Album: Bill Hicks: The Essential Collection
Label: Ryko
Release Date: 2010-09-14
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Honorable Mention
Bill Hicks
Bill Hicks: The Essential Collection
Like most great prophets, Bill Hicks was taken from us long before his time, and awareness of his work has grown exponentially every year since his death. He left behind a significant body of work, whose continued relevancy, despite ever more dated references to politicians and celebrities removed from the spotlight, is a testament to just how insightful he was. Though there are few remaining stones left unturned in his estate’s vaults, this Essential Collection managed to uncover a few pearls, while completely living up to its name. The two CDs here represent a greatest hits, so to speak, forging practically all of Bill’s best bits into the form of the greatest rock & roll, stand-up philosophy set of all-time. These CDs are not only a good starting point for anyone new to Bill’s amazing work, but they hold up as the only Hicks ‘set’ anyone needs. Also included is a two-DVD set containing some of Hick’s earliest material, selections from his prime in the early ’90s, and his only appearance in film, a short titled Ninja Bachelor Party. Alan Ranta
Album: Sad Sappy Sucker (Reissue)
Label: Glacial Pace
US Release Date: 2010-11-14
UK Release Date: 2010-11-14
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Album: The Fruit That Ate Itself (Reissue)
Label: Glacial Pace
US Release Date: 2010-11-14
UK Release Date: 2010-11-14
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Sad Sappy Sucker / The Fruit That Ate Itself
Sad Sappy Sucker was originally intended to be Modest Mouse’s debut album, and The Fruit That Ate Itself was initially released as an EP of non-album tracks from The Lonesome Crowded West years. Isaac Brock reissued both releases on his own Glacial Pace label, giving fans a chance to view the records in a sort of continuum, an aural history of Modest Mouse’s strikingly rapid evolution. The songs on Sucker sound mostly like a series of interesting sketches, displaying Brock’s melodic talent and restless creativity but not yet the refinement of his skills that would bring the band unparalleled critical acclaim soon thereafter. Fruit, on the other hand, sees just that — Brock and Modest Mouse have figured it out. The EP has the band trying on a number of different styles, from the sharp and acidic squall of “Dirty Fingernails” to the trippy dub of the title track, and finding them all a perfect fit. Both Sucker and Fruit give evidence of a band driven by a tremendous vision to constantly refine its artistic sensibilities. Corey Beasley
Album: Band on the Run (Special Edition)
Label: Concord
US Release Date: 2010-11-02
UK Release Date: 2010-11-01
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Paul McCartney & Wings
Band on the Run (Special Edition)
In 1998, Band on the Run was remastered and reissued for its 25th Anniversary, which, even 12 years on, might beg the question, “Why another reissue?” The 2010 reissue is the first release in the Paul McCartney Archive Collection, and right away it’s clear the newly remastered sound is more than reason enough for its existence. It’s a revelation of fuller sounds and previously unheard flourishes. Then there are the extras. In addition to a single-disc Standard Edition, which is simply the nine original tracks, there’s a 2CD/1DVD Special Edition and a 3CD/1DVD Deluxe Edition containing a wealth of collectibles. The second CD consists of nine bonus audio tracks, including the rare, unreleased One Hand Clapping 1974 television special and newly remastered versions of the singles and B-sides. The third CD is a previously released audio documentary. The DVD features behind-the-scenes footage, promo clips and video of One Hand Clapping. Thirty-seven years after it was recorded, Band on the Run is still McCartney’s best-loved post-Beatles album, and this new version, fittingly, gives fans even more to love. Christel Loar
Album: Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg
US Release Date: 2010-08-24
UK Release Date: 2010-08-23
Label: Light in the Attic
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Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg
Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg
Less than two years before unabashedly courting accusations of pedophilia with his 1971 masterwork Histoire de Melody Nelson, legendary French provocateur Serge Gainsbourg was already turning heads with this erotically-charged collaboration with then lover and muse Jane Birkin. Thrust into the mainstream conversation on the back of its hotly-tipped lead single, “Je t’aime… moi non plus” — which features the budding actress further igniting her tabloid-riddled status through a climatic bridge of salaciously delivered cries of ecstasy — this self-titled pairing moves swiftly between Gainsbourg’s many impulses (see both those winking, cheese-rock guitar solos and pervasive soft-core sax stylings), shedding genres like last night’s clothing and utilizing Birkin as a mouthpiece to both titillate and politically castigate. Reissued for the very first time in the United States this past spring, over four decades since its initial release, this milestone in the careers of its creators has proven vital not only as an excellent collection of songs, but as a missing link between Gainsbourg’s jazz-tinged, yé-yé popularizing early work and his more (im)purely chanson-traced ’70s material. Forty years later it still holds all the unknown pleasures of wide-eyed adolescence and innocence lost. Jordan Cronk
Title: Apple Records Box Set
Label: EMI
US Release Date: 2010-10-25
UK Release Date: 2010-10-25
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Various Artists
Apple Records Box Set
Say what you will about the absence of such staples as the first Elephant’s Memory LP and the soundtrack to El Topo, this 17-disc box set chronciling the six-year run of the Beatles’ storied boutique imprint Apple Records is as good as it gets. The label was launched by the Fabs in 1968 to escape the clutches of the major label wrecking machine and showcase their wildly diverse tastes in music. That is all gathered together here in one massive collection. From the junkie folk of James Taylor’s little-known eponymous debut to the infectious AOR of Badfinger’s quartet of classic albums and from the funky Godmusic of “fifth Beatle” Billy Preston to the powerhouse soul of Bronx-born London session diva Doris Troy, there’s some major eclecticism on display. But there’s more: the devotional psychedelia of the Radha Krishna Temple, the askew tuxedo bop of the Modern Jazz Quartet, and the smattering of one-off singles from the likes of Ronnie Spector, Hot Chocolate, Brute Force and the Sundown Playboys collected for a single-disc label best-of. This is the perfect addition to the library of obsessive Beatles scholars the world over. Ron Hart
Album: Searching for the Young Soul Rebels (30th Anniversary Edition)
Label: EMI
US Release Date: Available as import
UK Release Date: 2010-10-18
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Dexys Midnight Runners
Searching for the Young Soul Rebels (30th Anniversary Edition)
Though known in the US as one-hit wonders for their ragamuffin-era “Come on Eileen”, Dexys Midnight Runners had already released a stunning debut that tapped into their love of soul music. On EMI’s 30th Anniversary deluxe edition of Searching for the Young Soul Rebels, Dexys Midnight Runners may finally see the record set straight and have the band regarded as more than mere flashes in the pan. Frontman Kevin Rowland has always been something of a dandy, and his histrionic vocal affectations at the very least make for a unique take on soul singing. But by god, it works. When the horns signal the opening of “Burn It Down”, following nearly a minute of radio tuning with nods to the Sex Pistols and the Specials, it’s clear this blue-eyed soul gem is at the very least going to be loads of fun the likes of which Paul Weller himself didn’t manage to capture nearly as effectively over any single album with the Style Council.
Searching for the Young Soul Rebels is one of those albums the Brits can’t seem to heap enough praise upon. Its status as a lost gem is slightly disingenuous, as the album hit #6 on the UK charts back in 1980. But in the wake of the worldwide success of follow-up Too-Rye-Ay, Searching for the Young Soul Rebels was sort of lost in the shuffle. Hearing it now, in its glorious 2010 reissue, Searching for the Young Soul Rebels is hardly groundbreaking. Its organ stabs and walls of brass weren’t just soul retro, but on ominous instrumental “The Teams That Meet in Caffs” are one skank guitar away from the Two-Tone sound that at the time had the UK firmly in its grip. But what the album does successfully manage is to capture the sweaty throb of a live soul revue. “Geno”, the album’s best known track and a UK #1, is a stormer on its own, but followed on the album by “Seven Days Too Long”, is clearly part of a single glorious statement. Dexys Midnight Runners soon became way more popular than this, but they were never any better.
While deluxe reissues often come off as barrel scraping cash grabs, Searching for the Young Soul Rebels is the essential version of an album that 30 years on is the very definition of “classic”. A terrific bounty of alternate cuts, b-sides, demos and radio sessions, the bonus material is in perfect alignment with the album. Such was the strength of their material that the staggering lament of “I’m Just Looking” was relegated to a b-side. A few of the covers aren’t going to make one forget the originals — “Hold on, I’m Comin'” in particular — but they at least show the band was the real deal. Crispin Kott
15 – 11
Title: Complete Mythology
Label: Numero Group
US Release Date: 2010-11-09
UK Release Date: 2010-11-01
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Syl Johnson
Complete Mythology
Why would one want to invest in a costly six-LP, four-CD box set from an R&B artist of which few people beyond the elite force of Wax Poetic groove nerds have heard? It’s because of the fact that although Syl Johnson might not harbor the marquee status of his contemporaries like Otis Redding, James Brown, Curtis Mayfield and Al Green, this Mississippi-born former blues singer-turned-funkateer boasts a half-century-long career that saw him jam with Junior Wells and Howlin’ Wolf in the ’50s, create a hit song in the ’60s that would house one of the most coveted breaks of hip-hop’s golden age, and record with veteran producer Willie Mitchell for the fabled Hi Records imprint throughout the ’70s. And Complete Mythology, flanked by 81 tracks featuring such rare gems as the 28 singles he crafted for such legendary labels as Federal Cha-Cha and Zachron, a perfect replica of his 1969 socially concious masterpiece Is It Because I’m Black? and ten previously unreleased compositions, is an essential addition to the fabric of the national conversation on the history of soul music that is far beyond overdue. Ron Hart
Title: Next Stop Soweto 1-3 (Limited Edition)
Label: Strut
US Release Date: 2010-11-22
UK Release Date: 2010-11-22
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Various Artists
Next Stop Soweto 1-3 (Limited Edition)
This collection of South African township jive is crucial for a couple reasons. Not only have none of these songs appeared on CD before, until now, many of these artists have been invisible outside of locally-distributed singles and stray mentions in African music guides. But crate-digging intrigue aside, all 20 songs are glorious. You might know Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens from the Indestructible Beat of Soweto compilations, but just try finding anything else by Boy-Nze Na Maqueens, who contribute an irresistible groan-and-response manifesto with mile-high bass swoops; or by S. Piliso & His Super Seven, authors of a groovy three-chord piano skiffle. Francis Gooding’s notes are expert and thorough and the album’s pacing shows off the genre’s variety. Only two songs top three minutes and you can dance from beginning to end. If you’ve ever had a bad day, you need this music. Josh Langhoff
Album: Pinkerton [Deluxe Edition]
Label: Geffen
US Release Date: 2010-11-02
UK Release Date: 2010-11-08
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Weezer
Pinkerton [Deluxe Edition]
Whenever a new Weezer album crosses my desk I try in vain to put Pinkerton out of my mind. You’re not supposed to judge a band’s current output against an album they made 14 years earlier. Weezer have done themselves no favors this year, dropping a Deluxe Edition of Pinkerton between two new predictably subpar offerings. Long considered a cult classic, this ragged masterpiece of an album has finally taken its place among the most influential releases of the 1990s, if not all time. Though he probably never realized it at the time, the frigid Boston winter an oversexed yet romantically frustrated Rivers Cuomo spent subsisting on a steady diet of painkillers and Madame Butterfly would come to define his entire career. If we weren’t already convinced of this album’s unimpeachable power, the 24 bonus tracks here make the picture complete. Live and acoustic material is revealing if more than a little redundant (five “Pink Triangle’s” but not a single “Falling for You?). It’s nice to see long available B-sides, from the 3/4 doo wop of “Waiting on You” to the Petra Haden sung “I Just Threw out the Love of My Dreams” finally at home together. While these tracks are all essential, album-worthy material, it’s the long-lost set closer “Tragic Girl” that offers the biggest kick. On this towering six-minute track we get to hear the boys play with that Pinkerton swing for one last bittersweet time. Daniel Tebo
Album: Fables of the Reconstruction (25th Anniversary Edition)
Label: Capitol
US Release Date: 2010-07-13
UK Release Date: 2010-07-12
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R.E.M.
Fables of the Reconstruction (25th Anniversary Edition)
The only reason I can figure for Fables being regarded as a lesser R.E.M. album is because the band itself tends to badmouth the record. But all you have to do is listen to realize that Fables is a classic record just like all early R.E.M. discs. It might even serve as the crucial missing link between the “vintage” R.E.M. sound of
Album: The Complete Mother’s Best Recordings
Label: Time-Life
US Release Date: 2010-09-28
UK Release Date: Import
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Hank Williams
The Complete Mother’s Best Recordings
Reissues equal money. They’re a way to tap our collective memory or sense of history for bonus dollars. The best are also historical preservation. This massive collection seems a time capsule and an archive, more so than a collection of music to listen to. Listening straight through isn’t the point. Better may be to listen in short installments, daily, emulating the format of the original radio broadcasts. In 1951, Hank Williams and band, often featuring his wife Audrey, played sets of a few songs to listeners of WSM in Nashville. The show was sponsored by Mother’s Best flour, a product Williams sells at every step. That makes it a chance to hear a more jovial Williams than expected, and hear not just his tragedies but also gospel hymns and jokey songs. It’s a time-travel party, taking you to a different place at a different time. Dave Heaton
10 – 6
Album: Bona Drag (20th Anniversary Edition)
Label: EMI
US Release Date: 2010-10-05
UK Release Date: 2010-10-04
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Morrissey
Bona Drag (20th Anniversary Edition)
I am writing this to say in a gentle way, thank you but ‘YES’. I will live my life as I will undoubtedly die, listening to Morrissey’s finest hour, this divinely poetic and hopelessly romantic compilation of the Mozfather’s early A’s and B’s. The gang’s all here alongside six not entirely unlovable new recruits, perky ‘n’ chipper despite being lost down the back of the sofa for 20 years. Now and whenever you need it, Bona Drag comes around to your place at 5am, wakes you up and throws its sweet and tender arms around you. Bring flowers, bring wine. Girls and boys, this is music for lovers, so fall in and pucker up. Matt James
Album: The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964 (Bootleg Series Vol. 9)
Label: Columbia
US Release: 2010-10-19
UK Release: 2010-10-18
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Bob Dylan
The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964 (Bootleg Series Vol. 9)
Bob Dylan might have been on the cusp of fame when he casually recorded his new material at his publishing company’s no-frills office studio, but more than four decades later the artistic strides he made in two short years is staggering. The scenario simply boggles the mind: Dylan showing up with guitar and harmonica, setting up in front of the crude recording equipment, and with every visit performing a new batch of songs that would become classics, if not standards in American music. As remarkable as these intimate performances are, they were made for practical purposes: sheet music would be made of the recordings, and if an artist was interested in covering a song, an acetate of the demo would be made as a reference. With Peter, Paul and Mary and Judy Collins doing just that in 1963, with many more to follow, it paid off hugely for Dylan. Today, though, The Witmark Demos serve as a wonderful snapshot of a young, prolific artist just starting to emerge as an unparalleled genius. Adrien Begrand
Title: NEU! Vinyl Box (Limited Edition)
Label: Gronland
US Release Date: Import
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Neu!
NEU! Vinyl Box (Limited Edition)
Those looking for a more complete story to Neu! won’t find it in this box set’s most coveted items, reissues of the bootleg quality rehearsal tape Neu! ’72: Live in Dusseldorf and the reunion session of Neu! ’86 (itself illegally bootlegged at one point as Neu! 95). The former is pretty much a soundboard jam session whose twinkle is difficult to capture beyond the tapes hiss. The latter hardly fits into the Neu! canon, though its Neu-wave is still wildly exotic compared to the other sounds of 1986 that critics have accused the band of selling out to. That set is also sounds like most fun the band ever had, though it was recorded during a period of legal and personal acrimony that left the sessions ultimately incomplete, making the recording a bit of a ruse. Hence, the real meat of this box is the trilogy of those three official Neu! albums and who would ask for anything more? If the cheap pop art and Klaus Dinger’s definitive stripped motorik drive suggest anything, it’s that Neu! were an outfit of crisp simplicity. They left the clutter and post WW2 debris to Ashra Tempel and Faust. Neu! was about completely stripping the canvas to its bare necessity, and showing how something “new” could be put there. It’s no wonder then that those three albums proved the blueprint for techno’s futurist impulses and architectural proclivities. Timothy Gabriele
Title: Sound Affects (Deluxe Edition)
Label: Polydor
US Release Date: Import
UK Release Date: 2010-11-08
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The Jam
Sound Affects (Deluxe Edition)
Decidedly a more instrumentally-minded remaster, with the guitars and drums pushed up in the m ix, the Deluxe Edition rerelease of the Jam’s Sound Affects emphasizes everything that fans of the band have been championing for years… and more. These songs have always had the drive and muscle to move crowds, but what’s obvious from Tibor Pecsi’s remaster is that it’s never really been about Paul Weller’s singing or lyrics, but the dynamics between the three members that make them one of the greatest British bands to have ever existed. Songs like “Set the House Ablaze” and “That’s Entertainment” find new life with this new attention to detail. Weller and Foxton’s guitars and Rick Buckler’s drums never rang with so much clarity. It’s now more obvious to new listeners how completely in sync the three members were with each other. The bonus disc offers some songs that have been included on previous releases such as Extras, but not at the level of quality found here. “Liza Radley” and “The Dreams of Children” have both been released before, but now benefit from 21st century technology — making this edition the definitive copy of Sound Affects available, and thus, a definitive addition to any collection. Matthew Werner
Album: Coals to Newcastle
Label: Domino
US Release Date: 2010-11-16
UK Release Date: 2010-11-08
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Orange Juice
Coals to Newcastle
For an influential band whose sound can be heard throughout indie-pop, the early ‘80s Scottish group Orange Juice has been relatively unheard lately, their music hard to collect. Coals to Newcastle puts an end to that search by giving us everything at once. With all the albums and singles, unreleased songs, BBC sessions and a DVD, it really does feel like everything. In 2010 their music holds up well, both the early guitar-driven post-punk and the funk-and-soul-influenced pop after. The lyrics have bite, tenderness, and a persistent sense of humor. It’s music of melancholy, discontent and self-criticism, but is sharp about it, a quality tough to replicate, more so than their sound or even Edwyn Collins’ seemingly one-of-a-kind voice. They’re the type of band that inspires cult followings, that makes you want to scrawl their lyrics on walls. I can imagine a new cult forming… that is, if the youth of today buy deluxe boxsets. Dave Heaton
5 – 1
Title: Signature Box
Label: EMI
US Release Date: 2010-10-05
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John Lennon
Signature Box
Capitol and the Lennon estate made sure no one would forget John Lennon would have turned 70 in 2010. Two box sets, a complete set of remastered albums, and the umpteenth “best of” were released. A new “stripped down” mix of Double Fantasy was promoted. Yet the overall critical and cultural perspective on Lennon’s solo work changed very little. Being difficult to listen to doesn’t make Plastic Ono Band any less great, and being easy to listen to doesn’t make Imagine any less great, either. Everything else ranges from hit-and-miss to pure folly. Maybe conventional wisdom regarding these recordings is so frozen because Lennon was nothing if not direct and honest in his music. There’s really very little of substance left to uncover. But that’s really not the point, and never was. If we’re honest, all the compilations, reissues, ostensible reconsiderations, amount to the same purpose. They’re ways of saying we wish Lennon hadn’t died in 1980, especially the way he did, and we’re still trying to get over it. In other words, we miss the man even more than we care about his music. John Bergstrom
Album: Bitches Brew: 40th Anniversary Legacy Edition
Label: Sony Legacy
US Release Date: 2010-08-31
UK Release Date: 2010-08-30
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Miles Davis
Bitches Brew: 40th Anniversary Legacy Edition
Oddly enough, Bitches Brew may be the album that best represents Miles Davis’s protean discography. It’s experimental, but deep down you can still feel Charlie Parker’s bebop gripping Davis. It’s electric and sprawling, but not nearly as thorny as later albums, and clings to the resonant, shadowy mood of his mid-’60s work with the second quintet. In other words, it dips its toes in the best of Davis’s strengths, which is why it’s an album always worthy of revisiting. It’s an album that changes with each listen, that opens up new secrets to you each time. This 40th anniversary addition is particularly revealing. The album sounds crisp and full, and the few outtakes offer a compelling glimpse at the pieces that became the whole through innovative, patchwork production. The real gem here, though, is the DVD of a Copenhagen performance from late 1969. There’s no electric instruments, but the boys — Davis, Shorter, Corea, Holland, DeJohnette — are spreading out in the Bitches Brew material and absolutely scorching it. The performance is brilliant, Davis wild and on fire and lost in his own world. It’s a snap shot of an artist at the height of his powers, and his curiosity, and on the cusp of releasing this, his greatest achievement. Matt Fiander
Title: Disintegration (Deluxe Edition)
Label: Rhino
US Release Date: 2010-06-08
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The Cure
Disintegration (Deluxe Edition)
It’s no surprise how gracefully the Cure’s 1989 understated masterpiece has aged. It was an extremely daring album when it first hit the public’s ears, but today, in an age where countless morose young bands keep trying vainly to emulate the band and the record only to come off as facile and forgettable, it feels so refreshingly atmospheric, poignant, romantic, and yes, melancholy. With the original album’s mastering horribly out of date by today’s “loudness war” standards, Disintegration has been spruced up with a slightly punchier sound, but while the dynamic range has been narrowed, thankfully that doesn’t diminish the devastating impact tracks like “Plainsong”, “Pictures of You”, and “Fascination Street” still possess. Additionally, this deluxe edition gives us a superbly detailed glimpse at the creation of the album, with a second disc crammed with home demos and studio run-throughs, as well as an expanded version of the rare Entreat live album, all of which will enthrall new and old fans alike. Adrien Begrand
Album: Station to Station (Special Edition)
Label: EMI
US Release Date: 2010-09-28
UK Release Date: 2010-09-27
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David Bowie
Station to Station (Special Edition)
“It’s not the side effects of the cocaine,” David Bowie sings on the title track of Station to Station. Bullshit. The creator, paranoid, road-weary and strung out, still can’t remember much about the recording sessions. Accounts put the album’s recording period at either a feverish ten days or over several months during Bowie’s The Man Who Fell to Earth period. Though the album only features six songs, the ten-minute opener has the ambition of a symphonic opus throughout its three major movements. With the exception of “Golden Years”, the album has routinely lived in the shadows of more high-profile Bowie works like Space Oddity and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust, but this year’s rerelease will no doubt change that. Impeccably packaged and featuring a two-disc copy of Bowie’s 1976 performance at Nassau Coliseum, Station to Station is a great reintroduction to the Thin White Duke for those that missed it the first time around. Sean McCarthy
Album: Exile on Main Street (Deluxe Edition)
Label: Universal
US Release Date: 2010-05-18
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The Rolling Stones
Exile on Main Street (Deluxe Edition)
Of all of the events that comprise the storied history of rock ‘n’ roll, the legend of the Rolling Stones’ rambling, shambling masterpiece Exile on Main Street remains the most endlessly fascinating. Who wouldn’t give their eye teeth to have spent an afternoon at Keith Richard’s villa in the South of France during the summer of 1972? Barring unforeseen developments in the time travel industry this decadent Super Deluxe edition of Exile is as close as we’re ever going to get to that stifling basement at Nellcote. For a couple hundred of your hard earned dollars, you’ll be treated to re-mastered versions of the original album on both CD and vinyl, a disc of outtakes and extras, a DVD, and a 60-page book. While the DVD reeks of self-censorship, the book delves deep into the notoriously debauched Exile tour. Bonus disc highlights include the touched up gem “Plundered My Soul”, which reunites the band with long-lamented guitarist Mick Taylor for the first time in decades. Less moneyed consumers will still find themselves duly satisfied by the single disc version. A fresh copy of one of the greatest albums of all time is never a bad investment. Daniel Tebo