A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots 20th Anniversary 5LP Super Deluxe Edition Box Set by The Flaming Lips. While The Flaming Lips had already established themselves in the pop and rock communities by the time Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots was released in 2002, the album holds the distinction of being the one that really took the band to another level – and equally impressive was the manner in which they managed...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Porterhouse Records reissue of SC.U.M.’s Born Too Soon LP. Listening to the reissue of Montreal-based punk/hardcore outfit SC.U.M.’s Born Too Soon LP really takes me back. I mean, I understand that the idea of a reissue is supposed to recall a time where the album in question was new and is capable of allowing a listener to inhabit that moment for a while – but the reissue of Born Too Soon...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 30th Anniversary 2LP reissue of Dirt by Alice In Chains. While there are plenty of deluxe reissue versions of classic albums on the market at the moment (including of Dirt, actually; there are multi-disc sets of the album which include enough 7” singles to contain all the songs on the album’s hype sticker, and then some), that Alice In Chains has also released a version of Dirt without any bells or...
L7 Bricks Are Heavy (30th Anniversary reissue) LP (Licorice Pizza Records) Looking back on it now, it’s pretty pitiful how unprepared the music industry was for L7. When the band first appeared in 1988 with their debut album, it’s easy enough to understand how nobody noticed; L7’s self-titled debut came out on Epitaph Records (which, at that time, was a really small record label with limited resources – and Bad Religion was the only band of note on their roster)...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 2LP Rocktober edition reissue of Ritual de lo Habitual by Jane’s Addiction. I must confess that, when I learned Warner Brothers Records was reissuing Jane’s Addiction’s third full-length album as part of their Roctober promotion, I got really, really excited. In fact, excitement barely even begins to qualify the wealth of sensations that I felt when I heard about it; the number of memories that I have associated with Ritual de...
Hitchcock Classics Collection I don’t think there’s ever been a better time to watch Hitchcock movies. If you’re familiar with him, you’ll be reminded of why his movies keep standing out after all these years, and if you’ve never watched his movies, prepare for your mind to be blown. I think people often neglect Hitchcock’s early work when they think of his filmography, like Foreign Correspondent or The Lady Vanishes, and think of him as more of a...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the 2LP reissue of He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper by DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. It’s funny but, looking back at it now, it’s unbelievable how quickly everything came together for DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. Before April 1987, no one (well, no one outside of Philadelphia) had any idea who the duo was but, suddenly, Rock The House dropped, as did the smash single “Girls Ain’t...
A deeper look at the grooves pressed into the Psychedelic Sound of The 13th Floor Elevators LP by The Thirteenth Floor Elevators. It’s unlikely that anyone would disagree that The Thirteenth Floor Elevators are a really important band in the evolution of rock. Most would site the band’s debut album as all the proof anyone could need to make the point: “What is it which makes The Psychedelic Sound of The 13th Floor Elevators a classic album?†“Well, first, there’s...