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Top 10 Reissues/Retrospectives of 2009
It may come as a shock not to see either the BEATLES reissues or the BIG STAR box on this list, but that’s for the simple reason that I don’t own any of them as of yet. I assure you they’d be on the list if I did. (Though I’d give serious thought to leaving the Beatles off just to keep from stating the obvious.) Those monuments aside, here are the reissues and retrospectives that knocked me out the most this past year. Apologies to LOVE, PUGWASH, BETTY DAVIS, TIN HUEY and LOOP, who also put out recordings from the vaults this year that deserve your attention.
The Feelies – Crazy Rhythms/_The Good Earth_ (Bar/None)
The long-awaited Feelies reissues land at number partly due to their importance (Crazy Rhythms is as innovative and influential as you’ve heard, and The Good Earth is simply marvelous music) but also due to both of them living up to my high expectations of each. It’s good to have them back at last.
King Crimson – In the Court of the Crimson King/_Red_ (40th Anniversary Editions) (Discipline Global Mobile/Inner Knot)
Both of these records have long been favorites in my personal library, and that this isn’t the first time – or even the second – that they’ve been reissued that keeps them from the #1 spot. Multiple reissues aside, the remixed/remastered sound (by PORCUPINE TREE leader STEVEN WILSON) and handful of interesting bonus tracks makes these editions the most essential since the originals.
Art Bergmann – Lost Art Bergmann (Bearwood Music)
The former leader of the YOUNG CANADIANS, Bergmann is Canada’s underground rock poet laureate, long inactive until recently, when he emerged from retirement to celebrate this CD. Recorded in the 80s with his band POISON’D, these songs were intended as demos for a debut solo album that was given a strangely glossy sheen by producer JOHN CALE. This is how these great tunes were originally intended to sound. Now if only someone would reissue his long OP back catalog…
Emitt Rhodes – The Emitt Rhodes Recordings (1969-973) (Hip-O/A&M/Geffen)
Rhodes is most famous for his debut solo album and his work with the MERRY-GO-ROUND. But as this complete collection of recordings demonstrates, he rarely faltered when it came to the creation of pristinely crafted melodic pop. Come back to us, Emitt, please!
The Jacobites – Howling Good Times: The Complete Regency Sound Recordings (Troubadour/Easy Action)
I shrugged my shoulders when I heard the original version of Howling Good Times, the 80s reunion album by NIKKI SUDDEN and DAVE KUSWORTH*’s *JACOBITES. I’m not sure what I was thinking; apparently the remastered sound was all I needed to fully appreciate the rollicking pop tunes contained herein. This may be the most slickly crafted music these ramshackle guys have ever made, and, astonishingly, it works in spades.
The Breakaways – Walking Out On Love (The Lost Sessions) (Alive)
I had no idea this band and this music even existed until this CD showed up on my doorstep. But after the breakup of the legendary NERVES, PETER CASE and PAUL COLLINS formed this short-lived combo to continue their work defining power pop. Collins’ best songs showed up in the catalog of the BEAT, but Case’s tunes, most of which are excellent, stayed in the vaults until now.
801 – 801 Live (Collector’s Edition) (Expression)
It’s been years since I heard the debut album by PHIL MANZANERA and *BRIAN ENO*’s prog rock jam band, and I’d forgotten just how bloody good it is – challenging, playful and, above all, musical. Well worth your time if you’re a fan of either musician, finely honed improvisation or prog.
Jawbox – For Your Own Special Sweetheart (DeSoto/Dischord)
I missed out on Jawbox when they existed and have been racing to catch up this year. So along comes this timely reissue of the band’s third record, and first for a major label. The remastered sound makes it roar out of the speakers, and the band’s uncompromising blend of melody and dissonance sounds as fresh now as it must have back then. If you’ve ever fantasized about what a combination of HUSKER DU and MISSION OF BURMA would sound like, this is your band.
The Del-Lords – Frontier Days/_Johnny Comes Marching Home_/_Based On a True Story_ (American Beat)
Before the alt.country boom of the 90s, there was the roots rock scene of the 80s. The LONG RYDERS and JASON & THE SCORCHERS may get the most press, but equally worthy were New York’s Del-Lords, led by SCOTT KEMPNER (AKA TOP TEN) of the DICTATORS and future producer-to-the-_No Depression_ stars ERIC AMBEL. Kempner’s songs worked familiar terrain, but with a fiercely urban twist that set them apart from both their contemporaries and more mainstream practitioners like BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN. These records have been out of print for so long they’ve been nearly forgotten; I’m thrilled they’re back on the radar.
The Dukes of Stratosphear – 25 O’Clock/_Psonic Psunspot_ (Ape House)
This XTC side project made songwriters ANDY PARTRIDGE and *COLIN MOULDING*’s debt to 60s psychedelia explicit; following these delightful albums, the band was more comfortable letting their freak flags fly high, setting the stage for masterpieces like Skylarking. With great packaging and generous helpings of bonus cuts, these whimsical melodyfests hold up just as well as anything else from the group’s catalog.
