Thirty-five years ago today -- on Valentine's Day, 1985 -- Whitney Houston's self-titled debut was released. With three consecutive No. 1 singles, "You Give Good Love," "How Will I Know" and "Greatest Love Of All," the album was a smash hit that introduced listeners to one of the most talented vocalists of all time. Now, to celebrate that anniversary, Vinyl Me, Please will partner with Legacy Recordings to press a special 2LP, peaches-and-cream-colored 180-gram vinyl pressing. The first disc
This past April, New York's Radio City Music Hall hosted a prestigious premiere. The film was Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives, and the screening was accompanied by an all-star concert featuring Barry Manilow, Dionne Warwick, Aretha Franklin, Carly Simon, and others celebrating the life of the music legend. Beginning on October 3, Apple Music will exclusively stream the Chris Perkel-directed documentary, and today, September 27, Legacy Recordings has digitally released an exclusive
Cherry Red’s Big Break Records imprint has turned back the clock to 1979 for a pair of titles from the legendary roster of Philadelphia International Records. BBR has continued its journey through the catalogue of the late Teddy Pendergrass with an expanded reissue of his third PIR solo platter, simply entitled Teddy. Overseen by Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, the 1979 album followed in the footsteps of its predecessor, the previous year’s R&B chart-topper Life Is a Song Worth Singing, in
Big Break Records has recently reissued two albums from the late, great Teddy Pendergrass in remastered and expanded editions. 1980's TP, originally released on Philadelphia International Records, welcomed the smoldering soul man into the 1980s and premiered one of his most beloved recordings, "Love TKO." Eight years later, having survived a life-threatening accident, Pendergrass solidified his comeback with the Elektra LP Joy. By the time of 1980's platinum seller TP, the artist with the
This week's Release Round-Up is filled with reissues and anthologies from favorite artists on both CD and vinyl! Peter Noone and Micky Dolenz, An Evening with Peter Noone and Micky Dolenz (7a Records) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Today sees the U.S. release of one of the coolest titles so far of 2016! An Evening with Peter Noone and Micky Dolenz captures the candid, intimate conversations between the rock legends recorded earlier this year. The first CD in this
Blame it on "Bad Luck." Inexplicably, a proper, wide-release CD reissue has long eluded To Be True, the third of four LPs released by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes on Philadelphia International Records. Happily, Cherry Red's Big Break imprint has come to the rescue with a remastered and expanded edition of the 1975 chart-topping album that introduced the hit "Bad Luck." To Be True followed I Miss You and Black and Blue, both of which have already been reissued in expanded CD editions by
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, packed with box sets, reissues, special collections, and more! The Isley Brothers, The RCA Victor and T-Neck Album Masters (Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Legacy has boxed up 23 discs of The Isley Brothers - featuring every one of the group's RCA and T-Neck albums released between 1959 and 1983, including one previously unreleased album and a total of 84 previously unissued or new-to-CD bonus tracks! Every track has been newly-remastered
It's appropriate that Marvin Hamlisch's only children's book was titled Marvin Makes Music, for making music was indeed what the man did - music for Broadway, music for television, music for the concert hall, music for the silver screen. In any genre, Marvin made music overflowing with melody, wit and heart, and his populist approach earned him the nickname "the people's composer." Hamlisch's film career began in 1968 with the score to the cult film The Swimmer and ended with his
Big Country, Steeltown: Deluxe Edition (Mercury/UMC) The second, criminally underrated album by the Scottish rockers behind "In a Big Country" is remastered and expanded with a bonus disc of single sides and outtakes. (Amazon U.K. / Amazon U.S.) UPDATE: This one's been pushed back to September, folks! Philadelphia International: The Collection - 2o Original Albums / The Very Best of Teddy Pendergrass, Lou Rawls, The Three Degrees, The Intruders, The O’Jays, Billy Paul and Harold Melvin
UPDATED 4/9 WITH NEW INFORMATION, LINKS AND IMAGES: The love train is pulling back into the station. Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff’s Philadelphia International Records, distributed by CBS Records, began life in 1971 with the release of Billy Paul’s Going East on LP and The Ebonys’ “You’re the Reason Why” on 45. (Trivia fans, take note: Gideon Smith’s single “Arkansaw Wife” – yes, you read that right – has an earlier catalogue number, but the quintessentially Philly track by The Ebonys appears
Philadelphia International Records has turned 40, and you're invited to the party! Sony's Legacy Recordings thrilled fans earlier this year with the archival release of Golden Gate Groove, a Don Cornelius-hosted concert that brought together many of the label's biggest and brightest stars, from the O'Jays to Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes featuring Teddy Pendergrass. The folks across the pond at the Harmless label have already dropped Philadelphia International: The Re-Edits, with 21 tracks
Now's as good a time as any to get into the sweet sounds and lush arrangements of Philadelphia soul in the 1970s. 2011 marked the 40th anniversary of legendary writer/producers Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff's creation of a label that set the groundwork for some of the best soul and R&B sounds of the decade, and this year's seeing a lot of excellent catalogue projects honoring that legacy. We've already told you about Legacy's Golden Gate Groove: The Sound of Philadelphia Live in San
Derek and The Dominos, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs: 40th Anniversary Edition (Polydor/UMe) Unbeknownst to us at Second Disc HQ, a lot of weird stuff has been going on with this deluxe edition. It seems that, for whatever reason, the 2-CD edition of this set is retailing only at Best Buy until April 26, at which point it'll be released more widely. No extra material seems to be present, just a lengthy lead time in terms of exclusivity. Weird, man. And of course there's that super-deluxe
Here's a music DVD treat for you: Shout! Factory is releasing a live show from the vaults of the late, great Teddy Pendergrass. The former lead singer of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes was in rare form in this show recorded at London's Hammersmith Odeon in early 1982. The soul serenader had already racked up five consecutive platinum records between 1975 and 1980 - one with Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes and four on his own - and had recently enjoyed his latest Top 5 R&B hit,