UPDATE: Herbie Hancock Classics To Be Collected On “Vinyl Me Please Anthology: The Story of Herbie Hancock”

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 as part of an interactive experience with podcasts and exclusive…

Continue Reading

Here We Go In The Years: Neil Young Unveils Track Listing for “Archives, Volume 2: 1972-1976”

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 webstore.  Pre-orders will begin there on October…

Continue Reading

Born To Take The Highway: Joni Mitchell’s Early Years Celebrated With New Box Set of Unreleased Music, ‘Joni Mitchell Archives, Volume 1’

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 and lyrics have done…

Continue Reading

Funny and You Don’t Know Why: The Second Disc’s Bandcamp Friday Picks for September

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 service will…

Continue Reading

Release Round-Up: Week of April 3

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 is new to CD including Andy’s renditions of “Two for the Road,” “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’,” “Ruby Don’t…

Continue Reading

Review: Joni Mitchell’s “Shine” Arrives on Vinyl

This Friday, Craft Recordings will release the vinyl debut of Joni Mitchell’s most recent studio album, Shine.  With excellent music that carries even more weight in 2020, RTI-pressed 180-gram vinyl, and beautiful packaging, this LP is one for Joni’s many fans to treasure. Mitchell’s artistry proved prescient on Shine, originally released in 2007 on the Hear Music label.  Thematically, Shine is not far removed from Dog Eat Dog, her searing critique of Reagan-era policies and corporate greed.  Twenty years later, she tackles similar themes – war, political corruption, the dwindling capacity for…

Continue Reading
Categories:
Formats:

Message to Love: Universal Prepares a Wealth of Rarities for RSD 2020

Here at Second Disc HQ, we’ve been thrilled by the news of amazing releases coming from all the labels this Record Store Day 2020, and UMe’s slate of 20+ titles is no exception.  With a new definitive vinyl edition of Paul McCartney’s debut, a tenth-anniversary celebration of Ellie Goulding’s Lights, a Cat Stevens rarity making its vinyl debut, an expanded Elton John, a reissue of an impossible-to-find CTI Jazz album, and many more, fans will want to line up bright and early to secure their copies this April 18! Here’s the official word…

Continue Reading

Release Round-Up: Week of January 24

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Elton John, Live from Moscow 1979 (Mercury/UMe) 2-CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2-LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2019 marked the 40th anniversary of Elton John’s landmark tour of Russia, where he stunned audiences as the first rocker to perform in the country.  His concerts there were intimate events where he performed alongside percussionist Ray Cooper.  Now, Elton brings his May 28, 1979 concert in Moscow to CD and wide release vinyl for the first time; the show was…

Continue Reading

UPDATE – Back To This Heavenly Bliss: Joni Mitchell’s “Shine” Arriving on Vinyl from Craft Recordings

Ever since the so-called “vinyl renaissance” began at the turn of the last decade, Joni Mitchell fans the world over have wondered whether her catalogue would be given the deluxe LP treatment. Sure, there was the 8-LP compilation Love Has Many Faces in 2018, and the trusty titles like Blue, Court and Spark, and Hejira have been pressed to wax in editions that rival the originals, but the same can’t be said for her some of her later-career output. Heck, even For the Roses – the 1972 transitional album between Blue and…

Continue Reading
Categories:
Formats:

Year-End Review: Bob Dylan, “The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings”

As we continue to look back on the year that was, it’s hard to disagree that Bob Dylan was 2019’s king of the reissue. Since releasing More Blood, More Tracks in time for the holidays in 2018, Legacy Recordings and the Dylan team approved MoFi’s deluxe audiophile version of Blood on the Tracks; celebrated the first leg of the famed Rolling Thunder Revue with a new film, CD box set, and LP reissue; delivered a new Bootleg Series installment focusing on his time in Nashville in the late ’60s; and quietly issued…

Continue Reading

The Second Disc’s Picks for Record Store Day Black Friday 2019

​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. Record Store Day Black Friday is now almost upon us, so we thought we’d spotlight a few particularly exciting releases arriving to your local brick-and-mortar record shop! Here’s our round up of RSD BF must-haves!  We’re kicking off with Sam’s list, and then we’ll follow with Randy and Joe’s! Aretha Franklin, The Atlantic Singles Collection 1968 (Atlantic/Rhino) Last year, fans were treated to a singles…

Continue Reading

Let the Wind Carry Me: Joni Mitchell’s Stunning Volume of Handwritten Lyrics and Drawings Reviewed

Joni Mitchell doesn’t look back. That’s what fans have come to understand about the fearless songwriter, singer, poet, and visual artist. She’s famously rejected reissue campaigns, career-spanning box sets, cash-in live albums, and hits collections. Over the years, though, she’s begun to come around. She approved the DVD/Blu-ray of her 1970 appearance at the Isle of Wight and the LP reissue of the box set Love Has Many Faces, helped organize the Joni 75 tribute concerts, and recently gave the OK for Brandi Carlile’s live performance of Blue. Now, Joni is reappraising…

Continue Reading
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:

Record Store Day Black Friday 2019’s Best Of The Rest

The major labels aren’t the only ones who’ll be part of Record Store Day Black Friday this year. A number of impressive indies (and other major labels with notable catalog friendly material) have announced exciting additions to the RSDBF slate. What’s more, we’ve got coverage of some exciting new music from artists as diverse as Paul McCartney, Tank and the Bangas, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, and Norah Jones! First up… Chuck Berry, Chuck Berry In London (Elemental) By 1965, the British Invasion had brought Chuck Berry’s name back into the rock and roll…

Continue Reading

UPDATE: Handwritten Lyrics, Rare Artwork Collected in Joni Mitchell’s “Morning Glory On the Vine: Early Songs and Drawings,” Signed Edition Due October 22

UPDATE: Joni Mitchell has signed 2,000 deluxe editions of her new book. Find out all the details on the standard and deluxe versions below! Music icon Joni Mitchell has been in the news a lot lately. In November, she organized and attended the Joni 75 birthday tribute concerts in her honor, which were turned into a film. There was also the 8-LP reissue of the Love Has Many Faces collection, Norman Seeff’s photo book, the blue vinyl reissue of Blue, not to mention the release of Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration on…

Continue Reading
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:

Christmas Conga! Real Gone Announces First Wave of Holiday Lineup

Sure, you can wait to find Real Gone’s lineup of holiday-themed titles under the tree, but why wait?  A trio of merry Yuletide albums will be available on color vinyl on November 1, including Cyndi Lauper’s Merry Christmas… Have A Nice Life!, the Home Alone Christmas soundtrack compilation, and the soundtrack to Love Actually. First up: Cyndi Lauper’s Merry Christmas… Have A Nice Life! This often-overlooked slice of Lauper’s discography is a fresh spin on the time-honored tradition of the Christmas album. The album was partly inspired by motherhood; in fact, the story goes that…

Continue Reading

It Shall Be Released: Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue Revived On New Box Set, Netflix Film

Fourteen years after his seminal documentary No Direction Home, director Martin Scorsese is returning to the life and music of Bob Dylan with a new concert film celebrating one of the Bard of Hibbing’s most electrifying tours. Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese debuts June 12 on Netflix. The new film shines a spotlight on Dylan’s unforgettable adventures with an amazing cast of characters on the road during his 1975-1976 tour.  It will also screen in theaters in London, Paris, Washington, D.C., Nashville, New York City, Philadelphia, San…

Continue Reading

In The Tower of Song: Leonard Cohen Covers Collected on “Hallelujah,” New Ace Records Compilation

With his acumen for gripping poetry, inimitable baritone, and trademark Spanish-influenced fingerpicking, Leonard Cohen married his talents for poetry and song-craft to create some of the most enduring music of the singer-songwriter era and beyond. Like every great songwriter, Cohen’s work continues to inspire an array of cover versions. Sure, there’s the million-and-one covers of “Hallelujah,” but even before the 1967 release of his debut Songs of Leonard Cohen, early supporters like Judy Collins and Buffy Sainte-Marie helped propel his words into the public consciousness. Years later, Cohen reflected on the joys…

Continue Reading

Release Round-Up: Week of March 29

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up. Here’s what’s due for March 29! John Coltrane, Coltrane ’58: The Prestige Recordings [5 CD] (Craft Recordings) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The year 1958 was a breakout one for saxophone legend John Coltrane. It marked the year when Coltrane–already well-established as a talented sideman–began to make a name for himself as a solo musician and developed his signature “sheets of sound” style while exploring many other routes.  To mark the 70th anniversary of Prestige, Coltrane’s complete 1958 recordings are released today on…

Continue Reading

Handwritten Lyrics, Rare Artwork Collected in Joni Mitchell’s “Morning Glory On the Vine: Early Songs and Drawings,” Due October 22

Music icon Joni Mitchell has been in the news a lot lately.  In November, she organized and attended the Joni 75 birthday tribute concerts in her honor, which were turned into a film (with international screenings on March 21, PBS airings all this month, and a DVD release arriving March 29).  There was also the 8-LP reissue of the Love Has Many Faces collection, Norman Seeff’s photo book, the blue vinyl reissue of Blue, not to mention the release of Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration on CD this past Friday. But Joni Mitchell…

Continue Reading
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:

Release Round-Up: Week of March 8

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Pamela Polland, Pamela Polland/Have You Heard the One About the Gas Station Attendant? (BGO) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) BGO collects the two Columbia albums of singer-songwriter Pamela Polland in one deluxe, slipcased package – her 1972 self-titled LP and 1973 follow-up which was shelved and never released…until now! Pamela Polland and Have You Heard the One About the Gas Station Attendant? are filled with enchanting pop melodies and beguiling lyrics; guest stars include Taj Mahal, Nicky Hopkins, David Briggs, Eddie Hinton, Bruce…

Continue Reading

UPDATED: Back To The Garden: “Joni 75” Tribute Concerts To Arrive on CD, DVD, and Public Television

Few musicians have had as lasting an impact on music as Joni Mitchell.  In her four-decade career, she made groundbreaking music that traversed genres and continually stunned fans and critics alike.  The music icon celebrated her 75th birthday in style last November, as Jörn Weisbrodt and The Music Center in Los Angeles hosted a pair of star-studded Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration concerts in her honor.  The line-up (which Joni helped select) featured many of her closest friends and dearest collaborators, including Graham Nash, Seal, Chaka Khan, Kris Kristofferson, and James Taylor.  Also…

Continue Reading

UPDATED WITH TRACK LIST: Back To The Garden: ‘Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration’ Tribute Concert Coming to Theaters in February, Soundtrack Arriving in March

Few musicians have had as lasting an impact on music as Joni Mitchell.  In her four-decade career, she made groundbreaking music that traversed genres and continually stunned fans and critics alike.  The music icon celebrated her 75th birthday in style last November, as Jörn Weisbrodt and The Music Center in Los Angeles hosted a pair of star-studded Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration concerts in her honor.  The line-up (which Joni helped select) featured many of her closest friends and dearest collaborators, including Graham Nash, Seal, Chaka Khan,Kris Kristofferson, and James Taylor.  Also on…

Continue Reading

Back To The Garden: ‘Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration’ Tribute Concert Coming to Theaters in February, Soundtrack Arriving in March

Few musicians have had as lasting an impact on music as Joni Mitchell.  In her four-decade career, she made groundbreaking music that traversed genres and continually stunned fans and critics alike.  The music icon celebrated her 75th birthday in style last November, as Jörn Weisbrodt and The Music Center in Los Angeles hosted a pair of star-studded Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration concerts in her honor.  The line-up (which Joni helped select) featured many of her closest friends and dearest collaborators, including Graham Nash, Seal, Chaka Khan,Kris Kristofferson, and James Taylor.  Also on…

Continue Reading

Rhino “Starts Your Ear Off Right” with New Vinyl Exclusives from CSNY, Joni, Monkees, Buffalo Springfield, More

Rhino’s popular “Start Your Ear Off Right” vinyl reissue campaign is returning to local independent record stores and Barnes & Noble locations beginning next Tuesday, January 8, and continuing through Tuesday, January 29, with a new batch of limited (and often colorful) vinyl reissues arriving each week. Each group features an eclectic line-up drawn from the Rhino archives.  January 8 will see compilations from Aretha Franklin, Alice Cooper, and The Monkees, as well as a 1978 post-punk classic from Television, while January 15 brings music from ZZ Top, CSNY, The Jimmy Rogers…

Continue Reading

Real Gone Prepares ‘Love Actually’ White Vinyl Reissue, Grateful Dead ‘Road Trips Vol. 3, No, 4’ 3-CD Set for January

As temperatures continue to drop here in the northeast where The Second Disc HQ is stationed, Real Gone Music have announced two reissues that will be good company on a day spent indoors.  On January 25, the label will release a 2-LP white vinyl edition of the Love Actually soundtrack in its first-ever vinyl pressing, plus a 3-CD reissue of a hard-to-find Grateful Dead concert collection, Road Trips, Vol. 3, No. 4. With an endearing and clever plot featuring ten interlocking stories and star-studded cast of Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Keira Knightley, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson,…

Continue Reading
Scroll to Top