Vinyl Tap: My Top Ten Album Reissues for 2007
Published December 17, 2007
4) The Traveling Wilburys - Volume 1 and Volume 3 (2 CD / 1 DVD)
A group of nobodies make good. And they even avoid the dreaded “sophomore album syndrome” by coming out with two albums (1988, ‘90) without having a second release! Geniuses all!
5) Faces - Ooh La La (Original Recording Remastered, Import)
It was a tough call between this 1973 release and 1971’s raucous A Nod Is as Good as a Wink and even more ragged Long Player, but Ooh La La — the Faces last studio album as the group split in light of Rod Stewart’s solo superstardom — gets my nod for being one gloriously torn and frayed loose end after the another. From the boisterous “Borstal Boys” and the nudge-nudge “Silicone Grown,” to Ronnie Lane’s bittersweet and tattered title song, Ooh La La is a lively and rowdy I-declare for this remarkably ramshackle and raucous yet highly influential group.
6) Nils Lofgren
Glimmer Twins of the World Unite! Before Ron Wood from the just split-up Faces replaced guitarist Mick Taylor from the Rolling Stones, E-Streeter Nil Lofgren, after he had worked with Neil Young and disbanded Grin, was rumored to be under consideration as Rolling Stones guitarist. Instead, he signed as solo artist with A&M, and this 1975 album is the rollicking and affable result, though there still is the urgency contained in the message of “Keith Don’t Go.”
7) The Pretenders - Learning to Crawl (Original Recordong Remastered)
“Now we’re back in the fight.” Chrissie Hynde reinvents the Pretenders in 1984 with two new members, some great new songs and splendid results. “Our hearts were singing / It felt like Christmastime…”
8) U2 -Joshua Tree (Original Recording Remastered, Extra Tracks, Deluxe Edition)
Lots of bells and whistles in the reissue of this 1987 classic, including the fact that it contains a special essay by the Edge. Isn’t that reason enough?
9) Electric Light Orchestra - Out of the Blue (Extra Tracks)
It’s no Eldorado or A New World Record, but this double album, originally from 1977, has its moments of trademark ELO Beatlesque pop and classical arrangements.
10) Magazine - Secondhand Daylight (Original Recording Remastered, Extra Tracks)
Need the musical antidote to ELO’s terminally sunny “Mr. Blue Sky” when the “Sun is shinin' in the sky / There ain't a cloud in sight” and where “Everybody's in a play [and] It's a beautiful new day”? Howard Devoto and Magazine’s menacing and chilling Secondhand Daylight, originally from 1979, lets in sufficient gloom as “Thunder shook loose hail / on the outhouse again”:
- As the day stops dead
at the place where we're lost
I will drug you and fuck you
on the permafrost.
Gordon Hauptfleisch, alias Neanderthal Hawthorne, 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: My Top Ten Album Reissues for 2007
- Published: December 17, 2007
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Adult Alternative, Music: Classic Rock and Oldies, Music: Lists, Music: New Wave, Music: Pop, Music: Rock
- Part of a feature: Vinyl Tap
- Writer: Gordon Hauptfleisch
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Comments on this articleComments
I'm still waiting for the reissue of the third Twilley album, caled just "Twilley." Those first two are also great, but the third was always my favorite. On songs like "I Wanna Make Love To You," the Brian Wilson-esque production sweep is just gorgeous.
Great list Gordon.
-Glen
EB: Oh there's plenty of time, er, ... oh wait...
Glenn: Thanks for the reminder on that one--I'll need to rummage for it, but I think I still have it, and anything with such a shimmering Wilson production is due for a resissue. Don't discount solo Phil Seymour, though: his 1980 album had a hit with "Precious to Me," but also had a great cover with Bobby Fuller's terrific "Let Her Dance."
Good choices! Faces, Magazine and yes, ELO are my picks from your list.
Of course, the thing that worries me about reissues is the mastering of the product. How compressed is the sound? Modern day digital technology sounds like shit. The main reason I have never downloaded a single song onto my computer. Glorified transistor radio. A complaint I have had about music and the computer world since day one.
The music industry will bounce back once people find out what shitty sound is. As long as the industry starts selling quality sound....
Ooh la la,
DM
Thanks, Douglas, for the the comments--well said.
Ah, so few Magazine fans there are it seems! Great list, thanks.
Gordon, thank you. You know what I am talking about regarding the remastered sound! Also, let me put in a thumbs up for your selection of the Pretenders.
Jon, yes, a Magazine fan, for sure. Dig those posted lyrics to 'Permafrost'! Oh, this is 'Real Life', hehe. My favorite tune by Magazine. I saw them once in Seattle, '82 or so. Man, they had incredible live sound! Very crisp and full. Better than sitting at home listening to studio monitors.
best,
DM
Gordon, you're weakening my resolve not to invest in another round of Costello reissues. Damn.
Lisa--
I'm going to say it once again 'til I instill it:
Hip-O Records wants you to make another investment
Thanks Jon, and Douglas, just want to put in my bid for the Pretenders as a great live act, too.
Also, another fave from Magazines' "Believe That I Understand":
Here is the lie of the land
Once again, once again
You squeeze yourself
Out of your thin inner world...
Gordon,
Excellent post and Happy Holidays. I think 2008
Should be a big year for vinyl reissues.
Bernie D
Thanks, Bernie, and Happy VinylDays to you, too.
You know, amidst my complaints about remastering and the highly compressed anti-audiophile sound designed for computers and the digital world...Something that our wonderful re-issues suffer from...
There is something out on the market for our audiophile consumer in this modern age. The ReQuest S4.2500 server. It restores computer compression to studio standards.
Only $18,500!!!! Let's all go get 2 of them...
Oh, as an afterthought, I noticed a copy of Faces 'A Nod Is As Good As A Wink To A Blind Horse' on the Amazon list below the article. One of my all time favorite albums. It has a version of Chuck Berry's 'Memphis' that is the most rockin' thing you have ever heard...A creative interpretation, yet smokin' rock.
best,
DM
Oh my god, how could I forget!!!!!
JOY DIVISION 'Unknown Pleasures/Closer/Still
YOUNG MARBLE GIANTS "Colossal Youth'
JD's 'Closer' is one of my all time favorite albums.
Anyway, throw those into the loop....
best,
DM
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My Xmas list just got longer. Thanks