Favorite Reissues/Compilations/Boxes/Live albums of 2012

Reissues/Compilations/Live Records of 2012.

1.       Deacon Blue: Catalog Reissues (Edsel UK).  This hits the top of my list because this is one of my top 5 favorite all-time bands, but, objectively speaking, this is a stellar reissue series.  For a band who has at least four greatest hits sets (several of them released with bonus tracks) and several compilations of odds and sods, painstaking care has been taken to compile the five main albums (from the amazing debut Raintown to 2001’s Homesick) and to incorporate all of the b-sides, bonus tracks, and ephemera into complete collections, placing them in beautiful book packages. Several of the sets stretch to 3 CDs, and most include DVDs of the videos from the period.  Anything that doesn’t fit onto a specific album is collected on a new set, The Rest.  This should be the measure that reissues use for success.

2.       Blur: 21 box set/Parklive (Parlophone/EMI).  Celebrating the band’s 21^st anniversary with a reunion tour and a reissue series, Blur gets a definitive box and a multi-disc set of the post-Olympics Hyde Park show.  The massive box contains all of the albums, paired with bonus discs, along with box-set only rarities and demos, and 3 DVDs.  Lovingly compiled, essential listening.  One complaint: the discs in the box are in card sleeves, not the beautiful cardstock boxes that the standard 2-disc sets were reissued in.  To get the rarities and DVDs, you need to get the box.  I just wish the 2-disc boxes were inside the big box…The Parklive set came out in a 2 disc version, and a massive 5 disc set as well.

3.       Aztec Camera: Catalog reissues (Demon/Edsel UK).  Once again, masterfully compiled sets for completists, loaded with b-sides, live tracks, and rarities.  One small quibble: where are the Postcard singles? 

4.       MBV: Isn’t Anything/Loveless/The EP’s 1988-1991. (Sony) Outside of Kevin Shields’ remastering job, there’s not much new here, but the sound is clear and powerful (but not brickwalled) and the convenience of having the EPs compiled in one place is wonderful.

5.       Ride: Nowhere/Going Blank Again.  (Rhino/Ride) Their two best records get lovingly reissued, with bonus live discs/DVDs.  Nowhere might be one of the best debut records ever, and Going Blank Again wasn’t much of a letdown.

6.       English Beat: The Complete Beat box/Live at the US Festival.  (Shout! Factory) A handy-dandy box containing reissues of the three English Beat records, plus a double-CD of rarities and remixes.  The US market also gets a CD/DVD release of two shows recorded at the US Festival in 1982 and 1983.  Essential ska.

7.       REM: Document. (Capitol) As the reissues of the IRS years wind down (why not a reissue of Dead Letter Office?), the breakthrough record gets its own remastered, boxed-up reissue, paired with an excellent (if oft-bootlegged) live show from 1987.  Now to nitpick: why did the series start with a slipcase soft pack (and demos bonus disc) and transform into hard boxes with live shows?  Can’t we be consistent with our reissue programs?  (See #1, above).  Will the Warner Brothers years be next?

8.       World Party: Arkeology. (Seaview Records) A unique set: packaged in daily planner/calendar, five discs of almost completely unreleased material from a band that has only released five studio albums.  There is some throwaway material, but it’s amazing how many great songs Karl Wallinger has in him.

9.       Old 97s: Too Far To Care, 15^th Anniversary Reissue. (Omnivore) For a few minutes, in the 90’s, the Old 97’s were going to be huge.  Rhett Miller was second only to Ryan Adams in alt-country cache, and Too Far to Care was released by Elektra with chart dreams that went, sadly, unrealized.  In retrospect, the Old 97’s were too twangy, too raucous, and too country to ever make alt-rock playlists, but this reissue, which adds rarities and the original demos for the record, proves that Elektra funded one of the better alt-country releases of the decade.

10.   Frank Turner: The Second Three Years/Last Minutes and Lost Evenings. (Xtramile/Epitaph)  The Second Three Years finishes FT’s odds-and-sods collecting, covering the tracks released on EPs and singles after the first two studio albums (and after the first collection, The First Three Years) including the excellent Rock and Roll EP.  Cover versions abound, including NOFX, Wham!, Springsteen, and Take That.  I’m pretty sure that sentence has never been written before.  Last Minutes and Lost Evenings is a decidedly different beast: a compilation of tracks from records that didn’t get wide release in the US that hold together shockingly well.  The appeal, though, for those who have the records already is the stellar live DVD of his breakthrough Wembley show that broke him as a huge star in the UK.

11.   Flying Nun: Tally Ho!/Time to Go. (Flying Nun) Two excellent sets of classics from the Flying Nun roster: one, a double disc set of hits, the other a single disc collection of the trippiest psychedelic moments from the heyday of Flying Nun.

12.   Cotton Mather: Kontiki.  (Star Apple Kingdom) A lost pop gem, originally released on Copper Records in 1997 and once hot-tipped by Noel Gallagher, gets a healthy double-disc reissue thanks to Kickstarter and a reunion at SXSW this year.  A smattering of power pop, psychedelia, and Britpop meld into a wonderfully melodic lost treasure.

13.   Elbow: Dead In the Boot. (Fiction) Odds and sods, b-sides, whatever.  None of this is throwaway material.  It’s not a complete set of b-sides, unfortunately, but there’s nothing of low quality here.  “McGreggor” places high on the list of the band’s best songs.

14.   The Jam: The Gift. (Universal).  The Jam’s swan song is an uneven record, but lovingly reissued with singles, demos, and bonus tracks galore in a 2 disc edition.  My wallet wasn’t fat enough for the massive box that included a live show, DVD, and tour program.

15.   Interpol: Turn on the Bright Lights-10^th Anniversary Edition (Matador).  I’m not sure how I feel about reissues programs for 10 year anniversaries, but this one works.  The original album (one of my faves from 2001, and it’s aged really nicely!) is supplemented with demos, Peel Sessions, and b-sides, along with a DVD.

16.   The House of Love: The House of Love (Cherry Red).  The self-titled Creation Records debut (one of three self-titled releases from the band!) is lovingly reissued as a 3 CD set, with 40 bonus tracks of singles, b-sides, and demos.  An underappreciated band, from both the Britpop era AND the halcyon days of Creation.

17.   Archers of Loaf: Reissues (Merge).  All four Archers of Loaf records, reissued with bonus discs of varying quality (demos are inessential, but EPs and single b-sides are superb) remind us that Chapel Hill’s version of Pavement was probably better than Pavement.

18.   Big Country: The Crossing: Deluxe Edition.(Universal UK).  A massive double disc reissue of the Scottish one-hit wonders, with loads of bonus tracks, b-sides, and ephemera.  The album itself is an underappreciated gem, and hearing many of the songs in demo form, unencumbered by 80’s echo and production, is pretty cool.

19.   Various Artists: Fac Dance and Fac Dance 02 (Strut).  Four discs of obscure, dance-based stuff that come out (with little fanfare or widespread success) on Factory Records in the wake of the success of New Order, most of them shepherded by New Order’s manager Rob Gretton and lead singer Bernard Sumner, both obsessed with New York’s Danceteria scene.  Most of these bands remain obscure, but some ‘names’ make the cut (The Wake, A Certain Ratio) along with a lot of groups that vanished without a trace.

20.   The Rolling Stones: GRRR! (ABCKO/Universal).  A straightforward triple-disc greatest hits set, with a few new tracks (“Doom and Gloom” is a pretty great new single, btw) that highlight how many amazing songs the Stones have put to tape.  There’s a bigger 5 disc set, as well, padded with an extra disc of songs (all solid) and a bonus disc of 1963 demos.

21.   The Go-Betweens: Quiet Heart (EMI Australia).  Why another Go-B’s best of?  For starters, this is the first one to cover the later, reunion records.  More importantly, this comes with a bonus live disc from 1987 of peak-period Go-Betweens.  It still saddens me that Grant is no longer with us.