2006 Reissues
A disturbing trend has started in reissues, particularly with the Talking Heads. They're trying to hawk a new format, DualDisc, which limits the playing time to less than 80 minutes in order to make the other side play as a DVD. The problem is that many CD players have problems playing it. And rather than include Talking Heads' many brilliant videos, the extras are simply selections from a live show. So I'm not reviewing them, despite Remain In Light being an all-time favorite just behind Funhouse. See list of 2005 reissues here.
- Talking Heads * Remain In Light (Sire/Rhino) 80
- Wire * 154 (Harvest/Pink Flag) 79
- Talking Heads * Fear Of Music (Sire/Rhino) 79
- Wire * Pink Flag (Harvest/Pink Flag) 77
- Amon Düül II * Tanz der Lemminge (Revisited) 71
- Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band * Doc At The Radar Station (Virgin/EMI) 80
- Pere Ubu * The Modern Dance (Silverline) 77
- Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band * Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) (Virgin/EMI) 78
- The Pretenders [Deluxe Edition] (Sire/Rhino) 80
- Talking Heads * More Songs About Buildings And Food (Sire/Rhino) 78
- Amon Düül II * Yeti (Revisited) 70
- Lizzy Mercier Descloux * Zulu Rock (Ze) 84
- The Comsat Angels * Sleep No More (Polydor/Renascent) 81
- Brian Eno/David Byrne * My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (Nonesuch) 81
- Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band * Ice Cream For Crow (Virgin/EMI) 82
- Wire * Chairs Missing (Harvest/Pink Flag) 78
- Talking Heads: 77 (Sire/Rhino) 77
- Nina Simone * Sings the Blues (RCA/Legacy) 66
- Electric Light Orchestra * A New World Record (Jet/Epic Legacy) 76
- The Comsat Angels * Waiting For A Miracle (Polydor/Renascent) 80
- Siouxsie & the Banshees * Juju (Geffen) 81
- Siouxsie & the Banshees * Kaleidoscope (Polydor/Geffen) 80
- Robert Fripp * Exposure [Deluxe Edition] (DGM) 79
- Al Green * Explores Your Mind (Capitol/The Right Stuff) 74
- Amon Düül II * Phallus Dei (Revisited) 69
- The Comsat Angels * Fiction (Polydor/Renascent) 82
- Al Green * Livin' for You (Capitol/The Right Stuff) 73
- The Glove * Blue Sunshine [Deluxe Edition] (Elektra) 83
- The Cure * Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me [Deluxe Edition] (Elektra) 87
- Pulp * Different Class [Deluxe Edition] (Island) 95
- Horace Andy * Natty Dread A Weh She Want (Trojan) 79
- Heaven 17 * Penthouse and Pavement (Virgin) 81
- Ultravox * Ha! Ha! Ha! (Island) 77
- Ultravox * Ultravox! (Island) 77
- Can * Flow Motion (Mute) 76
- Siouxsie & The Banshees * Join Hands (Geffen) 79
- Depeche Mode * Speak & Spell [Deluxe Edition] (Sire) 81
- The Pretenders II [Deluxe Edition] (Sire/Rhino) 81
- Heaven 17 * The Luxury Gap (Virgin) 83
- Pulp * His 'N' Hers [Deluxe Edition] (Island) 94
- Delta 5 * Singles and Sessions 1979-1981 (Kill Rock Stars)
- Ultravox * Systems Of Romance (Virgin) 78
- Fred Neil (Water)
- Tuxedomoon * Desire (Crammed) 81
- Eric Dolphy * Out There (Prestige) 64
- Can * Landed (Mute) 75
- Sonic Youth * Sonic Youth EP (Geffen) 82
- ZZ Top * Tres Hombres (Rhino) 73
- Talking Heads * Speaking In Tongues (Sire/Rhino) 83
- Mott the Hoople * Mott (Columbia/Legacy) 73
- Tuxedomoon * Half Mute (Crammed)
- Mott the Hoople * All the Young Dudes (Columbia/Legacy) 72
- The Lucy Show * Mania (Words Music) 86
- Motörhead * Orgasmatron (Sanctuary) 86
- John Martyn * Inside Out (Universal) 73
- Al Green * Is Love (Capitol/The Right Stuff) 75
- Al Green * Full of Fire (Capitol/The Right Stuff) 76
- Tuxedomoon * Holy Wars (Crammed) 85
- Nausea * The Punk Terrorist Anthology Vol. I (Blacknoise/Alternative Tentacles)
- Augustus Pablo * King David's Melody (Shanachie) 83
- John Martyn * Sunday's Child (Universal) 74
- Sparks * A Woofer in Tweeter's Clothing (Wounded Bird) 72
- Sparks * Halfnelson (Wounded Bird) 71
- Electric Light Orchestra * No Answer (Jet/Epic Legacy) 72
- Electric Light Orchestra * ELO II (Jet/Epic Legacy) 73
- Can * Saw Delight (Mute) 77
- Motörhead * Another Perfect Day (Sanctuary) 83
- Electric Light Orchestra * On The Third Day (Jet/Epic Legacy) 73
- Electric Light Orchestra * Face The Music (Jet/Epic Legacy) 75
- Eartha Kitt That Bad Eartha...Plus (Universe) 53
- ZZ Top Fandango! (Rhino) 74
- Nina Simone * Silk & Soul (RCA/Legacy) 67
- Captain Beefheart & his Magic Band * Unconditionally Guaranteed (Virgin/EMI) 74
- The Cure * The Top [Deluxe Edition] (Elektra) 84
- The Cure * The Head On The Door [Deluxe Edition] (Elektra) 85
- Loudon Wainwright III * Album I (Collector's Choice) 70
- Loudon Wainwright III * Album II (Collector's Choice) 71
- Talking Heads * Little Creatures (Sire/Rhino) 85
- Al Green * Have a Good Time (Capitol/The Right Stuff) 76
- Al Green * Truth 'N Time (Capitol/The Right Stuff) 78
- Motörhead * Rock 'n' Roll (Sanctuary) 87
- The dB's * Like This (Collectors' Choice) 84
- Lee Morgan * The Gigolo (Blue Note) 65
- Ian Dury & the Blockheads * Do It Yourself (Fuel) 79
- Phil Ochs * I Ain't Marching Anymore (Collectors' Choice) 65
- Phil Ochs * All the News That's Fit to Sing (Collector's Choice) 64
Wire, Pink Flag (Harvest/Pink Flag) 77
Wire, Chairs Missing (Harvest/Pink Flag) 78
Wire, 154 (Harvest/Pink Flag) 79
This band Wire, we got their record Pink Flag, and these cats didn't know how to play, they were like art students or something. And it was just this fucking lightbulb over our heads. We said, "Man, if we do this, people will never know that we used to like Blue Oyster Cult."
Mike Watt, Minutemen/Firehose
The average person on the street has never heard of Wire, yet their presence is ubiquitous. Their songs were covered by Minor Threat, R.E.M., Henry Rollins and Fischerspooner. Elastica plagiarized them. They influenced the Minutemen, Mission of Burma, The Cure, U2, Simple Minds, Sonic Youth, Blur, Sleater-Kinney, and even Pavement and Guided By Voices. In 1996, 21 artists covered Wire songs on Whore: Various Artists Play Wire, which even extracted a cover by My Bloody Valentine . What's remarkable is none of them sounded alike. Like The Velvet Underground, Captain Beefheart and Mission Of Burma, Wire's influence was in their innovation, not a particular style that could be copied. Which is why they sound more fresh today than all their contemporaries.
In the post-punk bible, Rip It Up And Start Again, Simon Reynolds singled out Wire's distinctive features down to method and design. As a student at progressive art school Watford, Colin Newman met Brian Eno, who was lecturing and working on projects at the school. He also met Bruce Gilbert, a 30-year old abstract painter who worked as an audio-visual technician at the school. Graham Lewis was a fashion designer. After ousting their more traditional rock 'n' roll singer, Wire quickly formed a cohesive aesthetic involving a strong sense of geometry and simplicity, from their simple chords to visual art to their stark monochrome clothes and harsh white stage lighting. On Pink Flag they dismantled traditional rock songs, tossed away the solos and choruses, cut and pasted lyrics into enigmatic koans, and created terse, spare songs that were at once compressed, but allowed for plenty of space between notes. "Reuters" starts out the album with a thick, menacing one-chord guitar, ruminating on war and violence at a funeral pace. "Field Day For The Sundays" comes and goes in a startling 28 seconds, false ending and all. Further surprises are how nearly delicately beautiful their pop songs can be ("Ex Lion Tamer," "Fragile" and "Mannequin"). While the band may have started out as very rudimentary musicians, they clearly have a knack for hooks, details and even melodies.
Chairs Missing revealed a dramatic leap in Wire's abilities, and introduced synths, with producer Mike Thorne beginning to take an Eno-type role in the band's progression. Their pop sensibility is briefly shown off on "Outdoor Miner," but largely the songs are less accessible in achieving their unique visions. While most are riveting (the long, piledriving "Practice Makes Perfect," the exquisitely understanded "Heartbeat," the rocking "Sand In My Joints" and frenetic closer, "Too Late"), some of the cuts drag or even get annoying ("Mercy," "I Am The Fly"). It's a fascinating transition album from the band's original incarnation of minimalist punks to proggy art rock. It's a testament to the band's art that each of their three albums have supporters as fan favorites. Named after the number of gigs played so far, 154 again shows an astonishing jump, which left many followers behind, although John Lennon was reportedly a fan of it. While the new sounds are startling, all the experiments work brilliantly, foreshadowing the sounds of bands like Sonic Youth ("Two People In A Room," "Once Is Enough") and The Pixies ("The 15th"). "Single K.O." is powerfuly spooky, "On Returning" recalls an angrier Tiger Mountain era Eno, and "Map Ref. 41N 93W" is their best song ever. With that, the band split down the middle, with Newman and Gotobed committed to keeping experimentation within the pop structure, while Gilbert and Lewis wanted the freedom to explore more freeform noise. Newman released four excellent solo albums, and Gilbert and Lewis recorded under various names, their best work under the name Dome. The band reunited twice more, as a synth pop band in the 80s, and, ironically, in the 00s with a sound so aggressive they have more in common with Motörhead than the old Wire.
Comsat Angels, Waiting For A Miracle (Poydor/Renascent) 80
Comsat Angels, Sleep No More (Poydor/Renascent) 81
Comsat Angels, Fiction (Poydor/Renascent) 82
Sheffield band Comsat Angels have forever lingered under the shadow of contemporaries like Joy Division and The Cure. With these lovingly packaged reissues by UK label Renascent, their reputation as a unique, brilliant band can be promoted in a way that the label did with the similarly great The Sound. Culling their name from a short story by J.G. Ballard, Comsat Angels formed in 1978. They got a quick education early on by being blown away at a gig with Pere Ubu. They learned they could be arty and simple at the same time, emphasizing uncontrived power over complexity. Using Pere Ubu, Chrome, Television, Talking Heads' Fear Of Music and Public Image Ltd. as spiritual guidance, the band develped the set that was to become Waiting For A Miracle. It's a remarkable debut with a spare sound that's clean yet hits hard. Stephen Fellow sings his lyrics of paranoia and romantic decay in a strong English accent, ensuring they don't overtly sound like any of their influences. "Total War" is a riveting statement of mutual disgust as it lurches, constantly on the verge of a smack but holding back. The title track features an awesomely heavy bass sound, while "Independence Day" is the band's biggest single, and one of their most distinct statements. Ironically, they were compared to Joy Division, even though they claim not to have heard them until completing their first album. Either way, Waiting For A Miracle measures up to the best of that year's post-punk efforts by Joy Division, The Associates, The Cure, Magazine, The Sound, Echo & the Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes and Simple Minds.
Sleep No More shows off the confidence and experience Comsat Angels have earned on the road by hitting hard from the start with the dense, thick "The Eye Dance." The few tentative weaknesses in the previous album's songwriting has evaporated. This album is as tight, cold and hard as titanium. The opening track sounds spritely compared to the glaciar pace of most of the album. Ths results in a flow that is not as accessible as their first album, but once drawn in, the soundscapes created on each cut is truly awesome, from "Be Brave" to the ominous "Dark Parade," which recounts the botched attempt of American Special Forces to rescue hostages in the embassy of Iran. The drums have a massive, cavernous sound that left engineers of that era scratching their heads as to how it was done (secrets revealed in the booklet). "Restless" offers some brief relief from the relentless intensity with a pretty, shimmering sound that sounds remarkably what U2 and Brian Eno would come up with a few years later. The Angels toured with U2 at that time, and Bono was impressed by their "terrible beauty." Despite the fact that it's The Comsat Angels' peak moment, and the best album of 1981, no singles were issued from the album. The band issued a separate single, "Eye of the Lens," which is included along with extra demos.
Rather than try to top their oppressively heavy masterpiece, the band lightened up a bit on 1982's Fiction, starting with the glimmering lead track "After The Rain," which would anticipate the sophisticated pop sound of many British bands in following years, including fellow Sheffield natives Human League and ABC. While it may foreshadow the band's decline, in itself it's one of their best songs. Another highlight is "Pictures," featuring a gently jazzy solo, recalling the delicate sensibilities of contemporaries Japan. Fiction may not be as consistent or as powerful as the first two album, but it still has many breathtaking moments, and towers above the Comsats work later in the decade.
More reissues: 2006 | 2005 | 2004
