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RHINO
JESUS & MARY CHAIN/Automatic (73376); Darklands (73377); Honey’s Dead (73378); Psycho Candy (73379); Stoned & Dethroned (73380): Influential in the rise of alt., J&MC find their catalog reissued and overhauled in fine style. While dualdisc might not have caught on with consumers, this collection shows that it certainly has a place with fans. Each disc is augmented with a DVD dualdisc side that has three videos. With the genesis of these sides stretching back over 20 years, the guitar/drone attack powered out of the underground and into Lollapolooza mainstreamism before calling it a day. Finding it hard to compete with your younger self, they leave behind this legacy that today’s accountants and lawyer’s were getting their tongued pierced to back when it was somewhat outre. They are the nostalgia market this is squarely aimed at.
THE GLOVE/Blue Sunshine (70803); THE CURE/Head on the Door (74063); Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me (74064); The Top (74065): Robert Smith and his mates are one of those groups that tend to defy time and have a following that loves them long after time should allow for most pop acts. The original shoegazer, his loyal following practically mandates that his older albums be given such a deluxe reissue treatment. Each of these albums has the spiffed up original album and a second disc of previously unreleased period rarities. Maybe not the stuff that would interest the casual fan but the kind of stuff that would drive the uber fan nuts. The original contemporary shoegazer, Smith and Co (his side trip, The Glove, is included here) really had it going on in the mid 80s when haircut bands seemed to rule the roost. A trend unto themselves, this is why they have lasted when so many of their contemporaries can only be found on Ebay any more.
POGUES/Hell’s Ditch (74067); If I Should Fall From Grace With God (74069); Peace & Love (74070); Red Roses for Me (74071); Rum, Sodomy & the Lash (74072): Although you can find the former Mrs. Costello on board here in these Elvis Costello produced session, the attraction for continuity on these five sets is these are the ones where Shane MacGowan was on board. The lighting of the fuse of Irish punk, this crew attracted hipsters from all over to their Celtic racket. Very much the sound of the street that wasn’t rap, Pogues often dared you to like them, but with Joe Strummer, Steve Lillywhite and others acting as buffers, you got the right noise, not just any noise. Brimming with punk energy that would later be co-opted and watered down by manques like Chumbawumba, I guess it’s easier to be pissed off in the UK than it is here, these sets are powered by a much rawer anger. With enough bonus tracks to make you cross your eyes, this is remastered and shined up to entice the fan that thinks they have it all and don’t need to go to the well again. Just one listen will have them thinking otherwise.
PRETENDERS/II (74177); Pretenders (74178): An auspicious debut, a solid follow up, half the band dies and they lope along on energy after that. Rock got a needed kick in the pants from this transplanted Yank that brought it back by way of London when punk was filling up with, well, pretenders, and needed something to save the genre. It might be hard to see it now, but this crew was pretty radical back then and Chrissie Hynde was one in a million. “Brass in Pocket” was an anthem to stir the times and they had a sound that still survives the times. Where ever else their career meandered, these two sets are a testament. Spiffed up for the uberfan with a second disc each of rarities, as well as the requisite remastering, this is a cd purchase that’s a must for any real rock collection. The extras are nice but the core, original material still stands on it’s own, and very tall at that.
Volume 30/Number 21
December 4, 2006
MIDWEST RECORD RECAP
830 W. Route 22 #144
Lake Zurich, IL., 60047
CHRIS SPECTOR, Editor and Publisher
(c)2006 Midwest Record
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