Black Friday isn't just a day for holiday sales and Record Store Day's second event of the year - it's also the day La-La Land Records announces their final (and often biggest) soundtrack reissues of the year. And it might not get bigger than 2022's batch of titles, which feature two underrated scores from a pair of legendary composers, two massive franchise favorites with rich themes, and the soundtrack to what some consider the greatest American film ever made. Up first is one of those
From all of us here at Second Disc HQ to all of you, we hope you've enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving in the company of beloved family and friends. Of course, from this day which conjures nostalgic and warm feelings comes a celebration of a different kind with this year's annual Black Friday Record Store Day event. In keeping with tradition, Mike, Randy, and Joe have once again selected some essential picks of the roughly 200 titles being released tomorrow at independent record stores
Steven Spielberg's magical masterpiece E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial was the highest-grossing movie of all time for more than a decade after its release in 1982, and inspired a new kind of kid-focused, often fantasy-oriented adventure films. The picture also features one of the most enduring scores by legendary composer John Williams, a multiple award winner in its time. As part of a long-running 40th anniversary campaign that's included a terrific making-of book, apparel, a theatrical IMAX reissue
La-La Land Records has three killer early '90s score expansions on their release schedule this month - and there's another much-desired title from the '80s also available to order from the label! First up, La-La Land readies a new remastered and expanded edition of John Williams' classic score to Jurassic Park. Steven Spielberg's thrilling adaptation of Michael Crichton's novel - an action-packed sci-fi flick about a theme park full of cloned dinosaurs that invariably goes wrong - is a modern
For fans of John Williams, the legendary composer's 90th birthday has marked a fruitful year. A live concert from Berlin recorded in 2021 was released to considerable acclaim, and two studio albums have since followed: A Gathering of Friends, reuniting the composer with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the New York Philharmonic; and the new Violin Concerto No. 2 and Selected Film Themes, a concert hall collaboration with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter. He'll next be heard on screen scoring The Fabelmans, a
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, highlighted by our newest Second Disc Records release and featuring a selection of the week's other new titles! Stoney and Meatloaf, Everything Under the Sun: The Motown Recordings (Second Disc Records/Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Real Gone Music) Stoney and Meatloaf's Everything Under the Sun: The Motown Recordings from Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music is the ultimate celebration of late rock superstar
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 features digital debuts from a country legend, a new theme from a galaxy far, far away and some 21st century hip-hop for your consideration. Roger Miller, A Trip in the Country / Making a Name for Myself / Roger Miller (Capitol Nashville/UMe) A Trip: iTunes / Amazon Making: iTunes / Amazon Miller:
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
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! Ben Folds, It's the Small Things, Charlie Brown (Apple TV+ Original Soundtrack) (Peanuts Productions) (iTunes) Ben Folds has been sort of quiet lately. While the piano-pounding alt-rocker has been livestreaming and podcasting along with being an advocate for orchestras in recent years, he's only released a
The last few weeks have seen some fine deluxe soundtrack reissues from two of our favorite film score labels - as well as another album project from the genre's greatest living luminary. La-La Land Records has aimed for the funny bone with a brilliant new expansion of Maurice Jarre's score to Top Secret! The 1984 comedy from the Zucker Brothers and Jim Abrahams - only their second big screen effort as writer-directors after the blockbuster Airplane! four years earlier (plus the brilliant
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's got some choice soundtracks plus rock, hip-hop, country, and classic vocalists. Depeche Mode, Construction Time Again | The 12" Singles (Warner/Rhino) (iTunes / Amazon) Rhino continues its series of 12" single releases from the Depeche Mode catalogue. This offering gathers up the extended mixes
A heavily armored box set with enough firepower to destroy an entire wallet is coming from Mondo this week. Michael Giacchino's score to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - recently surprise-released as a generous digital expanded edition - will get an 4LP release from the venerated collector's label/imprint, featuring all of the soundtrack material issued in 2016 along with an hour of unreleased and alternative material. (Fans will surely keep hoping for a CD edition; after all, rebellions are
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! Michael Giacchino, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack/Expanded Edition) (Walt Disney Records) (iTunes / Amazon) A genuine, out-of-nowhere surprise: a generous expansion of Oscar-winner Giacchino's score to the first Disney-era Star Wars spin-off in 2016, about the ragtag group of
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! John Williams and The Boston Pops, The Complete Philips Recordings (Decca) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Decca will celebrate John Williams' 90th by turning the clock back to 1980 when the famed composer-conductor took the baton from the legendary Arthur Fiedler to lead The Boston Pops Orchestra into a new era. John Williams and The Boston Pops: The Complete Philips Recordings boasts 21 CDs and 22 albums originally released on
Happy 2022! Welcome, friends, to The Second Disc's 12th Annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards! Once again, we've all faced unprecedented challenges over the past twelve months. A year that began with hope and promise has ended with further uncertainty for many of us. But music continues to fill a significant role in our lives, providing solace, comfort, and escape in a time unlike any other. With that spirit in mind, The Second Disc wishes to recognize 2021's cream of the catalogue music crop -
This weekend, iconic filmmaker Steven Spielberg finally achieved his dream of directing a musical, with a stunning new version of the Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim classic West Side Story. Longtime observers of Spielberg's filmography know that musicals have been a hidden passion of sorts: not only is his work so intrinsically tied to song (notably the scores of John Williams, who's done one for nearly all of his films), but he's flirted with musical numbers in films before, from the
On February 8, 2022, John Williams will turn 90. Over the course of an extraordinary career, he's earned 25 Grammy Awards, five Oscars (out of 52 nominations, second only to Walt Disney), four Golden Globes, and three Emmys. Rather than resting on his considerable laurels in recent years, he's remained prolific, most recently scoring 2019's Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and serving as Music Consultant for longtime collaborator Steven Spielberg's highly-anticipated remake of West Side Story.
Like the consumption of Thanksgiving turkey and waiting in line for Record Store Day exclusives, La-La Land's Black Friday announcements of their final (and often biggest) archival soundtrack releases of the year is a holiday tradition. In 2021, the label did not disappoint, unveiling five rare, unreleased and expanded score titles from across five separate decades. From horror classics to brilliant stage musical adaptations and even a stunning Golden Age score, there's really something for
Even though it's only the middle of September and it is not even fall yet, announcements are beginning to be made about the upcoming Christmas season. Real Gone Music is continuing its yearly holiday tradition with a batch of holiday albums, including a CD debut and three vinyl represses, due in October and November. The lone CD reissue in the slate, due November 5, is Merry Christmas, Baby, one of the earliest compilations of Christmas music singles from 1956. Subtitled Intimate Christmas
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Dusty Springfield, The Complete Atlantic Singles 1969-1971 (Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The Complete Atlantic Singles 1968-1971brings together Dusty Springfield's 24 U.S. single sides released during her tenure at Atlantic. These tracks have been remastered from the original mono tapes by Mike Milchner at Sonic Vision, and all but the eight sides pulled from Dusty in Memphis have never before appeared on CD in
As legendary film composer John Williams heads toward his 89th birthday in 2021, Deutsche Grammophon is giving fans a present in the form of a new expanded edition of his latest concert release, just three days before his big day. Released just this past August and noted as 2020's best-selling classical album, John Williams in Vienna presented the five-time Oscar winner leading the Weiner Philharmoniker and violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter - the soloist on 2018's Across the Stars collaboration
2018's Solo: A Star Wars Story sharply divided fans and Star Wars aficionados. The film, chronicling the early years of Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Lando Calrissian, endured a bumpy - and very public - road to theatres that saw original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (The Lego Movie, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) replaced by veteran Ron Howard. But while reviews were mixed on the film, one crucial element consistently earned well-deserved recognition: John Powell's score. In recent
October is thick with not only great archival horror soundtracks, but favorites from all genres! Let's dive in to eight great film score reissues from this past month. Intrada rolled out titles from three iconic composers. This week sees an expansion of the late James Horner's score to The Land Before Time (1988). The second collaboration between animator Don Bluth and producer Steven Spielberg (this time with George Lucas in tow) told the story of a group of juvenile dinosaurs roaming the
For the 42 years Star Wars has been a pop cultural force, musical oddities have followed in the wake of its starship engines. Sure, legendary composer John Williams put an interstellar jazz number in the middle of his almost operatic score to the original 1977 film, but that didn't predict a chart-topping disco song, or Christmas albums, or quirky EDM, or various other ephemera in the ensuing decades. When Star Wars: Shadows Of The Empire was released in 1996, amid a major comeback for that
The week started with May the Fourth, so it might as well end with another trip to a galaxy far, far away! Our latest #TSDTweet will take a listen to John Williams' original soundtrack to Star Wars: the 1977 double album that launched one of the composer's most lengthy and recognizable works. Williams composed the music to eight other Star Wars films between 1980 and 2019, in addition to contributing new works for the 2018 spin-off Solo: A Star Wars Story and the newly-opened Galaxy's Edge at