"Phyllis sat right in my class. I can still see the pigtails." In a 2016 interview with The Second Disc, Thom Bell shared his earliest memories of the late Phyllis Hyman (1949-1995). The songwriter-arranger-conductor-producer would cross paths numerous times over the years with his childhood friend: first via Phyllis' hit recordings of his "Betcha By Golly Wow" and "Loving You - Losing You," and later, his own productions and songs for her. "She was a lonely individual," observed Thom,
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Johnny Mathis, The Island (Second Disc Records/Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The 1989 "lost" album by Johnny Mathis is lost no more! Renowned producer Sergio Mendes of Brasil '66 fame and arranger-guitarist Dori Caymmi joined Mathis on The Island to subtly modernize the classic sounds of bossa nova and samba. He delivered some of his most sensual vocals ever for ten smoldering songs by Caymmi, Mendes, Ivan Lins,
Over 40 years ago, Dionne Warwick left Warner Bros. Records and signed to Clive Davis' Arista label to begin a new chapter in her remarkable career - a career which happens to be going as strong as ever today. Now, Cherry Red's SoulMusic imprint has announced a 12-CD box celebrating Warwick's Arista period. Due on February 28, 2020, Déjà Vu: The Arista Recordings (1979-1994) collects all of her acclaimed albums for the label and rounds up over two dozen previously released bonus
Tomorrow, November 1, Cherry Red's Strike Force Entertainment imprint will release the next title in its series of definitive reissues from Cilla Black's considerable catalogue. The 2-CD set Especially for You Revisited/Classics and Collectibles brings together a newly remixed version of Cilla's 1980 album Especially for You with a second disc of rare and previously unreleased tracks. Especially for You marked a turning point in Black's career as it was her first recording project after
From the moment she burst onto the music scene in 1962 exhorting "Don't Make Me Over," Dionne Warwick has been a musical force with which to be reckoned. The legendary singer blended elegant pop and deeply-felt soul in a fashion which remains unrivaled today for its sophistication and polish; her signature songs like "Walk On By," "I Say a Little Prayer," "Alfie," and "I'll Never Love This Way Again" have all become cornerstones of the new American songbook. Dionne's remarkable life and
This past April, New York's Radio City Music Hall hosted a prestigious premiere. The film was Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives, and the screening was accompanied by an all-star concert featuring Barry Manilow, Dionne Warwick, Aretha Franklin, Carly Simon, and others celebrating the life of the music legend. Beginning on October 3, Apple Music will exclusively stream the Chris Perkel-directed documentary, and today, September 27, Legacy Recordings has digitally released an exclusive
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Various Artists, Honeybeat: '60s Groovy Girl-Pop (Real Gone Music) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Honeybeat: Groovy 60s Girl Pop, curated by Sheila Burgel from the Sony archives and released on Real Gone Music, features 19 songs from nine different labels, nearly a third of which have never been released on CD. While some tracks come from known artists such as Little Eva, Skeeter
Congratulations!! The following 10 entrants have won a copy of Varese Vintage's brand-new edition of Charles Fox's Foul Play soundtrack, featuring Barry Manilow, on CD! If you entered our contest via Facebook and your name is on the list below, please drop us a line at theseconddisc-at-gmail-dot-com or a Private Message on Facebook with your name and mailing address! If you entered via email, you don't have to do anything - your CD will be in the mail soon! Watch this space soon for more
If, by chance, you don't know the name of Charles Fox, you undoubtedly know his songbook: "Ready to Take a Chance Again." "Killing Me Softly with His Song." "I Got a Name." The themes to The Love Boat, Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, Love American Style, The Bugaloos, Angie, Wonder Woman, and more. Varese Vintage has recently celebrated the Emmy and Grammy-winning composer's enormous legacy with two reissues. The soundtrack to Foul Play returns to CD (having been previously issued as a
Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin IV (Atlantic/Swan Song) Jimmy Page has assembled an entire alternate version of Led Zeppelin IV as the bonus content for this new reissue, including the "Sunset Sound" mix of "Stairway to Heaven" and an alternate U.K. mix of "When the Levee Breaks." 1-CD Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 2-CD Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Super Deluxe Box Set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 1-LP Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 2-LP Vinyl: Amazon U.S. /
Between August 1972 and May 1981, late night television was a little more rockin'. Producer Burt Sugarman's The Midnight Special followed Johnny Carson's Tonight Show on Friday evenings, welcoming viewers with Johnny Rivers' rousing rendition of the traditional tune (a Top 20 hit for Rivers in 1965). Over the course of 450 episodes, The Midnight Special presented a staggering array of music's top talent on network television with most songs performed live for the majority of its run. The
Though her appearances on the Broadway stage have been rare, Elaine Paige remains one of the reigning first ladies of musical theatre around the world. Paige has been a fixture in London's West End since her debut there in the 1968 production of Hair, rising to fame as the first actress to portray Eva Peron onstage in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Evita in 1978. Paige went on to introduce the role of Grizabella and the song "Memory" in Cats, and subsequently starred in such musicals as
When Phyllis Hyman took her own life on June 30, 1995, one of the most potent, poignant voices in soul music was silenced. A singer as well as a Tony Award-nominated actress, Hyman did leave behind a small but important discography of eight studio albums, which has since been bolstered by posthumous releases. Indeed, it’s understandable why “new” recordings from the expressive vocalist are so sought after. While the native Philadelphian never had a commercial pop breakthrough, notching far
In a year that counts Tommy Mottola, Cissy Houston, Burt Bacharach and Paul Anka among the music biz icons who have published, or will publish, their memoirs, one such figure's autobiography has already made headlines: Clive Davis' The Soundtrack of My Life. The attorney-turned-music mogul took a no-holds-barred approach to chronicling his history, including his tenures at Columbia, Arista, J and the RCA Label Group. This should come as no surprise to anybody who's followed his illustrious and
If you’re a resident of the storm-ravaged East Coast, you might have recently found yourself singing, “We need a little Christmas, right this very minute! “ I know I have. As happens every year around this same time, holiday albums have already begun to fill the shelves, with new albums arriving from artists old and new as well as reissues from Christmases past. In 2011, Legacy Recordings issued The Classic Christmas Album for Tony Bennett, combining tracks from Bennett’s three holiday-themed
Barry Manilow, Elvis Presley, Kenny G, Willie Nelson, John Denver, Luther Vandross, The Classic Christmas Collection (Legacy) Oh my goodness, it really is almost sort of kind of close to Christmas, yes? Legacy's getting your seasonal fix early with new compilations full of cheer (and, in a few cases, some harder to find Yuletide songs and tracks licensed from non-Legacy albums). Dion, The Complete Laurie Singles / Shoes, 35 Years: The Definitive Shoes Collection / David Cassidy, Romance / The
On February 11, 2011, Barbra Streisand joined some illustrious company, including Bono, Brian Wilson, Aretha Franklin and her “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” duet partner, Neil Diamond. That was the evening Streisand was recognized as the MusiCares Person of the Year, following in the footsteps of those above-named artists. Streisand was a natural candidate for the honor, as the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences annually bestows it upon an artist with significant artistic
Believe it or not, Christmas is just around the corner…and Barry Manilow is teaming with Legacy Recordings for the festivities. The pop superstar has recorded three very different holiday albums between 1990 and 2007, and all three can be sampled on his Classic Christmas Album, due in stores on October 2, part of Legacy's all-new holiday series. Manilow made his first memorable contribution to the holiday songbook with his own composition “It’s Just Another New Year’s Eve,” co-written with
Dionne Warwick recently announced a new album, produced by Phil Ramone. Entitled Now, the projected October release will reflect on a storied career that’s lasted 50 years. But Warwick was in a very different place then, meaning in 1979. The sophisticated soul singer was at a crossroads. Her unprecedented string of pop and R&B hits written and produced by Burt Bacharach and Hal David at Scepter Records were far in the rearview mirror. Bacharach and David had bitterly split after just
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we focus on notable albums and the reissues they may someday see. Today's installment looks back at the mighty career of the late Marvin Hamlisch and how his best songs might be compiled into a truly "Essential" release. On Tuesday morning, August 7, news broke that composer Marvin Hamlisch had unexpectedly died the day before, at the age of 68. The worlds of music, theatre and film were all shocked, as Hamlisch's latest musical, The
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we take a look back at notable albums and the reissues they could someday see. Today's column takes a slight departure, looking at an album that never was, but certainly could be. We present Barry Manilow's Live at the Troubadour! Rolling Stone may have famously proclaimed him "the showman of our generation," but when Clive Davis signed Barry Manilow to the fledgling Arista label, he was anything but. Manilow was a longtime accompanist,
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we take a look at notable albums and the reissues they may someday see. Long before "Wind Beneath My Wings" and "From a Distance," Bette Midler was blazing a path like few others before or since with her blend of outrageous comedy, musical invention and pure showmanship. Yet despite a treasure trove of unreleased material, Midler's platinum debut, The Divine Miss M, has never been expanded on CD. What might such a reissue be
Sade, The Ultimate Collection (Epic) The sultry British soul band anthologized across two discs, featuring several brand-new tracks - the perfect teaser for their long-awaited summer tour. (Official site) Loudon Wainwright, 40 Odd Years (Shout! Factory) The witty singer/songwriter is anthologized across four CDs and a DVD. Check for Joe's review later today! (Shout! Factory) Rush, Moving Pictures: Deluxe Edition (Blu-Ray) (Mercury/UMe) Already available at Best Buy since April, the
While Barry Manilow's fans patiently wait for 15 Minutes, his first album of all original material since 2001's Here at the Mayflower, Arista and Legacy will offer a chance to look back at some past moments in Manilow's long career. Duets compiles fifteen teamings, some more difficult to find than others, spanning the period between 1980 ("The Last Duet" with Lily Tomlin, from Barry) and 2008 ("Islands in the Stream" with Reba McEntire, from The Greatest Songs of the Eighties.) This 15-track
Way back in August, The Second Disc reported on a flood of titles in Legacy's budget Playlist series. Today, a whole bunch of them are released, and if you haven't yet made your weekly trip to the record store and were wondering what might be in store, you'll have your answer after the jump. Read on to see the newest compilations for Barry Manilow, Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Isley Brothers, gospel titles from Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley and Dolly Parton and much more!