BMG follow up this years The KinksThe Journey release (from March this year), and continue the 60th anniversary celebrations, with Part 2, which will be available as a 2CD or 2LP package.
Compiled by the band, this collection is curated “according to themes inspired by the trials and tribulations of their journey through life together as a band since 1963”.
This release features music from Face To Face, The Kink Kontroversy, Something Else, The Village Green Preservation Society, Lola Versus Powerman and The Moneygoround, Muswell Hillbillies, Everybody’s In Show-Biz, Preservation Acts 1 & 2 and A Soap Opera.
It includes singles, B-sides, album tracks and, notably, six new Ray Davies mixes, three of which are previously unreleased live performances from the New Victoria Theatre, London in 1975. Check out the live version of ‘Everybody’s A Star (Starmaker)’ below (they’ve made a new video):
Speaking about this release, Ray Davies said: “I thought I knew everything about my songs until I was given the opportunity to put this record together. The new sequencing has enabled us to show the ‘big picture’ and give a more insightful back story about how our music evolved. I learned a lot about myself in putting this together.”
Audio has been remastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Studios in LA, overseen by Andrew Sandoval.
The Journey Part 2 will be released on 17 November 2023 via BMG and at the moment it’s only available via the band’s official shop, which also has a new selection of band merch, if that’s your thing.
Classic PWL extended mixes • 24 track 3CD set and 2x2LP vinyl • 26-track SDE-exclusive stereo blu-ray audio limited to 1000 units (quick pre-order)
PWL, the iconic and influential label founded by Pete Waterman, was a pop powerhouse in the late 1980s and early 90s with 18 number ones, sales of over 150m records and an entry in The Guinness Book Of Records for topping the charts with 11 different artists, including Kylie Minogue, Rick Astley, et al.
Now, for the first time, BMG is to release a deep dive into the world of PWL remixes, which extended their distinctive sound of catchy melodies, vibrant synths, and infectious beats.
PWL Extended Big Hits And Surprises comprises 24 tracks is available as a 3CD set and two 2LP vinyl packages (Vols. 1&2). The tracks chosen showcase the depth and breadth of the PWL output; along with classic 12-inch mixes of massive hits from Kylie Minogue (‘Hand On Your Heart’ The Great Aorta Mix, ‘I Should Be So Lucky’ Extended Mix and ‘What Kind Of Fool? (Heard All That Before)’ – 12″ Master Mix), Rick Astley’s ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ (Cake Mix) and ‘She Wants To Dance With Me’ (Extended R’n’B Version) there are remixes from the likes of Agents Aren’t Aeroplanes, Shooting Party, Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Paul Varney, Boy Krazy and more.
SDE is offering an EXCLUSIVE edition of this releasewith all 24 tracks on one STEREO-ONLY blu-ray audio edition, plus two exclusive bonus tracks: David Ford’s Acid Mix of Stock Aitken Waterman’s ‘SS Paparazzi’ and the 12-inch mix of Delage’s ‘I Wanna Shout About It’. Naturally, this edition requires a blu-ray player connected to amp/speakers and/or soundbar to enjoy the 26 tracks, without flipping vinyl or changing CDs!
Packaging for this SDE exclusive is a gatefold digi-sleeve (the larger 142mm x 142mm size, used in Japan) with booklet and inner sleeve to protect the blu-ray disc. Design features exclusive dayglo yellow on black (3CD and vinyl editions are mirrorboard).
The SDE-exclusive, 26-track, stereo-only blu-ray audio of PWL Extended Big Hits And Surprises (click to enlarge)
The 3CD and vinyl editions should be widely available, the blu-ray edition is exclusive to the SDE shop and is strictly limited to 1000 units. You can order directly via this link or using the buy button below (max 2 per customer, orders for more will be cancelled). Check out our blu-ray audio page on the SDE shop for other titles.
PWL Extended Big Hits And Surprises will be released on 17 November 2023 via BMG
TECHNICAL NOTES: This blu-ray audio requires a blu-ray player. It will not play on a CD player!
To mark its 30th anniversary, the Pet Shop Boys will officially release Relentless, their six-track bonus/mini album that was available as part of a limited 2CD edition of their Very album (known as Very Relentless).
The largely instrumental selection was also issued as a coloured vinyl promo 3 x 12″ pack, which is thought to be limited to 500 copies.
The back of the new Relentless CD
The six tracks from Relentless have not been available since the original release (i.e. they didn’t turn up on Very‘s ‘Further Listening’ disc when it came to the reissue) and are now released as a standalone CD for the first time.
There’s also a limited yellow vinyl edition but that’s exclusive to the PSB’s web shop.
Relentless will be reissued on 20 October 2023 via Parlophone.
Eighties Scottish indie/pop band The Bluebells are to reissue their debut album, Sisters, in November.
This 1984 long-player contains their best known single ‘Young at Heart’, along with two other top 40 hits from the same album (‘Falling’ and the reissue of ‘Cath’). A 1993 re-release of ‘Young at Heart’ (thanks to a VW Golf advert) saw the single surpass its original peak of No 8 and reach the top of the UK singles chart, almost nine years later.
The album has been rejigged for this 2CD reissue, at the band’s request. It begins with an alternate version of ‘Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool’ (produced by Robin Millar) and the Elvis Costello produced ‘Aim In Life’ (once a cassette-only bonus song) is now track nine of the album. ‘Cath’ is now longer and ‘Some Sweet Day’ (another Costello production) is promoted to full album track (having been an extra track on the 12-inch of ‘Young at Heart’).
The Bluebells Sisters 2CD deluxe reissue (click image to enlarge)
There’s also 22 bonus tracks including non-album singles, B-sides and extended versions, including five previously unreleased tracks.
The 2CD deluxe comes with a 20-page booklet with notes by Lois Wilson (in conversation with guitarist Robert “Bobby Bluebell” Hodgens).
Sisters will be reissued on 24 November 2023 via Cherry Red. There is no vinyl release although Last Night From Glasgow reissued it on the format early last year (widget below).
80s super producer • Classic songs • Various artists • SDE-exclusive blu-ray with Atmos Mix (quick pre-order)
“The man who invented the 80s”, legendary producer Trevor Horn, presents Echoes: Ancient & Modern, a new album which sees him collaborate with some of his favourite singers to create newly-minted versions of songs he loves.
The album features 11 tracks, performed by Tori Amos, Seal, Iggy Pop, Marc Almond, Rick Astley, Andrea Corr, Steve Hogarth (from Marillion), Lady Blackbird, Jack Lukeman, Toyah Wilcox & Robert Fripp and Trevor himself.
The songs are iconic hits from the likes of Depeche Mode (‘Personal Jesus’), Pat Benatar (‘Love Is A Battlefield’), The Cars (‘Drive’), Billy Idol (‘White Wedding’) including a few signature tracks that Trevor was involved in the first time around such as Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s ‘Relax’, Grace Jones’ ‘Slave to the Rhythm’ and Yes’ ‘Owner of a Lonely Heart’.
This is very much a Trevor Horn album with guest vocalists, since as well as producing, Horn sings backing vocals, plays keyboards, bass and/or guitar. Fellow instrumentalists include his old friend, Lol Creme.
Building a feeling into a song is a tricky, intangible thing to do. There are lots of technical and psychological short cuts to recording a song, but none to actually make it feel real. That remains a studio secret.
Trevor Horn
One of the highlights of Echoes: Ancient & Modern is the opening number which sees Tori Amos singing rap star Kendrick Lamar’s much admired ‘Swimming Pool (Drank)’ (from 2012) which on paper sounds like it shouldn’t work at all but really does thanks to the introduction of a few simple chords and Amos’ stunning vocals. It’s a cinematic rendition which, as the producer notes, “sets everything up like it’s the beginning of a song cycle”.
I’m delighted to announce that Echoes: Ancient & Modern has been mixed in Dolby Atmos and that this spatial audio version will be released physically as an SDE-exclusive blu-ray audio, #14 in the ongoing SDE Surround Series. The Atmos Mix will be accompanied by a 5.1 mix, a hi-res stereo version and more. The contents are as follows:
Dolby Atmos MIx
5.1 Surround Mix
Hi-Res Stereo Mix
Trevor Horn ‘track-by-track’ exploration on video (22 mins)
SDE makes no apologies for repeating why these limited edition blu-ray products are highly recommended
It’s the only way to enjoy the Dolby Atmos mix of the album as a PHYSICAL PRODUCT
You don’t need to sign-up to a streaming service such as Tidal or Apple Music to hear the spatial audio mix
The Atmos Mix on the Blu-ray is NOT COMPRESSED due to streaming bandwidth restrictions
YOU OWN THE MUSIC, you are not renting it from a digital service provider
The Blu-ray audio is an excellent format for music and you don’t want to see it die off
SUPPORTING SDE with these initiatives is leading to similar collaborations with labels/artists and we are keen to bring your more in the near future!
The SDE-exclusive blu-ray audio version of Echoes: Ancient & Modern
Echoes: Ancient & Modern will also be available on CD and vinyl and all formats will be released via Deutsche Grammophon on 1 December 2023.
The pre-order window for the SDE-exclusive blu-ray edition of this album closes in 7 days. It’s only available via the SDE shop so use this link or the button below (‘pre-order’). It will ship with a FREE and collectible SDE Surround Series slipcase. Note: There are no longer any extra charges for shipping to the EU.
TECHNICAL NOTES: This blu-ray audio requires a blu-ray player. Decoding the Dolby Atmos mix requires a Dolby Atmos-certified soundbar or a Dolby Atmos-compatible AV Receiver/Amp. The Dolby Atmos mix will ‘fold down’ to 5.1 or stereo if a Dolby Atmos decoder is not detected.
Wilco’s thirteenth studio album, Cousin, sees the band back to their more familiar progressive and experimental rock territory. Interestingly, the album has been produced by Welsh singer/songwriter Cate Le Bon – the first time an outsider has been actively involved in a Wilco recording session for over ten years.
Green Day’s third studio album Dookie is reissued for its 30th anniversary (somewhat early, it was released in Feb 1994). 4CD and 6LP super deluxe editions offer unreleased demos, the 1994 Woodstock performance, studio outtakes and a Barcelona club show (unreleased). Lots of ‘stuff’ in the box sets including in the vinyl one a “Doggie poop bag” (surely a first – and hopefully last – for super deluxe edition). There’s indie-only coloured vinyl editions of the 6LP box and the standard single vinyl remaster is pressed on “baby blue” vinyl.
Steely Dan’s 1977 album Aja is reissued on vinyl. Features the singles ‘Deacon Blues’ and ‘Peg’. Remastered by Bernie Grundman from the “an analog, non-EQ’d, tape copy”.
As part of Demon Music’s Suede30 campaign, the label are issuing Suede’s first four singles as seven-inch picture discs, reproducing the original arresting cover images on the discs.
The fourth, and final, release in this series is ‘So Young’, originally issued on Nude Records on 17 May 1993. It reached No 22 in the UK singles chart.
The B-side to ‘So Young’ was ‘High Rising’ which didn’t appear on the Suede album. The new picture disc is strictly limited to 1000 units worldwide and is only available via the SDE shop and the official Suede store.
The ‘So Young’ seven-inch picture disc is released on 5 January 2024 via Demon Records. The far away release date is probably in part because ‘Metal Mickey’ (sold out) and ‘Animal Nitrate’ (still available) have both been delayed slightly. Pre-order ‘So Young’ via the shop using this link or the buttons (‘pre-order’) below.
The recently announced Thin LizzyVagabonds of the Western World reissue highlighted a number of formats, including 2LP purple vinyl with bonus tracks and a 3CD+blu-ray box set, with Dolby Atmos mix.
Well, it turns out there is also a remastered single vinyl edition of the album that is exclusive to Amazon that is pressed on yellow vinyl.
This is available to pre-order now with the same 17 November 2023 release date as the other formats.
Compare prices and pre-order
Thin Lizzy
Vagabonds of the Western World - Amazon Yellow vinyl exclusive
On Friday, Midge Ure’s 1985 album The Gift will be reissued as a 4CD deluxe edition and 2LP expanded vinyl package. SDE recently caught up with the accomplished songwriter for a chat about the reissue:
SDE: Was it easy to find all the content to form the 4CD deluxe set? And whose idea was it to reissue The Gift this year?
Midge Ure: It’s usually the record label, whenever an anniversary is coming up, or a significant amount of time has passed since the original recordings were released. Chrysalis approached us quite a few years ago now, looking at some of the reissues for the Ultravox stuff. Because record labels have the ability to re-release this stuff with or without an artist’s permission (laughs). But they came to us, because they knew we were always incredibly involved in the graphics, the packaging, and the advertising. They came to us and said: ‘We’d like to do it beautifully, we want to do it in a quality way’. We worked hand in hand with them. They do these beautiful box sets, repackaged with the original artwork. And of course, they have all the original recordings. They’ve spent a lot of time finding mixes that weren’t used, live recordings, outtakes, etc., and compiling all of this stuff, as well as doing Steven Wilson remixes on certain tracks. They did all the groundwork. All we had to do was go: ‘Yeah, this looks fantastic’. Because we wanted something we were proud of. That’s what we’ve done with The Gift.
The box set seems to be great value for money. Some labels overcharge for the same stuff we already have thrice over.
That’s why it HAS to be a quality product. There are fans who already have everything you’re associated with. You have to find it special. It has to be something you can be proud of. Fans will want to own it, touch it, read it, feel connected with it, and look after it. You’re quite right, some labels charge ludicrous prices for old hat.
‘If I Was’ from The Gift
Do you have your own archive and/or vault, akin to, say, Prince?
Here’s the problem: I’m an artist, which means I don’t take care of things very well (laughs). When it comes to my solo stuff, there was a technological transition from 2-inch tape, to digital recording, to MIDI, live computers and synthesizers. There were different formats. Being a technohead, I jumped on all of them. If someone were to give me a gazillion euro or pounds to find all the outtakes and the original masters for any of my solo stuff, I’d have to turn them down. I wouldn’t even know where to start looking! Whereas a record label, they monitor it, they keep it in archives, they’ve left it somewhere safe. Hence, on The Gift album, there’s no Steven Wilson remix. I have no idea where the [multi-track] recordings are, or what format they’re on.
Were you an early adopter back in the day? Did you embrace the CD, the MiniDisc, SACD, the works?
With Ultravox, we were working with Sir George Martin on the Quartet album. I remember George saying: ‘Sony/Philips are coming in to demonstrate a CD player. Do you want to pop in to the studio next door, at AIR Studios in London?’ Of course, it was Paul McCartney who was waiting to hear his demonstration. We were all squeezed in with Paul, we sat there, they described what a CD was, they put it in the machine that was plugged up through the massive, big mixing desk. They pressed play, and nothing happened. We were all kind of looking at each other. Someone leaned over and turned the volume up on the mixing desk. We were expecting to hear crackle or pop, as you would on a record or a tape. We heard nothing, and nearly blew the speakers. So yeah, the idea of audio excellence was always something we pursued, just as we pursued the latest synthesizer or drum machine or whatever technology. All that stuff was fascinating to us.
Did the resurgence of the vinyl format surprise you?’
It did. Retro novelty. We went through technological phases that enhanced the listening experience. Great, fantastic. But every time a different format came along, we lost something. What we lost, was the ability to pick something up, touch it, read it, hold it. To take vinyl out of the sleeve, hold it by the edges, put the needle on the groove. We missed all of that, because we ended up with ‘hit play on a phone’. You didn’t get the graphics, you didn’t get the lyrics. There was a great interview I heard a few years ago on BBC Talk Radio; A woman discussing music with her 15-year-old son. She asked him what his favourite artist was. He said he didn’t know. ‘Son, you must have a favourite artist!’’ So she asked him: ‘What about U2?’. He had no idea who U2 was. So she played him a U2 track, and he said: ‘I know that, I’ve got that on my phone’. He had the music, he knew the music, but he had no interest or any idea of where it came from, how it was made, who made it, the legacy, the wealth of information. It didn’t appear relevant to him. Now, there’s another generation discovering vinyl. [We don’t know] whether or not it’s because it’s cool or retro, or because they like the whole process of having to choose which album they want to listen to, having to take it out and put it on your turntable, put the needle on, and listen from start to finish, the way the artist made it and intended it. We missed something there. I think the resurgence is very interesting, it’s what people want.
The extended version of your song ‘Call of the Wild’ is a true testament to the power of 12-inch releases. Do you remember fine tuning the differences between the so-called radio edit and the extended mix?’
The extended versions – not dance versions or remixes, that’s a whole different thing – were always something we wanted to do when we had completed the mix. Instead of squashing all your clothes in a cupboard, you could lay them all out. ‘Listen to this bit!’ In an extended mix, you can solo things, you can put other things to the fore that were meant to be in the background. It’s like opening another door into the actual piece of music. You were allowed to do that. It was always fun to do, at the end of getting the radio mix or the album mix.
Instead of squashing all your clothes in a cupboard, you could lay them all out
Midge Ure on extended versions
While the desk was all set up, that’s when we started experimenting and playing around. And people liked them! Extended mixes are not done to the same extent anymore. It’s everything you hear on the normal record, but exposed more and given more space to shine and do its little thing. Which is weirdly what the Steven Wilson mixes did with the Ultravox catalogue. There were bits on the recordings that I don’t remember doing. For forty years, I haven’t heard that guitar!’ These things are very easily forgotten, because a lot has happened since. Strangely, it will sound vaguely familiar. Sometimes, you find yourself knowing where the change is going to come and knowing the melody that’s coming up next, even though you haven’t heard that melody for decades. You’re doing exactly what music does to people. It takes you back in time and places you right there, at that moment, when you were doing it. That memory is still in there somewhere, it needs to prodded and opened up.
The cover picture of ‘The Gift’ was taken by a photographer from the 1930s and 1940s called George Hurrell. He also photographed Paul McCartney [Press to Play], Queen, and Fleetwood Mac. He was in his eighties when he took your photo. Did he have ANY idea who you were? Or was it just another gig for him?
I have a lovely picture he signed to ‘Mitch Ure’. So, no, he had no idea [laughs] and why would he? I was a fan of his work for a long time. McCartney’s office got in touch with me to ask who had taken my photograph. Once that connection was made, then it spread out. Of course, he DID know who Macca was. But to find this man in his eighties who still took photographs the same way, with a big glass plate camera, the same style, the same approach. Take your face and transform it into something from before you were born, it was just incredible. It was a magic moment for me. When people ask about the highs in your career, they expect you to talk about Live Aid or other big things. It’s not always that at all. It’s moments like sitting in Hollywood, doing a three-hour session with George Hurrell, and seeing three months later, once he had done his magic, you get his prints. I couldn’t believe it.
McCartney’s office got in touch with me to ask who had taken my photograph
Midge Ure
Have you heard the fact that Japanese video game creator Hideo Kojima is a big fan of your work? A lot of younger gamers know your songs via Kojima.
That’s true. When Ultravox got back together again in 2010, we were playing London. Our agent called up and said: ‘There’s a Japanese guy with his entourage. They want to come up and say hi. They make video games.’ Hideo turned up, and through his interpreter, he explained that he wanted to do the final episode of ‘Metal Gear Solid’ and he wanted to use my version of ‘The Man Who Sold The World’. I said: ‘Sure’, and didn’t think anything else of it. A year later, the game gets sent to my office. Wow. He had written the story around his interpretation of my interpretation of Bowie’s song. It was amazing. The reaction it got was ridiculous. On the internet, gamers discovered this “new artist” Midge Ure. For a song that I recorded in 1982! When they discovered it, a lot of them found my other work. I have to thank Hideo for that renewed acclaim. Clever man. Lovely guy.
Thanks to Midge Ure who was talking to Julian De Backer for SDE. The Gift is reissued on 22 September 2023.
Duran Duran have today made available another song from their forthcoming album Danse Macabre. ‘Black Moonlight’ is one of three brand new songs on the album and features their old mucker Nile Rodgers as well as former band member Andy Taylor. Check it out, below!
Speaking about ‘Black Moonlight’, Nick Rhodes said: “Nile Rogers is a force of nature. When we get into a room, we start playing, and magic happens“. Simon Le Bon concurs, saying the song is a “classic Duran Duran-Nile Rodgers collaboration” adding “When Nile started playing his guitar in the studio, he really inspired everyone with his riff, and the song just kind of wrote itself.”
Danse Macabre will be released on 27 October 2023 Tape Modern via BMG. An SDE-exclusive blu-ray audio version with Dolby Atmos, 5.1 and hi-res stereo mixes of the album was available to pre-order from the SDE for a short period earlier this month. These are all but sold out, but to mark the release of ‘Black Moonlight’ we’ll make it available again for a short period. Head to the SDE shop to pre-order or use the button (‘pre-order’) below.
TECHNICAL NOTES: This blu-ray audio requires a blu-ray player. Decoding the Dolby Atmos mix requires a Dolby Atmos-certified soundbar or a Dolby Atmos-compatible AV Receiver/Amp. The Dolby Atmos mix will ‘fold down’ to 5.1 or stereo if a Dolby Atmos decoder is not detected.
R.E.M.’s eleventh studio album, Up, is being reissued for its 25th anniversary.
The 1998 album features the singles ‘Daysleeper’, ‘Lotus’, ‘Suspicion’ and ‘At My Most Beautiful’ and was the band’s first album without drummer Bill Berry.
The deluxe edition comes in 2CD and 2CD+blu-ray variants both with a previously unreleased, 11-song live set from the band’s ’99 taping for the TV series ‘Party of Five’. The blu-ray with the 3-disc edition is disappointing – it isn’t much different from the DVD-A issued 18 years ago. It includes the same 5.1 mix, a hi-res stereo mix and a few videos. There’s no new Atmos Mix, for example.
Both deluxe editions present the front cover with a new colour scheme. The 2CD comes in a clamshell box with mini-poster, while the 2CD+blu-ray looks like ‘mediabook’ style packaging.
A 2LP edition reverts to the standard blue/green/grey shades and offers the 14-track album across four sides of vinyl. Audio is remastered for all formats.
Up will be reissued on 8 December 2023 (was 10 November) via Craft Recordings.
Oasis‘ 1998 compilation The Masterplan will be reissued for its 25th anniversary, in November.
The album featured B-sides from the band’s first three albums (Definitely Maybe, (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? and Be Here Now) and such was the quality, particularly from the first two albums, it has become a firm fan favourite over the years, even though everyone bought the CD singles at the time!
All of the Oasis’ studio albums went to number one in the UK but The Masterplan fell short, peaking at No 2, despite selling almost 122,000 copies in its first week of release, with U2’s The Best of 1980-1990 keeping it off the top spot.
The 2LP limited silver vinyl edition of The Masterplan
The reissue features remastered audio and is available on limited 2LP silver-coloured vinyl, 2LP black vinyl and there’s standard CD version.
The Masterplan will be reissued on 3 November 2023, via Big Brother Recordings.
Black Box Recorder were a turn-of-the-century Luke Haines ‘side project’ which featured Haines (from The Auteurs), John Moore (of The Jesus and Mary Chain) and vocalist Sarah Nixey. Best known for their 2000 hit single ‘The Facts of Life’ (the title track of the second album) the band’s best work was actually their 1998 debut EnglandMade Me, with accompanying non-hit singles ‘Child Psychology’ and ‘England Made Me’.
The album has a wonderfully restrained, languid charm and many brilliant songs, including opener ‘Girl Singing in the Wreckage’, ‘Child Psychology’ (sample lyric ‘Life is unfair, kill yourself or get over it”), ‘Swinging’ and a fine cover of Althea and Donna’s 1977 UK number one ‘Uptown Top Ranking’.
England Made Me was originally issued on CD and as probably fairly limited 2LP vinyl set pressed at 45RPM. Its other vinyl outing was as part of the Life Is Unfair box set, issued in 2018 by One Little Indian (now One Little Independent).
This new 25th anniversary edition has been curated with the assistance of the band and features a newly remastered version of the album via the original production tapes by Phil Kinrade at AIR Mastering. It was cut by Alex Wharton at Abbey Road Studios (see Luke and Sarah at the famous North London studios, below). Update: Luke has tweeted that BBR are in dispute over streaming royalties and therefore do not approve/support this reissue.
The album is pressed on 180g black vinyl and comes with a bonus 10-inch (140g pressing) featuring six b-sides, four of which are on vinyl for the first time. It also comes with an 6-page booklet featuring photos and lyrics with the vinyl housed in poly-lined inner bags.
England Made Me is reissued on 17 November 2023 via Chrysalis Records.
Singles is a brand new compilation of Yes A-sides on vinyl.
This collection moves chronologically through the band’s output starting in 1971 with ‘Your Move’ (from The YesAlbum), which was a top 40 hit in the USA, and ends in 1984 with ‘Leave It’, the second top 30 single in America from 90125.
Coloured vinyl limited edition
Along the way this set touches on the band’s different eras with songs like ‘Starship Trooper’, ‘America’ and the chart-topping ‘Owner of a Lonely Heart’.
Singles will be issued on 6 October 2023 via Rhino. There’s quite a nice looking ‘mouldy yellow with orange and black splatter’ coloured vinyl edition available from indie retailers (note painful UK v USA price differential).
Thin Lizzy’s breakthrough album, 1973’s Vagabonds Of The Western World, is being reissued for its 50th anniversary via multi-disc vinyl and CD box sets, with the latter including a blu-ray audio with a Dolby Atmos Mix of the album (a first for Lizzy!).
The band’s third studio album features the single ‘The Rocker’, although despite the top 10 success of the 1972’s ‘Whiskey in the Jar’, they left it off Vagabonds, although that hasn’t stopped the song being added to the various reissues over the years. That song was the last Lizzy release to feature original guitarist Eric Bell. After an unsuccessful New Year’s Eve show in Belfast, Bell was no longer in the band, which paved the way for Lynott’s idea about having twin lead guitarists, which led to the recruitment of American Scott Gorham and 18-year-old Glaswegian Brian Robertson.
Vagabonds 3CD+blu-ray box set (click image to enlarge)
Vagabonds was also the first album to feature artwork by Jim Fitzpatrick, who would go on to work with the band on classic albums such as Nightlife, Jailbreak, Johnny The Fox, Black Rose and Chinatown.
For the 50th anniversary reissue a 3CD+blu-ray box set delivers bonus tracks, rare radio sessions, live performances and 10 demos and outtakes. The blu-ray offers Vagabonds of the Western Worldmixed in Dolby Atmos (by Richard Whittaker) along with A-sides and B-sides from singles also in Dolby Atmos (including both single edit and the full length versions of ‘Whiskey in the Jar’). Sleeve notes come courtesy of Mark Blake.
A 2LP edition pressed on purple vinyl will be available which features B-sides and alternates on the second record, alongside a 4LP vinyl box which offers the BBC Sessions and In Concert performances on the three extra LPs. The box also comes with a large format hardcover book.
Vagabonds of the Western World will be released on 17 November 2023 via UMR. The Amazon UK box set price should come down.
Compare prices and pre-order
Thin Lizzy
Vagabonds of the Western World - 3CD+blu-ray box set
Bruce Soord is the founding member and chief songwriter The Pineapple Thief. He releases Luminescence, his third solo album, this week and the SDE shop is stocking the limited edition Carl Glover-designed 48-page hardcover book deluxe edition which features 2CDs and a DVD and includes a bonus album called Our Ships Sail at Dusk. 5.1 mixes and hi-res stereo versions of both albums are on the DVD (order here).
A 4CD+vinyl LP box set of The Replacements 1985 album. It has been remixed by Ed Stasium and expanded with previously unreleased studio and live recordings and also includes a complete 1986 concert.
A new CD and vinyl box set called Live 1978-1992 focuses on the live recordings of Dire Straits.
These packages spotlight four main concerts (or live albums): Alchemy (1983), On The Night (1993), the Live at the BBC compilation from 1995 and Live from the Rainbow Theatre, a 1979 gig which is previously unreleased.
Alchemy and On The Night are both newly remastered, with neither having been available on vinyl for ages. Talking of vinyl, in what is a 12LP vinyl box set version of Live 1978-1992, Alchemy is expanded to 3LPs and includes ‘Love Over Gold’ and the extended versions of ‘Telegraph Road’, ‘Solid Rock’ and ‘Going Home’, with the addition of the full length version of ‘Portobello Belle’ (an edit of which is on the 1988 Money For Nothing compilation). ‘Industrial Disease’ and ‘Twisting By The Pool’ are also new to the CD edition.
On The Night is also expanded (on CD and vinyl) to include tracks performed during the tour which have never been released, taken from multitrack recordings of shows in Nimes, Rotterdam and Paris. The seven extra tracks are: ‘Tunnel Of Love, ‘Telegraph Road’, ‘Sultans Of Swing’, ‘Two Young Lovers’, ‘When it Comes To You’, ‘I Think I Love You Too Much’ and ‘Fade to Black’.
Live 1978-1992 is a massive 12LP vinyl box set. The CD version is an 8CD package (click image to enlarge)
The On The Night ‘Encores EP‘ (which was issued on CD and vinyl back in 1993) is included as an extra disc in both the vinyl and CD box set. Same four tracks as before, although this new box uses the Black Friday 2021 remastering. Despite On The Night and the Encores release being issued in 1993, the performances and recordings were made in 1992, hence the 1978-1992 box set title is accurate!
The Live at the BBC selection features the same eight tracks on the 1995 release, seven of which are from a July 1978 BBC ‘In Concert’ performance, although Tunnel of Love is taken from a January 1981 Old Grey Whistle Test.
Finally, the Live from the Rainbow Theatre show from 1979 has been newly mixed by Guy Fletcher and features guest performances from Phil Lynott and Tony de Meur on the last four tracks of the set.
The CD box is eight discs, while as stated earlier, the vinyl box is a massive 12LPs, with a price tag that is not going to appeal to the casual fan. Alchemy and On The Night alone take up EIGHT of these records (if you include the Encores EP). However, the CD box will be a tempting companion to the Studio Albums CD box of 2020. Both live box sets come with a booklet featuring a new essay by Paul Sexton, with the alliterative title: ‘Making Milestones: The Momentous Road Years Of Dire Straits’.
Live 1978-1992 will be released on 3 November 2023, via UMR/Mercury.
Read Alexis’ review • Watch the SDEtv unboxing video
All great lost albums carry a mythology around them, but the mythology around The Who’s unfinished 1971 album Life House might be the most startling and persuasive of the lot. Life House wouldn’t have been just an album but an act of quite astonishing clairvoyance, predicting the internet, crowdsourcing and virtual reality. It’s a mythology that has been burnished by Life House’s author: most artists with great lost albums in their catalogue try to play them down, eager not to have the rest of their career overshadowed by what ifs, but the what ifs of Life House seem to have niggled away at The Who’s Pete Townshend ever since he abandoned the project. This box set is the latest in a lengthy string of attempts to bring Life House back to life. He lobbied The Who to resurrect the idea in 1977 and attempted to turn it into a film in the early 80s. He based his 1993 solo album Psychoderelict on some of its ideas. He co-authored a Life House radio play in 1999; released a 6CD box set, Life House Chronicles and performed two Life House live shows a year later and reworked parts of its concept into computer software, a novella and Wire And Glass, the six-part “mini opera” that concluded The Who’s 2006 album, Endless Wire.
Perhaps the quality of the music The Who recorded in 1970 and ’71 has something to do with Townshend’s inability to leave Life House alone. The album The Who released in Life House’s place, shorn of its concept and a lot of its songs, was Who’s Next, arguably their artistic pinnacle: what if – somewhere within the umpteen demos, live recordings and studio outtakes collected here – there lurks an even better version of their best album? Or perhaps it has something to do with thwarted ambition. Retold in the box set’s 100-page book, the saga of Life House’s making is so extraordinarily convoluted and confused, so filled with cross-purposes, misunderstanding and – occasionally – straightforward sabotage, that this writer confesses he ended up frantically taking notes: not as preparation for this review, but just in a desperate attempt to try and keep up with what was going on.
The Who (image credit: Trinifold Archive)
Over the course of a year, The Who’s next project turns from a TV film, into a new album with an accompanying stage show, into an EP, into a feature film, into a double album with each side devoted to one member. It finally becomes a lengthy residency at The Young Vic, which would be filmed and would ideally have required the same audience members to attend every show and was supposed to culminate in said audience members becoming so immersed in the new music The Who were playing that they would spontaneously come forward and offer their personal stories to Townshend. He would turn them into further songs, and into characters in a scripted drama about a future dystopia in which music is banned and humans are linked to a global computerised network called The Grid which pumps tailored entertainment into “experience suits”, thus keeping them satiated and apathetic. This would be melded with the live footage – intended to represent the quest for “a musical note that holds the basis of existence”, the discovery of which would cause “complete devastation” and destroy The Grid’s stranglehold – and thus become Life House, complete with accompanying album. At least I think that’s right. There seems every chance no one knew for certain even at the time. The Who’s other members were confused, the band’s two managers were befuddled by drugs, several film and theatre executives seem to have thought they were getting a version of Townshend’s previous rock opera Tommy, rather than something new. The best moment in the book may come when Townshend furiously protests that “when people say I didn’t know what the fuck I was talking about, what they’re actually doing is revealing their own complete idiocy because the idea is SO FUCKING SIMPLE”, which, with all due respect, sounds remarkably like something you’d say if you had succeeded in completely confusing yourself.
Townshend’s notes offer a lot of explication of the Life House songs’ meaning, which is often revelatory: it turns out that ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’, usually framed as his bitter response to the late 60s counterculture’s demands for revolution – a howl of disenchantment at the prevailing order that’s cynical enough to suggest the alternative probably won’t be any better – was actually intended as the voice of those happy in Life House’s dystopian world, satiated by their “experience suits”, which more or less completely changes its meaning: it’s actually a song about apathy, rather than distrust. That said, the box set might be best approached putting Life House’s plot to the back of your mind and concentrating purely on the music. You don’t have to get bogged down in Townshend’s vision to find the developmental process laid out across the 10 CDs in the box set, and what it tells you about The Who, completely fascinating.
No group of their era were obviously more than the sum of their parts than The Who
Alexis Petridis
Baba O’ Riley begins life as ‘Teenage Wasteland’, an impressively epic ballad, with umpteen scene-setting verses (“don’t step on the turnips”!). There are synths, but not the celebrated chattering ostinato line, the crashing introductory chord sequence only arrives midway through, and the famous opening line, “out here in the fields, I fight for my meals” sounds almost piteous. By disc 2, its name and structure has changed, the synth is in place, the song is tougher, but it sometimes still doesn’t sound like ‘Baba O’ Riley’. It misses the brawny spontaneity of Roger Daltrey’s vocal – singing, as the writer David Hepworth brilliantly put it, as if the lyrics were “thoughts that had just entered his head” – and the propulsion of Keith Moon’s drums. Not for the last time, what Townshend’s demos underline is that no group of their era were more obviously the sum of their parts than The Who. You can make a case that they sound a bit tentative on the two CDs of recordings from The Young Vic, feeling their way through fresh songs onstage, grappling with a concept three-quarters of them don’t understand and an audience who frequently don’t so much sound immersed in the new material as impatient with it (it’s certainly a stark contrast with the frankly astonishing December 1971 performance from San Francisco’s Civic Auditorium included on discs 9 and 10).
It’s the same with the abandoned studio sessions from New York’s Electric Ladyland, the first attempt to turn Townshend’s new songs into an album: listening to the takes of ‘Behind Blue Eyes’ and ‘Pure And Easy’, it’s hard not to feel the decision to start again tells you more about behind-the-scenes turmoil – ostensibly producing, The Who manager Kit Lambert was addicted to heroin – and eventual producer Glyn Johns’ desire to impose order on a project spinning out of control than the band’s performances.
Pete Townshend in his home studio in 1969. Click image to enlarge. (Photo by Chris Morphet/Redferns)
Stymied by the lack of input from his bandmates Townshend’s demos may be, but they’re of pretty astonishing quality for home recordings from 1970 – this definitely isn’t the charmingly ramshackle, lo-fi world of Paul McCartney’s first solo album – and, moreover, the songs were clearly pouring out of him. For every throwaway like the charming but lightweight country pastiche ‘Time Is Passing’, there’s something that suggests that Glyn Johns’ cut-to-the-bone approach to Who’s Next’s tracklisting necessitated the loss of some genuinely fantastic songs. There may well be a double album’s worth of strong material among the demos that never made it further than Townshend’s Eel Pie home and the songs subsequently scattered through b-sides and compilations, and collected on another of the box set’s CDs – ‘Greyhound Girl’, ‘Pure And Easy’, ‘Water’, ‘Let’s See Action’, ‘Naked Eye’, ‘Too Much Of Anything’, ‘When I Was A Boy’, every one of them presumably a reason for Life House’s failure to niggle at Townshend.
Who’s Next was all muscle and power, an album to face down a new decade
Alexis Petridis
Then again, a double album wouldn’t be Who’s Next, which, for all Townshend’s subsequent complaining about a compromise, was the perfect album for The Who to release in 1971: scrupulously fat-free, stripped of the kind of highfalutin’ ideas that had flourished in the wake of Sgt. Pepper, devoid of the cossetting morning-after-the-60s softness that had marked out a lot of 1970s big sellers, from Bridge Over Troubled Water to Tea For The Tillerman and Sweet Baby James – it was all muscle and power, an album built to face down a new decade. It’s here both in stereo (if it’s a new remaster, it doesn’t sound significantly different from the one released in the 2003 deluxe edition, which also included The Young Vic show in truncated form) and in a Steven Wilson Dolby Atmos mix. The 12-inch envelope of memorabilia is nicely-done: the repro programme from a 1971 gig at the Rainbow is a sweet period piece – complete with laudatory quotes from the recently-acquitted defendants in the Oz trial, and a feature on proggy country rockers Quiver, whose lank-haired bassist Bruce Thomas would re-emerge later in the decade, duly shorn, as one of Elvis Costello’s Attractions – the pop-art poster for the same gig is so lovely, it seems a shame most of them will remain folded in the box set, rather than on display. To say this stuff is for Who-obsessives only is both true and a little supererogatory: a 10CD box set retailing north of 200 quid clearly isn’t about attracting floating voters.
Perhaps the 11 discs and two books here represent the last word on Who’s Next, and – by extension – Life House. The plethora of previously unreleased tracks gives anyone who cares to the ability to construct their own version of what the lost album might have sounded like (an activity that seems perfectly in keeping with the Townshend’s early ’70s obsession with working in collaboration with his audience) while the 172-page graphic novel succeeds in distilling Townshend’s ideas into a workable plot: job finally done. Or perhaps not. Said workable plot could finally be turned into a feature film. The end product might look not unlike a superhero movie, albeit one with a downbeat ending, and there’s definitely a market for those in 2023. It’s something you can’t imagine has escaped Pete Townshend’s notice either. Life House finally laid to rest? You wouldn’t necessarily bet on it.
The Who’s Next / Life House box set is out today and was reviewed by Alexis Petridis.
CD 2: PETE TOWNSHEND’S LIFE HOUSE DEMOS 1970 – 1971 – PART 1
Teenage Wasteland (Demo)*
Too Much (Demo) *
Going Mobile (Demo)*
There’s A Fortune in Those Hills (Demo)*
Love Ain’t For Keeping (Demo)*
Bargain (Demo)*
Greyhound Girl (Demo)*
Mary (Alternate Mix) (Demo)**
Behind Blue Eyes (Demo)*
Time Is Passing (Demo)*
Finally, Over (Demo)**
Baba O’Riley (Original Demo)**
* Previously released with new remix
** Previously unreleased tracks
CD 3: PETE TOWNSHEND’S LIFE HOUSE DEMOS 1970 – 1971 – PART 2
Pure And Easy (Home Studio Mix) (Demo)*
Getting In Tune (Alternate Mix) (Demo)**
Nothing Is Everything (Let’s See Action) (Demo)*
Won’t Get Fooled Again (Demo)*
Baba O’Riley (Demo)*
Song Is Over (2021 Remix) (Demo)**
Pure And Easy (Olympic Studios Mix) (Demo)**
Mary (Original Mix) (Demo)*
Baba O’Riley (First Editing Demo)**
Song Is Over (Original Demo)*
* Previously released with new remix
** Previously unreleased tracks
CD 4: RECORD PLANT, NYC SESSIONS MARCH 1971
Don’t Do It (aka Baby Don’t You Do It) [Take 2, Unedited, March 16, 1971]**
Won’t Get Fooled Again [Take 13, March 16, 1971]*
Behind Blue Eyes (Version 1) [Take 15, March 16, 1971]**
Love Ain’t For Keeping [Take 14, March 17, 1971]*
The Note (aka Pure and Easy) [Take 21, March 17, 1971]*
I’m In Tune (aka Getting in Tune) [Take 6, March 18, 1971*
Behind Blue Eyes (Version 2) [Take 10, March 18, 1971}*
* Previously released with new remix
** Previously unreleased tracks
CD 5: OLYMPIC SOUND STUDIOS, LONDON SESSIONS 1970-72
Pure And Easy*
I Don’t Know Myself [B-side with Unreleased Count-in]
Time Is Passing [Stereo Mix]**
Too Much of Anything [Original 1971 Vocal]**
Naked Eye [1971 Remake]**
Bargain (Early Mix)**
Love Ain’t For Keeping (Unedited Mix)**
My Wife (Unedited Mix)**
Getting In Tune (Take 1 with Jam)**
Going Mobile (Alternate Mix)**
Song Is Over (Backing Track) [with Nicky Hopkins]**
When I Was a Boy**
Let’s See Action (Unedited Mix)**
Relay (Unedited Mix) [Alternate Vocal]**
Put The Money Down [Remix with Original Vocal]*
Join Together [Unedited Remix]**
* Previously released with new remix
** Previously unreleased tracks
CD 6: SINGLES & SESSIONS 1970-72
The Seeker (Original Single Mix)
Here For More [Original Single Mix]
Heaven And Hell [New Stereo Mix]**
Water [Eel Pie Sound Studio – New Unedited Mix]**
I Don’t Know Myself [Eel Pie Sound Studio – New Unedited Mix]**
Naked Eye [Eel Pie Sound Studio – New Unedited Mix]**
Postcard [Eel Pie Sound Studio – Original 1970 Mix]**
Now I’m A Farmer [Eel Pie Sound Studio – New Remix]**
The Seeker (Unedited Version)**
Water (IBC Version)**
I Don’t Know Myself (IBC Version)**
Let’s See Action (Original Single Mix)
When I Was a Boy (Original Single Mix)
Join Together (Original Single Mix)
Relay (Original Single Mix)
Waspman (Original Single Mix)
Long Live Rock (Original Olympic Mix)
* Previously released with new remix
** Previously unreleased tracks
CD 7: LIVE AT THE YOUNG VIC, LONDON – APRIL 26, 1971
Love Ain’t for Keeping*
Pure And Easy*
Young Man Blues*
Time Is Passing*
Behind Blue Eyes*
I Don’t Even Know Myself*
Too Much of Anything*
Getting In Tune*
Bargain*
* Previously released with new remix
** Previously unreleased tracks
CD 8: LIVE AT THE YOUNG VIC, LONDON – APRIL 26, 1971
Pinball Wizard**
See Me, Feel Me**
Baby Don’t You Do It*
Water*
My Generation*
(I’m A) Road Runner*
Naked Eye*
Bony Moronie*
Won’t Get Fooled Again*
* Previously released with new remix
** Previously unreleased tracks
CD 9: LIVE AT THE CIVIC AUDITORIUM, SAN FRANCISCO – DECEMBER 12, 1971
Introduction**
I Can’t Explain*
Substitute*
Summertime Blues**
My Wife*
Baba O’Riley**
Behind Blue Eyes*
Bargain*
Won’t Get Fooled Again**
Baby Don’t You Do It*
Magic Bus**
* Previously released with new remix
** Previously unreleased tracks
CD 10: LIVE AT THE CIVIC AUDITORIUM, SAN FRANCISCO – DECEMBER 12, 1971
Introduction To Tommy**
Overture**
Amazing Journey**
Sparks**
Pinball Wizard**
See Me Feel Me**
My Generation**
Naked Eye*
Going Down*
* Previously released with new remix
** Previously unreleased tracks
Blu-ray Audio
Steven Wilson Atmos Mix (48kHz 24-bit)**
Steven Wilson 5.1 Mix (96kHz 24-bit)**
Steven Wilson Stereo Mix (96kHz 24-bit)*
Original 1971 Stereo Mix (96kHz 24-bit)
Baba O’Riley
Bargain
Love Ain’t For Keeping
My Wife
The Song Is Over
Getting In Tune
Going Mobile
Behind Blue Eyes
Won’t Get Fooled Again
Bonus Tracks: Steven Wilson Atmos Mix (48kHz 24-bit) & Steven Wilson 5.1 Mix (96kHz 24-bit), Steven Wilson Stereo Mix (96kHz 24-bit)*
This release underlines how good ’73 was and includes tracks from Slade, Wizzard, T. Rex, Sweet, Mott The Hoople, Roxy Music, Wings, ELO, Paul Simon, Elton John, Carly Simon and many more.
NOW Yearbook 73 – Extra will be released on 13 October 2023.
Bob Marley & The Wailers’ 1973 album Catch A Fire is being reissued on vinyl and CD for its 50th anniversary.
The 3CD deluxe and 3LP vinyl + 12-inch packages contain the same audio which is the original studio album, a first official release for Live at The Paris Theatre, Londonand a Sessions disc which includes alternate/extended/instrumental versions of album tracks (including the two alternate versions of Stir It Up which were issued on a seven-inch single for this year’s Record Store Day. Three tracks performed at the Sundown Theatre in Edmonton, North London are appended to CD 3 and make up the content of the 12-inch single which comes with the vinyl box set.
3CD deluxe of the Catch A Fire 50th anniversary
Both presentations feature booklets with new notes (by Chris Salewicz) and rare and unseen photos. They also feature both covers the original Zippo lighter on one side and Bob smoking his spliff on the other. A special D2C (Direct-to-Consumer) coloured vinyl edition is also available.
Catch A Fire 50th anniversary will be released on 3 November 2023 via UMR/Island.
