Today’s the day! The Record Store Day list is here, ramping up anticipation for the annual event which takes place at brick-and-mortar stores on Saturday, April 18. As expected, Rhino is leading the RSD pack with a whopping slate of over 50 titles scheduled to arrive in independent shops everywhere. The label has brought out many of its heaviest hitters, including David Bowie, The Doors, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Grateful Dead, Rod Stewart, Talking Heads, and Brian Wilson, among others. Head over to RecordStoreDay.com for the complete list of participating stores (and…
Release Round-Up: Week of October 31
Happy Halloween! 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. Bob Dylan, The Bootleg Series Vol. 18: Through the Open Window (Columbia/Legacy) 8CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 4LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada The beginnings of Bob Dylan’s long and extraordinary career are being revisited by Columbia and Legacy Recordings on the eighteenth installment of the artist’s long-running Bootleg Series. Through the Open Window: The Bootleg Series Vol. 18 (1956-1963) arrives on 8 CDs as well as…
Release Round-Up: Week of October 3
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. Oasis, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? 30th Anniversary Edition (Big Brother) 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Oasis have a slightly expanded edition of 1995’s (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? on tap, pairing a 2014 remaster of the album (which initially came with additional bonus material) with a bonus EP of new unplugged mixes of four of the album’s tracks (plus a non-album B-side, “Acquiesce”). The group’s songwriter/guitarist Noel…
It’s Magic: The Cars’ ‘Heartbeat City’ Beats Strong in New Deluxe Edition
Hello again! The Cars’ penultimate album and biggest commercial success is coming back in a box set this year. Rhino will reissue the group’s Heartbeat City as a 4CD/1LP set on October 31, a year-delayed 40th anniversary celebration that’ll include the original album on CD and vinyl alongside a wealth of bonus material (including tracks featured on previous expanded editions of not only this album but 1980’s Panorama). Highlights include the non-album B-side “Breakaway,” remixes of the single “Hello Again,” a number of early versions and demos (including one of standout track “Drive” as…
Release Round-Up: Week of July 25
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. Talking Heads, More Songs About Buildings and Food: Deluxe Edition (Rhino) 3CD/Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Rough Trade (Red) / D2C Exclusive (2LP/4×7″) 4LP: D2C Exclusive (and 4LP/2×7″) Rhino is taking Talking Heads fans to the river with a new deluxe edition: a 3CD/Blu-ray edition of the group’s 1978 sophomore album More Songs About Buildings and Food. The box includes the remastered original album alongside a bonus disc of rare studio material…
Baby I’m-A Want You: Elektra Celebrates 75 Years with Monthlong Initiative
Jac Holzman was still in college when he and pal Paul Rickolt each chipped in three hundred bucks to start a record company. That label, Elektra Records – so named for Greek mythology’s daughter of Atlas and Pleione, but with the “c” swapped out for a “k” – inaugurated its catalogue with the simply-titled New Songs, an album of poetry settings by composer-pianist John Gruen. Elektra soon shifted its emphasis to folk music, growing its discography with recordings by Theodore Bikel, Josh White, Judy Collins, Oscar Brand, and Tom Paxton before branching…
The Weekend Stream: April 25, 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. Strap in for a killer line-up of titles this week: two more Record Store Day debuts, an incredible posthumous collaboration between two ’80s icons, the return of one of glam’s most beloved bands, new music by some of our favorite pop girls, a hotly anticipated new take on a Broadway favorite, exciting moments in gospel/soul, an exciting new song from a forthcoming West End musical by one of…
Listen to the Music: Rhino’s Rocktober Slate Features Doobie Brothers, Yes, Fleetwood Mac, Monkees, More
Rhino’s annual Rocktober campaign – this year encompassing 43 limited edition colored vinyl reissues of rockers both classic and contemporary – kicked off on October 4 with titles from Black Sabbath, Bush, Deep Purple, Devo, The Doobie Brothers, Fleetwood Mac, The Monkees, Stone Temple Pilots, and more. Next, on October 18, the collection will grow to include releases from Ramones and The Velvet Underground. The slate concludes on October 25 with The Cars, Foghat, Iron Butterfly, and more, including a second volume of Yes’ Yessingles. As usual, Rocktober titles will only be…
Just What I Needed: Rhino Launches Hi-Fi Audiophile Series with The Cars, John Coltrane
For years, Rhino has licensed titles from its catalogue to various audiophile labels. Now, Rhino is jumping into the audiophile vinyl market itself with the Rhino High Fidelity line. This series of limited, numbered reissues has kicked off with The Cars’ 1978 debut album, first released on Elektra, and John Coltrane’s 1964 Coltrane’s Sound, originally issued on Atlantic. Both titles are available now. Two more classic albums will follow each quarter. With the release of The Cars, the Boston quintet (singer/guitarist Ric Ocasek, singer/bassist Benjamin Orr, lead guitarist Elliott Easton, keyboardist Greg…
The Message is Love: Demon Preps Box Set of Arthur Baker Remixes
Demon Music Group scored a real coup in 2021 with the release of Dance Masters: Shep Pettibone (The Classic Master Mixes), a box set devoted to the stellar late ’80s and early ’90s remixer. The branding on the set indicated that Dance Masters was to be a series, presented by another remixing great: American DJ/producer Arthur Baker. Now, two years later, another Dance Masters set is forthcoming, focused on the work of Baker himself. Dance Masters: Arthur Baker (The Classic Dance Remixes), due July 7, will bring Baker’s work behind the mixing…
Shake It Up! Rhino Announces Offering for Start Your Ear Off Right 2021
Rhino’s annual resolve to Start Your Ear Off Right continues into 2021 with new and exclusive, limited-edition releases to be released throughout January. The campaign begins today and includes titles by a diverse lineup: Billie Joe Armstrong and Norah Jones, Buffalo Springfield, The Cars, Dire Straits, Danny Elfman, Genesis, k.d. lang, Curtis Mayfield, John Prine, Talk Talk, and Talking Heads. You can find all the details about these releases below, and be sure to grab these releases from your favorite independent record shop or their online storefronts as well as select Barnes…
Release Round-Up: Week of November 23
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! CHIC, The CHIC Organization 1977-1979 (Atlantic/Rhino) 5CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 6LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada This new box set, available in 5-CD and 6-LP formats, brings together new Nile Rodgers Signature Edition remasters of CHIC’s first three albums plus Sister Sledge’s CHIC-produced We Are Family and a bonus disc of period single edits and 12-inch mixes. The vinyl edition includes additional text in the booklet as well as a bonus 12-inch replica single of the original Buddah…
Holding Back the Years: Rhino to Deliver Reimagined Orchestral Classics with “’80s Symphonic”
Looking back from a vantage point thirty years on, there’s no denying the special place that the 1980s have in the history of popular music. It was a decade that surveyed past musical ground while simultaneously advancing the art form further, making an indelible mark on music to come. With dancefloor grooves, yearning ballads, infectious pop, and more, it was a decade of great music. Now, Rhino has announced a new collection that reimagines some of the smash hits from the decade: 80s Symphonic. The album, which arrives to CD and digital…
Release Round-Up: Week of March 30
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! The Cars, Shake It Up: Expanded Edition (Elektra/Rhino) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada The Cars reissue their 1981 LP featuring the hit title track “Shake It Up” on CD and double vinyl, featuring eight bonus tracks including previously unreleased demos and alternate and early versions. The Cars, Heartbeat City: Expanded Edition (Elektra/Rhino) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada This expanded edition…
Hello Again: Rhino to Expand, Reissue Two Albums by The Cars
Following expansions of The Cars’ Candy-O and Panorama, the classic New Wave group (one of this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees) will expand two more in their classic discography in the spring. Rhino Records will release 1981’s Shake It Up and 1984’s Heartbeat City with rare and previously unreleased bonus tracks on March 30. CD and double LP editions will be available, and will utilize the 2016 remasters overseen by co-lead singer Ric Ocasek as well as art direction overseen by drummer David Robinson. (For the box set The…
Release Round-Up: Week of July 28
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up! Elvis Presley, A Boy From Tupelo – The Complete 1953-55 Recordings (RCA/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K.) A Boy From Tupelo: The Complete Recordings 1953-1955 journeys back to the birth of rock-and-roll to feature, on three CDs and digitally, every known Elvis Presley Sun Records master and outtake. In addition, the collection also contains Elvis’ four earliest, privately-pressed sides, and vintage radio and concert performances from the period, for a total of 73 tracks – including one previously unreleased, newly-discovered recording, “I Forgot to Remember to Forget” from the Louisiana Hayride, Shreveport,…
Let’s Go! Rhino Revs Up Cars Reissues
Just weeks after debuting the previously unissued Live At The Agora, 1978 on vinyl for Record Store Day, Rhino Records is preparing for two expanded editions of classic albums by The Cars this summer. Reissues of their second and third albums, Candy-O and Panorama, will bow in July. With The Cars’ 1978 self-titled debut, the Boston quintet (singer/guitarist Ric Ocasek, singer/bassist Benjamin Orr, lead guitarist Elliott Easton, keyboardist Greg Hawkes and drummer David Robinson) became one of the first bands in America to fuse traditional rock with the rising trends of synth-based…
Ten Years Strong: The Second Disc’s 2017 Record Store Day Must-Haves
Welcome to our annual rundown of Must-Haves for this year’s Record Store Day event! Once you’re through reading, let us know what you’re most looking forward to picking up tomorrow at your favorite local independent retailer! Our list features just a sampling of our favorites from our friends at Legacy Recordings, Varese Sarabande, Rhino Records, Walt Disney Records, Real Gone Music, Omnivore Recordings, and many more! Mike’s kicking things off… This year’s Record Store Day offerings include some excellent archival live releases and a couple cool looking packages I wouldn’t mind adding…
Warner Music Plans Record Store Day Bonanza
Record Store Day has been an institution for a decade now, so leave it to this year’s 10th anniversary event to be one of the biggest! We’ve already shone the spotlight on releases by David Bowie, Paul McCartney, Prince, Omnivore Recordings and Legacy Recordings; now, it’s time to take a look at Warner Music’s incredibly generous lineup. Over 30 titles will be featured from the label group at independent record stores on Saturday, April 22. There’s really something for everyone: vintage 12″ singles from the likes of Madonna, Jane’s Addiction and Deee-Lite;…
Rhino, Omnivore Plan Black Friday Gold For Record Store Day
That chill in the air and the buzz in your favorite record store can only mean one thing: Record Store Day Black Friday is nearly upon us! On November 25, indie record retailers and labels great and small will partner together to issue dozens of exclusive packages you can’t get anywhere else (except maybe eBay, after the fact, though we’re not happy about that.) The vinyl boom refuses to end, but owing to the lesser size of the event in general, there don’t seem to be as many titles as usual. That…
Release Round-Up: Week of May 6
Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up featuring Second Disc Records’ very first title of 2016, plus more fantastic releases from our partners at Real Gone Music and titles from Brian Wilson, The Cars, and more! Bobby Darin, Another Song on My Mind: The Motown Years (Second Disc/Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) We know that you all know about this one…it’s the ultimate celebration of Bobby Darin’s time at Motown Records on 2 CDs, newly remastered from the original analog tapes by Kevin Reeves and featuring my liner notes based on new interviews…
Release Round-Up: Week of March 11
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 deluxe new package presents the conversation from January 7 recorded at Westbury,…
Let the Good Times Roll: New Cars Box and Compilation Announced
Though The Cars didn’t make it into this year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class, it’s always a good time to remember the Boston-based New Wave icons–and a new box set and compilation aim to do just that. On March 11, Rhino will release The Elektra Years 1978-1987, a six-disc box set offering all six of the band’s albums–The Cars (1978), Candy-O (1979), Panorama (1980), Shake It Up (1981), Heartbeat City (1984) and Door to Door (1987)–all newly remastered. (This marks the first time that any album outside of the band’s…
Rhino Charges Into January with New Colored Vinyl Titles, CD Box Sets
Rhino Records has quite the cure for the usual January doldrums that hit the release calendar, announcing more than a dozen new and reissued titles available exclusively through participating physical stores. The “Start Your Ear Off Right” initiative, featuring titles available January 19, encompass some of the best-known names in Rhino’s back catalogue, including The Grateful Dead, The Monkees, Devo, The Cars and The Replacements. From colored vinyl variants to CD box sets, there’s virtually something for everyone here. And just what will you find? Read on and find out! Bad Company,…
Tom Petty, The Clash, Dire Straits, Pat Benatar Featured On “The Best of Fridays”
When ABC-TV’s Fridays premiered on April 11, 1980, its agenda was not a hidden one: to grab a piece of the lucrative late-night comedy pie from NBC’s Saturday Night Live. Less than a year later, on March 10, 1981, The New York Times was trumpeting in a headline, “How ‘Fridays’ Beat ‘Saturday Night.’” Of course, Fridays’ domination didn’t last, and the program was off the air after just three seasons. The series has mainly lived on due to the infamous incident in which Andy Kaufman and Michael Richards got into a mock…

























