The S.O.S. Band - The Second Disc

The Weekend Stream: May 3, 2025

May 3, 2025 by The Second Disc | No Comments

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. We’ve got a real party mix for you this week: alt-rock, soft rock, classic rock (in Spanish!), post-hardcore, funk, Barbra Streisand – you name it, we’re spinning it! R.E.M., Radio Free Europe 2025 EP (Craft) (Apple / Amazon / Bandcamp) The legendary Athens, Georgia rockers have a special, timely treat for fans this weekend. With the real and nonpartisan Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s grants under fire from the current presidential…

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The Weekend Stream

Formats:

Digital Download, Digital Streaming

Genres:

Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Country, Electronic, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul, Rock

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Barbra Streisand, Christopher Cross, Foreigner, Fugazi, Hozier, Joe Jackson, Los Straitjackets, Marvin Gaye, Nick Lowe, R.E.M., Tammi Terrell, The S.O.S. Band

Release Round-Up: Week of February 25

February 25, 2014 by Mike Duquette | No Comments

Morrissey, Your Arsenal: Definitive Master (Parlophone) We don’t hate it when Moz becomes successful, as was the case with his third non-compilation album from 1992, which now comes with an unreleased live show on DVD. CD/DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Johnny Winter, True to the Blues: The Johnny Winter Story (Columbia/Legacy) A four-disc tribute to the influential blues guitarist, who turned 70 on Sunday. (Amazon U.S./ Amazon U.K.) Bob Mould, Workbook: 25th Anniversary Edition (Omnivore) After the disbandment of Hüsker Dü, singer/guitarist Mould was on the solo beat with this album, now expanded with an unreleased 1989 concert at…

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News, Release Round-Up

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Box Sets

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Morrissey, Patti Labelle, Silversun Pickups, The S.O.S. Band, Vinyl

Just the Way You Like It: Hits, Videos Compiled on Tabu Box Set

February 11, 2014 by Mike Duquette | 7 Comments

After more than a year of reissues of the Tabu Records catalogue by Edsel – reissues that have been relatively lavish but particularly divisive for their occasional lapses in audio quality – the label has prepped a thorough career-spanning box set. The Tabu Records Box Set is a 6CD/1DVD affair collecting tracks from all of the label’s major releases between 1977 and 1991. Each disc will be broken down by theme; the first focuses on early soul albums by the likes of The S.O.S. Band and Brainstorm plus more left-of-center instrumental albums by Manfredo Fest and noted…

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News

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Box Sets

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The S.O.S. Band, Vinyl

Strictly Tabu: Edsel Readies Reissue Campaign for R&B Label (UPDATED 8/29)

November 4, 2013 by Mike Duquette | 13 Comments

UPDATE (11/4): This post now has confirmed track lists for the FIRST EIGHT WAVES of reissues. The long-gestating reissue campaign for Tabu Records by Demon Music Group looks to be taking shape – not only for the first wave of titles in the spring, but for a slew of content ambitiously planned through 2014. Founded in 1976 by Clarence Avant (who’d previously started the Venture and Sussex labels), Tabu scraped by for six years until a chance meeting and an inconvenient snowstorm gave the label two of its greatest staff producers. An early key…

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News

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Box Sets

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The S.O.S. Band, Vinyl

Release Round-Up: Week of August 13

August 13, 2013 by Mike Duquette | No Comments

Harry Nilsson, Flash Harry (Varese Vintage) Never released in the U.S. or on CD, the wave of Nilssonmania continues with this: Harry’s last album, released in 1980, now available on remastered vinyl or CD with several unheard bonus tracks. CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. LP: Amazon U.S. Nik Kershaw, The Riddle: Remastered Expanded Edition (UMC) Kershaw’s second LP, featuring one of the most criminally underrated singles ever in the title track, is reissued as a double-disc set with B-sides, remixes and rare vintage live cuts. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Various Artists, The South Side of Soul…

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News, Release Round-Up

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Nik Kershaw, The S.O.S. Band, Vinyl

Release Round-Up: Week of July 9

July 9, 2013 by Mike Duquette | No Comments

Merry Clayton, The Best of Merry Clayton (Ode/Legacy) Tell all the people: the singer who gave The Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” its soulful grit recorded several LPs for Lou Adler’s Ode label. In honor of her belated star turn in the new documentary Twenty Feet from Stardom, Legacy has released the first-ever compilation of selections from these works, including many impressive covers of the likes of The Doors, James Taylor and Neil Young. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Brainstorm, Journey Into the Light / The S.O.S. Band, On the Rise / Alexander O’Neal, All True Man / Cherrelle, The Woman I…

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News, Release Round-Up

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Merry Clayton, The S.O.S. Band

Review: Tabu Wave 2 – Alexander O’Neal, Cherrelle, Kathy Mathis and The S.O.S. Band

May 30, 2013 by Joe Marchese | No Comments

The earth has music for those who listen, proclaimed Clarence Avant’s Tabu Records label. A major force in contemporary R&B from the late 1970s through the 1990s, Tabu followed in the footsteps of other black-owned, independent music empires as Berry Gordy’s Motown and Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff’s Philadelphia International. While Tabu never achieved the same level of crossover success as those aforementioned labels, it indeed picked up the torch of “The Sound of Young America,” and its cutting-edge electronic style still reverberates in R&B and hip-hop today. Earlier in 2013, the…

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News, Reviews

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The S.O.S. Band

Release Round-Up: Week of May 7

May 7, 2013 by Mike Duquette | No Comments

TABU Reborn, Wave 3: The S.O.S. Band, S.O.S. / Cherrelle, High Priority / Alexander O’Neal, Hearsay / Kathy Mathis, Katt Walk (Tabu/Edsel) The latest wave of Tabu reissues available from the U.K.: all have bonus tracks, with Cherrelle and Alexander O’Neal’s sets presented as two-disc packages. Amazon U.K. links are above; here are U.S. links for The S.O.S. Band, Cherrelle, Alexander O’Neal and Kathy Mathis. Burt Bacharach, Anyone Who Had a Heart: My Life and Music (Harper) One of the century’s greatest songwriters tells his incredible story, in his own words! (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Various Artists, Varese Sarabande: 35th Anniversary Celebration (Varese Sarabande) A…

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News, Release Round-Up

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Soundtracks

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Burt Bacharach, Shirley Bassey, Small Faces, The S.O.S. Band

Release Round-Up: Week of April 9

April 9, 2013 by Mike Duquette | 1 Comment

Brainstorm / S.O.S. Band / Cherrelle / Alexander O’Neal, “Tabu Reborn” Expanded CD Editions (Wave 1) (Tabu/Edsel) After a fresh batch of vinyl last week, the Tabu Records reissue campaign (going strong through next year) kicks off with expanded editions of Brainstorm’s Stormin’, The S.O.S. Band’s III, Cherrelle’s Fragile and Alexander O’Neal’s self-titled debut. All feature bonus tracks (Alexander O’Neal has a bonus disc) and fresh deluxe packaging. Stormin‘: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. III: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Fragile: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Alexander O’Neal: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Morrissey, Kill Uncle: Expanded Edition / The Last of the Famous…

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News, Release Round-Up

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Soundtracks

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Morrissey, Paul Anka, Sandie Shaw, The S.O.S. Band, Vinyl

Release Round-Up: Week of April 2

April 2, 2013 by Mike Duquette | No Comments

The S.O.S. Band / Cherrelle / Alexander O’Neal, “Tabu Reborn” Vinyl Editions (Wave 1) (Tabu/Edsel) The start of a lengthy reissue campaign from Demon Music Group, these are 180-gram vinyl reissues of The S.O.S. Band’s III (1982), Cherrelle’s 1984 debut Fragile, and Alexander O’Neal’s self-titled debut from 1985. Expanded editions of these albums come out on CD next week, followed by a great many more waves of product throughout 2013 and into 2014! S.O.S. Band: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Cherrelle: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Alexander O’Neal: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. The Four Tops / Martha Reeves…

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News, Release Round-Up

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Box Sets

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Mad Season, Margaret Whiting, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, Nancy Wilson, Rilo Kiley, Simple Minds, Stephanie Mills, The Four Tops, The Grateful Dead, The S.O.S. Band

Short Takes: Tabu, TV Mania, Living Colour All Have Plans

January 10, 2013 by Mike Duquette | 1 Comment

Some small morsels of potential catalogue-oriented stuff coming your way on this fine Thursday: Demon Music Group promised back in July a slew of reissues from the Tabu Records catalogue, a label that included R&B hits by Cherrelle, Alexander O’Neal and The S.O.S. Band. It looks like those plans may be moving further forward: the label’s official Facebook page yesterday teased “huge plans for the label” in 2013. Though not out of reissue ideas for their own proper catalogue, Duran Duran look to be hinting at a revival of the long-abandoned TV…

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News

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Living Colour, The S.O.S. Band