Musicwhore.org Music and memory

With the late 1980s and early 1990s approaching landmark anniversaries, deluxe reissues are already starting to crowd the release schedule. This retrospective usually focuses on catalog albums I’ve discovered for the first time, but my attention has been diverted to these reissues. So I’ll cover both.

Reissues

Bruce Springsteen, Nebraska ’82

Electric Nebraska is pretty much the big draw for this reissue. Nebraska is a master class in sparseness, but the previously unreleased version of the album with a full band bears little relation to its source material. You also get the sense ditching these sessions was absolutely the correct decision.

Robert Palmer, Live at the Apollo

Recorded in 1988 and released in 2001, this live album also serves as a succinct retrospective of Palmer’s diverse career. Some of the post-production feels a bit forced, but Palmer’s performance cuts through.

U2, How to Re-Assemble an Atomic Bomb

How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb is U2 at it’s most average. That’s not a knock — it’s a good album, but it won’t compete against The Joshua Tree or Achtung Baby for clout. It’s also miles from the terribleness of Pop or No Line on the Horizon. So it’s an amazing feat that U2 could take the outtakes of that album’s sessions and fashion a completely different album out of it. Perhaps even a better one?

Steve Reich, Collected Works

Similar to Nonesuch’s comprehensive retrospective for John Adams, Collected Works assembles recordings from outside the label’s catalog to offer a thorough survey of Steve Reich’s recorded oeuvre. This beautifully packaged boxed set fills any holes in a Reich completist’s shelf.

Sting, The Dream of the Blue Turtles
Sting, … Nothing Like the Sun

Sting’s ambivalence to mining his archive is clear. Deluxe editions of early albums showed only on streaming services in the US. Physical releases of those same editions have so far only appeared in Japan. And all of these reissues contain a lot of remixes that feel fairly off-brand for Sting. I still rank them as important for bringing B-sides from these albums to a digital format. The … Nothing Like the Sun B-sides were my personal holy grail, and they had never seen even a CD reissue till now.

Catalog

Little Anthony and the Imperials, Goin’ Out of my Head

I didn’t realize Linda Ronstadt had actually covered “Hurt So Bad,” and the original recording by Little Anthony and the Imperials gives such a different energy from Ronstadt’s pleading. It’s bittersweet with just a hint of psychosis. Goin’ Out of My Head holds together as a solid album at a time when albums were still mostly a compilation of singles.

w.o.d., Ai

NOTE: “Ai” is a Romanized transliteration of the Japanese word for “love.” It is not an acronym.

Opening theme songs for the anime BLEACH tended to be promotion vehicles for alt-rock artists on the Sony Entertainment roster, and more times than not, they contributed little to the episode itself. That’s not the case for BLEACH: Thousand Year Blood War. The opening songs establish the tone for the story, and “Stars” by w.o.d. is the best so far. I found myself going back to Ai when I needed a hit of dopamine. It’s a raw album that’s rougher around the edges than alt-rock in Japan is known for.

These Trails, These Trails

My piano instructor in college asked me to review this album, on which he was a producer. But I had to hand the album back to him after the review was published. Hawaiian music doesn’t traditionally have a rebel streak giving the social norm for harmony and conformity intrinsic to Hawaii’s culture. These Trails offers a glimpse of what could happen if Hawaiian music did embrace more experimentalism. There’s an unmistakable hippie vibe to this album, but it’s married well with its Hawaiian influences.

DO AS INFINITY, EIGHT

DO AS INFINITY definitely came from a Japanese pop lineage, but with Owatari Ryo’s guitar driving the music, they bridge the Avex Trax dance world with the more underground influences of Shiina Ringo, Cocco and SUPERCAR. I listened to EIGHT when it was first released but never got around to owning it. Revisiting the album more than a decade later spurred me to add it to my physical collection. The album has aged the least in the band’s discography, offering their best writing and performances over a career spanning two decades.

Kaji Meiko, Yadokari

It’s not hard to figure out why Quinten Tarantino featured Kaji Meiko’s music prominently in the Kill Bill movies. Kaji struck a delicate balance between enka, kayoukyoku and spaghetti western soundtracks to produce some compelling music. And I’m not much of an enka fan.

Tags: bruce springsteen, do as infinity, favorite edition, kaji meiko, little anthony and the imperials, robert palmer, steve reich, sting, these trails, u2, w.o.d.