The Weekend Stream: November 9, 2024
By Mike Duquette 4 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. This week brings new remixes from Pet Shop Boys, old remixes from INXS, plus rare folk, jazz and alt-rock favorites - plus another bounty of unusual Christmas albums and EPs!Pet Shop Boys,New London boy / All the young dudesEPs(x2/Parlophone)Standard: iTunes / AmazonRemixes: iTunes / AmazonA new double A-side single from Pet Shop
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King of the Monsters: Universal Japan to Reissue More Than 20 Godzilla Film Scores for Franchise's 70th Anniversary
By Mike Duquette 7 Comments
Seven decades ago, the mighty Godzilla first rose from the sea to become one of Japanese film's most legendary characters. This summer, with interest in the character still at an all-time high, Universal Music Group's Japanese arm will reissue nearly two dozen classic soundtracks from the film series.UMG will newly remaster and repress on SHM-CD the scores to the 15 Shōwa-era Godzilla films released between 1954 and 1975, as well as the seven Heisei-era pictures which came out between 1984
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Duty Now for the Future: Devo Announce Career-Spanning Compilation
By Mike Duquette 3 Comments
Nobody can really prove if society is moving in reverse...except maybe Devo. The finest of their findings over a half century of musical exploration will be assembled in a new compilation from Rhino Records.50 Years of De-Evolution (1973-2023) will arrive in stores and digitally on October 20. The 50-track set will include hits and album cuts from each of their nine albums released between 1978 and 2010, plus an assortment of rare B-sides, single-only tracks and soundtrack songs. (The 7"
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It's Only a Paper Moon: Cherry Red's El Imprint Celebrates Director Peter Bogdanovich on New Anthology
By Joe Marchese 4 Comments
Writer-director Peter Bogdanovich (1939-2022) rose to fame as part of the "New Hollywood" movement of cinematic auteurs. While these maverick filmmakers shattered conventions and reshaped film to modern sensibilities, many had a deep and abiding love of the medium - and perhaps none more so than Bogdanovich. The onetime film critic and Museum of Modern Art programmer wrote extensively about Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, and Howard Hawks; shot The Last Picture Show in black-and-white; and
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The Weekend Stream: December 11, 2021
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Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing weekly review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there's plenty of great new/old music to discover! This week offers a fistful of digital deluxe editions, expansions on holiday favorites, and at least one Bond theme in the mix.Tina Turner, GoldenEye (Parlophone) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify)If you're still riding high off the excellent latest James Bond film No Time to Die, released a few months ago, you
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Release Round-Up: Week of December 10
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Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up!The Band, Cahoots: 50th Anniversary Edition (Capitol/UMe)2CD/LP/BD/7-inch single:Amazon U.S./Amazon U.K./Amazon Canada2CD (Contents of CDs 1 & @ below):Amazon U.S./Amazon U.K./Amazon Canada1LP (2021 Mix of Original Album):Amazon U.S./Amazon U.K./Amazon CanadaThe Band and Capitol/UMe are inCahootsfor a deluxe 50th anniversary reissue of the group's fourth studio album. The remixed and remasteredCahootsarrives in
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Craft Recordings Announces Record Store Day Slate Including The Zombies, Jonathan Richman, John Martyn, More
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At 1:00 pm EST/10:00 am PST today, the list of Record Store Day's annual offerings was made public. As was the case in 2020, this year's RSD festivities will take place over more than one day. The two RSD Drops are scheduled for Saturday, June 12, and Saturday, July 17. We'll be sharing periodic announcements of various labels' releases, beginning with this look at Craft Recordings' line-up. For the full list of all participating RSD retailers, visit RecordStoreDay.com.Craft Recordings
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King of the Monsters: Waxwork Preps Massive Vinyl Box of Godzilla Scores
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Soundtrack reissue label Waxwork Records has a massive project rising from the sea in 2021: an 18LP box set collecting two decades' of scores from the Godzilla film series.Japanese studio Toho Pictures introduced the legendary kaiju - known natively as "Gojira" - in an acclaimed 1954 film of the same name. Released less than a decade after shocking nuclear attacks on the country during World War II, Godzilla played upon the anxiety around those weapons in the form of a massive, dinosaur-like
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Picture On The Wall: John Mayall's Early Years Collected on 35-CD Box Set, "The First Generation: 1965-1974"
By Sam Stone 5 Comments
In the pantheon of British blues music, few have had as much influence as John Mayall. As the leader of The Bluesbreakers in the '60s and '70s (and through to today), he's sought out and nurtured talented musicians who'd go on to become as legendary as Mayall himself. Indeed, the roster of future legends that passed through the ranks of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers is immense. John McVie, Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Paul Butterfield, Aynsley Dunbar, Mick Taylor, Keef Hartley, and Jack Bruce all
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The Second Disc Guide to Record Store Day Drop 1 TOMORROW!
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With the nation still fighting COVID-19, Record Store Day here in the U.S. looks a little - make that a lot - different this year. The usual offerings have been split among three dates with Drop 1 taking place tomorrow, August 29, at your local independent record retailer. Drop 2 is September 26, and Drop 3 is October 24. Every retailer is handling the Drop a bit differently thanks to the necessary accommodations for social distancing, smaller crowds, and better safety precautions. So please
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Dancing Again: What To Expect for Record Store Day's RSD Drops Day 1, August 29
By Sam Stone 2 Comments
As the COVID 19 outbreak continues to impact our lives, it's heartening to know that some things are returning to some semblance of "normal," or as close as we can get to it during this unpredictable impasse. As we previously reported, Record Store Day has been split into three standalone "RSD Drop" days, occurring on August 29, September 26, and October 24. That's not the only thing changing this time around. It's been reported by Georgia-based shop Comeback Vinyl that the organization is
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The Year in Review: The 2019 Gold Bonus Disc Awards, From A to Z
By The Second Disc 4 Comments
Happy 2020 and welcome to The Second Disc's 10th Annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards!It's time once again to recognize this year's cream of the crop - those exemplary reissues and box sets big and small that proved to be truly outstanding products for music lovers worldwide. There was no shortage of great reissue titles in 2019; in fact, by our count, we covered over 700 releases in all! And after much deliberation, we're excited to unveil our favorites. This isn't your run-of-the-mill Top 10,
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DEVELOPING: Rhino Celebrates Woodstock 50th with Massive, Complete 38-CD Box Set (UPDATED WITH ORDER LINKS)
By Joe Marchese 19 Comments
Rolling Stone has broken the news this morning that Rhino Records is getting back to the garden in a big (make that BIG) way. Woodstock 50 - Back to the Garden: The Definitive 50th Anniversary Archive, due August 2, will live up to its name as the last word on the legendary festival. This 38CD/1BD set, limited to 1,969 copies, will include every note performed onstage by every act at Yasgur's Farm over those three days of peace and music, save two tracks by Jimi Hendrix (omitted at the request
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The Saga Continues: Disney to Reconstruct, Reissue Original 'Star Wars' Soundtracks on CD
By Randy Fairman 4 Comments
Since Disney bought Lucasfilm back in 2012, there has been a steady stream of new Star Wars material for fans to explore that galaxy far, far, away. A couple of weeks ago, the animated television series Star Wars: Rebels wrapped up its four-season run. Tomorrow sees the release of The Last Jedi, the latest film in the famous saga, on DVD and Blu-ray. On May 25, the second "anthology film," Solo: A Star Wars Story will be released. Next year, the Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge areas are to open at
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Soundtrack Watch: Varese Preps Limited Editions For Goldsmith, Jarre, Stephen King Films
By Mike Duquette 1 Comment
There's been a flurry of great catalogue activity from our friends at soundtrack label Varese Sarabande! A trio of limited editions, an exciting wide reissue of two soundtracks to a popular film series, and a quirky, cool box set tied to a popular novelist have all been announced by the label in the last few weeks.Varese recently put the latest titles in their long running limited edition CD Club on sale, right around Halloween--so it's fitting that the first is a horror score from the late,
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Cash, Robbins, Jones, Arnold Feature On Ace's "More Country Hits"
By Joe Marchese 1 Comment
Ace Records has recently continued its Golden Age of American Popular Music Series with another volume dedicated to the sounds of country-and-western. More Country Hits follows The Country Hits, released in 2008, and like that volume, presents a collection of country classics that crossed over to the pop side on the Billboard Hot 100. Many familiar names from the first collection show up here, too, including Johnny Horton, Johnny Cash, Faron Young, Ray Price, George Jones, Skeeter Davis, Marty
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May the Force Be With You: Sony Re-Releases "Star Wars" Soundtracks in CD and LP Box Sets, "The Force Awakens" Soundtrack Out Today
By Randy Fairman 1 Comment
Today sees the release of the hotly-anticipated Star Wars: The Force Awakens in theaters (well, technically, yesterday at 7 PM). As the film seems poised to break several box office records, a deluge of Star Wars products has hit the shelves. Among these offerings released today is the soundtrack CD featuring John William's seventh score for the iconic franchise. To tie in with all of the Star Wars happenings, Sony Masterworks recently announced that the labelwill be releasing two box sets
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Sixteen Tons, What Do You Get?: Bear Family Releases Tennessee Ernie Ford 5-CD Box Set
By Randy Fairman 3 Comments
For years, Germany'svenerable Bear Family label has been curating large box sets focusing on country, pop and early rock-n-roll. These vast collectionsoffer up a complete look at an artist's recordings during a specific period. The label is continuing in this tradition by compiling a box set to coincide with the 60thanniversary of this artist's biggest hit. On September 25, 2015, Tennessee Ernie Ford: Portrait of An American Singer (1949-1960) will be released in the U.S., marking the six
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Holiday Gift Guide Review: A Folk and Country Christmas with The Kingston Trio, The Brothers Four and the Statler Brothers
By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment
The cover of The Kingston Trio’s 1960 Capitol release The Last Month of the Year depicts the three young folksingers in suits and ties, each loaded with a bundle of Christmas gifts. With a cover like that, one could be forgiven for having expected the group to deliver a jovial set of holiday favorites. Instead, The Trio created an album of rare beauty but considerable darkness. As such, it’s hardly your typical holiday fare but Real Gone Music’s reissue (RGM-0312) is a worthwhile inclusion on
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Holiday Gift Guide Review: "The Classic Christmas Album" Series
By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment
Johnny Mathis. Frank Sinatra. Perry Como. Steve Vai? Menudo? When it comes to Christmas music, Legacy Recordings doesn’t pull its punches. The label’s series of Classic Christmas Album releases has become a bit of an annual tradition, and this year’s batch of single- and various-artist anthologies once again draws on names both expected and unexpected. While the packages are bare-bones, with no liner notes (but happily with full credits and discographical annotation), the music most certainly is
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BBR Embarks On An Odyssey With "Native New Yorker" Group and The Hues Corporation
By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment
Cherry Red’s Big Break Records imprint has rocked the boat with a batch of recent reissues from the RCA vaults – one seminal title from The Hues Corporation and a trio from “Native New Yorker” group Odyssey.When “Rock the Boat” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July 1974, it wasn’t exactly new. It had first appeared almost a year earlier on the August 1973 release of Freedom for the Stallion, The Hues Corporation’s debut album for RCA. “One lovely lady” and “two bright young men” is
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Review: Blood, Sweat and Tears, "The Complete Columbia Singles"
By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment
Blood, Sweat and Tears has much in common with Rodney Dangerfield - they get no respect.Though the band founded by Al Kooper, Steve Katz, Bobby Colomby, Jim Fielder, Dick Halligan, Randy Brecker and Jerry Weiss produced some of the most enduring pop singles of the late 1960s and early 1970s, the group has long lingered in the shadows of rock's back pages. Eclipsed in fame by Columbia Records labelmates Chicago, plagued by a series of acrimonious departures from the ranks, and pilloried for
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Holiday Gift Guide Review: The Comedy and Music of Ernie Kovacs and Edie Adams
By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment
Welcome to 2012's Second Disc Holiday Gift Guide! We'll use these special reviews to highlight not only seasonally-themed releases, but box sets, deluxe reissues and other special titles that might make the perfect gifts under your tree this holiday season!Groucho Marx once observed that "marriage is a wonderful institution," before adding, "but who wants to live in an institution?" A few lucky couples have not only thrived in that institution, however, but also in the world of comedy:
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Review: Five from The Steve Miller Band (1968-1970), Reissued on Edsel
By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment
The 1968 debut of the Steve Miller Band begins with a shattering cacophony, followed by an acoustic strum emerging like a beacon of light amidst the darkness and clatter. The album's title track "Children of the Future" is far removed from the ironic detachment of "The Joker" or the sleek majesty of "Fly Like an Eagle," later hits that proved the group could go "pop" while still showing off their versatility and impeccable musicianship. Edsel Records has just afforded listeners the opportunity
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Reviews: Three From Real Gone - Mick Fleetwood's Zoo, Jerry Reed and Durocs
By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment
Real Gone Music has become known for its wide-ranging and eclectic releases, and today we’re looking at three of the most recent, from the countrypolitan stylings of Jerry Reed to the rock animals of Mick Fleetwood’s Zoo and the pure pop of The Dūrocs!Dūrocs, Dūrocs (Real Gone Music RGM-0058, 2012)Are you ready to hear one of the best albums you’ve never heard? Then head straight to the pig pen for the first-ever CD release of Dūrocs. Primarily written and produced by the team of Ron
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