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 discover! And after a week away, you better believe we're coming in hot! Billy Joel, 50 Years of the Piano Man (Columbia/Legacy) (Apple Music / Amazon) On the surface, this 50-track digital compilation-cum-playlist looks like a typical algorithmic survey of Joel's five-decade career, with all the great radio hits rising to
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Neil Young, Young Shakespeare (Reprise) [Various Formats] CD/DVD/LP box: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Greedy Hand CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Greedy Hand LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Greedy Hand DVD: Greedy Hand Digital: Neil Young Archives (Streaming) / XStream (Digital Download) / Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Young Shakespeare documents the earliest known filmed live concert footage of
For over fifty years, Gerry Beckley has performed, written, and recorded with the group he co-founded with Dewey Bunnell and Dan Peek, America. But with his 1995 album Van Go Gan, Beckley began a parallel solo career that also continues to this very day. On the heels of his sublime 2019 release Five Mile Road, the singer-songwriter is looking back with a new solo retrospective. Keeping the Light On: The Best of Gerry Beckley will arrive in 2-CD and 2-LP formats via the Blue Élan label on
Chris Christian rose to prominence as one-third of the pop trio Cotton, Lloyd and Christian alongside producer Michael Lloyd (The Osmonds, Barry Manilow) and Daryl Cotton (Zoot, Olivia Newton-John). Before long, Christian's songs were being recorded by the likes of Elvis Presley ("Love Song of the Year"), Dionne Warwick ("When the World Runs Out of Love"), and Carpenters ("(Want You) Back in My Life Again"). Christian also produced and wrote songs for artists including B.J. Thomas, Marilyn
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Johnny Cash, The Complete Mercury Recordings 1986-1991 (Mercury/UMe) 7CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 7LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada The Complete Mercury Recordings 1986-1991 will be available on 7CD or 7LP, 180-gram vinyl formats. The box collects all six albums Johnny Cash recorded for Mercury Records during that era: Class Of '55: Memphis Rock & Roll Homecoming with Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, and Carl
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Todd Rundgren's Utopia, Benefit for Moogy Klingman (Purple Pyramid) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Cleopatra Records' Purple Pyramid imprint remembers Utopia's late keyboardist with Benefit for Moogy Klingman. This 4-CD/2-DVD set (originally slated for May 15 but apparently shipping today) includes the band's Highline Ballroom reunion set of January 29, 2011 (featuring Todd Rundgren, Moogy, Ralph Schuckett, John Siegler, Kevin
Gerry Beckley has earned the right to call the opening track of his new solo album "Life Lessons." The singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and America co-founder is understandably in a reflective mood on Five Mile Road, out now from Blue Elan Records. The artist may be celebrating 50 years with America, but he still has plenty to say. For his first solo album since 2016's Carousel, Beckley has reunited with many of the same collaborators. Jeff Larson not only co-produced with Beckley but
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Judy Collins, The Elektra Albums: Volume Two (1970-1984) (Edsel) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Demon Music Group's Edsel label is following up its July release of Judy Collins' The Elektra Albums Volume One (1961-1968) with a second volume out today. The Elektra Albums Volume Two (1970-1984) finishes up the artist's Elektra Records tenure, comprising these nine releases on CD in their original sequences: Whales and Nightingales
Fans of singer-songwriter Jeff Larson have long known that he's carved out his own niche in the realm of "California music," whether as a solo artist or with collaborators including America's Gerry Beckley and The Beach Boys' Jeffrey Foskett. Now, Larson is looking back with a 20th anniversary reissue of his proper debut album, Watercolor Sky, available on both vinyl and CD from Feral Cat Records and Vivid Sound Japan, respectively. With summer in the rearview mirror, now is the perfect time
When singer-songwriter Jeff Larson premiered his album Heart of the Valley in 2009, the album was rightly lauded as an immaculately produced collection of laid-back, polished pop. It conjured a time when rich emotions and real instruments ruled pop radio. Today, it's just as relevant, as proven by a newly-expanded reissue on Japan's Vivid Sound label (VSCD 3944, 2016). The artist indicates in his new liner notes that "the concept for Heart of the Valley was loosely based on the Nilsson Sings
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
Gerry Beckley celebrated his 64th birthday earlier this week, on Monday, September 12. We're marking the occasion with a look at his new studio album! One hardly expects the first verse of the first song on a new album from America's resident romantic troubadour, Gerry Beckley, to include the lines "Everything's turned to shit/No matter how I look at it/And I am running out of time..." But while Beckley is happily defying convention on "Tokyo" - the taut, rocking opening cut of his new album