Late in 2023, Demon Music Group revived its Disco Discharge series on the Edsel label. Two recent 2CD volumes, Disco Ladies and Disco Boogie, continue presenting the series in a deluxe, oversized seven-inch format. These titles, chockablock with disco deep cuts and hits alike, were originally issued on the Harmless label in 2009 and 2010, respectively, and have been tweaked (likely due to licensing restrictions) for this go-round. Disco Ladies offers a cross-section of the many women with varied styles who ruled the dancefloor. As original compiler/annotator Alan Jones notes in his…
Walking on the Chinese Wall: SoulMusic Records Collects Philip Bailey’s First Three Solo Pop Albums
Band break-ups can be traumatizing, no matter how they happen. Philip Bailey, whose high falsetto vocals were a key part of Earth, Wind & Fire during their most commercial years in the ’70s and ’80s, has frequently described the band’s (temporary) dissolution, brought up during a 1983 band meeting by founder Maurice White, as one of the lower points of his career. Bailey’s next moves could shape his trajectory as an artist for better or worse. Of course, what happened over the rest of the decade helped solidify Bailey’s reputation as an…
The Weekend Stream: December 10, 2022
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. This week, a Madonna rarity makes a splashy debut, the daughter of a soul legend sings with her dad on his holiday classic, and Roger Waters emerges from lockdown – plus remixes old and new, and a World Cup throwback you might not believe is real. Madonna, Gambler (Warner/Rhino) (iTunes / Amazon) As the first part of Rhino’s ongoing…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
The Year In Review: The 2021 Gold Bonus Disc Awards, From A to Z – Part One
Happy 2022! Welcome, friends, to The Second Disc’s 12th Annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards! Once again, we’ve all faced unprecedented challenges over the past twelve months. A year that began with hope and promise has ended with further uncertainty for many of us. But music continues to fill a significant role in our lives, providing solace, comfort, and escape in a time unlike any other. With that spirit in mind, The Second Disc wishes to recognize 2021’s cream of the catalogue music crop – those exemplary reissues and box sets big and…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Always: Cherry Red, SoulMusic Release Expanded Album Box for Atlantic Starr
By the time Atlantic Starr signed to the Warner Bros. family of labels, the R&B group had already begun its ascent to crossover stardom. At Warner, the band recorded its biggest album to date – 1987’s All In the Name of Love – and scored its biggest hit, “Always.” Now, All In the Name of Love and the two albums which followed it have been reissued by Cherry Red’s SoulMusic Records imprint in a compact new 3-CD box set appropriately entitled Always: The Warner/Reprise Recordings (1987-1991). Herb Alpert took early notice of…
This Is Niecy: Cherry Red, SoulMusic Box Deniece Williams’ Complete Columbia Albums on “Free”
Let’s hear it for Deniece Williams. Since making her first big splash 45 years ago with debut album This is Niecy, the daughter of Gary, Indiana has scored 27 Billboard R&B hits and 14 Pop successes including two crossover Number Ones, won four Grammy Awards (and amassed another nine nominations), and recorded over fifteen albums blurring the lines between soul, pop, and gospel. Between 1976 and 1988, Williams made Columbia Records her home, both with Maurice White’s ARC imprint and with the label proper. Working with such top-drawer producers as White, Charles…
Release Round-Up: Week of June 25
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Grateful Dead, Grateful Dead (Skull & Roses): 50th Anniversary Edition (Grateful Dead/Rhino) 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP Black Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Dead.net (B&W Vinyl) Rhino continues its series of 50th anniversary reissues for Grateful Dead with the band’s 1971 self-titled live album with the famous “Skull and Roses” cover. The centerpiece of the reissue is more than hour of previously unreleased music from another famed SF venue, Bill Graham’s Fillmore West, recorded on July 2, 1971 during the Dead’s final show at the Fillmore West. Highlights include…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
BREAKING! A Song Worth Singing: Johnny Mathis Special Airs This Saturday, New Box Set Arrives
Johnny Mathis is currently touring the U.S. on his Voice of Romance tour – and indeed, for over 60 years, that appellation has been apt. This Saturday evening, June 10, Mathis is coming to your own city, courtesy of Public Television and TJ Lubinsky’s TJL Productions’ popular and long-running My Music series. Yes, this Saturday is Johnny Mathis Night, because that’s when Public Television stations nationwide will air Wonderful! Wonderful!, a concert film featuring all of Mathis’ beloved favorite songs to support your local station’s June pledge drive. But that’s not all….
Release Round-Up: Week of December 2
Welcome to December, and this week’s Release Round-Up! The Rolling Stones, Blue and Lonesome (Interscope) Standard Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada The Rolling Stones return with their first studio album since 2005’s A Bigger Bang. Recorded over just three days in London, Blue and Lonesome returns the legendary band to its blues roots. Available on CD, LP and DD, as well as in an SHM-CD Deluxe Edition with postcards,…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Heaven In Her Eyes: BBR Reissues Two From Deniece Williams
The curriculum vitae of Deniece Williams can boast some of the most esteemed names in popular music: Maurice White, Charles Stepney, David Foster, Thom Bell and George Duke, just to name a few. All of those gentlemen produced albums for, or with, Williams, whose career has been the subject of a series of deluxe reissues from Big Break Records. Earlier this year, BBR (part of the Cherry Red group of labels) added Williams’ 1976 debut This is Niecy to its previous four titles from the artist: her sophomore effort Song Bird, disco-flavored…
Gonna Take a Miracle: Deniece Williams Trio Coming From BBR and FTG
Let’s hear it for Deniece Williams. By the time of her debut album in 1976, the resilient singer with the remarkable range had already recorded a Northern Soul favorite (“I’m Walking Away” on the small Lock Records label), performed with Minnie Riperton and Roberta Flack, and been a member of Stevie Wonder’s versatile backing group Wonderlove. This is Niecy, on Columbia Records, was produced by Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire and Charles Stepney of Chess Records fame, and their confidence in the vocalist paid off. Now, on the occasion of…
