Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles arriving in stores today! Daryl Hall, BeforeAfter (RCA/Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Daryl Hall is looking back with his first-ever solo anthology. BeforeAfter, curated by the artist, draws on all five of his acclaimed solo albums: the Robert Fripp-produced cult classic Sacred Songs (1980), Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine (1986, including the top five hit "Dreamtime" and top
Back in 2018, Omnivore Recordings released a never-before-heard recording from The Choir. Artifact: The Lost Album was a delightful trip back in time with the Cleveland garage-rock outfit. The rock 'n' rollers made their first splash with a 1966 single ("It's Cold Outside"). The regional hit on the Canadian-American label earned them national attention when it was re-released on Roulette and charted on the Billboard Hot 100. The band released a couple more 45s on Roulette through early 1968; a
Among its many exciting releases, Omnivore has a trio of albums due soon from three very different rock artists: Chris Hillman, pre-Raspberries band The Choir, and NRBQ. Last year, Chris Hillman (veteran of groups including The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Desert Rose Band, and supergroup The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band) released the acclaimed album Bidin' My Time - only his seventh solo album. Produced by Tom Petty (one of the late superstar's last projects), the LP reaffirmed
As we continue to make our way through the offerings for this year's Black Friday Record Store Day event coming on November 24, let's now look at what Omnivore Recordings has on tap with its three releases. First up is the 6-LP The Complete Chris Bell. This set, consisting of the solo output of the Big Star co-founder, reconfigures the material from earlier Omnivore CD releases: July's Looking Forward: The Roots of Big Star and September's I Am The Cosmos: Deluxe Edition. As a bonus, the
When news came through that Brooklyn label Manufactured Recordings was reissuing Tomorrow's Coming, the sole full-length LP by cult power-pop group The Modulators, we at Second Disc HQ knew we couldn't just do an ordinary news post. It's not just the music--although the music, a sugary-sweet blend of Raspberries-esque dream pop and Marshall Crenshaw-ian jangle-crunch, is thoroughly worth your time. Ultimately, our interest is piqued by the original label that released Tomorrow's Coming:
When Eric Carmen and Wally Bryson of Cyrus Eyrie teamed up with Jim Bonfanti and Dave Smalley of The Choir, the result was pop bliss. The Raspberries emerged from the ashes from the two bands, and over the course of four albums - three with the original line-up, and one with just Carmen and Bryson remaining - they came to define power pop. Yet today, some might wonder: Why is the Cleveland, Ohio band so fondly remembered despite only placing one Top 5 single in the U.S. and two more Top 20s?
Analog Spark is going all the way with its next vinyl LP reissue. The audiophile imprint of Razor and Tie has recently made a 180-gram deluxe reissue of The Raspberries' classic 1972 self-titled debut available on its website, with an arrival at Amazon and other retailers on March 11. Over the course of just four albums released between 1972 and 1974, The Raspberries positioned themselves as legitimate heirs to the thrones of The Beatles, The Beach Boys and The Byrds. With jangly guitars,
To our U.S. readers, today is the day of shopping known as Black Friday - but happily, the diverse slate of releases due in stores today should lift your spirits - no matter where you're located! Love, Reel to Real: Expanded Edition (High Moon Records) (Amazon U.S.) High Moon Records has the premiere reissue of Arthur Lee and Love's 1974 album Reel to Real as a newly-expanded Deluxe Edition boasting a color, 32-page booklet. A vinyl edition will follow early next year. Read more
The first track on Legacy Recordings’ new double-disc anthology The Essential Eric Carmen (Arista/Legacy 88883745522) is titled, appropriately enough, “Get the Message.” And the message relayed by its 30 nuggets comes through loud and clear: whether as power pop prince, classically-inspired MOR balladeer or nostalgic yet contemporary eighties rocker, Eric Carmen had the goods. Young lust never sounded as thrilling, as exuberant, or as pretty as it did in the hands of The Raspberries. Over