'Tis the season to be soulful: This Friday, September 29, Craft Recordings and Stax Records will celebrate the holidays with the CD, LP, and digital release of A Stax Christmas. This festive 12-track compilation features songs by the label's most beloved artists including two previously unreleased tracks from Carla Thomas and Otis Redding. The venerable Memphis label has had a long association with the music of Christmas. House band Booker T. and The MG's 1966 album In the Christmas Spirit
How do you follow up an essential document like this year's comprehensive Wattstax box set? If you're Craft Recordings, you plan a trip deep into the unheard history of the legendary Memphis label, through dozens of demos released for the first time anywhere. Written in Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos is an impressive 7CD anthology including 146 demo versions of enduring Stax hits and fan favorites, songs written by label songwriters that ended up elsewhere as well as a number of songs
One of the greatest music festivals of the '70s is getting celebrated with an exhaustive array of reissues in 2023: Wattstax, the multi-dimensional Los Angeles celebration of soul, funk, blues and gospel courtesy of Stax Records. A half-century after the premiere of a Golden Globe-nominated documentary on the star-studded 1972 event, Craft Recordings, custodian of the Stax catalogue, will release the most definitive looks at Wattstax, most recently addressed in a 3CD box set in 2003 that took
Last summer, as some music lovers took tentative steps in getting back to concertgoing amid the early vaccinations against COVID-19, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson gifted audiences with an incredible display of live performance some 50 years in the past. Summer of Soul is The Roots drummer's debut documentary, concerning a little-seen arts festival in Harlem that took place before, during and after that year's Woodstock Music & Art Fair - with some of the greatest soul, blues and jazz performers
Last summer, as some music lovers took tentative steps in getting back to concertgoing amid the early vaccinations against COVID-19, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson gifted audiences with an incredible display of live performance some 50 years in the past. Summer of Soul is The Roots drummer's debut documentary, concerning a little-seen arts festival in Harlem that took place before, during and after that year's Woodstock Music & Art Fair - with some of the greatest soul, blues and jazz performers
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. (And with plenty of delicious food, too!) Now, Record Store Day's annual Black Friday event is upon us, so we're spotlighting a dozen of the most eagerly anticipated releases arriving to your local independent brick-and-mortar record shop! Here are our personal picks for RSD BF must-haves; visit Record Store Day's official website for a list of
UPDATED DECEMBER 2020: Earlier this year, Craft Recordings released The Staple Singers' Come Go with Me: The Stax Collection in vinyl and digital editions. The set compiled all of the famed gospel group's 1968-1974 albums for the Stax label plus a volume of rarities, non-LP single sides, and live recordings. Now, that box has come to CD as beautifully remastered from the original analog tapes by Jeff Powell at Take Out Vinyl. Come Go with Me: The Stax Collection features the following
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Elton John, Jewel Box (EMI/UMe) 8CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Deep Cuts 4LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Rarities & B-Sides 3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada And This Is Me... 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Elton John is reaching deep into the vault with Jewel Box, a new, super-sized collection of rare and unreleased material. The British pop legend's deep dive into his
Earlier this year, Craft Recordings released The Staple Singers' Come Go with Me: The Stax Collection in vinyl and digital editions. The set compiled all of The Staple Singers' 1968-1974 albums for the Stax label plus a volume of rarities, non-LP single sides, and live recordings. On November 13, that box will come to CD as remastered from the original analog tapes by Jeff Powell at Take Out Vinyl. Come Go with Me: The Stax Collection features the following original studio albums: Soul
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Johnny Cash, The Complete Mercury Recordings 1986-1991 (Mercury/UMe) 7CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 7LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada The Complete Mercury Recordings 1986-1991 will be available on 7CD or 7LP, 180-gram vinyl formats. The box collects all six albums Johnny Cash recorded for Mercury Records during that era: Class Of '55: Memphis Rock & Roll Homecoming with Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, and Carl
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Frank Sinatra, Nice 'n' Easy: 60th Anniversary Edition (Capitol/UMe) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP (Remixed Album Only): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Capitol Records, Frank Sinatra Enterprises, and UMe have a 60th anniversary edition of Frank Sinatra's classic 1960 album arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle. For the occasion, the album has been completely remixed and features three bonus tracks: the
Today, more than 25 years after their final performance together, The Staples Singers are synonymous with gospel and soul music of the highest order. Roebuck "Pops" Staples, daughters Cleotha, Mavis, and (sometimes) Yvonne, and son Pervis raised their voices in song to celebrate the Lord, but also to crusade for civil rights and share musical messages of power and positivity around the world. In the 1960s, the group transitioned from pure gospel and blues to soul and R&B, setting the stage
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Hank Williams, Pictures from Life's Other Side - The Man and His Music in Rare Photos and Recordings (BMG) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) BMG salutes late singer-songwriter-legend Hank Williams with the release of Pictures from Life's Other Side - The Man and His Music in Rare Photos and Recordings. This lavish 6-CD collection presents all 144 tracks recorded by Williams for his 1951 radio show sponsored by Mother's Best Flour
Craft Recordings has announced the next phase of its campaign to honor one of the great labels of soul - Stax Records. Entitled "Soul Explosion," the campaign began with their Record Store Day releases of Boy Meets Girl: Classic Stax Duets, Stax Does The Beatles and the first-ever mono reissue of Albert King's Born Under A Bad Sign. The next phase begins on May 31 and will see new vinyl and digital reissues of classics from 1969, which proved to be a watershed year for the label, and
It's been 32 years since David Byrne's directorial debut True Stories first arrived in theaters, and this November the film will be revisited to the tune of brand-new audio and visual restorations. Master film restorers The Criterion Collection are slated to release True Stories on Blu-ray and DVD on November 27. On the music front, Todomundo Records and Nonesuch have announced an expanded soundtrack album, True Stories, A Film By David Byrne: The Complete Soundtrack, due on CD, 2-LP, and
Otis Redding's "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay," the first Stax single of 1968, should have been a new beginning for the artist and label. Instead, the posthumous release ushered in a tumultuous year for the Memphis institution. The death of Redding and members of The Bar-Kays on December 10, 1967 was a tremendous loss for Stax and popular culture, but no one could have predicted the upheaval that would affect Stax and the city of Memphis in the following twelve months. That time has just
Stop, children, what's that sound? For nearly half a century, the sound of The Staple Singers was one of tremendous power. Roebuck "Pops" Staples, daughters Cleotha, Mavis, and (sometimes) Yvonne, and son Pervis raised their voices in song to celebrate the Lord, but also to fight for civil rights and espouse messages of positivity and resilience to listeners worldwide. At Epic Records, the group transitioned from pure gospel and blues to soul and R&B - a move that would take them to the
There have been several reissues this year celebrating the 50th anniversary of individual projects released in 1968. But Craft Recordings has announced a box set which celebrates an entire year's worth of material with Stax '68: A Memphis Story, due on October 19. This 5-CD set contains the A- and B-sides of every single released under the Stax Records banner in 1968, including the company's sub-labels, for a total of 120 tracks. Some tracks are by soul legends like Isaac Hayes, The Staple
Craft Recordings has been doing great things with the Stax Records catalogue in honor of its 60th anniversary (check out our most recent review of the new Isaac Hayes box set for proof!) - and now, they're continuing a beloved box set series with a new collection of the label's singles. Continuing the trend established by The Complete Stax-Volt Singles 1959-1968 (released in 1991 and reissued by Rhino in 2016), The Complete Stax-Volt Soul Singles, Vol. 2: 1968-1971 (1993, reissued 2014) and
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Jethro Tull, Songs from the Wood: 40th Anniversary Edition - The Country Set (Chrysalis/Parlophone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon Canada / Amazon U.K.) Jethro Tull's 1977 album returns in a new 3CD/2DVD book-style edition, packed with bonus material. Steven Wilson produced new stereo and 5.1 surround sound mixes heard in this set on CD and DVD, featuring not only the album but bonus tracks too. As per the norm for this series, there's a flat transfer
With a recent Grammy Awards salute, a new catalogue deal, and the 40th anniversary of Saturday Night Fever, the music of the Bee Gees has been front and center in 2017. Ace Records has joined the celebration of the brothers Gibb with a new entry in the label's long-running Songwriters Series. To Love Somebody: The Songs of The Bee Gees 1966-1970 pulls into focus the early professional years of Barry, Robin, and Maurice, with 24 choice cover versions of songs both familiar and lesser-known.
From deep within the heart of Memphis to your stereo, the rich legacy of Stax Records will be honored this year as two label partners join forces to commemorate the label's 60th anniversary. Rolling Stone reported yesterday a massive campaign to celebrate Stax artists and albums across physical and digital formats. Notably, this initiative will be carried out by both owners of the Stax catalogue: Rhino/Warner Music Group, which controls much of the label's Atlantic-distributed output from
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up featuring Second Disc Records' very first title of 2016, plus more fantastic releases from our partners at Real Gone Music and titles from Brian Wilson, The Cars, and more! Bobby Darin, Another Song on My Mind: The Motown Years (Second Disc/Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) We know that you all know about this one...it's the ultimate celebration of Bobby Darin's time at Motown Records on 2 CDs, newly remastered from the
Real Gone Music has just announced its May release slate, and with rock, jazz, gospel, country, pop and beyond, it's one of the label's most diverse months yet! Naturally, we're partial to the May 6 release of Bobby Darin's Another Song on My Mind: The Motown Years from Real Gone and our own Second Disc Records (get all of the details right here!), but there's plenty more on offer, too! Bobby Darin was a remarkable singer-songwriter; another beloved titan of popular song is the late Dan
It may be Friday the 13th, but today's choice releases are hardly scary, with box sets, archival releases, new music from veteran artists, and much, much more! Aretha Franklin, The Atlantic Albums Collection (Atlantic/Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) This 19-CD box set brings together 16 of the Queen of Soul's Atlantic albums as previously released on CD including the deluxe 2-CD Live at Fillmore East, the 2-CD Rare & Unreleased Recordings From The Golden Reign Of The Queen Of