Welcome to 2024's final edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc's review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts! With no Release Round-Up this Friday and a few weeks of peace and quite from (and for!) us until 2025, we've got a few more treats for you under the tree from Wham!, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Miles Davis, Archie Bell & The Drells and so much more! Wham!, Last Christmas (Epic/Legacy/Sony Music U.K.) (iTunes / Amazon) For
WHAM! The dance-pop duo's name immediately called to mind the fantastical, onomatopoeic pop art exclamations that would appear on the '60s Batman television show. George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley had everything going for them: good looks, great voices, and a knack for pure pop songcraft. In a mere handful of years, WHAM! launched nearly a dozen singles into the Top 10 of the U.K. singles chart. - a lucky seven entries. Their first album was entitled Fantastic; it was. The second was Make It
More than 40 years after they took the U.K. - and then the world - by storm, the story of pop duo WHAM! will be told in a multi-format compilation, issued just after a new documentary set for release this summer. The Singles: Echoes from the Edge of Heaven is arguably the most comprehensive look at the work of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley as they combined their glossy good looks with an almost unsuspecting penchant for pop brilliance. In just five short years, the pair notched nearly a
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. A veritable bonanza of titles feature an expanded album by Sting, two classic Madonna 12"s, a George Michael-produced rarity, a first-time duet by a country legend and a soul icon, a new recording of a late-period classic from Hollywood's most famed composer, and so much more! Sting, Ten
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available in stores today! George Michael, Older: Deluxe Edition (Legacy) 5CD/3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada George Michael's third solo album - and the one he believed to be his finest - returns from Legacy Recordings in a new 5CD/3LP edition and a 2LP set. This expansion of 1996's Older features both the remastered album and the
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles out today! George Michael, Older: Deluxe Edition (Legacy) 5CD/3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada George Michael's third solo album - and the one he believed to be his finest - returns from Legacy Recordings in a new 5CD/3LP edition and a 2LP set. This expansion of 1996's Older features both the remastered album and the EP Upper (included with
The album George Michael called his "greatest moment" will get the deluxe treatment this summer: his third album, 1996's Older. Though the record came off a six-year gap between albums, the late British pop star was hardly idle. In the years since 1990's Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1, he'd embarked on a tour comprised of mostly cover songs and had a few major critical and commercial hits with some, too; chiefly, the chart-topping "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" (a duet with its
R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Otis Redding may have written the song, but Aretha Franklin owned it. The singer was only in her mid-20s when she left Columbia Records after five years and seven albums but she wasted no time in making music history when she signed with Atlantic Records in December 1966. By the middle of 1967, she'd had long-sought-after hits with "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" and "Respect" and was proclaimed The Queen of Soul by a Chicago disk jockey. Some reports indicate the
Producer-DJ Arthur Baker has brought his magic touch to recordings by everybody from Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen to Tina Turner and Diana Ross, turning pop, rock, and R&B hits into dance floor-fillers. Now, Baker is looking back and taking stock of his fellow Dance Masters with a new series from Demon Music Group. Arthur Baker Presents Dance Masters: The Shep Pettibone Master Mixes is an expansive salute from one legendary remixer to another. Available on 4 CDs (47 songs in one box
It was late in 2015 when audiences across the country watched Aretha Franklin take the stage at The Kennedy Center Honors to salute honoree Carole King. The undisputed Queen of Soul tore into King, Gerry Goffin, and Jerry Wexler's "(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman" with blazing intensity and thrilling authenticity. She had not just sung these lyrics but lived them. Nearing the song's finale, she simply but defiantly dropped her fur coat to the floor, creating an instant viral moment
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Chet Atkins, The Complete RCA Victor and Columbia Christmas Recordings (Second Disc/Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music are proud to present The Complete RCA Victor and Columbia Christmas Recordings from legendary guitarist-producer Chet Atkins on a deluxe 2-CD, 46-song anthology remastered by Vic Anesini at Sony's Battery Studios and featuring new liner notes by the set's
An upcoming holiday film is taking its cues from a classic song from George Michael and Wham! On November 8 in the U.S. and November 15 in the U.K., Last Christmas will arrive in cinemas. Legacy Recordings will issue the soundtrack, featuring one previously unheard George Michael song and an array of his classics, on November 8 in CD, vinyl, and digital formats. In spring 2013, screenwriter-actress Emma Thompson visited Michael to earn his blessing for the film. Michael consented, leading to
Cherry Pop is returning to the early days of the 1990s with expanded editions from the small discographies of two beloved artists: Andrew Ridgeley of Wham!, and Martika. After breaking up Wham! in 1986, George Michael graduated to bona fide solo superstar, while his musical partner Andrew Ridgeley had largely shunned the spotlight to pursue other interests such as acting and motor racing. By 1990, however, Ridgeley was ready to return to music. The result was Son of Albert, his only solo
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! George Michael, Listen Without Prejudice 25 (Columbia/Legacy) 2-CD (Disc 1 & 2 Only): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 3-CD/1-DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Legacy is delivering a deluxe edition of George Michael's classic 1990 album. Listen Without Prejudice 25 sees release in several formats. The biggest is a 3-CD/1 DVD box set. The first CD contains a
UPDATE (9/7/2017): Nearly a year after the deluxe Listen Without Prejudice--and some months after the unexpected passing of George Michael on Christmas 2016, the expanded Listen Without Prejudice is back on the calendar and packing a few new surprises. The 3-CD/1-DVD set and cut-down 2-CD package (featuring the original album and the MTV Unplugged set) will now hit stores October 20. The 2-CD set features new cover art as well as one additional bonus track: a new remix of Listen-era B-side
Last night, the shocking news came that George Michael had died at the age of 53. Born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, the artist created music that lived up to the title of WHAM!'s second album Make It Big. Michael's fearlessness was big; his ambition was big; his talent, of course, was big. Whether crafting bright, ebullient and danceable pop, sensual balladry or funky dancefloor jams, the passionate Michael (as writer, producer, musician, and vocalist) wore his heart on his sleeve.
For today's special feature, we're taking a look back at the big stories we shared with you over the past week at The Second Disc, just in case you missed 'em the first time around! Review: Fleetwood Mac, Mirage: Deluxe Edition Joe takes a look at Rhino's 4-CD/1-LP/1-DVD Deluxe Edition of the Mac's 1982 pop gem! This Could Be the Night: Shout! Factory to Release T.A.M.I. Show and The Big T.N.T. Show on Blu-ray Two classic concert films - featuring a galaxy of stars including The
Last year marked the 25th anniversary of George Michael's second solo album Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1. While nothing hit the shelves last year to commemorate the occasion, that is being rectified this year when Legacy Recordings releases Listen Without Prejudice 25 on November 11. After the breakup of Wham! in 1986, George Michael moved quickly to kick his solo career into high gear. The result was the 1987 album Faith, where he wrote (or co-wrote) and produced every track. Buoyed by
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we take a look back at notable albums and the reissues they could someday see. Twenty-five years after one of pop's guiltiest pleasures said goodbye to a packed live audience, we wonder what a release of that show would look like. On June 28, 1986, twenty-five years ago today, WHAM! became a past-tense pop act. It wasn't your typical pop meltdown, however; it was a breakup for the ages. What other group bids their fan base (80,000
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we reflect on well-known albums of the past and the reissues they could someday see. With the reissue of George Michael's most flawless pop album, today's installment takes you into the corners of the world pop music scene to prove how part of the musical culture he really was. The reissue of George Michael's iconic Faith album has your humble catalogue correspondent excited. Really excited. So excited that today's Reissue Theory talks
It won't make any sense in today's media-saturated world, but in 1987 and 1988, George Michael was inescapable. The idea that one single artist could grab multiple genders, races, cliques and generations by the shoulders with his or her music is all but impossible today, but the man born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou did just that. Faith, released by Epic Records in the fall of 1987, put six tracks in Billboard's Top 5 (two-thirds of them No. 1 hits), netted him a Grammy Award for Album of the