New vinyl reissues: March 13, 2024
Hello, fellow vinyl heads—we’ve got another weekly rundown of all the vinyl reissues coming at us fast and furious. It’s a stacked roster, so we should probably get right into it.
But first, just a quick reminder about our March vinyl giveaway for folks on our paid-subscriber tier. We’re giving away not one, not two, not five (that would be too many), but FOUR Vinylphyle albums to one lucky winner. To find out how to enter—and to upgrade to our paid tier so you can take advantage of these terrific monthly giveaways—click this rectangle, if you please.
Ned Lannamann
OK. Did you join our paid tier and enter the contest? Good. You did the right thing and I’m proud of you. Now let’s get into the week.
Peter Gabriel: In the Big Room [Real World]
This 2003 live-in-the-studio recording finds Gabriel and his band performing material from the Growing Up tour for a small audience at Gabriel’s Real World Studio in Box, England. A handful of classics are in the setlist—“Shock the Monkey,” “In Your Eyes,” “Games Without Frontiers”—but the gig was skewed toward newer material from 2002’s Up and overlooked tunes from OVO, a project commissioned for the Millennium Dome (now the O2). Despite the smaller environs, Gabriel and the other musicians still emit a gargantuan, arena-sized sound, with lots of processed synths, dense rhythms, and gut-punchingly emotional arrangements. The set was first released digitally in 2024 and now comes on 2-LP vinyl with a download card (hey, remember those?). NL
Supergrass: I Should Coco [BMG]
Though the group arrived in the midst of the Britpop explosion, Supergrass always seemed like the bratty cousins of the UK music scene, happy to toss up two fingers and a snide remark at more celebrated acts like Blur and Oasis even as they fought them for chart dominance. Released in 1995, the power trio’s debut album I Should Coco is still a whirlwind of punk bravado and sugary pop energy that, after a tidy 40 minutes, will leave you breathless and hungry for more (much like the blow that singer/guitarist Gaz Coombes got busted with as a teen, inspiring the soaring single “Caught By the Fuzz”). With the album’s 30th anniversary just in the rearview, BMG is keeping the album fresh in fan’s minds this week with a new pressing cut from remastered audio. RH
Gloria Jones: Share My Love [Survival Research]
The dubiousness of the reissue label notwithstanding—Survival Research has an address in Australia but is rumored to be based in Italy, where the copyright laws are conveniently lax—the chance to have Gloria Jones’s 1973 Motown LP Share My Love back on record shelves is exciting enough to overlook some gray areas. Jones, of course, is best known for the original “Tainted Love,” which didn’t do huge numbers as a B-side back in 1965 but eventually became a Northern Soul classic and got an electro cover from Soft Cell years later. Before she joined up with Marc Bolan and T. Rex, Jones recorded Share My Love, a tremendous, funky collection of immaculate soul-pop that showcases her dusky, hoarse voice to great effect. Of course she then went on to become entwined with Bolan—she was driving the car when he was killed—and Share My Love faded into obscurity, becoming one of those if-you-know-you-know records. Well, now it’s back in print (its potential illegitimacy notwithstanding), and now you know. (Personal note to the rights-holders of Motown’s back catalog: Get this one back in circulation properly and get this lady some money.) NL
Rush: Grace Under Pressure [UMe/Anthem]
With two albums under their collective belt (1981’s Moving Pictures and 1982’s Signals) that proved they could creatively keep up with artists like Talking Heads and the Police, Rush continued down a synth-heavy path with 1984’s Grace Under Pressure. Working for the first time with producer Peter Henderson, the Canadian trio recorded eight streamlined, sleek rock songs that addressed the nuclear fears of the time and drummer/lyricist Neil Peart’s ongoing fascination with the nature of man. To celebrate the album’s 40th birthday, the band has put together a massive package that comes in a variety of configurations. For our purposes, the one that matters is a 5-LP set that combines a 2025 remaster made by Abbey Road’s Sean Magee, a new stereo mix of the LP by producer Terry Brown (who produced many of Rush’s previous albums), and the audio from a September 1984 performance at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens. A Blu-ray featuring a film of that same gig also comes as part of the set, along with music videos and a new Dolby Atmos mix of the album. Perhaps the biggest selling point, though, is the promise of liner notes by Geddy Lee—the first time a member of the band has written something for a Rush reissue. RH
Sananda Maitreya: Juvenilia: The Columbia Years [Music on Vinyl]
If you don’t know the name Sananda Maitreya, you might remember the music he made under the name Terence Trent D’Arby, including the huge hit single “Wishing Well” from 1987. Hyped to no end when his debut Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D’Arby came out, D’Arby fell hard when subsequent albums didn’t capture the public imagination, but if his hubris got in the way of his public persona, it only helped his ambitious and wildly creative pop. This 6-LP box set collects the first four Terence Trent D’Arby albums—now altered to have Maitreya’s name on the cover—including Hardline, 1989’s Neither Fish Nor Flesh, the impressive but overlooked Symphony or Damn from 1993, and the funky, soulful Vibrator from 1995. Maitreya has penned new liner notes to go with the colored vinyl set. NL
Various Artists: Pretty in Pink soundtrack [UMe]
The John Hughes-penned 1986 teen dramedy Pretty in Pink may have continued the cultural dominance of Brat Pack queen Molly Ringwald and introduced the world to the scene-stealing Jon Cryer, but the film’s footprint was only made deeper by its soundtrack. The movie was chockablock with new wave and post-punk tunes from the likes of the Smiths, Echo and the Bunnymen, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, and, naturally, the Psychedelic Furs, who re-recorded their song “Pretty in Pink” for use in the film. In honor of the movie’s 40th anniversary, a new vinyl pressing of that soundtrack is out this week on black and, yes, limited pink wax. This new version also tacks on a couple of extra tunes left off the original release: “Rudy,” a scratchy reggae jam performed live in the film by Talk Back, and Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness,” the song that helped Cryer go from sidekick to superstar. RH
Emerson, Lake & Palmer: Pictures at an Exhibition & Trilogy [Mobile Fidelity]
MoFi continues their ELP reissues with 1971’s live recording Pictures at an Exhibition and 1972’s studio album Trilogy. The former finds the bombastic trio rearranging Mussorgsky’s piano suite—taking their cues from Ravel’s later orchestration—in front of a crowd at Newcastle City Hall, where Keith Emerson took advantage of the venue’s pipe organ. Trilogy, meanwhile, relies on band-composed work from Emerson and bassist Greg Lake, although it does include their version of Aaron Copland’s “Hoedown,” an additional reminder of that brief, bizarre period when prog bands reworking classical pieces were all the rage. The MoFi reissues are sourced from 1/4-inch copy tapes transferred to DSD and then cut from that digital file. These are single-disc 33 RPMs that come in Stoughton tip-on gatefolds. NL
Kim Wilde: Close [Demon]
Pop singer Kim Wilde made some minor waves in the US with 1981 new wave banger “Kids in America” and her 1986 cover of the Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hangin’ On.” But in her native England, she remains a regular chart presence, with her most recent album landing in the Top 30 on the UK charts. Demon Records has been celebrating Wilde’s long career with vinyl reissues of some of her best albums, and this week, they bring us 1988’s Close. Made with songwriting and production support from Kim’s younger brother Ricky and father Marty, the album is a burst of hi-NRG dance-floor fillers, soulful balladry, and chirpy synthpop. This new vinyl version comes with a pair of bonus tracks, and fans will have a choice between red vinyl and a picture disc. RH
Death Cab for Cutie: Something About Airplanes [Barsuk]
The Bellingham, Washington, band’s 1998 debut album is back on vinyl, and while listening to it now doesn’t make it sound like it presaged the indie movement of the ’00s, it does sound like a band that had fully digested their influences and was capable of carving out their own identity. The home-recorded affair is a bit more anonymous-sounding than the familiar aural signature Death Cab would later establish, but songs like “President of What?” and “Line of Best Fit” are more elusive and intriguing than you might remember, offering today’s listener more than just a nostalgic time capsule. Apparently the last vinyl pressing of this was in 2014, according to Discogs; Barsuk touts that this one is “packaged with the original spot-colour printed die-cut sleeve design, with a new boat-and-water-ripples lyrics insert.” NL
Abdou el Omari: Lost Tape - 1980 [Born Bad]
Moroccan musician and producer Abdou el Omari spent his relatively short career modernizing traditional North African melodies and rhythms through the use of early drum machines and an ARP Odyssey synthesizer. His 1967 LP Nuits d’Été and his various cassette releases are startlingly trippy and funky affairs, steeped in reverb and accented by wah-wah guitar and hand percussion. Omari walked away from the music industry in the early ’80s, frustrated with being unable to secure the masters for his recordings. After Omari’s passing in 2010, a friend rescued a box of the late artist’s belongings, including some private recordings, from a dumpster. One tape from this archive has made its way into the hands of French label Born Bad, who are issuing it on vinyl for the first time this week complete with liner notes by Fred Serendip and audio remastered by Jean-Louis Norscq. RH
Guggenheim: Guggenheim & Bandolero: Bandolero [Ojo de Mujer]
We still don’t know anything about the mysterious reissue label Ojo de Mujer except that their curatorial sense is sharp as a pin. Case in point: This week they’re unveiling two reissues of titles that are pure collector bait. Guggenheim is a 1972 obscurity released by Manchester, UK, label Indigo and is a somewhat fey collection of strummy folk-pop, with hints of jazz and prog if you’re being generous. The Guggenheim in question is the trio of Jules Burns, Chris Pye, and Paul McDowell, who either worked in or adjacent to the Granada TV headquarters in Manchester and recorded this somewhat shambling, lo-fi effort before going back to the television business. Meanwhile, Bandolero was a psychedelic rock band from Puerto Rico, and their 1970 self-titled album—released on the Hialeah, Florida, label Truth—is the lone testament to the six-piece’s fuzzed-out, heavy-lidded attack. NL
Brion Gysin: Dreamachine [Wewantsounds]
Multidisciplinary artist Brion Gysin’s creative interests were vast. He may be best remembered for his use of the cut-up technique of taking a piece of printed writing, snipping the individual words out, and rearranging them to create new texts, but he also painted huge landscapes, created sound art, and made sculptures. One of his most important sculptural works was the Dreamachine, a cylinder with spaces cut out of its sides. The idea was to place it on a turntable with a light bulb suspended in the middle. Looked at through closed eyelids while its spins, the device was meant to send folks into a hypnagogic state. Gysin tried to replicate this experience aurally, producing music made up of minimalist beats, spoken word, and repetitive melodies. This new release from the always-wonderful Wewantsounds presses some of this Dreamachine music to vinyl for the first time: a 32-minute suite made in 1992 by producer/musician Ramuntcho Matta and bassist Serge Salibur using a recording of Gysin’s voice, and a 1984 work that Gysin made with Matta and saxophonist Steve Lacy. David Hachour remastered everything at Colorsound Studio in Paris using the original master tapes, and liner notes have been written by Gysin scholar Jason Weiss. RH
The Band: Northern Lights–Southern Cross [Capitol]
At the tail end of last year, Universal released a Vinylphyle edition of the Band’s 1975 album Northern Lights–Southern Cross, just in time for the album’s 50th anniversary. (We reviewed that excellent all-analog pressing here.) Now, just a few short months later, they have pressed up another version, and oddly, this one is touted as the 50th anniversary edition, although it’s a bit late to the party. With scant details other than a lower price point, I feel confident that this is a pretty run-of-the-mill pressing and is probably cut from a digital transfer made several years ago. It’s a good album, but originals sound great and the Vinylphyle tops it, so this one’s for Band completists or maybe folks who get their vinyl at the Barnes & Noble or something. NL
Hans Reichel: Dalbergia Retusa [Black Truffle]
Not nearly as well known as other guitar experimentalists like Derek Bailey and Fred Frith, Hans Reichel nevertheless left a huge impression on anyone who heard him. The German composer and luthier played with both a free-jazz abandon and a control that fit nicely into the ambient/minimalist zone. One dutiful fan is Oren Ambarchi, the musician and owner of Black Truffle Records, which is releasing a collection of Reichel’s work, focused on solo pieces the guitarist recorded between 1973 and 1988. The deluxe set comes with a comprehensive booklet with photos of Reichel’s many homemade guitars, which featured special capos, movable pickups, and added strings, among many other unusual upgrades. RH
Munster/Vampisoul
The reissue gurus at Spanish label Munster and its sister imprint Vampisoul have another stacked week of supremely cool-looking records. Munster is reissuing Rikk Agnew’s aptly titled 1982 solo album All by Myself, in which the Adolescents/Christian Death musician played all the instruments on songs that ranged from hardcore to post-punk to power pop. Munster is also dropping La Onda Pesada, the 1970 debut from 17-year-old Mexican songwriter Ernan Roch (aka Hernando Rocha), whose folk-inflected psychedelia contains the optimism of youth and the sound of endless possibilities. Meanwhile, Vampisoul has exhumed two more choice discs for new ears to discover. Roberto y su Nuevo Montuno’s El Nuevo Montuno Llego from 1970 contains raw Puerto Rican salsa; this is its first officially sanctioned vinyl reissue. Lastly, Quinteplus’s mega-rare self-titled album, first released by EMI in 1971, contains groovy Argentinean jazz fusion. NL
Jazz Alley
It’s a busy week down ol’ Jazz Alley, starting with Craft/Jazz Dispensary’s reissue of Joe Henderson’s Tetragon, first released in 1968 on Milestone. It’s a relaxed post-bop set that sees the saxophonist joined by Ron Carter, Kenny Barron, Jack DeJohnette, and others. The new version is cut by Kevin Gray from the original analog tape, pressed at Fidelity, and housed inside a tip-on gatefold.
Next up, we’ve got two new installments in the Verve Vault line: Pharoah Sanders’s Elevation, first released on Impulse! in 1974, a mixture of live and studio performances of heavily spiritual jazz; and Gábor Szabó’s Spellbinder from 1966 (also first released on Impulse!), an early effort that finds him tackling pop hits and standards as well as his own compositions. We’ll have more to say about the two Verve Vault titles in tomorrow’s newsletter.
Then we’ve got the last three releases in this phase of Analogue Productions’ Pablo Series: Zoot Sims’s Passion Flower, a 1980 collection of Duke Ellington interpretations; Sarah Vaughan’s Send in the Clowns from 1981, in which the vocalist is backed by the Count Basie Orchestra; and Benny Carter and Dizzy Gillespie teaming up for Carter, Gillespie, Inc., a 1976 reunion between the trumpeter and saxophonist who had worked together decades earlier. All three Pablo releases were cut from the analog master tapes by Matthew Lutthans, pressed at Quality Record Pressings, and come in Stoughton tip-ons.
Lastly, Craft Recordings is celebrating the centennials of Miles Davis and John Coltrane this year by issuing best-of compilations for both of them, focusing on their years at Prestige Records. The Best of Miles Davis is mostly culled from the 1956 quintet sessions that resulted in his albums Cookin’, Relaxin’, Workin’, and Steamin’, while The Best of John Coltrane cherry-picks from the 1957 and 1958 recordings that Coltrane made for Prestige, resulting in nearly a dozen LPs that were released during and after his contract. NL
OTHER REISSUES OF NOTE:
Batmobile: The Clarendon Ballroom Blitz - Live at the Klub Foot [Code 7]
Bee Gees: Best of; Children of the World; Spirits Having Flown [Capitol]
Jeff Buckley: The Grace EPs [Music on Vinyl]
Chicago: VI [Friday]
The Crawdaddys: Crawdaddy Express [Radiation Reissues]
Daddy Yankee: Los Homerun-es; Barrio Fino; El Cartel - The Big Boss; Talento de Barrio; Mundial [Craft]
Demon Fuzz: Afreaka [Music on Vinyl]
Celine Dion: Falling into You (Amazon exclusive) [Legacy]
Hiroshi Fukumura Quintet: Hiroshi Fukumura Quintet [Great Tracks/Sony Japan]
Humble Pie: Live in Cincinnati 1983 [Cleopatra]
The Jetset: Live at the 100 Club 1986 [Heavy Soul]
Jay-Jay Johanson: Whiskey [Music on Vinyl]
Kimiko Kasai with Kosuke Mine Quartet: Yellow Carcass in the Blue [Great Tracks/Sony Japan]
Ladyhawke: Ladyhawke [Proper]
Medusa: Dare to Rock [Lost Realm]
Millions of Dead Cops: Millions of Dead Cops: Millennium Edition [Beer City]
Takashi Mizuhashi: Who Cares [Great Tracks/Sony Japan]
Mdou Moctar: Ilana the Creator [Matador]
Michel Petrucciani: Both Worlds [Diggers Factory]
Chris Pope & The Chords UK: But Then Again [Code 7]
Tito Puente: Dance Mania [Music on Vinyl]
Sacrilege: Total Sacrilege - The Demos [Radiation Reissues]
Saxon: Solid Ball of Rock [Music on Vinyl]
Ramses Shaffy: Laat Me [Music on Vinyl]
The Sods: Live 1979/80 + Rehearsal 1978 [Deadly Orgone]
State of Art: Dancefloor Statements 1981–1982 [Spittle]
Isao Suzuki Trio: Black Orpheus [Great Tracks/Sony Japan]
The Times: Here Come the Times Vol. 1 [Heavy Soul]
Marcos Valle: Estatica [Far Out]
Oliver Wakeman: Mother’s Ruin [Mercury Studios]
Zeke: Kicked in the Teeth [Music on Vinyl]
The Zutons: Who Killed…; Tired of Hanging Around [Sony UK]
Various Artists: Art Form 1; Art Form 2 [WRWTFWW]
Various Artists: Great Lakes Gospel [Numero Group]
Various Artists: Synths, Sax & Situationists: Music from the French Underground 1973–78 [Roundtable]
