Ready to head back to the dawning of the Age of Aquarius? Hair, from composer Galt MacDermot and librettist-lyricists Gerome Ragni and James Rado, made quite a splash Off-Broadway in 1967, but when it moved uptown under the avant garde direction of Tom O'Horgan, it was an immediate, shocking sensation. The original Broadway production of "the American tribal love rock musical" would ultimately run for 1,750 performances and inspire three Broadway returns, but the reach of the pro-peace,
SoulMusic Records has certainly shown a lot of love for Ronnie Dyson (1950-1990) this year. Following its U.S. release in conjunction with Real Gone Music of the late soul man's two final albums for Cotillion Records, the label is turning back the clock to Dyson's very first recordings for Columbia Records. Lady In Red: The Columbia Sides Plus, from SoulMusic and the U.K.'s Cherry Red Group, is in actuality an expanded edition of Dyson's 1970 debut album (If You Let Me Make Love to You Then) Why
In the annals of underrated R&B vocalists, Ronnie Dyson (1950-1990) was among the greatest. A versatile singer equally comfortable with smooth soul, pure pop and showbiz pizzazz, Dyson left behind a small but rich catalogue for the Columbia and Cotillion labels. With the recent release of Phase 2 and Brand New Day from 1982 and 1983, respectively, Real Gone Music and SoulMusic Records have filled in two of the major holes in Dyson’s CD discography (RGM-0294). With the release of this stellar
ABBA, Live at Wembley Arena (Polar/Universal) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. ) As part of ABBA's 40th anniversary celebration, the band unveils this 2-CD, hardcover book-style set preserving its 1979 concerts at Wembley Arena. The 25-track set features the first-ever release on record of Agnetha's "I'm Still Alive" along with perennials like "Dancing Queen," "Waterloo," "Knowing Me, Knowing You" and "Fernando." Live at Wembley is also available on vinyl. Oasis, (What's the Story) Morning
Real Gone Music has plenty of stories to tell with its September 30 slate of releases – including music from, well, Stories! The eclectic reissue specialists have the first-ever anthology dedicated to Stories (“Brother Louie”) featuring 19 tracks from the band led by Ian Lloyd and Michael Brown, late of legendary baroque-pop band The Left Banke. And that’s not all. Real Gone is digging deep into the Atlantic vaults for the complete recordings of southern soul star Barbara Lynn including an
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
The Purpose Music Vaults are open! Purpose Music Group is introducing a new player in the reissue field, something that always brings us a great deal of excitement here at The Second Disc. But how about we sweeten the pot by telling you that the first three releases from Purpose Music Vaults are all rare soul classics from the Sony Music Entertainment library, all feature new-to-CD material, and all are newly remastered by engineers including Vic Anesini and Sean Brennan? On top of that, all