"Superfly: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" by CURTIS MAYFIELD (March 1997 US Rhino 'Deluxe 25th Anniversary Edition' Reissue and Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Gotta Take The Pain Away..."

In the world of Sixties and Seventies Soul Music - some albums stand like giants from artists like Aretha, Marvin, Stevie, Isaac Hayes, Donny Hathaway – and of course - the second of three No. 1 albums for Chicago's Curtis Mayfield [ex The Impressions] – his soundtrack to the Blaxploitation movie "Superfly" issued in August 1972.

In 1997, reissue connoisseurs Rhino of the USA afforded the famous pusherman LP a 2CD "Superfly: Deluxe 25th Anniversary Edition" outing complete with a whole disc of Previously Unreleased material and brand new Remasters by long-standing Audio Engineer Dan Hersch. It’s even sporting the die-cut artwork of the American LP originally on Mayfield's own Curtom Records (very tasty). Let's get to Freddie and Eddie before the Feds do...

US released March 1997 - "Superfly: Deluxe 25th Anniversary Edition" by CURTIS MAYFIELD on Rhino/Curtom R2 72836 (Barcode 081227283629) is a 2CD Remaster that plays out as follows:

Disc 1 (43:39 minutes):

1. Little Child Running Wild [Side 1]

2. Pusherman

3. Freddie's Dead

4. Junkie Chase (Instrumental)

5. Give Me Your Love (Love Song) [Side 2]

6. Eddie You Should Know Better

7. Nothing On Me (Cocaine Song)

8. Think (Instrumental)

9. Superfly

Tracks 1 to 9 are his third Studio album "Superfly: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" – released August 1972 in the USA on Curtom CRS-8014-ST (in a Die-Cut Gatefold Sleeve) and March 1973 in the UK on Buddah 2318 065 (in a Single Non Die-Cut Sleeve).

BONUS TRACKS:

10. Freddie's Dead (Theme From "Superfly") (Single Mix)

July 1972 US 7" single on Curtom CR 1975, A-side ("Underground" from the October 1971 "Roots" LP is the B-side)

11. Superfly (Single Mix)

October 1972 US 7" single on Curtom 1975, A-side ("Love To Keep You In My Mind" from the October 1971 "Roots" LP is the B-side)

Disc 2 (41:43 minutes): ALL PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

1. Ghetto Child (Demo Of "Little Child Runnin' Wild")

2. Pusherman (Alternate Mix with Horns)

3. Freddie's Dead (Instrumental Version from the film score)

4. Junkie Chase (Instrumental) (Full-Length Version)

5. Nothing On Me (Cocaine Song) (Instrumental Version from the film score)

6. Militant March (from the film score – Previously Unreleased)

7. Eddie You Should Know Better (Instrumental Version)

8. Radio Spot No. 1

9. The Underground "Superfly-esque Demo" from 1970 PU in USA)

10. Check Out Your Mind (Instrumental Version – Studio Jam)

11. Radio Spot No. 2

12. Curtis Mayfield (On "Superfly" Film & Songwriting) – from an interview with Rhino's David Dorn recorded fall 1995

The 24-page oversized booklet has liner notes by A. SCOTT GALLOWAY complete with loads of period photos and memorabilia (fab looking stuff) – even going as far as making the outer flap a die-cut like the original 1972 Soundtrack LP in the USA. But for me the big news is New Remasters by DAN HERSCH and the fabulous outtakes haul on Disc 2. Hersch is an Audio Engineer of long-standing who has handled huge swathes of the Atlantic/Atco Remasters Series for Rhino along with his partner in crime BILL INGLOT. This thing sounds fantastic – and Rhino has had their Remaster piggybacked upon by other reissue labels ever since. To the music...

You might think that some dodgy junkie movie from 1972 might not stand up musically in 2019 – but only one minute into the brilliant "Little Child Runnin' Wild" and you’re feeling Mayfield's lethal combo of a cool Soul music with genuinely keeping-it-real lyrics. As the strings fade out, words like "...gotta Jones...runnin' through my bones...guess its time to take another trip...don't care what nobody say...gotta take my pain away...all my life has been this way..." linger in your mind - you're feeling Freddie's ache and need and yes, despair. Next up is the full album version of "Pusherman" – the man in the alley – your friend – gotta need – he can supply the speed - his smug giggles throughout. It's another superb groove and not surprising that the song has featured in so many movies.

The album cut of "Freddie's Dead" is 5:20 minutes long, but the edited single mix at 3:20 minutes was so damn cool, it raced up to a No. 2 position on the US R&B singles chart (the song entered in August 1972 and stayed on chart for a whopping 16 weeks). The short 1:40 minute instrumental "Junkie Chase" ends Side 1 with wah-wah guitars and jagged Shaft-like Funk (slip it onto Baby Driver 2 anyone). Side 2 opens with the sexy "Give Me Your Love (Love Song)" and again that guitar groove with those strings is fantastic stuff - Curtis can't get mad at his lady (or is it something else he's alluding too). "Eddie You Should Know Better" is a wise-up brother song, tears and fears and personal cost. Spoken messages come fast and thick in "Nothing On Me (Cocaine Song)" - Curtis advising that a natural high is a better buzz than a chemically induced one - a high followed by a down you can't kick the next morning. The album slides towards its finish with a surprisingly pretty instrumental called "Think" followed by the titular full album version of "Superfly" at 4:58 minutes. Very cool – the title track is all sexy horn jabs and tight drumming as Curtis tells of friends who've suffered at the greedy hands of the Pusherman (like James Brown, they both saw what these hustlers were doing to black communities all over America). A single edit was released October 1972 and it peaked at an impressive No. 5 in the States - Ron O'Neil's leading role movie 45 even getting a titled picture sleeve.

Of the outakes I went straight for the 4:18 minute extension of the instrumental "Junkie Chase" - fab stuff - drums and funk way past the LP cut. The fifty seconds of "Militant March" is good but gone too soon - better is the superb "Check Out Your Mind" - 4:06 minutes of instrumental Shaft-type funkiness. The two Radio Spots have Curtis rhyming lyrics to a backdrop of the signature music asking punters to check out Freddie and his woes. I also like the demo of "Underground" - treated guitars and growled lyrics.

I've been playing this Soul Soundtrack album for near five decades now - my battered Buddah Records UK LP covered in too many scratches and party detritus. Well, this fabulous 2CD celebration has only served to remind me of why I return to Curtis and his music so much...a winner...

"Used Songs 1973-1980" by TOM WAITS (November 2001 Rhino CD Compilation - Dan Hersch and Bill Inglot Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"…Strangle All The Christmas Carols…"

The Asylum label period of Tom Waits' extraordinary career began in 1973 with his debut album "Closing Time" and ended 8 albums later in 1980 with "Heartattack & Vine". He then signed to Island Records and in 1982 released "Swordfishtrombones" to howls of joy, amazement, praise and derision - all in equal measure. And most of his albums on Island ('82 - '93) and Anti ('99 to the present day) have been the same ever since - mad, bad, beautiful, discordant and utterly unique in a world of increasingly plastic pop forced down our throats by gutless radio programmers every single day of our lives. Personally I love each period, Asylum, Island and the Anti label. And although the word is often overused, Waits is a genius - and utterly unique - beloved by both his fans and the industry for being so.

His Asylum albums were - if you like - his romantic troubadour period, a drunken Street bum with the heart of a poet and the itchy feet of Bukowski. He looked and sang the part too - greasy hair, freshly lit cigarette hanging out of his gob, wrecked clothes, a chronicler of the downtrodden and lost. But this was an artist whose songs were written with charm and real feeling for those on the outskirts - often touching and beautiful to a point where he could make you laugh with one song and cry with the next. But by "Heartattack & Vine", he had taken this persona it as far as it could go - hence the complete about face with his Island debut.

A little history for potential purchasers to explain why "Used Songs" is the best of scrappy bunch; the 1st compilation covering the Asylum Label period of his career appeared in 1981 and was called "Bounced Checks" - a single vinyl album containing a spattering of tracks and an unreleased live version of "The Piano Has Been Drinking" recorded in Dublin - a gig a friend of mine was privileged to be at. It's never been made available on CD to my knowledge. The second outing is "Asylum Years", a far better and more comprehensive 2LP set released on vinyl in 1984. Unfortunately, it's CD equivalent which came out two years later is a bit of a mish-mash - a single disc that lost 9 of the original 24 tracks and added 3 new ones not on the original double! This 14-track truncated CD carried the then relatively new words "digitally remastered" on the front cover and was sought after for that reason. The sound on that CD is good - if not spectacular - and is available to this day. It’s also worth noting that there are 8 tracks on the “Asylum Years” 1986 remastered CD that aren’t on “Used Songs” – they are “Diamonds On My Windshield”, “Martha”, “The Ghosts Of Saturday Night (After Hours At Napoleone’s Pizza House)”, “Grapefruit Moon”, “Small Change (Got Rained On With His Own .38)”, “Potter’s Field”, “Somewhere” (a superb cover of the famous Leonard Bernstein classic from “West Side Story”) and “Ruby’s Arms”. Which brings us up to "Used Songs 1973-1980", his 3rd and best compilation covering that period.

Released November 2001 - "Used Songs 1973-1980" by TOM WAITS on Elektra/Rhino 8122-78351-2 (Barcode 081227835125) features 16 tracks Digitally Remastered by tape experts BILL INGLOT and DAN HERSCH at DigiPrep - and the sound quality is full, clear and beautifully rendered. It takes in songs from all 7 of his studio albums and one from the live double. Here's the layout and what track is from what album:

USED SONGS 1973 - 1980 (77:33 minutes):

1. Heartattack & Vine (on Heartattack And Vine", 1980)

2. Eggs & Sausage (In A Cadillac With Susan Michelson)

(on the live 2LP set "Nighthawks At The Diner", 1975)

3. A Sight For Sore Eyes ("Foreign Affairs", 1977)

4. Whistlin' Past The Graveyard (on "Blue Valentine", 1978)

5. Burma Shave (on "Foreign Affairs", 1977)

6. Step Right Up (on "Small Change", 1976)

7. Ol' 55 (on "Closing Time", 1973)

8. I Never Talk To Strangers

(on "Foreign Affairs", 1977) [duet with BETTE MIDLER]

9. Mr. Siegal (on "Heartattack And Vine", 1980)

10. Jersey Girl (on "Heartattack And Vine", 1980)

11. Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis

(on "Blue Valentine", 1978)

12. Blues Valentines (on "Blue Valentine", 1978)

13. (Looking For) The Heart Of Saturday Night

(on "The Heart Of Saturday Night", 1974)

14. Muriel (on "Foreign Affairs", 1977)

15. Wrong Side Of The Road (on "Blue Valentine", 1978)

16. Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets To The Wind In Copenhagen)

(on "Heartattack And Vine", 1980)

Being a single disc there are some glaring omissions and odd choices, "I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You" from "Closing Time" is left off in favour of "Ol' 55". "Wrong Side Of The Road" is chosen instead of the beautifully evocative "Kentucky Avenue" or the fantastic "Romeo Is Bleeding", both from "Blue Valentine". "On The Nickel" from "Heartattack & Vine" isn't there either. And so on - you could bitch about choices for days. ("Ol' 55" first turned up on the 3rd EAGLES album "On The Border" and was probably most peoples first introduction to Waits - so its easy to see why it was chosen.) What is on here though, sounds fabulous.

Why is sound so important with this issue? Each of his Asylum albums are available on CD, but the earlier albums in particular are hissy and less that impressive sound-wise, because almost all of them came out in the initial vanguard of CD releases in the late Eighties - they weren't mastered well and have never been touched since. That's not the case with "Used Songs". The REMASTERING done by Rhino here makes all the difference. Right from the opening guitar and drum of "Heartattack & Vine", you're aware of the fantastic sound quality upgrade - it just pounds you. "Burma Shave", with just piano and vocals, is loud and beautifully clear. Then there's the delicacy of "Muriel" and "A Sight For Sore Eyes" and the hurting gargled-with-gravel vocals of "Tom Traubert's Blues" (his Waltzing Matilda song) - the sound on all of them is sweet and full, the saxophone and sassy rhythm section floating out of the speakers like some boozed-up turned-on jazz combo. It's thrilling, it really is! And lyrically, Waits has always been the equal of Joni or Bob - and way funnier. The booklet pictures the albums, there's a reproduction of a 1975 Jon Landau article from Rolling Stone, and a new liner note from Hal Willner - all tied off with a tasty card wrap, giving the whole package the class this release deserves.

Although it should have been a double, "Used" has the big advantage of its gorgeous sound and makes you pine for Extended Editions of each of his fantastic albums from that period. And on that point, when you think of the amount of lesser artists who have their entire catalogues released, remastered and pumped up with bonus tracks, and then you see someone of Waits' stature have no album from 1973 to 1993 in REMASTERED form by either WEA or Island on the market after 20 years of CD re-issues - it's just ridiculous and criminal. The same of course applies to Little Feat, Prince, Rickie Lee Jones, and Van Morrison. Come on Rhino and Universal - get their individual album catalogues remastered and get them out there - for God's sake!

In the near 20 years I've spent working in record shops and dealing with rare records, I've met some great artists and huge talents in the industry and enjoyed chin waging with them all - fame doesn't really faze me that way. But my love of Tom Waits is different. Tom is God incarnate. If Tom Waits actually turned up in our humble little shop, I'd be knobbled! I'd be too busy kissing the hem of his garment to actually speak to the man! An Irishman lost for words - yikes!

To sum up, "Used Songs" is a fantastic set, a superb introduction to the man & his music and frankly, a beacon of light in a landscape of increasingly dim musical pap. It's available from over 60 on-line retailers for about three to four quid including P&P.

Sure I'm biased. I adore the guy and his musical warmth and racket I do. If you love music - you need to hear this man's songs - it will be the best musical fiver you've ever spent...

"Anthology: Hey Ho Let's Go!" by THE RAMONES (July 1999 Rhino USA 2CD Reissue (May 2001 in Europe) – Bill Inglot Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"…All Revved Up And Ready To Go…"

Few bands engender such rabid affection as The Ramones - comic books, badges, posters, tee-shirts, name-checked by every luminary band from the Eighties to the Present Day, inducted into the Rock `n' Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. And all of it achieved with a three-chord trick and a R'n'R attitude - party till you drop and then get back up and do it all over again in another city (over 2000 gigs). New York's finest punks sure cast a long shadow. And this double-CD peach is a fabulous celebration of those pudding-bowl hair dos, ripped jeans and two-minute wonders. Gabba Gabba Hey indeed. Here are the sedated details...

Originally released July 1999 by Rhino in the USA as "Anthology: Hey Ho Let's Go!" - "Anthology" by THE RAMONES was reissued in Europe in May 2001 on Warner Brothers 8122-73557-2 (Barcode 081227355722) and its 2CDs break down as follows:

Disc 1 (77:12 minutes):

1. Blitzkrieg Bop

2. Beat On The Brat

3. Judy Is A Punk

4. I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend

5. 53rd & 3rd

6. Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue (tracks 1 to 6 are from their debut album "Ramones" released June 1976 in the USA on Sire SR 7520 and July 1976 in the UK on Sire 9103 253)

7. Glad To See You Go

8. Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment

9. I Remember You

10. California Sun

11. Commando

12. Swallow My Pride

13. Carbona Not Glue

14. Pinhead (tracks 7 to 14 are from their 2nd album "Leave Home" released February 1977 in the USA on Sire SA 7528 and March 1977 in the UK on Sire 9103 254)

15. Sheena Is A Punk Rocker

16. Cretin Hop

17. Rockaway Beach

18. Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

19. Teenage Lobotomy

20. Surfin' Bird

21. I Don't Care (tracks 15 to 21 are from their 3rd album "Rocket To Russia" released November 1977 in the USA on Sire SR 6042 and December 1977 in the UK on Sire 9103 255)

22. I Just Want To Have Something To Do

23. I Wanna Be Sedated

24. Don't Come Close

25. She's The One

26. Needles And Pins (tracks 22 to 26 are from their 4th album "Road To Ruin" released October 1978 in the USA and UK on Sire SRK 6063)

27. Rock 'n' Roll High School

28. I Want You Around (tracks 27 and 28 are from the Various Artists Soundtrack LP "Rock 'n' Roll High School" released April 1979 in the USA on Sire SRK 6070)

29. Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?

30. Chinese Rock

31. Danny Says

32. Baby I Love You (tracks 29 to 32 are from their 4th studio album "End Of The Century" released February 1980 in the USA and UK on Sire SRK 6077)

Disc 2 (77:20 minutes):

1. The KKK Took My Baby Away

2. She's A Sensation

3. It's Not My Place (In The 9 To 5 World)

4. We Want The Airwaves (tracks 1 to 4 are from their 5th studio album "Pleasant Dreams" released July 1981 in the USA and UK on Sire SRK 3571)

5. Psycho Therapy (is on their 6th album "Subterranean Jungle" released February 1983 in the USA on Sire 1-23800 and May 1983 in the UK/Europe on Sire 92 3800-1)

6. Howlin' At The Moon (Sha-La-La)

7. Mama's Boy

8. Daytime Dilemma (Dangers Of Love)

9. I'm Not Afraid Of Life

10. Too Tough To Die

11. Endless Vacation (tracks 6 to 11 are from the album "Too Tough To Die" released October 1984 in the USA on Sire 1-25187 and July 1985 in the UK on Beggars Banquet BEGA 59)

12. My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes To Bitberg)

13. Somebody Put Something In My Drink

14. Something To Believe In

15. I Don't Want To Live This Life (Anymore) (tracks 12 to 15 are from the album "Animal Boy" released May 1986 in the USA on Sire 25433-1 and in the UK (May 1986) on Beggars Banquet BEGA 70)

16. I Wanna Live

17. Garden Of Serenity (tracks 16 and 17 are from the album "Halfway To Sanity" released September 1987 in the USA on Sire 1-25641 and September 1987 in the UK on Beggars Banquet BEGA 89)

18. Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)

19. Pet Sematary

20. I Believe In Miracles (tracks 18 to 20 are from the CD album "Brain Drain" released June 1989 in the USA on Sire 9 25905-2 and August 1989 in the UK (on LP and CD) on Chrysalis CHR 1725)

21. Tomorrow She Goes Away

22. Poison Heart (tracks 21 and 22 are from the album "Mondo Bizarro" released September 1992 in the USA on Radioactive RARD-10615 and Chrysalis CHR 1960 in the UK)

23. I Don't Wanna Grow Up

24. She Talks To Rainbows

25. R.A.M.O.N.E.S. (tracks 23 to 25 are from the album "Adios Amigos" released July 1995 in the USA on Radioactive RAR 11273 and Chrysalis CHR 6104 in the UK)

Original issues had a card wrap and a huge 80-page booklet - reissues forgo that for a 2CD jewel case with a 16-page booklet featuring live pictures of the boys in Ramones uniform, snaps of them in London (with members of The Clash) and reissue credits. The remasters by long-time Rhino Engineer BILL INGLOT are fantastic - punching like a mother - and my God is there a lot of them.

As account-openers go - "Blitzkrieg Bop" is the kind of 7" single brilliance that hammers a nail in your head (like Punk itself - its just so bleeding visceral). Even now it's simplicity and power remains undiminished - ranking alongside similar feats by The Sex Pistols, The Undertones and The Clash. In fact the entire debut album has that same freshness and has lasted for decades for precisely that reason. I can remember having to reach for the reissue vinyl copies of 1976's "Ramones" on a daily basis in Reckless Records - and along with that other massively influential debut album "The Velvet Underground And Nico" -"Ramones" was easily our biggest selling most-in-demand reissue LP.

"Leave Home" showed that none of that initial energy splurge had dissipated by album No. 2 - if anything belters like "Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment" and "Swallow My Pride" felt like they'd become America's answer to The Clash - progressing musically while still firing on all sixes. As much as I appreciate "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" - remaster or not - it stills sounds like it was recorded in a bucket with winter mufflers on. Better is the two-minute riffage of "Cretin Hop" and "Teenage Lobotomy" - the kind of rockers that engender hero worship. And although it's probably not cool to say it - but "Road To Ruin" tunes like "I Wanna Be Sedated" and "Don't Come Close" showed the songs were still sticking to the original values of simplicity - but they were getting better and better (commercial even). I know some love it (and it was a No. 8 chart hit) - but I can live without their mock Spector take on "Baby I Love You". Give me the loveable "She's The One" any day of the week - great little rocker and a lever choice for inclusion.

"To get a good job you need a proper schooling..." and "we want the world and we want it now..." and "psycho therapy is what they want to give me..." - the band riled on the "Pleasant Dreams" album - at war with themselves and establishment. And although the later albums aren't rated as much - I still dig the hard edge in "Too Tough To Die" and the fantastic combination of sheer melodic punch and truthful lyrics in "Poison Heart" where Joey moans "I just wanna walk right out of this world..." - and later his long battle with lymphoma saw that wish come sadly true (he wasn't even 50).

The original four band members - John Cummings, Jeffery Hyman, Douglas Colvin and Thomas Erdelyi with the collective pseudonyms of Johnny, Joey, Dee Dee and Tommy Ramone - are all gone now (Erdelyi only died in July 2014).

Will we ever see or hear their like again? I doubt it - circumstances have changed too much for another Ramones. What a shame. But "Anthology" is an abundant way to check out what the fuss was all about then - and why they’ve endured and are beloved by so many old and new...