Today, Rhino announced four new titles in its ever-growing line of Quadio Blu-rays: Randy Newman's Good Old Boys (1973), WAR's The World Is a Ghetto (1972), Gil Evans' Svengali, and Average White Band's AWB. The Second Disc had the opportunity to preview this quartet of Blu-ray reissues of classic albums in quadraphonic (four-channel) sound, and we're happy to report that this is another feast for surround fans with all four titles making good - or better - use of surround. (Those equipped
It's that time of year again! With Record Store Day's annual Black Friday event happening in less than two months - on Friday, November 24 - news has started arriving of what titles to expect. Craft Recordings' eclectic slate features classic jazz, rare soundtracks, punk, soul, and more from an array of boldfaced names including Gil Evans, Chico Hamilton, Isaac Hayes, Melvin Van Peebles, Alan Silvestri, Carter Burwell, members of Earth Wind & Fire and Little Feat, and more. You'll find
Just one recommendation of sorts for April 2021's Bandcamp Friday - but it's a big one: 61 great albums from Prestige Records are now available to stream and download on the service. Founded by Bob Weinstock in 1949, Prestige was an early home for some of the mid-century's most revolutionary jazz figures, including Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz and Thelonious Monk. The label's output, much of it impeccably recorded by engineer Rudy Van Gelder, was a haven as hard bop
Back in February, we reported on Blue Note Records' Tone Poet Reissue Series, a new initiative by label president Don Was and audiophile jazz expert Joe Harley that presents detailed vinyl reissues of Blue Note classics and overlooked titles from the label's 80-year history. Each title is an all-analog affair, mastered from the original master tapes by Kevin Gray and pressed onto 180-gram vinyl at RTI, then housed in deluxe gatefold packaging. The first titles - Wayne Shorter's Etcetera and