The reissue game makes a lot of record nerds’ dreams come true. Highly sought-after titles are being re-birthed, often times expanded with extra tracks and/or artwork. Some of the records in Ebay or Discogs watch lists, you know, the ones that are only gonna set you back $150, are made more affordable. And the ones that may not be pricey, just scarce, are made widely available. Here are a few necessary reissues just in this week…
Come – 11:11 2LP, 2CD (Deluxe 20th Anniversary Edition):
“Way back in 1993, when things like newsstands and magazines still existed, Entertainment Weekly’s David Browne called Eleven : Eleven, the first album from Boston’s Come, ‘enthralling, like watching someone howl into a rainstorm.’ The album in question was the result of a collision between Boston/New York guitarist/vocalist Thalia Zedek (formerly of Dangerous Birds, Uzi and Live Skull), Oberlin product / guitar wizard Chris Brokaw, and one of the more powerful rhythm sections of the last half century, drummer Arthur Johnson and bassist Sean O’Brien. Despite being one of the best albums in this label’s long history and one of the more memorable debut albums in an era full of ‘em, Eleven : Eleven has been out of print for far too long. This May, however, that situation is rectified with a deluxe, remastered double disc reissue (2XLP, 2XCD) comprising the original album plus a bonus disc featuring Come’s October 10, 1992 performance at the Vermonstress Festival. The 2XLP edition will also include a bonus 7″, a reissue of the ‘Fast Piss Blues’ b/w ‘I Got The Blues’ single.” -Matador
Four Tet – Rounds 2LP (10th Anniversary Edition):
Once upon a time there was Fridge (Kieran Hebden, Adem Ilhan & Sam Jeffers), whose catalog, if you haven’t heard it, is essential listening like right fucking now. Fridge’s members were tinkering on their own as well, Hebden in-particular working on a project under the Four Tet moniker. The first two Four Tet albums Dialogue (1991) and Pause (2001), were good beginnings, sorta taking nods from Fridge’s jazzy minimalism, but falling somewhat under the radar at the time. Then in 2003, Four Tet dropped Rounds and raised the bar for electronic, sample-based compositions seriously high. Within the first few seconds of “Hands,” you know how special this album is – the pushing and pulling of many styles and dimensions, you wonder if this guy slept at all through the course of assembling these tracks. There’s deliberate intricacy, even in a track as minimal as “My Angel Rocks Back and Forth.” “As Serious as Your Life’s” beats were so contagious they yielded a remix EP by the one and only Jay Dee (J Dilla). After Rounds, Hebden became recognized as one of the most esteemed contemporary producers and has released a catalog of consistently strong material, even collaborating significantly with legendary jazz drummer Steve Reid before his death in 2010. If I’m preaching to the choir already, great… but I bet you still don’t own this on vinyl. And if you don’t know what the hell this music sounds like, come pick up the reissue of one of the most important albums to come out in the last decade. -mle
Rich Ristagno – What Would It Be Like To Be Rich LP:
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!! A reissue of the best kind – private press made public! “Finally, a record that answers the age-old question: What would Lou Reed have sounded like if he had never left his parents’ Long Island home and just made private press LPs of oddball funk rock? Don’t pretend like you haven’t thought about it. Rich Ristagno’s What Would It Be Like To Be Rich is another extremely rare gem unearthed and made available to the masses by the fine people at Drag City. Recorded in Detroit in the early 1980s, the album is an ‘autobiographical concept album’ — kind of a musical inner monologue — that nods in the direction of No Wave psychodrama while still maintaining a strong pop sensibility. Stuffed full of fuzzed-out Echoplex guitars and cheap drum machines, Ristagno’s private opus is now yours to keep.” -Aquarium Drunkard
MORE REISSUES, new releases and restocks…
Air – Moon Safari LP
Apparat – Krieg Und Frieden LP
Atmosphere – When Life Gives You Lemons 2LP, God Loves Ugly 2LP
A-Trak – Tuna Melt 12″
At The Drive In – In/Casino/Out LP
Baptist Generals – Jackleg Devotional To The Heart LP
Bibio – Silver Wilkinson LP, CD
Black Moth Super Rainbow – Dandelion Gum Picture LP
Black Sabbath – s/t LP
Bob Marley and The Wailers – African Herbsman LP
Bush – 16 Stone LP
Cannibal Corpse – Vile Picture Disc
Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band – Lick My Decals Off, Baby LP,
Trout Mask Replica 2LP
Cocteau Twins – Stars & Topsoil 2LP, Head Over Heels/Sunburst & Snowblind LP
Condominium – Carl 7″
Crow 44 – s/t LP
Curtis Mayfield – Curtis LP
David Grubbs - The Plain Where The Palace Stood LP
Dead Kennedys – Frankenchrist LP
Death – Spiritual – Mental – Physical LP
DIIV – Oshin LP
DNTEL – Life Is Full Of Possibilities 2LP
Dope Body – Saturday 7″
Eleventh Dream Day – New Moodio LP
Fitz + The Tantrums – More Than Just A Dream LP
Four Tet – Rounds 2LP (10th Anniversary Edition)
Frightened Rabbit – Sing The Greys LP
Gotye – Like Drawing Blood LP
Gram Parsons – Grievous Angel LP
Hanni El Khatib – Head In The Dirt LP
Hyetal – Northwest Passage 12″
J Dilla – Donuts 8×7″ Box Set, Lost Tapes, Reels + More EP
JC Brooks - Howl LP
Jenny Hval – Innocence Is Kinky LP
Jessie Ware – Devotion LP
John Coltrane – Giant Steps LP
Johnny Marr – The Messenger LP
Justin Timberlake – 20/20 LP
Low – I Could Live In Hope 2LP
Mad Season – Above 2LP
Majical Cloudz – Impersonator LP, CD
Marquis de Tren and Bonny Billy - Get On Jolly 12″, Solemns 12″
Masta Ace & MF DOOM – MA DOOM Yellow Vinyl 2LP
Mayhem – Deathcrush LP
Modest Mouse – The Moon & Antarctica 2LP
Motorhead – Bomber 2LP, Ace Of Spades LP
Mudhoney – Superfuzz Bigmuff LP
Nails – Abandon All Life LP
New Order – Brotherhood LP
Nick Cave – Push The Sky Away LP, Deluxe CD
Om - Gethsemene Dubplate 12″
Primus – Sailing The Seas Of Cheese LP
Quasimoto – The Further Adventures of Lord Quas 2LP
Ramones – End Of The Century LP
Residents – Meet The Residents LP
Sic Alps – She’s On Top 12″
Six Organs of Admittance - Ascent LP
Slayer – Haunting The Chapel LP (“Blood Splatter” vinyl)
Smog – A River Ain’t Too Much To Love LP
Stiff Little Fingers – Inflammable Material LP
Still Corners – Strange Pleasures LP
Suicide - s/t LP
Sun Ra - The Soul Vibrations of Man LP
Talib Kweli – Prisoner of Conscious LP
Various – C’est Chic! French Girl Singers of the 1960s LP
Various – Minimal Wave Tapes Vol. I & II 2LP
Various – Nippon Girls: Japanese Pop, Beat & Bossa Nova LP
Weezer – Pinkerton Deluxe Edition 4LP
Willie Nelson - Stardust LP
Wire – Change Becomes Us LP
Woody Guthrie – This Machine Kills Fascists LP
Yma Sumac – Recital LP
