Vinyl Tap: Best Reissues of 2006
Published January 01, 2007
5. Lucinda Williams - Car Wheels on a Gravel Road [Original Recording Remastered]
- Broken down shacks engine parts
Could tell a lie but my heart would know
Listen to the dogs barkin’ in the yard
Car wheels on a gravel road...
As alternately sensuous and venomous as it is ever-vivid and evocative, the conscientious Williams’ remastered dual-disk deluxe edition of her masterfully crafted 1998 release, itself a laborious consequence of a revolving door series of producers, cities, and studios, almost seems like too much of a good thing, as if she’s out-perfected perfection - and in grand and glorious fashion.
6. Fats Waller - If You Got to Ask, You Ain't Got It! [Box Set] [Original Recording Remastered]
And if, after three discs and 66 songs of instrumental swing and striding and sly vocals, you still got to ask, you never will get it.
7. The dB's - Like This
The heart-surging “Love Is For Lovers” and the brooding “Lonely Is (As Lonely Does)” highlight a 1984 power-pop confection, Southern-style.
8. John Lee Hooker - Hooker [Box Set]
A comprehensive, career-spanning four-disc box set. For breadth and depth, things don’t get bluesier than this.
9. Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys - Legends Of Country Music [Box Set] [Original Recording Remastered]
With dance-floor style Western swing and its embrace of blues, jazz, country, and pop standards, this four-disc anthology shows why Wills distanced himself from the limitations of the “hillbilly” label.
10. Spoon - Telephono & Soft Effects [Enhanced]
Long lost Pixie-lated punk-pop from ‘96 and ‘97, jagged and jarring yet accessible and melodic.
Honorable Mentions:
Bangles - We Are The '80s
Beach Boys - Pet Sounds 40th Anniversary CD+DVD [ENHANCED] [LIMITED EDITION]
Captain Beefheart - Doc At The Radar Station [Original Recording Remastered]
The Cure - Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me [Original Recording Remastered]
Los Lobos - Wolf Tracks: the Best of Los Lobos
Roy Orbison - The Essential Roy Orbison [Original Recording Remastered]
Pavement - Wowee Zowee: Sordid Sentinels Edition
The Replacements - Don't You Know Who I Think I Was?: The Best of the Replacements
Sebadoh III
Frank Sinatra: Vegas [Box Set] [Live]
T Bone Burnett - Twenty Twenty: The Essential T Bone Burnett
That's Entertainment [BOX SET] [SOUNDTRACK]
Gordon "Von Zipper" Hauptfleisch is a Blogcritics Books Editor, free lance writer, and book reviewer for the San Diego Union Tribune. He's also an enigmatic visionary of unfathomable secrets and many a guise, or at least he plays one in his delusions of grandeur. His mandate also includes weird bugs.
In a previous life he was a leprous horse thief. - Vinyl Tap: Best Reissues of 2006
- Published: January 01, 2007
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Soundtracks, Music: R&B, Music: Lists, Music: Jazz, Music: Country and Americana, Music: Classic Rock and Oldies, Music: Blues, Music: Adult Alternative
- Part of a feature: Vinyl Tap
- Writer: Gordon Hauptfleisch
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Comments
I would add as honorbale mentions The Miles Davis Quintet - The Legendary Prestige Quintet Sessions and John Coltrane - Fearless Leader.
Not to be too picky, but I don't think we can really call Sinatra: Vegas a "reissue" since none of those recordings were ever previously released (officially, at least.)
Whatever you wanna call it, though, it's a great box set!
Great list - nice to see Matthew Sweet & the dB's make it on a list that isn't "Ten Great Unheard Of Rock Recording Artists." Now if they'll just reissue Guadalcanal Diary......
Thanks Glen and El Bicho for the comments.
Stephen: you're absolutely right, and for the reason you mentioned I limited Sinatra to an honorable mention, though I shouldn't have even done that--I did know better, though I did want to acknowledge it. At least I didn't include, as some did on their reissue lists, Waits' "Orphans" and Martin/Beatles "Love."
Nice list! I really dug The Essential Roy Orbison and the Matthew Sweet reissue too. What about the Johnny Cash at San Quentin set? I've heard that's really good altho I haven't been able to pick it up yet.
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Nice list Gordon. It seemed there was an unusually high number of quality reissues this year. I know I wrote about way more of them than usual. Your list probably reads a little differently than mine would, but I'd definitely agree with you on the Pretenders, the Byrds, and Pet Sounds.
I also thought they did a great job with the ELO reissues, making me realize that I liked those songs a lot more than I remembered. What I'm really forward to this year are the remastered Sly and The Family Stone albums. Hopefully they finally get Sly right.
-Glen