Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc's review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. This week, there's rare jazz, country, pop standards and gospel, plus remixes of a Madonna hit and one of the most unexpected Disney covers you'll ever hear. Madonna, Who's That Girl EP (Warner/Rhino) (iTunes / Amazon) ¿Quién es esa niña? Madonna's international chart-topping 1987 single - the title track to her first soundtrack album from
A wise philosopher...or maybe a punk kid...or maybe an astute screenwriter?...once wrote "Life moves pretty fast - if you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." A new box set devoted to that iconic filmmaker - the late John Hughes - will help fans enjoy some of that life a little more through a diverse collection of pop songs he helped bring to the masses. Life Moves Pretty Fast. The John Hughes Mixtapes offers four volumes of songs from the writer/director's popular
October is upon us, and while 2020 hasn't given us much to rejoice about, the holiday season is almost here. Before the month is out, radio stations will begin switching to seasonal formats, and television will begin showing yuletide movies. With a never-ending barrage of bad news, "we need a little Christmas right this very minute" has hardly seemed more apt. Sony's Legacy Recordings is getting a head start on Christmas this year with the release on vinyl of 10 favorite albums from the
Stage Door Records is turning back the clock - 60 years, to be precise - with the latest volume in its Lost Broadway series. Lost Broadway 1960, out now in the U.K. and this Friday, April 3, in the U.S., once again spotlights the lesser-known shows that played the Great White Way that year (in both the 1959-1960 and 1960-1961 seasons). So while there's no mention of Bye Bye Birdie, Camelot, or Oliver!, you will hear tracks from Wildcat, Do Re Mi, and Christine. (The Unsinkable Molly Brown is
Today, we're looking at another three of Demon Music Group/Crimson Productions' Gold collections! Almost two decades after his death on May 12, 2001, Perry Como remains one of the most cherished voices in American popular song. Over the course of five decades at RCA Victor, the mellow crooner scored 131 chart hits in the U.S. alone, over 20 gold records, multiple Emmy and Grammy Awards, a Kennedy Center Honor, and sales of over 100 million records between 1945 and 1970. Perry's entry in the
Have you caught the Christmas spirit yet? If not, things are very likely to change on Saturday, November 16. That's when TJL Productions debuts a new special on PBS that's sure to get you ready for the holiday season. A Classic Christmas, part of T.J. Lubinsky's acclaimed My Music series, presents an array of yuletide favorites from an all-star roster of legendary artists. Hosted by Marion Ross (Happy Days) and Gavin MacLeod (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Love Boat), A Classic Christmas is
The busy members of The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra are decking the halls with boughs of holly for their latest, all-star release. Christmas with The Stars and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, due as a digital-only title in the U.S. on Friday, November 29, brings the acclaimed orchestra together with some of the biggest names in the classic Columbia and RCA Victor constellations for newly-arranged symphonic versions of Christmas favorites. Featured artists include Elvis Presley, Tony Bennett,
For a staggering six decades, Perry Como was a welcome presence on television screens with his long-running, award-winning programs. Perhaps no recording artist used the medium of television as well as Mr. C did, all the while charting dozens of hit records including "Catch a Falling Star," "Magic Moments," and "It's Impossible." Last year saw a new PBS biography and song retrospective (Till The End Of Time - Perry Como Classics) and an accompanying 4-CD set with 100 original recordings
It's been said that there's no place like home for the holidays...and few artists have conjured up that nostalgic warmth as well as Perry Como. For nearly five decades, the beloved Italian-American crooner was a fixture on radio, records, film and, naturally, the medium which seemingly suited the genial, gentle vocalist best: television. Starting with The Chesterfield Supper Club's transition to NBC-TV in the late 1940s, the subsequent debut of The Perry Como Show on CBS-TV in the early 1950s,
May 18, 2018 would have marked Perry Como's 106th birthday. While the beloved singer didn't make it to 106, he lived a full 88 years which he packed with magic moments on records, film, television, and the world's concert stages. All told, the proudly Italian-American crooner notched 131 chart hits in the U.S. alone, over 20 gold records, multiple Emmy and Grammy Awards, a Kennedy Center Honor, and sales of over 100 million records between 1945 and 1970. This weekend, fans are invited to
Fans of cast recordings can look forward to plenty of exciting releases due in the coming weeks! Kritzerland has recently announced two new limited edition titles! First up is a two-for-one release with a pair of classic television specials. NBC's 1973 presentation of Cole Porter in Paris starred Perry Como, Diahann Carroll, Connie Stevens and others in a rousing celebration of the legendary songwriter's work. It was directed by Martin Charnin (Annie) and featured arrangements by Como's
In the case of Rod McKuen, "prolific" might well have been an understatement. Before he turned 35, McKuen had already lived many lives - from farm hand, lumberjack, rodeo cowboy, disk jockey, and U.S. Army veteran to singer, songwriter, actor, and the most commercially successful poet of his time - or any other. Despite an enviable career that saw him receive two Academy Award nominations and Frank Sinatra dedicate an entire album to him, the songs of Rod McKuen frequently haven't received
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
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Dio, A Decade of Dio 1983-1993 (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) A Decade of Dio 1983-1993 collects all six studio albums released by Warner Bros. and Reprise in the first decade of the band Dio's soaring career. Formed by Ronnie James Dio and drummer Vinny Appice after their split from Black Sabbath in 1982, the group first gained prominence with the title track of debut Holy Diver, a staple of MTV and a recurring metal cult
The U.K.-based Vocalion label had a treat for surround-sound fans with the label's Christmas 2015 batch of releases. Vocalion has plucked a number of titles from the RCA vaults for presentation in 4.0 quadraphonic sound on hybrid SACDs, with the albums' stereo layers playable on all CD players. Perry Como, Henry Mancini, Floyd Cramer and Hugo Montenegro have all gotten the quad treatment. Perry (1974) and In Person at the International Hotel, Las Vegas (1970) have been culled from the
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Oddly, releases were split between yesterday and today, but both days add up to a wealth of titles in nearly every genre! Without a doubt, this is one of the most packed weeks yet this year! Jackie DeShannon, All the Love: The Lost Atlantic Recordings (Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) All the Love--The Lost Atlantic Recordings brings together DeShannon's entire 1973 Atlantic Records material in one place for the first time,
"I was a barber. Since then, I've been a singer. That's it." So reflected Perry Como on an astounding career in which the onetime haircutter from Canonsburg, Pennsylvania sold more than 100 million records, charted 131 singles in the United States, fourteen No. 1s, and seventeen Gold records - including the very first single to receive that certification, 1958's "Catch a Falling Star." He hosted more than 1,000 television programs, earned five Emmys, a Grammy, and a Kennedy Center Honor.
Rarities are the order of the day from Real Gone Music when it comes to the label's just-announced slate of releases scheduled for late April and early May. The label kicks things off on April 28 with its reissue of one of the most famous Grateful Dead shows of all time. Dick's Picks Volume 8 captures the epic May 2, 1970 show at Binghamton, New York's Harpur College - a show even singled out by Jerry Garcia himself. Then, on May 5, Real Gone has five more titles, all of which are packed
This week brings a particularly impressive slate by any standard, but we're particularly proud to introduce the world to Second Disc Records with our first two releases, from Johnny Mathis and the late Bob Crewe! Johnny Mathis, Life is a Song Worth Singing: The Complete Thom Bell Sessions (Second Disc/Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Here, on two CDs, we proudly present both of Johnny Mathis' album collaborations - including the never-on-CD Mathis Is... - with songwriter-producer
We hope that nobody missed yesterday’s big news of The Second Disc’s partnership with Real Gone Music to create Second Disc Records, launching March 10 with a pair of releases from Johnny Mathis and Bob Crewe! But that’s not all that Real Gone has on tap for March release. With a total of eight titles ranging from psychedelia to standards, this may be one of the label’s most eclectic release batches yet! Real Gone is kicking off the month on March 3 with two iconic classic rock albums on
Johnny Mathis. Frank Sinatra. Perry Como. Steve Vai? Menudo? When it comes to Christmas music, Legacy Recordings doesn’t pull its punches. The label’s series of Classic Christmas Album releases has become a bit of an annual tradition, and this year’s batch of single- and various-artist anthologies once again draws on names both expected and unexpected. While the packages are bare-bones, with no liner notes (but happily with full credits and discographical annotation), the music most certainly is
Stevie Nicks, 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault (Reprise) 2-LP Vinyl + Download Card: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Standard Edition CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. The Fleetwood Mac rock legend dips into her vault for a newly-recorded album of songs composed between 1969 and 1995. The album features co-production by Dave Stewart and guitar great Waddy Wachtel, and is also available in a deluxe edition exclusive to Nicks' website. Various Artists, The Classic Christmas Albums
It's that time of the year again! Legacy Recordings' Classic Christmas Album series has become an annual tradition, and the label is once again drawing on the Sony Music vaults to offer new seasonal anthologies from a group of truly celebrated artists. This year, the bona fide legends include Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Perry Como, and Johnny Mathis, and their volumes will be joined by an entry for the classical crossover quartet Il Divo as well as by various-artists compilations
“Hey, let’s do it again and again,” invited Perry Como on the bouncy opening track of 1975’s Just Out of Reach. The Tony Hatch/Jackie Trent song, previously recorded by singer-actor Jim Dale on This is Me, was perfectly suited to Como’s warm, soothing tones. Who wouldn’t take him up on the offer to do it again and again? As the musical landscape of the 1960s and 1970s drastically shifted, the one-time big band “boy singer” wasn’t quite as ubiquitous a presence as he once was. Still, the
Most titles this week are already out in the States, on account of Justin Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience - 2 of 2 hitting stores on Monday. So without further ado... Rush, The Studio Albums 1989-2007 / Vapor Trails Remixed (Atlantic/Rhino) All of the Canadian rock gods' albums for Atlantic in one box, with 2002's Vapor Trails newly remixed (and available separately). The Studio Albums: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Vapor Trails Remixed: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. The Bongos, Phantom Train /