Iain Matthews - The Second Disc

Release Round-Up: Week of May 8

May 8, 2026 by The Second Disc | 2 Comments

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. Neil Diamond, Wild at Heart (Capitol/UMe) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2CD: Walmart (with exclusive lithograph) / Target (with exclusive lithograph) / Amazon U.K. LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP (Bronze Elegance Edition): NeilDiamond.com LP (Copper Nugget Edition): Barnes and Noble A new album from Neil Diamond is out today…and it’s so good, so good, so good! The superstar singer-songwriter’s Wild at Heart is composed of nine previously unheard outtakes recorded with producer Rick Rubin in…

Categories:

Release Round-Up

Formats:

CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Classic Rock, Folk, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, Rock

Tags:

Amy Grant, Iain Matthews, Josh Groban, Melanie, Neil Diamond, Peter Gabriel, The Knack, Ween

The Weekend Stream: April 18, 2026

April 18, 2026 by The Second Disc | 2 Comments

Welcome back to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles making digital debuts, plus new works from legacy acts and even some personally curated favorites. We’ve got a trove of new songs from old (and not-so-old) favorites to kick off your post-Record Store Day festivities, plus a load of rare, out-of-print and expanded titles across genres from country, jazz, prog and beyond. Madonna, “I Feel So Free” (Warner) (Apple / Amazon) Just over two decades after her triumphant Confessions on a Dance Floor – and seven years after…

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The Weekend Stream

Formats:

Digital Download, Digital Streaming

Genres:

Classic Rock, Disco/Dance, Jazz, Latin, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, Rock, Soundtracks

Release Round-Up: Week of October 25

October 25, 2024 by The Second Disc | 5 Comments

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. Blue Magic, Stop to Start: The Atco and WMOT Recordings (SoulMusic/The Second Disc) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Cherry Red) Let the sideshow begin! SoulMusic Records and TSD are proud to unveil a new 6-CD box set dedicated to the sweet ‘n funky soul stylings of Philly quintet Blue Magic (“Sideshow,” “Three Ring Circus,” “Welcome to the Club,” “What’s Come Over Me”). Stop to Start: The Atco and WMOT Recordings brings together…

Categories:

News

Formats:

Blu-Ray, Box Sets, CD, Vinyl

Genres:

Classic Rock, Classical/Opera, Country, Jazz, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul, Rock

Tags:

ABBA, Andrea Bocelli, Ben Folds, Blue Magic, Bryan Ferry, Charlie Parker, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Duran Duran, Graham Parker, Green Day, Iain Matthews, Melanie, Queen, Tears for Fears, The Oak Ridge Boys

Keep On Sailing: Cherry Red Collects Iain Matthews’ Plainsong on New Box Set

October 20, 2022 by Joe Marchese | 4 Comments

Cherry Red’s Lemon imprint has anthologized the works of singer-songwriter Iain Matthews on previous releases including the 2019 rarities collection Orphans and Outcasts and this year’s I Can’t Fade Away: The Rockburgh Years 1978-1984. Now, Lemon is turning back the clock to Matthews’ time in the band Plainsong with a new 6-CD box set. Following Amelia: The 1972 Recordings and More is, in essence, a generous 50th anniversary expanded edition of the original band’s one and only album to be released contemporaneously with their existence, 1972’s In Search of Amelia Earhart. It’s…

Categories:

News

Formats:

Box Sets, CD

Genres:

Classic Rock, Country, Folk

Tags:

Iain Matthews, Plainsong

Holiday Gift Guide Reviews: Cherry Red’s Esoteric and Grapefruit Imprints Offer Diverse Box Sets

December 19, 2019 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

Cherry Red’s ongoing series of small clamshell box sets filled with big content make for the perfect stocking stuffer! Here’s a look at three more titles you might have missed… Climax Blues Band’s The Albums 1973-1976 is the second such box set released this year by Cherry Red’s Esoteric Recordings imprint, following The Albums 1969-1972. This 4-CD set contains the following albums, culminating in the biggest commercial triumph for the band that began its life as The Climax Chicago Blues Band: FM Live (1973); Sense of Direction (1971); Stamp Album (1975); and…

Categories:

Holiday Gift Guide, News, Reviews

Formats:

Box Sets, CD

Genres:

Classic Rock, Country, Folk, Pop

Tags:

Bridget St. John, Climax Blues Band, Faces, Iain Matthews, Procol Harum, Rod Stewart, The Hollies, The Marmalade, The Tremeloes, Various Artists

Seeds and Stems: Cherry Red Collects Rarities from Iain Matthews on “Orphans and Outcasts”

July 15, 2019 by Joe Marchese | 2 Comments

Few artists of the rock generation can boast as diverse a C.V. as Iain (sometimes Ian) Matthews. The Fairport Convention founder went on to front Matthews’ Southern Comfort and Plainsong as well as record under his own name in the pop, folk, country, and rock idioms, often blending those styles together. In his first decade alone, Matthews recorded for the Deram, Polydor, Island, Uni, Vertigo, Elektra, and CBS/Columbia labels – and at virtually every label, material was left behind. Between 1991 and 1999, the artist collected some of those outtakes, demos (of…

Categories:

News

Formats:

Box Sets, CD

Genres:

Classic Rock, Folk, Pop, Rock

Tags:

Iain Matthews, Matthews Southern Comfort, Plainsong, Richard Thompson

Release Round-Up: Week of April 26

April 26, 2019 by The Second Disc | No Comments

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Prince, Ultimate Rave (Legacy/NPG) Ultimate Rave (2-CD/1-DVD): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic (2-LP Purple Vinyl): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic (2-LP Purple Vinyl): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada This new 2-CD/1-DVD collection brings together two of Prince’s albums from the turn of the new millennium: Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic from 1999 and Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic, a hard-to-find 2001 remix album that was only available to…

Categories:

Release Round-Up

Formats:

CD, DVD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl

Genres:

Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Folk, Jazz, Pop, R&B/Soul, Rock, Soundtracks

Tags:

Alfred Drake, Baker Gurvitz Army, Bill Evans, Cheap Trick, Dorothy Ashby, Frank Wess, Iain Matthews, J.J. Johnson, Joe Simon, Kurt Weill, Marvin Gaye, Millie Jackson, Nils Lofgren, O.F.R., Prince, Steeleye Span, The Cranberries, Wes Montgomery

Keep a Close Watch: Ace Salutes “The Orchestrations of Robert Kirby” with Nick Drake, Richard and Linda Thompson, Iain Matthews

March 15, 2018 by Joe Marchese | 2 Comments

The subject of a new collection from Ace Records isn’t exactly a household name. But if you didn’t know the name of Robert Kirby before, you certainly will after a listen to When the Day is Done: The Orchestrations of Robert Kirby. The titular orchestrator is best known for his lush adornment of Nick Drake’s records, conjuring up a pastoral England that couldn’t be more removed from the swingin’ era that preceded it. A brief track from Drake opens this collection before it cedes to an exploration of Kirby’s other work as…

Categories:

News, Reviews

Formats:

Genres:

Folk

Tags:

Iain Matthews, John Cale, Nick Drake, Richard and Linda Thompson, Various Artists, Vashti Bunyan

Release Round-Up: Week of September 11

September 11, 2015 by Joe Marchese | 1 Comment

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Second Disc Records is going back to the beach with Ricci Martin, but that’s far from all this week! We’re also taking off with ELO, singing street-corner symphonies with The Four Seasons, and much more! Plus: new titles from classic artists! Ricci Martin, Beached: Expanded Edition (Second Disc/Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) What if key members of The Beach Boys, Chicago, America, and Wings had teamed up to create one of the greatest California rock albums you’ve never heard? Well, they actually did! Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, author…

Categories:

Release Round-Up

Formats:

Blu-Ray, CD, DVD, Digital Download, Vinyl

Genres:

Classic Rock, Folk, Jazz, Pop, Rock

Tags: