Rock Round-Up: Expansions by KISS, Pantera on the Horizon

It’s been great to say there’s been no shortage of news from the catalogue world to report on at Second Disc HQ. For hard rock fans, reports have been coming in that two famed records will be joining the ranks of other expanded and remastered editions in the coming months.

First up, one of the “open secret” titles of 2012, as reported last year: a deluxe edition of KISS’ classic 1976 effort Destroyer. The iconic rockers released Destroyer in the wake of the release of concert album Alive! a year before, which earned them their first taste of mainstream success. With all eyes on the costumed quartet, the band underwent a series of intense, ambitious sessions with producer Bob Ezrin and churned out some of the most exciting rock tunes of their career, including “Shout It Out Loud” and mood-setting album opener “Detroit Rock City.” But it was an unlikely ballad, “Beth,” sung by drummer Peter Criss, that jet-propelled the album after three middling chart singles. Altogether, Destroyer sold 2 million copies and remains one of the most beloved albums the band ever released.

Though there’s no concrete details for the content of the deluxe Destroyer (it’s expected to be presented over two discs like Universal’s other Deluxe Edition titles), it is slated for release on April 17, and will feature Ken Kelly’s original rejected artwork for the album. (Casablanca Records objected to what is now considered a tame depiction of the band standing triumphant over the flaming wreckage of a city, upon which Kelly submitted the version we all know and love today.) As always, keep it here for more info as it’s available.

But there’s more after the jump – a future reissue you might find “vulgar”…

Bricks in the Wall: A Pink Floyd Teaser for Your Lunch Break

How excited are you for Pink Floyd’s latest Immersion Edition, for the iconic double album The Wall? It’s doubtful you’re alone. The “Why Pink Floyd?” reissue campaign was one of 2011’s highest-profile catalogue series, and – marbles aside – the Immersion Edition box sets of The Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here were labors of love if ever any existed.

So, as a treat while you count the days down until the box’s February 28 release, Pink Floyd’s YouTube account has posted this sneak peek at some of the demos and unreleased live performances that are going to feature on the box.

You’ll hear bits of live versions of “Comfortably Numb,” “Hey You,” “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)” and “The Show Must Go On” from the band’s 1980-1981 The Wall tour, as well as demos of “The Doctor” (which later became “Comfortably Numb”), “Another Brick in the Wall (Part 1),” “Sexual Revolution,” “Teacher, Teacher,” “Outside the Wall” and “It’s Never Too Late.”

What tracks are you most excited for – and are you hoping for any more Immersion editions from the band’s catalogue?

bit.ly/wp_ark

Touch the Sky: Four Classic Carole King Albums Reissued

When Carole King left Lou Adler’s Ode Records, the label that guided her in the transition from urban Brill Building queen to singer/songwriter/earth mother, it marked the end of an era.  And how would the Tapestry weaver top the two distinct periods that had come before?  King signed to Hollywood’s venerable Capitol Records label, and the title of her first LP for the label said it all: Simple Things.  King’s final Ode LP, 1976’s Thoroughbred, had emphasized a return to nature in its cover photo of the singer on a horse, and Simple Things would be a back-to-basics album.  Yet only one of the four long players recorded by King at Capitol between 1977 and 1980 has ever been domestically released on CD, 1980’s Pearls: Songs of Goffin and King.  That’s about to change, however.  King herself is finally bringing her lost LPs to light via Concord Records and her own Rockingale imprint.  February 28 will see the release of Simple Things (1977), Welcome Home (1978), Touch the Sky (1979) and the aforementioned Pearls.  (King has had a long relationship with Concord, with past releases including The Living Room Tour and with James Taylor, Live at the Troubadour.)

The Capitol era is marked by King’s retreat from the rapidly-changing environs of Los Angeles’ Laurel Canyon for the greener pastures of Idaho.  King had fallen in love with Rick Evers, a leather worker and musician who introduced her to the state she would call home for more than a decade.  Evers, battling a heroin addiction against which King felt powerless, was a major collaborator on the first two Capitol albums.  King told The New York Times in 1984, “Rick wasn’t disciplined enough to stay with anything long enough to pursue it to career success.  I felt helpless watching him be caught up in the Los Angeles drug scene, but I eventually had to accept that it was karma, for lack of a better word.  Even though I was not involved in the drug scene myself, I too felt I was in danger of being done in by L.A.  And because I’m a survivor, I got out in time.  The ending, tragic as it was, was also a beginning.  I took three of my children and went back to Idaho, and built a new life.”  Evers, King’s third husband, succumbed to his addictions in 1978, and King later married rancher Rick Sorensen, though that marriage ended in divorce.

Hit the jump for all the details on this Carole quartet, including pre-order links and track listings with discography!