Since it is kind of late for most of the SOMB but it is really important for me to get these results started tonight, I think what I am going to do is post 40-21 tonight and then do the rest in the morning before I head off to work so the daytime SOMBies and not just the night people can comment on it.
Like last year, because we had a lot of votes/voters, we're counting down the top 40 Compilations/Reissues of the year.
We had 33 voters and 170 different titles voted for.
#40.
Melvins - Chicken Switch
(208 Points, 3 Votes)
Tracklist: 1. Washmachine Sk8tronics - Eye Yamatsuka
2. Emperor Twaddle Reemix - Christoph Heemann
3. She Chokes Her Dying Breath and Does It In my Face - V/Vm
4. AAHHH... - John Duncan
5. Linkshänder - Matmos
6. EggNog Trilogy i) She's Ivanhoe ii) Cancer iii) Inebriated - Lee Ranaldo
7. SNOW REM REM IBVZ - Merzbow
8. Prick Concrete/Revolution M - David Scott Stone
9. Queen (Electroclash Remix) - The Panacea
10. The Silky Apple Butter of Youth - Sunroof!
11. 4th Floor Hellcopter - Kawabata Makoto
12. disp_tx_skel_mach_murx - Farmers Manual
13. Overgoat - Void Manes
14. Over from Under the Dog, Girl & Boy Treatment - RLW
15. Hard Revenge Milly Bloody Battle VS. The Melvins Ozmatized Gore Police (Feat. Cardopusher of the Five Deadly Venoms) - Speedranch
Amazon.com Product Description: Remember, anything worth doing, is worth overdoing! Well, it's 2009 and the seemingly tireless Melvins have yet ANOTHER record ready for release... What is this, their 50th record? Maybe? Anyway, the "newest" Melvins release is called "CHICKEN SWITCH" and it's a "re-mix" record... of sorts... Each of the artists on this thing were given an entire album to work with and pull things from, however none of them were given individual tracks from the albums! So the outcome HAD to be left of center from the "norm."
Some highlights from CHICKEN SWITCH:
As part of japanese noise/epic rock band Boredoms' 23 year mission, leader Eye Yamatsuka has done the impossible and made the drum circle cool for the first time, ever. Filthy hippies will have to find something else to do, which will predictably involve combining two lame sedentary "sports" into one.
Matmos famously lent their precision-sampling wizardry to Bjork. They took their name from the movie 'Barbarella' - featuring a nubile, scantily-clad Jane Fonda. Given their intense fondness for weird, sexy women, it's no wonder they were totally into working with the Melvins. Lee Ranaldo has had a long solo career making quite pleasant warped midnight music. He's also in this band that you might have heard of called Sonic Youth.
Japanese NOISE GOD Merzbow is not the only guy to wrap 50 CDs of audio steel wool in a k inky leather fetish boxset or release a cassette "packaged" in an automobile, but -- Wait. Yeah, he is.
Sunroof! is the more psychedelic, meditative alter-ego of Matthew Bower (Skullflower, Hototogisu, Total, etc.), who is responsible for upwards of 50% of tinnitus cases reported in England.
Kawabata Makoto, as leader/guitarist of the cultish Japanese band Acid Mothers Temple, has perfected the art of making rock music that sounds like freight trains. His remix lovingly recreates the Monon BL2 diesel locomotive (pulling an estimated 60 cars).
No one knows what Void Manes is. I think it has something to do with EVP -- it was on the CD after it was mastered, and we sure as hell weren't going to pay to do it over.
Sounds good to me!
For those who don't know: The Melvins have been a band for over 25 years...
The Melvins have done a crap load of albums.... How many is a crap load? No one really knows.
The Melvins live in Los Angeles and it's understood in hip circles that the United States tilts left and anything covered in slime tends to slide straight out to California. If your sliding too fast when you slide into San Francisco you tend to glance off south and the real scum bags end up in Los Angeles where their skin dries into a Malibu Ken tan which most hipsters have to painstakingly remove with Easy Off oven cleaner.
We all love porn right? And with the internet we've all become totally bored with porn. Bored out of our minds with easy access day and night internet porn.
The Melvins have four members. King Buzzo... Longest surviving and only original member left. When they get around to replacing him there will be no original members! Dale Crover... Long standing drummer and part time guitar player. Dale likes his booze in a High Ball glass. Jared Warren... Bass player, singer and part time drama geek. Jared also plays in the band Big Business. Coady Willis... Drummer. Coady has a funny story about trying to play a gig in leather pants. Ask him, it's funny as shit! Coady also plays drums in Big Business.
So there you have it! You can find other interesting bits and bobs about the Melvins on line and some of it is even true! Well, it's at least as true as what the band would tell you in person.
AMG Says: As outlandish as Melvins records tend to be, Chicken Switch surpasses expectations. As if remixing the grunge pioneers' baritone vocals and chunky guitar isn't a bizarre notion to begin with, the chosen contributors weren't taken from the typical pool of electronic DJs (no Justice or Girl Talk here!). These are the guitar-slinging, experimental/noise variety of remixers, with Matmos, Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo, the Boredoms' Yamatsuka Eye, Acid Mothers Temple's Kawabata Makota, and noise icon Merzbow doing the cutting and tweaking. Stranger still is the fact that these artists aren't reworking particular songs, but instead are each using a full album's worth of material (or more) to deconstruct and rework into a single track. Usually the material is warped beyond recognition. It's difficult to tell what album spawned Merzbow's song, since it's rendered indecipherable by a wall of trebly distortion and static. Meanwhile, for "Prick Concrète/Revolution M," onetime Melvin David Scott Stone elongates a bassy Buzzo a cappella into three minutes of whale-like throat singing. Lee Ranaldo's "Eggnog Trilogy" is one of the few tracks that actual feels like a real song with an actual backbeat -- although, like the rest of the album and most of the Melvins' back catalog, it's disturbingly choppy and at times frightening. Chicken Switch is a punishing, twisted mess -- and in that aspect, it remains true to the warped Melvins aesthetic, and fans will probably eat it up. Even diehards may find it hard to decipher the source material, but the wealth of creativity on board is highly admirable.
Ranked Highest By: velocity (#5)
Amazon Link
Melvins - Chicken Switch
(208 Points, 3 Votes)
Tracklist: 1. Washmachine Sk8tronics - Eye Yamatsuka
2. Emperor Twaddle Reemix - Christoph Heemann
3. She Chokes Her Dying Breath and Does It In my Face - V/Vm
4. AAHHH... - John Duncan
5. Linkshänder - Matmos
6. EggNog Trilogy i) She's Ivanhoe ii) Cancer iii) Inebriated - Lee Ranaldo
7. SNOW REM REM IBVZ - Merzbow
8. Prick Concrete/Revolution M - David Scott Stone
9. Queen (Electroclash Remix) - The Panacea
10. The Silky Apple Butter of Youth - Sunroof!
11. 4th Floor Hellcopter - Kawabata Makoto
12. disp_tx_skel_mach_murx - Farmers Manual
13. Overgoat - Void Manes
14. Over from Under the Dog, Girl & Boy Treatment - RLW
15. Hard Revenge Milly Bloody Battle VS. The Melvins Ozmatized Gore Police (Feat. Cardopusher of the Five Deadly Venoms) - Speedranch
Amazon.com Product Description: Remember, anything worth doing, is worth overdoing! Well, it's 2009 and the seemingly tireless Melvins have yet ANOTHER record ready for release... What is this, their 50th record? Maybe? Anyway, the "newest" Melvins release is called "CHICKEN SWITCH" and it's a "re-mix" record... of sorts... Each of the artists on this thing were given an entire album to work with and pull things from, however none of them were given individual tracks from the albums! So the outcome HAD to be left of center from the "norm."
Some highlights from CHICKEN SWITCH:
As part of japanese noise/epic rock band Boredoms' 23 year mission, leader Eye Yamatsuka has done the impossible and made the drum circle cool for the first time, ever. Filthy hippies will have to find something else to do, which will predictably involve combining two lame sedentary "sports" into one.
Matmos famously lent their precision-sampling wizardry to Bjork. They took their name from the movie 'Barbarella' - featuring a nubile, scantily-clad Jane Fonda. Given their intense fondness for weird, sexy women, it's no wonder they were totally into working with the Melvins. Lee Ranaldo has had a long solo career making quite pleasant warped midnight music. He's also in this band that you might have heard of called Sonic Youth.
Japanese NOISE GOD Merzbow is not the only guy to wrap 50 CDs of audio steel wool in a k inky leather fetish boxset or release a cassette "packaged" in an automobile, but -- Wait. Yeah, he is.
Sunroof! is the more psychedelic, meditative alter-ego of Matthew Bower (Skullflower, Hototogisu, Total, etc.), who is responsible for upwards of 50% of tinnitus cases reported in England.
Kawabata Makoto, as leader/guitarist of the cultish Japanese band Acid Mothers Temple, has perfected the art of making rock music that sounds like freight trains. His remix lovingly recreates the Monon BL2 diesel locomotive (pulling an estimated 60 cars).
No one knows what Void Manes is. I think it has something to do with EVP -- it was on the CD after it was mastered, and we sure as hell weren't going to pay to do it over.
Sounds good to me!
For those who don't know: The Melvins have been a band for over 25 years...
The Melvins have done a crap load of albums.... How many is a crap load? No one really knows.
The Melvins live in Los Angeles and it's understood in hip circles that the United States tilts left and anything covered in slime tends to slide straight out to California. If your sliding too fast when you slide into San Francisco you tend to glance off south and the real scum bags end up in Los Angeles where their skin dries into a Malibu Ken tan which most hipsters have to painstakingly remove with Easy Off oven cleaner.
We all love porn right? And with the internet we've all become totally bored with porn. Bored out of our minds with easy access day and night internet porn.
The Melvins have four members. King Buzzo... Longest surviving and only original member left. When they get around to replacing him there will be no original members! Dale Crover... Long standing drummer and part time guitar player. Dale likes his booze in a High Ball glass. Jared Warren... Bass player, singer and part time drama geek. Jared also plays in the band Big Business. Coady Willis... Drummer. Coady has a funny story about trying to play a gig in leather pants. Ask him, it's funny as shit! Coady also plays drums in Big Business.
So there you have it! You can find other interesting bits and bobs about the Melvins on line and some of it is even true! Well, it's at least as true as what the band would tell you in person.
AMG Says: As outlandish as Melvins records tend to be, Chicken Switch surpasses expectations. As if remixing the grunge pioneers' baritone vocals and chunky guitar isn't a bizarre notion to begin with, the chosen contributors weren't taken from the typical pool of electronic DJs (no Justice or Girl Talk here!). These are the guitar-slinging, experimental/noise variety of remixers, with Matmos, Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo, the Boredoms' Yamatsuka Eye, Acid Mothers Temple's Kawabata Makota, and noise icon Merzbow doing the cutting and tweaking. Stranger still is the fact that these artists aren't reworking particular songs, but instead are each using a full album's worth of material (or more) to deconstruct and rework into a single track. Usually the material is warped beyond recognition. It's difficult to tell what album spawned Merzbow's song, since it's rendered indecipherable by a wall of trebly distortion and static. Meanwhile, for "Prick Concrète/Revolution M," onetime Melvin David Scott Stone elongates a bassy Buzzo a cappella into three minutes of whale-like throat singing. Lee Ranaldo's "Eggnog Trilogy" is one of the few tracks that actual feels like a real song with an actual backbeat -- although, like the rest of the album and most of the Melvins' back catalog, it's disturbingly choppy and at times frightening. Chicken Switch is a punishing, twisted mess -- and in that aspect, it remains true to the warped Melvins aesthetic, and fans will probably eat it up. Even diehards may find it hard to decipher the source material, but the wealth of creativity on board is highly admirable.
Ranked Highest By: velocity (#5)
Amazon Link
#39.
Pylon - Chomp More
(209 Points, 3 Votes)
Tracklist:
1. K
2. Yo-Yo
3. Beep
4. Italian Movie Theme
5. Crazy
6. M-Train
7. Buzz
8. No Clocks
9. Reptiles
10. Spider
11. Gyrate
12. Altitude
13. Crazy (Original)
14. Yo-Yo (Pylon Mix)
15. Gyrate (Pylon Mix)
16. Four Minutes
Amazon.com Product Description: Digitally remastered and expanded edition of the Athens band's 1983 album including four bonus tracks. To describe Pylon as ahead of their time is somewhat misleading, because it implies that there was ever a moment when music finally caught up with them. The architects of a sound unlike any of their Athens, Georgia, contemporaries and the inspiration for numerous Post-Punk imitators, Pylon still sounds unlike anything before or since. The B-52s and R.E.M. have both gone on record as stating that Pylon are one of the country's best bands. That's a remarkable legacy for a group that formed more than 30 years ago with the sole intention of playing one show, getting a review in the now defunct New York Rocker, and self-imploding. 16 tracks.
AMG Says: Though the B-52's had already lit the spark that eventually turned Athens, GA, into '80s college rock ground zero, it was Pylon who truly first established the formerly sleepy Southern town as an artistic center and hipster haven. With an often surreal sound that paired the same sort of serpentine, angular instrumental work and emotive, off-kilter vocals characteristic of Television and Gang of Four with a disco-informed rhythmic bounce, Pylon came off like an even weirder, artier, yet somehow less pretentious Talking Heads. One of only two full-length albums released during the group's original early-'80s run (Pylon would eventually disband and re-form a number of times as the members' moods and lifestyles dictated), Chomp was just as taught, exciting, and spooky as its classic predecessor, Gyrate, but benefited from a step-up in production values. Kicking off with the throbbing, guitar noise-infused "K" (a strangely unsettling tribute to the board game Scrabble), the record inhabits a murky alternate universe dance party where Gloria Gaynor and Donna Summer's melodic R&B vocals have been replaced by lead singer Vanessa Briscoe's Yoko Ono/Patti Smith-style growls and yelps, and Studio 54 has set up shop in Andy Warhol's Factory. Considering how challenging this music remained decades after its release, Chomp is surprisingly accessible. Laced with undeniable hooks, it also includes the band's best-known song, "Crazy," which was famously covered by R.E.M. as the B-side of the "Driver 8" single and later included as the leadoff track on the Dead Letter Office rarities compilation. The members of Pylon always considered themselves less a traditional rock band and more a collective of artists who happened to work in the medium of music; Chomp showcases the unit at the peak of its craft, painting musical abstractions in bold and influential strokes. [Released in 2009, Chomp More added the 7" version of "Crazy," an alternate version of "Yo-Yo" with male vocals, a remix of "Gyrate," and the non-album single "Four Minutes."]
Ranked Highest By: dwight (#3)
Amazon Link
Pylon - Chomp More
(209 Points, 3 Votes)
Tracklist:
1. K
2. Yo-Yo
3. Beep
4. Italian Movie Theme
5. Crazy
6. M-Train
7. Buzz
8. No Clocks
9. Reptiles
10. Spider
11. Gyrate
12. Altitude
13. Crazy (Original)
14. Yo-Yo (Pylon Mix)
15. Gyrate (Pylon Mix)
16. Four Minutes
Amazon.com Product Description: Digitally remastered and expanded edition of the Athens band's 1983 album including four bonus tracks. To describe Pylon as ahead of their time is somewhat misleading, because it implies that there was ever a moment when music finally caught up with them. The architects of a sound unlike any of their Athens, Georgia, contemporaries and the inspiration for numerous Post-Punk imitators, Pylon still sounds unlike anything before or since. The B-52s and R.E.M. have both gone on record as stating that Pylon are one of the country's best bands. That's a remarkable legacy for a group that formed more than 30 years ago with the sole intention of playing one show, getting a review in the now defunct New York Rocker, and self-imploding. 16 tracks.
AMG Says: Though the B-52's had already lit the spark that eventually turned Athens, GA, into '80s college rock ground zero, it was Pylon who truly first established the formerly sleepy Southern town as an artistic center and hipster haven. With an often surreal sound that paired the same sort of serpentine, angular instrumental work and emotive, off-kilter vocals characteristic of Television and Gang of Four with a disco-informed rhythmic bounce, Pylon came off like an even weirder, artier, yet somehow less pretentious Talking Heads. One of only two full-length albums released during the group's original early-'80s run (Pylon would eventually disband and re-form a number of times as the members' moods and lifestyles dictated), Chomp was just as taught, exciting, and spooky as its classic predecessor, Gyrate, but benefited from a step-up in production values. Kicking off with the throbbing, guitar noise-infused "K" (a strangely unsettling tribute to the board game Scrabble), the record inhabits a murky alternate universe dance party where Gloria Gaynor and Donna Summer's melodic R&B vocals have been replaced by lead singer Vanessa Briscoe's Yoko Ono/Patti Smith-style growls and yelps, and Studio 54 has set up shop in Andy Warhol's Factory. Considering how challenging this music remained decades after its release, Chomp is surprisingly accessible. Laced with undeniable hooks, it also includes the band's best-known song, "Crazy," which was famously covered by R.E.M. as the B-side of the "Driver 8" single and later included as the leadoff track on the Dead Letter Office rarities compilation. The members of Pylon always considered themselves less a traditional rock band and more a collective of artists who happened to work in the medium of music; Chomp showcases the unit at the peak of its craft, painting musical abstractions in bold and influential strokes. [Released in 2009, Chomp More added the 7" version of "Crazy," an alternate version of "Yo-Yo" with male vocals, a remix of "Gyrate," and the non-album single "Four Minutes."]
Ranked Highest By: dwight (#3)
Amazon Link
#38.
Sunny Day Real Estate - Diary (Remaster)
(213 Points, 3 Votes)
Tracklist: 1. "Seven"
2. "In Circles"
3. "Song About an Angel"
4. "Round"
5. "47"
6. "The Blankets Were the Stairs"
7. "Pheurton Skeurto"
8. "Shadows"
9. "48"
10. "Grendel"
11. "Sometimes"
12. "8"
13. "9"
Amazon.com Product Description: Remastered reissue of 1994's "Diary". Available on CD and deluxe double LP.
AMG Says: Sunny Day Real Estate's debut album, Diary, virtually defined emo in the '90s, laying much of the groundwork (along with Weezer) for the genre's end-of-decade indie prominence. Although emo existed (both as a term and as a style) prior to Diary, it hadn't yet risen out of the deepest hardcore punk underground, save for a few bands on the Dischord label. For all intents and purposes, Diary was the album that made emo accessible, fusing its gnarled guitars and nakedly emotional vocals with more than a hint of melodic Seattle grunge. SDRE's song structures are far more oblique than, for example, the similarly anthemic Pearl Jam, but it's still easy to miss the group's main inspirations if you're not looking for them. Perhaps that's because, at bottom, SDRE don't sound much like their emo predecessors. For one, there are plenty of quiet, arpeggiated passages and contrasting dynamics; for another, vocalist Jeremy Enigk is more of a crooner than a screamer at heart, and the underlying tenderness in his voice breathes majesty into the group's slow, languid melodies. Yet, while Diary's true heart lies in its soaring, introspective anthems (like the band's signature song, "In Circles"), the more tortured, visceral moments balance things out, preventing the album from wallowing in melodramatic self-obsession. In retrospect, Diary doesn't quite fulfill all of its ambitions -- there are a few underfocused moments that don't achieve the epic sweep of the album's best compositions. That occasional inconsistency makes it feel somewhat less realized than their proggier post-reunion work, especially since Enigk would develop into a far more distinctive vocalist. But even if it isn't quite the top-to-bottom masterpiece its legions of imitators suggest, Diary still ranks as arguably the definitive '90s emo album, and an indispensable introduction to the genre. [The remastered 2009 edition adds new liner notes and 2 bonus tracks ("8" and "9") taken from the Thief Steal Me a Peach 7".]
Ranked Highest By: plaid is rad (#6)
Amazon Link
Sunny Day Real Estate - Diary (Remaster)
(213 Points, 3 Votes)
Tracklist: 1. "Seven"
2. "In Circles"
3. "Song About an Angel"
4. "Round"
5. "47"
6. "The Blankets Were the Stairs"
7. "Pheurton Skeurto"
8. "Shadows"
9. "48"
10. "Grendel"
11. "Sometimes"
12. "8"
13. "9"
Amazon.com Product Description: Remastered reissue of 1994's "Diary". Available on CD and deluxe double LP.
AMG Says: Sunny Day Real Estate's debut album, Diary, virtually defined emo in the '90s, laying much of the groundwork (along with Weezer) for the genre's end-of-decade indie prominence. Although emo existed (both as a term and as a style) prior to Diary, it hadn't yet risen out of the deepest hardcore punk underground, save for a few bands on the Dischord label. For all intents and purposes, Diary was the album that made emo accessible, fusing its gnarled guitars and nakedly emotional vocals with more than a hint of melodic Seattle grunge. SDRE's song structures are far more oblique than, for example, the similarly anthemic Pearl Jam, but it's still easy to miss the group's main inspirations if you're not looking for them. Perhaps that's because, at bottom, SDRE don't sound much like their emo predecessors. For one, there are plenty of quiet, arpeggiated passages and contrasting dynamics; for another, vocalist Jeremy Enigk is more of a crooner than a screamer at heart, and the underlying tenderness in his voice breathes majesty into the group's slow, languid melodies. Yet, while Diary's true heart lies in its soaring, introspective anthems (like the band's signature song, "In Circles"), the more tortured, visceral moments balance things out, preventing the album from wallowing in melodramatic self-obsession. In retrospect, Diary doesn't quite fulfill all of its ambitions -- there are a few underfocused moments that don't achieve the epic sweep of the album's best compositions. That occasional inconsistency makes it feel somewhat less realized than their proggier post-reunion work, especially since Enigk would develop into a far more distinctive vocalist. But even if it isn't quite the top-to-bottom masterpiece its legions of imitators suggest, Diary still ranks as arguably the definitive '90s emo album, and an indispensable introduction to the genre. [The remastered 2009 edition adds new liner notes and 2 bonus tracks ("8" and "9") taken from the Thief Steal Me a Peach 7".]
Ranked Highest By: plaid is rad (#6)
Amazon Link
#37.
Blur - Midlife: A Beginner's Guide to Blur
(222 Points, 3 Votes)
Tracklist:Disc one
1. "Beetlebum" (from Blur) – 5:04
2. "Girls & Boys" (Edit) (from Parklife) – 4:19
3. "For Tomorrow" (Visit To Primrose Hill Extended) (from Modern Life Is Rubbish) – 6:00
4. "Coffee & TV" (Radio Edit) (from 13) – 5:19
5. "Out of Time" (from Think Tank) – 3:52
6. "Blue Jeans" (from Modern Life Is Rubbish) – 3:53
7. "Song 2" (from Blur) – 2:01
8. "Bugman" (from 13) – 4:51
9. "He Thought of Cars" (from The Great Escape) – 4:16
10. "Death of a Party" (7" Remix) (from Blur) – 4:15
11. "The Universal" (from The Great Escape) – 3:59
12. "Sing" (from Trainspotting: Music from the Motion Picture/UK version of Leisure) – 6:01
13. "This Is a Low" (From Parklife) – 5:00
Disc two
1. "Tender" (from 13) – 7:42
2. "She's So High" (Edit) (from Leisure) – 3:50
3. "Chemical World" (from Modern Life Is Rubbish) – 3:53
4. "Good Song" (from Think Tank) – 3:06
5. "Parklife" (From Parklife) – 3:07
6. "Advert" (from Modern Life Is Rubbish) – 3:44
7. "Popscene" (from Popscene single) – 3:15
8. "Stereotypes" (from The Great Escape) – 3:11
9. "Trimm Trabb" (from 13) – 5:37
10. "Badhead" (From Parklife) – 3:28
11. "Strange News from Another Star" (from Blur) – 4:03
12. "Battery in Your Leg" (from Think Tank) – 3:20
Amazon.com Product Description: 2009 two CD collection from the Britpop legends, released to coincide with their 20th Anniversary and reunion tour. Midlife: A Beginners Guide To Blur is a unique collection of the best songs from the band's career to date. Standing separate from Blur's previous Best Of, Midlife represents a comprehensive collection of their biggest hits and favorite album tracks. The tracklist has been hand-picked by the band and offers a deeper look into the group's entire musical output, across two discs. 25 tracks including 'Song 2', 'Girls & Boys', 'Sing', 'Parklife', 'The Universal', 'Beetlebum' and 'Popscene', which was originally released in 1992 as a non-album single and unavailable since. EMI.
AMG Says: Released in conjunction with their 2009 reunion, the double-disc career retrospective Midlife emphasizes Blur's early psychedelic grind -- halfway between Syd Barrett and shoegazing -- along with their post-Brit-pop indie makeover, giving somewhat short shrift to the band's pop prime, cutting out four of the band's big hits ("There's No Other Way," "Country House," "End of the Century," and "Charmless Man") in favor of album tracks that play into the thesis that Blur were as somber and serious a guitar band as Radiohead. Of course, Blur did rival Radiohead, recording some of the greatest guitar rock of the '90s, but that was only one facet of the band: they were also a bright, artful pop band, cleverly twisting '60s traditions and post-punk styles into the present. Elements of this Blur are evident in "Girls & Boys" and "Parklife," hits so big they couldn't be ignored, and while Midlife could have used a heavier dose of this side of Blur, there's not a bad track here, and the set also brings their glorious, epoch-creating single "Popscene" back into circulation, so Midlife has some considerable value even if it avoids too many highlights to truly be "A Beginner's Guide to Blur" as its subtitle claims.
Ranked Highest By: dwight (#4)
Amazon Link
Blur - Midlife: A Beginner's Guide to Blur
(222 Points, 3 Votes)
Tracklist:Disc one
1. "Beetlebum" (from Blur) – 5:04
2. "Girls & Boys" (Edit) (from Parklife) – 4:19
3. "For Tomorrow" (Visit To Primrose Hill Extended) (from Modern Life Is Rubbish) – 6:00
4. "Coffee & TV" (Radio Edit) (from 13) – 5:19
5. "Out of Time" (from Think Tank) – 3:52
6. "Blue Jeans" (from Modern Life Is Rubbish) – 3:53
7. "Song 2" (from Blur) – 2:01
8. "Bugman" (from 13) – 4:51
9. "He Thought of Cars" (from The Great Escape) – 4:16
10. "Death of a Party" (7" Remix) (from Blur) – 4:15
11. "The Universal" (from The Great Escape) – 3:59
12. "Sing" (from Trainspotting: Music from the Motion Picture/UK version of Leisure) – 6:01
13. "This Is a Low" (From Parklife) – 5:00
Disc two
1. "Tender" (from 13) – 7:42
2. "She's So High" (Edit) (from Leisure) – 3:50
3. "Chemical World" (from Modern Life Is Rubbish) – 3:53
4. "Good Song" (from Think Tank) – 3:06
5. "Parklife" (From Parklife) – 3:07
6. "Advert" (from Modern Life Is Rubbish) – 3:44
7. "Popscene" (from Popscene single) – 3:15
8. "Stereotypes" (from The Great Escape) – 3:11
9. "Trimm Trabb" (from 13) – 5:37
10. "Badhead" (From Parklife) – 3:28
11. "Strange News from Another Star" (from Blur) – 4:03
12. "Battery in Your Leg" (from Think Tank) – 3:20
Amazon.com Product Description: 2009 two CD collection from the Britpop legends, released to coincide with their 20th Anniversary and reunion tour. Midlife: A Beginners Guide To Blur is a unique collection of the best songs from the band's career to date. Standing separate from Blur's previous Best Of, Midlife represents a comprehensive collection of their biggest hits and favorite album tracks. The tracklist has been hand-picked by the band and offers a deeper look into the group's entire musical output, across two discs. 25 tracks including 'Song 2', 'Girls & Boys', 'Sing', 'Parklife', 'The Universal', 'Beetlebum' and 'Popscene', which was originally released in 1992 as a non-album single and unavailable since. EMI.
AMG Says: Released in conjunction with their 2009 reunion, the double-disc career retrospective Midlife emphasizes Blur's early psychedelic grind -- halfway between Syd Barrett and shoegazing -- along with their post-Brit-pop indie makeover, giving somewhat short shrift to the band's pop prime, cutting out four of the band's big hits ("There's No Other Way," "Country House," "End of the Century," and "Charmless Man") in favor of album tracks that play into the thesis that Blur were as somber and serious a guitar band as Radiohead. Of course, Blur did rival Radiohead, recording some of the greatest guitar rock of the '90s, but that was only one facet of the band: they were also a bright, artful pop band, cleverly twisting '60s traditions and post-punk styles into the present. Elements of this Blur are evident in "Girls & Boys" and "Parklife," hits so big they couldn't be ignored, and while Midlife could have used a heavier dose of this side of Blur, there's not a bad track here, and the set also brings their glorious, epoch-creating single "Popscene" back into circulation, so Midlife has some considerable value even if it avoids too many highlights to truly be "A Beginner's Guide to Blur" as its subtitle claims.
Ranked Highest By: dwight (#4)
Amazon Link
#36.
The Jesus Lizard - Liar (Deluxe Remastered Reissue)
(235 Points, 4 Votes)
Tracklist:1. "Boilermaker" 2:14
2. "Gladiator" 3:59
3. "The Art of Self-Defense" 2:38
4. "Slave Ship" 4:12
5. "Puss" 3:19
6. "Whirl" 4:19
7. "Rope" 2:18
8. "Perk" 2:30
9. "Zachariah" 5:42
10. "Dancing Naked Ladies" 2:56
11. "blank track" 0:09
12. "Wheelchair Epidemic" (The Dicks) 2:11
13. "Dancing Naked Ladies" 3:02
14. "Gladiator" 3:58
15. "Boilermaker" 2:21
Amazon.com Product Description: Remastered in 2009 by Steve Albini and Bob Weston. Vinyl packaged in deluxe gatefold album jacket with 12"x24" double sided color insert including never before seen photos, & extensive liner notes by the band & by journalists who were there. Vinyl also includes a digital download coupon for entire LP, plus 4 bonus tracks not included on the LP. HQ-120 virgin vinyl pressing made at RTI. CD in deluxe Digipak with 14"x20" double sided color folder including never before seen photos & extensive liner notes by the band & by journalists who were there. CD also includes 4 bonus tracks.
Ranked Highest By: arkin (#6)
Amazon Link
The Jesus Lizard - Liar (Deluxe Remastered Reissue)
(235 Points, 4 Votes)
Tracklist:1. "Boilermaker" 2:14
2. "Gladiator" 3:59
3. "The Art of Self-Defense" 2:38
4. "Slave Ship" 4:12
5. "Puss" 3:19
6. "Whirl" 4:19
7. "Rope" 2:18
8. "Perk" 2:30
9. "Zachariah" 5:42
10. "Dancing Naked Ladies" 2:56
11. "blank track" 0:09
12. "Wheelchair Epidemic" (The Dicks) 2:11
13. "Dancing Naked Ladies" 3:02
14. "Gladiator" 3:58
15. "Boilermaker" 2:21
Amazon.com Product Description: Remastered in 2009 by Steve Albini and Bob Weston. Vinyl packaged in deluxe gatefold album jacket with 12"x24" double sided color insert including never before seen photos, & extensive liner notes by the band & by journalists who were there. Vinyl also includes a digital download coupon for entire LP, plus 4 bonus tracks not included on the LP. HQ-120 virgin vinyl pressing made at RTI. CD in deluxe Digipak with 14"x20" double sided color folder including never before seen photos & extensive liner notes by the band & by journalists who were there. CD also includes 4 bonus tracks.
Ranked Highest By: arkin (#6)
Amazon Link
#35.
Zero Boys - Vicious Circle
(236 Points, 3 Votes)
Tracklist:1. Vicious Circle
2. Amphetamine Addiction
3. New Generation
4. Dirty Alleys / Dirty Minds
5. Civilization's Dying
6. Livin' In The 80's
7. Drug Free Youth
8. Down The Drain
9. Outta Style
10. You Can Touch Me
11. Forced Entry
12. Hightime
13. Charles' Place
14. Trying Harder
15. She Said Goodbye
16. Slam And Worm
Amazon.com Product Description: The long awaited re-issue of 1982's "Vicious Circle" from Indianapolis-based Zero Boys. Unlike most coast punk of the time, the Zero Boys were pointing the way to a scene that could accommodate heaping helpings of melody, intelligence, and rock 'n roll suss, not just turbo-charged ferocity. When the Ramones lost it, the Zero Boys found it - adding a slam brigade fist to the blitzkrieg beat. They managed to come up with one of the best early 80s punk records. "Vicious Circle" has been remastered from the original tapes. Liner notes by Jack Rabid. Between this and "History Of", the entire recorded output of this legendary Midwest punk band's original line up is finally collected.
AMG Says: When he walked into Keystone Recording in Indianapolis on August 18, 1981, Zero Boys singer Paul Mahern told producer/engineer John Helms he wanted his band's debut LP to "sound like the Germs' GI," released two years prior. "He really nailed it!" laughed Mahern recently. Much agreed: Few records have ever sounded this whizbang buzzing. And whereas GI transformed an appallingly shambolic L.A. band into a shocking powerhouse, Vicious Circle merely snared a smokin' Indiana band that'd been rehearsing five hours a day -- so tight they spun this corker out in just two days, by recording live together. It still bursts out of your speaker on CD as it did off a needle when released on Nimrod records 19 years ago. Terry Hollywood's razor-zinging guitar and Tufty Clough's Speedy Gonzalez' bing-bing-bing bass playing (fastest fingers in the Midwest) burn like blowtorches, and drummer Mark Cutsinger plays like he IV'ed amphetamines. Mahern sings like a hurrying rabbit, rapid-firing words about assassinations/celebrity-shootings, anti-nostalgia, having a "high time," and, well, doing speed. Whereas other records of the new hardcore scene tried to sound tough, this was like Johnny Thunders, Sex Pistols, Ramones, Dictators, and S.L.F. on 45, smiling like dopes. Reissued with two bonus tracks from the same session, Vicious Circle remains a vicious pleasure of frenzied attitude, chops, speed, tight playing, and rocket-launching zeal.
Ranked Highest By: Pavement Ist Rad (#4)
Amazon Link
Zero Boys - Vicious Circle
(236 Points, 3 Votes)
Tracklist:1. Vicious Circle
2. Amphetamine Addiction
3. New Generation
4. Dirty Alleys / Dirty Minds
5. Civilization's Dying
6. Livin' In The 80's
7. Drug Free Youth
8. Down The Drain
9. Outta Style
10. You Can Touch Me
11. Forced Entry
12. Hightime
13. Charles' Place
14. Trying Harder
15. She Said Goodbye
16. Slam And Worm
Amazon.com Product Description: The long awaited re-issue of 1982's "Vicious Circle" from Indianapolis-based Zero Boys. Unlike most coast punk of the time, the Zero Boys were pointing the way to a scene that could accommodate heaping helpings of melody, intelligence, and rock 'n roll suss, not just turbo-charged ferocity. When the Ramones lost it, the Zero Boys found it - adding a slam brigade fist to the blitzkrieg beat. They managed to come up with one of the best early 80s punk records. "Vicious Circle" has been remastered from the original tapes. Liner notes by Jack Rabid. Between this and "History Of", the entire recorded output of this legendary Midwest punk band's original line up is finally collected.
AMG Says: When he walked into Keystone Recording in Indianapolis on August 18, 1981, Zero Boys singer Paul Mahern told producer/engineer John Helms he wanted his band's debut LP to "sound like the Germs' GI," released two years prior. "He really nailed it!" laughed Mahern recently. Much agreed: Few records have ever sounded this whizbang buzzing. And whereas GI transformed an appallingly shambolic L.A. band into a shocking powerhouse, Vicious Circle merely snared a smokin' Indiana band that'd been rehearsing five hours a day -- so tight they spun this corker out in just two days, by recording live together. It still bursts out of your speaker on CD as it did off a needle when released on Nimrod records 19 years ago. Terry Hollywood's razor-zinging guitar and Tufty Clough's Speedy Gonzalez' bing-bing-bing bass playing (fastest fingers in the Midwest) burn like blowtorches, and drummer Mark Cutsinger plays like he IV'ed amphetamines. Mahern sings like a hurrying rabbit, rapid-firing words about assassinations/celebrity-shootings, anti-nostalgia, having a "high time," and, well, doing speed. Whereas other records of the new hardcore scene tried to sound tough, this was like Johnny Thunders, Sex Pistols, Ramones, Dictators, and S.L.F. on 45, smiling like dopes. Reissued with two bonus tracks from the same session, Vicious Circle remains a vicious pleasure of frenzied attitude, chops, speed, tight playing, and rocket-launching zeal.
Ranked Highest By: Pavement Ist Rad (#4)
Amazon Link
still waiting for Dr. Feelgood: 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition
#34.
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Warp 20
(239 Points, 3 Votes)
Tracklist:Disc 1:
1. Milkman/To Cure A Weakling Child [Originals by Aphex Twin] Born Ruffians
2. Japanese Electronics [Original by Elecktroids] Jimi Tenor
3. When [Original by Vincent Gallo] Maximo Park
4. A Little Bit More [Original by Jamie Lidell] Tim Exile
5. Midnight Drive [Original by Elecktroids] Rustie
6. LFO [Original by LFO] Luke Vibert
7. What Is House? (LFO Remix) [Original by LFO] Autechre
8. Cabasa Cabasa [Original by Wild Planet] Russell Haswell
9. So Malleable [Original by Milanese] Clark
10. Fool In Rain [Original by Pivot] Diamond Watch Wrists
11. Paint The Stars [Original by Jimi Tenor] Hudson Mohawke ft. Wednesday Nite
Disc 2:
1. 3/4 Heart [Original by Balil - Black Dog Productions] Mark Pritchard
2. In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country [Original by Boards Of Canada] Mira Calix with Oliver Coates
3. Colorado [Original by Grizzly Bear] Pivot
4. Kaini Industries [Original by Boards of Canada] Bibio
5. Little Brother [Original by Grizzly Bear] Jamie Lidell
6. Vordhosbn [Original by Aphex Twin] Leila
7. Phylactery [Based on Tilapia by Autechre] John Callaghan
8. I Found The F [Original by Broadcast] Gravenhurst
9. On My Bus [Original by Plone] Plaid
10. Acrobat [Original by Maximo Park] Seefeel
Amazon.com Product Description: A double album of Warp artists covering Warp songs from the last twenty years. An incredible display of the diverse talent among the Warp roster. 'Warp20 (Recreated)' is twenty-one brand new cover versions of Warp songs by Warp artists past and present, also across two discs. The ambitious project sees Canadian indiepopsters BORN RUFFIANS cover the mysterious work of APHEX TWIN; U.K rockers MAXIMO PARK go head to head with VINCENT GALLO; Australia's-own PIVOT and U.K crooner JAMIE LIDELL deconstruct the delicacies of GRIZZLY BEAR; and much, much more. Highlighting the imagination and conceptual drive of Warp's new generation, these disc's also feature mind-blowing covers by up-and-comers HUDSON MOHAWKE, MARK PRITCHARD (HARMONIC 313), BIBIO, LEILA AND CLARK!
Ranked Highest By: undo (#3)
Amazon Link
Warp 20
(239 Points, 3 Votes)
Tracklist:Disc 1:
1. Milkman/To Cure A Weakling Child [Originals by Aphex Twin] Born Ruffians
2. Japanese Electronics [Original by Elecktroids] Jimi Tenor
3. When [Original by Vincent Gallo] Maximo Park
4. A Little Bit More [Original by Jamie Lidell] Tim Exile
5. Midnight Drive [Original by Elecktroids] Rustie
6. LFO [Original by LFO] Luke Vibert
7. What Is House? (LFO Remix) [Original by LFO] Autechre
8. Cabasa Cabasa [Original by Wild Planet] Russell Haswell
9. So Malleable [Original by Milanese] Clark
10. Fool In Rain [Original by Pivot] Diamond Watch Wrists
11. Paint The Stars [Original by Jimi Tenor] Hudson Mohawke ft. Wednesday Nite
Disc 2:
1. 3/4 Heart [Original by Balil - Black Dog Productions] Mark Pritchard
2. In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country [Original by Boards Of Canada] Mira Calix with Oliver Coates
3. Colorado [Original by Grizzly Bear] Pivot
4. Kaini Industries [Original by Boards of Canada] Bibio
5. Little Brother [Original by Grizzly Bear] Jamie Lidell
6. Vordhosbn [Original by Aphex Twin] Leila
7. Phylactery [Based on Tilapia by Autechre] John Callaghan
8. I Found The F [Original by Broadcast] Gravenhurst
9. On My Bus [Original by Plone] Plaid
10. Acrobat [Original by Maximo Park] Seefeel
Amazon.com Product Description: A double album of Warp artists covering Warp songs from the last twenty years. An incredible display of the diverse talent among the Warp roster. 'Warp20 (Recreated)' is twenty-one brand new cover versions of Warp songs by Warp artists past and present, also across two discs. The ambitious project sees Canadian indiepopsters BORN RUFFIANS cover the mysterious work of APHEX TWIN; U.K rockers MAXIMO PARK go head to head with VINCENT GALLO; Australia's-own PIVOT and U.K crooner JAMIE LIDELL deconstruct the delicacies of GRIZZLY BEAR; and much, much more. Highlighting the imagination and conceptual drive of Warp's new generation, these disc's also feature mind-blowing covers by up-and-comers HUDSON MOHAWKE, MARK PRITCHARD (HARMONIC 313), BIBIO, LEILA AND CLARK!
Ranked Highest By: undo (#3)
Amazon Link
Slight update: more results to come in the morning and we'll finish up tomorrow night. My sickness last week is still catching up to me and my body is falling asleep.
#34.
Warp 20
(239 Points, 3 Votes)
Tracklist:Disc 1:
1. Milkman/To Cure A Weakling Child [Originals by Aphex Twin] Born Ruffians
2. Japanese Electronics [Original by Elecktroids] Jimi Tenor
3. When [Original by Vincent Gallo] Maximo Park
4. A Little Bit More [Original by Jamie Lidell] Tim Exile
5. Midnight Drive [Original by Elecktroids] Rustie
6. LFO [Original by LFO] Luke Vibert
7. What Is House? (LFO Remix) [Original by LFO] Autechre
8. Cabasa Cabasa [Original by Wild Planet] Russell Haswell
9. So Malleable [Original by Milanese] Clark
10. Fool In Rain [Original by Pivot] Diamond Watch Wrists
11. Paint The Stars [Original by Jimi Tenor] Hudson Mohawke ft. Wednesday Nite
Disc 2:
1. 3/4 Heart [Original by Balil - Black Dog Productions] Mark Pritchard
2. In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country [Original by Boards Of Canada] Mira Calix with Oliver Coates
3. Colorado [Original by Grizzly Bear] Pivot
4. Kaini Industries [Original by Boards of Canada] Bibio
5. Little Brother [Original by Grizzly Bear] Jamie Lidell
6. Vordhosbn [Original by Aphex Twin] Leila
7. Phylactery [Based on Tilapia by Autechre] John Callaghan
8. I Found The F [Original by Broadcast] Gravenhurst
9. On My Bus [Original by Plone] Plaid
10. Acrobat [Original by Maximo Park] Seefeel
Amazon.com Product Description: A double album of Warp artists covering Warp songs from the last twenty years. An incredible display of the diverse talent among the Warp roster. 'Warp20 (Recreated)' is twenty-one brand new cover versions of Warp songs by Warp artists past and present, also across two discs. The ambitious project sees Canadian indiepopsters BORN RUFFIANS cover the mysterious work of APHEX TWIN; U.K rockers MAXIMO PARK go head to head with VINCENT GALLO; Australia's-own PIVOT and U.K crooner JAMIE LIDELL deconstruct the delicacies of GRIZZLY BEAR; and much, much more. Highlighting the imagination and conceptual drive of Warp's new generation, these disc's also feature mind-blowing covers by up-and-comers HUDSON MOHAWKE, MARK PRITCHARD (HARMONIC 313), BIBIO, LEILA AND CLARK!
Ranked Highest By: undo (#3)
Amazon Link
Warp 20
(239 Points, 3 Votes)
Tracklist:Disc 1:
1. Milkman/To Cure A Weakling Child [Originals by Aphex Twin] Born Ruffians
2. Japanese Electronics [Original by Elecktroids] Jimi Tenor
3. When [Original by Vincent Gallo] Maximo Park
4. A Little Bit More [Original by Jamie Lidell] Tim Exile
5. Midnight Drive [Original by Elecktroids] Rustie
6. LFO [Original by LFO] Luke Vibert
7. What Is House? (LFO Remix) [Original by LFO] Autechre
8. Cabasa Cabasa [Original by Wild Planet] Russell Haswell
9. So Malleable [Original by Milanese] Clark
10. Fool In Rain [Original by Pivot] Diamond Watch Wrists
11. Paint The Stars [Original by Jimi Tenor] Hudson Mohawke ft. Wednesday Nite
Disc 2:
1. 3/4 Heart [Original by Balil - Black Dog Productions] Mark Pritchard
2. In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country [Original by Boards Of Canada] Mira Calix with Oliver Coates
3. Colorado [Original by Grizzly Bear] Pivot
4. Kaini Industries [Original by Boards of Canada] Bibio
5. Little Brother [Original by Grizzly Bear] Jamie Lidell
6. Vordhosbn [Original by Aphex Twin] Leila
7. Phylactery [Based on Tilapia by Autechre] John Callaghan
8. I Found The F [Original by Broadcast] Gravenhurst
9. On My Bus [Original by Plone] Plaid
10. Acrobat [Original by Maximo Park] Seefeel
Amazon.com Product Description: A double album of Warp artists covering Warp songs from the last twenty years. An incredible display of the diverse talent among the Warp roster. 'Warp20 (Recreated)' is twenty-one brand new cover versions of Warp songs by Warp artists past and present, also across two discs. The ambitious project sees Canadian indiepopsters BORN RUFFIANS cover the mysterious work of APHEX TWIN; U.K rockers MAXIMO PARK go head to head with VINCENT GALLO; Australia's-own PIVOT and U.K crooner JAMIE LIDELL deconstruct the delicacies of GRIZZLY BEAR; and much, much more. Highlighting the imagination and conceptual drive of Warp's new generation, these disc's also feature mind-blowing covers by up-and-comers HUDSON MOHAWKE, MARK PRITCHARD (HARMONIC 313), BIBIO, LEILA AND CLARK!
Ranked Highest By: undo (#3)
Amazon Link
QUOTE (Michael K. @ Dec 16 2009, 02:59 PM) 
Just trying to bump up my post count to get my honorary custom title.
So many great songs across those two Blur discs. May have to download a copy to hear.
Like SFA's Songbook, Midlife is my go-to Blur thing these days. Should probably have voted for it, but there were too many other good comps that weren't just best-ofs.
Enjoying the list so far, and looking forward to seeing what's next.
Enjoying the list so far, and looking forward to seeing what's next.
QUOTE (Paul @ Dec 22 2009, 03:43 AM)
3. She Chokes Her Dying Breath and Does It In my Face - V/Vm
Join in on the chorus!
QUOTE (vurt @ Dec 22 2009, 05:03 AM)
Like SFA's Songbook, Midlife is my go-to Blur thing these days. Should probably have voted for it, but there were too many other good comps that weren't just best-ofs.
Enjoying the list so far, and looking forward to seeing what's next.
Enjoying the list so far, and looking forward to seeing what's next.
mine's the second of the live shows that were held at hyde park. rad.
I wish that SFA's Songbook was a double as well.
QUOTE (Badger @ Dec 22 2009, 10:06 AM)
QUOTE (Paul @ Dec 22 2009, 03:43 AM)
3. She Chokes Her Dying Breath and Does It In my Face - V/Vm
Join in on the chorus!
the lady in red (is dancing with meat) ftw.
#33.
Harmonia & Eno - Tracks & Traces
(270 Points, 2 Votes, 1 #1 Vote)
Tracklist:1. Welcome
2. Atmosphere
3. Vamos Companeros
4. By The Riverside
5. Luneburg Heath
6. Sometimes In Autumn
7. Weird Dream
8. Almost
9. Les Demoiselles
10. When Shade Was Born
11. Trace
12. Aubade
Amazon.com Product Description: Reissue of this collection of tracks by the German band featuring members of Cluster and Neu, plus Brian Eno. Though it was released two decades after it was recorded, the album is a milestone in the history of Ambient/Electronic music. 12 tracks. Gronland Records. 2009.
AMG Says: Recorded in 1976 -- after Brian Eno had proclaimed them one of the best groups around -- but for whatever reason not released until 20 years later, Tracks & Traces is a fascinating release not merely for Eno's participation but for the hints of music that would become mainstream in the future. Indeed, opening cut "Vamos Companeros" has an intense guitar line from Rother that in its nervous, choppy way suggests everything from Wire to Bauhaus, not to mention Eno's own noted production clients, U2. Having already created two excellent albums, the core Harmonia trio was easily placed to whip up a third, with Eno the wild-card factor who turned out to be a perfect addition. While contributing some lyrics and singing at a time when he was steering away firmly from both in his own solo work, most of the time Eno lets the band speak for itself musically, most notably adding snaky, quietly threatening basslines. Compositions range from the lengthy to just fragments, and while it feels at points more like a collection of sessions than necessarily a complete stand-alone album conceived as such, the end results are still well worth hearing. The contemplative "By the Riverside," which could easily have turned up on Eno's Before and After Science (where his related collaboration with Cluster, "By This River," appeared) is a slow treasure, a core keyboard loop providing the slow-paced rhythm. "Almost" is another killer, with a lead guitar/piano melody that's pure gentle heartbreak if ever there were such a thing, gently descending and softly surrounded by an elegantly flowing arrangement. If there's less of the glittering glaze of the earlier Harmonia albums, the explorations in ambient sound and mysterious and murky textures make for a more than fair exchange. [This remastered reissue contains three previously unreleased songs.]
Ranked Highest By: Badger (#1)
Amazon Link
Harmonia & Eno - Tracks & Traces
(270 Points, 2 Votes, 1 #1 Vote)
Tracklist:1. Welcome
2. Atmosphere
3. Vamos Companeros
4. By The Riverside
5. Luneburg Heath
6. Sometimes In Autumn
7. Weird Dream
8. Almost
9. Les Demoiselles
10. When Shade Was Born
11. Trace
12. Aubade
Amazon.com Product Description: Reissue of this collection of tracks by the German band featuring members of Cluster and Neu, plus Brian Eno. Though it was released two decades after it was recorded, the album is a milestone in the history of Ambient/Electronic music. 12 tracks. Gronland Records. 2009.
AMG Says: Recorded in 1976 -- after Brian Eno had proclaimed them one of the best groups around -- but for whatever reason not released until 20 years later, Tracks & Traces is a fascinating release not merely for Eno's participation but for the hints of music that would become mainstream in the future. Indeed, opening cut "Vamos Companeros" has an intense guitar line from Rother that in its nervous, choppy way suggests everything from Wire to Bauhaus, not to mention Eno's own noted production clients, U2. Having already created two excellent albums, the core Harmonia trio was easily placed to whip up a third, with Eno the wild-card factor who turned out to be a perfect addition. While contributing some lyrics and singing at a time when he was steering away firmly from both in his own solo work, most of the time Eno lets the band speak for itself musically, most notably adding snaky, quietly threatening basslines. Compositions range from the lengthy to just fragments, and while it feels at points more like a collection of sessions than necessarily a complete stand-alone album conceived as such, the end results are still well worth hearing. The contemplative "By the Riverside," which could easily have turned up on Eno's Before and After Science (where his related collaboration with Cluster, "By This River," appeared) is a slow treasure, a core keyboard loop providing the slow-paced rhythm. "Almost" is another killer, with a lead guitar/piano melody that's pure gentle heartbreak if ever there were such a thing, gently descending and softly surrounded by an elegantly flowing arrangement. If there's less of the glittering glaze of the earlier Harmonia albums, the explorations in ambient sound and mysterious and murky textures make for a more than fair exchange. [This remastered reissue contains three previously unreleased songs.]
Ranked Highest By: Badger (#1)
Amazon Link
#32.
Oneohtrix Point Never - Rifts
(284 Points, 5 Votes)
Tracklist:Disc 1:
1. Behind The Bank
2. Eyeballs
3. Betrayed In The Octagon
4. Woe Is The Transgression
5. Parallel Minds
6. Laser To Laser
7. Woe Is The Transgression II
8. Computer Vision
9. Format & Journey North
10. Zones Without People
11. Learning To Control Myself
12. Disconnecting Entirely
13. Emil Cioran
14. Hyperdawn
Disc 2:
1. Months
2. Physical Memories
3. Grief And Repetition
4. Russian Mind
5. Actual Air
6. Immanence
7. Lovegirls Precinct
8. Ships Without Meaning
9. Terminator Lake
10. Transmat Memories
11. A Pact Between Strangers
12. When I Get Back From New York
13. I Know Its Taking Pictures Form Antoher Plane - Inside Your Sun
Amazon.com Product Description: Oneohtrix Point Never's `Rifts' trilogy comprises Daniel Lopatin's first three full length records - Betrayed in the Octagon, Zones Without People, and Russian Mind. The Rifts trilogy travels from the outside-in, beginning with the dark space sonatas of Octagon, down through the mechanized vistas of Zones and completing itself with the haunting electronic animus of Russian Mind. This journey is underscored with a natural growth which sees Lopatin developing his unabashed worship of the analog poly-synth as a free standing musical apparatus towards a fully realized OPN world of sound; at once incorporating synth prog, modern noise, early techno, drone, minimalism and computer music. With Rifts it is possible to zoom out on the OPN project and recognize Lopatin as both an auteur and alchemist; achieving a signature sound while drawing on a buried history of electronic music. The double disc includes all 3 albums in its entirety (originally released on limited edition vinyl only) as well as selections from rare and out of print cassette and CD-R releases, with recordings spanning as far back as 2003. Fully re-mastered for digital audio by James Plotkin, art by Tom Scholefield.
Ranked Highest By: Pavement Ist Rad (#8)
Amazon Link
Oneohtrix Point Never - Rifts
(284 Points, 5 Votes)
Tracklist:Disc 1:
1. Behind The Bank
2. Eyeballs
3. Betrayed In The Octagon
4. Woe Is The Transgression
5. Parallel Minds
6. Laser To Laser
7. Woe Is The Transgression II
8. Computer Vision
9. Format & Journey North
10. Zones Without People
11. Learning To Control Myself
12. Disconnecting Entirely
13. Emil Cioran
14. Hyperdawn
Disc 2:
1. Months
2. Physical Memories
3. Grief And Repetition
4. Russian Mind
5. Actual Air
6. Immanence
7. Lovegirls Precinct
8. Ships Without Meaning
9. Terminator Lake
10. Transmat Memories
11. A Pact Between Strangers
12. When I Get Back From New York
13. I Know Its Taking Pictures Form Antoher Plane - Inside Your Sun
Amazon.com Product Description: Oneohtrix Point Never's `Rifts' trilogy comprises Daniel Lopatin's first three full length records - Betrayed in the Octagon, Zones Without People, and Russian Mind. The Rifts trilogy travels from the outside-in, beginning with the dark space sonatas of Octagon, down through the mechanized vistas of Zones and completing itself with the haunting electronic animus of Russian Mind. This journey is underscored with a natural growth which sees Lopatin developing his unabashed worship of the analog poly-synth as a free standing musical apparatus towards a fully realized OPN world of sound; at once incorporating synth prog, modern noise, early techno, drone, minimalism and computer music. With Rifts it is possible to zoom out on the OPN project and recognize Lopatin as both an auteur and alchemist; achieving a signature sound while drawing on a buried history of electronic music. The double disc includes all 3 albums in its entirety (originally released on limited edition vinyl only) as well as selections from rare and out of print cassette and CD-R releases, with recordings spanning as far back as 2003. Fully re-mastered for digital audio by James Plotkin, art by Tom Scholefield.
Ranked Highest By: Pavement Ist Rad (#8)
Amazon Link
#31.
Adventureland - Original Soundtrack
(290 Points, 3 Votes)
Tracklist: 1. Satellite Of Love Lou Reed
2. Modern Love David Bowie
3. I'm In Love With A Girl Big Star
4. Just Like Heaven The Cure
5. Rock Me Amadeus Falco
6. Don't Change Inxs
7. Your Love The Outfield
8. Don't Dream It's Over Crowded House
9. Looking For A Kiss The New York Dolls
10. Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely Husker Du
11. Unsatisfied The Replacements
12. Pale Blue Eyes The Velvet Underground
13. Farewell Adventureland Yo La Tengo
14. Adventureland Theme Song Brian Kenney
Ranked Highest By: Paul, stphone (#4)
Amazon Link
Adventureland - Original Soundtrack
(290 Points, 3 Votes)
Tracklist: 1. Satellite Of Love Lou Reed
2. Modern Love David Bowie
3. I'm In Love With A Girl Big Star
4. Just Like Heaven The Cure
5. Rock Me Amadeus Falco
6. Don't Change Inxs
7. Your Love The Outfield
8. Don't Dream It's Over Crowded House
9. Looking For A Kiss The New York Dolls
10. Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely Husker Du
11. Unsatisfied The Replacements
12. Pale Blue Eyes The Velvet Underground
13. Farewell Adventureland Yo La Tengo
14. Adventureland Theme Song Brian Kenney
Ranked Highest By: Paul, stphone (#4)
Amazon Link
#30.
The Feelies - Crazy Rhythms
(335 Points, 5 Votes)
Tracklist:1 The Boy with the Perpetual Nervousness
2 Fa Cé-La
3 Loveless Love
4 Forces at Work
5 Original Love
6 Everybody's Got Something to Hide (Except for Me and My Monkey)
7 Moscow Nights
8 Raised Eyebrows
9 Crazy Rhythms
10 Fa Cé-La [Single Version]
11 The Boy With the Perpetual Nervousness
12 Moscow Nights
13 Crazy Rhythms [live]
14 I Wanna Sleep in Your Arms [live]
Amazon.com Product Description: The Feelies, debut album Crazy Rhythms released in 1980, is finally back in print. The much loved group of hyper active indie rockers from Haledon New Jersey influenced the sound of college radio and inspired many to pick up guitars and form bands. Crazy Rhythms is a masterwork of perfectly honed minimalist rock 'n' roll that leaps and darts into the corners of the listeners consciousness, a true sonic achievement that Rolling Stone called one of the 100 Best albums of the 1980s. Fans of the Velvet Underground, Wire and Brian Eno's early solo albums will surely appreciate their forces at work. Bonus material including demos, b-sides and new live recordings will be included via download cards inserted in the LP and CD versions.
AMG Says: Even the cover is a winner, with a washed-out look that screams new wave via horn-rimmed glasses, even more so than contemporaneous pictures of either Elvis Costello or the Embarrassment. But if it was all look and no brain, Crazy Rhythms would long ago have been dismissed as an early-'80s relic. That's exactly what this album is not, right from the soft, haunting hints of percussion that preface the suddenly energetic jump of the appropriately titled "The Boy With the Perpetual Nervousness." From there the band delivers seven more originals plus a striking cover of the Beatles' "Everybody's Got Something to Hide" that rips along even more quickly than the original. The guitar team of Mercer and Million smokes throughout, whether it's soft, rhythmic chiming with a mysterious, distanced air or blasting, angular solos. But Fier is the band's secret weapon, able to play straight-up beats but aiming at a rumbling, strange punch that updates Velvet Underground/Krautrock trance into giddier realms. Mercer's obvious Lou Reed vocal inflections make the VU roots even clearer, but even at this stage of the game there's something fresh about the work the quartet does, even 20 years on -- a good blend of past and present, rave-up and reflection. [The 2009 reissue of the album on Bar/None removes the bonus track, a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black," that had appeared on a prevoius edition of the album and adds 5 bonus tracks. The tracks are available as a digital download and include two Carla Bley-produced demos, a single version of "Fa Cé-La," and two live songs.]
Ranked Highest By: Ramona (#3)
Amazon Link
The Feelies - Crazy Rhythms
(335 Points, 5 Votes)
Tracklist:1 The Boy with the Perpetual Nervousness
2 Fa Cé-La
3 Loveless Love
4 Forces at Work
5 Original Love
6 Everybody's Got Something to Hide (Except for Me and My Monkey)
7 Moscow Nights
8 Raised Eyebrows
9 Crazy Rhythms
10 Fa Cé-La [Single Version]
11 The Boy With the Perpetual Nervousness
12 Moscow Nights
13 Crazy Rhythms [live]
14 I Wanna Sleep in Your Arms [live]
Amazon.com Product Description: The Feelies, debut album Crazy Rhythms released in 1980, is finally back in print. The much loved group of hyper active indie rockers from Haledon New Jersey influenced the sound of college radio and inspired many to pick up guitars and form bands. Crazy Rhythms is a masterwork of perfectly honed minimalist rock 'n' roll that leaps and darts into the corners of the listeners consciousness, a true sonic achievement that Rolling Stone called one of the 100 Best albums of the 1980s. Fans of the Velvet Underground, Wire and Brian Eno's early solo albums will surely appreciate their forces at work. Bonus material including demos, b-sides and new live recordings will be included via download cards inserted in the LP and CD versions.
AMG Says: Even the cover is a winner, with a washed-out look that screams new wave via horn-rimmed glasses, even more so than contemporaneous pictures of either Elvis Costello or the Embarrassment. But if it was all look and no brain, Crazy Rhythms would long ago have been dismissed as an early-'80s relic. That's exactly what this album is not, right from the soft, haunting hints of percussion that preface the suddenly energetic jump of the appropriately titled "The Boy With the Perpetual Nervousness." From there the band delivers seven more originals plus a striking cover of the Beatles' "Everybody's Got Something to Hide" that rips along even more quickly than the original. The guitar team of Mercer and Million smokes throughout, whether it's soft, rhythmic chiming with a mysterious, distanced air or blasting, angular solos. But Fier is the band's secret weapon, able to play straight-up beats but aiming at a rumbling, strange punch that updates Velvet Underground/Krautrock trance into giddier realms. Mercer's obvious Lou Reed vocal inflections make the VU roots even clearer, but even at this stage of the game there's something fresh about the work the quartet does, even 20 years on -- a good blend of past and present, rave-up and reflection. [The 2009 reissue of the album on Bar/None removes the bonus track, a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black," that had appeared on a prevoius edition of the album and adds 5 bonus tracks. The tracks are available as a digital download and include two Carla Bley-produced demos, a single version of "Fa Cé-La," and two live songs.]
Ranked Highest By: Ramona (#3)
Amazon Link
#29.
U2 - The Unforgettable Fire (Deluxe Edition)
(340 Points, 4 Votes)
Tracklist:Disc 1:
1. A Sort Of Homecoming
2. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
3. Wire
4. The Unforgettable Fire
5. Promenade
6. 4th Of July
7. Bad
8. Indian Summer Sky
9. Elvis Presley & America
10. MLK
Disc 2:
1. Disappearing Act
2. A Sort Of Homecoming (Live)
3. Bad (Live)
4. Love Comes Tumbling
5. The Three Sunrises
6. Yoshino Blossom
7. Wire (Kevorkian 12" Vocal Remix)
8. Boomerang 1
9. Pride (In The Name Of Love) (Remastered Single version)
10. A Sort Of Homecoming (Danny Lanois Remix)
11. 11 O'Clock Tick Tock
12. Wire (Celtic Dub Mix)
13. Bass Trap
14. Boomerang II
15. 4th Of July (Single Version)
Amazon.com Product Description:
Deluxe Edition: containing 2 CDs; the remastered album, and the bonus audio CD which features B-sides and previously unreleased material, a 36 page booklet with liner notes by The Edge, Brian Eno, Danny Lanois and Bert Van de Kamp
AMG Says:
Ranked Highest By: redmedicine (#4)
Amazon Link
U2 - The Unforgettable Fire (Deluxe Edition)
(340 Points, 4 Votes)
Tracklist:Disc 1:
1. A Sort Of Homecoming
2. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
3. Wire
4. The Unforgettable Fire
5. Promenade
6. 4th Of July
7. Bad
8. Indian Summer Sky
9. Elvis Presley & America
10. MLK
Disc 2:
1. Disappearing Act
2. A Sort Of Homecoming (Live)
3. Bad (Live)
4. Love Comes Tumbling
5. The Three Sunrises
6. Yoshino Blossom
7. Wire (Kevorkian 12" Vocal Remix)
8. Boomerang 1
9. Pride (In The Name Of Love) (Remastered Single version)
10. A Sort Of Homecoming (Danny Lanois Remix)
11. 11 O'Clock Tick Tock
12. Wire (Celtic Dub Mix)
13. Bass Trap
14. Boomerang II
15. 4th Of July (Single Version)
Amazon.com Product Description:
Deluxe Edition: containing 2 CDs; the remastered album, and the bonus audio CD which features B-sides and previously unreleased material, a 36 page booklet with liner notes by The Edge, Brian Eno, Danny Lanois and Bert Van de Kamp
AMG Says:
Ranked Highest By: redmedicine (#4)
Amazon Link
I should get that one ^. It's one of their good ones.
QUOTE (velocity @ Dec 22 2009, 10:00 PM)
I should get that one ^. It's their good one.
U2 - The Unforgettable Fire
Pin this bitch so hard the rest of her frame slumps around the ground-in pin
Uhhh...so slight hold up here. I've been slammed with finishing up work before I'm off for Christmas, packing to go home for a week or so, and finishing tabbing the rest of the polls. I'll get a handful more up in the morning and then I think the rest will come on Saturday. Check the other EOY thread for an updated and I hope final results schedule.
I should have voted for Rifts but decided to vote for Russian Mind in the albums poll instead. Yeah, I'm sure my vote really helped it climb the charts there.
QUOTE (Paul @ Dec 22 2009, 04:56 AM)
Slight update: more results to come in the morning and we'll finish up tomorrow night. My sickness last week is still catching up to me and my body is falling asleep.
that's dedication for you, so ill you did the warp one twice, yet you still did a few others afterwards.
good work Paul.
what happened?
don't you guys even read Paul's Twitter?
#28.
Score! 20 Years of Merge Records
(340 Points, 3 Votes)
Tracklist: The Remixes!
1. Kalgon (Polvo) Caribou
2. Mother Of Pearl (Pram) Barbara Morgenstern
3. Baby's Way Cruel (Guv'ner) Four Tet
4. Drill Me (I Was So There Remix) (Portastatic)
5. The Ghost Of You Lingers (Spoon) John McEntire
6. No Cars Go (Arcade Fire) Jason Forrest
7. Volcana! (I Hope Your Train Crashes Remix) (The 6ths) Xiu Xiu
8. Bow To The Middle (The Rosebuds) +/-
9. Irene (Caribou) Hands Off Cuba 4:19
10. Washington, D.C. (The Magnetic Fields) Mark Robinson
11. Nashville Parent (Lambchop) Junior Boys
The Covers!
1. Beautiful Things Quasi
2. Precision Auto Les Savy Fav
3. Plenty Is Never Enough The Shins
4. Sleep All Summer St. Vincent and The National
5. Complications Broken Social Scene
6. Like a Fool Ryan Adams
7. Papa Was a Rodeo Bright Eyes
8. New Ways of Living Lavender Diamond
9. King of Carrot Flowers Pt. Three The Apples In Stereo
10. Cowboy On the Moon Laura Cantrell
11. Santa Maria Bill Callahan
12. Through With People Barbara Manning
13. Drug Life The Mountain Goats
14. Don't Destroy This Night The New Pornographers
15. Yeah! Oh, Yeah! Tracey Thorn & Jens Lekman
16. My Noise The Hive Dwellers
17. The Numbered Head Ted Leo/Pharmacists
18. All You Little Suckers Okkervil River
19. Kicked In Death Cab For Cutie
20. Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) Times New Viking
Amazon.com Product Description: Merge is twenty years old. Part of the larger "Score!" subscription-based box set, this CD is an amazing collection of songs spanning the label's existence, covered by some of the most popular (non-Merge) indie bands around, such as Quasi, Les Savy Fav, The Shins, Ryan Adams, Bright Eyes, The New Pornographers, Okkervil River, Death Cab For Cutie, Times New Viking, and many more. This collection is the first of only two commercially available pieces from the box set. Limited to 7,500 copies.
Ranked Highest By: mouthbreather, simakos (#3)
Amazon Link
Score! 20 Years of Merge Records
(340 Points, 3 Votes)
Tracklist: The Remixes!
1. Kalgon (Polvo) Caribou
2. Mother Of Pearl (Pram) Barbara Morgenstern
3. Baby's Way Cruel (Guv'ner) Four Tet
4. Drill Me (I Was So There Remix) (Portastatic)
5. The Ghost Of You Lingers (Spoon) John McEntire
6. No Cars Go (Arcade Fire) Jason Forrest
7. Volcana! (I Hope Your Train Crashes Remix) (The 6ths) Xiu Xiu
8. Bow To The Middle (The Rosebuds) +/-
9. Irene (Caribou) Hands Off Cuba 4:19
10. Washington, D.C. (The Magnetic Fields) Mark Robinson
11. Nashville Parent (Lambchop) Junior Boys
The Covers!
1. Beautiful Things Quasi
2. Precision Auto Les Savy Fav
3. Plenty Is Never Enough The Shins
4. Sleep All Summer St. Vincent and The National
5. Complications Broken Social Scene
6. Like a Fool Ryan Adams
7. Papa Was a Rodeo Bright Eyes
8. New Ways of Living Lavender Diamond
9. King of Carrot Flowers Pt. Three The Apples In Stereo
10. Cowboy On the Moon Laura Cantrell
11. Santa Maria Bill Callahan
12. Through With People Barbara Manning
13. Drug Life The Mountain Goats
14. Don't Destroy This Night The New Pornographers
15. Yeah! Oh, Yeah! Tracey Thorn & Jens Lekman
16. My Noise The Hive Dwellers
17. The Numbered Head Ted Leo/Pharmacists
18. All You Little Suckers Okkervil River
19. Kicked In Death Cab For Cutie
20. Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) Times New Viking
Amazon.com Product Description: Merge is twenty years old. Part of the larger "Score!" subscription-based box set, this CD is an amazing collection of songs spanning the label's existence, covered by some of the most popular (non-Merge) indie bands around, such as Quasi, Les Savy Fav, The Shins, Ryan Adams, Bright Eyes, The New Pornographers, Okkervil River, Death Cab For Cutie, Times New Viking, and many more. This collection is the first of only two commercially available pieces from the box set. Limited to 7,500 copies.
Ranked Highest By: mouthbreather, simakos (#3)
Amazon Link
#27.
Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique (20th Anniversary Edition)
(362 Points, 4 Votes)
Tracklist: 1. "To All the Girls" – 1:29
2. "Shake Your Rump" – 3:19
3. "Johnny Ryall" – 3:00
4. "Egg Man" – 2:57
5. "High Plains Drifter" – 4:13
6. "The Sounds of Science" – 3:11
7. "3-Minute Rule" – 3:39
8. "Hey Ladies" – 3:47
9. "5-Piece Chicken Dinner" – 0:23
10. "Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun" – 3:28
11. "Car Thief" – 3:39
12. "What Comes Around" – 3:07
13. "Shadrach" – 4:07
14. "Ask for Janice" – 0:11
15. "B-Boy Bouillabaisse" – 12:33 (separated into individual tracks on 20th Anniversary Edition[18])
* "59 Chrystie Street" – 0:56
* "Get on the Mic" – 1:14
* "Stop That Train" – 1:58
* "A Year and a Day" – 2:21
* "Hello Brooklyn" – 1:31
* "Dropping Names" – 1:02
* "Lay It on Me" – 0:53
* "Mike on the Mic" – 0:48
* "A.W.O.L." – 1:45
Amazon.com Product Description: Beastie Boys Paul's Boutique digitally re-mastered for the 1st time, overseen personally by the band to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the release. The original vinyl artwork has been faithfully restored in this 8 panel eco-friendly limited edition CD with fold-out poster. Paul's Boutique is consistently named as one of the greatest albums of all time by numerous publications such as Time, Rolling Stone, Spin, Q, and The Source.
AMG Says: Such was the power of Licensed to Ill that everybody, from fans to critics, thought that not only could the Beastie Boys not top the record, but that they were destined to be a one-shot wonder. These feelings were only amplified by their messy, litigious departure from Def Jam and their flight from their beloved New York to Los Angeles, since it appeared that the Beasties had completely lost the plot. Many critics in fact thought that Paul's Boutique was a muddled mess upon its summer release in 1989, but that's the nature of the record -- it's so dense, it's bewildering at first, revealing its considerable charms with each play. To put it mildly, it's a considerable change from the hard rock of Licensed to Ill, shifting to layers of samples and beats so intertwined they move beyond psychedelic; it's a painting with sound. Paul's Boutique is a record that only could have been made in a specific time and place. Like the Rolling Stones in 1972, the Beastie Boys were in exile and pining for their home, so they made a love letter to downtown New York -- which they could not have done without the Dust Brothers, a Los Angeles-based production duo who helped redefine what sampling could be with this record. Sadly, after Paul's Boutique sampling on the level of what's heard here would disappear; due to a series of lawsuits, most notably Gilbert O'Sullivan's suit against Biz Markie, the entire enterprise too cost-prohibitive and risky to perform on such a grand scale. Which is really a shame, because if ever a record could be used as incontrovertible proof that sampling is its own art form, it's Paul's Boutique. Snatches of familiar music are scattered throughout the record -- anything from Curtis Mayfield's "Superfly" and Sly Stone's "Loose Booty" to Loggins & Messina's "Your Mama Don't Dance" and the Ramones' "Suzy Is a Headbanger" -- but never once are they presented in lazy, predictable ways. The Dust Brothers and Beasties weave a crazy-quilt of samples, beats, loops, and tricks, which creates a hyper-surreal alternate reality -- a romanticized, funhouse reflection of New York where all pop music and culture exist on the same strata, feeding off each other, mocking each other, evolving into a wholly unique record, unlike anything that came before or after. It very well could be that its density is what alienated listeners and critics at the time; there is so much information in the music and words that it can seem impenetrable at first, but upon repeated spins it opens up slowly, assuredly, revealing more every listen. Musically, few hip-hop records have ever been so rich; it's not just the recontextulations of familiar music via samples, it's the flow of each song and the album as a whole, culminating in the widescreen suite that closes the record. Lyrically, the Beasties have never been better -- not just because their jokes are razor-sharp, but because they construct full-bodied narratives and evocative portraits of characters and places. Few pop records offer this much to savor, and if Paul's Boutique only made a modest impact upon its initial release, over time its influence could be heard through pop and rap, yet no matter how its influence was felt, it stands alone as a record of stunning vision, maturity, and accomplishment. Plus, it's a hell of a lot of fun, no matter how many times you've heard it. [A 20th Anniversary edition that featured remastering but no extra tracks was released in 2009.]
Ranked Highest By: Ramona (#2)
Amazon Link
Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique (20th Anniversary Edition)
(362 Points, 4 Votes)
Tracklist: 1. "To All the Girls" – 1:29
2. "Shake Your Rump" – 3:19
3. "Johnny Ryall" – 3:00
4. "Egg Man" – 2:57
5. "High Plains Drifter" – 4:13
6. "The Sounds of Science" – 3:11
7. "3-Minute Rule" – 3:39
8. "Hey Ladies" – 3:47
9. "5-Piece Chicken Dinner" – 0:23
10. "Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun" – 3:28
11. "Car Thief" – 3:39
12. "What Comes Around" – 3:07
13. "Shadrach" – 4:07
14. "Ask for Janice" – 0:11
15. "B-Boy Bouillabaisse" – 12:33 (separated into individual tracks on 20th Anniversary Edition[18])
* "59 Chrystie Street" – 0:56
* "Get on the Mic" – 1:14
* "Stop That Train" – 1:58
* "A Year and a Day" – 2:21
* "Hello Brooklyn" – 1:31
* "Dropping Names" – 1:02
* "Lay It on Me" – 0:53
* "Mike on the Mic" – 0:48
* "A.W.O.L." – 1:45
Amazon.com Product Description: Beastie Boys Paul's Boutique digitally re-mastered for the 1st time, overseen personally by the band to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the release. The original vinyl artwork has been faithfully restored in this 8 panel eco-friendly limited edition CD with fold-out poster. Paul's Boutique is consistently named as one of the greatest albums of all time by numerous publications such as Time, Rolling Stone, Spin, Q, and The Source.
AMG Says: Such was the power of Licensed to Ill that everybody, from fans to critics, thought that not only could the Beastie Boys not top the record, but that they were destined to be a one-shot wonder. These feelings were only amplified by their messy, litigious departure from Def Jam and their flight from their beloved New York to Los Angeles, since it appeared that the Beasties had completely lost the plot. Many critics in fact thought that Paul's Boutique was a muddled mess upon its summer release in 1989, but that's the nature of the record -- it's so dense, it's bewildering at first, revealing its considerable charms with each play. To put it mildly, it's a considerable change from the hard rock of Licensed to Ill, shifting to layers of samples and beats so intertwined they move beyond psychedelic; it's a painting with sound. Paul's Boutique is a record that only could have been made in a specific time and place. Like the Rolling Stones in 1972, the Beastie Boys were in exile and pining for their home, so they made a love letter to downtown New York -- which they could not have done without the Dust Brothers, a Los Angeles-based production duo who helped redefine what sampling could be with this record. Sadly, after Paul's Boutique sampling on the level of what's heard here would disappear; due to a series of lawsuits, most notably Gilbert O'Sullivan's suit against Biz Markie, the entire enterprise too cost-prohibitive and risky to perform on such a grand scale. Which is really a shame, because if ever a record could be used as incontrovertible proof that sampling is its own art form, it's Paul's Boutique. Snatches of familiar music are scattered throughout the record -- anything from Curtis Mayfield's "Superfly" and Sly Stone's "Loose Booty" to Loggins & Messina's "Your Mama Don't Dance" and the Ramones' "Suzy Is a Headbanger" -- but never once are they presented in lazy, predictable ways. The Dust Brothers and Beasties weave a crazy-quilt of samples, beats, loops, and tricks, which creates a hyper-surreal alternate reality -- a romanticized, funhouse reflection of New York where all pop music and culture exist on the same strata, feeding off each other, mocking each other, evolving into a wholly unique record, unlike anything that came before or after. It very well could be that its density is what alienated listeners and critics at the time; there is so much information in the music and words that it can seem impenetrable at first, but upon repeated spins it opens up slowly, assuredly, revealing more every listen. Musically, few hip-hop records have ever been so rich; it's not just the recontextulations of familiar music via samples, it's the flow of each song and the album as a whole, culminating in the widescreen suite that closes the record. Lyrically, the Beasties have never been better -- not just because their jokes are razor-sharp, but because they construct full-bodied narratives and evocative portraits of characters and places. Few pop records offer this much to savor, and if Paul's Boutique only made a modest impact upon its initial release, over time its influence could be heard through pop and rap, yet no matter how its influence was felt, it stands alone as a record of stunning vision, maturity, and accomplishment. Plus, it's a hell of a lot of fun, no matter how many times you've heard it. [A 20th Anniversary edition that featured remastering but no extra tracks was released in 2009.]
Ranked Highest By: Ramona (#2)
Amazon Link
#26.
Nirvana - Bleach (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)
(366 Points, 6 Votes)
Tracklist:1. "Blew" 2:55
2. "Floyd the Barber" 2:18
3. "About a Girl" 2:48
4. "School" 2:42
5. "Love Buzz" (van Leeuwen) 3:35
6. "Paper Cuts" 4:06
7. "Negative Creep" 2:56
8. "Scoff" 4:10
9. "Swap Meet" 3:03
10. "Mr. Moustache" 3:24
11. "Sifting" 5:22
12. "Big Cheese" 3:42
13. "Downer" (Cobain, Novoselic) 1:43
20th Anniversary Edition
Live at Pine Street Theatre:
14. "Intro" 0:53
15. "School" 2:36
16. "Floyd the Barber" 2:17
17. "Dive" 3:42
18. "Love Buzz" (van Leeuwen) 2:58
19. "Spank Thru" 2:59
20. "Molly's Lips" (The Vaselines) 2:16
21. "Sappy" 3:19
22. "Scoff" 3:53
23. "About a Girl" 2:28
24. "Been a Son" 2:01
25. "Blew" 4:32
Amazon.com Product Description: Marking the 20th Anniversary of Nirvana s debut album, Sub Pop will re-issue the Platinum Certified Bleach on November 3, 2009. This expanded CD will include special packaging & a never-before-released live performance. Originally recorded over three sessions with producer Jack Endino at Seattle's Reciprocal Recording Studios in December 1988 and January 1989, Bleach was released in June of 1989 and remains unequivocally/unsurprisingly Sub Pop's very favorite Nirvana full-length. The album initially sold 40,000 copies, but was brought into the international spotlight following the release and worldwide success of their 1991 sophomore effort, Nevermind. Subsequently Bleach went on to sell 1.7 million copies in the US alone, according to Nielsen SoundScan. This 20th Anniversary Edition has been re-mastered from the original tapes at Sterling Sound in a session overseen by producer Jack Endino. This edition will include an unreleased live recording of a complete February 9th, 1990 show at the Pine Street Theatre in Portland, Oregon. The show features performances of "Love Buzz," "About a Girl" and a cover of The Vaselines song "Molly's Lips" and has been re-mixed from the original tapes by Endino (complete track listing below). A 48-page CD booklet which includes candid photos of the band not previously released to the public will also be included in this deluxe edition.
AMG Says: This is one case where the legend really precedes the record itself. Cut for about 600 dollars in Jack Endino's studio over just a matter of days, this captures Nirvana at a formative stage, still indebted to the murk that became known as grunge, yet not quite finding their voice as songwriters. Which isn't to say that they were devoid of original material, since even at this stage Kurt Cobain illustrated signs of his considerable songcraft, particularly on the minor-key ballad "About a Girl" and the dense churn of "Blew." A few songs come close to that level, but that's more a triumph of sound than structure, as "Negative Creep" and "School" get by on attitude and churn, while the cover of "Love Buzz" winds up being one of the highlights because this gives a true menace to their sound, thanks to its menacing melody. The rest of it sinks into the sludge, as the group itself winds up succumbing to grinding sub-metallic riffing that has little power, due to lack of riffs and lack of a good drummer. Bleach is more than a historical curiosity since it does have its share of great songs, but it isn't a lost classic -- it's a debut from a band that shows potential but haven't yet achieved it. [Sub Pop's 20th anniversary edition of Bleach offers a remastered version of the proper album -- good, but there's only so much sonic improvement that can be done for an album that was recorded for a few hundred dollars. The real news here is the addition of a complete Portland, OR, concert from February 9, 1990, an 11-song set that runs through the highlights of Bleach and adds "Dive" and "Been a Son," the Vaselines cover "Molly's Lips," and an early stab at "Sappy." That Nirvana sound forceful isn't a surprise, but they also sound surprisingly tight -- a little bit looser than they would sound within a year, but they're clearly marshaling their forces, gaining strength and skill. This concert may not be as epochal as the group's 1992 headlining appearance at Reading -- a CD/DVD set of which was released the same day as the Bleach anniversary edition -- but this is a terrific document of Nirvana's early days, proving they were a tremendous band before Dave Grohl came aboard.]
Ranked Highest By: plaid is rad (#7)
Amazon Link
Nirvana - Bleach (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)
(366 Points, 6 Votes)
Tracklist:1. "Blew" 2:55
2. "Floyd the Barber" 2:18
3. "About a Girl" 2:48
4. "School" 2:42
5. "Love Buzz" (van Leeuwen) 3:35
6. "Paper Cuts" 4:06
7. "Negative Creep" 2:56
8. "Scoff" 4:10
9. "Swap Meet" 3:03
10. "Mr. Moustache" 3:24
11. "Sifting" 5:22
12. "Big Cheese" 3:42
13. "Downer" (Cobain, Novoselic) 1:43
20th Anniversary Edition
Live at Pine Street Theatre:
14. "Intro" 0:53
15. "School" 2:36
16. "Floyd the Barber" 2:17
17. "Dive" 3:42
18. "Love Buzz" (van Leeuwen) 2:58
19. "Spank Thru" 2:59
20. "Molly's Lips" (The Vaselines) 2:16
21. "Sappy" 3:19
22. "Scoff" 3:53
23. "About a Girl" 2:28
24. "Been a Son" 2:01
25. "Blew" 4:32
Amazon.com Product Description: Marking the 20th Anniversary of Nirvana s debut album, Sub Pop will re-issue the Platinum Certified Bleach on November 3, 2009. This expanded CD will include special packaging & a never-before-released live performance. Originally recorded over three sessions with producer Jack Endino at Seattle's Reciprocal Recording Studios in December 1988 and January 1989, Bleach was released in June of 1989 and remains unequivocally/unsurprisingly Sub Pop's very favorite Nirvana full-length. The album initially sold 40,000 copies, but was brought into the international spotlight following the release and worldwide success of their 1991 sophomore effort, Nevermind. Subsequently Bleach went on to sell 1.7 million copies in the US alone, according to Nielsen SoundScan. This 20th Anniversary Edition has been re-mastered from the original tapes at Sterling Sound in a session overseen by producer Jack Endino. This edition will include an unreleased live recording of a complete February 9th, 1990 show at the Pine Street Theatre in Portland, Oregon. The show features performances of "Love Buzz," "About a Girl" and a cover of The Vaselines song "Molly's Lips" and has been re-mixed from the original tapes by Endino (complete track listing below). A 48-page CD booklet which includes candid photos of the band not previously released to the public will also be included in this deluxe edition.
AMG Says: This is one case where the legend really precedes the record itself. Cut for about 600 dollars in Jack Endino's studio over just a matter of days, this captures Nirvana at a formative stage, still indebted to the murk that became known as grunge, yet not quite finding their voice as songwriters. Which isn't to say that they were devoid of original material, since even at this stage Kurt Cobain illustrated signs of his considerable songcraft, particularly on the minor-key ballad "About a Girl" and the dense churn of "Blew." A few songs come close to that level, but that's more a triumph of sound than structure, as "Negative Creep" and "School" get by on attitude and churn, while the cover of "Love Buzz" winds up being one of the highlights because this gives a true menace to their sound, thanks to its menacing melody. The rest of it sinks into the sludge, as the group itself winds up succumbing to grinding sub-metallic riffing that has little power, due to lack of riffs and lack of a good drummer. Bleach is more than a historical curiosity since it does have its share of great songs, but it isn't a lost classic -- it's a debut from a band that shows potential but haven't yet achieved it. [Sub Pop's 20th anniversary edition of Bleach offers a remastered version of the proper album -- good, but there's only so much sonic improvement that can be done for an album that was recorded for a few hundred dollars. The real news here is the addition of a complete Portland, OR, concert from February 9, 1990, an 11-song set that runs through the highlights of Bleach and adds "Dive" and "Been a Son," the Vaselines cover "Molly's Lips," and an early stab at "Sappy." That Nirvana sound forceful isn't a surprise, but they also sound surprisingly tight -- a little bit looser than they would sound within a year, but they're clearly marshaling their forces, gaining strength and skill. This concert may not be as epochal as the group's 1992 headlining appearance at Reading -- a CD/DVD set of which was released the same day as the Bleach anniversary edition -- but this is a terrific document of Nirvana's early days, proving they were a tremendous band before Dave Grohl came aboard.]
Ranked Highest By: plaid is rad (#7)
Amazon Link
#25.
Radiohead - Kid A (Collector's Edition)
(372 Points, 5 Votes)
Tracklist:Disc 1:
1. Everything In Its Right Place
2. Kid A
3. The National Anthem
4. How To Disappear Completely
5. Treefingers
6. Optimistic
7. In Limbo
8. Idioteque
9. Morning Bell
10. Motion Picture Soundtrack
Disc 2:
1. Everything In Its Right Place (BBC Radio One Evening Session - 15/11/00)
2. How To Disappear Completely (BBC Radio One Evening Session - 15/11/00)
3. Idioteque (BBC Radio One Evening Session - 15/11/00)
4. The National Anthem (BBC Radio One Evening Session - 15/11/00)
5. Optimistic (Lamacq Live In Concert: Victoria Park, Warrington, England - 02/10/00)
6. Morning Bell (Live At Canal+ Studios, Paris)
7. The National Anthem (Live At Canal+ Studios, Paris)
8. How To Disappear Completely (Live At Canal+ Studios, Paris)
9. In Limbo (Live At Canal+ Studios, Paris)
10. Idioteque (Live At Canal+ Studios, Paris)
11. Everything In Its Right Place (Live At Canal+ Studios, Paris)
12. Motion Picture Soundtrack (Live At Canal+ Studios, Paris)
13. True Love Waits (Live In Oslo)
Amazon.com Product Description: Collectors Edition package includes the original album plus a second CD of rarities, including demos, sessions and live recordings in digi-pack.
AMG Says: Instead of simply adding club beats or sonic collage techniques, Radiohead strive to incorporate the unsettling "intelligent techno" sound of Autechre and Aphex Twin, characterized by its skittering beats and stylishly dark sonic surfaces, for Kid A. To their immense credit, Radiohead don't sound like carpetbaggers, because they share the same post-postmodern vantage point as their inspirations. As a result, Kid A is easily the most successful electronica album from a rock band -- it doesn't even sound like a rock band, even if it does sound like Radiohead. So, Kid A is an unqualified success? Well, not quite. Despite its admirable ambition, Kid A is never as visionary or stunning as OK Computer, nor does it really repay the time it demands. OK Computer required many plays before revealing the intricacies of its densely layered mix; here, multiple plays are necessary to discern the music's form, to get a handle on quiet, drifting, minimally arranged songs with no hooks. Of course, the natural reaction of any serious record geek is that if the music demands so much work, it must be worth it -- and at times, that supposition is true. But Kid A's challenge doesn't always live up to its end of the bargain. It's self-consciously alienating and difficult, and while that can be intriguing, it seems deeper than it actually is. Repeated plays dissipate the mystique and reveal a number of rather drab songs (primarily during the second half), where there isn't enough under the surface to make Radiohead's relentless experimentation satisfying. But mixed results are still results, and about half of the songs positively shimmer with genius. [The bonus disc on EMI's expanded 2009 reissue of Kid A hammers home how Radiohead precisely crafted the album proper. Radiohead pulled no singles from Kid A, so there are no B-sides or EPs with unheard songs and remixes, only live versions of almost all the album's songs (only "Kid A" and "Treefingers" are not here): a four-song BBC Radio One session from November 15, 2000, a version of "Optimistic" from Lamacq Live in Concert in October 2000, a seven-song set at Canal+ Studios in April 2001 and "True Love Waits" from the I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings EP. While there may not be any little-known gems, the bonus material is quite useful in how it opens up and warms the sometimes chilly Kid A, illustrating the core strength of the material plus Radiohead's force as a live band.]
Ranked Highest By: Nick (#4)
Amazon Link
Radiohead - Kid A (Collector's Edition)
(372 Points, 5 Votes)
Tracklist:Disc 1:
1. Everything In Its Right Place
2. Kid A
3. The National Anthem
4. How To Disappear Completely
5. Treefingers
6. Optimistic
7. In Limbo
8. Idioteque
9. Morning Bell
10. Motion Picture Soundtrack
Disc 2:
1. Everything In Its Right Place (BBC Radio One Evening Session - 15/11/00)
2. How To Disappear Completely (BBC Radio One Evening Session - 15/11/00)
3. Idioteque (BBC Radio One Evening Session - 15/11/00)
4. The National Anthem (BBC Radio One Evening Session - 15/11/00)
5. Optimistic (Lamacq Live In Concert: Victoria Park, Warrington, England - 02/10/00)
6. Morning Bell (Live At Canal+ Studios, Paris)
7. The National Anthem (Live At Canal+ Studios, Paris)
8. How To Disappear Completely (Live At Canal+ Studios, Paris)
9. In Limbo (Live At Canal+ Studios, Paris)
10. Idioteque (Live At Canal+ Studios, Paris)
11. Everything In Its Right Place (Live At Canal+ Studios, Paris)
12. Motion Picture Soundtrack (Live At Canal+ Studios, Paris)
13. True Love Waits (Live In Oslo)
Amazon.com Product Description: Collectors Edition package includes the original album plus a second CD of rarities, including demos, sessions and live recordings in digi-pack.
AMG Says: Instead of simply adding club beats or sonic collage techniques, Radiohead strive to incorporate the unsettling "intelligent techno" sound of Autechre and Aphex Twin, characterized by its skittering beats and stylishly dark sonic surfaces, for Kid A. To their immense credit, Radiohead don't sound like carpetbaggers, because they share the same post-postmodern vantage point as their inspirations. As a result, Kid A is easily the most successful electronica album from a rock band -- it doesn't even sound like a rock band, even if it does sound like Radiohead. So, Kid A is an unqualified success? Well, not quite. Despite its admirable ambition, Kid A is never as visionary or stunning as OK Computer, nor does it really repay the time it demands. OK Computer required many plays before revealing the intricacies of its densely layered mix; here, multiple plays are necessary to discern the music's form, to get a handle on quiet, drifting, minimally arranged songs with no hooks. Of course, the natural reaction of any serious record geek is that if the music demands so much work, it must be worth it -- and at times, that supposition is true. But Kid A's challenge doesn't always live up to its end of the bargain. It's self-consciously alienating and difficult, and while that can be intriguing, it seems deeper than it actually is. Repeated plays dissipate the mystique and reveal a number of rather drab songs (primarily during the second half), where there isn't enough under the surface to make Radiohead's relentless experimentation satisfying. But mixed results are still results, and about half of the songs positively shimmer with genius. [The bonus disc on EMI's expanded 2009 reissue of Kid A hammers home how Radiohead precisely crafted the album proper. Radiohead pulled no singles from Kid A, so there are no B-sides or EPs with unheard songs and remixes, only live versions of almost all the album's songs (only "Kid A" and "Treefingers" are not here): a four-song BBC Radio One session from November 15, 2000, a version of "Optimistic" from Lamacq Live in Concert in October 2000, a seven-song set at Canal+ Studios in April 2001 and "True Love Waits" from the I Might Be Wrong: Live Recordings EP. While there may not be any little-known gems, the bonus material is quite useful in how it opens up and warms the sometimes chilly Kid A, illustrating the core strength of the material plus Radiohead's force as a live band.]
Ranked Highest By: Nick (#4)
Amazon Link
#24.
Kraftwerk - The Catalogue
(385 Points, 3 Votes)
Tracklist:The albums included in the boxed set are the following:
* Autobahn (1974)
* Radio-Activity - (German title: Radio-Aktivität) (1975)
* Trans-Europe Express - (German title: Trans-Europa Express) (1977)
* The Man-Machine - (German title: Die Mensch-Maschine) (1978)
* Computer World - (German title: Computerwelt) (1981)
* Electric Café (1986) - (here given its originally intended name of Techno Pop)
* The Mix (1991)
* Tour de France Soundtracks (2003) - (now titled Tour de France)
Amazon.com Product Description: "For one group to lay claim to being one of the pioneers of experimental music, and then to gain a No. 1 UK hit single, as well as exerting a tremendous influence on numerous other artists for more than thirty years is remarkable. Kraftwerk occupy a unique position in popular music." --Record Collector
From David Bowie to Daft Punk, Depeche Mode to Radiohead, Dr. Dre to LCD Soundsystem, and even to the likes of the Sex Pistols, The Cars, Nine Inch Nails and almost everyone in between, the influence of Kraftwerk is remarkable.
Electro Pioneers, living legends and globally revered masters of electronic sound, Kraftwerk now celebrate the 35th anniversary of their landmark 1974 hit "Autobahn" by releasing newly remastered editions of their 8 classic albums in a deluxe box set.
The first ever complete remastering of Kraftwerk's 8 classic studio albums, covering all their releases on the Capitol, Warner Brothers and Astralwerks labels: Autobahn, Radio-Activity, Trans Europe Express, The Man Machine, Computer World, Techno Pop, The Mix, Tour De France.
In 2009 Kraftwerk have upgraded their Kling Klang masters with the latest studio technology and these eight magnificent recordings still sound like nothing else in the history of music. Kraftwerk are unique, pristine, profound and beautiful. Decades may pass, but their streamlined synthetic symphonies stand outside time, as fresh as tomorrow, transcendent and sublime.
The 12" x 12" x 1 1/2" box features all 8 albums, exclusively created just for this box set in mini-LP style album packaging complete with inner sleeves. Restored and newly expanded artwork is presented in the form of 8 large format 12 to 20 page booklets, housed inside a rigid board slipcase portfolio.
Manufactured in Germany.
AMG Says: One of electronic music’s most crucial and lavish box sets, The Catalogue contains eight Kraftwerk albums remastered by founding member Ralf Hütter: Autobahn (1974), Radio-Activity (1975), Trans-Europe Express (1977), The Man-Machine (1978), Computer World (1981), Electric Cafe (aka Techno Pop, 1986), The Mix (1991), and Tour de France Soundtracks (2003). Some purists were upset with liberties taken by Hütter — specific elements of certain songs sound sharpened, evidence of some noise reduction, and so forth — but they are few in number and minor in effect. (The gripes were quite possibly made with the intent to prove that they know the ins and outs of these albums more than you do.) The box itself is 12 inches by 12 inches, rather hefty. The eight discs, nested in four dense foam compartments, are individually packaged in sleeves that replicate the original artwork, whether through the disc’s pouch or the slipcase in which the pouch is (tightly) housed. Each album gets its own 12-by-12 booklet with full-page images.
Ranked Highest By: Mitchell (#2)
Amazon Link
Kraftwerk - The Catalogue
(385 Points, 3 Votes)
Tracklist:The albums included in the boxed set are the following:
* Autobahn (1974)
* Radio-Activity - (German title: Radio-Aktivität) (1975)
* Trans-Europe Express - (German title: Trans-Europa Express) (1977)
* The Man-Machine - (German title: Die Mensch-Maschine) (1978)
* Computer World - (German title: Computerwelt) (1981)
* Electric Café (1986) - (here given its originally intended name of Techno Pop)
* The Mix (1991)
* Tour de France Soundtracks (2003) - (now titled Tour de France)
Amazon.com Product Description: "For one group to lay claim to being one of the pioneers of experimental music, and then to gain a No. 1 UK hit single, as well as exerting a tremendous influence on numerous other artists for more than thirty years is remarkable. Kraftwerk occupy a unique position in popular music." --Record Collector
From David Bowie to Daft Punk, Depeche Mode to Radiohead, Dr. Dre to LCD Soundsystem, and even to the likes of the Sex Pistols, The Cars, Nine Inch Nails and almost everyone in between, the influence of Kraftwerk is remarkable.
Electro Pioneers, living legends and globally revered masters of electronic sound, Kraftwerk now celebrate the 35th anniversary of their landmark 1974 hit "Autobahn" by releasing newly remastered editions of their 8 classic albums in a deluxe box set.
The first ever complete remastering of Kraftwerk's 8 classic studio albums, covering all their releases on the Capitol, Warner Brothers and Astralwerks labels: Autobahn, Radio-Activity, Trans Europe Express, The Man Machine, Computer World, Techno Pop, The Mix, Tour De France.
In 2009 Kraftwerk have upgraded their Kling Klang masters with the latest studio technology and these eight magnificent recordings still sound like nothing else in the history of music. Kraftwerk are unique, pristine, profound and beautiful. Decades may pass, but their streamlined synthetic symphonies stand outside time, as fresh as tomorrow, transcendent and sublime.
The 12" x 12" x 1 1/2" box features all 8 albums, exclusively created just for this box set in mini-LP style album packaging complete with inner sleeves. Restored and newly expanded artwork is presented in the form of 8 large format 12 to 20 page booklets, housed inside a rigid board slipcase portfolio.
Manufactured in Germany.
AMG Says: One of electronic music’s most crucial and lavish box sets, The Catalogue contains eight Kraftwerk albums remastered by founding member Ralf Hütter: Autobahn (1974), Radio-Activity (1975), Trans-Europe Express (1977), The Man-Machine (1978), Computer World (1981), Electric Cafe (aka Techno Pop, 1986), The Mix (1991), and Tour de France Soundtracks (2003). Some purists were upset with liberties taken by Hütter — specific elements of certain songs sound sharpened, evidence of some noise reduction, and so forth — but they are few in number and minor in effect. (The gripes were quite possibly made with the intent to prove that they know the ins and outs of these albums more than you do.) The box itself is 12 inches by 12 inches, rather hefty. The eight discs, nested in four dense foam compartments, are individually packaged in sleeves that replicate the original artwork, whether through the disc’s pouch or the slipcase in which the pouch is (tightly) housed. Each album gets its own 12-by-12 booklet with full-page images.
Ranked Highest By: Mitchell (#2)
Amazon Link
#23.
Jawbox - For Your Own Special Sweetheart (Bonus Tracks)
(386 Points, 5 Votes)
Tracklist:1. FF=66
2. Savory
3. Breathe
4. Motorist
5. LS/MFT
6. Cooling Card
7. Green Glass
8. Cruel Swing
9. Jackpot Plus!
10. Chicago Piano
11. Reel
12. U-Trau
13. Whitney Walks
14. L'il Shaver (Bonus Track)
15. 68 (Bonus Track)
16. Sound on Sound (Bonus Track)
AMG Says: Indie purists reflexively moaned -- and, in one documented case, hoped for the band’s vehicular death -- once word spread of Jawbox's Atlantic deal. No band had left the sacred Dischord label for a major prior to Jawbox, so it was seen by some as an unforgivable crime against D.I.Y. The move, inconsequential from a creative standpoint, was the betrayed's loss. The band's first album for the bad guys represents their peak, a thrilling collision of vibrant guitar-generated noise and off-center melodic hooks over a rhythm section that swings as easily as it pummels. Not transitional merely in the label-of-release sense, For Your Own Special Sweetheart introduced new drummer Zach Barocas, whose intricate style is as punishing as necessary for any post-hardcore band while more inspired by jazz heavyweights Tony Williams and Jack DeJohnette than any punk. Kim Coletta’s bass, present enough in the mix to be compared to a variety of power tools, rumbles with a richness and dexterity that was only hinted at on the band’s prior releases, while the guitar interplay between Bill Barbot and J. Robbins, colorful and dynamic, alternates between ringing/tingling and needling/careening. This all produces an album that is heavy on songs that gracefully batter and flit unpredictably between midtempo and charging speeds. Whether pushed along by the addition of Barocas or the band’s general development, FYOSS also contains a pair of slower, subtle songs that are just as compelling as the aggressive material. Robbins’ lyrics, as cerebral and inscrutable as ever, more about sound than meaning, are at least decipherable throughout the muscular, corrosive jangle pop of “Savory” (about the objectification of women), the appropriately rush-inducing “Jackpot Plus!” (the futility of gambling), and “Motorist” (disorientation after a car crash, inspired by J.G. Ballard’s Concrete Island). Otherwise, a Jawbox decoder ring is necessary. (For example, a Jawbox-to-punk translation of “Technicolored static sender/Second guess my love for danger” could be “I’m a couch potato/Couch potato, ungh!”) More importantly, don’t forget to wear a neck brace. Inside or outside its D.C. epicenter, this is one of post-hardcore’s most exceptional releases, second to whatever Fugazi album gives you the biggest charge. [Released on DeSoto the same day the band reunited for a one-off performance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (no, really), the expanded reissue of the album adds the excellent B-sides from the Savory +3 EP and was remastered by Bob Weston.]
Ranked Highest By: arkin (#2)
Amazon Link
Jawbox - For Your Own Special Sweetheart (Bonus Tracks)
(386 Points, 5 Votes)
Tracklist:1. FF=66
2. Savory
3. Breathe
4. Motorist
5. LS/MFT
6. Cooling Card
7. Green Glass
8. Cruel Swing
9. Jackpot Plus!
10. Chicago Piano
11. Reel
12. U-Trau
13. Whitney Walks
14. L'il Shaver (Bonus Track)
15. 68 (Bonus Track)
16. Sound on Sound (Bonus Track)
AMG Says: Indie purists reflexively moaned -- and, in one documented case, hoped for the band’s vehicular death -- once word spread of Jawbox's Atlantic deal. No band had left the sacred Dischord label for a major prior to Jawbox, so it was seen by some as an unforgivable crime against D.I.Y. The move, inconsequential from a creative standpoint, was the betrayed's loss. The band's first album for the bad guys represents their peak, a thrilling collision of vibrant guitar-generated noise and off-center melodic hooks over a rhythm section that swings as easily as it pummels. Not transitional merely in the label-of-release sense, For Your Own Special Sweetheart introduced new drummer Zach Barocas, whose intricate style is as punishing as necessary for any post-hardcore band while more inspired by jazz heavyweights Tony Williams and Jack DeJohnette than any punk. Kim Coletta’s bass, present enough in the mix to be compared to a variety of power tools, rumbles with a richness and dexterity that was only hinted at on the band’s prior releases, while the guitar interplay between Bill Barbot and J. Robbins, colorful and dynamic, alternates between ringing/tingling and needling/careening. This all produces an album that is heavy on songs that gracefully batter and flit unpredictably between midtempo and charging speeds. Whether pushed along by the addition of Barocas or the band’s general development, FYOSS also contains a pair of slower, subtle songs that are just as compelling as the aggressive material. Robbins’ lyrics, as cerebral and inscrutable as ever, more about sound than meaning, are at least decipherable throughout the muscular, corrosive jangle pop of “Savory” (about the objectification of women), the appropriately rush-inducing “Jackpot Plus!” (the futility of gambling), and “Motorist” (disorientation after a car crash, inspired by J.G. Ballard’s Concrete Island). Otherwise, a Jawbox decoder ring is necessary. (For example, a Jawbox-to-punk translation of “Technicolored static sender/Second guess my love for danger” could be “I’m a couch potato/Couch potato, ungh!”) More importantly, don’t forget to wear a neck brace. Inside or outside its D.C. epicenter, this is one of post-hardcore’s most exceptional releases, second to whatever Fugazi album gives you the biggest charge. [Released on DeSoto the same day the band reunited for a one-off performance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (no, really), the expanded reissue of the album adds the excellent B-sides from the Savory +3 EP and was remastered by Bob Weston.]
Ranked Highest By: arkin (#2)
Amazon Link
#22.
Red Red Meat - Bunny Gets Paid (Deluxe Edition)
(424 Points, 6 Votes)
Tracklist:
1 Carpet of Horses
2 Chain Chain
3 Rosewood, Wax, Voltz + Glitter
4 Buttered
5 Gauze
6 Idiot Son
7 Variations on Nadia's Theme
8 Oxtail
9 Sad Cadillac
10 Taxidermy Blues in Reverse
11 There's Always Tomorrow
12 Chain Chain Chain
13 Idiot Son
14 Words
15 Mouse-Ish
16 Carpet of Horses
17 Saint Anthony's Jawbone
18 Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)
Amazon.com Product Description: This 1995 release has been out of print for several years. The deluxe edition is re-mastered and accompanied by a seven-song second disc of alternate, demo, and single versions of album tracks, plus B-sides, covers, and a previously unreleased song from the same era, all packaged with expanded and enhanced album art.
AMG Says: On their first two albums, Red Red Meat built their signature sound by taking the blues, filtering it through their druggy post-punk sensibilities, and bending it into something that was all their own. But with 1995's Bunny Gets Paid, Red Red Meat began twisting their music into new shapes that were all but unrecognizable from the original source materials; one can find bits of rock and blues if they sift long enough through these shards of sound, but the final product is more of a descent into the maelstrom of lo-fi experimentalism. Bunny Gets Paid is a deliberately ramshackle set in which the guitars sound fractured and spare when they aren't roaring within an inch of their lives, the humming of the amps is transformed into an instrument, the keyboards buzz and squawk, primitive string charts rise and fall out of the mix, the rhythms manage to be lethargic and insistent at the same time, and the lyrics rarely make much literal sense but generate a palpable dread that suggests some glorious bum trip captured on tape. In hindsight, Bunny Gets Paid is the logical precursor to the music guitarist Tim Rutili, drummer Ben Massarella, and bassist Tim Hurley would later make with Califone (as well as the sort of soundscapes Brian Deck would construct as a producer), and there are some moments of freaked-out majesty to behold. But Bunny Gets Paid is a grand experiment, and like many experiments it isn't a complete success; many of these tracks tend to meander as they search for their sonic destination, and while the harder-hitting tracks like "Rosewood, Wax, Voltz and Glitter" and "Chain Chain" are more immediately exciting, they lack the sense of musical wanderlust that make "Gauze" or the title track compelling even when they get lost in the woods. Bunny Gets Paid was the first leg in a new creative journey for the members of Red Red Meat, and even if the places they would later go have proven more rewarding, there's enough adventure in this music to justify joining them for the trip. [Bunny Gets Paid fell out of print a few years after it was released, but in 2009 Sub Pop Records has given the album a second chance with a special two-disc deluxe edition. Along with the original album in remastered form, the set includes a bonus disc featuring a home-recorded acoustic demo of "Chain Chain," different versions of "Idiot Son" and "Carpet of Horses," a dub remix of "Mouse-ish," an unreleased tune called "Saint Anthony's Jawbone" and covers of tunes by Low and A Flock of Seagulls...no, really, A Flock of Seagulls. Much of the bonus material finds the band still making their way out of the more blues-based structures of Red Red Meat's earlier work, and it offers an interesting picture of how the band arrived at their new approach. The new package also includes additional artwork and essays from Ben Massarella, producer Brad Wood, and other fans and friends of the band, including a brief but hilarious appreciation from Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse. Bunny Gets Paid has never been much of a crowd pleaser, but it's developed a cult of loyal admirers among Red Red Meat's fans, and they'll be pleased with the care that's gone into this new edition.]
Ranked Highest By: arkin (#3)
Amazon Link
Red Red Meat - Bunny Gets Paid (Deluxe Edition)
(424 Points, 6 Votes)
Tracklist:
1 Carpet of Horses
2 Chain Chain
3 Rosewood, Wax, Voltz + Glitter
4 Buttered
5 Gauze
6 Idiot Son
7 Variations on Nadia's Theme
8 Oxtail
9 Sad Cadillac
10 Taxidermy Blues in Reverse
11 There's Always Tomorrow
12 Chain Chain Chain
13 Idiot Son
14 Words
15 Mouse-Ish
16 Carpet of Horses
17 Saint Anthony's Jawbone
18 Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)
Amazon.com Product Description: This 1995 release has been out of print for several years. The deluxe edition is re-mastered and accompanied by a seven-song second disc of alternate, demo, and single versions of album tracks, plus B-sides, covers, and a previously unreleased song from the same era, all packaged with expanded and enhanced album art.
AMG Says: On their first two albums, Red Red Meat built their signature sound by taking the blues, filtering it through their druggy post-punk sensibilities, and bending it into something that was all their own. But with 1995's Bunny Gets Paid, Red Red Meat began twisting their music into new shapes that were all but unrecognizable from the original source materials; one can find bits of rock and blues if they sift long enough through these shards of sound, but the final product is more of a descent into the maelstrom of lo-fi experimentalism. Bunny Gets Paid is a deliberately ramshackle set in which the guitars sound fractured and spare when they aren't roaring within an inch of their lives, the humming of the amps is transformed into an instrument, the keyboards buzz and squawk, primitive string charts rise and fall out of the mix, the rhythms manage to be lethargic and insistent at the same time, and the lyrics rarely make much literal sense but generate a palpable dread that suggests some glorious bum trip captured on tape. In hindsight, Bunny Gets Paid is the logical precursor to the music guitarist Tim Rutili, drummer Ben Massarella, and bassist Tim Hurley would later make with Califone (as well as the sort of soundscapes Brian Deck would construct as a producer), and there are some moments of freaked-out majesty to behold. But Bunny Gets Paid is a grand experiment, and like many experiments it isn't a complete success; many of these tracks tend to meander as they search for their sonic destination, and while the harder-hitting tracks like "Rosewood, Wax, Voltz and Glitter" and "Chain Chain" are more immediately exciting, they lack the sense of musical wanderlust that make "Gauze" or the title track compelling even when they get lost in the woods. Bunny Gets Paid was the first leg in a new creative journey for the members of Red Red Meat, and even if the places they would later go have proven more rewarding, there's enough adventure in this music to justify joining them for the trip. [Bunny Gets Paid fell out of print a few years after it was released, but in 2009 Sub Pop Records has given the album a second chance with a special two-disc deluxe edition. Along with the original album in remastered form, the set includes a bonus disc featuring a home-recorded acoustic demo of "Chain Chain," different versions of "Idiot Son" and "Carpet of Horses," a dub remix of "Mouse-ish," an unreleased tune called "Saint Anthony's Jawbone" and covers of tunes by Low and A Flock of Seagulls...no, really, A Flock of Seagulls. Much of the bonus material finds the band still making their way out of the more blues-based structures of Red Red Meat's earlier work, and it offers an interesting picture of how the band arrived at their new approach. The new package also includes additional artwork and essays from Ben Massarella, producer Brad Wood, and other fans and friends of the band, including a brief but hilarious appreciation from Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse. Bunny Gets Paid has never been much of a crowd pleaser, but it's developed a cult of loyal admirers among Red Red Meat's fans, and they'll be pleased with the care that's gone into this new edition.]
Ranked Highest By: arkin (#3)
Amazon Link
#21.
Can You Dig It? Music & Politics of Black Action Films: 1968-1975
(428 Points, 5 Votes)
Tracklist:Disc: 1
1. Roy Ayers - Coffy (Coffy)
2. Gene Page - Blacula (Blacula)
3. Johnny Pate - Shaft In Africa (Addis) (Shaft In Africa)
4. Willie Hutch - Brothers Gonna Work It Out (The Mack)
5. Don Costa - Soul Of Nigger Charley (Soul Of Nigger Charley)
6. Marvin Gaye - T Plays It Cool (Troubleman)
7. Bobby Womack - Across 110th Street (Across 110th Street)
8. J.J. Johnson - Willie's Chase (Willie Dynamite)
9. James Brown - Down And Out In New York City (Clack Caeser)
10. Quincy Jones - They Call Me Mister tibbs (They Call Me Mister Tibbs)
11. J.J. Johnson - Keep On Movin On (Willie Dynamite)
12. Dennis Coffy - Black Belt Jones (Black Belt Jones)
13. Curtis Mayfield - Freddie's Dead (Super Fly)
14. Blackbyd's - Wilford's Gone (Cornbread, Earl And Me)
15. Willie Hutch - Foxy Brown (Foxy Brown)
16. Isaac Hayes - Run Fay Run (Three Tough Guys)
Disc: 2
1. Isaac Hayes - Shaft (Shaft)
2. Joe Simon - Theme From Cleopatra Jones (Cleopatra Jones)
3. Roy Ayers - Aragon (Coffy)
4. Gordon Staples - All Strung Out (Mean Johnny Burrows)
5. Brer Soul & Earth, Wind And Fire - Sweetback's Theme (Sweet Sweetback)
6. Johnny Pate - Truck Stop (Shaft In Africa)
7. James Brown - Make It Good To Yourself (Black Caeser)
8. Isaac Hayes - Pursuit Of The Pimpmobile (Shaft In Africa)
9. Edwin Starr - Easin' In (Hell Up In Harlem)
10. Don Julian - Lay It On Your Head (Savage)
11. Gene Page - The Bus (Cool Breeze)
12. Grant Green - Travelling To Get Doc (The Final Comedown)
13. Impressions - Make A Resolution (Three The Hard Way)
14. Not dove And The Devils - Zombie March (Petey Wheatstraw)
15. Booker T And MG's - Time Is Tight (Uptight!)
Amazon.com Product Description: 2009 two CD release. Can You Dig It? charts the rise and fall of black action films from 1968-75. As well as featuring a double disc collection of the stunning music from these films, Can You Dig It? comes with a 100-page booklet, mini-film poster cards and stickers! This release covers music from such classic 'blaxploitation' films as Blacula, Shaft, Across 110th Street, Super Fly, Foxy Brown and Black Caesar amongst many, many more. Includes many super fly obscurities that'll make you hot including tracks from Don Costa, Grant Green, Dennis Coffy, Don Julian and others. Soul Jazz Records.
Ranked Highest By: Bobzilla (#2)
Amazon Link
Can You Dig It? Music & Politics of Black Action Films: 1968-1975
(428 Points, 5 Votes)
Tracklist:Disc: 1
1. Roy Ayers - Coffy (Coffy)
2. Gene Page - Blacula (Blacula)
3. Johnny Pate - Shaft In Africa (Addis) (Shaft In Africa)
4. Willie Hutch - Brothers Gonna Work It Out (The Mack)
5. Don Costa - Soul Of Nigger Charley (Soul Of Nigger Charley)
6. Marvin Gaye - T Plays It Cool (Troubleman)
7. Bobby Womack - Across 110th Street (Across 110th Street)
8. J.J. Johnson - Willie's Chase (Willie Dynamite)
9. James Brown - Down And Out In New York City (Clack Caeser)
10. Quincy Jones - They Call Me Mister tibbs (They Call Me Mister Tibbs)
11. J.J. Johnson - Keep On Movin On (Willie Dynamite)
12. Dennis Coffy - Black Belt Jones (Black Belt Jones)
13. Curtis Mayfield - Freddie's Dead (Super Fly)
14. Blackbyd's - Wilford's Gone (Cornbread, Earl And Me)
15. Willie Hutch - Foxy Brown (Foxy Brown)
16. Isaac Hayes - Run Fay Run (Three Tough Guys)
Disc: 2
1. Isaac Hayes - Shaft (Shaft)
2. Joe Simon - Theme From Cleopatra Jones (Cleopatra Jones)
3. Roy Ayers - Aragon (Coffy)
4. Gordon Staples - All Strung Out (Mean Johnny Burrows)
5. Brer Soul & Earth, Wind And Fire - Sweetback's Theme (Sweet Sweetback)
6. Johnny Pate - Truck Stop (Shaft In Africa)
7. James Brown - Make It Good To Yourself (Black Caeser)
8. Isaac Hayes - Pursuit Of The Pimpmobile (Shaft In Africa)
9. Edwin Starr - Easin' In (Hell Up In Harlem)
10. Don Julian - Lay It On Your Head (Savage)
11. Gene Page - The Bus (Cool Breeze)
12. Grant Green - Travelling To Get Doc (The Final Comedown)
13. Impressions - Make A Resolution (Three The Hard Way)
14. Not dove And The Devils - Zombie March (Petey Wheatstraw)
15. Booker T And MG's - Time Is Tight (Uptight!)
Amazon.com Product Description: 2009 two CD release. Can You Dig It? charts the rise and fall of black action films from 1968-75. As well as featuring a double disc collection of the stunning music from these films, Can You Dig It? comes with a 100-page booklet, mini-film poster cards and stickers! This release covers music from such classic 'blaxploitation' films as Blacula, Shaft, Across 110th Street, Super Fly, Foxy Brown and Black Caesar amongst many, many more. Includes many super fly obscurities that'll make you hot including tracks from Don Costa, Grant Green, Dennis Coffy, Don Julian and others. Soul Jazz Records.
Ranked Highest By: Bobzilla (#2)
Amazon Link
#20.
Omar Souleyman - Dabke 2020 - Folk and Pop Sounds of Syria
(445 Points, 5 Votes)
Tracklist:1. Atabat
2. Lansob Sherek [I Will Make a Trap]
3. Shift al Mani [I Saw Her]
4. Sidounak Sayyada [I'll Prevent the Hunters from Hurting You]
5. Jamila [Beautiful Woman]
6. Qalub an Nas [People's Hearts]
7. Laqtuf Ward Min Khaddak [I Will Pick a Flower from Your Cheek]
8. Kaset Hanzal [Drinking from the Glass of Bitterness]
Product Description: Sublime Frequencies is pleased to present the 2nd volume of Northeast Syrian Dabke music from legendary vocalist Omar Souleyman and his group. This CD was compiled by Mark Gergis to coincide with the Sublime Frequencies UK/European tour in May and June of 2009 featuring live performances by Omar Souleyman. Culled from dozens of cassettes recorded in Syria from 1999-2008, the music here is an extension of Omar’s “Highway to Hassake” release touching on some previously unheard angles. Their trademark serpentine synthesizers, electrified bouzok (traditional stringed instrument) and driving rhythms forge a severe form of “new wave dabke” with a live energy and integrity that captures the essence of the Syrian Northeast; one of a kind Syrian Dabke party tunes, regional Atabat-styled crooners, and unbelievable Iraqi party jams. The CD is packaged in a cardboard sleeve with paper insert.
TinyMixTapes Says: Unless you are a devotee of Sublime Frequencies or regularly visit Syria, you probably can’t immediately place Omar Souleyman. Please allow this description: a man dressed in a long, white, closed-neck garment of typical Syrian fashion wearing a red and white hatta, a gold abaye, and black sunglasses. In his videos, he stands, barely moving, delivering his vocals over aggressive, melodic, frenetic electronic synthesized bouzouk and wild keyboard arpeggios. I mean it — he is hardly moving, barely waving his hand back and forth despite the ridiculous excitement of his music. He might be the coolest guy ever, uber-unflappable, while his fans dance so closely they can’t move their arms. It’s hard to tell if this is the popular style of Syrian dance, standing shoulder to shoulder and bopping along with Dabke (Syrian dance music), but it makes sense when compared to Souleyman’s super sound. Were one to watch his delivery without the sound, you might think you were observing some despot describing an official bureaucratic maneuver against a worthy opponent; instead, Souleyman is singing songs with titles that translate to “I Will Make A Trap” and “I’ll Prevent the Hunters From Hunting You.”
We, the unknowing West, were first introduced to Souleyman by another Sublime Frequencies release, Highway to Hassake. Highway was a blast of alien rhythm, uncontrollable and ecstatic. From first track to closing moments, it was hard not to feel like your brain was about to explode from the intensity. I was floored and decided Souleyman had taken the cake. So when I learned that SF was releasing another Souleyman CD, I waited with rabid anticipation. Considering that Omar Souleyman is prolific, having released over 500 cassettes in Syria, I felt certain that we had only seen a few of Omar’s sides, and I assumed that Dabke 2020 would offer a deeper look into the world of Syrian pop.
I was not disappointed. The opener, a dirge of a chant called "Atabat," is much slower and restrained than I remember Highway. But any relief that track offered was obliterated by the overwhelming synth beats on "Lansob Sherek" that come in rapid machine-gun succession with Ms. Pac-Man tones. There are only eight tracks here, but somehow, in a condensed release, SF has given us more breadth and insight into Souleyman than the hyperactive Highway to Hassake. There are, of course, multiple tracks with a healthy dose of insane serpentine synth manipulation, sounding like little kids squirming uncomfortably while waiting for the bathroom on a giant vinyl floor keyboard. But then there are more subdued efforts, like the aforementioned “La Sidounak Sayyada” (“I’ll Prevent the Hunters From Hunting You”), which is underpinned by a thumping house beat and includes a repetitive flute-like tone with a sick bridge at about 3:15 that brings in a female chorus chanting something that sounds like “FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!” Of course, subdued for Souleyman does not mean Enya.
"Jamaila," which seems to be an ode to a beautiful woman, is another good example of how Dabke 2020 shows Souleyman’s many sides — this time he’s pining and perhaps at his most vulnerable, while the soaring keyboard figures do a great deal to help us feel his pain, his difficulty. I should really find an Arabic translator if I want to do this album justice, for I can only imagine what kind of tortured imagery is being conjured up here. Then, with next track “Qalub An NaS,” we are reunited with the Highway Souleyman style — crazed interplay between delirious keyboard and Souleyman’s slightly raspy chant and call. By the end of "Kaset Hanzal," we are treated to almost seven minutes of slow, plodding beats, plaintive wailing by Souleyman, and some truly inspired electric bouzouk. A fitting end to an album that takes a wild journey through the world of Syrian pop music, while treating us to slight insight into Syrian folk.
I wonder how long it will take the mainstream to rip off Souleyman. It’s not hard to imagine how Coke or Gap or Whoever could appropriate this infectious epileptic sound for commercial purposes — marketers of today seem to enjoy employing the most insanity possible in their attempts to brainwash, and Omar Souleyman could certainly rip you into a trance while some subliminal messages induce unrestrained consumer activity. His music is certainly that hypnotic, that powerful, that annoying that you could not resist. I’ll admit, if you go with 40 minutes of Dabke 2020, you might need a break. And I doubt you will pull this out for the next Super Bowl party. But, if you listened to Radio Java more than once or liked Bombay 2: Electric Vindaloo, you might have enough international music savvy to hold onto the reins of Omar Souleyman’s electric stallion ride aboard the platinum chariot of Syrian pop sensationalism.
Ranked Highest By: 77 or 88 (#2)
Amazon Link
Omar Souleyman - Dabke 2020 - Folk and Pop Sounds of Syria
(445 Points, 5 Votes)
Tracklist:1. Atabat
2. Lansob Sherek [I Will Make a Trap]
3. Shift al Mani [I Saw Her]
4. Sidounak Sayyada [I'll Prevent the Hunters from Hurting You]
5. Jamila [Beautiful Woman]
6. Qalub an Nas [People's Hearts]
7. Laqtuf Ward Min Khaddak [I Will Pick a Flower from Your Cheek]
8. Kaset Hanzal [Drinking from the Glass of Bitterness]
Product Description: Sublime Frequencies is pleased to present the 2nd volume of Northeast Syrian Dabke music from legendary vocalist Omar Souleyman and his group. This CD was compiled by Mark Gergis to coincide with the Sublime Frequencies UK/European tour in May and June of 2009 featuring live performances by Omar Souleyman. Culled from dozens of cassettes recorded in Syria from 1999-2008, the music here is an extension of Omar’s “Highway to Hassake” release touching on some previously unheard angles. Their trademark serpentine synthesizers, electrified bouzok (traditional stringed instrument) and driving rhythms forge a severe form of “new wave dabke” with a live energy and integrity that captures the essence of the Syrian Northeast; one of a kind Syrian Dabke party tunes, regional Atabat-styled crooners, and unbelievable Iraqi party jams. The CD is packaged in a cardboard sleeve with paper insert.
TinyMixTapes Says: Unless you are a devotee of Sublime Frequencies or regularly visit Syria, you probably can’t immediately place Omar Souleyman. Please allow this description: a man dressed in a long, white, closed-neck garment of typical Syrian fashion wearing a red and white hatta, a gold abaye, and black sunglasses. In his videos, he stands, barely moving, delivering his vocals over aggressive, melodic, frenetic electronic synthesized bouzouk and wild keyboard arpeggios. I mean it — he is hardly moving, barely waving his hand back and forth despite the ridiculous excitement of his music. He might be the coolest guy ever, uber-unflappable, while his fans dance so closely they can’t move their arms. It’s hard to tell if this is the popular style of Syrian dance, standing shoulder to shoulder and bopping along with Dabke (Syrian dance music), but it makes sense when compared to Souleyman’s super sound. Were one to watch his delivery without the sound, you might think you were observing some despot describing an official bureaucratic maneuver against a worthy opponent; instead, Souleyman is singing songs with titles that translate to “I Will Make A Trap” and “I’ll Prevent the Hunters From Hunting You.”
We, the unknowing West, were first introduced to Souleyman by another Sublime Frequencies release, Highway to Hassake. Highway was a blast of alien rhythm, uncontrollable and ecstatic. From first track to closing moments, it was hard not to feel like your brain was about to explode from the intensity. I was floored and decided Souleyman had taken the cake. So when I learned that SF was releasing another Souleyman CD, I waited with rabid anticipation. Considering that Omar Souleyman is prolific, having released over 500 cassettes in Syria, I felt certain that we had only seen a few of Omar’s sides, and I assumed that Dabke 2020 would offer a deeper look into the world of Syrian pop.
I was not disappointed. The opener, a dirge of a chant called "Atabat," is much slower and restrained than I remember Highway. But any relief that track offered was obliterated by the overwhelming synth beats on "Lansob Sherek" that come in rapid machine-gun succession with Ms. Pac-Man tones. There are only eight tracks here, but somehow, in a condensed release, SF has given us more breadth and insight into Souleyman than the hyperactive Highway to Hassake. There are, of course, multiple tracks with a healthy dose of insane serpentine synth manipulation, sounding like little kids squirming uncomfortably while waiting for the bathroom on a giant vinyl floor keyboard. But then there are more subdued efforts, like the aforementioned “La Sidounak Sayyada” (“I’ll Prevent the Hunters From Hunting You”), which is underpinned by a thumping house beat and includes a repetitive flute-like tone with a sick bridge at about 3:15 that brings in a female chorus chanting something that sounds like “FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!” Of course, subdued for Souleyman does not mean Enya.
"Jamaila," which seems to be an ode to a beautiful woman, is another good example of how Dabke 2020 shows Souleyman’s many sides — this time he’s pining and perhaps at his most vulnerable, while the soaring keyboard figures do a great deal to help us feel his pain, his difficulty. I should really find an Arabic translator if I want to do this album justice, for I can only imagine what kind of tortured imagery is being conjured up here. Then, with next track “Qalub An NaS,” we are reunited with the Highway Souleyman style — crazed interplay between delirious keyboard and Souleyman’s slightly raspy chant and call. By the end of "Kaset Hanzal," we are treated to almost seven minutes of slow, plodding beats, plaintive wailing by Souleyman, and some truly inspired electric bouzouk. A fitting end to an album that takes a wild journey through the world of Syrian pop music, while treating us to slight insight into Syrian folk.
I wonder how long it will take the mainstream to rip off Souleyman. It’s not hard to imagine how Coke or Gap or Whoever could appropriate this infectious epileptic sound for commercial purposes — marketers of today seem to enjoy employing the most insanity possible in their attempts to brainwash, and Omar Souleyman could certainly rip you into a trance while some subliminal messages induce unrestrained consumer activity. His music is certainly that hypnotic, that powerful, that annoying that you could not resist. I’ll admit, if you go with 40 minutes of Dabke 2020, you might need a break. And I doubt you will pull this out for the next Super Bowl party. But, if you listened to Radio Java more than once or liked Bombay 2: Electric Vindaloo, you might have enough international music savvy to hold onto the reins of Omar Souleyman’s electric stallion ride aboard the platinum chariot of Syrian pop sensationalism.
Ranked Highest By: 77 or 88 (#2)
Amazon Link
#19.
Radiohead - OK Computer (Collector's Edition)
(450 Points, 5 Votes)
Tracklist:Disc 1:
1. Airbag
2. Paranoid Android
3. Subterranean Homesick Alien
4. Exit Music (For A Film)
5. Let Down
6. Karma Police
7. Fitter Happier
8. Electioneering
9. Climbing Up The Walls
10. No Surprises
11. Lucky
12. The Tourist
Disc 2:
1. Polyethylene (Parts 1 & 2)
2. Pearly
3. A Reminder
4. Melatonin
5. Meeting In The Aisle
6. Lull
7. Climbing Up The Walls (Zero 7 Mix)
8. Climbing Up The Walls (Fila Brazillia Mix)
9. Palo Alto
10. How I Made My Millions
11. Airbag (Live In Berlin)
12. Lucky (Live In Florence)
13. Climbing Up The Walls (BBC Radio 1 Evening Session 28/5/97)
14. Exit Music (For A Film) (BBC Radio 1 Evening Session 28/5/97)
15. No Surprises (BBC Radio 1 Evening Session 28/5/97)
Amazon.com Product Description: "Collectors Edition" includes the original album plus a second CD of rarities, including demos, sessions and live recordings.
AMG Says: With the exception of Nirvana's Nevermind, no rock of the '90s is as widely accepted as a masterpiece as Radiohead's 1997 OK Computer, and even partisans of Nirvana would have to acknowledge that OK Computer creates its own universe in a way that Nevermind does not. This makes it a bit of a tricky candidate for a deluxe reissue like this 2009 double-disc set: it's nice to have it enhanced with all the released B-sides from the "Paranoid Android," "Karma Police," and "No Surprises" singles, along with three BBC sessions, but it's not necessary. A large part of this is because all of the great songs from the sessions wound up on the album proper. While some of the non-LP B-sides here are quite good -- particularly "Pearly," "Melatonin," "Meeting in the Aisle," and "How I Made My Millions" -- they're not a patch on what is on the album; they're a nice addition, but they don't enhance the album and that is true of the live cuts here, which are noteworthy only in how they illustrate that Radiohead's creativity was not limited to the studio (the remixes of "Climbing Up the Walls" sound like electronica artifacts compared to these). While none of this material is bad -- and much is quite good -- this isn't a disc that's necessary to the appreciation of OK Computer. It's not revelatory; it's a good set of footnotes carrying some mildly interesting supplemental material.
Ranked Highest By: Nick (#3)
Amazon Link
Radiohead - OK Computer (Collector's Edition)
(450 Points, 5 Votes)
Tracklist:Disc 1:
1. Airbag
2. Paranoid Android
3. Subterranean Homesick Alien
4. Exit Music (For A Film)
5. Let Down
6. Karma Police
7. Fitter Happier
8. Electioneering
9. Climbing Up The Walls
10. No Surprises
11. Lucky
12. The Tourist
Disc 2:
1. Polyethylene (Parts 1 & 2)
2. Pearly
3. A Reminder
4. Melatonin
5. Meeting In The Aisle
6. Lull
7. Climbing Up The Walls (Zero 7 Mix)
8. Climbing Up The Walls (Fila Brazillia Mix)
9. Palo Alto
10. How I Made My Millions
11. Airbag (Live In Berlin)
12. Lucky (Live In Florence)
13. Climbing Up The Walls (BBC Radio 1 Evening Session 28/5/97)
14. Exit Music (For A Film) (BBC Radio 1 Evening Session 28/5/97)
15. No Surprises (BBC Radio 1 Evening Session 28/5/97)
Amazon.com Product Description: "Collectors Edition" includes the original album plus a second CD of rarities, including demos, sessions and live recordings.
AMG Says: With the exception of Nirvana's Nevermind, no rock of the '90s is as widely accepted as a masterpiece as Radiohead's 1997 OK Computer, and even partisans of Nirvana would have to acknowledge that OK Computer creates its own universe in a way that Nevermind does not. This makes it a bit of a tricky candidate for a deluxe reissue like this 2009 double-disc set: it's nice to have it enhanced with all the released B-sides from the "Paranoid Android," "Karma Police," and "No Surprises" singles, along with three BBC sessions, but it's not necessary. A large part of this is because all of the great songs from the sessions wound up on the album proper. While some of the non-LP B-sides here are quite good -- particularly "Pearly," "Melatonin," "Meeting in the Aisle," and "How I Made My Millions" -- they're not a patch on what is on the album; they're a nice addition, but they don't enhance the album and that is true of the live cuts here, which are noteworthy only in how they illustrate that Radiohead's creativity was not limited to the studio (the remixes of "Climbing Up the Walls" sound like electronica artifacts compared to these). While none of this material is bad -- and much is quite good -- this isn't a disc that's necessary to the appreciation of OK Computer. It's not revelatory; it's a good set of footnotes carrying some mildly interesting supplemental material.
Ranked Highest By: Nick (#3)
Amazon Link
#18.
R.E.M. - Live at the Olympia
(455 Points, 4 Votes)
Tracklist:Disc: 1
1. Living Well Is The Best Revenge
2. Second Guessing
3. Letter Never Sent
4. Staring Down The Barrel Of The
5. Disturbance At The Heron House
6. Mr. Richards
7. Houston
8. New Test Leper
9. Cuyahoga
10. Electrolite
11. Man-Sized Wreath
12. So. Central Rain
13. On The Fly
14. Maps And Legends
15. Sitting Still
16. Driver 8
17. Horse To Water
18. I'm Gonna DJ
19. Circus Envy
20. These Days
Disc: 2
1. Drive
2. Feeling Gravity's Pull
3. Until The Day Is Done
4. Accelerate
5. Auctioneer
6. Little America
7. 1,000,000
8. Disguised
9. The Worst Joke Ever
10. Welcome To The Occupation
11. Carnival Of Sorts (Boxcar)
12. Harborcoat
13. Wolves, Lower
14. I've Been High
15. Kohoutek
16. West Of The Fields
17. Pretty Persuasion
18. Romance
19. Gardening At Night
Amazon.com Product Description: Special three disc (two CDs + DVD) edition includes a bonus DVD that contains a film of the Dublin shows by Vincent Moon and Jeremiah. 2009 live set featuring 39 songs from their acclaimed 2007 working rehearsals in Dublin, Ireland. R.E.M. set up camp at the venerable Olympia Theatre in Ireland's capital city and tested new material over five nights before passionate, capacity crowds. This live album was produced by Dublin native Jacknife Lee who, along with R.E.M., co-produced Accelerate, the album which emerged from these shows.
AMG Says: "This is not a show," murmurs Michael Stipe at the start of Live at the Olympia and it's not quite misdirection. R.E.M.'s five-night residency at Dublin's Olympia in the summer of 2007 functioned as working rehearsals for their fourteenth album Accelerate, with the band testing out each of the songs, exploring arrangements, finding breaking points, and pairing them with older songs that informed their back-to-basics move. As rehearsal, it paid off splendidly -- road-testing the material made it stronger, resulting in their best album in years -- but the audience was in for a real treat, with the band digging deep into their back catalog to play some of their best non-hit songs. R.E.M. leans heavily on Reckoning (so much so, an accompanying digital download EP contained nothing but material from that record), plays over half of Chronic Town, and a good chunk of Fables of the Reconstruction, pulling two songs a piece from Murmur and Lifes Rich Pageant, creating a set list that any longtime fan will find near ideal. Just as importantly, the band sounds completely engaged with the material, enjoying playing the songs again, with this energy in the process rescuing cuts from Reveal and Around the Sun, suggesting that the problem was with the fussy arrangements, and that the tunes needed to be played as rock & roll. And that is what R.E.M. is here -- a tighter, cleaner band than the scruffy renegades of the '80s, but still the same band, which is evident here in ways it never was on the perfectly fine R.E.M. Live. That was a production. This is rock & roll.
Ranked Highest By: TJENZ, Rob Gordon, chocothunder (#3)
Amazon Link
R.E.M. - Live at the Olympia
(455 Points, 4 Votes)
Tracklist:Disc: 1
1. Living Well Is The Best Revenge
2. Second Guessing
3. Letter Never Sent
4. Staring Down The Barrel Of The
5. Disturbance At The Heron House
6. Mr. Richards
7. Houston
8. New Test Leper
9. Cuyahoga
10. Electrolite
11. Man-Sized Wreath
12. So. Central Rain
13. On The Fly
14. Maps And Legends
15. Sitting Still
16. Driver 8
17. Horse To Water
18. I'm Gonna DJ
19. Circus Envy
20. These Days
Disc: 2
1. Drive
2. Feeling Gravity's Pull
3. Until The Day Is Done
4. Accelerate
5. Auctioneer
6. Little America
7. 1,000,000
8. Disguised
9. The Worst Joke Ever
10. Welcome To The Occupation
11. Carnival Of Sorts (Boxcar)
12. Harborcoat
13. Wolves, Lower
14. I've Been High
15. Kohoutek
16. West Of The Fields
17. Pretty Persuasion
18. Romance
19. Gardening At Night
Amazon.com Product Description: Special three disc (two CDs + DVD) edition includes a bonus DVD that contains a film of the Dublin shows by Vincent Moon and Jeremiah. 2009 live set featuring 39 songs from their acclaimed 2007 working rehearsals in Dublin, Ireland. R.E.M. set up camp at the venerable Olympia Theatre in Ireland's capital city and tested new material over five nights before passionate, capacity crowds. This live album was produced by Dublin native Jacknife Lee who, along with R.E.M., co-produced Accelerate, the album which emerged from these shows.
AMG Says: "This is not a show," murmurs Michael Stipe at the start of Live at the Olympia and it's not quite misdirection. R.E.M.'s five-night residency at Dublin's Olympia in the summer of 2007 functioned as working rehearsals for their fourteenth album Accelerate, with the band testing out each of the songs, exploring arrangements, finding breaking points, and pairing them with older songs that informed their back-to-basics move. As rehearsal, it paid off splendidly -- road-testing the material made it stronger, resulting in their best album in years -- but the audience was in for a real treat, with the band digging deep into their back catalog to play some of their best non-hit songs. R.E.M. leans heavily on Reckoning (so much so, an accompanying digital download EP contained nothing but material from that record), plays over half of Chronic Town, and a good chunk of Fables of the Reconstruction, pulling two songs a piece from Murmur and Lifes Rich Pageant, creating a set list that any longtime fan will find near ideal. Just as importantly, the band sounds completely engaged with the material, enjoying playing the songs again, with this energy in the process rescuing cuts from Reveal and Around the Sun, suggesting that the problem was with the fussy arrangements, and that the tunes needed to be played as rock & roll. And that is what R.E.M. is here -- a tighter, cleaner band than the scruffy renegades of the '80s, but still the same band, which is evident here in ways it never was on the perfectly fine R.E.M. Live. That was a production. This is rock & roll.
Ranked Highest By: TJENZ, Rob Gordon, chocothunder (#3)
Amazon Link
#17.
Where The Action Is! Los Angeles Nuggets 1965-1968
(480 Points, 5 Votes)
Tracklist:Disc one: "On the Strip"
1. "Riot on Sunset Strip" – The Standells
2. "You Movin'" – The Byrds
3. "You I'll Be Following" – Love
4. "Dr. Stone" – The Leaves
5. "Go and Say Goodbye" – Buffalo Springfield
6. "Zig Zag Wanderer" – Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
7. "Gentle as It May Seem" – Iron Butterfly
8. "Candy Cane Madness" – Lowell George & The Factory
9. "If You Want This Love" – The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
10. "Baby My Heart" – The Bobby Fuller Four
11. "All Night Long" – The Palace Guard
12. "It's Gonna Rain" – Sonny & Cher
13. "For My Own" – The Guilloteens
14. "Take a Giant Step" – The Rising Sons
15. "One Too Many Mornings" – The Association
16. "Time Waits for No One" – The Knack
17. "Take It as It Comes" – The Doors
18. "Pulsating Dream" – Kaleidoscope
19. "Tripmaker" – The Seeds
20. "The People in Me" – The Music Machine
21. "Saturday's Son" – Sons of Adam
22. "Eventually" – The Peanut Butter Conspiracy
23. "Swim" – Penny Arkade
24. "The Third Eye" – The Joint Effort
25. "Girl in Your Eye" – Spirit
Disc two: "Beyond the City"
1. "Jump, Jive & Harmonize" – Thee Midniters
2. "Back Up" – The Light
3. "To Die Alone" – The Bush
4. "Get on This Plane" – The Premiers
5. "Little Girl, Little Boy" – The Odyssey
6. "Hideaway" – The Electric Prunes
7. "Listen, Listen!" – The Merry-Go-Round
8. "She Done Moved" – The Spats
9. "Grim Reaper of Love" – The Turtles
10. "See if I Care" – Ken & The Fourth Dimension
11. "He's Not There Anymore" – The Chymes
12. "Back Seat ‘38 Dodge" – Opus 1
13. "Eternal Prison" – The Humane Society
14. "Revenge" – The Others
15. "Come Alive" – Things to Come
16. "Acid Head" – The Velvet Illusions
17. "Guaranteed Love" – Limey & the Yanks
18. "Love's the Thing" – The Romancers (aka The Smoke Rings)
19. "Underground Lady" – Kim Fowley
20. "Pretty Little Thing" – The Deepest Blue
21. "You're Wishin' I Was Someone Else" – The Whatt Four
22. "Hippy Elevator Operator" – The W.C. Fields Memorial Electric String Band
23. "That's for Sure" – The Mustangs
24. "Tomorrow's Girl" – Fapardokly (Merrell & the Exiles)
25. "Everything's There" – The Hysterics
26. "Our Time Is Running Out" – The Yellow Payges
Disc three: "The Studio Scene"
1. "Action, Action, Action" – Keith Allison
2. "The Rebel Kind" – Dino, Desi & Billy
3. "High on Love" – The Knickerbockers
4. "Fan Tan" – Jan & Dean
5. "Halloween Mary" – P. F. Sloan
6. "Somebody Groovy" – The Mamas & the Papas
7. "Daydreaming" – Thorinshield
8. "Just Can't Wait" – The Full Treatment
9. "Yellow Balloon" – The Yellow Balloon
10. "The Times to Come" – London Phogg
11. "No More Running Around" – The Lamp of Childhood
12. "Little Girl Lost-and-Found" – The Garden Club
13. "Mothers and Fathers" – The Moon
14. "My Girlfriend Is a Witch" – October Country
15. "Montage Mirror" – Roger Nichols Trio
16. "Flower Eyes" – Pasternak Progress
17. "Come Down" – The Common Cold
18. "Jill" – Gary Lewis & the Playboys
19. "Daily Nightly" – The Monkees
20. "Night Time Girl" – Modern Folk Quintet
21. "Don't Say No" – The Oracle
22. "Tin Angel (Will You Ever Come Down)" – Hearts and Flowers
23. "Rainbow Woman" – Lee Hazlewood
24. "Poor Old Organ Grinder" – Pleasure featuring Billy Elder
25. "Baby, Please Don't Go" – The Ballroom
Disc four: "New Directions"
1. "Sit Down I Think I Love You" – Stephen Stills and Richie Furay
2. "Splendor in the Grass" – Jackie DeShannon with The Byrds
3. "November Night" – Peter Fonda
4. "Roses and Rainbows" – Danny Hutton
5. "Lemon Chimes" – The Dillards
6. "Here's Today" – The Rose Garden
7. "I Love How You Love Me" – Nino Tempo & April Stevens
8. "Words" (demo) – Boyce and Hart
9. "(You Used To) Ride So High" – The Motorcycle Abeline (Warren Zevon & Bones Howe)
10. "Los Angeles" – Gene Clark
11. "Once Upon a Time" – Tim Buckley
12. "Darlin' You Can Count On Me" – The Everpresent Fullness
13. "I'll Search the Sky" – The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
14. "Come to the Sunshine" – Van Dyke Parks
15. "Heroes and Villains" (alternate take) – The Beach Boys
16. "She Sang Hymns Out of Tune" – Jesse Lee Kincaid
17. "Sister Marie" – Nilsson
18. "Last Night I Had a Dream" – Randy Newman
19. "Life Is a Dream" – Noel Harrison
20. "Marshmallow Skies" – Rick Nelson
21. "I Think I Love You" – Del Shannon
22. "Change Is Now" – The Byrds
23. "The Truth Is Not Real" – Sagittarius
24. "You Set the Scene" – Love
25. "Inner-Manipulations" – Barry McGuire
Amazon.com Product Description: WHERE THE ACTION IS! compiles 101 tracks that mix many of the city's brightest stars like The Byrds, Love, The Doors, The Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, Captain Beefheart, The Mamas & The Papas, Lowell George, Iron Butterfly, with talented artists whose stellar songcraft sadly flew under the radar The Seeds, The Electric Prunes, The Peanut Butter Conspiracy, The Everpresent Fullness, The Bobby Fuller Four.
AMG Says: Where the Action Is! Los Angeles Nuggets 1965-1968, Rhino's 2009 sequel to their 2007 Nuggets box Love Is the Song We Sing, shifts the spotlight down the Californian coast, moving from the epicenter of the hippie universe in San Francisco to hipsville central in Los Angeles, the land where fringe-wearing folk-rockers strolled down the Sunset Strip alongside studio cats on the make. Both groups of hipsters are equally well-represented on Where the Action Is!, along with the teens raising a ruckus out in the suburbs and the stars who stretched out, all based on the sounds they heard coming from the Strip, the section of Sunset that serves as the fulcrum for this entire set. The compilers focus on a brief time, the four-year stretch from 1965 to 1968, where Los Angeles was overrun with dance clubs and nightspots, all giving bands as wonderful and distinct as the Byrds, Love, the Doors, the Seeds, Buffalo Springfield, and the Leaves places to explore, opening up avenues that others followed, either in music or spirit. Some of this filtered through the prism of the studio, where there were plenty of musicians infatuated with the sounds of Brian Wilson, who pops up toward the end on an alternate take of "Heroes and Villains," but there's also no denying the impact of hustlers and hucksters like Kim Fowley, or how Hollywood could package and polish all of this up in the form of the Monkees.
All of this is here in bright, flashing neon on Where the Action Is!, which helps make it one of the liveliest of the Nuggets boxes, but also the one that seems to stray furthest from the series' mission to excavate unheard garage rock and psychedelia; after all, the Beach Boys, the Byrds, and the Doors are hardly unknown quantities or one-hit wonders. Yet, in its own way, Where the Action Is! is as crucial as any of the boxes that followed the first Nuggets set, for it documents a brief, shining moment in time where everything and anything seemed possible. It's not archeology, it's pop culture anthropology that does an excellent job of charting the rise of the L.A. underground, illustrating its first surfacing in the mainstream, connecting the dots in a fashion that may surprise even some dedicated pop and rock fans, those that might not realize how the Turtles, Bobby Fuller Four, the Standells, the Association, the Electric Prunes, Nilsson, Captain Beefheart. and Iron Butterfly were all connected, however loosely, or how Rick Nelson and Del Shannon got weird as the decade started to draw to a close. These connections, along with discovering dozens of gems from lesser-known artists, are the reason why Where the Action Is! winds up being a blast, as well as a revelation just like any other Nuggets set.
Ranked Highest By: Sid Hartha (#3)
Amazon Link
Where The Action Is! Los Angeles Nuggets 1965-1968
(480 Points, 5 Votes)
Tracklist:Disc one: "On the Strip"
1. "Riot on Sunset Strip" – The Standells
2. "You Movin'" – The Byrds
3. "You I'll Be Following" – Love
4. "Dr. Stone" – The Leaves
5. "Go and Say Goodbye" – Buffalo Springfield
6. "Zig Zag Wanderer" – Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
7. "Gentle as It May Seem" – Iron Butterfly
8. "Candy Cane Madness" – Lowell George & The Factory
9. "If You Want This Love" – The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band
10. "Baby My Heart" – The Bobby Fuller Four
11. "All Night Long" – The Palace Guard
12. "It's Gonna Rain" – Sonny & Cher
13. "For My Own" – The Guilloteens
14. "Take a Giant Step" – The Rising Sons
15. "One Too Many Mornings" – The Association
16. "Time Waits for No One" – The Knack
17. "Take It as It Comes" – The Doors
18. "Pulsating Dream" – Kaleidoscope
19. "Tripmaker" – The Seeds
20. "The People in Me" – The Music Machine
21. "Saturday's Son" – Sons of Adam
22. "Eventually" – The Peanut Butter Conspiracy
23. "Swim" – Penny Arkade
24. "The Third Eye" – The Joint Effort
25. "Girl in Your Eye" – Spirit
Disc two: "Beyond the City"
1. "Jump, Jive & Harmonize" – Thee Midniters
2. "Back Up" – The Light
3. "To Die Alone" – The Bush
4. "Get on This Plane" – The Premiers
5. "Little Girl, Little Boy" – The Odyssey
6. "Hideaway" – The Electric Prunes
7. "Listen, Listen!" – The Merry-Go-Round
8. "She Done Moved" – The Spats
9. "Grim Reaper of Love" – The Turtles
10. "See if I Care" – Ken & The Fourth Dimension
11. "He's Not There Anymore" – The Chymes
12. "Back Seat ‘38 Dodge" – Opus 1
13. "Eternal Prison" – The Humane Society
14. "Revenge" – The Others
15. "Come Alive" – Things to Come
16. "Acid Head" – The Velvet Illusions
17. "Guaranteed Love" – Limey & the Yanks
18. "Love's the Thing" – The Romancers (aka The Smoke Rings)
19. "Underground Lady" – Kim Fowley
20. "Pretty Little Thing" – The Deepest Blue
21. "You're Wishin' I Was Someone Else" – The Whatt Four
22. "Hippy Elevator Operator" – The W.C. Fields Memorial Electric String Band
23. "That's for Sure" – The Mustangs
24. "Tomorrow's Girl" – Fapardokly (Merrell & the Exiles)
25. "Everything's There" – The Hysterics
26. "Our Time Is Running Out" – The Yellow Payges
Disc three: "The Studio Scene"
1. "Action, Action, Action" – Keith Allison
2. "The Rebel Kind" – Dino, Desi & Billy
3. "High on Love" – The Knickerbockers
4. "Fan Tan" – Jan & Dean
5. "Halloween Mary" – P. F. Sloan
6. "Somebody Groovy" – The Mamas & the Papas
7. "Daydreaming" – Thorinshield
8. "Just Can't Wait" – The Full Treatment
9. "Yellow Balloon" – The Yellow Balloon
10. "The Times to Come" – London Phogg
11. "No More Running Around" – The Lamp of Childhood
12. "Little Girl Lost-and-Found" – The Garden Club
13. "Mothers and Fathers" – The Moon
14. "My Girlfriend Is a Witch" – October Country
15. "Montage Mirror" – Roger Nichols Trio
16. "Flower Eyes" – Pasternak Progress
17. "Come Down" – The Common Cold
18. "Jill" – Gary Lewis & the Playboys
19. "Daily Nightly" – The Monkees
20. "Night Time Girl" – Modern Folk Quintet
21. "Don't Say No" – The Oracle
22. "Tin Angel (Will You Ever Come Down)" – Hearts and Flowers
23. "Rainbow Woman" – Lee Hazlewood
24. "Poor Old Organ Grinder" – Pleasure featuring Billy Elder
25. "Baby, Please Don't Go" – The Ballroom
Disc four: "New Directions"
1. "Sit Down I Think I Love You" – Stephen Stills and Richie Furay
2. "Splendor in the Grass" – Jackie DeShannon with The Byrds
3. "November Night" – Peter Fonda
4. "Roses and Rainbows" – Danny Hutton
5. "Lemon Chimes" – The Dillards
6. "Here's Today" – The Rose Garden
7. "I Love How You Love Me" – Nino Tempo & April Stevens
8. "Words" (demo) – Boyce and Hart
9. "(You Used To) Ride So High" – The Motorcycle Abeline (Warren Zevon & Bones Howe)
10. "Los Angeles" – Gene Clark
11. "Once Upon a Time" – Tim Buckley
12. "Darlin' You Can Count On Me" – The Everpresent Fullness
13. "I'll Search the Sky" – The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
14. "Come to the Sunshine" – Van Dyke Parks
15. "Heroes and Villains" (alternate take) – The Beach Boys
16. "She Sang Hymns Out of Tune" – Jesse Lee Kincaid
17. "Sister Marie" – Nilsson
18. "Last Night I Had a Dream" – Randy Newman
19. "Life Is a Dream" – Noel Harrison
20. "Marshmallow Skies" – Rick Nelson
21. "I Think I Love You" – Del Shannon
22. "Change Is Now" – The Byrds
23. "The Truth Is Not Real" – Sagittarius
24. "You Set the Scene" – Love
25. "Inner-Manipulations" – Barry McGuire
Amazon.com Product Description: WHERE THE ACTION IS! compiles 101 tracks that mix many of the city's brightest stars like The Byrds, Love, The Doors, The Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, Captain Beefheart, The Mamas & The Papas, Lowell George, Iron Butterfly, with talented artists whose stellar songcraft sadly flew under the radar The Seeds, The Electric Prunes, The Peanut Butter Conspiracy, The Everpresent Fullness, The Bobby Fuller Four.
AMG Says: Where the Action Is! Los Angeles Nuggets 1965-1968, Rhino's 2009 sequel to their 2007 Nuggets box Love Is the Song We Sing, shifts the spotlight down the Californian coast, moving from the epicenter of the hippie universe in San Francisco to hipsville central in Los Angeles, the land where fringe-wearing folk-rockers strolled down the Sunset Strip alongside studio cats on the make. Both groups of hipsters are equally well-represented on Where the Action Is!, along with the teens raising a ruckus out in the suburbs and the stars who stretched out, all based on the sounds they heard coming from the Strip, the section of Sunset that serves as the fulcrum for this entire set. The compilers focus on a brief time, the four-year stretch from 1965 to 1968, where Los Angeles was overrun with dance clubs and nightspots, all giving bands as wonderful and distinct as the Byrds, Love, the Doors, the Seeds, Buffalo Springfield, and the Leaves places to explore, opening up avenues that others followed, either in music or spirit. Some of this filtered through the prism of the studio, where there were plenty of musicians infatuated with the sounds of Brian Wilson, who pops up toward the end on an alternate take of "Heroes and Villains," but there's also no denying the impact of hustlers and hucksters like Kim Fowley, or how Hollywood could package and polish all of this up in the form of the Monkees.
All of this is here in bright, flashing neon on Where the Action Is!, which helps make it one of the liveliest of the Nuggets boxes, but also the one that seems to stray furthest from the series' mission to excavate unheard garage rock and psychedelia; after all, the Beach Boys, the Byrds, and the Doors are hardly unknown quantities or one-hit wonders. Yet, in its own way, Where the Action Is! is as crucial as any of the boxes that followed the first Nuggets set, for it documents a brief, shining moment in time where everything and anything seemed possible. It's not archeology, it's pop culture anthropology that does an excellent job of charting the rise of the L.A. underground, illustrating its first surfacing in the mainstream, connecting the dots in a fashion that may surprise even some dedicated pop and rock fans, those that might not realize how the Turtles, Bobby Fuller Four, the Standells, the Association, the Electric Prunes, Nilsson, Captain Beefheart. and Iron Butterfly were all connected, however loosely, or how Rick Nelson and Del Shannon got weird as the decade started to draw to a close. These connections, along with discovering dozens of gems from lesser-known artists, are the reason why Where the Action Is! winds up being a blast, as well as a revelation just like any other Nuggets set.
Ranked Highest By: Sid Hartha (#3)
Amazon Link
#16.
The Vaselines - Enter the Vaselines
(501 Points, 5 Votes, One #1 Vote)
Tracklist:Disc 1
1. "Son of a Gun" – 3:46
2. "Rory Rides Me Raw" – 2:28
3. "You Think You're a Man" – 5:43
4. "Dying for It" – 2:22
5. "Molly's Lips" – 1:44
6. "Teenage Superstars" – 3:28
7. "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" – 3:31
8. "Sex Sux (Amen)" – 3:10
9. "Slushy" – 2:00
10. "Monsterpussy" – 1:43
11. "Bitch" – 2:42
12. "No Hope" – 3:21
13. "Oliver Twisted" – 2:49
14. "The Day I Was a Horse" – 1:29
15. "Dum-Dum" – 1:57
16. "Hairy" – 1:48
17. "Lovecraft" – 5:37
18. "Dying for It (The Blues)" – 3:09
19. "Let's Get Ugly" – 2:19
Disc 2
1. "Son a Gun (Demo) - 2:30
2. "Rosary Job (Demo) - 3:01
3. "Red Poppy (Demo) - 2:13
4. "Son of a Gun (Live in Bristol) - 3:58
5. "Rosary Job (Live in Bristol) - 3:24
6. "Red Poppy (Live in Bristol) - 2:11
7. "Rory Rides Me Raw (Live in Bristol) - 3:07
8. "You Think You're a Man (Live in Bristol) - 1:48
9. "Dying For It (Live in London) - 2:12
10. "Monsterpussy (Live in London) - 1:58
11. "Let's Get Ugly (Live in London) - 3:03
12. "Molly's Lips (Live in London) - 2:14
13. "The Day I Was a Horse (Live in London) - 2:37
14. "The Day I Was a Horse (Again) (Live in London) - 2:50
15. "Sex Sux (Amen) (Live in London) - 4:14
16. "I Didn't Know I Loved You ('Til I Saw You Rock 'N' Roll) (Live in London) - 3:25
17. "Teenage Superstars (Live in London) - 4:22
Amazon.com Product Description: The Vaselines have long been celebrated by musicians and indie rock enthusiasts across the globe, including superfan Kurt Cobain, while remaining underappreciated by the mainstream. "Enter The Vaselines" is the definitive triple LP/double CD collection. Includes new mixes and re-mastered versions of material previously available on "The Way Of The Vaselines", plus never-before-heard demos, and live recordings from 1986 in Bristol and 1988 in London.
AMG Says: Kurt Cobain made plenty of mistakes in his life, but loving the Vaselines was not among them. Nirvana covered three of their songs, and as Kurt might tell you if he were alive today, from 1986 to 1989 the Vaselines were the best pop band around. Sub Pop was smart enough to cash in on the Nirvana connection, and in 1992 released the career retrospective The Way of the Vaselines: A Complete History. From the stomping, singalong opener "Son of a Gun" to the distorted and nasty "Let's Get Ugly" 17 tracks later, this collection was the Holy Grail of indie pop. In 2009, hot off of Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee's reunion (and appearance at Sub Pop's 20th anniversary bash), the label remastered the studio recordings, added a second disc of demos and live performances, and retitled the whole thing Enter the Vaselines.
The Vaselines' music is unfailingly amateurish, almost completely silly, occasionally quite perverted, and always about sex. It has the simplicity and ear-grabbing melodies of the best bubblegum, the loud and semi-competent guitars of punk, and some of the attitude and lo-fi sound of their noise rock contemporaries like the Jesus and Mary Chain. They also had a charmingly unschooled vocal approach (Kelly sounding cool and tough, McKee sweet as pie) with a fleeting acquaintance to pitch but tons of humor, attitude, and style. Throw in a bunch of religion and add brilliantly simple choruses that will have you singing along the first time you hear the songs (as well as the thousandth), and you've got genius. This brilliance shines brightest on the band's first two EPs, which were recorded by Stephen Pastel and contain the songs the group was best known for, like "Molly's Lips," "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam," and "Son of a Gun." The full-length album Dum-Dum, recorded without Pastel's guidance and with a bulked-up, rockier sound, is still quite amazing and features some timelessly cool songs like "Sex Sux (Amen)," which includes the immortal line "Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost/I'm the Sacred Host with the most," the rip-roaring "Monsterpussy," and the hilarious "The Day I Was a Horse." Taken together, the band's official output is brainy, funny, sexy, catchy pop music at its best.
So if the first disc of Enter the Vaselines is absolutely essential, the bonus disc is for fanatics only. The demos for "Son of a Gun" and unrecorded songs "Rosary Job" and "Red Poppy" are interesting from a historical perspective but not very listenable, as the duo hadn't really put its sound together yet. The live set from December of 1986 (three months before the first EP was recorded) is a sloppy, stiff performance with Kelly and McKee backed by a drum machine and fighting to be heard above the din of the unimpressed crowd. Much better is the live set from 1988 with a full band playing songs from the EPs and Dum-Dum (and a cover of Gary Glitter's "I Didn't Know I Loved You ['Til I Saw You Rock 'n' Roll]") in front of a semi-enthusiastic crowd. They still sound raw and amateurish but also like they are having much more fun. Kelly, McKee, and Pastel also seem to have had fun when they sat down for the chat about the history of the band that is a part of the set's beautiful packaging. Credit Sub Pop for putting tons of effort into the release of Enter the Vaselines and treating the band and the music with the respect they deserve. For a short period of time, there was nothing like them on Earth.
Ranked Highest By: Ramona (#1)
Amazon Link
The Vaselines - Enter the Vaselines
(501 Points, 5 Votes, One #1 Vote)
Tracklist:Disc 1
1. "Son of a Gun" – 3:46
2. "Rory Rides Me Raw" – 2:28
3. "You Think You're a Man" – 5:43
4. "Dying for It" – 2:22
5. "Molly's Lips" – 1:44
6. "Teenage Superstars" – 3:28
7. "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" – 3:31
8. "Sex Sux (Amen)" – 3:10
9. "Slushy" – 2:00
10. "Monsterpussy" – 1:43
11. "Bitch" – 2:42
12. "No Hope" – 3:21
13. "Oliver Twisted" – 2:49
14. "The Day I Was a Horse" – 1:29
15. "Dum-Dum" – 1:57
16. "Hairy" – 1:48
17. "Lovecraft" – 5:37
18. "Dying for It (The Blues)" – 3:09
19. "Let's Get Ugly" – 2:19
Disc 2
1. "Son a Gun (Demo) - 2:30
2. "Rosary Job (Demo) - 3:01
3. "Red Poppy (Demo) - 2:13
4. "Son of a Gun (Live in Bristol) - 3:58
5. "Rosary Job (Live in Bristol) - 3:24
6. "Red Poppy (Live in Bristol) - 2:11
7. "Rory Rides Me Raw (Live in Bristol) - 3:07
8. "You Think You're a Man (Live in Bristol) - 1:48
9. "Dying For It (Live in London) - 2:12
10. "Monsterpussy (Live in London) - 1:58
11. "Let's Get Ugly (Live in London) - 3:03
12. "Molly's Lips (Live in London) - 2:14
13. "The Day I Was a Horse (Live in London) - 2:37
14. "The Day I Was a Horse (Again) (Live in London) - 2:50
15. "Sex Sux (Amen) (Live in London) - 4:14
16. "I Didn't Know I Loved You ('Til I Saw You Rock 'N' Roll) (Live in London) - 3:25
17. "Teenage Superstars (Live in London) - 4:22
Amazon.com Product Description: The Vaselines have long been celebrated by musicians and indie rock enthusiasts across the globe, including superfan Kurt Cobain, while remaining underappreciated by the mainstream. "Enter The Vaselines" is the definitive triple LP/double CD collection. Includes new mixes and re-mastered versions of material previously available on "The Way Of The Vaselines", plus never-before-heard demos, and live recordings from 1986 in Bristol and 1988 in London.
AMG Says: Kurt Cobain made plenty of mistakes in his life, but loving the Vaselines was not among them. Nirvana covered three of their songs, and as Kurt might tell you if he were alive today, from 1986 to 1989 the Vaselines were the best pop band around. Sub Pop was smart enough to cash in on the Nirvana connection, and in 1992 released the career retrospective The Way of the Vaselines: A Complete History. From the stomping, singalong opener "Son of a Gun" to the distorted and nasty "Let's Get Ugly" 17 tracks later, this collection was the Holy Grail of indie pop. In 2009, hot off of Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee's reunion (and appearance at Sub Pop's 20th anniversary bash), the label remastered the studio recordings, added a second disc of demos and live performances, and retitled the whole thing Enter the Vaselines.
The Vaselines' music is unfailingly amateurish, almost completely silly, occasionally quite perverted, and always about sex. It has the simplicity and ear-grabbing melodies of the best bubblegum, the loud and semi-competent guitars of punk, and some of the attitude and lo-fi sound of their noise rock contemporaries like the Jesus and Mary Chain. They also had a charmingly unschooled vocal approach (Kelly sounding cool and tough, McKee sweet as pie) with a fleeting acquaintance to pitch but tons of humor, attitude, and style. Throw in a bunch of religion and add brilliantly simple choruses that will have you singing along the first time you hear the songs (as well as the thousandth), and you've got genius. This brilliance shines brightest on the band's first two EPs, which were recorded by Stephen Pastel and contain the songs the group was best known for, like "Molly's Lips," "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam," and "Son of a Gun." The full-length album Dum-Dum, recorded without Pastel's guidance and with a bulked-up, rockier sound, is still quite amazing and features some timelessly cool songs like "Sex Sux (Amen)," which includes the immortal line "Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost/I'm the Sacred Host with the most," the rip-roaring "Monsterpussy," and the hilarious "The Day I Was a Horse." Taken together, the band's official output is brainy, funny, sexy, catchy pop music at its best.
So if the first disc of Enter the Vaselines is absolutely essential, the bonus disc is for fanatics only. The demos for "Son of a Gun" and unrecorded songs "Rosary Job" and "Red Poppy" are interesting from a historical perspective but not very listenable, as the duo hadn't really put its sound together yet. The live set from December of 1986 (three months before the first EP was recorded) is a sloppy, stiff performance with Kelly and McKee backed by a drum machine and fighting to be heard above the din of the unimpressed crowd. Much better is the live set from 1988 with a full band playing songs from the EPs and Dum-Dum (and a cover of Gary Glitter's "I Didn't Know I Loved You ['Til I Saw You Rock 'n' Roll]") in front of a semi-enthusiastic crowd. They still sound raw and amateurish but also like they are having much more fun. Kelly, McKee, and Pastel also seem to have had fun when they sat down for the chat about the history of the band that is a part of the set's beautiful packaging. Credit Sub Pop for putting tons of effort into the release of Enter the Vaselines and treating the band and the music with the respect they deserve. For a short period of time, there was nothing like them on Earth.
Ranked Highest By: Ramona (#1)
Amazon Link
Omar Souleyman beating Kid A ftw. Some great comps on display here.
#15.
Pearl Jam - Ten (Legacy Edition)
(534 Points, 4 Votes)
Tracklist:1. "Once" Stone Gossard 3:51
2. "Even Flow" Gossard 4:53
3. "Alive" Gossard 5:40
4. "Why Go" Jeff Ament 3:19
5. "Black" Gossard 5:43
6. "Jeremy" Ament 5:18
7. "Oceans" Vedder, Gossard, Ament 2:41
8. "Porch" Vedder 3:30
9. "Garden" Gossard, Ament 4:58
10. "Deep" Gossard, Ament 4:18
11. "Release[I]" Ament, Gossard, Dave Krusen, Mike McCready, Vedder 9:04
^ I "Release" contains the hidden track "Master/Slave" at 5:20.
Reissue bonus tracks
All lyrics written by Vedder.
# Title Music Length
12. "Brother" Gossard 3:59
13. "Just a Girl" Gossard 5:02
14. "Breath and a Scream" Gossard 5:58
15. "State of Love and Trust" McCready, Ament 4:49
16. "2,000 Mile Blues" Ament, McCready, Krusen 3:58
17. "Evil Little Goat" Ament, Gossard, Krusen, McCready, Vedder 1:29
Reissue bonus material
MTV Unplugged DVD
1. "Oceans"
2. "State of Love and Trust"
3. "Alive"
4. "Black"
5. "Jeremy"
6. "Even Flow"
7. "Porch"
Momma-Son cassette
All lyrics written by Vedder, all music composed by Gossard.
# Title Length
1. "Alive" 4:35
2. "Once" 3:44
3. "Footsteps" 4:20
Drop in the Park LP
Side one
All lyrics written by Vedder.
# Title Music Length
1. "Even Flow" Gossard 5:14
2. "Once" Gossard 3:32
3. "State of Love and Trust" McCready, Ament 3:44
4. "Why Go" Ament 3:20
Side two
All lyrics written by Vedder.
# Title Music Length
1. "Deep" Gossard, Ament 4:22
2. "Jeremy" Ament 5:03
3. "Black" Gossard 5:28
Side three
All lyrics written by Vedder.
# Title Music Length
1. "Alive" Gossard 5:50
2. "Garden" Gossard, Ament 5:35
Side four
All songs written and composed by Vedder.
# Title Length
1. "Porch" 12:42
Amazon.com Product Description: Ten, the debut album that sold 12 million copies and introduced the world to Pearl Jam in 1991, will be reissued in four (4) new and expanded editions on March 24, 2009. The reissue of Ten serves as the launch of a planned two-year catalogue re-release campaign leading up to the band's 20th anniversary in 2011.
Each Ten package will include two versions of the album: the remastered version of the original album PLUS an accompanying remixed version done by the band's long-time producer, Brendan O'Brien (Bruce Springsteen,AC/DC, Audioslave).
"The band loved the original mix of Ten, but were also interested in what it would sound like if I were to deconstruct and remix it," says producer Brendan O'Brien. "The original Ten sound is what millions of people bought, dug and loved, so I was initially hesitant to mess around with that.After years of persistent nudging from the band, I was able to wrap my head around the idea of offering it as a companion piece to the original - giving a fresh take on it,a more direct sound."
COLLECTOR'S EDITION BOX SET (2 CDs plus DVD, 4 LPs and Cassette):
CD 1: original Ten tracklisting digitally remastered (original mix)
CD 2: original Ten tracklisting digitally remastered and remixed by Brendan O'Brien, plus six bonus tracks:"Brother," "Just a Girl," "State of Love and Trust," "Breath and a Scream," "2,000 Mile Blues",and "Evil Little Goat."
DVD of Pearl Jam's previously unreleased 1992 MTV Unplugged performance including never before seen bonus performance of "Oceans" with 5.1 surround sound audio remix.
LP 1: original Ten tracklisting remastered for vinyl
LP 2: original Ten tracklisting remastered for vinyl and remixed by Brendan O'Brien
LP 3 & 4: Drop in the Park - Live at Magnuson Park in Seattle on September 20, 1992 (audio mixed by Brendan O'Brien) "Even Flow," "Once," "State Of Love And Trust," "Why Go," "Deep,", "Jeremy," "Black," "Alive," "Garden," "Porch"
Cassette: replica of original "Momma-Son" Pearl Jam demo cassette featuring "Alive," "Once" and "Footsteps"
Package also includes an Eddie Vedder-style composition notebook filled with replica personal notes, images and mementos from the collections of Eddie Vedder and Jeff Ament, a vellum envelope with replicated era-specific ephemera from Pearl Jam's early work and a two-sided print commemorating the Drop in the Park concert.
AMG Says: For the twentieth anniversary of their debut Ten -- an event that arrives in 2011 and is being celebrated in 2009, but who's counting? -- Pearl Jam went all out and delivered not one but three reissues, all in increasing levels of lavishness. First off is a standard two-CD set, followed by a triple-disc set that adds a DVD of the band's 1992 performance for MTV Unplugged and then there's a gargantuan, frankly ludicrous, collectors edition that has all that plus four slabs of vinyl containing the two mixes of the album plus a 1992 live show, one cassette that replicates the original demo Eddie Vedder turned in as his audition, and assorted memorabilia that retails for $200.00. All this commotion camouflages the really noteworthy aspect of this anniversary edition: Pearl Jam brought in their longtime producer Brendan O'Brien to remix Ten from the ground up, to strip away the studio affectations of producer Rick Parashar and mixer Tim Palmer that made it a bright, shiny anomaly during the dingy heyday of grunge and make the album sound more liked the rest of the band's work (which O'Brien produced, after all). This isn't full-scale cultural revisionism on the order of George Lucas -- the original album is preserved in remastered form on the first disc -- nor is it akin to the massive reworking of Raw Power that took liberties with the aesthetics of a classic, altering some crucial reasons why it was influential, but rather like a director's cut that's designed to be closer to the artist's original intentions.
Since Ten is the odd man out among Pearl Jam's albums -- its shimmering surfaces and gated rhythms too eager to crossover -- this revision also seems logical, bringing it closer to the sound and feel of Vs. and Vitalogy without drastically altering its character. Actually, it's quite arguable that this lean, muscular remix is a marked improvement on the original mix, as it's easier to focus on both the songs and group's interplay. The only room for complaint is that for a deluxe reissue this seems to skimp on the bonus tracks, never bothering to include all the relevant non-LP songs from Ten. It's seems that the logic behind their absence is that they're all available on the compilation Lost Dogs and the bonus material here is all unreleased: a version of "Brother" with vocals (an instrumental was on Lost Dogs), early versions of "Breath and a Scream" and "State of Love and Trust" recorded a year before the Singles soundtrack, and the unreleased "Just a Girl," "2000 Mile Blues," and "Evil Little Goat." Although the latter two sound like the unfinished outtakes they are, it's still nice to have all this material in circulation, but even so it doesn't feel quite right to have a reissue of Ten that misses the B-side "Yellow Ledbetter," a song that received a lot of radio play during the peak of the album's popularity. It also doesn't feel right to have that original demo available only as a cassette in the super-deluxe version of Ten -- or to have the live show only on vinyl, for that matter -- when it would have been easy to expand the set out to three CDs and have this material available for everyone, but in a sense, that's nitpicking: the mad collectors are going to invest in the $200.00 set while the less dedicated will be happy with the remix which is certainly reason enough to justify this entire multi-format project. [A Collector's Edition box set was also released.]
Ranked Highest By: TJENZ, velocity, chocothunder (#2)
Amazon Link
Pearl Jam - Ten (Legacy Edition)
(534 Points, 4 Votes)
Tracklist:1. "Once" Stone Gossard 3:51
2. "Even Flow" Gossard 4:53
3. "Alive" Gossard 5:40
4. "Why Go" Jeff Ament 3:19
5. "Black" Gossard 5:43
6. "Jeremy" Ament 5:18
7. "Oceans" Vedder, Gossard, Ament 2:41
8. "Porch" Vedder 3:30
9. "Garden" Gossard, Ament 4:58
10. "Deep" Gossard, Ament 4:18
11. "Release[I]" Ament, Gossard, Dave Krusen, Mike McCready, Vedder 9:04
^ I "Release" contains the hidden track "Master/Slave" at 5:20.
Reissue bonus tracks
All lyrics written by Vedder.
# Title Music Length
12. "Brother" Gossard 3:59
13. "Just a Girl" Gossard 5:02
14. "Breath and a Scream" Gossard 5:58
15. "State of Love and Trust" McCready, Ament 4:49
16. "2,000 Mile Blues" Ament, McCready, Krusen 3:58
17. "Evil Little Goat" Ament, Gossard, Krusen, McCready, Vedder 1:29
Reissue bonus material
MTV Unplugged DVD
1. "Oceans"
2. "State of Love and Trust"
3. "Alive"
4. "Black"
5. "Jeremy"
6. "Even Flow"
7. "Porch"
Momma-Son cassette
All lyrics written by Vedder, all music composed by Gossard.
# Title Length
1. "Alive" 4:35
2. "Once" 3:44
3. "Footsteps" 4:20
Drop in the Park LP
Side one
All lyrics written by Vedder.
# Title Music Length
1. "Even Flow" Gossard 5:14
2. "Once" Gossard 3:32
3. "State of Love and Trust" McCready, Ament 3:44
4. "Why Go" Ament 3:20
Side two
All lyrics written by Vedder.
# Title Music Length
1. "Deep" Gossard, Ament 4:22
2. "Jeremy" Ament 5:03
3. "Black" Gossard 5:28
Side three
All lyrics written by Vedder.
# Title Music Length
1. "Alive" Gossard 5:50
2. "Garden" Gossard, Ament 5:35
Side four
All songs written and composed by Vedder.
# Title Length
1. "Porch" 12:42
Amazon.com Product Description: Ten, the debut album that sold 12 million copies and introduced the world to Pearl Jam in 1991, will be reissued in four (4) new and expanded editions on March 24, 2009. The reissue of Ten serves as the launch of a planned two-year catalogue re-release campaign leading up to the band's 20th anniversary in 2011.
Each Ten package will include two versions of the album: the remastered version of the original album PLUS an accompanying remixed version done by the band's long-time producer, Brendan O'Brien (Bruce Springsteen,AC/DC, Audioslave).
"The band loved the original mix of Ten, but were also interested in what it would sound like if I were to deconstruct and remix it," says producer Brendan O'Brien. "The original Ten sound is what millions of people bought, dug and loved, so I was initially hesitant to mess around with that.After years of persistent nudging from the band, I was able to wrap my head around the idea of offering it as a companion piece to the original - giving a fresh take on it,a more direct sound."
COLLECTOR'S EDITION BOX SET (2 CDs plus DVD, 4 LPs and Cassette):
CD 1: original Ten tracklisting digitally remastered (original mix)
CD 2: original Ten tracklisting digitally remastered and remixed by Brendan O'Brien, plus six bonus tracks:"Brother," "Just a Girl," "State of Love and Trust," "Breath and a Scream," "2,000 Mile Blues",and "Evil Little Goat."
DVD of Pearl Jam's previously unreleased 1992 MTV Unplugged performance including never before seen bonus performance of "Oceans" with 5.1 surround sound audio remix.
LP 1: original Ten tracklisting remastered for vinyl
LP 2: original Ten tracklisting remastered for vinyl and remixed by Brendan O'Brien
LP 3 & 4: Drop in the Park - Live at Magnuson Park in Seattle on September 20, 1992 (audio mixed by Brendan O'Brien) "Even Flow," "Once," "State Of Love And Trust," "Why Go," "Deep,", "Jeremy," "Black," "Alive," "Garden," "Porch"
Cassette: replica of original "Momma-Son" Pearl Jam demo cassette featuring "Alive," "Once" and "Footsteps"
Package also includes an Eddie Vedder-style composition notebook filled with replica personal notes, images and mementos from the collections of Eddie Vedder and Jeff Ament, a vellum envelope with replicated era-specific ephemera from Pearl Jam's early work and a two-sided print commemorating the Drop in the Park concert.
AMG Says: For the twentieth anniversary of their debut Ten -- an event that arrives in 2011 and is being celebrated in 2009, but who's counting? -- Pearl Jam went all out and delivered not one but three reissues, all in increasing levels of lavishness. First off is a standard two-CD set, followed by a triple-disc set that adds a DVD of the band's 1992 performance for MTV Unplugged and then there's a gargantuan, frankly ludicrous, collectors edition that has all that plus four slabs of vinyl containing the two mixes of the album plus a 1992 live show, one cassette that replicates the original demo Eddie Vedder turned in as his audition, and assorted memorabilia that retails for $200.00. All this commotion camouflages the really noteworthy aspect of this anniversary edition: Pearl Jam brought in their longtime producer Brendan O'Brien to remix Ten from the ground up, to strip away the studio affectations of producer Rick Parashar and mixer Tim Palmer that made it a bright, shiny anomaly during the dingy heyday of grunge and make the album sound more liked the rest of the band's work (which O'Brien produced, after all). This isn't full-scale cultural revisionism on the order of George Lucas -- the original album is preserved in remastered form on the first disc -- nor is it akin to the massive reworking of Raw Power that took liberties with the aesthetics of a classic, altering some crucial reasons why it was influential, but rather like a director's cut that's designed to be closer to the artist's original intentions.
Since Ten is the odd man out among Pearl Jam's albums -- its shimmering surfaces and gated rhythms too eager to crossover -- this revision also seems logical, bringing it closer to the sound and feel of Vs. and Vitalogy without drastically altering its character. Actually, it's quite arguable that this lean, muscular remix is a marked improvement on the original mix, as it's easier to focus on both the songs and group's interplay. The only room for complaint is that for a deluxe reissue this seems to skimp on the bonus tracks, never bothering to include all the relevant non-LP songs from Ten. It's seems that the logic behind their absence is that they're all available on the compilation Lost Dogs and the bonus material here is all unreleased: a version of "Brother" with vocals (an instrumental was on Lost Dogs), early versions of "Breath and a Scream" and "State of Love and Trust" recorded a year before the Singles soundtrack, and the unreleased "Just a Girl," "2000 Mile Blues," and "Evil Little Goat." Although the latter two sound like the unfinished outtakes they are, it's still nice to have all this material in circulation, but even so it doesn't feel quite right to have a reissue of Ten that misses the B-side "Yellow Ledbetter," a song that received a lot of radio play during the peak of the album's popularity. It also doesn't feel right to have that original demo available only as a cassette in the super-deluxe version of Ten -- or to have the live show only on vinyl, for that matter -- when it would have been easy to expand the set out to three CDs and have this material available for everyone, but in a sense, that's nitpicking: the mad collectors are going to invest in the $200.00 set while the less dedicated will be happy with the remix which is certainly reason enough to justify this entire multi-format project. [A Collector's Edition box set was also released.]
Ranked Highest By: TJENZ, velocity, chocothunder (#2)
Amazon Link
a lot of good rereleases this year by the looks of things
#14.
Forge Your Own Chains: Heavy Psychedelic Ballads and Dirges 1968-1974
(599 Points, 6 Votes, One #1 Vote)
Tracklist:1. Top Drawer “Song of a Sinner” 8:44
2. Sensational Saints “How Great Thou Art” 3:35
3. East of Underground “Smiling Faces Sometimes” 6:27
4. D.R. Hooker “Forge Your Own Chains” 4:45
5. Shin Jung Hyun and the Men feat. Jang Hyun “Twilight” 5:40
6. T. Zchiew and The Johnny “Let Yourself Be Free” 3:46
7. The Strangers “Two To Make A Pair” 2:52
8. Damon “Don't You Feel Me” 2:36
9. Ellison “Strawberry Rain” 5:33
10. Morly Grey “Who Can I Say You Are” 3:45
11. Shadrack Chameleon “Don't Let It Get You Down” 4:44
12. Ofege “It's Not Easy” 4:25
13. Ana Y Jaime “Nina Nana” 3:18
14. Kourosh Yaghmaei “Hajm-e Khaali” 2:42
15. Baby Grandmothers “Somebody's Calling My Name” 9:13
Product Description: With the same detailed, no-stone-unturned approach he used for deep funk on The Funky 16 Corners and Cold Heat, Egon's Now-Again Records tackles beat-heavy global psychedelia with Forge Your Own Chains. Psychedelic records, long the mainstay of older, grizzled collectors, are giving up new ghosts in the hands of Egon and those of this generation.
Digipak CD package includes 40-page full color booklet with detailed liner notes, annotation, photos and ephemera. Gatefold 2/LP includes all liner notes.
CD & LP comes with the 7-inch single Forge Your Own Chains 45, by Guilty Simpson, Oh No, J.Rocc and Egon (while supplies last).
Prefix Mag Says: Compilations collecting genre obscurities have become ubiquitous in the decade since the re-release of Nuggets by Rhino in 1998. From Soul Jazz Records’ expert retrospectives to idiosyncratic reissue labels like Subliminal Sounds, the average trip to the (proverbial?) record store promises not only the latest contemporary releases, but also a definitive sampling of once-obscure genres like Italo Disco and African Highlife. Stones Throw imprint Now-Again has assembled Forge Your Own Chains with this market saturation in mind. The 16-track survey of “Heavy Psychedelic Ballads and Dirges” recorded between 1968 and 1974 forgoes loyalty to a specific country or style of music, highlighting tracks from a global cross-section of musicians and a diversity of genres.
Cut by Top Drawer, an obscure Kentucky outfit that released its sole album in 1969, the nine-minute opener “Song of a Sinner” is a perfect long-form psychedelic statement with a plaintive vocal and memorable guitar work that compares favorably with contemporaneous psych-rock classics like the 13th Floor Elevators’ “Pictures (Leave Your Body Behind).” “How Great Thou Art” follows, an arresting gospel/funk track by Cleveland’s the Sensational Saints. This study in contrasts between the two tracks is typical of the album’s sequencing. In the liner notes, producer/compiler Egon explains that none of the tracks were selected because of their rarity, only for their appropriateness in the context of the compilation.
This pragmatic approach allows a two-and-a-half minute blast of romantic psych-pop -- Damon’s “Don’t You Feel Me” -- to fit perfectly alongside Shin Jung Hyun & The Men’s achingly beautiful Korean-language ballad “Twilight.” Elsewhere you’ll find an exuberant folk-rock lament by the teenage Colombian brother-sister duo Ana y Jaime programmed against the AM radio-ready “It’s Not Easy,” a gorgeous one-off of psych-infused balladry by the Nigerian afro-beat group Ofege.
Other highlights include “Strawberry Rain” by Canada’s Ellison, an aggressive blues-rock track executed that could be mistaken for an unreleased Creedence side. The title track by D.R. Hooker from his legendary 1972 LP The Truth is another classic; a stoned vocal slinks along in time with restrained instrumentation, augmented by horn parts which reinforce the surreal atmosphere. From Iranian rock to Zombies sound-a-like psych-pop to Neil Young-inspired burnout jams, there are no missteps. Forge Your Own Chains is not only a great stand-alone compilation, but it also succeeds in exposing these great artists to an audience beyond the insular universe of hardcore record collectors.
Ranked Highest By: Sid Hartha (#1)
Amazon Link
Forge Your Own Chains: Heavy Psychedelic Ballads and Dirges 1968-1974
(599 Points, 6 Votes, One #1 Vote)
Tracklist:1. Top Drawer “Song of a Sinner” 8:44
2. Sensational Saints “How Great Thou Art” 3:35
3. East of Underground “Smiling Faces Sometimes” 6:27
4. D.R. Hooker “Forge Your Own Chains” 4:45
5. Shin Jung Hyun and the Men feat. Jang Hyun “Twilight” 5:40
6. T. Zchiew and The Johnny “Let Yourself Be Free” 3:46
7. The Strangers “Two To Make A Pair” 2:52
8. Damon “Don't You Feel Me” 2:36
9. Ellison “Strawberry Rain” 5:33
10. Morly Grey “Who Can I Say You Are” 3:45
11. Shadrack Chameleon “Don't Let It Get You Down” 4:44
12. Ofege “It's Not Easy” 4:25
13. Ana Y Jaime “Nina Nana” 3:18
14. Kourosh Yaghmaei “Hajm-e Khaali” 2:42
15. Baby Grandmothers “Somebody's Calling My Name” 9:13
Product Description: With the same detailed, no-stone-unturned approach he used for deep funk on The Funky 16 Corners and Cold Heat, Egon's Now-Again Records tackles beat-heavy global psychedelia with Forge Your Own Chains. Psychedelic records, long the mainstay of older, grizzled collectors, are giving up new ghosts in the hands of Egon and those of this generation.
Digipak CD package includes 40-page full color booklet with detailed liner notes, annotation, photos and ephemera. Gatefold 2/LP includes all liner notes.
CD & LP comes with the 7-inch single Forge Your Own Chains 45, by Guilty Simpson, Oh No, J.Rocc and Egon (while supplies last).
Prefix Mag Says: Compilations collecting genre obscurities have become ubiquitous in the decade since the re-release of Nuggets by Rhino in 1998. From Soul Jazz Records’ expert retrospectives to idiosyncratic reissue labels like Subliminal Sounds, the average trip to the (proverbial?) record store promises not only the latest contemporary releases, but also a definitive sampling of once-obscure genres like Italo Disco and African Highlife. Stones Throw imprint Now-Again has assembled Forge Your Own Chains with this market saturation in mind. The 16-track survey of “Heavy Psychedelic Ballads and Dirges” recorded between 1968 and 1974 forgoes loyalty to a specific country or style of music, highlighting tracks from a global cross-section of musicians and a diversity of genres.
Cut by Top Drawer, an obscure Kentucky outfit that released its sole album in 1969, the nine-minute opener “Song of a Sinner” is a perfect long-form psychedelic statement with a plaintive vocal and memorable guitar work that compares favorably with contemporaneous psych-rock classics like the 13th Floor Elevators’ “Pictures (Leave Your Body Behind).” “How Great Thou Art” follows, an arresting gospel/funk track by Cleveland’s the Sensational Saints. This study in contrasts between the two tracks is typical of the album’s sequencing. In the liner notes, producer/compiler Egon explains that none of the tracks were selected because of their rarity, only for their appropriateness in the context of the compilation.
This pragmatic approach allows a two-and-a-half minute blast of romantic psych-pop -- Damon’s “Don’t You Feel Me” -- to fit perfectly alongside Shin Jung Hyun & The Men’s achingly beautiful Korean-language ballad “Twilight.” Elsewhere you’ll find an exuberant folk-rock lament by the teenage Colombian brother-sister duo Ana y Jaime programmed against the AM radio-ready “It’s Not Easy,” a gorgeous one-off of psych-infused balladry by the Nigerian afro-beat group Ofege.
Other highlights include “Strawberry Rain” by Canada’s Ellison, an aggressive blues-rock track executed that could be mistaken for an unreleased Creedence side. The title track by D.R. Hooker from his legendary 1972 LP The Truth is another classic; a stoned vocal slinks along in time with restrained instrumentation, augmented by horn parts which reinforce the surreal atmosphere. From Iranian rock to Zombies sound-a-like psych-pop to Neil Young-inspired burnout jams, there are no missteps. Forge Your Own Chains is not only a great stand-alone compilation, but it also succeeds in exposing these great artists to an audience beyond the insular universe of hardcore record collectors.
Ranked Highest By: Sid Hartha (#1)
Amazon Link
Great comp. Got to it a bit late, but there are some amazing tracks on there.
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