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. (And with plenty of delicious food, too!) Now, Record Store Day’s annual Black Friday event is upon us, so we’re spotlighting a dozen of the most eagerly anticipated releases arriving to your local independent brick-and-mortar record shop! Here are our personal picks for RSD BF must-haves; visit Record Store Day’s official website for a list of participating retailers. Happy Listening, and have a great…
Release Round-Up: Week of November 28
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! With Record Store Day’s Black Friday event taking place today, the slate is usually a small one…not so this year, though, thanks to Rhino’s CD releases of numerous RSD titles. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Neil Young, Tonight’s the Night 50 (Reprise/NYA) 1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Greedy Hand Store 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Greedy Hand Store Clear Vinyl: Greedy Hand Store Neil Young’s sixth album, released in 1975 but mostly recorded two years earlier, was the closer to his “Ditch Trilogy.”…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Do You Realize?? These Rhino RSD Titles Are Also Coming Soon to CD
Rhino’s Record Store Day Black Friday schedule is packed with some 35 titles available as limited edition vinyl releases. But CD lovers take heart: six of these titles – most featuring previously unreleased material – will be available the same day on our favorite portable physical format! Here’s a look at each title, alphabetically by artist. Recent years have seen Rhino acquire distribution rights to beloved British ska outfit The Beat (known in America as The English Beat), with expanded editions of the group’s studio albums distributed through the label. You…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Merry Something to You: Rhino Announces Record Store Day Black Friday Slate with Devo, Joni Mitchell, Alice Cooper, The Doors, Grateful Dead, Randy Newman, More
TSD is kicking off our look at this year’s Record Store Day Black Friday releases, due at participating independent record stores on November 28, with a typically packed slate coming from Rhino. With over 30 titles, the label has brought out the heavy hitters (many of which are RSD mainstays) including The Doors, Fleetwood Mac, Grateful Dead, Joni Mitchell, Led Zeppelin, Todd Rundgren, Van Halen, and more. We’ve also included a handful of releases from Rhino sister labels such as Warner (with a Tom Petty live collection) and Elektra (an EP from…
Categories:
Genres:
Baby I’m-A Want You: Elektra Celebrates 75 Years with Monthlong Initiative
Jac Holzman was still in college when he and pal Paul Rickolt each chipped in three hundred bucks to start a record company. That label, Elektra Records – so named for Greek mythology’s daughter of Atlas and Pleione, but with the “c” swapped out for a “k” – inaugurated its catalogue with the simply-titled New Songs, an album of poetry settings by composer-pianist John Gruen. Elektra soon shifted its emphasis to folk music, growing its discography with recordings by Theodore Bikel, Josh White, Judy Collins, Oscar Brand, and Tom Paxton before branching…
Party It Down: “We’re An American Band” Explores U.S. Hard Rock with Grand Funk, Vanilla Fudge, Mountain, Spirit, Nazz, More
We’re An American Band: the new 3-CD collection from Cherry Red’s Grapefruit Records is titled after Grand Funk (Railroad)’s 1973 chart-topping anthem. The song penned by Don Brewer and produced by Todd Rundgren was a semi-autobiographical look at life on the road, complete with parties, groupies, and guest stars. The story goes that the title phrase developed from a friendly argument between Grand Funk and Humble Pie about British vs. American rock. Brewer insisted that wasn’t the way it happened, but the resulting song indeed made the case for the U.S. hard…
Baby Let’s Swing: Rhino Celebrates 45 Years with Limited Edition Reissues from Doors, Aretha, Otis, Todd, Chicago, Ramones, More
Since its founding 45 years ago by Richard Foos and Harold Bronson, Rhino Records has established itself as the gold standard in catalogue music. Though much has changed over the decades, the label still maintains a prodigious schedule of releases which has lately encompassed such top-tier titles as Joni Mitchell’s Archives series, the Quadio line of reissues, deluxe editions from Little Feat, and a host of Record Store Day releases. Now, to celebrate its anniversary, Rhino has announced the launch of “Rhino Reds,” a series of limited-edition LP reissues all pressed on…
Grapefruit’s “Heroes and Villains” Collects L.A. Sounds of 1965-1968 From The Beach Boys, Mamas and Papas, Monkees, Zappa, More
Though Heroes and Villains is the title of Grapefruit’s new 3-CD anthology chronicling The Sound of Los Angeles 1965-68, that famous Beach Boys song isn’t among its 90 selections. Not that Brian Wilson and co. are absent; the compilation instead presents another SMiLE tune, “Do You Like Worms (Roll Plymouth Rock)” as part of its portrait of a place and time in music history when it truly seemed anything was possible. U.K.-based compiler David Wells persuasively makes the case here that L.A. replaced England as the epicenter of the American pop scene…
Stone Free: Rhino and Warner Announce Lineup for Rocktober 2020 Indie-Exclusive Vinyl Releases
There are some things you can just count on: taxes, death, trouble…add to the list the joy of listening to a bunch of new albums in October while supporting your favorite brick-and-mortar shop. Yep, it’s back. Rhino’s annual Rocktober campaign is back on, boasting a stellar line-up of lost gems and favorites from the Warner vault. From landmark albums by famed ’90s rockers, a desirable compilation of John Prine’s ’70s work, reissues of DEVO and Talking Heads classics, a clutch of soundtracks, an Emmylou Harris reissue that rocks in a different way,…
UPDATED WITH ORDER LINKS: Let The Sunshine In: Rhino Celebrates Woodstock Era With “Summer of ’69” Vinyl Reissue Series, New Woodstock Compilations
On the heels of their announcement of the expansive Woodstock 50 campaign, Rhino has announced a new series celebrating The Summer of ’69: Peace, Love, and Music. Beginning on July 9, the campaign will feature a three-week-long roll-out of limited-edition vinyl releases of classic recordings from the Woodstock era by the likes of Van Morrison; The Monkees; Grateful Dead; Crosby, Stills & Nash; and many more. These LPs will be available in participating brick-and-mortar stores only. Online shoppers may want to check out Bull Moose, the New England-based chain of independent record…
Review: Love, “Forever Changes: 50th Anniversary Edition”
Forever Changes, the third album from the Los Angeles band Love, arrived on Elektra Records in November 1967 – the same month as The Moody Blues’ Days of Future Passed, Cream’s Disraeli Gears, The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour, Jefferson Airplane’s After Bathing at Baxter’s, The Hollies’ Butterfly, and The Monkees’ Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones. Psychedelia was in the air, not to mention creativity and experimentation in music at an all-time high that is still largely unrivaled. Forever Changes emerged from this artistically fertile era in the mind of Love’s mercurial leader…
Release Round-Up: Week of April 6
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, and one of the biggest Release Fridays of the year to date! Chicago, VI Decades Live: This is What We Do (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Chicago celebrates 50 years on the road with this expansive new box set featuring 4 CDs and 1 DVD of previously unreleased live music recorded between 1969 and 2014. This set includes two complete concerts – The Isle of Wight, 1970 on CD and a Rockpalast broadcast from Germany in 1977 on DVD – plus two…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Andmoreagain: Rhino Marks 50th Anniversary of Love’s “Forever Changes” with Massive Box Set
Released just months after the so-called Summer of Love, Forever Changes was the third studio album by the group simply and boldly called Love. But more than just that four-letter word was on the mind of bandleader/songwriter Arthur Lee, who saw beyond sunshine and flowers that summer. Love traded in the punchy electric guitar sound of the group’s first two albums (and successful singles like “7 and 7 Is” and a cover of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “My Little Red Book”) for a denser, more orchestrated style that incorporated strings and…
Feelin’ Groovy: Rhino Plans Vinyl Celebrations for Summer of Love Anniversary
Five decades ago, in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, a social movement was growing. Young people, with heads full of progressive ideas and evolving attitudes toward sex, drugs and rock and roll, were converging on the area to celebrate their personal freedom–an extension of that January’s “Human Be-In” in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. The “Summer of Love,” as it was called, was the birth of the modern counterculture, and music played an integral role in the shaping, influencing and mainstreaming of these daring new ideas. Rhino Records will celebrate that…
Release Round-Up: Week of February 10
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Bon Jovi, The Albums (Island/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Bon Jovi’s The Albums includes all 14 of the group’s studio efforts, from 1984’s blistering-glam self-titled debut to the just-released This House is Not for Sale, the first album without longtime guitarist Richie Sambora. Eleven of these albums have hit the Billboard Top 10 since 1986’s chart-topping breakthrough Slippery When Wet; of those, six of these albums (includingThis House is Not for Sale) have hit No. 1. The box will also include frontman Jon Bon…
Categories:
Genres:
Release Round-Up: Week of November 27
To our U.S. readers, today is the day of shopping known as Black Friday – but happily, the diverse slate of releases due in stores today should lift your spirits – no matter where you’re located! Love, Reel to Real: Expanded Edition (High Moon Records) (Amazon U.S.) High Moon Records has the premiere reissue of Arthur Lee and Love’s 1974 album Reel to Real as a newly-expanded Deluxe Edition boasting a color, 32-page booklet. A vinyl edition will follow early next year. Read more here! America, Archives Volume One (America Records) (Amazon…
Categories:
Genres:
Release Round-Up: Week of November 20
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up which continues this autumn’s tradition of having each week packed with box sets from heavy hitters – in this case, The Rolling Stones, The Velvet Underground, The Who, Queen, Grateful Dead, Frank Sinatra, and they’re still not all! Plus: CD and vinyl reissues, anthologies, and much more! The Beach Boys, Beach Boys’ Party: Uncovered and Unplugged (Capitol) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) The first disc of this 2-CD, 81-track set features the original 1965 Beach Boys Party! album as remixed in original, pre-overdubbed form and then…
Categories:
Genres:
More Love: High Moon Reissues, Expands Arthur Lee and Love’s Rare “Reel to Real”
High Moon Records, the label behind the recent releases of Love’s Black Beauty and Gene Clark’s Two Sides to Every Story, has announced its next title. On November 27, High Moon will reissue Love’s 1974 album Reel to Real as a newly-expanded Deluxe Edition in the following formats: Expanded CD packaged in a deluxe custom digipak with a full-color, 32-page booklet; LP pressed on high-quality RTI vinyl with full-color, 28-page LP-sized booklet; LP includes download card for high-quality album plus bonus tracks; and Digital Download includes full-color, 26-page PDF booklet. Reel to…
High Moon Rising: Reissues From Gene Clark and Arthur Lee’s Love Now Available For Pre-Order
At long last, High Moon is rising. Yesterday, on January 2, the long-aborning record label revealed on its Facebook page that pre-orders were being taken for the label’s CD releases of Gene Clark’s Two Sides to Every Story and Love’s Black Beauty. We’ve closely followed the High Moon story here at The Second Disc, from the label’s initial announcements in Spring 2011 through an optimistic status update almost two years ago on January 30, 2012. Deluxe, 180-gram vinyl LPs arrived for both titles in 2013, but until now, the promised CD releases…
Baby, It’s Burt: “The Warner Sound” and “The Atlantic Sound” Compile Rare Bacharach Tracks
In his 85th year, Burt Bacharach has kept a pace that would wear out many a younger man. In addition to performing a number of concert engagements, the Oscar, Grammy and Gershwin Prize-winning composer has released a memoir, continued work on three musical theatre projects, co-written songs with Bernie Taupin and J.D. Souther, and even penned a melody for Japanese singer Ringo Sheena. Though Bacharach keeps moving forward, numerous releases this year have looked back on his illustrious catalogue. Universal issued The Art of the Songwriter in 6-CD and 2-CD iterations to…
From “Love Lost” to “Found Love”: New Digital Compilation Showcases Arthur Lee’s Rarities
Here’s one for the “in case you missed it” file: Arthur Lee and Love’s early ’70s recordings for Columbia Records were recently released in full as a digital album. Found Love: The Lost ’71 Sessions finds Lee and the then-current Love lineup – bassist Frank Fayad, guitarist Craig Tarwater and drummer Don Poncher – considerably removed from the expansive psychedelia of Da Capo and Forever Changes, embracing a much darker, bluesier, Hendrix-ian sound. The album, provisionally titled Dear You, was never released, though much of its material would linger around Lee’s repertoire for some time. (Versions…
Black Friday 2012: Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Rolling Stones, Frank Zappa Lead Off Packed Slate of RSD Exclusives
Here in the U. S. of A., Black Friday is almost upon us: that unusual date following the prior day of giving thanks, in which consumers make a mad dash to the local big-box store, mall or shopping center to procure bargains for the holiday season ahead. Retailers are controversially beginning Black Friday “festivities” even earlier than usual this year, with many sales starting on Thanksgiving Day itself and not even at midnight but in the early part of the evening. For a number of recent years, music buyers have had our…
Do You Remember Rock and Roll Radio? “The Ramones Heard Them Here First” Arrives
Ace Records is cheering “Gabba gabba hey!” with the recent release of The Ramones Heard Them Here First, an overview charting the influences behind New York’s seminal punk pioneers. Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy didn’t exactly try to hide their inspirations when they included a cover of Chris Montez’ 1962 hit “Let’s Dance” on their debut long-player Ramones in 1976 and over the years, they continued to tip the hat to rock and roll heroes from The Ronettes to The Beach Boys. The new compilation includes the original versions of twenty-four…
Happy Together: “Sunset Strip to Haight-Ashbury” Features Jefferson Airplane, Mamas and the Papas, Turtles, Love and More
John and Michy were gettin’ kind of itchy/Just to leave the folk music behind/Zal and Denny workin’ for a penny /Tryin’ to get a fish on the line.. Those lyrics from The Mamas and the Papas’ 1967 “Creeque Alley” begin to tell the story of the famous band, and it’s one of eighteen tracks on a new compilation aiming to tell a bigger story: that of “The California Scene in the 1960s.” Yes, this story has been told more comprehensively elsewhere; see two of our favorite box sets dedicated to San Francisco…
The Second Disc Buyers Guide: The 100 Greatest Reissues of All Time, Part 13 (#40-36)
It’s the lucky thirteenth part of our look at the many reissues of the 100 greatest albums of all time, as selected by Rolling Stone in 2003! We’ll explore the various versions of these classic albums on disc, letting you know which audio treasures can be found on which releases. In today’s group, we get the blues, meet the Brits, head to Laurel Canyon and fall in Love! 40. Love, Forever Changes (Elektra, 1967) Welcome to the Top 40! Released just months after the so-called Summer of Love, Forever Changes was the third…
