Brownie Box, Ruffin Reissue Are Latest from Hip-O Select

Two new releases from Hip-O Select are on the horizon: one closing the book on a trumpeting legend at a beloved jazz label, and one reissue spotlighting one of Motown’s most underrated voices.

First, the Motown news: David Ruffin’s self-titled, unreleased LP is coming back to the CD format. David was intended for release in 1971 and featured songwriting and production from the brightest stars on the roster at the time, including Henry Cosby co-writes “Each Day is a Lifetime” and “I Can’t Be Hurt Anymore,” Smokey Robinson-aided composition “Dinah,” and covers of The Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back,” Stevie Wonder’s “Heaven Help Us All” and Tony Joe White’s “Rainy Night in Georgia.”And yet, the passionate David was surprisingly shelved in favor of a duet album between David and his brother Jimmy.

Outside of two singles from the album sessions, David wouldn’t see a release until 2004, when the original 12-track album, four single mixes and seven session outtakes were released by Select. That release sold out its original pressing of 3,500 copies; due to popular demand, another 2,000 units of the expanded program is finally being repressed to CD with all the same notes (the only packaging difference is the original digipak being replaced with a standard jewel case). Special thanks to super reader Jonathan Peters for the tip!

After the jump, take a look at Select’s latest project for Clifford Brown, featuring the vocal talents of Sarah Vaughan, Helen Merrill and Miss Dinah Washington!

Who’s Ready for Two Live Releases from Legendary U.K. Rockers?

If you’re sitting out next year’s tour from The Who (this time centered on playing Quadrophenia in its entirety) but you still want to experience them live somehow, you’re in luck, thanks to two upcoming catalogue titles for the holiday season.

Coming from Geffen/UMe on November 6, there’s the first-ever standalone release of Live at Hull. The band’s incendiary performance at Kingston Upon Hull on February 14, 1970 was considered by the group to be one of their best performances on the tour in promotion of their ambitious concept album Tommy. Unfortunately, despite great acoustics and a great reaction from the crowd, technical problems prevented John Entwistle’s bass lines at the beginning of the set (from “Heaven and Hell” to “Substitute”) from being properly recorded, and the decision was made to release a live album from the following night’s show at the University of Leeds. (Live at Leeds, of course, peaked in the Top 5 on both sides of the Atlantic, sold more than two million copies in the U.S. and is still known as one of the greatest live albums of all time.)

The beloved Hull show was finally resurrected as part of UMe’s super-deluxe version of Live at Leeds released in 2010 for the original album’s 40th anniversary. For that release, the missing bass lines were filled in by grafting Entwistle’s bass parts for the same songs at the Leeds show on the original recordings. This two-disc release – identical in set list to Leeds but for the omission of “Magic Bus” – now enables fans to listen to the show without going above budget on a super-sized box set.

After the jump, learn about a later live show from Eagle Rock that’s coming to DVD for the first time!

Born on the Bayou: “Ultimate Collection” Compiles Live, Studio Creedence Clearwater Revival

With just seven albums released over a four-year period between 1968 and 1972, Creedence Clearwater Revival managed to tap into the roots of rock and roll with songs like “Down on the Corner,” “Who’ll Stop the Rain,” “Bad Moon Rising,” “Have You Ever Seen the Rain,” Fortunate Son,” and of course, “Proud Mary.”  All of those songs, and more, will be appearing on CCR’s 3-CD set Ultimate Creedence Clearwater Revival: Greatest Hits & All-Time Classics, due on November 6 from Fantasy Records.

Despite having such a small catalogue (virtually all of which was collected on a 6-CD box set containing every studio and live album plus copious additional material), the band keeps on chooglin’ with anthologies and themed compilations.  The last significant addition to the catalogue was Fantasy’s 2009 The Singles Collection, containing the A- and B-side of every one of the band’s singles (30 tracks total), plus a bonus DVD of select music videos.  Ultimate CCR offers 40 songs over two CDs, plus a third disc of live cuts.

The two studio discs include the familiar hit singles plus deeper cuts from all seven of the band’s albums.  As for the third disc of all live material, its tracks have been derived from performances in Oakland, San Francisco, London, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Berlin and elsewhere throughout 1970-1971.  Though discographical information is not yet available, it’s likely that many (though not all) of the tracks have been culled from the band’s two official live releases: 1973’s Live in Europe (recorded in 1971) and 1980’s The Concert (recorded in 1970).  Other live recordings have appeared as bonus tracks on the 40th anniversary expanded issues of the band’s albums.  A CD/DVD release of Live at the Royal Albert Hall was mooted in 2011, with Amazon at one point even accepting pre-orders, but the release was (indefinitely?) cancelled and no further word has arrived.  Ironically, the 1980 live album was initially titled The Royal Albert Hall Concert until it was determined that it was, in fact, recorded in Oakland, California!

There’s more, including the full track listing and pre-order link, after the jump!

The Second Disc Interview: Keeping the Beat with Gerry Galipault of Pause & Play!

He’s humbly suggested he’s doing his part to save the music business, but Gerry Galipault is doing something even more important: keeping it fun.

On this date 15 years ago, Galipault started Pauseandplay, a simple-but-effective online resource for just about any music release – physical or digital; brand-new or catalogue; vinyl or DVD – that you could dream of. Coupling a tireless work ethic (the result of years of work in the journalism field) with a unique, positive voice, Pauseandplay – named one of the 100 greatest websites by Entertainment Weekly – remains both an institution as well as a valuable voice to have as part of the conversation.

It’s no secret that Galipault’s unwavering enthusiasm for music and information (not to mention his embrace of new challenges – Pauseandplay is a constant presence on Facebook and Twitter) was a major influence on our own work here at Second Disc HQ. (The weekly Release Round-Ups would be nigh impossible without his guidance!) To commemorate 15 great years of Pause & Play, Gerry was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to share some of his secrets – and, of course, chat about music catalogue business, too.

Read on after the jump, and make sure to bookmark Pauseandplay if you haven’t already!

Special EPCOT 30th Anniversary Reissue Theory: “The Official Album of Walt Disney World – EPCOT Center”

Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we reflect on notable albums and the reissues they could someday see.  Today, we celebrate the 30th anniversary of Epcot at Walt Disney World with a look back at its first and only Official Album!

“There’s a great, big, beautiful tomorrow/Shining at the end of every day/There’s a great, big, beautiful tomorrow/Just a dream away…”

Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman may have written those words, but Walt Disney lived them.  Less than two months before his untimely death in late 1966, Walt Disney took his place in front of the cameras for a short, promotional film describing his vision for an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.  EPCOT was designed as a utopian city of the future which 20,000 residents would call home as a PeopleMover or monorail whisked them to the workplace.  It would anchor Disney’s “Florida Project,” and its creator intended, in every way, to make tomorrow today.   Following Disney’s unexpected death, his brother Roy O. Disney shepherded the newly-christened Walt Disney World to the opening of the Magic Kingdom and two resort hotels in 1971.  But EPCOT remained on the back burner without its chief visionary.

Today, October 1, 2012, marks the 30^th anniversary of EPCOT Center, known today simply as Epcot.  Though EPCOT the city never became a reality, the theme park that opened on October 1, 1982 sought to embody the ideals of Disney’s planned community in an immersive, interactive campus.  EPCOT’s “Future World” area embraced and celebrated technology and innovation, while “World Showcase” brought nine countries (later expanded to eleven) to Florida with indigenous dining, retail and educational experiences.

Music, of course, was a major part of the EPCOT experience.  Walt Disney had always sought to give his theme parks a musical identity, much as he had given his films.  Though songwriters such as Robert Moline, Buddy Baker, Xavier Atencio and the Academy Award-winning team of Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn all penned songs for EPCOT Center, the heart and soul of the project’s musical side may have been the team of Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman.  The composer-lyricists of “It’s a Small World,” “The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room” and “It’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” supplied a number of songs for EPCOT Center, returning to the Walt Disney Company at the behest of legendary Disney imagineer Marty Sklar.  The Sherman brothers, Sklar intuited, would be able to bring their universal touch to tell the stories behind the very different pavilions being intended for EPCOT, both in Future World and World Showcase.  A handful of their contributions, as well as those by the above-named individuals, could be heard on a 1983 Disneyland Records release that is, to date, the only album released solely to consist of the music of EPCOT Center.  It was only released on LP and cassette, and never reissued or updated for commercial CD release, though a number of its tracks survived to later Walt Disney World compilation albums.

Hit the jump to explore The Official Album of Walt Disney World – EPCOT Center!