In recent weeks, Cherry Red's SoulMusic Records imprint has launched a series of mini-box sets drawn from the Atlantic vaults including titles available now from Solomon Burke, Esther Phillips, Barbara Lewis, and Carla Thomas. Yesterday we explored the releases from Burke and Phillips, and today's spotlight is on Lewis and Thomas! If she had only recorded "Hello, Stranger" and "Baby I'm Yours," Barbara Lewis' place in the pop pantheon would have been assured. But there's much more to her
Today, Vinyl Weekend kicks off at Barnes and Noble locations around the United States. This promotion sees the release a number of exclusive vinyl titles including classic albums, compilations, and cast recordings. These titles are typically available even at locations that (shudder) no longer have full music departments, and should also be available at BN.com. We're spotlighting the catalogue-related titles and more below. Click here to locate a B&N near you. Bread, Anthology of
Vinyl Me Please is at it again! Following their celebrations of Blue Note, Motown, and Ghostly International, the subscription service is set to release a new volume of their acclaimed VMP Anthology Series. This time, they're shining a light on the history of Stax Records. As with previous volumes, The Story of Stax Records will be told in four chapters. The eight albums included in the box will be wrapped in "secrecy sleeves" that can be unveiled at specific points in the journey. Though
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
Record Store Day announcements are coming fast and furious, and one of the first out of the gate hails from Craft Recordings. The label has a variety of packages coming soon for the RSD festivities at your local independent retailer on Saturday, April 13! Here's the full list from Craft with descriptions provided by the label. Violent Femmes, Hallowed Ground (LP): Hallowed Ground is the follow up to the Violent Femmes' legendary self-titled 1983 debut. As with the first album, all of the
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
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, and many more, Love Actually has become one of the most acclaimed romantic comedies of the last twenty years. But also key to its success and longevity is its remarkable soundtrack. As director Richard Curtis put it: "Without its music, Love Actually wouldn't work at all. I know--because I saw the film without the music, and it's a
Otis Redding's "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay," the first Stax single of 1968, should have been a new beginning for the artist and label. Instead, the posthumous release ushered in a tumultuous year for the Memphis institution. The death of Redding and members of The Bar-Kays on December 10, 1967 was a tremendous loss for Stax and popular culture, but no one could have predicted the upheaval that would affect Stax and the city of Memphis in the following twelve months. That time has just
There have been several reissues this year celebrating the 50th anniversary of individual projects released in 1968. But Craft Recordings has announced a box set which celebrates an entire year's worth of material with Stax '68: A Memphis Story, due on October 19. This 5-CD set contains the A- and B-sides of every single released under the Stax Records banner in 1968, including the company's sub-labels, for a total of 120 tracks. Some tracks are by soul legends like Isaac Hayes, The Staple
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Bruce Springsteen, The Album Collection Vol. 2, 1987-1996 (Columbia/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Bruce Springsteen boxes up the second set of his albums in chronological order, remastered by Bob Ludwig and Toby Scott using the Plangent Process. The collection is only available on vinyl, although a limited edition CD version is being released in Japan only. The CD version is now available for pre-order at Amazon U.S. /
Rhino is revisiting the final recordings of Otis Redding on a new set due on May 18. Dock of the Bay Sessions is the label's reconstruction of an album that never was, built around the song that became America's first posthumous chart-topper and Redding's only No. 1 hit, "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay." That song, produced and co-written by Steve Cropper, reached the pop zenith 50 years ago this Friday, March 16, 1968. Following his blazing performance in June 1967 at the Monterey Pop
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! The Beatles, The Christmas Records (Capitol/Apple/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Happy Christmas, Beatle people! The Christmas Records, a seven-disc vinyl box set from the Fab Four, features colored 45 RPM recreations of the Beatles' original Christmas fan club flexi-discs (all single-sided except for the last two in 1968 and 1969). The original sleeve artwork has been recreated for each title, and an enclosed 16-page booklet
Rhino Records is planning 11 titles for this year's Record Store Day Black Friday--and two of them are fairly unexpected catalogue treats from two very different artists. First up, the label has announced an upcoming expanded edition on CD and LP of Richard Hell & The Voidoids' Blank Generation. Hell, a founding member of Television and one of the key figures of early punk rock in New York and beyond (his personal style of spiked hair and safety pins is said to have influenced Malcolm
From deep within the heart of Memphis to your stereo, the rich legacy of Stax Records will be honored this year as two label partners join forces to commemorate the label's 60th anniversary. Rolling Stone reported yesterday a massive campaign to celebrate Stax artists and albums across physical and digital formats. Notably, this initiative will be carried out by both owners of the Stax catalogue: Rhino/Warner Music Group, which controls much of the label's Atlantic-distributed output from
Are you making a list and checking it twice? We are! Record Store Day Black Friday is here in less than a month, and this week we're showcasing all of our favorite titles. We've shown you the goods from Legacy, Real Gone, Rhino and Omnivore; now, here are 20 more titles we think you should absolutely check out. There's soundtrack goodies from Varese Sarabande and Light in the Attic; holiday favorites from Bob & Doug McKenzie, Frank Sinatra and "Dolemite" himself; lost gems from Isaac Hayes,
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Roy Orbison, The Ultimate Collection (Roy's Boys/Legacy) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2-LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Legacy Recordings and Roy's Boys, LLC deliver a newly-remastered, career-spanning anthology for the late Roy Orbison. The Ultimate Collection has 26 tracks drawn from The Big O's halcyon years at Monument and MGM as well as his final solo recordings and collaborations with The Traveling
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up which just might be the biggest slate of the year to date! Lou Reed, The RCA and Arista Album Collection (RCA/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Legacy brings together 16 Lou Reed albums from his RCA and Arista years on 17 CDs, all remastered directly under Reed's supervision before his untimely passing in 2013. An 80-page hardbound booklet with detailed liner notes, five art prints and a poster round out this limited edition package. Read
Fans of Otis Redding have twice the reason to celebrate this holiday season with the release of two separate products celebrating The King of Soul's output in 1966. First up, Rhino is reissuing Complete & Unbelievable...The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul as a double-disc set. Joe filled us in on this release back in August, but here's a refresher: This album, Otis' fifth and final released before his tragic passing the following year, is Memphis soul par excellence, recorded with an
Otis Redding famously ran the gamut of soul from A to Z on his 1966 album Complete and Unbelievable...The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul. Well, now the dictionary is getting even more complete on October 7 with Rhino's release of a 50th anniversary edition! This 2-CD deluxe edition features both the stereo and mono mixes of the original album plus eight bonus tracks. The 1966 album, Redding's fifth album, was cut in the summer of 1966 at Stax Studios in Memphis. Redding was joined by
Over the past couple of weeks, we've told you about the 2015 Black Friday Record Store Day offerings from Legacy, Omnivore and Real Gone Music. Well, the full list of releases which are coming out on November 27 has been announced and we've got the details below including new titles from Rhino, Varese Sarabande, Hear Music and more! The entire list is over 125 items long, so we've just highlighted some entries below in which you might be interested. The full listing can be seen at
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Packed with over 30 titles including highly-anticipated reissues, a slew of box sets, collections and more, it just may be the mightiest of the year! The Velvet Underground, Loaded: Re-Loaded 45th Anniversary Edition (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) The Velvet Underground's 1970 album - and Lou Reed's swansong with the band - gets the deluxe expanded treatment from Rhino in this new box set featuring the original stereo and mono
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up including a couple of spectacular new box sets, one acclaimed soundtrack, numerous reissues and anthologies, and the return of a few beloved artists! a-ha, Hunting High and Low: 30th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition (Warner Bros./Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) The 1985 debut from a-ha gets super-sized with Rhino's upcoming 4-CD/1-DVD edition. Disc One has the original, remastered album, while Disc Two boasts 25 demos, Disc Three has 15
This September, Otis Redding's album masterwork Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul celebrates its 50th anniversary. To mark the occasion, Rhino will reissue its out-of-print 2008 expanded edition on September 18; then, on October 30, the label will compile Redding's original albums into a new box set. A testament to Redding's power to reinvent a song, Otis Blue primarily features his interpretations of familiar melodies - plus three choice originals. The album, an R&B chart-topper,
If Rare Soul is what you're looking for, PopMarket has an exclusive release just for you. The online shop has recently released A Crate Digger's Collection of Rare Soul, a 3-LP set pressed on heavyweight180-gram vinyl presenting 35 tracks culled from the Warner Music Group family of labels including Atlantic, Cotillion, Loma, Atco and Warner Bros. itself. This handsome package, a limited edition of 1,000 units, features 35 tracks from some of the labels' heaviest hitters as well as names that
Rhino isn't resting on its laurels for Record Store Day! The label has announced its biggest slate ever for Record Store Day, with 30 limited edition 12-inch, 10-inch, and 7-inch vinyl releases due on Saturday, April 18. Full details as provided by the label for all titles can be found below. As always with RSD, these releases will be available exclusively at select independent music retailers on April 18, and you can find the list of participating shops here! a-ha - Take On Me 7-inch