Sure, you can wait to find Real Gone's lineup of holiday-themed titles under the tree, but why wait? A trio of merry Yuletide albums will be available on color vinyl on November 1, including Cyndi Lauper's Merry Christmas... Have A Nice Life!, the Home Alone Christmas soundtrack compilation, and the soundtrack to Love Actually. First up: Cyndi Lauper's Merry Christmas... Have A Nice Life! This often-overlooked slice of Lauper's discography is a fresh spin on the time-honored tradition of
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, The Best of Everything (Geffen/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) On the heels of the release of the acclaimed rarities box set An American Treasure, a new career-spanning anthology arrives from the late Tom Petty. The Best of Everything is subtitled The Definitive Career-Spanning Hits Collection 1976-2016 and features 38 tracks from the soulful rock-and-roller, including two previously unreleased
On the heels of the release of the acclaimed rarities box set An American Treasure, a new career-spanning anthology will arrive in CD, vinyl, and digital formats on November 16 from the late Tom Petty. The Best of Everything, on the Geffen/UMe label, is subtitled The Definitive Career-Spanning Hits Collection 1976-2016 and features 38 tracks from the soulful rock-and-roller, including two previously unreleased cuts. Petty's solo work is heard alongside his recordings with both The
A new Elvis Presley documentary is heading to television screens this April, and an accompanying soundtrack album will arrive in a variety of formats that same month from Legacy Recordings and RCA Records. Elvis Presley: The Searcher, directed by Emmy and Grammy winner Thom Zimny and written by author/journalist Alan Light, traces the artistic evolution of the artist from his R&B and country beginnings through his final Jungle Room recording sessions at Graceland. The three-hour, two-part
George Harrison would have been 75 years old next month, and Craft Recordings is celebrating that milestone with the ultimate tribute to the former Beatle: a multi-format reissue of 2002's Concert For George. Available February 23, two days before Harrison's birthday, Concert For George will bow in five different physical configurations - the most enormous of which is an online-only box set, limited only to 1,000 copies worldwide and featuring the star-studded tribute show on two CDs, two
UPDATE 5/24/17 TO ORIGINAL POST OF 3/6/17: If you do as Replacements frontman Paul Westerberg says and "never travel far without a little Big Star," some new products related to the legendarily underrated Memphis rockers may find a place on your shelves. Set for release on June 16 from Stax Records and Craft Recordings, the new compilation The Best of Big Star tidily collects (on one CD, digitally, or 2 LPs playable at 45 RPM) 16 tracks from the legendary band's #1 Record, Radio City and
If you do as Replacements frontman Paul Westerberg says and "never travel far without a little Big Star," some new products related to the legendarily underrated Memphis rockers may find a place on your shelves. Concord Bicycle Music recently announced the springtime release of Thank You, Friends: Big Star's Third Live...and More. This exciting set pays tribute to the legendary power pop band's "lost" third album, recorded in 1974 but shelved until 1978, after the band broke up. In 2010,
To commemorate the 40th anniversary of their debut album, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers are collecting all their studio albums into two new vinyl box sets. The Complete Studio Albums Volume 1 (1976-1991) and The Complete Studio Albums Volume 2 (1994-2014) bring together, across 21 pieces of 180-gram vinyl, all 16 studio releases from singer/guitarist Petty, guitarists Mike Campbell and Scott Thurston, keyboardist Benmont Tench, bassists Ron Blair and Howie Epstein and drummers Stan Lynch
Stevie Nicks is launching her 24 Karat Gold tour later month, named for her acclaimed 2014 studio album consisting of new recordings of previously unheard compositions. Now, Nicks is looking back once more with two more 24-karat gold Deluxe Editions of her first two solo albums, Bella Donna and The Wild Heart. Both releases arrive from Rhino on November 4, along with remastered, stand-alone editions of the original albums on LP, CD and DD. 1981's solo debut Bella Donna will be released as a
Following its recent reissue of Sonny and Cher's Good Times! soundtrack, Varese Vintage has turned its attention to another neglected release uniting the worlds of cinema and pop. The 1979 romantic drama Voices featured a score by Jimmy Webb and performances by The Guess Who's Burton Cummings and the teenage duo of Andy and David Williams (nephews to the elder Andy Williams) as well as, on its non-Webb tracks, Willie Nelson and Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. This Friday, the long
Roy Orbison never intended Mystery Girl to be an epitaph. Yet The Big O never had the chance to enjoy the overwhelming success of the 1989 album, as he passed away almost two months to the day prior to its release. Still, as far as epitaphs go, Mystery Girl was – and is – a stunner, a parting gift from one of the most distinctive and resonant voices in rock and roll. Roy’s Boys, the company formed by Orbison’s sons, and Legacy Recordings have teamed for a 25th anniversary reissue of Orbison’s
Bob Dylan’s 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration, held on October 16, 1992 at New York’s Madison Square Garden to mark Dylan’s Columbia Records debut, could have been a valedictory. The 51-year old honoree and participant was nearly at the halfway point of a self-imposed sabbatical from writing and recording original songs; it would last seven years, from 1990 to 1997. He had not had an album reach the Top 20 of the Billboard 200 since 1983’s Infidels and hadn’t cracked the Top 5 since 1979’s
When ABC-TV’s Fridays premiered on April 11, 1980, its agenda was not a hidden one: to grab a piece of the lucrative late-night comedy pie from NBC’s Saturday Night Live. Less than a year later, on March 10, 1981, The New York Times was trumpeting in a headline, “How ‘Fridays’ Beat ‘Saturday Night.’” Of course, Fridays’ domination didn’t last, and the program was off the air after just three seasons. The series has mainly lived on due to the infamous incident in which Andy Kaufman and Michael
For those of us who still savor the experience of shopping in a physical environment, Record Store Day has become a yearly tradition. It’s sometimes frustrating and sometimes exciting, but few could argue with an event that spotlights the hard-working independent music retailers out there who believe that brick-and-mortar retail can still thrive in the iTunes era. (Amen to that!) A more recent offshoot of Record Store Day has been the mini-event held each Black Friday, or the day after
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
Who but Neil Young could have brought The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sonic Youth, Ben Harper, Eddie Vedder, Paul McCartney, Tony Bennett, and Los Lonely Boys together on the same stage? Though Young is an easy target for what can appear as a capricious attitude towards his back catalogue – announcing, then delaying or cancelling titles with alarming frequency – one aspect of the man’s great legacy cannot be in dispute, and that is his philanthropy. Since 1986, Young and his wife Pegi have offered
Twenty-six years ago today, on two different continents, the music world came together for a worthy cause: to raise awareness of famine in Ethiopia. Live Aid, a pair of concerts organized by Bob Geldof in London and Philadelphia on July 13, 1985 and broadcasted live on the BBC, ABC and MTV, was seen in person by some 172,000 people and on television by nearly 2 billion across the globe. And, if you can believe it, none of it has ever been released on LP or CD. Granted, it's not entirely
Mark your calendars if you haven't already, music fans: April 16 is the fourth annual Record Store Day! What started as a small declaration of independence for brick-and-mortar, mom-and-pop record stores in the face of industry decline has blossomed into a worldwide celebration with goodies provided by major and independent labels. And because lots of record store fans are also big into catalogue stuff like you and me, a lot of the RSD exclusives focus on reissues or anniversary repressings in
Warner Bros. Records issued a press release last week touting their forthcoming vinyl reissues for Record Store Day, and the results are pretty neat for catalogue enthusiasts. We already told you about the upcoming Flaming Lips vinyl box, and several other classic WB-oriented LPs are coming for the special event, too. Audiophile editions of Eric Clapton's Unplugged, Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, Jimmy Eat World's Bleed American and the first two LPs by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers will be pressed
Well, another New Year is in sight, the CD still isn't dead (told you so!) and celebration is in the air at The Second Disc. Back on December 23, Mike shared The Year in Reissues both here and over with our pals at Popdose. Do not pass go, do not collect 200 bucks until you read these indispensable columns! Are you back with me? Good. Now, I'd like to take this opportunity to take a fun look back at a few of my favorite things via Joe's Gold Bonus Disc Awards! I'm awarding these to the reissues
The more-or-less official start of the holiday shopping season kicks off next Friday, November 26. (You've probably seen decorations up in department stores by now. Even this huge Christmas fan can't blame you for shaking your head.) But giving the gift of music is important. You probably know that, and your local indie music store knows that, too. That's why this Black Friday will see a gaggle of special releases at all stores that participate in Record Store Day. There's a lot of neat vinyl
A few more deluxe editions are forthcoming from Universal Music Enterprises, and they're jaw-droppers for a couple of different reasons. Depending on how long you've been following the reissue world, you've actually known about both of them. One is a deluxe edition of Damn the Torpedoes, the classic album from Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. (News of this broke not long after The Second Disc started doing what it does.) The surprising thing about this particular reissue is that it will be
With the calendar about to turn over to September, it's definitely catalogue season. We've seen a lot of reissues, expansions and box sets announced - enough to make my post-vacation-hazed head spin - and plenty more are certainly on the way. Before we get into that, though, I want to thank not only Joe for holding the fort down expertly while I was away, but to you, the reader, for sticking with us. The rest of the year is going to be awesome for catalogue enthusiasts, and The Second Disc is
A quick heads-up from our friends at Pause & Play: Amazon has put up a listing for a deluxe edition of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers' Damn the Torpedoes to be released by Geffen and Universal Music Enterprises. There's no info other than a release date (October 12), but hopefully there'll be some good vault material present. Damn the Torpedoes was The Heartbreakers' first LP for MCA, following the sale of Shelter Records to the label. It featured the band's first Top 10 hit, "Don't Do Me