When Rhino released Q: The Musical Biography of Quincy Jones – a 4CD, 74-track collection – in 2001, it was a valiant attempt to tell a story that was still being written. The gifted bandleader, composer and producer, who passed away at the age of 91 in 2024, had an enduring way with sound, be it jazz, pop, R&B, rock or even film and television scoring. His decades of work with the 20th century’s greatest luminaries made him a tremendous (if controversial) raconteur, with countless stories to tell and luminaries to work alongside….
The Year In Review: The 2023 Gold Bonus Disc Awards, From A to Z – Part One
Happy 2024! Welcome, friends, to The Second Disc’s 14th Annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards! As we yet again look to a new year with optimism and a hopeful spirit, we recognize the many roles music has played in our lives. With that spirit in mind, The Second Disc wishes to recognize 2023’s cream of the catalogue music crop – those exemplary reissues and box sets, big and small, that proved to be truly outstanding for music lovers worldwide. After much deliberation, we’re excited to unveil our favorites. This isn’t your run-of-the-mill Top…
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The Weekend Stream: December 9, 2023
Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles making digital debuts. More Madonna remixes, a trove of rarities from Matt Monro, and two solo albums from an Elton John sideman are all here – plus new EPs from a current Broadway star and a neat new vocal group! Madonna, Love Profusion (The Remixes) (Warner/Rhino) (iTunes / Amazon) A super-sized bundle of mixes to the final single from 2003’s American Life is the latest digital archival EP from the Queen of Pop. Matt Monro, The Capitol Rarities…
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Release Round-Up: Week of June 23
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today. Little Feat, Sailin’ Shoes: Deluxe Edition (Warner/Rhino) 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 1972’s Sailin’ Shoes was the second album from the original Little Feat lineup of singer-guitarist Lowell George, drummer Richard Hayward, keyboard player Bill Payne, and bassist Roy Estrada. The LP spawned numerous signature songs which would later be covered by the band’s many fans, including “Sailin’ Shoes” (Van Dyke Parks, Robert Palmer), “Easy to Slip” (Bob Weir, Black Crowes), “A Apolitical Blues” (Van Halen),…
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The Precious Moments: Cherry Red Collects Matt Monro’s “Complete EMI Recordings 1971-1984”
Thanks to the herculean efforts of Michele Monro and the Matt Monro Estate and engineer/restoration specialist Richard Moore, the music of Matt Monro (1930-1985) has been particularly well served in the CD/digital era. The late singer so closely identified with such classics as “If I Never Sing Another Song,” “My Kind of Girl,” and “Walk Away” was admired by Frank Sinatra, Paul McCartney, Bing Crosby, Quincy Jones, and Michael Jackson for his warm, clear baritone and direct, understated way with a song. He was a close collaborator of George Martin’s and a…
Goodness Gracious Me: Cherry Red Collects Early George Martin Productions on “A Painter in Sound”
Late producer Sir George Martin is described as A Painter in Sound on Cherry Red/El’s new collection of his Pre-Beatles Productions and Classical Influences. While Martin has been anthologized in the past, most notably on the unparalleled 6-CD set Produced by George Martin in 2001, there’s always room for another one – in this case, an eclectic 4-CD journey that’s largely far-removed from the rock which made Martin famous. The title of the set is derived from a Martin quote repeated in its booklet. “When I joined EMI, the criterion by which…
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The Weekend Stream: January 29, 2022
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! A few interesting titles coming your way this week, but first, some thoughts on streaming and catalogue inspired by this week’s headlines… Usually, doing The Weekend Stream is pretty simple: check which catalogue titles have been added to digital music services, write some blurbs and drop in some links. This week, it took on some slight gravity thanks to one of the…
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Nobody Does It Better: ‘The Best of Bond…James Bond’ Gets Update and Vinyl Release
With a new James Bond film set to shake (not stir) audiences in November, a longtime compilation of the super-spy’s famed film themes is getting a new iteration on November 20. The Best of Bond…James Bond offers a stellar 25-track overview of the pop themes that scored nearly all of the films based on Ian Fleming’s famed British secret agent. There are 14 U.K. Top 10 hits and two Academy Award winners herein – altogether, a formidable, half-century-plus musical portrait of one of cinema’s most popular characters. First released under this title…
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Review: Matt Monro, “Stranger in Paradise: The Lost New York Sessions”
After years of exhaustively mining the late singer’s catalogue for a series of definitive releases, the Matt Monro estate has turned up a new chest of buried treasure – and it’s a collection that’s both required listening for longtime fans and an ideal introduction for new ones. Stranger in Paradise: The Lost New York Sessions from Capitol Records/UMC takes listeners back to the Big Apple circa 1966 when the British singer joined with a quintet of jazz pros to record a different kind of album. The fruits of those sessions had never…
Release Round-Up: Week of March 13
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! ABBA, Live at Wembley Arena (Polar/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) ABBA brings its 2014 release of Live at Wembley Arena – preserving the group’s November 10, 1979 performance at the storied venue – back to vinyl. This edition on 3 LPs has been half-speed mastered by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios. Ella Fitzgerald, The Complete Piano Duets (Verve/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) This first-of-its-kind 2-CD package collects all of the voice-and-piano duets recorded by the legendary Ella…
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The Sweetest Sounds: Matt Monro’s Greatest Hits Paired With Lost Session on “Stranger In Paradise”
From bus driver to national treasure, London-born Matt Monro’s success story is one for the ages. From his humble beginnings, the man that even Sinatra effusively praised would go on to become a global superstar. In his time, the crooner, with his rich baritone, sold upwards of 150 million records; worked with the likes of John Barry, Quincy Jones, Sir George Martin, Nelson Riddle and Michel Legrand; and released 13 top 50 U.K. singles. Now, a new chapter of the Matt Monro story has been written. On November 1, UMC will release Stranger…
You Keep Me Swinging: Parlophone Collects Matt Monro’s “The George Martin Years”
Earlier this year, George Martin passed away at the age of 90. Among the great producer’s most lasting associations was with vocalist Matt Monro. Martin and Monro’s professional partnership endured for more than fifteen years, while their friendship survived until the singer’s untimely death in 1985 at just 54 years old. Now, the joint Martin/Monro legacy has been celebrated on a wonderful new anthology. Matt Monro’s The George Martin Years is available now from Rhino and Parlophone U.K., containing 27 hits and rarities sung in Monro’s inimitably pristine style to Martin’s sublime…
Portrait of His Love: New Mint Audio Records Label Launches With Unreleased Matt Monro Concert
We’ve written often here in the past about the splendid restoration work of Richard Moore on projects for vocalist Matt Monro and composer Roy Budd, among others. Now, we’re happy to spread the word that Moore has launched a new label. U.K.-based Mint Audio Records has kicked off with three releases (and counting!) from a trio of bona fide music legends: Rosemary Clooney, Jim Reeves, and Matt Monro. All three of these titles premiere never-before-released music, and we’ll be taking an in-depth look at each – including today’s spotlight on Monro’s Operation…
“I Hunger For Your Touch” Collects 31 Recordings of “Unchained Melody” From Elvis, The Righteous Brothers, Many More
It began life as the theme to a 1955 B-movie that asked, “No locks! No walls! In the prison without bars! What keeps men like these from crashing out?” The film was Unchained, and the song was “Unchained Melody” with music by Alex North (A Streetcar Named Desire, Spartacus) and lyrics by Hy Zaret (“Dedicated to You”). Though the movie – in which just a brief snippet of the song was sung by Porgy and Bess’ original Porgy, Todd Duncan – is hardly remembered today, the intensely romantic ballad is anything but. As…
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Matt Monro, “The Rarities Collection” and “Alternate Monro”
How lovely to sit here in the shade, with none of the woes of man and maid/I’m glad I’m not young anymore! The rivals that don’t exist at all, the feeling you’re only two feet tall/I’m glad I’m not young anymore! Matt Monro recorded those Alan Jay Lerner lyrics in January 1973 at just 42 years of age. But by that point, the golden-voiced singer had already acquired enough experience to interpret them with supreme confidence and natural charm. Monro’s reassuring, crisply impeccable tone earned him early comparisons to Frank Sinatra, but…
Release Round-Up: Week of October 22
Tears for Fears, The Hurting: Deluxe Edition (Mercury/UMe) The landmark debut album from the U.K. hitmakers celebrates its 30th anniversary with a new double-disc deluxe edition stocked with rare single-only material and a deluxe box set version with a bonus disc of John Peel sessions and the In My Mind’s Eye live concert film on DVD. 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 3CD/1DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Van Morrison, Moondance: Expanded Edition (Warner Bros./Rhino) Though Van would rather you not buy this box, it features his classic 1970 album (newly remastered and in a new 5.1 surround sound…
Release Round-Up: Week of September 17
The Band, LIve at the Academy of Music: The Rock of Ages Concerts (Capitol/UMe) This five-disc box set (four CDs and a DVD) features selections from The Band’s famed four-night run in New York in 1971. Though these shows would create the live Rock of Ages album, this box instead features highlights from the shows on two discs (including guest appearances by Bob Dylan), another two discs of the complete soundboard mix of the final concert on New Year’s Eve 1971, and a DVD with 5.1 surround mixes and newly-discovered film of two of those performances….
Let Him Sing and We’re Happy: Parlophone Readies The “Alternate” Matt Monro
Matt Monro (1930-1985) made one of his first major splashes under the pseudonym of “Fred Flange,” adding the requisite touch of Sinatra to Peter Sellers’ 1959 comedy LP Songs for Swingin’ Sellers. Good as he was at being Sinatra, however, he was even better at being Matt Monro. Producer George Martin picked up on this, and the rest is history. Monro began his tenure at EMI signed (like Sellers) to Parlophone, later became an artist for EMI’s famous U.S. Capitol label, and still later saw releases on EMI’s Columbia label and EMI…
The Year in Reissues: The 2012 Gold Bonus Disc Awards
Wow! Was it just over a year ago when a rather dubious report began circulating (that, shockingly, was picked up by many otherwise-reputable publications) that proclaimed the death of the CD was secretly scheduled by the major labels for 2012? Well, 2012 has come and (almost) gone, and it might have been the most super-sized year in recent memory for reissues, deluxe and otherwise, from labels new and old. Here at the Second Disc, we consider our annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards a companion piece to Mike’s own round-up over at Popdose,…
A Second Disc Interview: Talking Matt Monro, Mastering and Mixing with RICHARD MOORE
A remarkable treasure trove of Matt Monro rarities has just been released by EMI Gold, a timely reminder of the artist’s life and career. He was sometimes known as the “Cockney Como” or the “English Sinatra,” but both descriptions fail to adequately capture the essence of the beloved singer’s unique and enduring style. Fortunately, Matt Uncovered: The Rarer Monro offers that singular sound in abundance as it traces the arc of his entire career, via almost entirely unheard material. We welcomed MICHELE MONRO to The Second Disc yesterday for this interview, and…
A Second Disc Interview: Talking “Matt Uncovered: The Rarer Monro” with MICHELE MONRO
A remarkable treasure trove of Matt Monro rarities has just been released by EMI Gold, a timely reminder of the artist’s life and career. He was sometimes known as the “Cockney Como” or the “English Sinatra,” but both descriptions fail to adequately capture the essence of the beloved singer’s unique and enduring style. Fortunately, Matt Uncovered: The Rarer Monro offers that singular sound in abundance as it traces the arc of his entire career, via almost entirely unheard material. Click here if you missed our introduction to The Rarer Monro, or read…
The Heart of a Man: Matt Monro Anthologized On Deluxe 2-CD Set “Matt Uncovered: The Rarer Monro”
A remarkable treasure trove of Matt Monro rarities has just been released by EMI Gold, a timely reminder of the artist’s life and career. He was sometimes known as the “Cockney Como” or the “English Sinatra,” but both descriptions fail to adequately capture the essence of the beloved singer’s unique and enduring style. Fortunately, Matt Uncovered: The Rarer Monro offers that singular sound in abundance as it traces the arc of his entire career, via almost entirely unheard material. We’re celebrating its release this week by welcoming MICHELE MONRO and RICHARD MOORE to The Second Disc…
When Worlds Collide! John Barry and Matt Monro Spy Thriller Joins George Pal Sci-Fi Flicks
His name is Barry…John Barry. And the famed film composer’s score to the 1966 spy thriller The Quiller Memorandum is one of the two latest soundtrack reissues from Intrada. The film score specialists have also just released a 2-CD set of four scores drawn from the legendary films of George Pal. War of the Worlds/When Worlds Collide includes, as bonuses, The Naked Jungle and Conquest of Space. These four soundtracks are the work of Leith Stevens (War of the Worlds, When Worlds Collide), Daniele Amfitheatrof (Naked Jungle) and Nathan Van Cleave (Conquest)….
Review: Matt Monro, “The Man Behind The Voice”
In Michele Monro’s The Man Behind the Voice, the author sums up the career of her subject, who also happened to be her father: “Matt never acquired the ‘superstar’ tag, but quality was his code, and he earned the reputation for being a class act with a superlative gift.” Though Matt Monro died in 1985 aged just 54, his music continues to flourish today. Monro’s voice is as vibrant now as when he first recorded “Born Free,” “To Russia with Love” or any of the countless other songs, both contemporary and classic,…
From Monro With Love: “The Singer’s Singer” Box Set Due From EMI
Matt Monro never met a genre of music he didn’t like. Whether covering standards, tackling contemporary pop hits or singing in Spanish, that reassuring, velvet croon, unerring interpretive skills and all-around good taste made Matt Monro “the singer’s singer.” A 2001 EMI box set of that title was a limited edition of 3,000 copies, and quickly disappeared from store shelves, but EMI will re-offer that 103-track box set in a budget-priced reissue due in the U.K. on September 12. And it gets better. Not only will the 2011 edition of The Singer’s…
