Wednesday, September 09, 2009

The Music Says I'm Old

This week's new releases that I am interested in are all... reissues of old records.

In case you live under a rock, this week brings remastered reissues of The Beatles back catalog. It is exciting for me because I only have the old albums on vinyl - I never did the original run of Beatles CDs in the '80s or the reissues in the '90s. If you have the big bucks (and can find it in a store) you can get them all together as a box set with a bonus DVD. I am choosing to go with the individual albums - I am a big fan of the later years, so I'm skipping some of the early stuff. From what I've managed to hear so far these reissues sound fantastic - crisp and clean and loud. So if you don't already own 'em I would recommend picking up a few.

The Stone Roses - Shoot You Down

The Stone Roses' self titled debut turned 20 years old this year, and this week it gets the deluxe 20th anniversary "legacy edition" treatment. In my musical kingdom it is almost as important as The Beatles records - a classic British rock record. Back in the day it was my fave for a long time. Remastered by original producer John Leckie and singer Ian Brown, it includes the original album with Fools Gold added as a bonus track, and a second CD of "The Lost Demos". You also get a DVD with a live show recorded in August of 1989 at the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool as well as 6 music videos. It is a glorious reissue of a seminal album. It has been reissued before, but I stuck with my original issue CD. The old CD is a lot quieter than today's releases so I am pleased with the improved sound quality for sure! Haven't listened to the demos yet - not usually my thing - but have watched some of the live stuff and videos and it is all good! Shoot You Down is all about the guitar and shuffle-y beats - glorious!

The Feelies - Slipping (Into Something)

A couple of classic reissues from The Feelies hit stores this week too - Crazy Rhythms & The Good Earth. I was short on fundage so I went with The Good Earth from 1986. Produced by REM's Peter Buck, it is a fantastic set of VU inspired, jangly college rock that sounds just as good today as it did 23 years ago! The only annoyance is that the bonus content is not on the CD - you get a code to download three extra songs. Seems a bit goofy really, but whatever. Slipping (Into Something) is slow burning simmer with sinuous guitar that slowly builds into a storm of feedback and drums. Rock!!

1 comment:

Matt Klomp said...

Great post - loved that you included the Stone Roses re-issue. The record sounds incredible and I'm really glad about people that haven't heard much of these guys before finding them now. Such a great album!