From all of us here at Second Disc HQ to all of you, we hope you've enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving in the company of beloved family and friends. Of course, from this day which conjures nostalgic and warm feelings comes a celebration of a different kind with this year's annual Black Friday Record Store Day event. In keeping with tradition, Mike, Randy, and Joe have once again selected some essential picks of the roughly 200 titles being released tomorrow at independent record stores
Though Heroes and Villains is the title of Grapefruit's new 3-CD anthology chronicling The Sound of Los Angeles 1965-68, that famous Beach Boys song isn't among its 90 selections. Not that Brian Wilson and co. are absent; the compilation instead presents another SMiLE tune, "Do You Like Worms (Roll Plymouth Rock)" as part of its portrait of a place and time in music history when it truly seemed anything was possible. U.K.-based compiler David Wells persuasively makes the case here that L.A.
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Who, WHO [Various Formats] (Polydor) Standard CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / The Who Online Store Deluxe CD: Target U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / The Who Online Store Standard LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / The Who Online Store Indie record shop 2LP edition: Bull Moose / HMV Deluxe 45rpm 2LP/EP: The Who Online Store Cassette: The Who Online Store Format Bundles: The Who Online Store Japan
On December 6, Real Gone Music will release a quartet of reissues from a diverse lineup of country-rock, jam band, pop, and avant-garde luminaries. First up is a limited-edition, 2-LP issue of Country Joe and the Fish's Live! Fillmore West 1969 which not only featured the legendary Berkeley band (with replacement bassist Jack Casady of Jefferson Airplane), but also their famous friends. Originally released on Vanguard in 1994, the raucous and ramshackle concert was recorded in January 1969
From all of us here at Second Disc HQ to all of you, we hope you've enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving in the company of beloved family and friends. Of course, from this day which conjures nostalgic and warm feelings comes a celebration of a different kind with this year's annual Black Friday shopping extravaganza - and Record Store Day's miniature cousin to April's yearly event. In keeping with TSD tradition, Joe, Randy, and Sam have elected our top picks of the numerous titles being released
Our continuing look at this year's Black Friday Record Store Day offering now brings us to Real Gone Music's three selections which will be available the day after Thanksgiving, November 23. You may purchase these at any participating independent record shop. (See the full list of shops here!) Roy Buchanan - Live at Town Hall 1974 Blues-rock guitarist Buchanan was famous for playing the Fender Telecaster with an effects-free technique and influencing many other musicians despite never
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Michelle Phillips, Victim of Romance: Expanded Edition (Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) "Mama" Michelle Phillips' 1977 solo album, produced by Jack Nitzsche, returns to CD in a new expanded edition collecting the artist's complete sessions with Nitzsche. It adds three outtakes from the album sessions, including a Bee Gees cover ("Had a Lot of Love Last Night"), Dennis Lambert and Fil Spina's "Practice What You Preach,"
We've filled you in about some of Real Gone Music's releases for June, including releases from Cheap Trick and The Quick, but now we've got word of a couple of more, this time from "Mama" Michelle Phillips and Keely Smith, both due June 1. The first is a reissue of Michelle Phillips' one and only solo album from 1977: Victim of Romance. This new edition features liner notes by our very own Joe Marchese. After the break-up of The Mamas & The Papas, Cass Elliott, Denny Doherty and John
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Dionne Warwick, Odds and Ends: Scepter Records Rarities (Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) From 1962 to 1971, Dionne Warwick, working primarily with songwriters/producers Burt Bacharach and Hal David, notched over twenty Top 40 hits on the Scepter label and garnered two Grammy Awards. Yet while there have been numerous reissues of Warwick's work at Scepter, some material has been overlooked. This new collection
Back in January 2016, Real Gone collected the complete singles of The Mamas & The Papas onto one 2-CD collection to celebrate the group's 50th anniversary. Two years later, on January 12, 2018, the label is turning its attention to a solo member of the band by releasing Of All the Things: The Complete ABC/Dunhill Masters by Denny Doherty, featuring Doherty's 1971 album Watcha Gonna Do together with other assorted tracks (including four unreleased) and including liner notes written by our
It's been more than 50 years since John Phillips, Michelle Phillips, Denny Doherty and Cass Elliot first joined their voices together in song as The Mamas and The Papas, yet the group's shimmering harmonies, rich melodies and affecting "words of love" are every bit as resonant today as during the turbulent 1960s. This month, the rich legacy of the California dreamers is being celebrated with a remarkable new 4-CD collection from TJ Lubinsky's TJL Productions! TJL (responsible for last year's
For his first solo album - and lone solo LP released during his lifetime - John Phillips was careful not to repeat himself. With The Mamas and the Papas in the rearview mirror at that moment in time, Papa John reinvented himself as John, The Wolfking of L.A. and surrounded himself with the day's top musicians to craft a beguiling, mellow portrait of Los Angeles circa 1970. Varese Vintage expanded this one-of-a-kind record on CD in 2006, and has recently issued it on a new 180-gram vinyl
Real Gone Music has had some of its most expansive collections released this winter. Today, Randy takes a look at three of them, from The Mamas and the Papas, King Curtis, and Nat "King" Cole! "You gotta go where you wanna go, do what you wanna do, with whoever you want to do it with..." From their very first single, 1966's "Go Where You Wanna Go," The Mamas and the Papas spread their singular brand of California sunshine. The group's songs espoused the
Welcome to our first Release Round-Up of 2016! The Mamas and the Papas, The Complete Singles: The 50th Anniversary Collection (Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Real Gone Music has 53 tracks on 2 CDs of pure pop pleasure from The Mamas and the Papas - as a group and solo - with this first-ever collection of their complete singles, just in time for their 50th anniversary! Full details here. J.D. Souther, John David Souther (Expanded Edition) (Omnivore)
From our vantage point here in Second Disc HQ, all the leaves really are brown and the sky is gray...making it the perfect day for some California dreamin'. Happily, we won't have to dream for too long, as on January 8, Real Gone Music has its first release of the year - and the label is making a complete singles collection for the Mamas and the Papas a reality. The Complete Singles--50th Anniversary Collection boasts 53 tracks and over 150 minutes of pop perfection on two CDs, including for
Songwriter, manager, A&R man, producer, director, impresario, diehard L.A. Lakers fan – in his eighty years, Lou Adler has worn all of those labels proudly. It’s hard to believe that the same man behind The Rocky Horror Show – both on stage and on screen – and Cheech and Chong’s Up in Smoke also helmed one of the most successful records ever in Carole King’s Tapestry, or that the same man penned a bona fide standard in Sam Cooke’s “Wonderful World.” But much of Lou Adler’s extraordinary
Burt Bacharach, Together? — Original Soundtrack Recording / Toomorrow: From the Harry Saltzman-Don Kirshner Film “Toomorrow” — Original Soundtrack Recording / The Mamas and the Papas, A Gathering of Flowers / Brotherhood, The Complete Recordings / Smith, A Group Called Smith/Minus-Plus / Troyka, Troyka / Jim Reeves, A Beautiful Life — Songs of Inspiration / The Grateful Dead, Dick’s Picks Vol. 20 — Capital Centre, Landover, MD 9/25/76 — Onondaga County War Memorial, Syracuse, NY 9/28/76 (Real
The announcement of Real Gone Music's release schedule for February 2014 would be cause for celebration any day of the week. But this particular day is special, as you're about to find out. In addition to an ironclad lineup that includes A Gathering of Flowers, the long out-of-print 1970 collection from The Mamas & The Papas; The Complete Recordings by Brotherhood, an unfairly obscure psych-rock band comprised of Phil Volk, Drake Levin and Mike "Smitty" Smith of Paul Revere & The
Nirvana, In Utero: 20th Anniversary Edition (DGC/UMe) The grunge icon's final album is greatly expanded in numerous formats for its two-decade mark, with B-sides, a new mix of the album and the band's Live and Loud concert feature from MTV on CD and DVD. Check the post above to figure out which one suits you best! 1CD Standard remaster: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 1CD Expanded remaster: Target (U.S.) 2CD Deluxe Edition: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 3CD/1DVD Super Deluxe Box: Amazon U.S. / Amazon
The folks at Sundazed are going where they wanna go with two new reissues from the classic catalogue of The Mamas and the Papas. The label is following their mono edition of the group’s 1966 debut If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears with 1967’s self-titled sophomore album in mono and third album The Mamas and the Papas Deliver in stereo. Both The Mamas and the Papas and Deliver are slated for release on September 24 in both vinyl and CD formats. It would be difficult for any band to top a
“I guess no matter what else we do, we’ll always be part of this thing called The Mamas & the Papas, with all its intense love-hate relationships.” So once admitted “Papa” John Phillips, and by all accounts, those familiar relationships flared up in 1971 when John, ex-wife Michelle Phillips, Denny Doherty and Cass Elliot reunited for what would turn out to be their final album together, People Like Us. Yet despite being a contractual obligation for the group, the LP turned out to be a work
John and Michy were gettin' kind of itchy/Just to leave the folk music behind/Zal and Denny workin' for a penny /Tryin' to get a fish on the line.. Those lyrics from The Mamas and the Papas’ 1967 “Creeque Alley” begin to tell the story of the famous band, and it’s one of eighteen tracks on a new compilation aiming to tell a bigger story: that of “The California Scene in the 1960s.” Yes, this story has been told more comprehensively elsewhere; see two of our favorite box sets dedicated to San
It's Tuesday, but most of the new music this week has already been out for a day. But assuming you were too busy to get out to the shops, here's a look at what's new. And there's quite a bit! Various Artists, Phil Spector Presents The Philles Album Collection (Phil Spector Records/Legacy) Six of the first seven Philles albums presented in mono, along with a bonus disc of those delightfully out-there instrumental B-sides. Seriously, have you heard any of them? They're crazy. In a good way, that
Since its formation on April 20, 1983, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has inducted a slate of accomplished musicians into its ranks on a yearly basis, causing excitement, consternation and everything in between. Though the worthiness of nominees and inductees is hotly debated with each “class” and a number of distinguished artists continue to be ignored year after year, one thing can be agreed upon: a lot of great music has been played for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It continues to host
Thanks to everyone's favorite all-consuming pop star Lady Gaga, this week's releases actually start a day earlier. Think of it as like being in England! New Kids on the Block/Backstreet Boys, NKOTBSB (Columbia/Jive/Legacy) Imagine a greatest hits EP for each band, augmented with three bonus tracks featuring all nine boy band members working together like some sort of insane, teenybopper Voltron. (Official site) The Monkees, The Monkees Present: Expanded Edition / Changes: Expanded