Lift the lid off the giant box set (and objet d'art) The John Lennon Signature Box (EMI/Capitol 50999 906509 2 5) and you'll see the word "YES" jumping out at you. YES is a good reaction to the thought of having (mostly) all of John Lennon's solo studio output available in one place, remastered largely by the same team responsible for last year's Beatles reissues, and accompanied by a hardcover book and art print. Is The John Lennon Signature Box, and its companion discs, an unqualified YES,
After months during which EMI kept us all guessing, official specs were finally released for the Apple Records reissue campaign, and The Second Disc duly reported that information back on August 5. As with most projects related to The Beatles and/or Apple Corps, however, there were as many questions as answers, even after the “final” information had been posted on the official Apple website. For one thing, why downloads? Fans were sharply divided as to how they felt about the practice of
Fans of Paul McCartney are going to have to wait just a little bit longer for Concord to kick off its catalogue reissue campaign, as the remastered editions of Band on the Run have been pushed back from September 28 to November 2, a little less than a month after EMI’s massive batch of John Lennon reissues drop. Concord has been keeping all information pertaining to this release close to the vest, but details have finally emerged. The 1973 classic by McCartney and Wings (his fifth solo release
For casual buyers who didn't get swept up in Beatlemania with the massive remaster/reissue project last year, EMI will reissue The Beatles' 1962-1966 and 1967-1970, arguably two of the most recognizable compilations of The Fab Four in history. Known to many as the "Red" and "Blue" albums, these double-disc sets provided a concise anthology of John, Paul, George and Ringo's hits and notable album sides. (We wouldn't be surprised if some of our younger readers cut their teeth on these sets.) While
Apple has announced the full, final specs for its upcoming swath of reissues, and they've managed to include some surprises that weren't previously known about. The Second Disc posted a rundown last month of some planned bonus tracks based on a beta version of Apple Records' Web site. Now, the site offers a full press release and track list details for every one of the upcoming releases. Not only does nearly every reissue now contain bonus tracks (including the James Taylor and Jackie Lomax
What has it been, two weeks since The Second Disc promised a continuation of our Back Tracks series regarding the Apple Records discography? Regardless of the gap, it's time to continue our look back. Part 1 covered all the previous reissues of the records that are to be reissued in October. Part 2 will cover all the Apple releases that involve The Beatles; by this, we mean anything that had a Beatle involved by name.* (For the sake of clarity, we're not including anything actually by The
The news of the Apple Records catalogue getting a new remastering and reissuing is one of the many catalogue stories one should file under "cautious optimism." It is awesome to have these classic, underappreciated records from luminaries like Badfinger, James Taylor and Billy Preston back into local record shops, bearing fresh digital remasters by the team that did a pretty darn good job on last year's Beatles remasters. But there are things we have to remember as fans. First, pretty much all
Well, it's happening: NME is reporting that Apple Records remasters are on their way October 25. No label has been specified (recall the rumors that Rhino, not EMI, was working on these), but the albums in question have been. Cautious optimism abounds, as there hasn't been any discussion of bonus tracks or any additional material. (UPDATE 7/7/2010: An official release has been issued and can be read here. Looks like EMI is doing these, with promises of some bonus material and digital releases -
A quick, relatively inconsequential bit from gossipy gadfly Roger Friedman: he's apparently getting word that EMI/Capitol is planning to start overhauling the much-in-need-of-overhauling catalogue of Apple Records. As any Beatlemaniac can tell you, Apple Records was The Beatles' own label, created in 1968 (part and parcel of the whole Apple Corps unit The Fab Four had spearheaded). Although the band broke up not long after its creation, Apple would be the home to several notable names through
There's a lot of older music fans out there who would give anything to "bring things back" - whatever that might mean to them. Bring it back to the days of radio hits, record stores and so on. Optimistic though we may be, we're pretty much resigned to the fact that most things aren't going to revert back to the way they were. One notable exception exists in the catalogue world, though: it's a simple four-letter word that is quite literally changing the way we listen to our older music. It's
I've been listening to Pet Sounds a lot lately. Maybe it's the dreary weather; whenever I put on some Beach Boys things feel a bit sunnier. But it's a heck of a record (as I'm sure most of you know) - one of those rarified few that's hard to chop down entirely. It's also fascinating that it's one on a rather short list of pop albums that have supported its own box set. The sprawling The Pet Sounds Sessions, released in 1997, chronicles the process of the album through alternate mixes, outtakes,
I found this funny enough to warrant its own post: I spent the weekend debunking some rumors about the presence of the original master of The Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" on one of the last episodes of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. What I almost completely overlooked was another back catalogue-oriented news story that sprung up from the last episode. Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, drummer for The Roots (a great R&B group in their own right and the house band for Late
Good evening and welcome to The Second Disc! Assuming you've taken a look at the page where I've explained this blog, I'd like to present a list of some of the best catalogue titles released to the public during the past year. This year was just as full of complaints about the demise of the music industry as ever (I guess part of this can be blamed on the general economic malaise gripping us all), but this really seemed to be a great year for reissues and box sets of all sorts. Two notes before
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