CDs and vinyl dying? - 2013 has already seen a swathe of deluxe and detailed reissue packages and those below are just the tip of the iceberg. Be it triple-disc sets devoted to just one album, or box-sets tenuously gathering an artist's catalogue together for the umpteenth time, the idea that the humble compact-disc and record is 'on its way out' has yet to be realized, as these physical-format re-visits demonstrate. All are out now.
House Of Love - House Of Love - 3CD
9/10
Crikey, just how good were Guy Chadwick's solemn-pop charges when this debut-album appeared on Creation in 1988? Actually, very good indeed. At just over 30 minutes in length in its original form, curators Cherry Red deserve credit for squeezing another forty-odd songs (2 hrs) more from the vaults under Chadwick's own guidance. But, rather than milking version after version of the most familiar songs, they've unearthed plenty of rarities and live versions to satisfy the most fervent lover of classic indie-rock and the Creation story.
The core album itself is by turns powerful, reflective and with just a hint of Velvet Underground and included one of music's great opening-tracks, Christine, as well as Love In a Car, Happy and Sulphur, all of which could have been singles. As it was, the classic first 7" Shine On was left off the final pressing and the band went on to record enough material to fill a second album with some songs arguably better - Blind, The Hill and Destroy The Heart perhaps the pick of the bunch. The live tracks should be enough to convince most onlookers that HoL were a latent unit with venom and energy. 53 tracks - gotta be worth a punt.
Julian Cope - Saint Julian - 2CD
8/10
Some critics saw the naming of his third solo album Saint Julian a bit arrogant and a little over self-assured for one who was yet to appease fans of his old band Teardrop Explodes. The sleeve even depicted Cope in near-crucifix pose, albeit in a scrap-yard, a saint among the scrap perhaps? Whatever, the album's creator was more than justified to appear in this light - Saint Julian sounded like a statement of intent after the relatively eccentric content of the previously-issued World Shut Your Mouth and Fried. Perhaps the only thing Saint Julian has in common with those first two long-players is the former's title, the inspiration behind Cope's biggest song on this reissue. In 1987, Top of the Pops became the launch-pad for the singer's purpose-built microphone-stand and a prosperous solo career, at least for decade or so.
On this double-disc release you get the aforementioned album, a heady mixture of pin-sharp US-style rock produced by Warne Livesey (Midnight Oil, Icehouse) that included World Shut Your Mouth (the big hit), Trampolene (the hit that should have been bigger) and Eve's Volcano (flop), plus the excellent Planet Ride, Spacehopper and Pulsar. Less essential is the closing, floundering epic A Crack in the Clouds but, all told, Julian Cope's reputation remained intact with a mostly flawless album. The second-disc rounds up key b-sides, 12" mixes and live tracks that filled the many single formats issued at the time, including a decent stab at Pere Ubu's Non Alignment Pact.
Marianne Faithfull - Broken English - 2CD
8/10
From '60s press-darling to '70s hard-bitten ball-breaker, Marianne Faithfull's trademark rasping vocals and gutter lyrics told a tale of a woman scorned and embittered by life's steady flow of shit hitting her sensitive fan. If ever there was an example of a spurned-lover's call to arms, the closing funk-skank of Why'd Ya Do It is it, in particular her hoarsely-hollered inquiry, "WHY'D YA LET HER SUCK YER COCK?". Why, indeed. But although the subject-matter is painful to digest (for the easily-offended, maybe), the guitar-work from Barry Reynolds and the bilious repartee from Faithfull is foremost here.
The remainder of Broken English is no less intriguing - the title-track is reminiscent of space-rock, Witches' Song is a warm folksy romp that pays homage to Faithfull's faithfull female friends of the era and the pretty electro quiver throughout The Ballad of Lucy Jordan turns out to be more autobiographical than first surmised (it's a cover). Another cover comes courtesy of John Lennon's Working Class Hero, perfectly suited to Marianne's tattered drawl, while the remainder of the self-penned songs tread the line between junkie hardships (Guilt) and more junkie hardships (What's The Hurry?). If you thought Courtney Love did drug-chic with aplomb, Marianne was doing it for real, decades before.
The second-disc contains the entire album again, this time in its original unfettered and uncluttered original demo form and you know what? It sounds all the better for it in places - rawer, rougher and raging full-on. Also included is non-album single Sister Morphine, a bleak track co-written with the Rolling Stones during the '60s and no less compromising because of it. Three mixes of Broken English and a skankier 12" refix of Why'd Ya Do It complete the extras.
Marvin Gaye - Trouble Man OST - 2CD
10/10
The soul legend's key output is often cited as Let's Get It On, Sexual Healing or What's Going On?. Whilst all this is justified, Marvin Gaye's soundtrack work has been long overdue some props and Trouble Man is perhaps his most sublime effort. The film was one of many so-called Blaxploitation vehicles at the time, not necessarily a classic and certainly not a box-office earner like Shaft or Superfly. The music here is certainly the equal of Isaac Hayes' string-laden landmark or Curtis Mayfield's falsetto funk legend, demonstrating the composer's deft handling of an orchestra. Gaye wrote two versions of Trouble Man, one for the film itself and an edited assemblage for the ubiquitous soundtrack on Tamla Motown, both of which are included on this exemplary double-disc issue. Add in some informative sleevenotes and rare photos of Gaye looking like a dude, plus various session-tracks as a bonus, makes for a benchmark that other labels should aim for.
The music itself is peerless, atmospheric and dramatic, not least the supreme 'T' Plays It Cool. Sampled and respected by many in hip-hop circles and crate-digging fellowships, this simple instrumental has more in the way of low-down dirty funk than most of its genre, yet remains a somewhat reflective, even romantic, example of descriptive composition, without the need for lyrics.
Vocals are not something that crop up too often here, except for a few interludes and the super title-track, presented here in variants across the discs.
The only shame is that there are little in the way of dialogue-snippets from the film but, aside from this, Trouble Man is a must-have for fans of film-soundtracks and symphonic soul 'n' funk alike.
The Burrell Brothers - The Nu Groove Years 1988-1992 - CD
8/10
Nu Groove was a New York house-music label created in the late '80s on the strength of session-tracks produced by the twins, The Burrell Brothers, plus some shrewd business-sense shown by founders Frank and Karen Mendez and Judy Russell. In signing the pair, Nu Groove paved the way for the likes of the not-dissimilar Strictly Rhythm and Nervous Records, producing raw minimal house with slick vocals and urban beats, keenly lapped up by clubbers in and around New York and New Jersey. None of the acts on here became household names in the UK but, for those that knew and still do, Metro's Brownstone Express, Tech Trax Inc's eponymous smash and any one of the N.Y. House'N Authority's relentless soul-techno belters mean the world. If Joey Negro, Larry Heard, Virgo and Frankie Knuckles float your boat, the Burrells will certainly do the same - skittering 4/4 hi-hats and throbbing bass-lines are the order of the day, with Aphrodisiac's Song of the Siren a prime example. Bill Brewster provides the usual detailed sleevenotes.
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours - 2CD
9/10
Timeless, influential, a guilty pleasure - whatever your feelings about Fleetwood Mac and their biggest global success, 1977's Rumour is an album shrouded in myths and incidents, most of them between the band-members themselves. Recorded during a particularly tortuous period in Fleetwood Mac's history, Rumours has soundtracked millions of people's listening and viewing pleasure, be it the hit-singles Dreams, Don't Stop or Go Your Own Way or the Grand Prix favourite The Chain or even the lesser-known Songbird and Gold Dust Woman. Just about everybody on the planet must have at least seen a copy of the album during its 35 years of existence, or maybe saw the band perform it during the 1977 Rumours World Tour (there's a 12-song extract of it on disc two). This reissue, which comes in various guises including a multi-disc format which, even for me, is a bit OTT. I plumped for the triple-disc version which includes the album, the aforementioned live tracks, the rare b-side Silver Springs and a selection of issued/unissued demos and outtakes from the recording sessions. David Wild's annotated booklet only adds to the mysticism surrounding what has to be one of the most important albums of the last 40 years. Fact.
Josef K - Sorry For Laughing - Vinyl + CD
9/10
Postcard Records founded in Scotland during the early '80s, had an endearing and enduring roster, albeit pretty small. Orange Juice and Aztec Camera both achieved commercial success a few years after departing the label, while both the Go-Betweens and Josef K avoided it (or it avoided them). The latter looked the bee's knees though - often pictured in natty suits or shirts, fronted by future Melody Maker Rock Haircut of the Year singer Paul Haig and doyens of sharp, scratchy post-punk classics, Josef K arguably spawned the likes of James, Franz Ferdinand and most of Creation's early roster and had little in common with their label-mates, although they all represented the artier end of DIY independent outfits. Their songs were, to quote the title of the opening song here, a mixture of fun and frenzy, dominated by funky guitar slashing and relentless hyperactive drumming.
Sorry For Laughing is a collection of tracks recorded, to all intents and purposes, as the band's debut-album for Postcard - it didn't happen, although Josef K did eventually issue an album of singles and b-sides as The Only Fun In Town, the label's only full-length record to this day. Well, until now. Although not repressed with the Postcard logo, LTM have faithfully recreated what might/should have been. Recorded in 1980, pretty much all of the 12 songs sound as though they were written last week, especially Fun and Frenzy, Crazy to Exist and the superb title-track, which eventually got a remix for a single on Crepuscule and a decent cover-version from slick arty Teutonic '80s popsters Propaganda.
As well as the album 'proper', you get a CD of demos recorded in 1979, when they were called TV Art - thank gawd they soon changed their name to Franz Kafka's character from The Trial. Still, they were pretty bloody good, despite the shonky name - check out the early versions of classy single-to-be Chance Meeting. Cracking package and a 'lost' album no more.
House Of Love - House Of Love - 3CD
9/10
The core album itself is by turns powerful, reflective and with just a hint of Velvet Underground and included one of music's great opening-tracks, Christine, as well as Love In a Car, Happy and Sulphur, all of which could have been singles. As it was, the classic first 7" Shine On was left off the final pressing and the band went on to record enough material to fill a second album with some songs arguably better - Blind, The Hill and Destroy The Heart perhaps the pick of the bunch. The live tracks should be enough to convince most onlookers that HoL were a latent unit with venom and energy. 53 tracks - gotta be worth a punt.
Julian Cope - Saint Julian - 2CD
8/10
On this double-disc release you get the aforementioned album, a heady mixture of pin-sharp US-style rock produced by Warne Livesey (Midnight Oil, Icehouse) that included World Shut Your Mouth (the big hit), Trampolene (the hit that should have been bigger) and Eve's Volcano (flop), plus the excellent Planet Ride, Spacehopper and Pulsar. Less essential is the closing, floundering epic A Crack in the Clouds but, all told, Julian Cope's reputation remained intact with a mostly flawless album. The second-disc rounds up key b-sides, 12" mixes and live tracks that filled the many single formats issued at the time, including a decent stab at Pere Ubu's Non Alignment Pact.
Marianne Faithfull - Broken English - 2CD
8/10
The remainder of Broken English is no less intriguing - the title-track is reminiscent of space-rock, Witches' Song is a warm folksy romp that pays homage to Faithfull's faithfull female friends of the era and the pretty electro quiver throughout The Ballad of Lucy Jordan turns out to be more autobiographical than first surmised (it's a cover). Another cover comes courtesy of John Lennon's Working Class Hero, perfectly suited to Marianne's tattered drawl, while the remainder of the self-penned songs tread the line between junkie hardships (Guilt) and more junkie hardships (What's The Hurry?). If you thought Courtney Love did drug-chic with aplomb, Marianne was doing it for real, decades before.
The second-disc contains the entire album again, this time in its original unfettered and uncluttered original demo form and you know what? It sounds all the better for it in places - rawer, rougher and raging full-on. Also included is non-album single Sister Morphine, a bleak track co-written with the Rolling Stones during the '60s and no less compromising because of it. Three mixes of Broken English and a skankier 12" refix of Why'd Ya Do It complete the extras.
Marvin Gaye - Trouble Man OST - 2CD
10/10
The music itself is peerless, atmospheric and dramatic, not least the supreme 'T' Plays It Cool. Sampled and respected by many in hip-hop circles and crate-digging fellowships, this simple instrumental has more in the way of low-down dirty funk than most of its genre, yet remains a somewhat reflective, even romantic, example of descriptive composition, without the need for lyrics.
Vocals are not something that crop up too often here, except for a few interludes and the super title-track, presented here in variants across the discs.
The only shame is that there are little in the way of dialogue-snippets from the film but, aside from this, Trouble Man is a must-have for fans of film-soundtracks and symphonic soul 'n' funk alike.
The Burrell Brothers - The Nu Groove Years 1988-1992 - CD
8/10
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours - 2CD
9/10
Josef K - Sorry For Laughing - Vinyl + CD
9/10
Sorry For Laughing is a collection of tracks recorded, to all intents and purposes, as the band's debut-album for Postcard - it didn't happen, although Josef K did eventually issue an album of singles and b-sides as The Only Fun In Town, the label's only full-length record to this day. Well, until now. Although not repressed with the Postcard logo, LTM have faithfully recreated what might/should have been. Recorded in 1980, pretty much all of the 12 songs sound as though they were written last week, especially Fun and Frenzy, Crazy to Exist and the superb title-track, which eventually got a remix for a single on Crepuscule and a decent cover-version from slick arty Teutonic '80s popsters Propaganda.
As well as the album 'proper', you get a CD of demos recorded in 1979, when they were called TV Art - thank gawd they soon changed their name to Franz Kafka's character from The Trial. Still, they were pretty bloody good, despite the shonky name - check out the early versions of classy single-to-be Chance Meeting. Cracking package and a 'lost' album no more.