That's Concord Bicycle Music in the spotlight: Billboard exclusively reports that the indie label will handle distribution for R.E.M.'s bestselling Warner Bros. Records catalogue, spanning from 1988 to their 2011 dissolution. Beginning in 2016, Concord will be the home for the band's Green (1988), Out of Time (1991), Automatic for the People (1992), Monster(1994), New Adventures in Hi-Fi (1996), and Up (1998). Reveal (2001), Around the Sun (2004), Accelerate (2008) and Collapse Into
Oasis, Definitely Maybe: Chasing The Sun Edition (Big Brother/Ngrooves) Oasis' debut album is remastered and expanded; the first in a planned series of multi-format reissues from the legendary Britpop band. 1CD remaster: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.2LP remaster: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.3CD deluxe edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.3CD/2LP/1 x 7″ box set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Billy Joel, A Matter of Trust: The Bridge to Russia (Columbia/Legacy) The Piano Man's 1987 sojourn to the USSR is
On Tuesday, May 19, the same day that Warner Bros. Records issues R.E.M.’s 2-CD Unplugged 1991/2001: The Complete Sessions, UMe will offer a digital-only package for fans of the Athens, Georgia band’s earliest days. Complete Rarities: I.R.S. 1982-1987 collects 50 previously released odds and ends from Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry. These rarities have been culled from such releases as the 1987 Dead Letter Office (originally released in the wake of the success of Lifes
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
Not long after R.E.M.'s last 25th anniversary edition was released, they're already prepping the next archival project: Rolling Stone reports an expanded edition of 1988's Green is on its way May 14. The Athens, Georgia quartet's sixth album in as many years was a notable event for them. After a healthy run ascending to the upper echelon of the alternative rock scene on I.R.S. Records, the band took on a new contract with major label Warner Bros., with whom they'd stay for the remainder of
Merle Haggard, The Complete '60s Capitol Singles / Wanda Jackson, The Best of the Classic Capitol Singles / George Jones, The Complete United Artists Solo Singles (Omnivore) Joe's review of all three of these new country/rock singles anthologies from Omnivore speaks for each of them pretty well! Merle: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Wanda: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. George: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Borderline, Sweet Dreams and Quiet Desires/The Second Album / Sam Dees, The Show Must Go On / Kenny
Not long before
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we focus on notable albums and the reissues they may someday see. It's the most wonderful time of the year, as you likely know, and we're celebrating with a recently-departed group of rock legends who made a few nights not-so-silent with a long running assortment of Christmas-oriented giveaways. Not too long ago, I took part in a lively chat with my fellow Popblerd! writers/occasional co-podcasters Mike Heyliger and Zack Stiegler about
R.E.M.'s Part Lies Part Heart Part Truth Part Garbage 1982-2011 (Warner Bros. 529088-2) marks the fourth compilation by the Athens band in my collection. As a young teen, I fell in love with their melodic, confident pop/rock with In Time: The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003 - but that was only part of the picture. The rest would be filled in by the 2006 release of And I Feel Fine...The Best of the I.R.S. Years 1982-1987, which captured the quartet at what may be their creative peak. (The third
A brief note before we kick off the Release Round-Up: first, an apology for missing the last one. And second, a moment of crowd-sourcing from you, our beloved readers. As nice a service as the Round-Up is, it also seems....boring. Do you agree? How might one change it up? Sound off in the comments. The Who,
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
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we reflect on notable albums and the reissues they may someday see. As we mourn the passing of one of the most beloved American rock bands of the last few decades, we look at their all-too-often ignored early B-sides, compiled only once on disc - and how those rarities could make for a nice deluxe package down the line. R.E.M. is dead. Long live R.E.M. The Athens, Georgia-based band announced their split Wednesday, after just over 30
R.E.M., Lifes Rich Pageant: 25th Anniversary Edition (EMI) The latest R.E.M. deluxe edition set features the original LP remastered alongside a bonus disc of demos, all of which are currently available for your streaming pleasure here. (Official site) Megadeth, Peace Sells...But Who's Buying? 25th Anniversary Edition (EMI) The metal heroes' breakthrough LP, remastered and featuring a live bonus disc...and for the adventurous super-fan, a deluxe box set adds two additional alternate mixes of
It's always good to see a band focusing on their catalogue while they're still putting out fresh, new music. This year, R.E.M. is one of the acts to have a foot in both camps, releasing their 15th studio album, Collapse Into Now, in March, and will release another 25th anniversary edition of an album this summer, with Lifes Rich Pageant (1986) getting the deluxe treatment from EMI/Capitol. R.E.M.'s fourth LP, which was produced by Don Gehman (producer of John Mellencamp's '80s hit records), was
Now here's a surprise. iTunes, in concert with the major record labels, put together a 38-song compilation called Songs for Japan, the proceeds of which would go to relief funds for the ongoing crises in Japan following a massive earthquake and tsunami that left the country in a state of peril. And now, Amazon has a listing for the compilation on CD from Legacy. (This two-disc set actually omits some of the tracks heard on the iTunes version, namely tracks by Madonna and David Guetta.) While
Apologies if The Second Disc is flooding your Web space with posts today. I, for one, am thrilled; it's nice to see great news getting us catalogue enthusiasts through the week. And here are three little briefs to further your excitement for all things reissues: Steven Van Zandt recently talked to a U.K. radio station about the long-in-development reissue of Bruce Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978). It looks like it might follow the format of this year's Exile on Main St.
And perhaps it is, depending on how often you buy from one. The fourth annual Record Store Day is happening in less than a month (April 17) but already a lot of releases have been announced for the occasion. Best of all, there are some neat releases for catalogue fans out there, too. You can have a look at the full list here, but here are some of the neatest catalogue offerings coming on Record Store Day. Devo, Duty Now for the Future (1979) (Warner Bros.) As previously mentioned, Devo's