Here in the U. S. of A., Black Friday is almost upon us: that unusual date following the prior day of giving thanks, in which consumers make a mad dash to the local big-box store, mall or shopping center to procure bargains for the holiday season ahead. Retailers are controversially beginning Black Friday “festivities” even earlier than usual this year, with many sales starting on Thanksgiving Day itself and not even at midnight but in the early part of the evening. For a number of recent
Election Day is upon us today! But if you're looking to cast your vote for some music, too, we might be able to help! Though we were able to keep the lights on each day at The Second Disc, Hurricane Sandy kept us from publishing a Release Round-Up last week. So without further ado, here's the best of the best for the weeks of October 30 and November 6! Louis Armstrong, The Complete OKeh, Columbia and RCA Victor Recordings 1925-1933 (OKeh/Columbia/RCA/Legacy) (10 CDs) / Charlie Christian,
Starbucks' latest Opus Collection CD release is tying in with the recent release of Who frontman Pete Townshend's memoir Who I Am. The Who: Opus Collection offers 15 tracks from the legendary band and as per the usual for this series of releases, combines both familiar songs and tracks which might be unfamiliar to the casual fan. Opus Collection begins with "I'm the Face," from the band's very first single released under the name of The High Numbers in 1964, and concludes with "Who Are You,"
When the Rolling Stones kick a celebration into high gear, they're not kidding. Hot on the heels of various and sundry documentaries, DVDs, Blu-rays and luxury vinyl box sets, the world's greatest rock and roll band has just announced its first-ever compilation-styled career-spanning box set. GRRR! is a joint project of ABKCO and Universal Music Group, and it's slated to arrive on November 13 in the U.S. and one day earlier in all other territories. The new set is more comprehensive than the
If you feel like you've been caught in a crossfire hurricane...you're not alone. A rolling stone gathers no moss, and neither do The Rolling Stones. After making headlines throughout 2012 for not celebrating their 50th anniversary with a massive tour, retrospective box set or something of the sort, the World's Greatest Rock and Roll Band can't seem to keep out of the headlines lately with a bevy of upcoming projects, including rumored performances in New York and London, two distinct
Since inaugurating the digital-only Stones Archive in late 2011 with the release of 1973’s The Brussels Affair, The Rolling Stones have made good on their promise to rescue never-before-available concerts and make them available to the public in higher quality than previous bootleg editions. The new LA Friday follows the late January release of Hampton Coliseum: Live 1981, which preserved a show from Hampton, Virginia. LA Friday was recorded on July 13, 1975 at the venue known as The Forum.
When the Rolling Stones opened the Stones Archive for business late in 2011 with the first-ever legitimate release of The Brussels Affair, it was greeted as somewhat of a mixed blessing. The Archive promised to be a place where fans of the World's Greatest Rock and Roll Band "can listen to unheard music, view unseen photographs and films, and look at rare merchandise. Fans have the opportunity to buy items such as signed lithographs, deluxe box sets, even personalised merchandise and tour gear
It's the penultimate entry in our list of Rolling Stone's greatest albums of all time, as seen through the reissues that have filled our shelves for years. We've got some heavy hitters here: Beatles, Stones, Dylan - plus what may be the greatest punk and R&B albums ever. 10. The Beatles, The Beatles (Apple, 1968) The double-LP the world knows mostly by three other words - "The White Album" - was difficult and unusual inside and out. Most of the songs were conceived during an ultimately
Welcome to Part 14 of our look at the many reissues of the 100 greatest albums of all time, as selected by Rolling Stone in 2003! We’ll explore the various versions of these classic albums on compact disc, letting you know which audio treasures can be found on which releases. In today’s group, we meet a guitar-playing alien, bring it all back home with Bob Dylan and his Band, and let it bleed with Mick and Keef! 35. David Bowie, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars
Welcome to our Second Disc Holiday Gift Guide, in which we review some titles we might have missed over the past few weeks! The titles we’re spotlighting in this occasional series just might be candidates on your own holiday shopping list! In a vintage clip that brings one of the biggest laughs in Martin Scorsese’s 2008 concert film Shine a Light, Mick Jagger tells an interviewer that he doesn’t anticipate getting old as a Rolling Stone…yet, nearly fifty years after the band first formed,
We're nearing the halfway point of our list of all the reissues of Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest albums of all time. How many do you have? What are your favorites? Which ones need reissues? Don't be afraid to sound off! Today's installment has a few of my own favorite albums, and all-around classics to boot. 60. Sly & The Family Stone, Greatest Hits (Epic, 1970) Including tracks from Dance to the Music, Life and Stand! - three excellent '60s funk albums - was impressive
We continue our look at the many reissues of the 100 greatest albums of all time, as selected by Rolling Stone in 2003! We'll explore the various versions of these classic albums on disc, letting you know which audio treasures can be found on which releases. It's a marvelous night for a "Moondance" before we go "Back to Mono," roll with the Stones and then take in latter-day classics from the 1980s and 1990s! 65. Moondance, Van Morrison (Warner Bros., 1970) Van Morrison’s 1968 Warner Bros.
Now begins the drought. A couple of respectable catalogue titles, but it's going to be shorter round-ups from here through 2011. The Monkees, Instant Replay: Deluxe Edition (Rhino Handmade) Three discs and 87 tracks worth of this underrated entry in The Monkees' catalogue, featuring stereo and mono mixes and session takes galore. Smashing Pumpkins, Gish / Siamese Dream: Deluxe Editions (Virgin/EMI) The first releases in a planned three-year reissue project for Billy Corgan and his Pumpkins,
Once famously reluctant to unlock their vault, The Rolling Stones are swinging those doors wide open. Following the deluxe, expanded editions of Exile on Main St. (1972) and Some Girls (1978), the world’s greatest rock and roll band has turned its attention to the aptly-titled Stones Archive, a digital repository of all things that Glimmer. The band’s official site promises fans “can listen to unheard music, view unseen photographs and films, and look at rare merchandise. Fans have the
Another Monday release date, ostensibly to get the jump on an abbreviated week with the Thanksgiving/Black Friday holiday! And it's another big week, to be sure. The Rolling Stones, Some Girls: Deluxe Edition (Rolling Stones/UMe) Whether you think it's the last truly great Stones album or not, it's hard to deny that this is the biggest of the deluxe releases this week. (That super-deluxe edition, with a bonus DVD and vinyl, doesn't disprove the notion, either.) Bob Seger, Ultimate Hits: Rock
Long before David Letterman called the former Hammerstein’s Theatre on 50th Street and Broadway in New York City home, the theatre was the showplace of the world, thanks to one Mr. Ed Sullivan. The former gossip columnist on the Broadway beat might have been an unlikely visitor to American homes each Sunday night between 1949 and 1971, but it was thanks to Sullivan that viewers got their first or most significant taste of such performers across the entire spectrum of entertainment. On the
When a classic soul fan thinks of the "Muscle Shoals" sound, chances are he's referring to the music made at Rick Hall's FAME (that's Florence Alabama Music Enterprises!) Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Though the House that Hall Built has been celebrated on past anthologies, none has been quite so comprehensive as the 3-CD set due for release from U.K.-based Ace Records. The FAME Studios Story 1961-1973 (KENTBOX 12, 2011) is the result of two years' worth of research conducted by Ace in
Well, the wait is over. Universal Music has revealed the complete details for the November 21 reissue of the Rolling Stones' 1978 Some Girls across multiple formats. Following in the footsteps of last year's Exile on Main Street set, Some Girls will offer a number of previously-unreleased songs, recently completed by the Stones, as Jagger told German network ZDF last month: that "I've just been in the studio finishing some outtakes from 1978 ... They're going to be released [on] a rerelease of
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
Can’t get no satisfaction waiting for Mick, Keith and the boys to drop Some Girls on November 21? Well, whether you’re a Stones completist who simply must own every reissue or a casual fan looking for some quick slam-bang classics, you might want to take a drive over to your local Wal-Mart. The retailer is exclusively offering a new compilation from ABKCO spanning the 1964-1971 period which found the band transition from blues to pop to psychedelia to gritty rock. The Very Best of the Rolling
Mick Jagger has been hitting the promotion trail to hype his upcoming SuperHeavy album (a group consisting of Jagger, Joss Stone, Damian Marley, Dave Stewart and A.R. Rahman) which is due in stores on September 20. But the moonlighting Rolling Stones frontman let slip the news of a deluxe edition of the band's 1978 classic Some Girls, in the style of last year's revamp of 1972's Exile on Main Street. That news has since been made official. (Thank you to the dynamite folks at MusicTAP for the
When Bill Wyman took the stage on August 25, 1990 at London’s Wembley Stadium alongside his fellow Rolling Stones, few in the audience could have predicted that the evening would turn out to be Wyman’s final stand with the group he joined in 1962. That final night found Wyman truly going out on top; the Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle tour marked a return to touring for the group after a seven-year hiatus, and was among the most commercially successful concert tours ever. Word on Wyman’s decision
One of the most buzzworthy music events of 2010 undoubtedly was Mick Taylor reuniting on disc with The Rolling Stones to contribute new guitar parts to their expanded Exile on Main Street. Even years after leaving the Stones, Taylor remains beloved for his contributions to such classic albums as Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and of course, Exile. Iconoclassic Records has announced a project sure to excite fans of the incendiary axeman with the July 26 reissue of his solo 1979 album, Mick Taylor.
One of the greatest albums of all time is coming to Audio Fidelity! Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life will bow as a two-disc 24K gold CD set, complete with the "A Something's Extra" EP tracks. No street date yet, but the page to order is here. The Rolling Stones have their own high-definition project to speak of: their ABKCO material is being released in FLAC format. Read more about the process at CNN. Sony Classical has another megabox coming out on March 22. Jascha Heifetz: The Album
The revelation of The Rolling Stones' CD singles box set is pretty cool, and living proof that the catalogue music business is still thriving. It's a year that's given or will give us a box set of Danny Elfman's music for Tim Burton, all of Aretha Franklin's Columbia-era material and an enormous run-through of The Grateful Dead's European tour of 1972. But how much is all of this worth? The Stones set, when one converts from pounds to U.S. dollars, is nearly $300. How worth it is that for some