La-La Land Records continues its hot streak with an expanded score and soundtrack release of one of the biggest blockbusters of the ’80s: Harold Faltermeyer’s score to the 1986 action classic Top Gun. The 2CD set, limited to 5000 copies, features Faltermeyer’s complete, electronic-infused score to Tony Scott’s film about a squadron of Navy pilots training in an elite program colloquially known as – you guessed it – Top Gun. Tom Cruise stars as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, a talented but reckless pilot who must learn honor and responsibility alongside his instructor-turned-love interestCharlie Blackwood (Kelly…
The Weekend Stream: September 18, 2021
While The Second Disc prides itself on connecting people to reissues and box sets they can keep on their shelves, it’s no secret that listening audiences are also digital – catalogue music lovers, too – and our passion is connecting people to music from the past that they might adore. So we’ve introduced a new feature: The Weekend Stream, which focuses on hidden gems that recently made it to digital channels that might make your playlists a little brighter! The Beatles, Get Back (Take 8) EP (Apple/Capitol/UMe) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify)…
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A Second Disc Interview: TJ Lubinsky Shares Details on New “Rock, Pop, and Doo Wop” DVD Set
“Be My Baby.” “Can’t Take My Eyes off You.” “Stand by Me.” “You Don’t Own Me.” Songs such as these not only defined the era in which they were first written and performed, but continue to resonate today. They’re just four of the classic songs included on an upcoming 7-DVD set from Treasury Collection that serves as a definitive concert anthology of classic American R&B music. Rock, Pop, and Doo Wop has been curated by executive producer and director TJ Lubinsky from his acclaimed onstage reunions of original artists performing their biggest…
Review: Bobby Hatfield, “Stay with Me: The Richard Perry Sessions”
During rehearsals for their landmark single “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’,” Righteous Brother Bobby Hatfield reportedly asked producer/co-writer Phil Spector just what he was supposed to do while Bill Medley took the lead on the powerful song. Spector’s reply? “Go to the bank!” The producer wasn’t kidding, as the anthemic ballad became a No. 1 on both sides of the Atlantic, the fifth best-selling song of the U.S. in 1965, and the most-played song on radio and television of the entire 20th century. Hatfield would have his chance to shine with the…
Unchained Melodies: Omnivore Premieres Bobby Hatfield’s Lost Sessions with Richard Perry
Omnivore Recordings is getting righteous – make that Righteous – with an upcoming release. In 1971, Bobby Hatfield of The Righteous Brothers was on his own. He and partner Bill Medley had split in 1968, and while Medley quickly struck as a solo artist, Hatfield persevered as a Righteous Brother with the enlistment of The Knickerbockers’ Jimmy Walker. But the new duo’s Re-Birth album hadn’t achieved much success, and Hatfield decided to go it alone (again; he had previously released a number of solo singles as well as the 1970 album Messin’…
Soul and Inspiration: Ace Collects Righteous Brother Bobby Hatfield’s Solo Recordings
There’s only one word for Ace Records’ superlative new collection of the solo recordings of the late Bobby Hatfield: righteous! The Other Brother: A Solo Anthology 1965-1970 brings together 24 sides from the tenor half of The Righteous Brothers including the entirety of his 1970 MGM Records album Messin’ at Muscle Shoals, rare singles, all surviving previously unreleased tracks from both MGM and Verve (seven songs in total), and more. The story of The Righteous Brothers’ 1964 hit “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” – the most-played record of all time on American…
All Aboard! Ace Collects “London American Label: 1966” and “25 Train Tracks”
Ace is saying “All Aboard!” with a pair of recent releases spotlighting the label’s pursuit of the diverse sounds of music. The London American Label Year by Year: 1966 continues Ace’s long-running survey of the American sides issued on London Records in the U.K. between the 1950s and the 1970s while All Aboard! 25 Train Tracks Calling at All Musical Stations spotlights (you guessed it!) “train songs.” The eleventh volume of Ace’s The London American Label series is here, with 28 selections from the year 1966. With this edition, Ace has now surveyed…
Unchained Melodies: Ace Collects “The London American Label 1965” with The Righteous Brothers, Burt Bacharach, The Vogues, More
With the recently-released tenth volume of its year-by-year chronicle, Ace’s The London American Label series revisits 1965. Though America was swept up in the sounds of the British Invasion, Great Britain was still interested in the music from the United States – as evidenced by the 27 selections here drawn from 72 singles. That said, the tide was turning; London American issued 109 singles in 1964 and 177 in 1963. Hit-wise, though, the London American label yielded 11 chart records in 1965 compared to eight in 1964. Compiler Tony Rounce has done…
Try To Forget Him: Ace Continues “The Jack Nitzsche Story” With The Righteous Brothers, Jackie DeShannon, Darlene Love
The credit “Arranged and conducted by Jack Nitzsche” should be familiar to any collector of those little black vinyl platters we used to call 45s. Such a credit – or a similar one – graced records by Frankie Laine and Doris Day, The Paris Sisters and The Righteous Brothers, The Tubes and The Crystals, Graham Parker and Bobby Vee. Jack “Specs” Nitzsche (1973-2000) made his mark across multiple genres and many decades, the common factor being the quality of his work. Nitzsche the orchestrator helped define Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound; Nitzsche…
“I Hunger For Your Touch” Collects 31 Recordings of “Unchained Melody” From Elvis, The Righteous Brothers, Many More
It began life as the theme to a 1955 B-movie that asked, “No locks! No walls! In the prison without bars! What keeps men like these from crashing out?” The film was Unchained, and the song was “Unchained Melody” with music by Alex North (A Streetcar Named Desire, Spartacus) and lyrics by Hy Zaret (“Dedicated to You”). Though the movie – in which just a brief snippet of the song was sung by Porgy and Bess’ original Porgy, Todd Duncan – is hardly remembered today, the intensely romantic ballad is anything but. As…
Songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil Are “Born to Be Together” on New Ace CD
Born to Be Together: could a more apropos title have been devised for a collection of the songs of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil? Married since 1961, the team both defines and defies the phrase “unsung heroes.” Without hit records as recording artists, Mann and Weil have never had the name recognition of their Brill Building-era compatriots like Carole King or Neil Sedaka, but these Grammy Award-winning Rock and Roll Hall of Famers are hardly unsung. If all they’d ever written was the most played song of the twentieth century, The Righteous…
Release Round-Up: Week of February 26
Fanny, Fanny / Freddie King, The Complete King Federal Singles (2-CD Set) / Rod McKuen, Sold Out at Carnegie Hall (2-CD Deluxe Edition) / Rod McKuen, Listen to the Warm (Deluxe Edition) / Cat Mother and the All Night Newsboys, The Street Giveth…and the Street Taketh Away / The Hello People, Fusion / The Grateful Dead, Dick’s Picks 25 – May 10, 1978 New Haven, CT / May 11, 1978 Springfield, MA (4-CD Set) (Real Gone Music) Much to enjoy from Real Gone today: four discs of live Dead, deluxe editions from beloved songwriter/poet Rod McKuen, Freddie King’s A’s and B’s for King and Federal and Cat Mother and The All Night Newsboys’ The Street Giveth…, produced…
Bring Back That Lovin’ Feelin’: Righteous Brothers’ Philles Albums Arrive on CD…In Japan!
It’s time to get Righteous…at least if you’re in Japan, that is, or willing to shell out big bucks from an import retailer. Though they have eluded U.S. CD release to date, The Righteous Brothers’ three long-players from Phil Spector’s Philles label will be reissued on April 3 as limited edition SHM-CDs from Universal Music Japan. 1965’s You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ and Just Once in My Life, as well as 1966’s Back to Back, are all anchored by key Spector-produced tracks. The remaining songs were produced by one-half of the duo,…
Soulful and Seductive: Grateful Dead, Glen Campbell, The Roches, Bill Medley, Maynard Ferguson Kick Off Real Gone 2012
Are you ready to get gone, Real Gone, with the new kids on the reissue block? The label founded by Gordon Anderson and Gabby Castellana is following its debut slate (reviews to come!) with an eclectic group of releases for January 2012 that will start the New Year off right! One batch of titles is due January 24, with the remaining releases arriving the following week. Few artists have had a career as legendary as that of Glen Campbell, and few have been as brave in the face of tragedy. Campbell recently revealed an…
Springsteen, U2, Queen, Joel, McCartney, Taylor Featured On “Rock Hall of Fame” Live Box Set
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 performances at its Cleveland home,…
Release Round-Up: Week of June 21
Peter Tosh, Legalize It: Legacy Edition / Equal Rights: Legacy Edition (Columbia/Legacy) The first two albums by the onetime Wailer are greatly expanded with rare alternate mixes and other goodies. (Official site) Ace, Five-a-Side: Expanded Edition / Time for Another/No Strings: Expanded Edition (Cherry Red) How long can you wait for expanded editions of the whole Ace catalogue? Each set (Five-a-Side as one set and the other two albums in another package) is remastered and expanded with a host of BBC session tracks. (Cherry Red) Suede, Head Music: Deluxe Edition (Edsel) We’ve been totally remiss lately about the…
ICON and On and On
UPDATE 6/20: With a day before these sets are to hit stores, here’s the post with the track list for the one compilation that hadn’t been confirmed at the time – an incredibly slight collection for Steve Winwood. Just Steve Winwood. Not Traffic or anything else. Make of that what you will. Original post: The latest batch of ICON titles hasn’t even hit stores yet, but yet another assortment of them has been announced for release next month. While, as always, there’s not much in the way of rarities on these sets, there are…
Crossing the Pond: “London American Label 1963” Spotlights Spector and More
It’s 1963. Imagine a label that counted Roy Orbison, Darlene Love, James Brown, The Drifters and Jerry Lee Lewis all among its artists. While such an array of talent never convened under one roof in America, it was a very different story in the United Kingdom. The U.K.’s Decca Record Company indeed brought all of those artists, and more, under the umbrella of its London American label. London American delivered the best in American pop, R&B and rock and roll to British audiences. Ace is another British label bringing the best of…
Review: Various Artists, “Wall of Sound: The Very Best of Phil Spector 1961-1966”
In another time, in another place, I would not be writing this review of Legacy’s new Phil Spector compilation with a slight pang of melancholy. And you wouldn’t be reading it with the possible tug at the heartsrings you might face now. Phil Spector was one of the most significant pop producers of the 20th century – a creator of pop music as a blissful, romantic, universal commodity – but recent events have ensured that anyone who speaks his name today does so with hesitation, with knowledge of something too awful to…
