Hey now, hey now...Here at Second Disc HQ, we're bursting with pride to share with you this very special interview conducted by our very own Mike Duquette! Crowded House founder Neil Finn reflected at length with Mike about his band, his career, legacy, and the series of truly lavish Crowded House reissues hitting stores on November 11. We know you'll enjoy this one! Take it away, Mike... There are certain songwriters who've mastered certain places in their compositions. Think of, say, Lou
For Now, For Always: A Second Disc Interview! Bruce Kimmel Announces "Unsung Sherman Brothers"
"In every job that must be done/There is an element of fun/You find the fun and snap!/The job's a game!" For more than fifty years, the tuneful team of Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman found the fun in their own job: songwriting. Together, "The Boys" penned memorable hits by Annette Funicello and Ringo Starr, defined the sound of Disneyland with unforgettable songs like "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" and "It's a Small World," and made timeless movie magic with Mary Poppins,
Moonlight Serenades: Bruce Kimmel Talks Complete Glenn Miller Soundtracks Coming To CD!
Legendary bandleader Glenn Miller only made two film appearances as an actor. 20th Century Fox's 1941 musical Sun Valley Serenade introduced two standards into the American Songbook - "Chattanooga Choo Choo" and "At Last" - and earned three Academy Award nominations. Its 1942 follow-up, Orchestra Wives, moved Miller from featured status to above-the-title billing and introduced another Oscar-nominated hit, "I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo." Yet both films, and their remarkable treasure trove of
SPECIAL FEATURE! "The Grease Megamix" Is the Word: Inside an Unlikely International Hit
In the 45 years since Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey premiered their musical Grease in a trolley barn-turned-blues club in Chicago, the show has taken on a life unlike any other theatrical production in America, or even the world. There have been 11 different major productions of the show throughout the U.S. and U.K., including a record-breaking 3,388-performance run on Broadway, five runs on London's West End between 1979 and 2007 and three national tours; an internationally-acclaimed film
Something to Remember: How Alex Chilton (and Jeff Vargon) Generated "Electricity by Candlelight"
The recent release of Alex Chilton's Electricity by Candlelight on Bar/None Records turns a "you had to be there" moment into a "you are there moment." The late, great singer/songwriter and Big Star frontman took a major setback - a sudden power outage between two sets at New York City's Knitting Factory in 1997 - and spun it into a most magical listening experience: Chilton picked up an acoustic guitar and regaled a small audience with a clutch of covers, from standards ("My Baby Just Cares for
Interview: Going Full Circle with Richard Barone of The Bongos
Richard Barone, frontman for New Jersey-based power-pop act The Bongos, describes his career as centered around the theme of "full circle." This year, Barone has revisited a lot of captivating and familiar territory from his lengthy career. The Bongos were the closing act at legendary Hoboken club Maxwell's in July, having (as members of the band "a") been the venue's first act. Onstage, they announced the release of a "lost" Bongos album, Phantom Train, recorded primarily at Compass Point
INTERVIEW: Excavating Jem with Marty Scott
The list of American cities tied to record labels is small, but certainly notable. Memphis has Stax and Sun, Detroit is defined by Motown, Sub Pop defined the Seattle sound...and then there's Jem Records, which made its home in the middle-class borough of South Plainfield, New Jersey. Jem, as well as its sub-labels like Passport (a joint venture with Seymour Stein of Sire Records) and PVC, became something of a cratedigger's dream in the 1970s and 1980s, licensing content from all over the
Put Your Hands to Heaven: An Interview with Reissue Producer Vinny Vero
Vinny Vero is everywhere. I don't mean this in just a literal sense - as of this posting, he's currently in Australia playing several DJ sets - but he's also had a multifaceted career in the music business, be it as a marketer, producer, remixer or writer. "This year is my 25th anniversary in the music business," he told The Second Disc with a laugh. "All of a sudden I feel very experienced!" Vero parlayed his passion for music into a plum gig as a research manager for prominent New York radio
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 -
A Second Disc Interview: Talking Matt Monro, Mastering and Mixing with RICHARD MOORE
A remarkable treasure trove of Matt Monro rarities has just been released by EMI Gold, a timely reminder of the artist’s life and career. He was sometimes known as the “Cockney Como” or the “English Sinatra,” but both descriptions fail to adequately capture the essence of the beloved singer’s unique and enduring style. Fortunately, Matt Uncovered: The Rarer Monro offers that singular sound in abundance as it traces the arc of his entire career, via almost entirely unheard material. We welcomed