He was an American original…He was one of the last great exponents of a disappearing art. He told me once, ‘The world doesn’t owe me anything, because I did it myself.’ – Tony Bennett [Sammy] literally could do everything and he just looked so good…I could only tap. – Gregory Hines I wish the world could have known Sam as I did. Sam never gave less than 100% when he was on stage, and he gave even more to those of us lucky enough to call him friend…It was a generous God…
Release Round-Up: Week of November 14
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Nicolette Larson, Look in My Direction: The Warner Bros. Recordings (Cherry Red/Lemon/Second Disc) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Cherry Red) Look in My Direction: The Warner Bros. Recordings from Cherry Red’s Lemon imprint and TSD presents all of the late Nicolette Larson’s original studio and live albums for Warner Bros. Records on 4 CDs, produced by Ted Templeman (The Doobie Brothers, Van Halen) and singer-songwriter Andrew Gold (“Thank You for Being…
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Edsel Box Set Round-Up: “SAM: The Sound of New York City,” “Sean Rowley Presents Guilty Pleasures: 20th Anniversary”
When brothers Hy and Sam Weiss passed in 2007 and 2008, respectively, the Romanian-born immigrants to Brooklyn were eulogized as the last of the golden age record men. The Weiss brothers formed their first record label in 1949; in 1953, they launched Old Town Records which Hy would take on as his own in 1956. Many of Old Town’s classic hits are still favorites today, such as The Capris’ “There’s a Moon Out Tonight,” Billy Bland’s “Let the Little Girl Dance,” and “Remember Then” by The Earls. Upon leaving Old Town, Sam…
Release Round-Up: Week of July 7
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles in stores today! Pool-Pah, The Flasher: Original Soundtrack Recording (Real Gone/Second Disc) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Real Gone Music) Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music celebrate 50 years of the best album you’ve never heard: Pool-Pah’s The Flasher. In 1973, the sexual revolution was on, streaking was taking college campuses by storm, and Deep Throat was edging pornography ever closer to the mainstream. Against this backdrop, a talented New York band with the unlikely moniker of Pool-Pah teamed with up-and-coming singer-songwriter, musician, and…
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OUT TOMORROW! Real Gone, Second Disc Expose Pool-Pah and Rupert Holmes’ Psych-Rock Rarity “The Flasher”
1973: the sexual revolution was on, streaking was taking college campuses by storm, and Deep Throat was edging pornography ever closer to the mainstream. Against this backdrop, a talented New York band with the unlikely moniker of Pool-Pah teamed up with up-and-coming singer-songwriter, musician, and arranger Rupert Holmes to write and record an unforgettably far-out soundtrack blending rock, psychedelia, jazz, prog, pop, and electronica. It had to be heard to be believed…and far too few heard it. That all changes tomorrow, when Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music release our wildest title yet….
Rated X: Second Disc, Real Gone Expose “The Flasher” With First-Ever Reissue of Psych-Rock Rarity from Pool-Pah, Rupert Holmes
1973: the sexual revolution was on, streaking was taking college campuses by storm, and Deep Throat was edging pornography ever closer to the mainstream. Against this backdrop, a talented New York band with the unlikely moniker of Pool-Pah teamed up with up-and-coming singer-songwriter, musician, and arranger Rupert Holmes to write and record an unforgettably far-out soundtrack blending rock, psychedelia, jazz, prog, pop, and electronica. It had to be heard to be believed…and far too few heard it. That all changes on Friday June 2, when Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music…
The Weekend Stream: April 9, 2023
Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing weekly review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there’s plenty of great new/old music to usher you into the weekend. ZTT rarities, dream pop from down under, two Michael Jackson connections, great ’70s songwriters – this latest Stream has everything, plus a call to support one of our favorite music services as they take on a big challenge. Act, Snobbery and Decay (Showtime) / Leilani, Precious Treasure (ZTT) Act: iTunes / Amazon Leilani: iTunes / Amazon Although they’ve…
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The Weekend Stream: April 1, 2023
Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing weekly review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there’s plenty of great new/old music to usher you into the weekend. Our latest round-up may be on April Fool’s Day, but it’s no joke: remixes by Madonna, rarities by Burt Bacharach and Peggy Lee, a White Stripes live set and the first major Barry White production are all here. Happy streaming! Madonna, Nothing Really Matters (Remixes) (Warner/Rhino) (iTunes / Amazon) Madonna closed the Ray of Light album cycle with…
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If You Like Piña Coladas: “NOW” Series Celebrates Yacht Rock on New Volume
Shimmering guitars, breezy horns, smooth keyboards, and crisp vocals on well-crafted songs with catchy choruses: all of those qualities might have once described “soft rock” or “adult-oriented rock,” but more recently the genre has experienced a resurgence as “yacht rock.” Though the term was originally intended in a pejorative way, it’s come to be accepted by many of the progenitors of the genre including Michael McDonald and John Oates. There’s an entire book on the yacht rock phenomenon, a touring group known as The Yacht Rock Revue, and a popular yearly SiriusXM…
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Lost In a Lost World: Cherry Red Reissues, Expands Hudson-Ford with Rupert Holmes Productions, Roger James
Cherry Red has recently unearthed another pair of seventies pop gems on their Esoteric and RPM imprints, respectively, from Hudson-Ford and Roger James. Both titles will hit stores this Friday, August 24. Daylight was the 1977 CBS Records debut of Hudson-Ford, a.k.a. Richard Hudson (guitar/vocals/sitar) and John Ford (vocals/bass/guitar), formerly of The Strawbs. Their fourth album as a duo, Daylight was produced at the label’s behest by Robin Geoffrey Cable, a Trident Studios engineer who went on to produce records for Harry Nilsson, Jimmy Webb, Dwight Twilley, and Chris De Burgh. Cable…
Who, What, When, Where, Why: Rupert Holmes’ “Songs That Sound Like Movies” OUT TODAY from Cherry Red [UPDATED]
There are songs that sound like movies/There are themes that fill the screen/There are lines I say that sound as if they’re written/There are looks I wear the theatre should have seen… With those words, Rupert Holmes welcomed listeners into his singular musical world – one in which the only limits were those of the singer-songwriter’s boundless imagination. In other words, there were no limits to Holmes’ finely crafted, elaborately realized pop dramas. His 1974 Epic Records debut, Widescreen, was filled with those songs that sound like movies, and now it’s about…
Release Round-Up: Week of February 23
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Various Artists, Concert for George [Various Formats] (Craft Recordings) 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2CD/2DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2CD/2BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 4LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2CD/2DVD/2BD/4LP Limited Online Exclusive Box Set: George Harrison Shop The star-studded 2002 concert celebration of the life of George Harrison – featuring Paul McCartney, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, and other luminaries – returns in a variety of formats (with some previously unreleased music and bonus features) from…
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The Last of the Romantics: Cherry Red Collects Rupert Holmes’ “Complete Epic Recordings”
There are songs that sound like movies/There are themes that fill the screen/There are lines I say that sound as if they’re written/There are looks I wear the theatre should have seen… With those words, Rupert Holmes welcomed listeners into his singular musical world – one in which the only limits were those of the singer-songwriter’s boundless imagination. In other words, there were no limits to Holmes’ finely crafted, elaborately realized pop dramas. His 1974 Epic Records debut, Widescreen, was filled with those songs that sound like movies, and now it’s about…
Shine Her Light: “The Midnight Special” Box Set Arrives In September with Fleetwood Mac, Bee Gees, ELO, More
Between August 1972 and May 1981, late night television was a little more rockin’. Producer Burt Sugarman’s The Midnight Special followed Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show on Friday evenings, welcoming viewers with Johnny Rivers’ rousing rendition of the traditional tune (a Top 20 hit for Rivers in 1965). Over the course of 450 episodes, The Midnight Special presented a staggering array of music’s top talent on network television with most songs performed live for the majority of its run. The program, featuring announcer Wolfman Jack and a variety of guest hosts, premiered as a…
Verve Goes “Off to the Races” with Remastered Reissue of Rupert Holmes’ “Mystery of Edwin Drood”
“I had been over at Barry Manilow’s house, and he said ‘you know Rupert Holmes?’ I said, ‘No,’” recalled Academy Award-winning producer Craig Zadan to author Kenneth Turan. “[Barry] played me his records, and I flipped out. I got all his records, and I made Joe [Papp] and [his wife] Gail listen to them and they fell in love with the work…at one point, Rupert came up with an idea about a show about a recording studio, but it ultimately didn’t jell. But I told him, ‘I believe you’re a great theatrical…
Labor Day Special Reissue Theory: Stephen Schwartz and James Taylor, “Working”
The Second Disc Archives are open! We’re reprising this look at a musical which united the talents of Stephen Schwartz, James Taylor, Mary Rodgers, Micki Grant and Craig Carnelia, while our story also features “appearances” along the way by Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Warnes and Rupert Holmes! Welcome to our Reissue Theory special: Working! On Monday, September 6, 2010, America celebrated its 128th Labor Day, all but the first 12 of them recognized as a federal holiday. Labor Day was designed as a holiday to celebrate the contributions, both…
Back Tracks: Rupert Holmes
“If you like pina coladas, and getting caught in the rain”…Come on, you know how it goes, sing along…“If you’re not into yoga, if you have half a brain…” So goes the song that got Rupert Holmes into the record books as singer/songwriter of the last No. 1 hit of the 1970s and the first of the 1980s. While it may be the most famous song penned by the idiosyncratic artist/composer/producer (and collaborator of artists ranging from Streisand to Sparks!), it’s merely the tip of the iceberg for Rupert Holmes. Over the course of…
