We’re barely a week into 2016 and we’re already seeing a lot of reissue news for this new year! The latest comes from Legacy Recordings, who yesterday announced a massive Elvis Presley box set. Now they’ve got a new reissue featuring another legendary performer: Michael Jackson. Due to be released on February 26 is a new edition of Jackson’s landmark 1979 solo Epic Records debut Off the Wall. The album is being paired with Spike Lee’s new documentary Michael Jackson’s Journey from Motown to Off the Wall which is premiering at the Sundance…
Say, Say, Say! The Second Disc’s Essential RSD Black Friday 2015 Release Guide
From all of us here at Second Disc HQ to all of you, we hope you’re enjoying a wonderful Thanksgiving in the company of family and friends. Of course, from this day which conjures nostalgic and warm feelings comes a celebration of a different kind with this year’s annual Black Friday – the day for consumers to start off the holiday shopping season on a mad, frenetic note. But 2015 is just in the latest year in which numerous retailers in the U.S. have made headlines by blackening Thursday, or Thanksgiving Day…
Categories:
Formats:
Genres:
Together In Perfect Harmony: Paul McCartney’s “Tug of War” and “Pipes Of Peace” Join Archive Collection
At last, we can say, say, say it’s true: the next two volumes of the Paul McCartney Archive Collection are on their way for October 2 release in a variety of formats. Macca’s second and third albums of the 1980s, the platinum sellers Tug of War and Pipes of Peace, will arrive from Concord Records and MPL with the expected array of bonus material, highlighted by a complete 2015 remix of Tug of War. 1982’s Tug of War marked McCartney’s first album following the breakup of Wings. It followed 1980’s McCartney II…
Queen & King (of Pop) Surface on New Compilation
On November 10, Queen returns with a new anthology – available in both single- and double-CD iterations with 20 and 36 songs, respectively – that intends to live up to its title, Queen Forever. While the collection eschews a traditional “greatest hits” approach (and with it, hits like “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “We Will Rock You”), it premieres three songs including a long-anticipated collaboration with the late Michael Jackson. In addition to the three “new” tracks available on both editions, Queen Forever also includes album tracks and favorites selected by Roger Taylor and…
What’s Going On: “Motown 25” Comes To DVD In New Box Set, Highlights DVDs
On the evening of March 25, 1983, the Pasadena Civic Auditorium was alive with the sound of music – the Sound of Young America, to be more specific. Motown Records was celebrating its 25th anniversary, and producer Suzanne de Passe wasn’t pulling any stops. “Once in a lifetime” was as overused in 1983 as it is today, but the galaxy of stars assembled by de Passe couldn’t be described any other way: Diana Ross and the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Lionel Richie and the Commodores, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Stevie Wonder, Mary…
Morales Preps the (Dance) Sound of Young America on “Club Motown”
Calling all ’80s Motown fans! Universal’s U.K. arm has issued a double disc set of 20 classic club mixes from the label, curated by noted remixer John Morales. Motown of course crafted the sound of young America throughout the ’60s and created some deeply affecting funk and soul in the ’70s, but the ’80s was still a prolific time, thanks to popular R&B/dance acts including Rick James and DeBarge as well as established acts like The Temptations and Commodores frontman Lionel Richie. Morales and partner Sergio Munzibal, the “M+M” mixing team, turned…
Release Round-Up: Week of May 13
Michael Jackson, Xscape (Epic) Where was this three years ago? This collection of eight outtakes, augmented with tasteful future-retro production by Timbaland, Stargate, L.A. Reid and others, is possibly the best project to escape the MJ vaults yet. For the discerning fan, Epic’s done you a solid, offering a deluxe package with the same songs in their untouched demo form. It’s really something. Standard CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Deluxe CD/DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Brain Salad Surgery: Deluxe Edition (Sony Music U.K.) One of ELP’s defining albums is now available…
Love Never Felt So Good: Epic Readies Michael Jackson’s Posthumous “XSCAPE”
Roughly three-and-a-half years following the 2010 release of Michael, Epic Records and the Michael Jackson Estate have announced the second posthumous collection of unheard music from the King of Pop. Xscape, due on May 13, will feature eight previously unissued Jackson tracks including the Invincible outtake which lends the album its title. While the standard edition will feature “contemporized” productions employing Jackson’s original vocals, a deluxe edition will also boast the original, untouched recordings as well as a DVD with music videos. Expectedly, the project is still shrouded in a degree of…
Long Live the King: New Jackson Track Surfaces in Sony Commercial – Is New Album Forthcoming?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ9HkICDuOI] Fans of Michael Jackson may have something beyond warmer weather to look forward to this year: more unreleased music. Today, at a global conference in Barcelona unveiling their new Xperia Z2 mobile phone, Epic Records/Sony Music unveiled a new advertisement for the product that featured an newly-mixed Michael Jackson outtake, “Slave to the Rhythm.” Hardcore fans will recognize the track as first conceived during the sessions to 1991’s Dangerous and considered for release as recently as on Invincible, the last album released in Jackson’s lifetime, in 2001. (A remix of the…
Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye): Final “The Complete Motown Singles” Volume Bows
They did it. Nearly nine years after the first volume in Hip-O Select’s The Complete Motown Singles box set series was released, the 14th and final entry in the series, Volume 12B: 1972, will be released on December 10, just in time for the holidays. The year 1972 marks, for many, the end of the “classic Motown” period. Label founder Berry Gordy moved label operations from Detroit to Los Angeles, and many of his most treasured acts were in periods of transition. Diana Ross was long a solo artist away from The Supremes, while…
Reissue Theory: “Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker”
Welcome to yet another installment of Reissue Theory, where we celebrate notable releases and the reissues they could someday see. On the King of Pop’s birthday, we remember one of the Bad era’s least-remembered but most captivating pieces of merchandise: Michael Jackson’s first feature film. The past year has seen quite the revival of interest in Michael Jackson’s 1987 album Bad. It’s hard to imagine an album that sold multiplatinum levels of records and spawned a record-setting five consecutive No. 1 hits might be considered “overrated” or “underrated,” but then again, how many albums…
The Show Must Go On: Queen Plan “Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert” Blu-Ray, Vault Tracks with Michael Jackson
Queen and Eagle Rock Entertainment will release a newly-expanded edition of their unforgettable Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert this fall, on DVD and, for the first time, Blu-Ray Disc. Five months after the tragic passing of one of rock’s greatest frontmen from complications due to AIDS, surviving Queen members Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor gathered dozens of famous collaborators and famous fans at London’s Wembley Arena on April 20, 1992. Some 72,000 people were in attendance, and worldwide broadcast audiences hovered around the billion mark. David Bowie, Annie Lennox, George Michael, Elton…
This Is It: Michael Jackson’s Epic Years Newly Compiled with Bonus Tracks for iTunes Initiative
More than four years following his death, Michael Jackson’s presence is still felt. Every night on Broadway, the young Michael is conjured onstage in Berry Gordy’s sprawling Motown: The Musical. Cirque du Soleil’s new Michael Jackson ONE is ensconced at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay. His brothers, The Jacksons, are continuing their successful Unity Tour this summer. And, alas, hardly a day goes by when news media outlets aren’t reporting on Jackson’s family in and out of the courtroom. Yet Michael Jackson’s true and most pure legacy remains in his music. And Legacy…
Release Round-Up: Week of June 11
Paul McCartney and Wings, Rockshow (Eagle Rock) Macca’s newly-restored live show may not be in the Wings Over America box, but that means you can buy it for that much less now. (DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.; BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) ZZ Top, The Complete Studio Albums 1970-1990 (Warner Bros./Rhino) So not only are you getting all of ZZ Top’s London/Warner-era albums in one convenient box, but you’re getting a fair amount of them in their original mixes for the first time ever on CD. Win? Win. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Various Artists, The…
“NOW” and Then: U.K. Compilation Series Celebrates Three Decades in Three Discs
When I was heavily ensconced in a retail job, I had the task of stocking new music and movie releases and sharing the new releases with the rest of the store on Tuesday morning. Without fail, every time a NOW That’s What I Call Music! compilation came out, someone would marvel how many such compilations existed, prompting me to tell my co-workers that they should check out the NOW series as it originated in the U.K., back in 1983, where they were double albums and released with slightly more frequency to the point where…
Where Were You When We Needed You: Latest Volume of “The Complete Motown Singles” Arrives in June
Let’s dispense with the “Get Ready” puns: after a four-year wait, Hip-O Select’s Complete Motown Singles series inches closer toward the finish line with Volume 12A: 1972. This five-disc set includes every single side released by Motown during the first half of 1972, a time of transition for the company. Berry Gordy had already moved his Detroit-based media empire westward to Los Angeles, leaving some of his flagship groups in a transitional period. The Jackson 5 still had their hits, but not with the blinding intensity of their earliest years (though Michael still enjoyed hits…
Review: Paul Anka, “Duets”
Whether you prefer your “My Way” by Sinatra or Sid (Vicious, that is), you have Paul Anka to thank. It was Anka who took the melody to the chanson “Comme d’habitude” and crafted the ultimate anthem of survival and tenacity with his English-language lyrics. When Sinatra recorded the song, a gift to him from Anka, he was just 53 years of age yet could still ring true when singing of that “final curtain.” Today, Paul Anka is 71, and his new memoir is entitled, what else, My Way. Thankfully, the end seems…
He Did It His Way: Paul Anka Joins Friends For “Duets”, New CD Features Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Leon Russell and More
Do you remember the times of your life? Paul Anka posed that musical question in 1975, taking Roger Nichols and Bill Lane’s onetime Kodak film jingle all the way to the Top 10 Billboard pop chart and No. 1 Easy Listening. At that point, Anka could rightfully reflect on the times of his own storied life, nearly two decades in the music business. But could he have imagined that he would still be going strong almost forty years after “Times of Your Life” hit? The Canadian-born singer, songwriter, producer and manager is…
Get Ready! Songs of “Motown: The Musical” Are Collected In Original Hit Versions
When Motown: The Musical opens at Broadway’s Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on April 14, it will mark yet another career landmark for Berry Gordy, the songwriter-producer-entrepreneur who turned Detroit, Michigan into Hitsville, USA some fifty-five years ago. The musical, written by Gordy and directed by Charles Randolph-Wright, depicts the rise to prominence of the Sound of Young America, with Brandon Victor Dixon (The Color Purple, The Scottsboro Boys) starring as Gordy. He’s joined by a cast of roughly 40 including Valisia Lekae as Diana Ross, Charl Brown as Smokey Robinson, Bryan Terrell Clark as…
Release Round-Up: Week of January 15
New Order, The Lost Sirens (Rhino) (Amazon U.S./Amazon U.K.) A cadre of outtakes from the Waiting for the Siren’s Call sessions, this marks the last New Order material with original bassist Peter Hook. Johnny Mathis, A Special Part of Me: Expanded Edition (Amazon U.S./Amazon U.K.) (Funkytowngrooves) FTG’s latest R&B expansion has a Michael Jackson connection: the future King of Pop co-wrote for Mathis “Love Never Felt So Good” with Paul Anka! Talk Talk, Natural History: The Very Best of Talk Talk 1982-1988 (Amazon U.S./Amazon U.K.) / Natural Order 1982-1991 (Amazon U.S./Amazon U.K.) (Virgin/EMI) Not only a CD/DVD reissue of Talk Talk’s first compilation, but…
Johnny Mathis’ Expanded “Special Part of Me” Highlights Paul Anka and Michael Jackson Collaboration
It’s been a wonderful, wonderful time to be a fan of Johnny Mathis, with the singer’s long-lost Mercury Records catalogue recently having been upgraded to CD by Real Gone Music. As 2013 opens, another label is turning its attention to the Mathis catalogue. Funky Town Grooves is returning the 1984 album A Special Part of Me to CD in a first-ever expanded edition due on January 15. Mathis’ association with Columbia Records began in 1956 when he was just 21 years of age, and these many years later, he’s still a label…
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,…
Release Round-Up: Week of October 16
Steve Winwood, Arc of a Diver: Deluxe Edition (U.S./U.K.) (Island/UMC) While you see a chance, take one on this new edition of Winwood’s 1980 album, expanded with a handful of bonus tracks and a lengthy audio documentary. Louis Armstrong & The All-Stars, Satchmo at Symphony Hall 65th Anniversary: The Complete Performances(U.S.) (Hip-O Select/Verve) A classic 1947 performance first released in 1951 is fully expanded to include both complete performances from that lauded night, with new packaging and lavish liner notes. Rebbie Jackson, Centipede: Expanded Edition (U.S./U.K.) / Jermaine Jackson, Precious Moments: Expanded Edition (U.S./U.K.)/ Surface, 2nd Wave: Expanded Edition (U.S./U.K.) / Kashif, Send Me Your…
It’s The Falling In Love: Raven Reissues The Complete Carole Bayer Sager Albums; Bacharach, Jackson, Diamond, Midler Guest
Carole Bayer Sager knew “that’s what friends are for” long before she wrote the song of the same name. The former Carole Bayer was already a hitmaking lyricist before graduating high school, thanks to the Mindbenders’ No. 2 hit “A Groovy Kind of Love.” The song was written by Bayer and Toni Wine before both women hit the ripe old age of 18. Following more hit tunes with the likes of the Monkees and Neil Sedaka, and even a Broadway musical (1970’s Georgy, with music by George Fischoff), she eventually turned to…
Review: Michael Jackson, “BAD 25”
Well, they say the sky’s the limit and to me, that’s really true…But, my friend, you have seen nothing! Just wait ’til I get through… Those words would likely have sounded like pure hubris had they emerged from any singer other than Michael Jackson. He threw the gauntlet down not just to his fellow musicians, but to himself, with the 1982 smash Thriller. Still recognized today as the best-selling album of all time, Thriller spawned seven Top 10 singles, received eight Grammy Awards, and elevated the one-time child star to the rarefied…
- « Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- Next »
