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 -
Last evening in Washington, DC, Joni Mitchell joined the 44th class of Kennedy Center Honorees alongside Bette Midler, Berry Gordy, Lorne Michaels, and Justino Diaz. The singer-songwriter who has blurred the lines of folk, pop, rock, and jazz was celebrated by friends and admirers including Brandi Carlile, Herbie Hancock, Ellie Goulding, Norah Jones, Brittany Howard, Dan Levy, and Cameron Crowe. President Joe Biden, also in attendance, had earlier summed up the thoughts of many when he
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Elvis Presley, Back in Nashville (RCA/Legacy) 4CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP Colored Vinyl: Graceland Official Store Elvis: Back in Nashville boasts 82 recordings on 4 CDs (or digitally) from The King's final Nashville sessions in 1971. With country, folk, holiday and gospel songs, pop, and rock and roll, these seminal tracks represent some of the most richly diverse in
The phenomenal success of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young's 1971 LP Déjà Vu came at a time when all four members of the supergroup were brimming with musical creativity. In the wake of its release, each released a solo album that's since attained classic status. In February 1971 came David Crosby's solo debut, If I Could Only Remember My Name. Crosby's dreamy, impressionistic, darkly beautiful, and decidedly unconventional masterwork is now receiving a deluxe edition from Rhino due on October
Joni Mitchell fiercely announced her independence with "I Had a King," the haunting soliloquy which opens her 1968 debut album, Song to a Seagull. "I can't go back there anymore," she proclaimed. "You know my keys won't fit the door/You know my thoughts don't fit the man. They never can...they never can..." The song is bold, wise, and flecked with a graceful equanimity as the singer declares her freedom both from a husband who "lives in another time" and the societal constraints of the day.
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! It's a much smaller one than usual, owing to the U.S. Fourth of July holiday, but we'll have more new releases in the Weekend Stream! In the meantime, may those celebrating have a safe and happy holiday weekend! Joni Mitchell, The Reprise Albums (1968-1971) (Reprise/Rhino) 4CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 4LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Joni Mitchell's first four albums, all recorded for the Reprise label, are
Fifty years ago tomorrow -June 22, 1971 - Joni Mitchell released Blue. The singer-songwriter's fourth studio album, Blue was raw, intense, emotional, beautiful, moving, and hugely influential. In short, it was the kind of album that only comes along once a generation - if that. Mitchell recently discussed its legacy with filmmaker-journalist Cameron Crowe for The Los Angeles Times. She observed, "The most feedback that I got was that I had gone too far and was exposing too much of myself. I
Cameron Crowe, in association with Universal Music, has done the (near-) impossible. On July 9, the writer-director will revisit the soundtrack to his 2000 instant classic Almost Famous in greatly expanded, near-complete form, including five - yes, five! - Led Zeppelin songs plus tracks by other typically difficult-to-license artists including Simon and Garfunkel, The Who, Fleetwood Mac, Steely Dan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, David Bowie, and Stevie Wonder. That's not to mention new Rock and
Last year Joni Mitchell and Rhino stunned fans with the announcement of the Joni Mitchell Archives, an ongoing series of releases that look back at the career of the multifaceted songwriter, singer, producer, and visual artist. (Check out our interview with series co-producer, Patrick Milligan, here!) Today, Joni Mitchell and Rhino announced the next volume in the series: The Reprise Albums (1968-1971), to be released June 25, just fifty years and three days after she released Blue on June
At 1:00 pm EST/10:00 am PST today, the list of Record Store Day's annual offerings was made public. As was the case in 2020, this year's RSD festivities will take place over more than one day. The two RSD Drops are scheduled for Saturday, June 12, and Saturday, July 17. We'll be sharing periodic announcements of various labels' releases, including this look at Rhino's whopping array of over 30 titles from heavy hitters including Black Sabbath, Donny Hathaway, Grateful Dead, Joni Mitchell,
Crosby, Stills, and Nash's eponymous debut was one of the most auspicious and omnipresent records of 1969, a remarkable and harmony-rich affair featuring such era-defining material as "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," "Marrakesh Express," "Guinnevere," "Wooden Ships," "Long Time Gone," and "Helplessly Hoping." CSN blended folk, country, jazz, rock, and a dash of pop into an often-imitated but never-duplicated sound. In the U.S. alone, the album reached No. 6 on the Billboard Top LPs chart and the top
UPDATE 11/12/2020: It's been a long time since Neil Young released his last Archives box set. In the intervening 11 years since Neil released Archives, Volume 1: 1963-1972, fans have endlessly speculated what might be on Volume 2 - or if it might happen at all. As our readers probably know by now, Neil Young Archives, Volume 2: 1972-1976 is a go, with a limited-edition box set arriving next Friday, November 20. A digital edition will also be available on Neil Young Archives and all major digital
"I was born to take the highway / I was born to chase a dream / Any road at all is my way / Any place is where I've been." So sings a young Joni Mitchell on "Born to Take the Highway," one of her earliest compositions. The 1965 road song is one of a staggering 29 previously unreleased tracks unearthed for a once-unthinkable project: a deep-dive into her archives. The first installment in the series, Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963-1967), sees her chasing that dream. Out
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Joni Mitchell Archives - Volume 1: The Early Years (1963-1967) (Rhino) 5-CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 5-CD + Lithograph bundle: Joni Mitchell Online Store The first in a series of box sets, Joni Mitchell Archives - Volume 1: The Early Years (1963-1967) features nearly 6 hours of unreleased material - 119 tracks across 5 CDs - all from the period prior to the commencement of the legendary singer-songwriter's recording career.
UPDATE 10/23/2020: It's been a long time since Neil Young released his last Archives box set. In the intervening 11 years since Neil released Archives, Volume 1: 1963-1972, fans have endlessly speculated what might be on Volume 2 - or if it might happen at all. Well, it's happening. The 10-CD Neil Young Archives, Volume 2: 1972-1976 box set will be released on November 20. The links to pre-order are live for the limited, deluxe edition set of 3,000 units which is available exclusively
"I cut off my hair and I rode straight away, for that wild unknown country where I could not go wrong." So sings Bob Dylan in "Isis." It's a line fitting for the mercurial Dylan, especially in 1975 as he and his merry cohorts - both friends and musicians - embarked on a tour of North American cities large and small on the circus-like Rolling Thunder Revue. Back in 2019, we told you about Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese. Part concert document and part
UPDATE 10/23/2020: It's been a long time since Neil Young released his last Archives box set. In the intervening 11 years since Neil released Archives, Volume 1: 1963-1972, fans have endlessly speculated what might be on Volume 2 - or if it might happen at all. Well, it's happening. The 10-CD Neil Young Archives, Volume 2: 1972-1976 box set will be released on November 20. The links to pre-order are live for the limited, deluxe edition set of 3,000 units which is available exclusively
Back in April, Vinyl Me Please announced that jazz legend Herbie Hancock would be the focus of their next Anthology box set. The world has changed a lot since then and unforeseen production situations caused it to be set aside in favor of a Grateful Dead set. Well, now it's finally Herbie Hancock's turn. Today, the vinyl subscription service officially announced the upcoming release of The Story of Herbie Hancock as its next Anthology release. VMP's Anthology series considers the box set
It's been a long time since Neil Young released his last Archives box set. In the intervening 11 years since Neil released Archives, Volume 1: 1963-1972, fans have endlessly speculated what might be on Volume 2 - or if it might happen at all. Well, it's happening. And although Neil has yet to unveil all the details, he has now announced the complete track listing for Archives, Volume 2: 1972-1976. The 10-CD set will be released on November 20 exclusively through his Neil Young Archives
The first in a series of box sets, Joni Mitchell Archives - Volume 1: The Early Years (1963-1967) features nearly 6 hours of unreleased material - 119 tracks across 5 CDs - all from the period prior to the commencement of her recording career. You'll hear her first-ever recorded performance, intimate and newly unearthed coffeehouse concerts, home demos, and much more. There's a total of 29 previously unheard Joni Mitchell songs, among them "Jeremy," "Free Darling," and "Gemini Twin," which had
Live At Canterbury House - 1967 includes all three of Joni's sets at the famed Ann Arbor venue. The complete unreleased and uncirculated show will be pressed on 180-gram vinyl and packaged in a triple gatefold sleeve. The cover features a photo taken at the show by Al Blixt. Bob Franke, who was assigned to review the show for The Michigan Daily, provides new liner notes alongside his original review. Available on black vinyl or on white vinyl exclusively at the new Joni Mitchell Online Store.
Early Joni - 1963 is a standalone LP featuring a complete radio session recorded by Joni Mitchell for CFQC-AM out of her hometown in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. It'd be years before she'd begin writing songs of her own, but here 19-year-old Joni transfixes the audience with just her voice, her baritone ukulele, and a repertoire of Child ballads and folk songs. It will be pressed on a single 180-gram LP and features a new portrait by Joni Mitchell based on a photograph from the period. CFQC DJ
If you're as big a fan of Joni Mitchell as we are here at The Second Disc, you probably did a double-take at that headline. And with good reason. Joni Mitchell - the artist, songwriter, and singer who has created some of the most influential music of all time - has a reputation for not looking back. Despite her considerable legacy and personal archive full of treasures, it wasn't until recently that she began began really celebrating her past. Films, tribute concerts, and a recent book of art
On March 20, as the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic was just starting to be understood, indie music retailer Bandcamp made the bold choice of waiving their share of revenue for artists and labels who were cancelling shows and delaying album releases left and right. The result was more music bought by more fans than any day on the site, a record broken on the first Friday of May. Bandcamp Fridays have since taken place in June, July and August - plus the first of an annual occurrence when the
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Andy Williams, Emperor of Easy: Lost Columbia Masters 1962-72 (Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Real Gone Music has the first-ever collection of never-before-heard music from Andy Williams' Columbia Records years. Emperor of Easy: Lost Columbia Masters 1962-72 boasts 20 selections direct from the Columbia vault encompassing 16 previously unreleased studio outtakes and four rare singles. Every track on Emperor of Easy