Welcome to The Second Disc’s Fourth Annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards! Though this is a slow time of year for news, it’s the perfect time to look at the year in review. As with every year’s awards, our goals are simple: to recognize as many of the year’s most essential reissues and catalogue titles as possible, and to celebrate those labels, producers and artists who make these releases possible in what many might deem an increasingly-challenging retail landscape. These labels have bucked the
With the upcoming release of The Beatles’ On Air: Live at the BBC Volume Two, there’s Beatlemania in the air once again. And the Varese Sarabande label’s Varese Vintage imprint is at the ready with two recent reissues bearing ties to the Fab Four: George Martin’s Beatles to Bond and Bach (1974) and The Campbeltown Pipe Band’s Mull of Kintyre (1978). Both of these are rather unexpected titles and all the more welcome for it! Beatles to Bond and Bach, originally issued on the Polydor label,
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.
"Yesterday" and Today (1976) With a burst of boogie woogie, Paul McCartney finally acknowledged the elephant in the room. And then he made it abundantly clear that he wasn't going to be standing in any shadow, even his own. That moment came seven songs into the first disc of Wings Over America when Paul suddenly became Beatle Paul once again, tearing into "Lady Madonna" with Fats-inspired glee. The Wings Over the World tour - taking in three continents, 66 concerts and roughly one million
Wings, Wings Over America: The Paul McCartney Archive Collection (MPL/Hear Music/Concord) Paul McCartney's first great U.S. tour was chronicled brilliantly on this 1977 live album, and it's been greatly expanded herein for McCartney's ongoing reissue campaign. 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 3CD (Best Buy exclusive) 4CD/1DVD box: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Tony Bennett & Dave Brubeck,
Raise your hand if you’ll be joining 2013 Ambassador Jack White tomorrow to celebrate Record Store Day 2013! Yes, on Saturday, April 20, independent record stores everywhere will offer an eclectic roster of limited edition releases of all kinds – most on vinyl, but some on CD, too. As usual, the labels participating in RSD ’13 have a number of surprises on the way, previewing future releases, revisiting past titles and even curating completely new packages. As is our tradition here, we’re
Paul McCartney has always been one for tradition. Last year, Macca used the annual Record Store Day campaign to preview his deluxe Archive Collection release of 1971’s Ram with a vinyl replica single of “Another Day” b/w “Oh Woman, Oh Why.” This year, the reveal of McCartney’s RSD exclusive confirmed the news that diehards have been expecting since the Archive Collection first began: the 1976 chart-topping triple-album Wings Over America is coming on May 27 (Europe) and May 28 (North America)
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
In 2010, Shout! Factory and Frank Sinatra Enterprises (FSE) released an impressive DVD box set collecting 7 discs and over 14 hours’ worth of Frank Sinatra’s television performances from the 1950s through the 1980s. On November 13, one of those discs from The Concert Collection will be available as a standalone DVD following similar releases of other DVDs from the set. Primetime includes three programs from 1968, 1969 and 1977, respectively, in which Sinatra welcomes a bevy of guests. In
When Sean Connery first uttered the immortal words “Bond…James Bond” fifty years ago in the film Dr. No, the template for the long-running movie series was already set. That soon-to-be-signature phrase was joined in the film by a piece of music that would quickly rival those three words for familiarity. John Barry’s arrangement of “The James Bond Theme” not only helped cement the silver screen icon of 007 but virtually became a genre unto itself, that of spy music. The spy film craze may have
As we kick off another week, we're catching up with a few news items that almost slipped between the cracks! Earlier this year, RockBeat and S'More Entertainment released Todd: Live, preserving on both CD and DVD editions a live performance by Todd Rundgren of his 1974 classic album Todd. But Todd only told half of the story! Joined by Utopia's Kasim Sulton (bass), The Cars' Greg Hawkes (keyboards), The Tubes' Prairie Prince (drums), Guitar Player Magazine's editor Jesse Gress (guitar),
Paul McCartney might have taken the bull by the horns for his aggressively homemade solo debut McCartney in 1970, defying practically all expectations, but he literally took the ram by the horns on the cover photo of its 1971 follow-up, Ram. By the time of Ram's release, George Harrison had declared that All Things (including Beatles) Must Pass and John Lennon had exorcised many of his demons with the confessional Plastic Ono Band, wife Yoko at his side. With Linda McCartney co-billed as
Chubby Checker, It's Pony Time/Let's Twist Again/Durocs, Durocs/Terry Knight and the Pack, Terry Knight and the Pack/Reflections/The Orlons, The Wah Watusi/South Street/Various Artists, Remember Me Baby: Cameo Parkway Vocal Groups Vol. 1 (Real Gone Music) The latest group from Real Gone Music includes classics from the vaults of Philadelphia's Cameo-Parkway label plus power-pop from San Francisco's Durocs! Isaac Hayes and Dionne Warwick, A Man and A Woman/Cissy Houston, Presenting Cissy
We're gonna keep this one short and sweet, dear boys and long-haired ladies. Yes, the oft-rumored Paul McCartney Archive Collection of Paul and Linda McCartney's 1971 album Ram is very close to becoming a reality. On March 22, it was officially announced that Ram will be reissued in multiple formats on May 22. But one of those formats will be a bit surprising to collectors of previous Archive Collection titles. It appears that Ram will not follow the hardcover book format of those past
In recent years, the retailer-exclusive bonus track has become an important if controversial part of music sales. Today’s Short Takes, then, is your public service announcement and guide to the bonus tracks available with three recent and upcoming titles from some of music’s most legendary artists. Chances are you might want to own these previously-unreleased rarities! Last week saw the release of Carole King’s The Legendary Demos from Rockingale Records and Hear Music. Its thirteen
We're just three weeks away from Record Store Day on April 21, and following individual announcements from fantastic labels like Omnivore Recordings, Concord Records, Sundazed Music and Rhino/Warner Bros., we can finally reveal the full line-up of RSD-related goodies! These limited editions, available at independent music retailers across the U.S. and even internationally, are primarily vinyl releases in various formats (7-inch, 10-inch, 12-inch, etc.) and range from replicas of classic albums
What do Paul McCartney, Dave Brubeck and Little Richard have in common? All three will be recipients of exclusive, limited edition Record Store Day releases from our friends at Concord Records. Since its founding in 2007, Record Store Day has become an institution at many independent shops, and has even gone global with the participation of international retailers. As previously reported, a 7-inch vinyl single from Paul McCartney will prove a highlight of Concord's roster and kick off the
What do you do? No one else can dance like you! So what's all the fuss? There ain't nobody that spies like us! It’s not often that we get the opportunity to write about Paul McCartney, forever fab, and Art of Noise, pioneering British synth-pop duo, in the same sentence. But Salvo Records and ZTT are giving us just that chance with this week's U.K. release of The Art of the 12-Inch, Volume Two. Okay, it’s not that much of a stretch, as Art of Noise’s Anne Dudley contributed synthesizer to
Various Artists, ZTT: The Art of the 12": Volume Two (ZTT/Salvo) A double-disc set of rare and unreleased dance mixes of vinyl classics, with a few rarities thrown in for good measure - and, as our post later today will explain, at least one Beatle! Simple Minds, Simple Minds x5 (EMI) The first five Simple Minds LPs - all pre-The Breakfast Club - expanded with vintage B-sides and remixes. Gilbert O'Sullivan, Back to Front: Expanded Edition (Union Square Music/Salvo) Gilbert's 1972
With another month comes another slate of rare music on both CD and vinyl from one of the real up-and-comers in the reissue biz, Real Gone Music! The label’s February centerpieces just might be Rick Nelson’s The Complete Epic Recordings and Mark Lindsay’s The Complete Columbia Singles, but those two releases are being joined by titles from Sean (T.S.) Bonniwell, McGough and McGear, Eddie Hazel and the girls of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller’s Red Bird label on CD, plus Hank Thompson on vinyl!
Paul McCartney is not dead, but he is digital: a new beta version of his website, developed with Hewlett-Packard, brings his solo catalogue to fans through a cloud service, along with a host of interactive features. Fans can stream all of his studio albums (including collaboration projects like The Fireman and Twin Freaks) through a jukebox, and premium members can download that jukebox as a desktop app. Additionally, a new "Rude Studio" section of his site allows fans to play and mix
Safely tucked underneath a controversial slate of Grammy nominations in the major categories - seriously, Rihanna's Loud got an Album of the Year nod and Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy didn't? - there were a fantastic batch of reissue and box set-oriented nominations in this year's 54th annual ceremony. Without further pithy commentary, here they are: Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package Radiohead, The King of Limbs (ATO Records) Donald Twain & Zachariah Wildwood,
Since its formation on April 20, 1983, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has inducted a slate of accomplished musicians into its ranks on a yearly basis, causing excitement, consternation and everything in between. Though the worthiness of nominees and inductees is hotly debated with each “class” and a number of distinguished artists continue to be ignored year after year, one thing can be agreed upon: a lot of great music has been played for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It continues to host
Tucked between album opener “Taxman” and “I’m Only Sleeping” on Side One of The Beatles’ 1966 LP Revolver, “Eleanor Rigby” heralded an explicit attempt by the pop giants at pushing the musical envelope, both with its despairing lyrics and classical-inspired arrangement for a string octet. Primarily the composition of Paul McCartney, “Eleanor Rigby” defied the odds to hit the top spot on the British charts (a double A-side single with “Yellow Submarine”) and hit the No. 11 spot in the United
Who but Neil Young could have brought The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sonic Youth, Ben Harper, Eddie Vedder, Paul McCartney, Tony Bennett, and Los Lonely Boys together on the same stage? Though Young is an easy target for what can appear as a capricious attitude towards his back catalogue – announcing, then delaying or cancelling titles with alarming frequency – one aspect of the man’s great legacy cannot be in dispute, and that is his philanthropy. Since 1986, Young and his wife Pegi have offered
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- Next Page »