The Best Reissues of 2012

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We see you there. Yes you. All dried up and broke. We know what you’re doing. We can see you peering over the horizon, eyeing up the nearest cash cow. Reunion? Reissue? It doesn’t matter what you pick, we know the difference between a lovingly repackaged, remastered, rarity including, reinvigorated project and a limp last ditch attempt to milk your fans for all they’re worth. Thankfully we know there are plenty of artist around whose impact and creativity has never wained, those whose cult status has wrongly never risen about the threshold and we know their work has been restored for the love of it, for a celebration, for the next generation.

For this very reason trying to compile a list of reissues is perhaps one of the most humbling experiences a new music website can go through; the collective gaps in our knowledge revealed only to be immediately be filled with a hunger to find out more. And so it was with today’s list which, whilst we have no doubt will produce cries of “what about Interpol or Can?”, we hope will intrigue you enough to investigate further.

10. Oh Ok – The Complete Reissue

Listen: it’s an inevitable fact of pop that some bands just get lost by the wayside. And you can call them “cult artists” if you like, as you wait for the day they transcend their previously-humble existence. The day when enough broadsheet journalists and BBC4 documentary-makers cotton onto the potential cred that awaits those who unveil another bunch of obscurists’ treasures. The day when they stop being the sole preserve of a tiny but adoring group of misfits and become another fucking Top Man T-shirt design. But bear in mind that the above scenario is the exception, not the rule – most of these bands stay unknown, regardless of how incredible they are, how unique their sound or how goddamn precious every second spent listening to them can feel.

Listen: Athens, Georgia has provided the world with some of the greatest music ever paraded under the “alternative” banner – which may not mean anything any more, but it was still yet to be coined (never mind co-opted) in the early 1980s. In a world that’s witnessed the horrors of landfill indie, it’s easy to see post-punk as a disaffected British mannerism that gave way to Orange Juice first, then indiepop and C86; all disco beats, bitterly oblique rhetoric and angry white funk. But this city proved as much as any other that there was far more to the genre: the mysterious, smouldering beauty of early REM, Pylon raising holy hell from the simple art of tension and release, The B-52’s’ cartoonishly euphoric sense of otherness… if music is the product of its environment, what does this say about Athens? No, you don’t need to answer that.

Listen to Oh-OK: lesser-known contemporaries of the artists mentioned above, whose admittedly-scant studio output this vinyl-only selection collects, alongside some essential bonus material.

Listen: who do you want to impress most by listening to this record? Yourself? Your friends? Obscurist cognoscenti? Post-punk survivors? Athens hipsters you’ve never even met? Your damn turntable?

Never mind all that. It doesn’t matter.

Just fucking listen.

Will Fitzpatrick.

9. Palace – There is No One What Will Take Care Of You, Palace Brothers a.k.a. Days In The Wake, Hope, Lost Blues And Other Songs, Viva Last Blues

How entrenched can one man be in the last two decades of alternative culture? From snapping the iconic cover of Slint’s seminal Spiderland album, perhaps one of the images most strongly associated with the modern American underground, to his lead role in the critically lauded film Old Joy and an appearance in R. Kelly’s magically insane Trapped In The Closet, Will Oldham would be something of a cult figure even if he hadn’t written and recorded upwards of a dozen albums (not counting his major collaborations with artists as noteworthy as Tortoise) of the most highly acclaimed Americana of modern times.

Under various monikers, mostly varying versions of the Palace and Bonnie ‘Price’ Billy names, he’s moved, over the years, from the simplest Appalachian backwoods strumming to the borderline sex-comedy hoedowns of his recent live work via Steve Albini savagery (more on which later) and straight-out classic songwriting – I See A Darkness will probably remain in “Best Album Of All Time” lists for many years to come.

With this set of reissues we get to start from the start and understand a little more of how Oldham’s curious career evolved.

Michael James Hall

8. My Bloody Valentine – Isn’t Anything, Loveless, EPs and Rarities

One thing this reissue campaign proves is that it’s important to take each record on its own merits; the available My Bloody Valentine catalogue is small, but that doesn’t mean that each release rests on the other. There’s a sense of progress between the three records, sure, but the EP collection brings you that evolution without having to change discs. Isn’t Anything can now be accepted as an incredible stand-alone achievement, albeit one which just happened to come from the same minds who brought you Loveless.

EPs and Rarities is arguably the most important of these three reissues; so much of its material has been unavailable on any format other than crappy-quality mp3s for years, and its position as a pseudo-best of means that the listener can use it as a handy reference guide to their MBV-of-choice. The sheer volume of material on this compilation certainly bears listening to in smaller portions. Want a relentless jangle rush? Skip to the Pains Of Being Pure At Heart-inventing ‘Thorn’! Fancy ten minutes of relentlessly shifting industrial noise? Well, then you’ll love the extended take on ‘Glider’! Sure, it would’ve been nice to see the compilation-only covers of Wire (‘Map Ref. 41°N 93°W’) and Louis Armstrong (‘We Have All the Time in the World’) making an appearance (presumably licensing issues were to blame…), or Andrew Wetherall’s remix of ‘Soon’, but this compilation is still an embarrassment of riches that was entirely worth the wait.

Taken as a whole, this reissue campaign is a fantastic way to perpetuate the myth of My Bloody Valentine, and the reclusive genius of Kevin Shields, right down to the constant delaying of the release date. The CDs don’t necessarily sound better than the existing issues – which makes EPs and Rarities the only truly essential purchase of the bunch – but they certainly make for a more satisfying experience. Especially when, as obvious as it sounds, you play it fucking loud.

Alex Wisgard

7. The Small Faces – Small Faces (66) , From The Beginning, Small Faces (67), Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake

For a band whose original lineup’s recorded output only spanned four years, The Small Faces managed to leave behind an impressively rich and diverse discography. Now, the band’s Small Faces (Decca, 1966), From the Beginning, Small Faces (Immediate, 1967), and Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake are being re-released by Universal Music. When listened to in chronological order, these four albums tell the story of a band whose output remained remarkably consistent and enjoyable even as its sound changed with the times, from stomping R’n’B covers to tripped out psychedelic rock.

In reissuing these albums, Universal have given The Small Faces fan an overwhelming bounty of alternate mixes (including stereo mixes for each album), alternate versions and b-sides. The first three albums get the double-album treatment while Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake gets three discs (and includes a previously unheard track, the groovy instrumental, ‘Kamikhazi’). Each album is packaged with rare photos, and liner notes by rock journalist Mark Paytress, including interviews with McLagan and Jones, the two surviving members. Universal have done a great job with these reissues. They’re a fine way to get to know a band that maybe isn’t as well known as it should be (at least Stateside), as well as providing the definitive reissues for completists.

Tyler Boehm

6. Van Dyke Parks – Song Cycle, Discover America, Clang of the Yankee Reaper

Initially, it all sounds suspiciously like badly dated lysergic whimsy; a collection of incomputable tunes for the most blown minds of its era. Allow it a while to cohere, however, and Song Cycle soon blooms into a substantial – if slightly over-egged – slice of alternative Americana, one that eschews the commonplace country/blues/folk grit in favour of psychedelically skewered showtunes, ragtime, jazz, Disney fantasy and tin pan alley songcraft, sprinkled with occasional nods towards mud-splattered roots music. All of this is coated in soothing yet eerie arrangements so rich they practically drip with butter and cream, resulting in an album that’s simultaneously nostalgic for some imaginary past and gazing wide-eyed into the future, unmistakably of its time but also almost totally free of such constraints as era and genre.

Janne Oinonen

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5. Sugar – Copper Blue, Beaster, File Under: Easy Listening

Composed in sobriety and domestic bliss with no-one breathing down Mould’s neck, Copper Blue and Beaster have emerged as two of the best rock records of the last few decades. A pair of lean, muscular masterpieces that cement Bob Mould as a Great Songwriter in the classic sense of the word. Applying the kind of considered arrangements of Workbook to a bunch of Extremely Loud Pop Music, Bob Mould – bolstered by bassist Dave Barbe and drummer Malcolm Travis – pulls out relentlessly great performances of some incredible songs.

For once, the bonus stuff is mostly worth investigating too; b-sides like the bubblegrunge road anthem ‘Needle Hits E’ and Barbe’s driving powerpopper ‘In the Eyes of My Friends’ comfortably hold their own with material from their parent records. The two live discs, meanwhile, are proof that Sugar truly were a power trio, and a force to be reckoned with in concert, particularly on Live in Chicago 1992.

Despite the entire Beaster package being a missed opportunity (no extra songs and a bonus five-track live DVD – featuring precisely no cuts from Beaster itself), two out of the three Sugar reissues boast absolute-classic-masterpiece status and, given that they came in the third act of Bob Mould’s career, that’s no mean feat.

Alex Wisguard

4. The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground & Nico

The original Velvet Underground and Nico was graced with eleven songs, each of which has left its mark on music in its own way. This deluxe edition has almost six times that many spread over five CDs, including a childhood-memory-slaughtering five versions of ‘Venus in Furs’ – though, for those with a less ostentatious bank balance, a two-disc version is also available. The remastering makes the instruments leap out far more clearly than any previously-released versions – the mono mix is also a great touch both for completists and for those who aren’t into the way most stereo records of the time separated the instruments.

The main draw is Nico‘s Chelsea Girl (which finally gets the lush remastering treatment given to all of her other solo LPs) as well as the presence of the first official release of the now-legendary Sceptre Sessions acetate – a one-off early session which was found in a New York flea market for under a dollar a few years ago.

The rest of this set comprises the obligatory glut of demos, alternate versions that really serve to demonstrate how great the original album is; two of seven versions of ‘All Tomorrow’s Parties’ strip back the double-tracking to reveal just how vulnerable Nico’s vocals are in isolation. One sidesteps the issue by eschewing the vocal track altogether. Many of the alternate mixes are otherwise indistinguishable from the originals, other than you somehow know they’re less special; The Spectre Sessions disc is a fascinating insight into a band clearly trying to get The Take, but not quite hitting upon it just yet.

If you can listen past the tape hiss, The Factory Demos from early 1966 are probably the real gold for dedicated fans; the aborted version of ‘There She Goes Again’ with Nico on vocals is sweet and a shaggy three-chord jam called ‘Cracking Up’ sees Reed almost phonetically recite/explain the lyrics of ‘Venus in Furs’ to the German singer. Meanwhile, the long-sought-after outtake ‘Miss Joanie Lee’ takes eleven minutes to show just how close they were to the chaos of White Light/White Heat, while ‘Walk Alone’ demonstrates a lighter, looser side to the band, which would really come to the fore two years later on their peerless self-titled effort.

The album itself remains a mess; guitars are out of tune, you can’t hear the drums if you tried, tape is audibly spliced (one verse of ‘All Tomorrow’s Parties’ begins with what sounds like someone triggering a sampler too early on Nico’s voice). But god, what a mess.

3. Manic Street Preachers – Generation Terrorists 20th Anniversary Edition

Manic Street Preachers did something many never get to do: they made their debut record the bloated, stadium rock LP that you dream of when you first pick up a guitar and they did it their way. They remain a band with a fascinating story, resolutely uncompromising to the end. Generation Terrorists was – and remains – confused, idealistic, fun and a failure on many levels. So is it really worth of a reissue that not only remasters the record but adds up to three discs worth of new content, a double vinyl and a 10 inch?

As with previous reissues of the Manics’ later records (Everything Must Go andThe Holy Bible), care and attention to detail has been paramount. A feature length documentary acts as an effective liner notes for most of the additional material. Multiple, scratchy early takes of many of the album’s tracks illustrate the band’s evolution in their first two years but a cohesive picture of just how the final product emerged is vividly created when taken alongside the film. Seeing the band reminisce over often conflicting memories of shared experiences is both funny and poignant. A number of BBC interviews from the much missed Rapido and Snub TV are also liberated from bad VHS rips on YouTube for the first time and show the young band at their most confrontational (and beautifully naive).

Generation Terrorists remains an important record because it represents one of the final musical gasps of the eighties in all its pomposity, excess and gesturing, which the album both embraced and subverted – and there hasn’t been a more illuminating reissue of a debut record this year.

2. Paul Simon – Graceland

Formed in the shadow of South African apartheid, and crossing cultural picket lines by being recorded there with a host of native musicians, Paul Simon’s seventh studio album drew political revulsion from its critics and support from the UN Anti Apartheid Committee, delighted Paul Simon fans old and new, described a generation, won a Grammy, set up home in critics’ “Top 100″ lists and soundtracked innumerable childhoods.

The anniversary edition includes Under African Skies, Joe Berlinger’s documentary about the recording and touring of Graceland in the dark days of South Africa’s war on its own people, with Simon returning to visit the friends he made all those years ago. As it shows, the melodic structure of this groundbreaking record was built by many hands, assembled from collaborative jam sessions and the South African musicians’ ideas and natural styles, as well as the shades of Americana that Simon was also exploring at the time, with the remarkable lyrics sewn into this tapestry after all else was done.

Early demos of some of the record’s defining moments are also added – a nimble alternative version of ‘Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes’ and raw, revealing demos of ‘Homeless’ and that trumpet-laden triumph, ‘You Can Call Me Al’. If you own Graceland, hand it on to someone who hasn’t come to it yet, and get this instead. The pleasure of this edition’s ‘the Making Of…’ themed extras make it a worthy upgrade.

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1. The Beatles Vinyl Remasters

The Beatles remastered on vinyl: it was the missing link and is now the holy grail of reissues. And of course, they sound incredible. We’ve heard them on a high end Abbey Road vinyl set-up in the very room they were recorded in as well as on a knackered old 1970s deck we bought on eBay a year back for 20 quid.

In both cases, the product just sounds right. It’s a credit to the hard work of Abbey Road Mastering Engineer Sean Magee. As part of the original team who set out to remaster the fab four’s entire catalogue on CD in 2009, Magee then took sole charge of the vinyl project, using the 24-bit masters that were made for the CD reissues (with are reduced to 16-bit). Without the limiting or compression often used for CDs the vinyl gives a heightened sense of audio experience, bringing a new intimacy to something incredibly familiar to us all.

Outside of the sound, the package comes on heavyweight vinyl and the original artwork – including the iconic Sgt Pepper cutouts as well as the White Album‘s poster and band portraits – is restored for posterity. It’s a reissue that pays tribute to both the music of the Beatles and the expectations of their fans. A limited box set contains all the vinyls as well as a 250 page book but you can pick up each record individually too.

Find out more about how Magee dealt with the mammoth task of remastering The Beatles.

Win the entire Beatles back catalogue!

To mark the release of these iconic records, we have an amazing set of them to give away. That’s fourteen records, from Please Please Me to Let it Be as well as the double LP Past Masters compilation.

To win, just share this page on your Facebook and tag The Line of Best Fit in the comment. We’ll pick a winner at random on 2 January.