptist Church, singing in the gospel choir as a featured soloist, and began to make inroads in the music

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Categories: Features Formats: CD Genre: Pop, R&B/Soul Tags: Back Tracks, Whitney Houston

October 4, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

oceans kingdom

Tucked between album opener “Taxman” and “I’m Only Sleeping” on Side One of The Beatles’ 1966 LP Revolver, “Eleanor Rigby” heralded an explicit attempt by the pop giants at pushing the musical envelope, both with its despairing lyrics and classical-inspired arrangement for a string octet.  Primarily the composition of Paul McCartney, “Eleanor Rigby” defied the odds to hit the top spot on the British charts (a double A-side single with “Yellow Submarine”) and hit the No. 11 spot in the United

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Categories: News Tags: Back Tracks, Paul McCartney, The Beatles

July 20, 2011 By Mike Duquette Leave a Comment

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It's a crime that when you talk about CHIC, many of the players who made up arguably the greatest band of the disco era aren't alive to hear your words of praise. Bernard Edwards, CHIC's bassist and co-producer, died in 1997; drummer Tony Thompson passed away in 2003. Nile Rodgers, guitarist, co-producer and keeper of the CHIC flame, could easily have met the same early fate had he not been lucky enough to discover the cancer that he's been since late last year. (Rodgers, one of the best users

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets Genre: Soundtracks Tags: Back Tracks, Luther Vandross, Madonna, Sister Sledge

July 4, 2011 By Mike Duquette Leave a Comment

sly dance to the music

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G861C3J9ms] Today being the Fourth of July, there are few better reasons to give a spin to Sly and The Family Stone's Greatest Hits, arguably one of the best single-artist compilations in pop history. Those danceable grooves will get you moving at any barbecue, family reunion, pool party or whatever you might be celebrating this holiday weekend. But revisiting Sly has another purpose as of late: to get set up for one of the most unexpected comebacks in

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Categories: News Tags: Back Tracks, Sly & The Family Stone

May 9, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

west side story1

The late Arthur Laurents wrote many of the most beloved musicals and films in entertainment history including West Side Story, Gypsy, The Way We Were and Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope.  He passed away on May 5, but today’s special Back Tracks celebrates this great writer’s legacy in music. “If you have a good strong finish, they’ll forgive anything!” So implores stage mother Madame Rose to her daughter Louise, the future Gypsy Rose Lee, in the 1959 musical Gypsy.  Rose’s bon mot was one of many

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Categories: News Genre: Cast Recordings, Soundtracks Tags: Back Tracks, Barbra Streisand, Stephen Sondheim

April 11, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

shirelles 1

Diana Ross, Martha Reeves and Mary Weiss – and even Joan Jett, Victoria Beckham and Nicole Scherzinger – all owe a debt to Shirley Owens, Doris Coley, Addie Harris and Beverly Lee. That quartet doesn’t have the name recognition of those that followed them, but those four young women from Passaic, New Jersey ignited the girl group phenomenon when they joined forces as The Poquellos, soon to be renamed The Shirelles. Were The Shirelles the first girl group? Probably not. Were they the first to

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Categories: News Tags: Back Tracks, The Shirelles

April 5, 2011 By Mike Duquette Leave a Comment

Seventeen years ago today, Generation X lost an icon when Kurt Cobain, the talented, troubled frontman for Nirvana, took his own life in his Seattle home. Nirvana were three albums into their career, but had already redefined music for an entire cachet of disaffected youth. The genre that came to be known as grunge music, based on frequently alternating dynamics, heavy distortion and angst-filled lyrics, was forged largely under the songwriting tactics of Cobain, who very reluctantly accepted

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets Tags: Back Tracks, Nirvana

March 22, 2011 By Mike Duquette 1 Comment

police synchronicity

On this day in 1978, A&M Records signed a bunch of blonde guys masquerading as punk rockers to their label. That doesn't sound like a blueprint for success, but those guys - vocalist-bassist Gordon Sumner (better known as Sting), guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Stewart Copeland - were well on their way to becoming one of the biggest bands in the world, then one of the most lamented and celebrated after their messy breakup (and inevitable reunion). The Police were like few others,

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, DVD Tags: Back Tracks, The Police

March 1, 2011 By Mike Duquette Leave a Comment

aerosmith mirrors

Way back in January we did a Back Tracks feature on Aerosmith's Columbia discography, just as Steven Tyler was beginning to crazy it up on American Idol. However, since then Tyler has become a solid asset for Idol fans, and it wouldn't be surprising if the end of the show's current season didn't dovetail into some sort of Aerosmith resurgence. With that in mind, let's take a look from where we left the band in the last Back Tracks special. 1982's Rock in a Hard Place saw original guitarists

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets Tags: Back Tracks, Run-D.M.C.

February 21, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

freberg usa 1

Here's one for Watson: "This actor, comedian, voice artist, singer, songwriter and advertising guru coined the name 'Grammy' for the annual awards bestowed by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS)." The correct answer? "Who is Stan Freberg?" To list Freberg's credits in the fields of cinema, radio, television, animation and music would take up the entirety of this column, but readers unfamiliar with those accomplishments are advised to stop reading now, order a copy of

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Categories: News Tags: Back Tracks, Stan Freberg

February 14, 2011 By Joe Marchese 5 Comments

buffalo springfield retrospective

“Used to play in a rock ‘n roll band, but they broke up. We were young and we were wild, it ate us up,” lamented Neil Young in the song “Buffalo Springfield Again” from his 2000 album Silver and Gold. “I’d like to see those guys again, and give it a shot. Maybe now we can show the world what we’ve got. But I’d just like to play for the fun we had.” Some 11 years later, Young’s wish may be coming true. On February 10, Rolling Stone carried a headline for which fans had waited years: “Exclusive:

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets Tags: Back Tracks, Neil Young

January 20, 2011 By Mike Duquette 1 Comment

aerosmith

Aerosmith isn't dead, but it may as well be. Frontman Steven Tyler was preposterous in his first televised appearance as a judge on American Idol (though there was some very funny writing about the whole ordeal), and if you're like me, you wish Tyler had stepped away from such ridiculous duties and went on to perform with what many have called America's greatest rock and roll band - even if it sounded more like their recent, pop-oriented rock instead of their bluesy, pre-metal days. To

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets Tags: Back Tracks

January 18, 2011 By Mike Duquette Leave a Comment

freddie

We continue our coverage of Queen's previous reissues - in anticipation of the band's forthcoming remasters on new U.K. home Island Records - with a look at Queen during most of the '80s, where they went increasingly pop-friendly before returning to their rock roots in the 1990s, losing their iconic frontman and becoming anthologized in nearly a dozen or so compilations. The show must go on, after the jump.

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets Genre: Soundtracks Tags: Back Tracks, Queen

January 13, 2011 By Mike Duquette Leave a Comment

This week's remaster and reissue of Queen's first two greatest hits LPs in the U.K. (on new home Island Records) is the start of what promises to be a massive reissue campaign for the band's 40th anniversary. The band's first five LPs are slated to be expanded and released in March, with additional batches to follow through 2011. Of course, this isn't the first time the Queen catalogue has been rolled out on CD. While British audiences got straight CD transfers throughout the late '80s,

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets Genre: Soundtracks Tags: Back Tracks, Queen

January 12, 2011 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

margaretwhitingwhiting2

In 1997, a musical revue came and went at Broadway's Royale Theatre. The revue, Dream, was a mostly unexceptional journey through the music and lyrics of the legendary Johnny Mercer. Why the "mostly," then? Dream had one very exceptional living link to Mercer, and that was the resplendent Margaret Whiting, who passed away on Tuesday at the age of 86 in Englewood, New Jersey. When Mercer (along with Buddy DeSylva and Glenn Wallichs) started Capitol Records in 1942, one of the first artists he

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Categories: News Tags: Back Tracks, Margaret Whiting

December 24, 2010 By Mike Duquette 2 Comments

stevie someday at christmas

We're just about to put the "Closed" sign on the door of The Second Disc HQ, but should any of you stumble upon The Second Disc on Christmas, I want this to be the first thing you see for two reasons. One, you're going to find a compendium below of all the Christmas articles Joe and myself have done this season. Let them fill you with Christmas cheer whenever you need some! And second, and most importantly, may you, the treasured reader of The Second Disc, have a Merry, Merry Christmas and a

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Categories: Reviews Formats: Box Sets Genre: Soundtracks Tags: Back Tracks, Friday Feature, Reissue Theory

December 22, 2010 By Mike Duquette Leave a Comment

Where were you when you first heard The Clash? If you can't answer that question because you've never heard them, then consider this your Christmas present. The London-based punk band accomplished much in their decade-long tenure, including some of the best albums of the genre. Though they enjoyed the fruits of a major label, they stayed true to their ethos, keeping prices low for albums, tickets and souvenirs (reportedly, the band forfeited royalties on sprawling triple-album Sandinista! in

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Categories: Giveaways! Tags: Back Tracks, The Clash

December 17, 2010 By Joe Marchese 3 Comments

the pink panther2

Back Tracks takes a break from holiday merriment to celebrate the life of Blake Edwards, who died yesterday at the age of 88, leaving behind a legacy of laughter.“[Sometime] ago when I first began, one of my early films was run at a producer’s home one night, and someone who shall remain nameless for the moment came to me and said, ‘Billy Wilder was there and the saw it and you know what he said? He said, ‘You know it’s shit, but it’s funny shit.’ Now, had anybody else said that – this is proof

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Categories: News Genre: Soundtracks Tags: Back Tracks

December 15, 2010 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

beach boys christmas album 530 852

There may be no group more associated with the sounds of summer than The Beach Boys, favorite sons of Hawthorne, California. Yet the boys of summer could also accurately be described as the boys of winter, based on their timeless, perennial music celebrating Christmas. While the entire official Beach Boys Christmas catalogue is based around just one released album and another shelved one, the group's contribution to seasonal music can't be underestimated. On the eve of the group's 50th

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Categories: News Tags: Back Tracks, Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys

December 9, 2010 By Joe Marchese 3 Comments

Today's second installment in a special series of holiday-themed Back Tracks explores the holiday catalogue of legendary Columbia recording artist Johnny Mathis. Earlier this year, Columbia Records released Let It Be Me, a new set by the 75-years-young singer with the smooth voice and big vibrato. This is no small feat considering that Mathis made his Columbia debut in 1956, and other than a brief tenure at Mercury, has remained at the label for the 54 years since. With six decades of LPs in

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Categories: News Tags: Back Tracks

December 8, 2010 By Mike Duquette 6 Comments

lennon2

Whether you thought he was the smartest of The Beatles, the best writer, the most politically astute, the one with the most interesting solo career - or if you disagree with any of those statements - I daresay I cannot allow you to disagree with this one: it is not fair that John Lennon is not still alive today. Regardless of your take on his input into the Fab Four (or their eventual demise), Lennon was very much an intelligent, caring, smart musician, who spent much of his career using those

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets Tags: Back Tracks, The Beatles

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