Friday , April 19 2024
The re-issues are where it's at this week...

New Album Releases: Paul McCartney, Weezer, Bleu, Elliott Smith, Brian Eno, Mariah Carey & More…

I’m searching with my good eye closed, looking forward back in this week’s New Album Releases as the titles most interesting to me are from the re-issue department as opposed to actual new albums.  Before I get to those, I will throw some shout outs in the direction of Brian Eno’s Small Craft On A Milk Sea and Bleu’s Four.  I’ll also throw a shoutout to the Introduction To Elliott Smith compilation.  If you don’t know Elliott, you need to be introduced.  Of course my advice in that case is to buy each of his albums and not to come out of your room until you’re weeping and overflowed with emotion and gratitude for the life and music but that’s just me.  One more shoutout, our own BC Editor El Bicho has reviewed the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame 25th Anniversary Concert package being released in multiple formats.  The shows were held last year and are being released today.  With that, let’s take a look at what’s on my pre-Christmas list for the week:

Paul McCartney
Band On The Run
(Remastered)

As has become the way of things, this remastered edition of Macca’s classic Band On The Run is available in numerous packages/formats.  There’s the single disc version featuring the 9-track album, remastered by the geniuses who spectacularly remastered The Beatles’ catalog for release last year.  There’s a 2-CD/DVD package, a 3-CD/DVD package, and a 2-LP vinyl package.  I’ve selected the 2-CD/DVD package which includes the remastered album, a second disc with another nine bonus audio tracks, and a DVD with various goodies.

Weezer
Pinkerton (Deluxe)
Death To False Metal

Once upon a time, Weezer released a sophomore record named Pinkerton.  Critics pretty well buried the record and the band disappeared for several years.  It should have been a career killer but quietly, while no one was looking, new generations of fans dug deeply into the songs and learned one of life’s undeniable truths: sometimes the critics are full of shit.  Pinkerton became a cult favorite, Weezer returned, and the masses rejoiced.  Weezer is returning Pinkerton to the kids newly remastered and outfitted with rarities, live cuts, and alternate takes of these songs that now mean so much to so many.

In the process of digging through the archives, the band assembled another disc of rarities and other material from their vault and named it Death To False Metal.  It’s being sold separately from the Pinkerton package and gathers tracks considered for different Weezer albums over the year.  It includes a cover of Toni Braxton’s schmaltzy hit “Unbreak My Heart.”  I’m going to buy this anyway.

My copies of those three are on the way to my house.  How about you?  What are you digging for this week?  Take a look at these titles and share your thoughts below…

1900s, The – Return Of The Century
7 Walkers – 7 Walkers
Afrocubism – Afrocubism
Andy Creeggan – Andiwork Iii
Autumn Defense, The – Once Around
Barn Owl – Ancestral Star
Beckett, Harry – The Modern Sound Of Harry Beckett
Billy Mumy – Glorious In Defeat
Black Dub – Black Dub
Bleu – Four
Brent Amaker And The Rodeo – Please Stand By
Brongaene Griffin – Three Colours Ginger
Brubeck, Dave – Original Album Classics
Buckwheat Zydeco – Buckwheat Zydeco’s Bayou Boogie
Campbell, David – On Broadway
Cee Cee James – Seriously Raw: Live At Sunbanks
Charles Lorenzo Hayes – Just Us
Chet Baker – Misty
Chet Baker – My Foolish Heart
Christianson, Bob – A Christmas Carol—The Concert
Climber – The Mystic
Darkstar – North
Dead Snares – Speak The Language
Diamond, Neil – Dreams
Discharge – Apocalypse Now
Dub Syndicate – The Royal Variety Show (The Best Of Dub Syndicate)
Duncan Faure – Anthology
Eno, Brian – Small Craft On A Milk Sea
Fall, The – The Wonderful And Frightening
Flower Machine, The – Lavender Lane
For Colored Girls – Music From And Inspired By The Original Motion Picture For Colored Girls
Frank Frost – Deep Blues
Glenna Bell – Perfectly Legal: Songs Of Sex, Love And Murder
Good Charlotte – Cardiology
Grand Lake – Blood Sea Dream
Greg Ruby Quartet – Look Both Ways
Hentchmen, The – The Hentchmen
High Dials, The – Anthems For Doomed Youth
James, Brian – The Brian James Gang
Janet Klein And Her Parlor Boys – Whoopee Hey! Hey!
Jason Aldean – My Kinda Party
Jeff Finlin – The Tao Of Motor Oil
Jeremy Scahill – Blackwater: Mercenary Army
John York – Arigatou Baby
Jovino Santos Neto – Veja O Som (See The Sound)
June, The – Green Fields And Rain
k.d. Lang – A Truly Western Experience – 25th Anniversary Edition
Killing Floor – Zero Tolerance
King Kobra – Kollection
Lazer Sword – Lazer Sword
Lewis, Huey And The News – Soulsville
Malone, Russell – Triple Play
Mariah Carey – Merry Christmas II You
Massy Ferguson – Hard Water
Matt & Kim – Sidewalk
Paul McCartney – Band On The Run (Remastered)
Michel Petrucciani – Estate
Mike Marshall – An Adventure 1999-2009
Mu – The First Album
OK Go – Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky (Deluxe/Extra Nice Edition)
Old Light – The Dirty Future
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – The Sound Of Music – 45th Anniversary Edition
Paisley, Brad – Hits Alive
Parties, The – Coast Garde
Pat McLaughlin – Wind It On Up
Patrick Campbell-Lyons – 13 Dalis
Paul Avgerinos – Law Of Attraction
Pitbull – Armando
Priests, The – Noël
Ravage – Wrecking Ball
Red River, The – Little Songs About The Big Picture
Roscoe Shelton – She’s The One
Sapient – Barrels For Feathers
Silvery – Railway Architecture
Smith, Elliott – An Introduction To Elliott Smith
Terry Davidson And The Gears – Damnation Blues
Terry Davidson And The Gears – Leave Here Runnin’
The 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Concerts – The 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Concerts
The Burrito Brothers – Back To The Sweetheart Of The Rodeo
The Jigsaw Seen – Bananas Foster
The Morlocks – The Morlocks Play Chess
The Not-Its! – Time Out To Rock
The Not-Its! – We Are The Not-Its!
The Sleep-Ins – Songs About Girls & Outer Space
Train – Save Me, San Francisco (Golden Gate Edition)
Various Artists – Punk Goes Pop Volume Three
Weezer – Death To False Metal
Weezer – Pinkerton (Deluxe)
Wow & Flutter – Equilibrio!
Zion & Lennox – Los Verdaderos

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