Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc's review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. This Saturday brings remixes from James Brown, live rarities from Daryl Hall and - yes - a jump on some Christmas catalogue. James Brown, We Got to Change / Soul Power: The Remixes (Republic/UMe) (iTunes / Amazon) "We Got to Change" was an exciting find earlier this year: an unreleased 1970 track featuring an early version of The J.B.'s,
Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc's review of notable catalogue titles making digital debuts. Today, we celebrate Crowded House's return, an unreleased track from the Godfather of Soul, six albums from a female country hitmaker and many more! Crowded House, "Oh Hi" (BMG) (iTunes / Amazon) One of Second Disc HQ's favorite bands, Crowded House, is back with the first single from Gravity Stairs, their first album since 2021's Dreamers Are Waiting. This gentle,
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.From Rufus Wainwright to Lana Del Rey, Donna Summer to ZTT, we're bringing you the goods. Rufus Wainwright, Rufus Wainwright (25th Anniversary Edition) (Geffen/UMe) (iTunes / Amazon) One of the best-reviewed albums of 1998 was the baroque-pop debut from singer/songwriter Rufus Wainright. With
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. Two soul legends, a soundtrack from one of Hollywood's greatest composers, and a never-before-heard single from the ZTT vaults are all ready for you to hear! Diana Ross, Last Time I Saw Him (Deluxe Edition) (Motown/UMe) (iTunes / Amazon) To commemorate 50 years of Diana Ross' sixth solo album
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. Today's might be our biggest and best round-up of the spring: classic rock remixes, classic soul legends, rising rap icons, all kinds of '80s pop, a classic Broadway album making its belated digital debut - plus two urgent social causes we really want you to know about. David Bowie, Golden Years
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 short round-up this week, featuring expanded albums from the Godfather of Soul and a late '90s R&B star, another ZTT rarity, a classic rock remix and an LP from a screen legend. James Brown, Gravity (Expanded Edition) (Volcano/Legacy) (iTunes / Amazon) The success of "Living in
2022 marks 100 years of The Hollywood Bowl. The famous amphitheater nestled in the Hollywood hills has hosted luminaries of every genre of music from classical to rock in its instantly familiar bandshell (actually two bandshells, as the first one from 1929 was demolished in 2003 and replaced with a larger model). The Bowl has been featured in movies including the original A Star Is Born, Double Indemnity, Xanadu, and Beaches and cartoons starring Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry, and The Pink
A recent release from Urban Legends and UMe has paired the late Godfather of Soul, James Brown, with producer and multi-instrumentalist Stro Elliot of The Roots. Black and Loud: James Brown Reimagined by Stro Elliot, featuring ten new remixes of Brown's funk classics, is available now on digital platforms as well as standard black vinyl and online-exclusive clear vinyl. For Elliot, this release represents the culmination of years of admiration for Brown's storied catalogue. "The 'Godfather
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! This week offers a fistful of digital deluxe editions, expansions on holiday favorites, and at least one Bond theme in the mix. Tina Turner, GoldenEye (Parlophone) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify) If you're still riding high off the excellent latest James Bond film No Time to Die, released a few months ago, you
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! The Kinks, Arthur, or The Decline and Fall of the British Empire [Various Formats] (BMG) 4CD/4-seven-inch single box: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / The Kinks Official 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / The Kinks Official 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / The Kinks Official The Kinks' 1969 concept album continued in the quintessentially British vein of The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation
With the lead-up to Record Store Day Black Friday in full swing, it's time to take a look at what Universal Music Group has prepped for the semi-annual vinyl bonanza. The label's eight major catalog vinyl releases are familiar to longtime RSD consumers. Some celebrate an iconic anniversary (as is the case for titles by U2, Frank Sinatra and Frank Zappa), one complements a general catalog title (an unreleased live James Brown album), and some just feature great music in rare
Are you ready for Star Time? A new James Brown release, chronicling a 50-year-old homecoming show released in full for the first time, will surely do the trick. Live At Home With His Bad Self was in fact intended to be released not long after its recording. In the fall of 1969, Brown came to Augusta, Georgia's Bell Auditorium, hours from where Brown first sang gospel as a young man in Toccoa. He was backed by a stellar band that featured the talents of horn players Maceo Parker and Fred
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Prince, Originals (Warner/NPG) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Originals brings together 15 demos of songs Prince gave away to other artists including The Time, Sheila E., Kenny Rogers, Martika, Vanity 6, and The Bangles. Tidal will exclusively offered the album for high-resolution streaming on June 7, with the CD and wide digital release out today, and vinyl configurations to follow in July. A Target exclusive CD edition adds one
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Nat King Cole, Ultimate Nat King Cole (Capitol/UMe) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada To celebrate Nat King Cole's centennial and his legacy of enduring music, Capitol/UMe has partnered with the Nat King Cole Estate for a number of exciting projects. Among them are two new collections that showcase Cole's remarkable talents -- both available today Ultimate Nat King Cole arrives on CD and digital, with a 2-LP configuration to
Over the past few weeks, Universal has announced a varied assortment of upcoming vinyl releases, including a rarities collection from the Godfather of Soul, a compilation of early Scott Walker, two Meat Loaf titles arriving on vinyl for the first time ever in the States, and a celebratory 10th Anniversary edition from U2. It's set to be a vinyl-filled February and March, and The Second Disc has all the details! First up, Geffen/UMe is serving up two new editions of celebrated Meat Loaf
Ace Records rightfully has a reputation for its top-notch collections, and three recent releases are no exception to that rule. Jon Savage's 1965: The Year The Sixties Ignited follows previous releases compiled for Ace by historian Savage covering the years 1966 and 1967. This latest volume, with 48 tracks on 2 CDs, explores how the various strains of pop music came together to awaken the culture: whether the power of Motown (the label had six number ones) or Bob Dylan (who inspired an
Late in 2015, Ace Records released the compilation Jon Savage's 1966: The Year The Decade Exploded to coincide with the publication of the author-historian's book of the same name. Now, Ace and Savage have followed that CD release with another volume - 1967: The Year Pop Divided. The 2-CD collection's mission statement is clearly set out: "MOR ballads were rife in the U.K. charts in 1967, but thankfully not on this dynamic collection of rock, soul, pop, and incipient funk and psych the teenage
While we normally concentrate on CD reissues here at The Second Disc, we do occasionally like to highlight other titles which we think may be of interest to our readers. One such project, just announced from Shout! Factory, certainly qualifies: a 2-disc Blu-ray set entitled the T.A.M.I. Show/The Big T.N.T. Show Collector's Edition due out on December 2. Directed by Steve Binder, T.A.M.I. Show (meaning either "Teenage Awards Music International" or "Teen Age Music International") was filmed
Tomorrow, Saturday, April 16, music fans and collectors will flock to their local independent record stores worldwide to celebrate both the sounds on those familiar round black platters and the cherished opportunity to shop for music in a physical retail environment. To many of us, both are a way of life. Each year around this time, we here at Second Disc HQ take a few moments to count down the titles to which we're most looking forward to picking up! Our very own Mike Duquette kicks things
The Culture Factory label, which reissues classic albums in limited edition mini-LP replica sleeves, has a trio of Christmas titles due this Friday likely to make spirits bright. The label has already released Vince Guaraldi's oft-reissued soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas as an exclusive release for retailer FYE. It's joined this week by straight reissues (no bonus material) of The Beach Boys' Christmas Album and James Brown's Soulful Christmas at general retail, as well as an
Legacy’s long-running Playlist series rolls on with another batch of titles to be released tomorrow, April 14. This wave of titles in the budget line range from rock to R&B to rap, and span from the late 1960s right up to the 2000s. As per the standard with this series, each entry is fourteen tracks and generally has some harder-to-find edits and track choices than are generally found on budget compilations. Following a description of each title kindly provided by our friend and founder
It's a Monday release date here in the U.S., so here's your early Release Round-Up! Bee Gees, 1974-1979 (Reprise/Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) This box set brings together the band’s Mr. Natural, Main Course, Children of the World and Spirits Having Flown plus a disc of previously issued bonus material. Full track listing and details here. Watch on Record Store Day for a companion vinyl release to this set featuring the 12-inch mixes from Saturday Night Fever! Kansas,
Funky Town Grooves is planning on a busy February and March with a heaping helping of music from soul royalty including The Manhattans, Phyllis Hyman and Soul Brother No. 1 himself, James Brown. FTG recently reissued four titles from The Manhattans’ long-neglected-on-CD Columbia discography: There’s No Good in Goodbye (1978), After Midnight (1980), Black Tie (1981) and Forever by Your Side (1983). Now, the label has recently announced the addition of three more of the group’s Columbia albums