Weekly Reissue Roundup

     

Davie Allan & The Arrows: Cycle Delic Sounds Of... [Bonus Tracks] (Sundazed, May 10, 2005) ****
Sonny Bono: Inner Views (Collector's Choice, May 10, 2005) ***
Rank & File: Long Gone Dead (Collector's Choice, May 10, 2005) ****
Gentle Giant: Free Hand [35th Anniversary Edition] (DRT Entertainment, May 10, 2005) ****

This week's new re-issues are a mixed bag. Some of the bigger names getting a second go-round include Elvis Presley and Live In Las Vegas on Capitol, which collects live recordings from 1970-1972 just before the "fat Elvis" period. Dave Mason's 1973 release It's Like You Never Left, recorded with Graham Nash helping as Mason's commercial fortunes were declining precipitously; on Repertoire Records. NPG (Big Daddy) is giving Prince's 2001 album The Rainbow Children new life, which sees him fronting some cool jazz, while trumpeting his new faith since his conversion to Jehovah's Witnesses. Beat Goes On has released a number of useful two-fers, including Mr. Blues/Confessin' the Blues by B.B. King, Portrait of Merle Haggard/Keep Movin' On by Merle Haggard and the Strangers, and Straight Shooter/Passin' Thru by the James Gang (led by Joe Walsh).

Compilations include Flying in & Out of Stardom on Castle Us, and originally on Sanctuary. It collects the 3 rare Baker Gurvitz Army albums (featuring Ginger Baker, ex-Cream) from the 70's on a two-disc set. Billie Holiday gets a new compilation, the nicely inclusive Anthology [Deluxe Edition] on Cleopatra.

Among the most noteworthy re-issues this week:

Davie Allan & The Arrows: Cycle Delic Sounds Of... [Bonus Tracks] (Sundazed, May 10, 2005)

Davie Allan & the Arrows were the king of the teen exploitation flick soundtrack in the 60's. Like the films they scored, their music was raw and delinquent, and stands on its own merits. They even deserves a rather major footnote in rock history as a bridge between early 60's surf music and late 60's psychedlia; the surf influence would stick and inform a number of west coast psychedelic bands. Their primal rave-ups featured plenty of fuzz guitar and raw, elemental arrangements. Their first hit was "Apache 65", from the album Apache 65, a remake of the Shadows' original "Apache". Their 1967 album Blues Theme, from the movie The Wild Angels, a Peter Fonda biker flick, reached the top-40. Both of those albums plus Cycle Delic Sounds Of... have been given re-release by reliable reissue label Sundazed, which specializes in psychedelic 60's. Cycle Delic Sounds Of... is arguable the best of the three, a space between Dick Dale and Link Wray on acid. Full of psychedelic multi-tracking, wah-wah, distortion, and stereo effects, it is a landmark stereophile album and a true nugget of the era.

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