Sounds Good, Looks Good...

Welcome to Mark Barry's Review Blog - SOUNDS GOOD, LOOKS GOOD... It features in-depth reviews for Quality CD Reissues and Remasters - all with Discography Info (six times Amazon 'Hall of Fame' Reviewer). With over 2,600 posts - genres covered include Rock, Pop, Soul, Funk, Jazz Fusion, Blues, Rhythm 'n' Blues, Doo Wop, Vocal Groups, 1960s and 1970s, Prog, Psych, Folk, Blues-Rock, Goth, Punk, New Wave, 1980s, Reggae and more. I also review FILMS, TV Shows, BLU RAYS and BOOKS. Enjoy the reads...

Monday 23 May 2022

"The Complete Epic Recordings Collection" by STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN and DOUBLE TROUBLE - Featuring Five Officially Released Albums Between June 1983 and June 1989 (Four Studio Sets and One Live Double) Plus Five Posthumous Compilations Featuring Studio/Live Tracks From As Early As 1980 Issued Between November 1991 and July 2010 - Featuring Jimmy Vaughan, Tommy Shannon, Chris "Whipper" Layton, Reese Wynans, Joe Sublett with Guests Fran Christina, Stan Harrison, Dr. John, The Roomful Of Blues Horn section, Angela Strehli, Darrell Leonard and more (October 2014 UK Epic/Legacy/Sony Music 10-Title/12-CD Clamshell Box Set in Mini LP Repro Artwork Card Sleeves with Vic Anesini Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This Review And Many More Like It

Available In my Kindle e-Book (June 2022 Version)

LOOKING AFTER NO. 1

Volume 2 of 2 - M to Z...

Your All-Genres Guide To

Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters
For Music from 1956 to 1986

Over 1,760 E-Pages of In-Depth Information
240 Reviews From The Discs Themselves

No Cut and Paste Crap...

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"...Pride And Joy..."

Sony Music and their Legacy Label imprint have coughed up some doozies in their nifty Clamshell Box Set Series of 'Complete Collections' over the decades - The Byrds, Nilsson, Paul Simon, Bill Withers, Electric Light Orchestra, Blue Oyster Cult, Earth Wind & Fire, Leonard Cohen - and I've reviewed most all of them in detail.

But this kick-ass audio slice of Blues Rock gorgeousness celebrating the genius of guitarist STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN and his band of Rhythm 'n' Blues pirates DOUBLE TROUBLE makes me thrill and shed a tear into the bargain - especially that simple but so brilliant debut LP from June 1983 when the band was a three-piece. I only have to play the undeniably beauty in his instrumental "Lenny" that ends the LP and I'm tapping my cloth cap in awe.

But then in August 1990 - just when the whole world was beginning to feel his stunning playing skills - SRV was gone. Much to discuss...to the details first...

UK released 28 October 2014 - "The Complete Epic Recordings Collection" by STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN and DOUBLE TROUBLE on Epic/Legacy/Sony Music 88843091422 (Barcode 888430914223) is a 10-Title/12-CD Clamshell Box Set of Remasters housed in Mini LP Repro Artwork Card Sleeves that plays out as follows:

Disc 1 "In The Beginning" - Recorded live 1 April 1980 in Austin, Texas

Released 6 October 1992 US on Epic EK 53168 - 40:06 minutes, 9 Tracks

Disc 2 "Live At Montreux 1982 & 1985" - Recorded live 17 July 1982/15 July 1985

Released 20 November 2001 US on Epic/Legacy E2K 86151

CD1: 42:14 minutes, 8 Tracks - CD2: 76:13 minutes, 11 Tracks

Disc 3 "Texas Flood" - Recorded 23/24 November 1982

Debut Studio Album issued 13 June 1983 US on Epic BFE 38734

CD: 38:56 minutes, 10 tracks

Disc 4 "A Legend In The Making: Live At The El Mocambo"

Recorded Live 20 July 1983 n Toronto, Canada during the "Texas Flood" Tour

Tracks 1, 3 to 8 with 12 and 14 first released 1983 as a 9-Track Radio Broadcast Promo-Only LP in Canada on Epic CDN-115

Tracks 2, 9 to 11 and 13 first released on Video in 1991 on SMV Enterprises 19-V-49111

CD: 76:30 minutes, 14 Tracks

Disc 5 "Couldn't Stand The Weather" - Recorded January 1984 in NYC

Second Studio Album released 15 May 1984 US on Epic FE 39304

All Outtakes and 'Legacy Edition' Live Tracks surround this release are on the "Archives" 2CD Set - see Disc 10

CD: 38:13 minutes, 8 Tracks

Disc 6 "Live at Carnegie Hall" - Recorded 4 October 1984, NYC

Posthumous Compilation released 29 June 1997 US on Epic EK 68163

CD: 61:36 minutes, 14 Tracks

Disc 7 "Soul To Soul" - Recorded 1985 in Austin, Texas

Third Studio Album released 30 September 1985 US on Epic FE 40036

CD: 40:09 minutes, 10 Tracks

Disc 8 "Live Alive" - Recorded 16 July 1985 at Montreux Jazz Festival, 17-18 July 1986 at Austin Opera House and 19 July 1986 at Dallas Starfest

Fourth Album Released November 1986 US on Epic EZ 40511

CD: 79:39 minutes, 14 Tracks

Disc 9 "In Step" - Recorded January to March 1989

Fifth Album (Fourth and Final Studio LP) released 6 June 1989 on Epic OE 45024

CD: 41:08 minutes, 10 Tracks

Disc 10 "Archives"

CD1: 48:27 minutes - CD2: 46:03 minutes

I'm sure it sounds like full-on collector's nerd mode, but half of me wishes that Sony wouldn't 'border' these Mini LP Repro Artwork Card Sleeves with that white rim they do because I think it detracts. At least these individual cards are large enough and flexible enough to allow the CDs to slip in and out without having to tear telephone books to remove them. It's pretty cool too to have the five posthumous compilations in Card Form.

The 32-page booklet is jam-packed with reissue credits - each of the ten discs given pages of musician/writer credits, photos, occasional live shots etc. Online Managing Editor of Guitar World DAMIAN FANELLI gets to give SRV the opening homage - a fellow axe-wielder who saw Vaughan in his 1984 and 1986 heydays - and literally climbed a mountain to see and hear the New Jersey gig from a distance (lucky bugger). Nowadays - we gawk in wonder at YouTube footage where he breaks a string, un-clips his battered Strat with flippy-floppy wire, slaps on another guitar from the roadie handing it to him - and literally doesn't miss a beat.

VIC ANESINI - one of Sony's Top Audio Engineers - has handled the Remasters. His catalogue of artists is a ridiculous who's who - Elvis Presley, Santana, Mott The Hoople, Simon and Garfunkel and Paul Simon, the Byrds, Nilsson, Aerosmith, The Jayhawks, Spirit, Mountain and loads more. Needless to say that all those rockin' moments that needed uplifting get just that - uplifts. I immediately go to Track 2 of the debut album "Texas Flood" to hear his signature tune "Pride And Joy" - and bam - it's in my face for all the right reasons. The beautiful instrumental "Lenny" where you just don't expect that kind of musicality from a born rocker - yet there it is - class and technique combined. I would imagine that Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton would all have been afraid of SRV - and that's really saying something.

The beauty of a Box Set like this is the mixture of studio tracks like his own "Honey Bee" (the way we kiss, just can't miss), the rocking cover of Hank Ballard's "Look At Little Sister" or the nine-minute 'Lenny' like beauty of the slow instrumental "Riviera Paradise" (used to play this in Reckless and punters would think it was a moochy Santana track). And of course, the explosive live stuff where he was frankly untouchable. Even if it's 1980 and he's ripping through "Shake For Me" on that "In The Beginning" set - or when he attacks Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile" - who could pull that off! Check out his gorgeous version of Jimi's ballad "Little Wing" which SRV does as one long instrumental flitting between slow and wild, the tremelo bar liberally employed to amazing effect - it was originally one of the extras on CD2 of the double-disc Legacy Edition of "Couldn't Stand The Weather".

But for me, the now forgotten outtakes LP of November 1991 "The Sky Is Crying" is the absolute bomb. I can play this sucker all the way through. Check out his "Boot Hill" - could very well wake the dead - or his playing and growling on the Howlin' Wolf cover "May I Have A Talk With You" or that Elmore James title track "The Sky Is Crying" - wow.

Will we ever see the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughan again? Hard to say - but (no pun intended) what a Legacy our "Pride And Joy" left behind. Take this Box Set away from me and you could see this man get mean...

Sunday 22 May 2022

"...Very 'Eavy...Very 'Umble" in the UK and "Uriah Heep" in the USA by URIAH HEEP – June 1970 UK Debut Album on Vertigo Records (June 1970 USA on Mercury Records as "Uriah Heep" with Different Artwork and One Different Track) - featuring David Byron, Ken Hensley, Mick Box, Colin Wood and Paul Newton with Nigel Olsson and Alex Napier (September 2016 UK BMG/Sanctuary 2CD Deluxe Edition Reissue with Andy Pearce and Matt Wortham Remasters – The 12-Track CD2 Is An Alternate Version of the Whole 8-Track Album, The "Bird Of Prey" US-only LP Track and Three More Mixes with All Tracks Previously Unreleased) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters
For Music from 1956 to 1986

Over 1,760 E-Pages of In-Depth Information
240 Reviews From The Discs Themselves

"...Real Turned On... "

Fans have been to this 1970 debut album for URIAH HEEP just one too many times (Hensley remembers that the band took their name from a character in the Dickens novel David Copperfield - more specifically from a TV program album-producer Gerry Bron had seen on the BBC who were celebrating the great author's 100th year in passing). Back to Joe Public in the 2020's - so they and their erstwhile but ravaged wallets may view yet another digital go round Of "...Very 'Eavy...Very 'Umble" as a wee-wee take too many.

But this is the best version of old scary cobweb face ever and the one that they Olivia Newton-John want (oh oh oh). Time to get 'umble with the details men of rotund waistlines and sunken eye-sockets (we'll get to the guitars later)...

UK released 16 September 2016 - "...Very 'Eavy...Very 'Umble" by URIAH HEEP on BMG/Sanctuary BMGCAT2CD55 (Barcode 4050538187205) is a 2CD Deluxe Edition Reissue and Remaster that plays out as follows:

CD1 The Original LP Re-Mastered (40:25 minutes):

1. Gypsy (6:27 minutes) [Side 1]

2. Walking In Your Shadow (4:30 minutes)

3. Come Away Melinda (3:46 minutes)

4. Lucy Blues (5:10 minutes)

5. Dreammare (4:37 minutes) [Side 2]

6. Real Turned On (3:37 minutes)

7. I'll Keep On Trying (5:25 minutes)

8. Wake Up (Set Your Sights) (6:22 minutes)

Tracks 1 to 8 are their UK debut album "...Very 'Eavy...Very 'Umble" - released June 1970 in the UK on Vertigo 6360 006 (Reissued March 1971 in the UK on Bronze ILPS 9142). Produced by GERRY BRON - it didn't chart.

Note: The August 1970 American LP (which peaked at No. 186 on the Billboard Rock charts) was called "Uriah Heep" on Mercury Records SR-61294 with entirely different artwork on the outer gate-fold (reproduced across two pages at the back of the 20-page booklet). The LP also replaced the song "Lucy Blues" on the end of Side 1 with the heavier "Bird Of Prey" in exactly the same place. "Bird Of Prey (U.S. Alternate Mix)" is available as Track 12 on CD2 and will allow fans to sequence the US variant of their debut.

CD2 An Alternate ...Very 'Eavy...Very 'Umble (64:45 minutes):

1. Gypsy (Extended V3.4 Mix, 7:00 minutes)

2. Real Turned On (V3.5 Mix, 3:46 minutes)

3. Dreammare (V3.5 Mix, 5:12 minutes)

4. Come Away Melinda (V3.7 Mix, 4:01 minutes)

5. Born In A Trunk (V3.3 Mix, 4:55 minutes) *

6. Wake Up (Set Your Sights) (V3.4 Mix, 6:55 minutes)

7. I'll Keep On Trying (V3.4 Mix, 5:32 minutes)

8. Walking In Your Shadow (V3.5 Mix, 5:09 minutes)

9. Lucy Blues (V3.7 Mix, 5:20 minutes)

10. Born In A Trunk (Instrumental V3.6 Mix, 4:47 minutes) *

11. Magic Lantern (V3.3 Mix, 7:57 minutes) *

12. Bird Of Prey (U.S. Alternate Mix) (V3.1, 4:08 minutes)

NOTES:

* = Recorded as SPICE mid 1969 - doesn't feature Ken Hensley

V3, V5, V7 etc references reflect the Mix or Version done between 1989 and 2005

URIAH HEEP was:

DAVID BYRON - Lead Vocals

KEN HENSLEY - Vocals, Slide Guitar and Keyboards

MICK BOX - Vocals, Lead Guitar

PAUL NEWTON - Bass

ALEX NAPIER - Drums (Tracks 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 and 8 on CD1)

NIGEL OLSSON - Drums (Tracks 4 and 5 on CD1)

Uriah Heep's Classic Hard Rock 70ts catalogue (including their explosive 1970 debut LP) has been properly plundered for CD reissue more times than fans care to comfortably remember (Bronze in 1987, Mercury USA in 1989, Castle Classics in 1990, Essential in 1996, Castle Music in 2001 to name but a few). So what makes this 2016 double worth the purchase?

First is the new ANDY PEARCE and MATT WORTHAM Remaster from original tapes and second is a CD2 that offers fans 12 Previously Unreleased Mixes from their 1969 and 1970 Hard Rock vs. Prog Rock beginnings actually worth hearing.

As a 62-year who remembers Heep and a long-time reviewer of reissue CD packages - I actively seek out Pearce/Wortham Remasters because they are always the business - invariably better than everyone else's. They've had their names wrapped around some seriously illustrious Rock catalogues - Budgie, Rory Gallagher, ELP, Wishbone Ash, Mott The Hoople, Free and even Reggae titles for the superb Doctor Bird label (part of Cherry Red's list of labels - DB deals mostly with Trojan Records and its multitudinous label offshoots). In short - you haven't heard this Rock meets Prog debut until you've clapped ears on this BMG twofer.

The three-way foldout card Digi-pak is aesthetically pretty enough touching on obvious fan-pleasing points like the different US artwork (apparently the UK sleeve was just too scary for them). While the 20-page booklet gives us rare Italian, French and Spanish 45-single picture sleeves, the British Vertigo LP's inner gatefold sleeve live shot, a Marquee Gig Poster for May 1970 (with Audience, Spirit Of John Morgan and Vertigo's Gracious), Klooks At The Lyceum in July 1970 (with Yes and Black Sabbath), Portsmouth Stadium in July 1970 with Keef Hartley, Gentle Giant and Affinity, East of Eden (and more), an 8-track cartridge and even a master-tape box. There are new interviews conducted by JOEL McIVER with principal band members Mick Box and Ken Hensley.

ROBERT M. CORICH gives us a potted history on The Lansdowne Tapes and uber-fan and archivist Warren Eady who kept fans supplied with alternate mixes across multiple releases and the Time Of Revelation - 25 Years On 4CD Box Set from 1996. There are three from the later period Spice sessions prior to Hensley joining the fold while the rest were recorded late 1969 into early 1970 prior to the debut's release in June 1970 (Lansdowne refers to the Studio of the same name in London's Holland Park where Uriah Heep recorded). They've left off two Spice tracks - "In Love" and "What About The Music" - when there was room. But let's deal with and celebrate what we do have...

Riffage ahoy with the Box/Byron-penned "Gypsy" - a six and a half-minute rawk monster the band is still playing to this day - fantastic chugging guitars alongside Hensley's manic Jon Lord of Deep Purple-esque keyboard soloing. Although Vertigo UK oddly didn't pick up on its aaaah potential - the Rock-mad German market did - where "Gypsy" with the then Non-LP "Bird Of Prey" on the B-side of Vertigo 6059 020 did the business (the "Bird Of Prey" mix used here is radically different to one that eventually turned up on their second album "Salisbury" in January 1971). Up next comes riding on the golden wave of "Walking In Your Shadow" - a Newton/Byron rocker in the same vein as "Gypsy" (the Remaster picking out those guitars in each speaker).

Things Mellotron slow down with "Come Away Melinda" - Colin Woods guesting on the notoriously difficult to control keyboard - come away and close the door. The Fred Hellerman and Fran Minkoff penned "Come Away Melinda" had already been done by a pre-Mamas and Papas The Big Three in the USA in 1963 on FM Records, while England's Wendy Huber and Barry St. John put in their cover versions oars on Philips and Columbia in November 1965. Cat's Eyes had a go too in 1970 on MCA. So by the time Heep had its turn - the song had been well traveled tune about Mom and Pops. But I must admit I skip it quickly for the far better slow Blues Rock of the Side 1 finisher "Lucy Blues" - a genuinely cool Box/Byron moment on an otherwise very heavy LP.

Side 2 opens with the 'la-la-la' of another Rock barnstormer - the Newton-penned "Dreammare". Juicy Lucy type slide guitar dominates the excellent rocker "Real Turned On" - surely one of these deep LP cuts fans love. Maybe too much melodrama for me in the doubled-up voices of "I'll Keep On Trying" - but I know Heepsters love those riffing guitars. It ends on another Box/Byron stand up for your rights romper - the drums and guitars clean and clear in the Remaster.

For lifelong lovers of Heep's original guitar-battling-the-organ sound - CD2 is a wet dream of tunes they know remixed and remastered to offer alternate soundscapes. For sure the two Spice cuts of "Born In A Trunk" are not exactly Supertramp audiophile - but they offer a band ready to Rock - a palatable excitement as they play. "Magic Lantern" with its deliberately quiet-to-louder lead-in offers Acoustic-to-Rock Uriah Heep on perhaps too much of a Pop trip. But that's quickly whomped by the heavy "Bird Of Prey" US Alternate Mix and another version of my Slow Blues poison "Lucy Blues" is alright by me.

For sure the uninitiated might listen to Uriah Heep in 2022 and think it too close to Spinal Tap with Byron's signature high note style. But I've a soft spot for their rude and crude debut. And I'm sure that fans should set their sights on the Audio and Unreleased Extras of this 2016 BMG 2CD version - best the album's ever sounded...

Saturday 21 May 2022

"The Smiths" by THE SMITHS - February 1984 UK Debut Album on Rough Trade Records (April 1984 USA on Sire Records) featuring Morrissey, Johnny Marr, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce with Guest Keyboardist Paul Carrack of Ace and Mike & The Mechanics on Three Tracks and Vocalist Annalisa Jablonska on Two Tracks (March 2012 UK WEA CD Reissue Using The Smiths Complete Remaster of 2011 Overseen by Johnny Marr)

This Review And Many More Like It

Available In my Kindle e-Book (June 2022 Version)

LOOKING AFTER NO. 1

Volume 2 of 2 - M to Z...

Your All-Genres Guide To

Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters
For Music from 1956 to 1986

Over 1,760 E-Pages of In-Depth Information
240 Reviews From The Discs Themselves

"...These Charming Men..."

I was DJ'ing in Dublin doing a 21^st Birthday Party in the 80ts and it was in a very working class area of the Irish Capitol City. Being a boozy bash and knowing what the punters wanted – you kept it upbeat – you played the hits – the cool new tunes too that made bodies hit the floor (and there was a lot of chart innovation at that time). But you never ever played music that was in any way remotely perceived as a downer. Even in the slow sets, you didn't inflict Eric Carmen's "All By Myself" on the mob or any other "...I'd stick my head in the oven, but I can't afford the gas..." type-whinger for that matter. You learned early on that those were vibe killers and could slash an up night in two in a matter of seconds (a good time is a very fluid thing).

But at this gig there were three nerdy types constantly at my double-decks (when they weren't at their table with a sea of Smithwicks refusing to do anything as naff as dance with girls) – "Do ya have any Smiths man! The Smiths man!" Their eyes bulging like Dracula at the Elegant Necks Debutante's Ball.

These kids were demanding what they wanted to hear regardless of the cost to the populace and the parents paying for the shindig. But I (ears to the ground and phones in the lugs) knew enough to know that this Smiths group out of England had some whiny mopey elongated twisty eejet out front (Spaz Byron my mate used to call Morrissey) and music that made many want to slash their wrists.

It was good mind – but party – no. Still, they pestered me at least three times more until I eventually had to tell them where the highway and my way was. They shuffled off broodily and daffodil violence was narrowly avoided.

This story is true. But I mention it because I also vividly remember thinking that I hadn't seen this kind of hero worship in a long while. The Jam had it of course in the late 70ts – The Clash too – Hell, even Jethro Tull had it and that Prog Rock British institution has remained so cult ever since (even if folks don't want to admit it).

But nothing prepares a body for the sheer fanaticism that accompanies The Smiths. I swear to God that if Morrissey flattulated into an empty bottle of Bulmer's Cider and Diamond Dave of Dagenham put it up for sale on eBay at a starting price of half a million nicker (complete with trampled flowers and a receipt from the Co-Op it was bought in) – then some loon in Smiths-World would say – "That's a deal! I gotta have it!! God wills it!!!"

I remember when I worked as Rarities Buyer at Reckless Records in both Islington's Upper Street and Soho's Berwick Street – marvelling at the sheer length of The Smiths discography in the Record Collector Price Guide (absolutely everything they ever issued and more). It was longer than Johanna Lumley's Avengers legs and bigger than Kenny Everett's Rod Stewart bottom.

And even now – in May 2022 – decades after their demise and with subsequently huge solo careers from both singer and wordsmith Morrissey and guitarist and music-man Johnny Marr – Manchester's The Smiths engender a sort of awe among fans that is rare. Which brings us to their extraordinary debut of February 1984 and its digital baby boomer. To the charming men of misery...

UK released March 2012 - "The Smiths" by THE SMITHS on WEA 2564660488 (Barcode 825646604883) is a straightforward Single-CD Reissue that uses the 2011 Johnny Marr approved Remaster from The Complete Smiths Box Set of 2011. It plays out as follows (45:40 minutes):

1. Reel Around The Fountain [Side 1]

2. You've Got Everything Now

3. Miserable Lie

4. Pretty Girls Make Graves

5. The Hand That Rocks The Cradle

6. This Charming Man [Side 2]

7. Still Ill

8. Hand In Glove

9. What Difference Does It Make?

10. I Don't Owe You Anything

11. Suffer Little Children

Tracks 1 to 11 are their debut album "The Smiths" - released February 1984 in the UK on Rough Trade Records ROUGH 61 and April 1984 in the USA on Sire Records 1-25065. Produced by JOHN PORTER - It peaked at No. 2 in the UK (didn't chart USA).

THE SMITHS was:

MORRISSEY - Voice and Words

JOHNNY MARR - Guitars, Harmonica and Music

ANDY ROURKE - Bass

MIKE JOYCE - Drums

Guests:

PAUL CARRACK (of Ace, Mike & The Mechanics) - Piano on "Reel Around The Fountain", "You've Got Everything Now" and "I Don't Owe You Anything"

ANNALISA JABLONSKA - Female Voice on "Pretty Girls Make Graves" and "Suffer Little Children"

The 8-page booklet has the lyrics, a few photos and album/reissue credits - but is disappointingly slight for such a huge band and their important starting point. The famous cover photo of Joe D'Allesandro from Andy Warhol's Flesh film of 1968 adorns the front sleeve but not much else.

The CD Remaster is the version readied for the 2011 Rhino/WEA Box Set "The Complete Smiths" - original tapes used and all overseen by guitarist and band founder member Johnny Marr. Given the ever-so-slightly down-on-itself mix on LP that we became so used to - this version (when cranked) suddenly gives these intelligent slices of British Inner City Indie Rock a subtle lift - not in yer face - but enough to hear the clarity. There's always been a musicality to the Side 1 finisher "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle" - but here you hear those sliding Bass notes, the acoustic strums and Marr's so pretty electric guitar - no wavering shadows looming anymore. To the album...

"I would go out tonight, but I haven't got a stitch to wear..." Has to be the most played of Smiths anthems - the jumped-up pantry-boy that is "This Charming Man" - not so secretly disguised longing for someone out there someone else can't have. "Still Ill" has him spitting in the eye of England - it's mine to take - but I actually prefer "Hand In Glove" even if that weedy Harmonica warbling hasn't unfortunately improved with the Remaster. Guitars ahoy for the utterly brilliant "What Difference Does It Make?" - the perfect mixture of Marr and Morrissey doing what they did best - subliminally deep statements wrapped up in an incessant beat (the Devil finding work for idle hands to do). And on it goes to the unbearably sad missing-child song "Suffer Little Children" - Manchester with a lot to answer for.

You could argue (big time) that this CD Reissue missed a trick by not including the Non-LP B-sides of the four British 45-singles surrounding the album - "Hand In Glove" (May 1983, Rough Trade RT 131), "This Charming Man" (October 1983, RT 136), "What Difference Does It Make?" (January 1984, RT 146) and the withdrawn "Still Ill" (February 1984, R 61 DJ, Promo Only) - "Handsome Devil (Live)", "Jeanne", "Back To The Old House" and "You've Got Everything Now" in that order. How cool would they have been as Bonuses...

"All men have secrets and here is mine..." - Morrissey assured us all those decades ago - a flying bullet for you. "The Smiths" was a mind-meld of an album - a whole new sound that could only have come out of Blighty.

So despite let downs with the basic-bones booklet and AWOL extras (when there was room) - this CD Remaster is still a rasper. Not looking too old tonight boys...not really...

Friday 20 May 2022

SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES - "The Scream" - November 1978 UK Debut Album on Polydor Records featuring Siouxsie Sioux, John McKay, Steven Severin and Kenny Morris (January 2007 UK/EU Polydor Single-CD Reissue in a Jewel Case with the October 2005 2CD Deluxe Edition Remaster done by Gary Moore at Universal Mastering)

This Review And Many More Like It

Available In my Kindle e-Book (June 2022 Version)

LOOKING AFTER NO. 1

Volume 2 of 2 - M to Z...

Your All-Genres Guide To

Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters
For Music from 1956 to 1986

Over 1,760 E-Pages of In-Depth Information
240 Reviews From The Discs Themselves

"...Jigsaw Feeling..."

This Review Along With Over 220 Others Is Available In My

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Music Of 1977 to 1979

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I don't know so much about Post-Punk as a Genre reference - kick-ass tracks on "The Scream" like "Jigsaw Feeling", "Carcass" and "Switch" were so Punk to me at the time.

Goth Goddess Siouxsie Sioux (Lead Vocals) and her fellow Banshees John McKay (Guitars and Saxophone), Steve Severin (Bass) and Kenny Morris (Drums) with their sympathetic Producer Steve Lilywhite were right up there for me with The Damned and The Pistols as dangerous and dark and just plain unsettling. I mean what the hell is their second British single "The Staircase (Mystery)" or even the LP's genuinely sinister cover of The Beatles' infamous White Album brute "Helter Skelter" if not all of those things combined!

And when McKay brings in that background-creep Saxophone in their Television meets Sparks "Suburban Relapse" - there is most definitely more than a trace of Roxy Music in their Island Records Seventies heyday of Pop Art Rock pomp - nutters taking on all comers regardless of trends. Siouxsie & The Banshees and their uncompromising music have felt like Punk Attitude to me - alternative personified - damn the torpedoes - let's send a metal postcard to No. Downing Street! To its digital incarnations...

Disregarding the 1989 basic-as-chips reissue when CD first began making inroads into the formats war - Siouxsie's debut album from November 1978 has had somewhat of a weird triple-whammy release schedule in Blighty.

First came the impressive 3 October 2005 Universal 2CD Deluxe Edition on Polydor 983 238-8 (Barcode 602498323885) following not surprisingly by a singular-CD Version on 29 May 2006 on Polydor 983 691-1/SIOUX 1 (Barcode 602498369111). That variant came in a Stickered-Digipak sleeve (the SIOUX 1 catalogue number), had two bonus tracks, a foldout-essay/lyrics poster and the same 2005 Remaster carried out by Audio Engineer GARY MOORE for the 2005 2CD DE Version.

What we're dealing with here is version number three of "The Scream" by SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES - the standard Jewel Case reissue UK released 29 January 2007 on Polydor 984 691-1 (Barcode 602498435113). It replaces the Card Digipak with a Standard Jewel Case, the two-sided Essay and Lyrics Poster with an 8-page booklet sporting only the lyrics and the same two Bonus Single Sides and 2005 Gary Moore Remaster (reissued 2009). Here are the details...

1. Pure [Side 1]

2. Jigsaw Feeling

3. Overground

4. Carcass

5. Helter Skelter

6. Mirage [Side 2]

7. Metal Postcard (Mittageisen)

8. Nicotine Stain

9. Suburban Relapse

10. Switch

Tracks 1 to 10 are their debut album "The Scream" - released November 1978 in the UK on Polydor Records POLD 5009. Produced by STEVE LILYWHITE - it peaked at No. 12 on the UK LP charts (didn't chart USA)

BONUS TRACKS:

11. Hong Kong Garden

August 1978 UK Debut 45-single on Polydor 2059 052, A-side

12. The Staircase (Mystery)

March 1979 UK Second 45-single on Polydor POSP 9, A-side

It won't take fans long to work out that there are a few lazy let downs here. The Non-LP B-sides of "Hong Kong Garden" and "The Staircase (Mystery)" - "Voices" and their great cover of T.Rex's "20th Century Boy" are not here. Nor is the different version of "Love In A Void" that turned up as the flipside of the album's third 45 "Mittageisen (Metal Postcard)" in September 1979. There was room too. The 8-page booklet is no great shakes either - has the lyrics only and a basic album-credits page - but no history - no memorabilia - no sense of its ground-breaking feel as a debut and how it's grown in stature as the decades have passed. Now that's a disappointment. So to what is good...

The GARY MOORE Remaster is fabulous - full of power and balls. When you crank the guitar and drums opening of "Switch" - the treated guitars and bass at 2:30 - the huge build up and fade as it reaches its near seven-minute ending - it all feels so much better than the compromise my old LP used to offer as the side played out.

The only cut I could never quite get along with is the opening "Pure" where the band is announcing things are going to get uncomfortable. And some have complained that the singles distort the overall play - personally I don't subscribe to that. I have always thought of "Hong Kong Garden" as a wee bit of 7" single masterpiece.

In May 2022, "The Scream" with its great audio, so-so booklet and chipper bonuses will set you back less than six or seven quid. Now that's worth venting the suburban nicotine-knackered lungs about...

INDEX - Entries and Artist Posts in Alphabetical Order

MEMOS FROM THE BURNING BUSH - Poems - Dublin, London and Margate - Smaller 'Significant Others'

BEATLES - "Let It Be: Super Deluxe" Fabulous Underdog Album Box Set - Best Price!

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BEATLES - Abbey Road (50th Anniversary Remaster from 2019) - Beautiful! SEE MY REVIEW

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Abbey-Road-Anniversary-Super-Deluxe/dp/B07VLMMG28?crid=2527JJJ8CE6UK&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.BKsZIwOddVk3NhkjhfiCgh1kfShw_x6HedXqMsiDMampO1RidsGJwrHg0pl43yM2P-tFS6UPCGLXI6S2Lzq5kP8S2M3eG-IwrfrF5-pKp9Tuu7y6QqxhCS792HfsmpfdyhBPOnFgNNLVqdeU52Ecle1oz7Vt81-nSTmfgSw8JNhdJXzUnejnJzKhqkbVhXKvGMOwRb7P5raSKcd4TgykS8ofYmi1YRLPUTrFso52cCA.k-5j__1fUkC-sjpebwrsTSXTMZY9utRUN4IArq6SRno&dib_tag=se&keywords=abbey+road+super&qid=1715418168&sprefix=abbey+road+super%2Caps%2C86&sr=8-1&linkCode=ll1&tag=mabasreofcdbl-21&linkId=89960e7a10fc345c910b4060650a9086&language=en_GB&ref_=as_li_ss_tl

Sounds Good, Looks Good...

Amazon Music Bestsellers and Deals

Monday 23 May 2022

Sunday 22 May 2022

Saturday 21 May 2022

Friday 20 May 2022

INDEX - Entries and Artist Posts in Alphabetical Order

"Soulsville U.S.A. - STAX 60" Great 3CD Comp with Best Audio from Craft

Quality CD Player/Classy Bit Of Kit - Best Paired With PM 6007 UK Amp

Quality AMP from Marantz - Best Paired With Marantz CD 6007

B&W Speakers - I Have Black Variants of These and they are stunning!

RM Series Replacement Remote - Handy!

Cute As A Button and Practical Too...

More Fantastic 60ts 70ts Soul Than You Can Shake A Stick At - SEE MY REVIEW

Probably The Best Value Remasters Box Set Around - SEE MY REVIEW

Followers

BEATLES - "Let It Be: Super Deluxe" Fabulous Underdog Album Box Set - Best Price!

BEATLES - Abbey Road (50th Anniversary Remaster from 2019) - Beautiful! SEE MY REVIEW

Superb Socially-Conscious Soul/Funk from 1971 to 1974 - See Review

BEATLES - "White Album" - Amazing 2018 Remaster and Unplugged Demos - SEE REVIEW

Breakdown/Protection for SOUNDBARS for 2 Years

ALLMANS Forgotten But Brilliant Double from 1972 - SEE MY REVIEW...

BILL WITHERS Truly Great Multi-Disc Soul Box - SEE MY REVIEW

Great Deal on a great book