The Way I Always Heard It Should Be: Rhino’s Quadio Line Reissues Carly Simon, Randy Newman, Mongo Santamaria, Seals and Crofts

Earlier today, Rhino announced its newest batch of Quadio titles, re-presenting vintage quadraphonic surround mixes on Blu-ray Audio Discs.  This time out, the label has turned its attention to four ‘70s classics from three artists returning to the series (Carly Simon, Randy Newman, Seals & Crofts) and one making his Quadio Blu-ray debut (Mongo Santamaria).  All four titles, also containing high-resolution stereo mixes of the original album, are shipping now exclusively from Rhino.com. Carly Simon’s self-titled debut album arrived on Elektra Records in the spring of 1971, nestled in the label’s discography…

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Release Round-Up: Week of September 5

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today!  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Joni Mitchell, Joni’s Jazz (Rhino) 4CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 8LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada What is jazz?  The question has been debated often, but now we know how Joni Mitchell might answer.  The legendary singer-songwriter’s Archives series is continuing with its first themed compilation, appropriately entitled Joni’s Jazz.  These 61 selections – available on 4 CDs or 8 LPs – draw from nearly every core album in the Mitchell discography…

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The Right Thing to Do: Rhino’s New Quadio Batch Features Carly Simon, Bread, Judy Collins, The New Seekers

We recently filled you in on Elektra’s 75th anniversary vinyl campaign which sees a variety of titles arriving this month.  Now, the celebration is continuing with four new Quadio releases on Blu-ray Audio, all greatest-hits collections drawn from the Elektra catalogue.  These four-channel surround titles from Carly Simon, Bread, Judy Collins, and The New Seekers are all available now, exclusively from Rhino.com.  Every one of these titles boasts both the original quadraphonic mix with a high-resolution 192 kHz/24-bit stereo mix, both sourced from the original analog four-track quad master tapes. 1972’s Colors…

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The Weekend Stream: February 22, 2025

Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts! A great Carly Simon deep cut gets a fresh mix, plus Phil Collins in concert and new music from The Stylistics. Carly Simon, “Share the End” (2025 Remaster) (Elektra/Rhino) (iTunes / Amazon) Though merely billed as a remaster in the metadata, this upbeat, heartbreaking side-two opener to Simon’s sophomore album Anticipation has been newly remixed. It’s a dramatic revisit of a song that resonates still, and hopefully a portent of…

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Release Round-Up: Week of November 1

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles out today.  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Elvis Costello, King of America and Other Realms (UMe) 6CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 140-gram Black LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 140-gram Gold Nugget LP: Official Store / uDiscover Music / The Sound of Vinyl Elvis Costello is looking back on his tenth studio album King of America – and its effect on his future live and studio work – on a lavish new box set. The remastered 1986 album is paired with…

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The Year In Review: The 2023 Gold Bonus Disc Awards, From A to Z – Part Two

Happy 2024!  Welcome, friends, to Part Two of The Second Disc’s 14th Annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards! As we yet again look to a new year with optimism and a hopeful spirit, we recognize the many roles music has played in our lives.  With that spirit in mind, The Second Disc wishes to recognize 2023’s cream of the catalogue music crop – those exemplary reissues and box sets, big and small, that proved to be truly outstanding for music lovers worldwide. After much deliberation, we’re excited to unveil our favorites.  This isn’t…

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Release Round-Up: Week of September 15

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today! The Who, Who’s Next / Life House (Polydor/UMe) 10CD/1BD: The Who Official Store / Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada  2CD: The Who Official Store / Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada  1CD: The Who Official Store / Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada  1LP (Album Only, Black Vinyl): The Who Official Store / Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada  1LP (Half-Speed Mastered Album Only): The Who Official Store / Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada  1LP (Transparent Blue Vinyl w/tip-on jacket): The Who Official Store Links TBD 4LP (Album + San Francisco Concert): The Who Official Store / Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada  3LP (Album + Life House Demos): The…

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The Right Thing to Do: Carly Simon Reflects On Her Early Career with Elektra’s Jac Holzman on “These Are The Good Old Days”

Carly Simon’s self-titled debut album arrived on Elektra Records in the spring of 1971, nestled in the label’s discography between singer-songwriter Paul Siebel’s Jack-Knife Gypsy and folk band Farquahr’s eponymous LP. Carly wasn’t quite a stranger to the music business, having recorded three albums for the Kapp and Columbia labels with her sister Lucy as The Simon Sisters, but her solo debut augured for a major talent. She was signed by the label’s founder, Jac Holzman, beginning an association with Elektra that would endure for the entirety of the 1970s. Holzman’s hands-on…

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The Message is Love: Demon Preps Box Set of Arthur Baker Remixes

Demon Music Group scored a real coup in 2021 with the release of Dance Masters: Shep Pettibone (The Classic Master Mixes), a box set devoted to the stellar late ’80s and early ’90s remixer. The branding on the set indicated that Dance Masters was to be a series, presented by another remixing great: American DJ/producer Arthur Baker. Now, two years later, another Dance Masters set is forthcoming, focused on the work of Baker himself. Dance Masters: Arthur Baker (The Classic Dance Remixes), due July 7, will bring Baker’s work behind the mixing…

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The Weekend Stream: April 1, 2023

Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing weekly review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there’s plenty of great new/old music to usher you into the weekend. Our latest round-up may be on April Fool’s Day, but it’s no joke: remixes by Madonna, rarities by Burt Bacharach and Peggy Lee, a White Stripes live set and the first major Barry White production are all here. Happy streaming! Madonna, Nothing Really Matters (Remixes) (Warner/Rhino) (iTunes / Amazon) Madonna closed the Ray of Light album cycle with…

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Release Round-Up: Week of January 27

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today. BUY NOW FROM AMAZON.COM Bob Dylan, Fragments – Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996-1997): The Bootleg Series Vol. 17 (Columbia/Legacy) 5CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 10LP: Bob Dylan Store 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 4LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada The seventeenth volume of Bob Dylan’s long-running Bootleg Series explores the creation of Dylan’s thirtieth studio album.  Fragments: Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996-1997) takes a deep dive into the three-time Grammy Award-winning album which was perceived by many as a comeback after a…

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Coming Around Again: Carly Simon’s “Live at Grand Central” Comes to CD, LP, Blu-ray

Earlier this month, Carly Simon was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  It was a long-overdue recognition for the singer-songwriter whose thirteen U.S. top 40 hits include such radio staples as “Anticipation,” “The Right Thing to Do,” “Nobody Does It Better,” “Coming Around Again,” and the chart-topping “You’re So Vain.”  Any fan of Simon knows that any live appearance is a true rarity-and the same was true back on April 2, 1995, when she performed her first full-length concert in 14 years for a stunned and surprised crowd of…

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Nobody Does It Better: ‘The Best of Bond…James Bond’ Gets Update and Vinyl Release

With a new James Bond film set to shake (not stir) audiences in November, a longtime compilation of the super-spy’s famed film themes is getting a new iteration on November 20. The Best of Bond…James Bond offers a stellar 25-track overview of the pop themes that scored nearly all of the films based on Ian Fleming’s famed British secret agent. There are 14 U.K. Top 10 hits and two Academy Award winners herein – altogether, a formidable, half-century-plus musical portrait of one of cinema’s most popular characters. First released under this title…

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Release Round-Up: Week of December 14

Welcome to another Release Round-Up. Here’s a look at what’s coming out today, December 14! Bruce Springsteen, Springsteen on Broadway [2CD] (Columbia) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Springsteen on Broadway captures songs and selected stories from The Boss’ acclaimed, Tony Award-winning engagement on the Great White Way. Mixed by Bob Clearmountain and mastered by Bob Ludwig, the album arrives one day before the closing show, and also just before it’s broadcast in full on Netflix. The streaming giant will premiere the production at 12:01 a.m. PT/3:01 a.m. ET on…

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Release Round-Up: Week of October 27

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! The Who, Maximum As and Bs: The Complete Singles (Polydor/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The Who’s complete singles from 1964-2015 are collected on a new 5-CD box set, which also contains a 48-page booklet featuring track-by-track annotations on each single.  Read more here!   Willie Nelson, Teatro: The Complete Sessions (Modern Classics Recordings) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Willie Nelson’s 1998 album, produced by Daniel Lanois (Bob Dylan, U2) and featuring Emmylou Harris on rich harmonies, is expanded as a…

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Give Me All Night: Hot Shot Reissues, Expands Carly Simon’s “Coming Around Again”

“I know nothing stays the same/But if you’re willing to play the game, it’s coming around again…” With the release of 1987’s Coming Around Again, Carly Simon proved she was not only willing to play, but still most definitely in the game.  After the diminishing commercial (though not artistic) returns of her Warner Bros. and Epic releases of earlier in the decade, Simon’s debut album for Clive Davis’ Arista Records was a return to form.  It yielded four major hits, all in her intensely personal voice yet burnished with the smooth production…

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That’s What Friends Are For: Clive Davis Soundtrack Features Barry, Whitney, Dionne, Aretha, More

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 34-track deluxe soundtrack on Apple Music boasting four previously unreleased performances.  (A standard 20-track digital soundtrack will be…

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Release Round-Up: Week of January 27

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Chicago, Chicago II: Steven Wilson Remix (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Chicago’s second album gets a fully remixed edition from producer Steven Wilson, created from the original 16-track multitrack tapes and sure to highlight previously unheard or overlooked elements of this rock classic!  Available on CD, with an LP edition to follow later in the year.  Read more here! Cream, Fresh Cream: Super Deluxe Edition (Polydor/UMC) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The super deluxe edition of Cream’s debut album Fresh…

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Release Round-Up: Week of July 8

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! John Coltrane, The Atlantic Years in Mono (Atlantic/Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Rhino’s new box set, available on both CD and LP, includes original mono mixes of Trane’s Giant Steps; Bags & Trane (with Milt Jackson); Ole Coltrane; Coltrane Plays The Blues and The Avant Garde (with Don Cherry) plus one disc of outtakes.  All of these remastered albums are housed in replica jackets and a 32-page booklet is also included with new liner notes by Ashley Kahn and photos by Lee Friedlander.  The CD version has…

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Release Round-Up: Week of April 15

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Phil Collins, No Jacket Required and Testify: Deluxe Editions (Atlantic/Rhino) No Jacket Required 2-CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada No Jacket Required LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Testify 2-CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Testify LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Phil Collins’ No Jacket Required, originally released in 1985 and still the artist’s most commercially successful album, is expanded to 2 CDs with the addition of thirteen bonus tracks: ten new-to-CD live performances and three demos.  Phil…

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Release Round-Up: Week of January 22

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Black Sabbath Deluxe Reissue Series (Warner Bros./Rhino) Black Sabbath: Deluxe Edition – Amazon U.S.: 2CD / 2LP Amazon Canada: 2CD / Amazon U.K.: 2CD Paranoid: Deluxe Edition – Amazon U.S.: 2CD / 2LP Amazon Canada: 2CD / Amazon U.K.: 2CD Master of Reality: Deluxe Edition – Amazon U.S.: 2CD / 2LP Amazon Canada: 2CD / Amazon U.K.: 2CD Past Lives: Amazon U.S.: 2CD / 2LP Amazon Canada: 2CD / Amazon U.K.: 2CD Rhino is reissuing the hard rock legends’ first three albums-Black Sabbath (1970), Paranoid (1970) and Master of Reality (1971)-as deluxe 2CD and 2LP sets, along with the 2002 live collection Past Lives. These collections feature the original albums, as remastered…

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Release Round-Up: Week of November 20

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up which continues this autumn’s tradition of having each week packed with box sets from heavy hitters – in this case, The Rolling Stones, The Velvet Underground, The Who, Queen, Grateful Dead, Frank Sinatra, and they’re still not all!  Plus: CD and vinyl reissues, anthologies, and much more! The Beach Boys, Beach Boys’ Party: Uncovered and Unplugged (Capitol) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) The first disc of this 2-CD, 81-track set features the original 1965 Beach Boys Party! album as remixed in original, pre-overdubbed form and then…

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No Secrets: Carly Simon Gets Personal On “Songs From The Trees: A Musical Memoir Collection”

Carly Simon is finally telling her own story.  On November 24, the singer-songwriter will release Boys in the Trees: A Memoir via Macmillan imprint Flatiron Books.  The eagerly-anticipated book promises to chronicle her life onstage and off.  Just days earlier, on November 20, Rhino Records will release a companion 2-CD set, Songs from the Trees: A Musical Memoir Collection.  Like Elvis Costello’s Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink and its own companion audio release, the CDs’ selections will reflect the narrative in the autobiography. Grammy and Academy Award winner Simon explains in the press…

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Review: Carly Simon, “Spoiled Girl: Expanded Edition”

The title of Spoiled Girl had a knowingly ironic resonance for Carly Simon.  A scion of the Simon and Schuster publishing firm (her father was founder Richard L. Simon), Carly was considered by some to be a “spoiled girl.” In fact, that couldn’t have been further from the truth, despite a somewhat privileged upbringing.  Yet here she was, mockingly singing of a woman who “thinks of nothing but herself,” the kind of gal who sends her chauffeur to supply more bubbles for her bath!  1985’s Spoiled Girl announced that Simon could poke fun and definitively…

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Carly Simon Goes For The Gold: “No Secrets” Coming In 24K

Only yesterday, we shared the speculation of our good buddies at MusicTAP that big things might be in store for the catalogue of Carly Simon.  Well, we’ve got a start, just one day later!  On June 21, Audio Fidelity will drop a remastered, limited 24K Gold edition of the songstress’ third – and some say, best – album, No Secrets. 1971’s Carly Simon announced a major new talent, offerings songs like the epic and hauntingly personal “That’s The Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be,” the folk-rock of “Alone” and country of…

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