Short Takes: Paul is Digital, New Rock Hall Class, Rush Box Issues, The Cure Make “Wish” for 2012

• Paul McCartney is not dead, but he is digital: a new beta version of his website, developed with Hewlett-Packard, brings his solo catalogue to fans through a cloud service, along with a host of interactive features. Fans can stream all of his studio albums (including collaboration projects like The Fireman and Twin Freaks) through a jukebox, and premium members can download that jukebox as a desktop app. Additionally, a new “Rude Studio” section of his site allows fans to play and mix three-track stems of some of his greatest hits. Conspicuously absent is the bonus material from any of the Paul McCartney Archive Collection reissues. (Due credit to Super Deluxe Edition for their reportage.)
• The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees for 2012 have been announced. The Beastie Boys, Donovan, Guns N’ Roses, Laura Nyro, The Small Faces/Faces and The Red Hot Chili Peppers were rewarded in the performer category, Freddie King will be inducted as an early influence, the Ahmet Ertegun (nonperformer) award will go to Don Kirshner and the Awards for Musical Excellence go to producer Tom Dowd and engineers Cosimo Matassa and Glyn Johns. A hearty congratulations to all those recognized.
• Rush have announced that production flaws exist on two of the three recently-released Sectors box sets. Fans have noted problems with Fly By Night (1975) in the Sector 1 box and the DVD version of A Farewell to Kings (1977) in Sector 2. A disc replacement program will be implemented shortly, per the band. (Thanks to Ultimate Classic Rock for the tip.)
• Tuesday was grey (and Wednesday too) at Second Disc HQ, but it’s brightened with the news of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame non-inductees The Cure reissuing hit single “Friday I’m in Love” next year for Record Store Day and the Teenage Cancer Trust. The single, which you – yes, you – could design the cover art for – also looks to be a tie-in for a reissue of the album it came from, 1992’s Wish, for its 20th anniversary, so there’s another expansion we can look forward to in the coming year. (Hat tips abound to Slicing Up Eyeballs for this one.)

Reissue Theory: The Cure, “Standing on a Beach/Staring at the Sea”

Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we focus on notable albums and the reissues they could someday see. The recent success of some U.S. dates from The Cure have us thinking about their first compilation – a must-own for alt-rock fans when it was released a quarter-century ago – and how its best configuration deserves a release on CD.

With a catalogue that stretches back to the late ’70s and starts off far more solidly than most bands, it was a treat to see The Cure celebrate their early years in 2011 with a series of “Reflections” concerts, which saw them perform their first three albums (and more hits and rarities) in their entirety. (The run closed with three shows at New York City’s Beacon Theatre this past weekend, and frontman Robert Smith ended the last concert with a promising “We’ll see you again next year.”)

The run got Second Disc HQ thinking about the band’s first compilation, 1986’s Standing on a Beach: The Singles (or, as it was known on some CD copies, Staring at the Sea), which captured the group’s original gamut of college rock hits (including early classics like “Killing an Arab,” “Boys Don’t Cry,” “Let’s Go to Bed,” “The Lovecats,” “In Between Days” and “Close to Me”) before 1987’s Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me and 1989’s Disintegration took the group to a beautiful round of crossover pop success.

In retrospect, what made Standing on a Beach so exciting at the time was its clever use of formats. Vinyl listeners had a taut 13 tracks to enjoy on their edition, while CD connoisseurs could take advantage of the longer playing times with an additional four non-single tracks (“10:15 Saturday Night,” “Play for Today,” “Other Voices” and “A Night Like This,” all of which received airplay through their music videos). But cassette owners had it best. The 13 tracks of the vinyl edition of Staring were on one side of the tape, while another dozen “unavailable B-sides” (all previously released on vinyl) made up the other side.

Ultimately, Standing on a Beach became the group’s highest-charting album at the time, peaking at No. 4 in the U.K. and No. 48 in America and ultimately selling two million copies on our shores. Less successful but just as intriguing for collectors was one single released to promote the set: a remix of 1979’s “Boys Don’t Cry,” featuring a new vocal track from Robert Smith. Fans didn’t warm up to the “New Voice – New Mix” too well – Smith’s vocal sort of clashes against the original track, and it only went to No. 22 in 1986 – but there was manna for collectors in the form of two previously unreleased tracks recorded in 1979 on the B-side, “Pillbox Tales” and “Do the Hansa” (the latter of which was performed for the first time by the band, fittingly enough, at their last Reflections show).

While all of the B-sides were collated on Rhino’s Join the Dots box set in 2004 (freeing up space for demos, rough mixes and session material on the label’s ongoing series of deluxe editions), it would be fun to see a reissue of Staring at the Sea with its original B-sides playlist reinstated, as either a two-disc set or a novel cassette reissue. Throw the remixed “Boys” on there (which should make the first time the track’s appeared on CD) and its two B-sides, and you have a nice little curio for collectors.

Go on, go on and check out our dream deluxe arrangement of Standing on a Beach after the jump!

A Sweet “Entreat” on Vinyl

MusicTAP reports that Rhino is releasing Entreat Plus by The Cure on double vinyl next year.

Entreat Plus was the third disc of this year’s expansive reissue of landmark album Disintegration (1989). It’s a live document of the ensuing Prayer Tour, recorded at Wembley Stadium in London in July of 1989. It was released in Europe as a promotional CD, but never saw a release Stateside until this year – at which point it was remixed and expanded to include live versions of all 12 songs on the original album.

Entreat Plus is the first Disintegration bonus material to see a vinyl release. Look for it January 11. The track list is after the jump.

The Cure, Entreat Plus (Elektra/Rhino, 2011)

1. Plainsong
2. Pictures of You
3. Closedown
4. Lovesong
5. Last Dance
6. Lullaby
7. Fascination Street
8. Prayers for Rain
9. The Same Deep Water as You
10. Disintegration
11. Homesick
12. Untitled

Tracks 2-3, 5, 7-8 and 10-12 originally released as Entreat (Fiction FIX 14 (Europe-only), 1989)
Tracks 8 and 10 also released on “Pictures of You” U.K. 12″ single (Fiction FICXB 34, 1990)
Tracks 11-12 also released on “Lullaby” U.S. 12″ single (Elektra 0-66664, 1989)
All tracks later released on Disintegration: Deluxe Edition (Elektra/Fiction/Rhino R2 523449, 2010)

News Round-Up Part II: Expansions All Over, TV Treasures and a Bon Jovi Compilation

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 more than pleased to help bring awareness of it to your door.

Now here are a few more releases to keep you in the know.

• Not only did Hip-o Select announce Tammi Terrell‘s Come On and See Me: The Complete Solo Collection last week, they also unveiled two other titles. First, the Dinah Washington singles set that Harry Weinger promised us last month only has a title – The Fabulous Miss D: The Keynote, Decca and Mercury Singles – and a cover photo (viewable here) – but more info on this set should be available soon. Then there’s a limited, double-disc live set from The Neville Brothers ready for order; Authorized Bootleg: Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, CA – February 27, 1989 captures Aaron, Art, Cyril and Charles delivering New Orleans-style soul ahead of that year’s hit album Yellow Moon. Order that here.
• Yet another Madness LP is being expanded by Salvo Music: this time, it’s Wonderful, the 1999 LP that saw the original line-up of the band reunited for the first time since 1984. Remixes and B-sides abound on this set, available here.
• Rhino Handmade, in addition to unearthing The State’s unreleased Comedy for Gracious Living record, announced a deluxe edition of Shoot Out the Lights, the final album by Richard and Linda Thompson released in 1982. This set includes the original LP (minus the non-LP B-side “Living in Luxury” included on an earlier reissue on Rykodisc Records) with a bonus disc of unreleased live tracks recorded during the famed American tour in which Richard and Linda – headed for divorce and full of contempt for each other – put on a mesmerizing show. Preliminary information is available from Rhino right here.
• Film Score Monthly has announced a clutch of television titles. One is another volume of Alan Silvestri’s early work for the hit show CHiPs, the other is TV Omnibus Volume One (1962-1976), an intriguing five-disc collection of obscure television works by some of the most recognized composers in film and television history, including Jerry Goldsmith, Dave Grusin, John Williams, Lalo Schifrin and others. Find them here and here.
• Again we turn to the genius (or geniuses, I honestly have no idea) of Slicing Up Eyeballs, who got two neat reissue stories while your catalogue correspondent was on holiday. Last week they sorted through potential future catalogue titles for The Cure – including a potential expansion of remix LP Mixed Up (1990), a box set of BBC recordings and the premiere DVD release of The Cure in Orange – and then, in a great Q&A with Martyn Ware of Heaven 17, got him to shed some light on some recently unearthed demos to be included in a forthcoming reissue of the band’s 1981 debut LP Penthouse and Pavement. Good stuff all around.
• Finally – for now, anyway – we come full circle with some news from Universal Music Enterprises. That promised reissue of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers’ Damn the Torpedoes, expected October 26 from UMe/Geffen, is said to have some unreleased outtakes from the original album sessions as bonus material. (This is coming from a little blurb in the latest issue of Rolling Stone.) And Island will stuff the stockings of Bon Jovi fans with a new compilation. Greatest Hits will street November 9 and include 14 hits alongside two new tracks, including new single “What Do You Got?” A double-disc set with 28 cuts in total will have two additional new tracks.

News Round-Up: “Rated R” Release Date, Ozzy Reissues and Rare Cure

• The aforementioned reissue of Queens of the Stone Age’s Rated R (2000) has a release date set. Look for it July 20. (Thanks to MusicTAP for the tip)
• Rolling Stone reports in their new issue that Ozzy Osbourne is planning deluxe reissues of Blizzard of Ozz (1980) and Diary of a Madman (1981). While no bonus content has been confirmed, fans will rejoice that these reissues will be using the original LP mixes (in 2002, both albums were controversially reissued with uncredited drum and bass overdubs, replacing Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake’s original tracks with new ones from Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo and Faith No More drummer Mike Bordin, both having been members of Ozzy’s touring band).
• As if it wasn’t good enough being a fan of The Cure right now, it gets even better. A Web site devoted to the band’s upcoming deluxe edition of Disintegration has been opened up, with a treasure trove of streamable goodies, including – wait for it – another disc’s worth of rarities that won’t be in the deluxe set. (If you’re handy with audio, you could conceivably make yourself a four-disc version of the new reissue – or a five-disc, when another Disintegration live set starts streaming next week.) Get a hold of it here. (You can also check out a bunch of rare/unreleased tracks Robert Smith posted at the time of the release of The Cure’s Greatest Hits disc from 2001; they’ve been archived at excellent Cure fan blog Chain of Flowers. All the love in the world to Slicing Up Eyeballs for the revelations.)

Obligatory a-ha Post (Plus One for The Cure)

The a-ha deluxe editions are out exclusively on Rhino’s Web site. Do it now!

Okay, now that that’s cleared up, another brief Rhino tidbit of ’80s goodness. In a sign that The Cure’s Disintegration is finally coming out in its deluxe, three-disc form (on June 3), Rhino’s offering a special collectible to the first 500 pre-orders – a nine-track promo disc of choice cuts from the new set entitled 3x3x3. Cure fans are not going to want to pass this one up, so head here and get ’em while they’re hot.

Reintegration

Hooray! Slicing Up Eyeballs reports that the triple-disc reissue of Disintegration by The Cure seems to finally have a release date. The reissue press release was recently posted to The Cure’s official site with a May 24 release date from Polydor/Universal in the U.K.

Hopefully this means a May 25 release from Rhino in the U.S. will be locked down before long. There have been far too many inexplicable delays of ’80s reissues in the States lately. Stay tuned as always for more!

News Round-Up: Disintegrated, Devo and Lena Horne Unearthed

• Chain of Flowers reports that the upcoming expansion of Disintegration by The Cure still lacks a release date. In a related story, ARRRRRRRGH.
• Amazon is taking pre-orders for a reissue of Duty Now for the Future, Devo’s 1979 sophomore album. This title, due on April 13 (presumably with bonus content), follows the deluxe versions of Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! and Freedom of Choice released last year.
• Hip-O Select tweeted a tease for an upcoming release: “Lena Horne did 16 singles on MGM – never on CD, until…. Coming soon…” Actual discographical information has been hard to pin down regarding Horne on MGM, but my research indicates this may consist of Lena Horne Sings, a 1951 10-inch LP, and/or The One & Only Lena Horne, a planned 1982 LP that was never issued but likely covered the same material.

News Roundup: However Far Away, Banshees Banished and Intrada Releases

• A pair of sour notes from our friends over at Slicing Up Eyeballs. First, a source from Universal Music Group tells Cure fan site Chain of Flowers that the planned triple-disc reissue of Disintegration has been delayed a third time. The set – which features the original LP, a disc of demos and outtakes and an expanded version of the live album Entreat – was originally slated for a Feb. 16 release before being pushed back to April 6. In the U.S., where distribution is being dealt with by Rhino Records, the Amazon pre-order link still has the same date. Of course, that may yet change, as other retailers (including Amazon’s Canadian branch and Best Buy) have taken that date off the books.
• Additionally, the site also reports that Universal’s reissuing of the Siouxsie and The Banshees discography has been cancelled. “As the final four albums don’t have enough extras to warrant the double disc ‘deluxe’ treatment they have halted our programme four albums short,” founding Banshee Steven Severin wrote in a post on his Facebook page. Asked why Universal was pressing for double-disc sets of the remaining four albums (Through the Looking Glass (1987), Peepshow (1988), Superstition (1991) and The Rapture (1995)) when only the band’s debut LP, The Scream (1978) had been given the double disc treatment, Severin responded, “It’s a way of using ‘policy’ to only focus on the big sellers. You have to read between the lines.”
• In somewhat happier news, indie film score label Intrada has announced two new titles. Henry Mancini’s semi-obscure score to The Hawaiians (1970) will be reissued in a two-disc set, limited to 1500 copies, that includes the original soundtrack LP with the complete score sourced from Mancini’s personal 1/4″ tape sessions in mono. Meanwhile, the label is also reissuing in unlimited quantities the original soundtrack to Manhunter, the 1983 adaptation of Thomas Harris’ novel Red Dragon (this was the first film to feature Hannibal Lector, although Brian Cox’s portrayal is worlds apart from Anthony Hopkins’ Oscar-winning role). The LP, making its debut on CD, features music from post-punk and electronic acts including The Prime Movers, Red 7, Shriekback and The Reds and includes one previously-unreleased bonus track. Have a go at them here and here.

News Roundup: Whitney Houston, Release Date Roundup, Costello-palooza

• Excited for Legacy’s deluxe reissue of Whitney Houston’s debut album (out next Tuesday)? Vevo’s got an EPK up for your viewing pleasure. View it here.
• A big reissue has yet another date change: Rhino’s deluxe edition of Disintegration by The Cure has been moved from March 16 to April 6. Here’s the link.
• Indie label group Beggar’s Banquet has got some neat new titles planned on their Beggar’s Archive imprint. Pixies fans are particularly going to be enthused. Check it here.
• MusicTAP has added some neat release dates from Hip-O Select. The first is what looks like a reissue or expansion of City of Angels, a 1975 album by The Miracles never released on CD in the U.S. (due for release on April 20); and The Mercury Albums Anthology, a limited edition set of material by seminal girl-punk group The Runaways (set to come out on March 16, three days before the upcoming biopic of the group).
• Can’t get enough of Hip-O’s Elvis Costello reissues? If so, you’re probably more invested than Costello himself. I recently found this semi-recent interview in which Elvis had some mixed opinions on the reissues:”[A]s for the reissues, I’m nominally involved, in that my name is on them, but I really have nothing to do with it. And my honest opinion is that, with these live albums, they’ve gotten off on the wrong foot. They’re doing too many records from the same time period and the same repertoire. But it costs too much to produce them, so if they can release something that’s just lying around gathering dust, that’s what they will do.”

  If you’re looking for someone who shares your extreme interest (and attention to detail) for all the Elvis Costello reissues, past and present, here’s a site I picked up during some research: visit this page.

Got some tips for us? E-mail theseconddisc@gmail.com and it’ll get posted, stat.