Sixty years ago today – May 16, 1966 – The Beach Boys released Pet Sounds on Capitol Records. Though the album wasn’t commercially successful upon its original release, it came to be regarded as a high watermark not just for The Beach Boys, but for American popular music itself. The Beach Boys have just celebrated 60 years of Pet Sounds (as well as its timeless songs including “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “God Only Knows,” and “Sloop John B”) with a Capitol Tower reunion of Mike Love, Al Jardine, and Bruce Johnston; a…
The Weekend Stream: May 16, 2026
Welcome back to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles making digital debuts, plus new works from legacy acts and even some personally curated favorites. This week has a collection of outtakes from one of the greatest albums ever made, a breezy theme song to a popular web series, fantastic new film scores, an unheard recording from Peggy Lee and a frankly stunning amount of songs about horses. Plus our tributes to those we lost recently, and a cool arts-related documentary project worthy of your…
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Release Round-Up: Week of May 15
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. The Beach Boys, Pet Sounds 60 [Various Formats] (Capitol/UMe) Pet Sounds: 1LP Zoetrope Vinyl: uDiscoverMusic.com / TheBeachBoys.com 1LP Definitive Sound Series: Capitol Records Store 2LP Mono/Stereo Vinylphyle: uDiscoverMusic.com / TheBeachBoys.com The Pet Sounds Sessions [Highlights]: 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / uDiscoverMusic.com / TheBeachBoys.com 2LP (Green and White Splatter Vinyl): uDiscoverMusic.com / TheBeachBoys.com 2LP (Black Vinyl): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / uDiscoverMusic.com / TheBeachBoys.com 2LP (Yellow Vinyl): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Link TBD Today – nearly 60 years to the day the original album first reached stores in…
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Review: The Beach Boys, “We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years” Part 2 – “Adult/Child”
Few long-running groups can claim one mythical “lost album.” But for decades, The Beach Boys were able to claim two. The first, of course, was SMiLE – the late Brian Wilson’s masterwork in the wake of Pet Sounds that pushed the envelope of popular music and conventional song structure. The second was a very different album from a very different Brian Wilson. It’s finally seen its first near-complete release from Capitol/UMe as part of The Beach Boys’ 3CD/3LP box set We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years which also chronicles the making…
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The Weekend Stream: April 25, 2026
Welcome back to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles making digital debuts, plus new works from legacy acts and even some personally curated favorites. Some of our favorites lead this pack: an archival Prince single, a new Duran Duran song, a vintage George Michael EP, outtakes from The Beach Boys, demos from Andy Partridge – and plenty more where that came from. Prince, “With This Tear” (NPG/Legacy) (Apple / Amazon) Last Tuesday, the 10th anniversary of Prince’s death, The Artist’s estate released the latest posthumous…
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The Weekend Stream: March 28, 2026
Welcome back to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles making digital debuts, plus new works from legacy acts and even some personally curated favorites. This week is delivering the goods: vintage George Michael mixes, Beach Boys rarities, new tracks from some of our favorite elder statesmen of pop and rock, and so much more in so many genres. George Michael, I Want Your Sex EP (Columbia/Legacy) (Apple / Amazon) There’s things that you guess and things that you know – but we honestly weren’t expecting this!…
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Made For These Times: The Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” Revisited in Multiple Formats for 60th Anniversary
Beach Boys Week continues here at The Second Disc with news of the upcoming Pet Sounds 60 titles! Click here to read Part One of our review of the band’s We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years box set. “I figure no one is educated musically ‘til they’ve heard [Pet Sounds],” Paul McCartney once said of The Beach Boys’ classic, released nearly 60 years ago on May 16, 1966. George Martin concurred: “Without Pet Sounds, Sgt. Pepper wouldn’t have happened.” Brian Wilson poured his musical heart into the album’s thirteen tracks; in less than thirty-five…
Review: The Beach Boys, “We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years” Part 1 – “15 Big Ones,” “The Beach Boys Love You”
What I remember is “Brian’s Back” was a campaign for a record company, but it was far more than that for all the rest of us. – Mike Love, February 12, 2026 At the recent Grammy Museum event celebrating the release of The Beach Boys’ latest box set, the 3CD/3LP We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years, a visibly emotional Mike Love recounted the media frenzy that surrounded Brian Wilson’s so-called comeback. The Beach Boys’ onetime leader and creative visionary had largely retreated from the producer’s chair after the shelved SMiLE sessions;…
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Release Round-Up: Week of February 13
It may be Friday the 13th, but this week’s releases are hardly a scary lot! Here’s a selection of some of the new titles available today. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. The Beach Boys, We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years (Capitol/UMe) 3CD/3LP: Official Store / uDiscoverMusic 3 SHM-CD: CDJapan Over three years after the release of Sail On Sailor: 1972, The Beach Boys’ long-running archival series is back in full force with a new box set available today (with new orders scheduled to ship on March 20). We Gotta Groove: The…
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Still I Dream of It: The Beach Boys’ ‘We Gotta Groove’ Highlights ‘Love You,’ ’15 Big Ones,’ ‘Adult/Child’ Eras
Over three years after the release of Sail On Sailor: 1972, The Beach Boys’ long-running archival series is back in full force with a new box set due on February 13. We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years brings together highlights from the band’s 1974-1977 period, with the title referring to the band’s own Santa Monica studio. The set will look a bit different than the past releases in this series, eschewing separate CD and LP formats for a combined 3LP/3CD box with a number of tracks only in the CD format. (UPDATE…
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Step Into Christmas: UMe Preps Holiday Singles Box, Expansion of Connie Francis’ Holiday Album
With the spookiest holidays of the fall now in the rear view mirror (that’s right: Halloween and Election Day!), there’s nothing wrong with looking ahead to the Christmas music season and checking out a pair of now-available titles from Universal Music Group spotlighting some of their classic holiday hits and an album by one of catalogue’s biggest success stories this year. UMe is selling a nifty collection of more than a dozen seasonal 7″ singles in a collectible carrying case. This Classic Holiday Singles Box features Christmas perennials spanning from the ’40s to…
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Sunshine All The Time: Omnivore’s “Something There: Remembering Jeffrey Foskett” Is OUT NOW!
Jeffrey Foskett surely embodied the California Dream. The San Jose native his dues gigging around the Golden State with such early bands as Reverie and The Pranks. A knock on Brian Wilson’s door in 1976 led to a long friendship with the Beach Boy, while Wilson’s cousin Mike Love became a Foskett fan three years later upon hearing Reverie live in a Santa Barbara bar. Love brought Foskett into the Beach Boys fold – first in The Endless Summer Beach Band, then in the Beach Boys themselves. Gifted with an ethereal falsetto,…
The Weekend Stream: June 14, 2025
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 we’ve got it all, from Bakersfield country to Billy Joel on Broadway; actors who sing and singer-songwriters who act in short films; Tony Joe White going disco and Josh Groban’s hits going super-size. You’ll find something to love – we guarantee it! Wynn Stewart, Songs of Wynn Stewart (Capitol Nashville) (Apple / Amazon) After starting his major label career in the mid-’50s on Capitol, country singer/songwriter Wynn Stewart…
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In Memoriam: Brian Wilson (1942-2025)
The passing of The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson on June 11, 2025 – just two days after the loss of another singular titan of ’60s pop/rock, Sly Stone – obviously hits Team Second Disc and all our treasured readers hard. Here’s a brief tribute from Mike to a man who could hear (and create) music like no other. There are really two things I want to get out of the way in talking, briefly, about Brian Wilson. I could go on at length about his raw talent: the ways every person on…
Splash City: Omnivore Celebrates Jeffrey Foskett on “Something There” Featuring Brian Wilson, Mike Love, America, More
Jeffrey Foskett surely embodied the California Dream. The San Jose native his dues gigging around the Golden State with such early bands as Reverie and The Pranks. A knock on Brian Wilson’s door in 1976 led to a long friendship with the Beach Boy, while Wilson’s cousin Mike Love became a Foskett fan three years later upon hearing Reverie live in a Santa Barbara bar. Love brought Foskett into the Beach Boys fold – first in The Endless Summer Beach Band, then in the Beach Boys themselves. Gifted with an ethereal falsetto,…
The Weekend Stream: May 31, 2025
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. We’ve got solo appearances aplenty: Bono, Al Jardine, Grace Potter, John Fogerty, and more new/old music – plus a new subscription service from Crowded House, a Barry Manilow music video, and a tribute to one of the undisputed guitar gods of his generation. Bono, Stories of Surrender EP (Island/Interscope/UMe) (Apple / Amazon) In 2023, U2 frontman Bono embarked on his first ever solo tour, promoting the memoir Surrender: 40 Songs, One…
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Record Store Day 2025: The Best of the Rest
Next Saturday, April 12, is certainly one of the most packed Record Store Days in recent memory. Since the list was announced, we drilled down on titles from Craft Recordings, Legacy Recordings, Rhino Records, Universal Music Group, Real Gone Music, Omnivore Recordings, BMG, Cooking Vinyl and Demon Music Group, as well as some notable titles that were getting later general releases on CD. Well, if you thought that was it, you’re wrong! We pored and pored over the list and are here to share with you more than four dozen one-offs, archival…
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The Weekend Stream: November 23, 2024
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. We’ve got Beach Boys covers with some fascinating history related to the band, a tribute to one of the greatest musical icons we lost this year, a new single from a legend of R&B and much more – plus a call to action to help a family in need. California Music, Don’t Worry Baby EP (RCA) (iTunes / Amazon) One of the most unusual branches of the sprawling family tree…
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The Weekend Stream: May 25, 2024
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 has another rare track by Prince, promo for the new Beach Boys documentary, a powerful new remix by a legendary diva and more! Prince, “Silver Tongue” (NPG/Legacy) (iTunes / Amazon) A third Musicology-era rarity has landed digitally, following “United States of Division” and “Magnificent.” “Silver Tongue” was a “virtual B-side” to “Call My Name” from the 2004 album, a rare co-write between The Artist and singer Nikka Costa, who…
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Made For These Times: The Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” Arrives in Dolby Atmos, Mixed by Giles Martin
When The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, the band’s eleventh studio album, first was released in May 1966, response in the U.S. was surprisingly tepid. Though both “Sloop John B” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” soared to the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100, Capitol Records was unsure how to promote the album which represented an artistic zenith, and the beginning of a new era, for The Beach Boys. It peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard 200 and was the group’s first album since 1963 to miss a Gold certification. (The…
The Weekend Stream: May 20, 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.From Rufus Wainwright to Lana Del Rey, Donna Summer to ZTT, we’re bringing you the goods. Rufus Wainwright, Rufus Wainwright (25th Anniversary Edition) (Geffen/UMe) (iTunes / Amazon) One of the best-reviewed albums of 1998 was the baroque-pop debut from singer/songwriter Rufus Wainright. With an incredible family pedigree (his parents are Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle), he carved an…
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The Year In Review: The 2022 Gold Bonus Disc Awards, From A to Z – Part Two
Happy 2023! Welcome, friends, to The Second Disc’s 13th Annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards! A lot has happened in the last twelve months, but as we look to a new year with optimism and a hopeful spirit, we recognize the many roles music has played in our lives. With that spirit in mind, The Second Disc wishes to recognize 2022’s cream of the catalogue music crop – those exemplary reissues and box sets, big and small, that proved to be truly outstanding for music lovers worldwide. Despite the many delays caused by…
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Holiday Gift Guide Review: The Beach Boys, “Sail on Sailor: 1972”
I need a whole lot of sunshine to keep my sundial advancing… Who were The Beach Boys? Hawthorne, California’s favorite sons might have been asking themselves that very question in 1972. Their creative leader was withdrawing further into himself and musical tastes were changing: where did that leave them? This period of adjustment was first chronicled on last year’s superlative Feel Flows: The Sunflower and Surf’s Up Sessions 1969-1971 box set. The story begun on that collection continues on the new Sail on Sailor: 1972. Adorned with a striking cover, it’s been…
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Release Round-Up: Week of December 2
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles in stores this week! The Beach Boys, Sail On Sailor: 1972 (Capitol/UMe) 6CD Super Deluxe: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2CD Highlights (Remastered Albums plus bonus tracks): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 5LP+7″ Super Deluxe Vinyl Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 5LP+7″ Super Deluxe Vinyl Edition (Limited Edition): Beach Boys Store 2LP+7″ Remastered Albums Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP+7″ Remastered Albums Vinyl (Limited Edition): Beach Boys Store Sail On Sailor – 1972 continues the story of The Beach Boys where the 2021 box set Feel Flows: The Sunflower…
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The Weekend Stream: November 12, 2022
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. This week features a new version of a pop legend’s most recent compilation, great proto-Motown soul, an expanded version of Robert Glasper’s breakout album, Bon Jovi in Spanish(?) and a heap of early Christmas gifts. Check it out! Elton John, Diamonds (Deluxe) (Virgin/EMI) (iTunes / Amazon) Elton John’s 2017 compilation has been a considerable chart mainstay since its…
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