I. Wonderful, Wonderful "A new sound in popular music," heralded the back cover of Johnny Mathis' 1956 debut album. That self-titled release on Columbia Records introduced a voice that's now instantly familiar: expressive, rich, creamy, seductive, and tender, with a clarion, controlled vibrato that set it apart from any other tone in the golden age of American song. As Columbia's George Avakian realized, Mathis' natural instrument was perfect for jazz - capable of navigating the form's
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Debby Boone, You Light Up My Life: 40th Anniversary Expanded Edition (Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Finally, the platinum LP containing the biggest hit of the 1970s arrives on CD! Real Gone's new edition expands Debby Boone's original You Light Up My Life album by a whopping thirteen tracks, tracing Debby's career back to her earliest recordings with her sisters as The Boone Girls. You'll hear their effervescent
Last month, Johnny Mathis released his newest studio album, Johnny Mathis Sings the Great New American Songbook, on which the legendary artist tackled 11 songs of a recent vintage. Today, Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings officially announced the long-anticipated box set The Voice of Romance: The Columbia Original Album Collection, presenting Mathis' Columbia albums output from his self-titled 1956 LP debut all the way through The Great New American Songbook. This lavish 68-CD box, due
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! David Bowie, A New Career in a New Town (1977-1982) (Parlophone) 11CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K. 13LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K. The third release in Parlophone's series of chronological box sets dedicated to the music of David Bowie, A New Career in a New Town (1977-1982) closes the book on the legendary artist's RCA career. It follows 2015's Five Years (1969-1973) and 2016's Who Can I Be Now? (1974-1976),
For more than sixty years, the voice of Johnny Mathis has been synonymous with romance, class, and sophistication. He's performed songs by everyone from Richard Rodgers to Burt Bacharach, and worked with world-class musicians like Percy Faith, Ray Conniff, Henry Mancini, Thom Bell, Nelson Riddle, and Don Costa. Now, the eternally youthful singer is turning to a new repertoire for his latest studio album. On September 29, Columbia Records will release Johnny Mathis Sings the Great New American
Johnny Mathis is currently touring the U.S. on his Voice of Romance tour - and indeed, for over 60 years, that appellation has been apt. This Saturday evening, June 10, Mathis is coming to your own city, courtesy of Public Television and TJ Lubinsky's TJL Productions' popular and long-running My Music series. Yes, this Saturday is Johnny Mathis Night, because that's when Public Television stations nationwide will air Wonderful! Wonderful!, a concert film featuring all of Mathis' beloved
Welcome to our annual rundown of Must-Haves for this year's Record Store Day event! Once you're through reading, let us know what you're most looking forward to picking up tomorrow at your favorite local independent retailer! Our list features just a sampling of our favorites from our friends at Legacy Recordings, Varese Sarabande, Rhino Records, Walt Disney Records, Real Gone Music, Omnivore Recordings, and many more! Mike's kicking things off... This year's Record Store Day offerings
Record Store Day is turning 10 years old on Saturday, April 22, and Legacy Recordings isn't one to miss out on the fun! The Legacy team has unveiled more than 20 exclusive releases on 7- and 12-inch vinyl that will be available at your local independent record retailer. Many of the label's heaviest hitters and longtime favorites are represented here - including Bruce Springsteen, Jimi Hendrix, Harry Nilsson, Johnny Mathis, Ben Folds, Santana, and The Beach Boys' Dennis Wilson. Legacy is also
Let's hear it for Deniece Williams. Since making her first big splash 40 years ago with debut album This is Niecy, the daughter of Gary, Indiana has scored 27 Billboard R&B hits and 14 Pop successes including two crossover Number Ones, won four Grammy Awards (and amassed another nine nominations), and recorded over fifteen albums blurring the lines between soul, pop, and gospel. This singular artist has just been celebrated by Big Break Records on a new 2-CD anthology. Black Butterfly -
This week's Release Round-Up brings the year's most eagerly-anticipated box set, a stunning new collection from the Fab Four, a Christmas feast including two titles from Second Disc Records, and more! Bob Dylan, The Bootleg Series: Volume 12 - The Cutting Edge (Columbia/Legacy) The Best of the Cutting Edge 2-CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. The Best of the Cutting Edge 3-LP Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. The Cutting Edge 6-CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. The Cutting Edge: Collector's
A new 4-CD box set from Legacy Recordings and Columbia Records can be best summed up by the title of its very first track: "Wonderful! Wonderful!" Johnny Mathis' simply-titled The Singles doesn't bring together every track released by the legendary artist on 45 RPM; such an endeavor would take far more than four discs. Instead, it features the tracks originally released by Mathis on Columbia in the singles format - in other words, non-LP sides - between the years of 1956 and 1981, in their
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up - maybe the biggest and most diverse yet of 2015! David Bowie, Five Years (Parlophone) 12 CD Box Set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 13 LP Box Set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. New remasters of David Bowie (a.k.a. Space Oddity), The Man Who Sold the World, Hunky Dory and Pin Ups are collected in a new box set along with existing versions of Ziggy Stardust (in both the original and 2003 mixes), Aladdin Sane, Live Santa Monica '72, the Ziggy Stardust
Real Gone Music's October slate kicked off the label's yearly celebration of the music of Christmas including classic albums by George Melachrino, The Soulful Strings and The Three Suns - and that continues into November when the label releases a whopping seven titles for the holiday season! We've already told you this morning about our two Second Disc Records releases: Jim Nabors - The Complete Columbia Christmas Recordings and an expanded edition of Lynn Anderson's The Christmas Album.
Here at Second Disc HQ, the music of Johnny Mathis is, needless to say, very special to us. Johnny inaugurated our Second Disc Records label with the release of Life is a Song Worth Singing: The Complete Thom Bell Sessions. Now, we're thrilled to announce that our friends at Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings are collecting four discs' worth of Mathis Magic on a new box set. On September 25, Columbia and Legacy will celebrate Mr. Mathis turning 80 years young with the release of Johnny
This week brings a particularly impressive slate by any standard, but we're particularly proud to introduce the world to Second Disc Records with our first two releases, from Johnny Mathis and the late Bob Crewe! Johnny Mathis, Life is a Song Worth Singing: The Complete Thom Bell Sessions (Second Disc/Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Here, on two CDs, we proudly present both of Johnny Mathis' album collaborations - including the never-on-CD Mathis Is... - with songwriter-producer
Mathis Is… It’s a difficult statement to complete. How to describe one of the most remarkable voices in popular music? Johnny Mathis continues to enjoy a singularly wonderful, wonderful career - one spanning seven decades, over 350 million records sold, more than eighty albums, and a host of million-selling singles including “Misty,” “Chances Are” and “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late.” Longtime readers of The Second Disc can no doubt imagine how privileged we feel to be able to inaugurate
Johnny Mathis, You Light Up My Life/Mathis Magic and The Best Days of My Life (Funky Town Grooves) You Light Up My Life/Mathis Magic: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. The Best Days of My Life: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Funky Town Grooves has not one, but two, releases from the legendary Johnny Mathis! You Light Up My Life (1978) joins the never-before-on-CD Mathis Magic (1979) on one disc, while FTG's The Best Days of My Life expands the 1979 album with five bonus tracks, two of which are
We hope that nobody missed yesterday’s big news of The Second Disc’s partnership with Real Gone Music to create Second Disc Records, launching March 10 with a pair of releases from Johnny Mathis and Bob Crewe! But that’s not all that Real Gone has on tap for March release. With a total of eight titles ranging from psychedelia to standards, this may be one of the label’s most eclectic release batches yet! Real Gone is kicking off the month on March 3 with two iconic classic rock albums on
As The Second Disc enters its fifth year as your go-to destination for classic music news and reviews, we’re excited to share our biggest news yet: a partnership with one of our favorite labels, Real Gone Music, to create Second Disc Records! Since its founding in 2011, Real Gone has rescued music that might otherwise have languished in a dusty vault or relegated to digital download – music that lives up to the label’s name – in splendidly remastered and generously expanded editions. Real
Funky Town Grooves is kicking off January with some magic...some Mathis magic, to be precise. The label is tapping three albums from legendary vocalist Johnny Mathis for CD release, one of which will be making its debut in the format. On January 27, FTG will reissue 1978's You Light Up My Life and 1979's new-to-CD Mathis Magic on one two-for-one disc, while 1979's The Best Days of My Life will receive standalone release as an expanded edition. You Light Up My Life was the prolific artist's
Johnny Mathis. Frank Sinatra. Perry Como. Steve Vai? Menudo? When it comes to Christmas music, Legacy Recordings doesn’t pull its punches. The label’s series of Classic Christmas Album releases has become a bit of an annual tradition, and this year’s batch of single- and various-artist anthologies once again draws on names both expected and unexpected. While the packages are bare-bones, with no liner notes (but happily with full credits and discographical annotation), the music most certainly is
In two short years, Johnny Mathis will likely celebrate his 60th anniversary with Columbia Records, a towering achievement by any standard. But even the strongest marriages must sometimes weather separations, as was the case when the vocalist jumped ship to rival Mercury Records for the period between 1963 and 1967. At Mercury, Mathis formed Global Productions to administer his master recordings, and recorded some eleven albums (only ten of which were originally released) under its aegis. Upon
Henry Mancini, The Classic Soundtrack Collection (RCA/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) The Classic Soundtrack Collection features 18 of Mancini's most memorable soundtrack albums for RCA, Columbia and Epic Records on nine CDs, spanning the period between 1960's High Time and 1978's Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?, and adds bonus material from vocalists including Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams and, on a previously unreleased track, Julie Andrews. Johnny Mathis,
It's that time of the year again! Legacy Recordings' Classic Christmas Album series has become an annual tradition, and the label is once again drawing on the Sony Music vaults to offer new seasonal anthologies from a group of truly celebrated artists. This year, the bona fide legends include Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Perry Como, and Johnny Mathis, and their volumes will be joined by an entry for the classical crossover quartet Il Divo as well as by various-artists compilations
Chances are, Johnny Mathis fans are going to be counting down until November 17. On that date, Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings will release The Complete Global Albums Collection, a first-of-its-kind set compiling the entire recorded output of Mathis during his Mercury Records period. A Columbia artist since 1956, Mathis departed his label home just once – recording some eleven albums (ten of which were released) under the imprimatur of his own Global Records production company between