The Year in Reissues: The 2013 Gold Bonus Disc Awards

Welcome to The Second Disc’s Fourth Annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards!

Though this is a slow time of year for news, it’s the perfect time to look at the year in review.  As with every year’s awards, our goals are simple: to recognize as many of the year’s most essential reissues and catalogue titles as possible, and to celebrate those labels, producers and artists who make these releases possible in what many might deem an increasingly-challenging retail landscape.  These labels have bucked the trends to prove that there’s still a demand for physical catalogue music.  And from our vantage point, there’s still great strength and health in this corner of the music industry.  By my very rough estimate, The Second Disc covered around 500 releases in 2013 – and we firmly believe that the best is still yet to come.  We dedicate The Gold Bonus Disc Awards to the creators of the music and releases we cover, and to you, the readers.  After all, your interest is ultimately what keeps great music of the past – this site’s raison d’etre – alive and well.

With that in mind, don’t forget to share your own thoughts and comments below. What made your must-have list in 2013?  Please join us in recognizing 2013′s best of the best.

Which releases take home the gold this year? Hit the jump below to find out!

Review: The Three O’Clock, “The Hidden World Revealed”

Could it be time, once again, for The Three O’Clock?

The California group took its place alongside the likes of The Bangles and Dream Syndicate as part of the “Paisley Underground” movement of eighties rockers who looked to the sixties’ psychedelic pop and folk-rock scenes for inspiration.  In fact, the band’s bassist/lead vocalist Michael Quercio is said to have even coined that evocative name.  Between 1982 and 1988, The Three O’Clock recorded one LP for Frontier Records, two for I.R.S., and one for Prince’s Paisley Park label.  The group broke up following the release of 1988’s Vermillion, and 25 years later, all but one of those albums is currently out-of-print.  But something remarkable happened when Quercio, drummer Danny Benair, and guitarist/vocalist Louis Gutierrez – three-fourths of the band’s “classic” line-up – reformed earlier this year to play their first dates in decades.  Longtime fans, of course, rejoiced…but where could potential fans discover their music?  Omnivore Recordings has come to the rescue with The Hidden World Revealed (OVCD-64), a new 20-track anthology that’s one part introductory “best-of,” one part a rarities collection, and altogether a celebratory set.

The Hidden World reveals 20 bright, guitar-driven power pop nuggets, ten of which are previously unreleased.  Mostly written by Quercio and Gutierrez, these tracks aren’t pastiches of late-sixties styles.  Rather, the band used their influences – a diverse group, from The Bee Gees to Pink Floyd – as a jumping-off point.  Shiny, “modern” keyboards coexist with blasts of chiming, jangly guitar reminiscent here of The Beatles, there of The Byrds, with propulsive drums and well-blended bass as anchor.  Quercio, Benair and Gutierrez are joined on most tracks by Mike (Mickey) Mariano on keyboards.  One track (“Regina Caeli”) features Mike Altenberg, who joined The Three O’Clock in 1986, on guitar, while “Jennifer Only” from pre-Three O’Clock band The Salvation Army features Quercio with Troy Howell on drums and John Blazing on guitar.  This compilation could have been subtitled The Frontier Years, as all tracks hail from the period of the band’s earliest label association.  Most tracks are circa 1982-1983; the most recent dates from 1986.

We’ll take a deeper look after the jump!

Release Round-Up: Week of June 25

The Beatles, Help! (Blu-Ray Disc) (Capitol/Apple)

The Fab Four’s second film gets the hi-def disc treatment. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

The Three O’Clock, The Hidden World Revealed (Omnivore)

Early works by power-pop legends The Three O’Clock shine on this new compilation, featuring cuts from their early works on Frontier Records and 10 unreleased tracks. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Omnivore)

Released on limited colored vinyl for Record Store Day this year, the soundtrack to this new Big Star documentary features 21 unreleased outtakes and new mixes of favorites from the legendary cult heroes.

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

The Moody Blues, Timeless Flight (UMe)

Released in the U.K. earlier this month, this new anthology from the Moodies comes in two-disc, four-disc or 17-disc CD/DVD editions. Nothing like freedom of choice, right?

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
4CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
11CD/6DVD box: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Various Artists, Scared to Get Happy: A Story of Indie Pop 1980-1989 (Cherry Red)

A new five-disc anthology that’s basically the Nuggets of its genre, from Creation to Rough Trade, The Jesus & Mary Chain to The Stone Roses. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Allman Brothers Band, Brothers and Sisters: 40th Anniversary Edition (Mercury)

Four decades after “Ramblin’ Man” was an immense pop hit, the Allmans’ 1973 album comes back as a super-deluxe box featuring a disc of unreleased outtakes and a complete show from the Winterland Ballroom.

4CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
1LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

James Brown, Best of ‘Live at the Apollo’ 50th Anniversary (Polydor/UMe)

A single-disc compilation of the best of JB’s three King/Polydor live albums from the famed New York venue, along with two unreleased tracks from an unreleased fourth volume of material. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Devo, Hardcore Vols. 1 & 2 (Superior Viaduct)

Long out-of-print, these compilations of early Devo works make their debut on vinyl; a reissued CD edition with extra tracks will be released in two weeks.

Volume 1: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Volume 2 (2LP):  Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Steve Earle, The Warner Bros. Years (Shout! Factory)

This new box features Steve Earle’s three Warner albums from 1995 to 1997, plus two unreleased concerts on CD and DVD. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Elvis Presley, King Creole / Yes, Going for the One (SACDs) (Audio Fidelity)

Yes’ 1977 album, the first with Rick Wakeman since 1973, and Elvis’ 1958 soundtrack album (featuring “Hard Headed Woman”), are the latest to get the Audio Fidelity SACD treatment, mastered by Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray respectively.

King Creole: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Going for the One: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Sylvester, Mighty Real: Greatest Dance Hits (Fantasy)

The legendary disco performer is celebrated with a new compilation featuring his most classic hits and a new remix of “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real).”

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
LP: Amazon U.S.

Dio, Magica: Deluxe Edition (Niji Entertainment)

A new two-disc edition of the 2000 Dio album. (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)

Bob Marley and The Wailers, Legend Remixed (Tuff Gong/Island/UMe)

New remixes of classic reggae favorites.

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.

Return of The Paisley Underground: Omnivore Anthologizes the Early Three O’Clock

Power-pop legends The Three O’Clock stunned even their most devoted fans by announcing their first live dates in decades this year, including a stop at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. To sweeten the deal even more, the fine folks at Omnivore have prepped a brand-new compilation covering their earliest years on Frontier Records – half of which is entirely unreleased.

Singer/songwriter/bassist Michael Quercio had a funny, catchy term to describe what L.A. bands like his were doing in the early ’80s: “The Paisley Underground.” Combining the sonic aesthetics of punk and alternative genres with the songwriting tropes of ’60s psychedelia and folk, Quercio, guitarist Louis Gutierrez, keyboardist Mike Mariano and drummer Danny Benair were perhaps the band that mastered that sound the best, alongside contemporaries The Dream Syndicate and The Bangles. The Three O’Clock were signed to the Frontier label, releasing their first LP for the label in 1982 under the moniker “The Salvation Army.” That name was quickly changed for legal reasons, and the band released the Baroque Hoedown EP and Sixteen Tambourines LP in 1982 and 1983 for the label.

The group later signed to I.R.S., releasing two albums, Arrive Without Travelling (1985) and Ever After (1986), the latter featuring new guitarist Steven Attenberg. He was duly replaced in 1988 by Jason Falkner; that lineup recorded one final album, Vermillion, for Prince’s Paisley Park Records. (Minneapolis’ favorite son penned one track for them, “Neon Telephone,” under the alias Joey Coco.) The band broke up shortly thereafter, with Falkner arguably the highest-profile of the group as a member of fellow Omnivore favorite Jellyfish for their first LP, Bellybutton.

It’s Quercio, Gutierrez and Benair that will keep the flame alive on the road this year, however, and all three players contribute to The Hidden World Revealed, a new compilation of the band’s Frontier-era work. Quercio and Gutierrez penned the liner notes while Benair provides running track-by-track commentary on the 20-song program, which includes choice tracks from Baroque Hoedown and Sixteen Tambourines as well as 10 unreleased cuts, including alternate takes, unheard songs and demos (including one by The Salvation Army).

Available June 25, this is one CD you will not want to be late for! Full track details and links from the label are after the jump!