Holding the Music in Your Hands ®
Seal / Seal 4CD+2LP super deluxe 4CD+2LP super deluxe
£63
First significant price-drop for the Seal super deluxe.
In March, U2 will release Songs of Surrender, a collection of acoustic & re-imagined recordings from their back catalogue. This release will be available over five different physical formats.
Produced and compiled by The Edge the super deluxe edition of Songs of Surrender is available as a 4CD or 4LP vinyl box set and features 40 tracks arranged into individual band volumes (presumably their favourite tracks) including ‘With Or Without You’, ‘Beautiful Day’, ‘Where The Streets Have No Name’, ‘One’, ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’, ‘Pride (In The Name Of Love)’, alongside fan favourites such as ‘Stories For Boys’, ‘Bad’, & ‘Desire’. Both super deluxe editions are numbered.
This release is also available as a single CD edition, of which there are two: a 20-track deluxe and a 16-track standard version. The 16-track selection is also repeated on a 2LP vinyl version.
Songs of Surrender will be released on 17 March 2023, via UMR/Island.
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A box of of BBC radio broadcasts from Genesis will be issued in March. Curated by founding member Tony Banks (and Nick Davis) BBC Broadcasts is a 5CD package featuring mostly previously unreleased recordings for the BBC between 1970-1998.
The box includes contributions from all three of the group’s vocalists, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins and Ray Wilson and features a treasure trove of material including appearances on ‘Night Ride’ and John Peel, both of the group’s Knebworth performances (’78 and ’92), the 1980 show at London’s Lyceum, the sell–out run of shows at Wembley in 1987 and much more.
The 5CD set contains 53 tracks in total and a 3LP edition offers 24 tracks. The CD set includes an illustrated 40-page booklet containing extensive sleeve notes by Michael Hann. The vinyl doesn’t have a booklet but rather offers the notes on the inner sleeves of the vinyl records.
BBC Broadcasts will be released on 3 March 2023 via UMR/EMI (vinyl pre-order links coming soon).
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Collected is a new vinyl compilation featuring the best of Nik Kershaw.
This 3LP set features hits such as ‘Wouldn’t It Be Good’, ‘Dancing Girls’, ‘I Won’t Let the Sun Go Down
on Me’, ‘Human Racing’, ‘The Riddle’, ‘Wide Boy”, “Don Quixote’ and ‘When a Heart Beats’. This collection features songs from all nine of Kershaw’s studio albums including his most recent, 2020’s Oxymoron.
The third LP includes eight 12-inch versions of Kershaw’s biggest hits. This is a bonus LP only available with this first pressing, which is limited to 1,000 worldwide. Future pressings will not include this record and will become 2LP sets. This release also comes with a four-page booklet with notes and photos.
Collected is released on 24 February 2023, via Music On Vinyl. Secure your copy by pre-ordering via the SDE shop using this link or the button below.
Legendary guitarist Jeff Beck died yesterday at the age of 78.
Beck started out with the Yardbirds in 1965 (replacing Eric Clapton) before forming The Jeff Beck Group a couple of years later whose initial line-up included Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood. A brilliant collaborator, the ‘guitarists guitarist’ went on to release a series of solo albums spanning various genres ranging such as blues rock, hard rock, jazz fusion and more.
Beck’s death was confirmed late last night on his official twitter page.
“On behalf of his family, it is with deep and profound sadness that we share the news of Jeff Beck’s passing,” the statement said.
“After suddenly contracting bacterial meningitis, he peacefully passed away yesterday. His family ask for privacy while they process this tremendous loss.”
Rest in Peace Jeff Beck. Leave your tributes in the comments section.
Elvis Costello has compiled a new release called The Songs of Bacharach & Costello that brings together all of the published songs that he has written with Burt Bacharach.
This release celebrates the three decade songwriting partnership between the pair and first and foremost it offers a 2023 remaster (by Bob Ludwig from the original tapes) of the acclaimed 1999 album Painted From Memory. This wasn’t originally issued on vinyl back in the day, although a Mobile Fidelity reissue was put out in 2017.
The Songs of Bacharach & Costello also includes the entirety (on CD) of Taken From Life, including unreleased songs from the proposed Painted From Memory musical score and three newly recorded compositions.
Formats available include a pricey 4CD+2LP super deluxe edition (D2C only – see uDiscover) which offers a 2LP vinyl set – of which three sides are the remastered Painted From Memory and the fourth and final side is ‘Selections from Taken From Life’ (6 tracks out of 16) – and 4CDs. The first two CDs are Painted From Memory and the full ‘Taken From Life’, while CD 3 and CD 4 offer rare live performances (with and without Bacharach). The super deluxe also offers a “detailed 10,000 word essay by Costello”.
A 2LP vinyl package is available on its own, as is a 2CD set which comprises CD 1 and CD 2 from the super deluxe. There’s no option to get the 4CDs by themselves.
The Songs of Bacharach & Costello is released on 3 March 2023, via Universal Music.
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Everything But The Girl will release a new album, Fuse, in April.
The band were formed in 1982 by singer-songwriter-musicians Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt EBTG released 11 albums between 1984 and 1999, achieving global success with the Todd Terry remix of their 1994 single Missing.
The new studio album is their first in over 23 years and you can preview ‘Nothing Left to Lose’ above. It will be released on CD, half-speed mastered black vinyl and coloured vinyl. There is also a limited edition CD+blu-ray two-disc set that features a Dolby Atmos Mix of Fuse. This is available to pre-order from the SDE shop using this link or by using the ‘add to cart’ button below.
Fuse is released on 21 April via Virgin/Universal Music. Interestingly, the band won’t be playing live to support this album.
If you are in Germany/Europe you can also order the CD+blu-ray from JPC
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David Bowie’s 1973 album Aladdin Sane will be reissued as a vinyl picture disc and a half-speed mastered black vinyl edition in April.
The album was originally released just ten months after Bowie’s breakthrough album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars and features songs such as ‘Panic In Detroit,’ ‘Lady Grinning Soul’, ‘Time’ and ‘The Jean Genie’.
This new pressing of Aladdin Sane was cut on a customised late Neumann VMS80 lathe with “fully recapped electronics” from 192kHz restored masters of the original master tapes, with no additional processing on transfer. Both vinyl editions are cut from the same master, which means the picture disc is actually half-speed mastered too, although although the half-speed black vinyl is going to sound better than the picture disc.
The Aladdin Sane 50th anniversary editions are released on 14 April 2023, via Parlophone.
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The Now That’s What I Call Music team are effectively issuing a companion 3CD set to Now Yearbook 1980-1984: The Final Chapter, itself a companion to the ten previous Yearbook releases covering those five years.
The ‘Extra’ version of Yearbook 1980-1984 is, as usual, a 3CD set in a card sleeve and this one features 63 “essential hits” from the period. Remarkably, the early 1980s can handle what is in effect a ‘fourth level’ of examination (Yearbook > Yearbook Extra > Final Chapter > Final Chapter Extra) and this is far from ‘the dregs’ of the era with loads of classic pop hits from Queen, Eurythmics, Pretenders, Elvis Costello, The Smiths, Daryl Hall and John Oates, Japan, Heaven 17, Level 42, Nik Kershaw, XTC, Elton John and more.
And if there are tracks that are a little bit more off the beaten track, songs that don’t appear on every 80s compilation under the sun (such as ‘After A Fashion’ by Midge Ure & Mick Karn or ‘Venceremos’ from Working Week), then that can also be viewed as positive because the tread hasn’t been worn down to the canvas like it has for a song like Tears For Fears’ ‘Everybody Wants To Rule The World’. Full track listing can be viewed below.
Now Yearbook 1980-1984: The Final Chapter – Extra will be issued on 3 February 2023.
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Peter Gabriel has revealed the first new song from his forthcoming album i/o. Written and produced by Gabriel, ‘Panopticom’ was recorded at Real World Studios in Wiltshire and The Beehive in London.
“The first song is based on an idea I have been working on to initiate the creation of an infinitely expandable accessible data globe: The Panopticom,’ says Gabriel. ‘We are beginning to connect a like-minded group of people who might be able to bring this to life, to allow the world to see itself better and understand more of what’s really going on”.
‘Panopticom’ features long-time collaborators Tony Levin, David Rhodes and Manu Katché, with “electronics” from Brian Eno. Additional backing vocals are from Ríoghnach Connolly of The Breath.
The song has been released on the first full moon of 2023 and the lunar phases will guide the release plan in 2023, with a new song revealed each full moon!
‘Some of what I’m writing about this time is the idea that we seem incredibly capable of destroying the planet that gave us birth and that unless we find ways to reconnect ourselves to nature and to the natural world we are going to lose a lot. A simple way of thinking about where we fit in to all of this is looking up at the sky… and the moon has always drawn me to it.’
‘Panopticom’ comew with a specific piece of artwork by David Spriggs, and each new release of music will come with a specific piece of art, “we’ve been looking at the work of many hundreds of artists”, says Gabriel. “It was the theme of surveillance that connected me with the work of David Spriggs because he’d done a piece relating to that. David does this amazing stuff using many layers of transparencies so you get these strange creations with a real intensity to them. Part of what he does is imagine what art might look like a few years in the future and then try and create accordingly and I think he’s done that very successfully in this particular piece”.
Further details on the release plans for the full album will follow but, for now, what do you think of the new song? Leave a comment below.
Words and Music Peter Gabriel
Produced by Peter Gabriel
Published by Real World Music Ltd. / Sony Music Publishing
Engineered by Oli Jacobs and Katie May.
Pre-production engineering by Richard Chappell
Assistant engineering by Faye Dolle
Mixed by Mark ‘Spike’ Stent
Mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis
Recorded at Real World Studios, Bath and The Beehive, London
Cover Image: Red Gravity by David Spriggs
Drums: Manu Katché
Rhythm Programming: Peter Gabriel, Oli Jacobs, Richard Chappell
Bass: Tony Levin
Electric Guitar: David Rhodes
Acoustic Guitar: Katie May
Synths: Peter Gabriel
Additional Synths: Oli Jacobs
Bells and Haunting Synths: Brian Eno
Backing Vocals: Peter Gabriel, David Rhodes, Ríoghnach Connolly
Lead Vocals: Peter Gabriel
Seminal hip-hop group De La Soul have gained control of their back catalogue which will finally be available on streaming from March this year. At the same time, their classic debut 3 Feet High and Rising will be reissued physically, on vinyl, CD and cassette tape.
The 1989 album marked the first of three full-length collaborations with producer Prince Paul, and was a massive commercial and critical success. It contains the singles, ‘Me Myself and I’, ‘The Magic Number’, ‘Buddy’, and ‘Eye Know’.
The album will be available again as a 2LP vinyl set and there’s an array of coloured vinyl options available, in addition to trusty black, depending on where you shop! In fact, the label are going for it because there’s also some coloured cassettes. There’s only one lonely CD although for some reason it’s £16. There’s no bonus material, this reissue is strictly album-only.
3 Feet High and Rising will be reissued physically on 3 March 2023 via AOI/Chrysalis Records.
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Welcome to the traditional SDE reissue preview for the year ahead! As usual we will start with the first three months of this year where we have confirmed releases and then move on to what we know/think/presume/hope will be reissued later in the year. Of course they’ll be plenty of things not covered, so please as well as offering your thoughts on reissues mentioned below, do chip in with forthcoming products you know about that SDE hasn’t mentioned! You can do this via the comments section.
Perhaps due to manufacturing capacity issues last year, January 2023 has some fairly big reissues/releases that were likely originally planned for 2022 but just got bumped. These include Volume 17 of Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series called Fragments: Time Out of Mind Sessions 1996-1997, the coloured vinyl box set reissue of The Rolling Stones in Mono and Elvis On Tour.
The Now That’s What I Call Music Yearbook activity continues with the ‘Extra’ 3CD version of 1985 and it is very likely that we will continue to get regular releases as the NOW team move into the later part of the 1980s and continue to issue ad hoc specials on vinyl and CD.
Reissues, box sets and albums of interest in January include:
February already looks very strong, with reissues from a diverse list of artists including The Auteurs, Robert Palmer, A Flock of Seagulls, Haircut 100, a-ha and Ocean Colour Scene. The two latest releases in the SDE Surround Series – Orbital’s new album, Optical Delusion, and the George Harrison tribute Concert For George – will also ship in February (more on the SDE Surround Series later).
There’s also some interesting compilations which are big multi-disc sets. These include Young Limbs Rise Again, a Goth-themed set which tells the story of the Bat Cave club nights in London in the early 1980s and one curated by Steven Wilson called Intrigue: Steven Wilson Presents: Progressive Sounds In UK Alternative Music 1979-89. There’s going to be a lot of Wilson-related activity in 2023, so more on that later!
Reissues, box sets and albums of interest in February include:
Looking deeper into the year there’s always certain artists where you just know you are going to get something, not matter what. Top of that list is The Fab Four from whom we’ve had a major box set every year since 2017 (except 2020, due to COVID).
The logical reissue to expect in 2023 is a super deluxe of 1965’s Rubber Soul, since that’s the one before Revolver and there is an expectation that Apple and UMC will start working ‘backwards’ with their box sets, moving from the mid-60s to the start of the Fab Four’s studio career. However, an alternative approach would be to start at the beginning, especially since 2023 marks the 60th anniversaries of both The Beatles’ debut Please Please Me and their second album With The Beatles. There’s also the unfinished business of the lack of Revolver blu-ray with the Atmos Mix in the box set. Will the label address this and put that out as a standalone product or have they already moved on from Revolver? We are still waiting for The Beatles Anthology on blu-ray and will Disney / Apple agree to Peter Jackson’s reasonably vocal requests to create an extended ‘Director’s Cut’ of The Beatles Get Back documentary? We’ll have to wait and see!
Paul McCartney
We’ve now had two years without any Paul McCartney’s Archive Collection reissues – a first – so I’m fairly confident that he will finally get his 12 year old reissue programme back on track in 2023. Clever money is on London Town and Back to the Egg, the two studio albums from the late 1970s and the only ones from that decade not reissued. If it happens, these will likely be re-released simultaneously, as a pair, (like Tug of War and Pipes of Peace were in 2015) and perhaps we’ll see the first Archive Collection since 2017’s Flowers in the Dirt to be reissued in the first half of the year. The advantage of that would be that it keeps the schedules clear for the second half of the 2023 for a possible Band on the Run box. Yes, the world’s favourite Paul McCartney/Wings album is 50 in December, so might we even see THREE reissues this year? Not impossible, although probably unlikely (it hasn’t happened before). Given that Band on the Run came out very late in 1973 and virtually all of its sales came during 1974, MPL might opt to schedule a possible 50th anniversary edition in the first half of 2024, or they may not bother with BOTR at all, of course, especially if there is genuinely nothing much to offer after the 2010 set. I predict we’ll get some more Dolby Atmos Mixes of previously reissued albums, although streaming-only. Paul is not interested in releasing these as standalone products but now that he has finally engaged with spatial audio, might we see surround sound included within an Archive Collection? Not likely, in SDE’s opinion. Finally, Paul is continuing to record new material and told readers of his website that he has been working with American producer Andrew Watt. Despite that, I doubt we’ll get a new album in 2023.
One way to predict reissue activity is to consult the ‘crystal ball’ of anniversaries. Band on the Run is of course not the only album celebrating 50 this year although that significant birthday doesn’t always guarantee a reissue. Pink Floyd’s classic The Dark Side of the Moon reaches its half-century although there will definitely be a physical box set, with a new Atmos Mix, for that particular title.
In the five years since Roxy Music’s 1972 debut was reissued we’ve had no further activity in terms of expanded studio albums. This year actually marks the 50th anniversaries of both For Your Pleasure and Stranded but as far as SDE can tell there’s been little progress and it’s neither is looking likely.
Elton John is another prolific artist who released two albums in 1973: Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. The later was reissued back in 2014, although the label didn’t exactly push the boat out and the 4CD+DVD package, with its disc of contemporary artists tackling songs from the album, wasn’t particularly well received. With Elton’s profile as high as ever, and with UMC now really committed to putting out high quality reissues for him these days, I could see them ‘having another go’ at this album, perhaps in the style of last year’s Madman Across The Water. If not, then Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only The Piano Player will be the likely candidate.
David Bowie also released a pair of albums in 1973 with Aladdin Sane and Pinups, however we are unlikely to see an expanded reissue of either since Warners have fallen slightly out of sync by delaying the Hunky Dory reissue (Divine Symmetry) until November last year. This means a reissue of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is now overdue (the album was actually 50 in June last year). This is obviously a big record for many people and having missed the anniversary anyway, the label will take their time and we may have to wait until the end of the year again. Let’s hope packaging and presentation keeps consistent with both Divine Symmetry and Conversation Piece. Those sets have the advantage of not requiring vinyl to be pressed and so lead times will be shorter.
The Who’s Quadrophenia is 50 in 2023 but it’s 1971’s Who’s Next that will be reissued this year (there was a super deluxe of Quadrophenia in 2011, of course). We know about the Who’s Next box because Pete Townshend told us even if the original plan was for a release last year. It It’s going to be a very big box and a very big deal; Steven Wilson has created a Dolby Atmos Mix which will be something to look forward to.
John Lennon’s Mind Games is also 50 this year and we should indeed get a significant deluxe edition of that album with the usual array of ‘Ultimate Mixes’. Some Time In New York City is basically done, but after initially being touted for 2022, it has been shelved for the time being.
In terms of George Harrison, as well as the SDE-exclusive blu-ray of Concert For George (which is shipping in late Feb) we may well get a reissue of Living in the Material World, Harrison’s 1973 follow-up to All Things Must Pass which features the hit single ‘Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)’.
Other notable albums that turn 50 this year include Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions, Lou Reed’s Berlin, Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, Genesis’ Selling England By The Pound and ABBA’s Ring Ring.
Madonna’s career-spanning partnership with Warner Music Group that promised a “multi-year catalog series”, was announced in August 2021 and last year the label delivered the first proper release with the Finally Enough Love compilation, which was a bit of a mixed bag. SDE is expecting the first album reissue in 2023 which will be Madonna’s self-titled debut album. This makes perfect sense, since it’s 40 years old in July. It will be very interesting indeed to see how comprehensive the package is and how Warners will choose to present it, because it will set the tone for the campaign for years to come. Madonna has a reputation for doing what she wants – not necessarily want fans want – and we were told that she is “personally” curating these sets, which does set a few alarm bells ringing, even if those kinds of statements can be taken with a pinch of salt (is Madge really sitting at her laptop checking Discogs listings in case she’s forgotten about the Peruvian radio edit of a certain single?).
Following on from the Antidepressant re-release in 2021, Lloyd Cole’s 2003 album Music in a Foreign Language will be reissued in 2023. It has been remastered and will include a 10-track bonus album of Lloyd’s rough mixes before other musicians were brought in. According to LC it’s “quite different” to the final version.
Duran Duran’s Medazzaland has only just been re/issued on CD and vinyl but an expanded deluxe edition will follow, possibly in the first half of 2023, which will come with bonus material and demos. We know that Depeche Mode will start their Memento Mori world tour in March and they will deliver a new album of the same name, presumably around the same time. Peter Gabriel is another artist who has announced a tour without offering details of the album, but, like Depeche Mode, if he wants to sell records off the back of the tour, his new album I/O will need to be available by May, when the gigs start in Poland.
The Lilac Time will deliver a new album which will be available “at the earliest” (according to Stephen Duffy) in August 2023. A triple-disc edition of the band’s 1991 album Astronauts will emerge around October time. Everything But The Girl are issuing their first new studio album in over 20 years this year and it’s almost exactly three years since the Pet Shop Boys last album Hotspot was released, so there’s a reasonable chance they’ll deliver some new material in the next 12 months. There is actually confirmation of some PSB archival activity already, since their 2023 edition of the book Annually will come with an exclusive four-track CD called ‘Lost’ which features 2015 demos of previously unreleased songs. Sadly, this seems to be available in the UK-only (link here).
Where there is a 50th anniversary, there will naturally be a 40th anniversary and 1983 was clearly a significant year with plenty of great albums released. Tears For Fears’ The Hurting comes to mind and while the box set from a decade ago (co-curated by yours truly) delivered virtually everything you could want, it didn’t include any spatial audio. We know that ABC’s Lexicon Of Love has had the Dolby Atmos treatment, because Martin Fry keeps going on about it but the box set (“a fully expanded release of The Lexicon of Love“) is not likely to appear until the summer, roughly a year late.
Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams album was actually released 40 years ago tomorrow, but the lack of Eurythmics reissue activity has been one of the major disappointments in SDE’s lifetime. It has been almost 18 years since any Eurythmics album has been expanded which is simply not good enough. Even the admittedly decent vinyl reissues were nearly FIVE years ago. What’s going on? Dave Stewart has often complained that the Sony is simply not interested and the fact that there was zero release activity in the year they were finally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame speaks volumes. When the band chatted to SDE back in 2018 Dave told us “I was just amazed that they [Sony] had woken up and realised that Eurythmics existed on their label!”. It seems they woke up but then fell asleep again.
The Thompson Twins rather brilliant Quick Step and Side Kicks album is 40 this year and, rather like the Eurythmics, the band have been neglected over the years. We’ve had the odd coloured vinyl reissue (from boutique label Vinyl 180), but it has been almost a decade since the SDE-curated ‘Remixes and Rarities’ 2CD set. I am hearing ‘noises’ about possible activity although whether anything will emerge in 2023 remains to be seen.
Heaven 17’s classic The Luxury Gap is 40 but any kind of reissue seems unlikely since Demon rather exhausted the archive with their 2019 Play to Win sets. Malcolm McLaren’s influential Duck Rock album is another album from 1983 that fans would love to see reissued and expanded, but despite being produced by Trevor Horn, this album was never a ZTT release and it seems as if there are rights issues.
1983 is the year of Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Relax and we know that Universal Music bought ZTT a few years ago and have so far only dipped their toe into the commercially rich waters of Frankie, with a RSD release, the cheapo 3CD Essentials collection and a few ‘vanilla’ CD and vinyl album releases. Expect a deeper dive into said waters later this year and talking of Trevor Horn, the producer will be Reimagining the Eighties once again for another volume of of re-recordings with guest vocalists (including Toyah doing Relax, apparently!).
The Police’s Synchronicity reaches the 40 milestone, but sod that, where’s Regatta De Blanc? Nearly 18 months ago Andy Summers told SDE “a four-disc version of Regatta De Blanc is coming”. From what SDE can gather there’s a Sting-shaped blockage in the pipeline and until that can be addressed The Police reissue activity will focus on entrées and desserts (like documentaries and vinyl picture discs) and will skip the main course.
Paul Young’s No Parlez has earned a reputation as a charity shop staple, but when you sell a million copies of your debut album in the UK, that’s a lot of product floating around. The 2008 double-CD 25th anniversary of No Parlez was both flawed and lacking in ambition and since then, even more archive material has emerged via SDE-related projects including the 2012 Remixes and Rarities set (Cherry Red), the 4CD Tomb of Memories deluxe package (from Sony) and the CD singles box courtesy of Edsel. That’s not to say a great No Parlez box set couldn’t be put together and with it’s layered eighties production, it’s an album that is crying out for a Dolby Atmos Mix. Whether anything is in the planning is not clear but I can tell you that Paul Young will release a new album in 2023 called Behind The Lens. I’ve heard it and it’s excellent.
2023 is going to be a big year for Steven Wilson and his fans. With the Porcupine Tree revival almost at an end (a few festival appearances this summer are likely to be the band’s “final” shows) focus will move on to Wilson’s first studio album since 2020’s The Future Bites. The Harmony Codex features 10 tracks (including a song with regular collaborator Ninet Tayeb) and clocks in at 65 minutes. It is a move back to more conceptual waters with a number of very long, complex numbers. Actually there is more news on Porcupine Tree. The band’s 2005 album Deadwing is getting the full 3CD+blu-ray deluxe reissue treatment in book style like the In Absentia reissue of a few years ago. This is slated for release in March and can actually be pre-ordered already via Amazon in the USA. Finally, Storm Corrosion was Steven Wilson’s 2012 musical collaboration between Mikael Åkerfeldt of Swedish progressive metal band Opeth. Wilson has created a Dolby Atmos Mix of the album of the same name and there will be a physical reissue at some point in 2023.
SDE hopes we finally get a Prince reissue in 2023 although nothing appears certain at this moment in time. We know that a deluxe of Debbie Harry’s debut solo album Koo Koo is coming in April and a 5LP vinyl super deluxe edition version of The Flaming Lips’ Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots will be released the same month (you can pre-order from Amazon in the USA and Amazon in the UK right now).
Sony are working on a Wham! singles box set and after the Dolby Atmos of Terence Trent D’Arby’s 1987 album Introducing The Hardline was made available on streaming last year we can surely expect an actual physical box set to finally emerge this year. Like the streaming version, this will be issued under the name Sanada Maitreya.
Kate Bush is an artist SDE and its readers are always interested in. If 2023 comes and goes without another studio album then it will be a new record gap between long-players beating the 12 years between 1993’s The Red Shoes and 2005’s Aerial. A new record seems more likely than any kind of reissue activity although “more likely” still means “not very likely” in the world of Kate Bush. Her refusal to restore her excellent promo videos and release them on blu-ray continues to frustrate and her one and only ‘best of’, the now incorrectly titled The Whole Story, will be 37 years old this year. The dream project would be some kind of retrospective that brought today visuals, such as videos, TV appearances with an updated retrospective with singles and rarities. Her end-of-year message to fans in 2022 was sweet and compassionate as ever, but typically told us nothing about what she was up to, professionally.
I’ll finish on a word about the SDE Surround Series. One of my highlights last year was this new initiative that saw SDE partner with labels to bring you exclusive Blu-ray Audios featuring spatial audio (Dolby Atmos and 5.1 mixes) of new and classic albums. We managed to announce seven products, which I’m very proud of. This will continue into 2023 and the goal is to attempt to bring you at least 12 releases this year. There’s potentially some very exciting titles that I can’t talk about yet, but rest assured I know what you like and will do my very best to deliver a diverse and interesting selection. Number seven in the series, but actually the eighth release (remember Concert for George was #6.5) should be announced in the next few weeks. Thanks once more for your enthusiasm for the SDE Surround!
Deadwing, Porcupine Tree’s eighth studio album, will be reissued in March as a 3CD+blu-ray deluxe edition.
The 2005 album was the follow-up to In Absentia in 2002 and includes the singles ‘Shallow’ and ‘Lazarus’. Those two long-players are widely regarded as Porcupine Tree at their very best.
Based on a script written by Steven Wilson and director Mike Bennion, about half of the songs were started as part of the film’s score. However, when the film did not enter the production phase, Wilson instead made them the basis for the next PT album, with additional material written in collaboration with the other band members.
The reissue echoes the In Absentia re-release from early 2020 inasmuch as it comes in a large format deluxe 108-page hardcover book. This offers an in-depth history of the band by Stephen Humphries and rare photographs from Lasse Hoile and the band’s personal archives. The four discs offer the following content:
CD 1: Steven Wilson’s 2018 remaster
CD 2: B-sides & extra tracks
CD 3: 70 minutes of demos
Blu-ray: 5.1 mix of Deadwing album with 4 bonus tracks by Elliot Scheiner & Steven Wilson, new ‘making of’ documentary: Never Stop the Car on a Drive in the Dark, Rockplalast performance (77 mins German broadcast in 2005), ‘Lazarus’ promo video, Deadwing 96/24 LPCM stereo, B-sides in 96/24 LPCM stereo.
Deadwing will be reissued on 10 March 2023 via Snapper’s Transmission imprint.
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Tori Amos / Little Earthquakes 2LP vinyl Vinyl
Tori Amos’ brilliant debut album has been freshly remastered for this 2LP set.
New 11-track studio album from Iggy Pop and the first under Atlantic Records. Every Loser is described as “primal rock ‘n’ roll – a master class in the art of lashing out with unequalled intensity and unflappable wit”.
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Olivia Newton-John‘s second volume of Greatest Hits was originally issued in 1982. Newly remastered, it features hits such as ‘Physical’, ‘Xanadu’, ‘You’re The One That I Want’ and ‘Hopelessly Devoted to You’.
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Sony Austria are to release a deluxe edition of Falco’s debut album, Einzelhaft, early next year.
The 1982 album features Falco’s early singles including ‘Ganz Wien’ and ‘Der Kommissar’, with the later achieving significant success across Europe and some recognition in the USA, although not in the UK.
The 2CD deluxe edition features a new 2023 remaster (by the album’s original producer Robert Ponger) and the label state that this edition features all of the mixes from the 1981-83 era. Additionally, this new deluxe includes six live tracks taken from Falco’s very first concert in Vienna in 1982 (these are appended to the album on CD 1). In total, 11 tracks are on CD for the first time with the Extended Instrumental Version of ‘Der Kommissar’ never issued digitally (it was from an obscure Dutch 12″, apparently). Full track listings, below.
A 3LP vinyl box set is pressed on coloured vinyl (one of them is white, at least) and has a with Mixes I and Mixes II as the additional LPs. This set repeats all 12 bonus tracks from CD 2 of the 2CD set but omits the six live tracks. The Einzelhaft remaster will also be issued on cassette tape. These reissues offer new sleeve notes.
Einelhaft will be reisused on 27 January 2023 via Sony Austria.
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Watch as SDEtv unboxes the latest David Bowie reissue, Divine Symmetry, which is the 4CD+blu-ray examination of his 1971 album Hunky Dory.
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All PCM Stereo 96kHz/24bit except ‘Life On Mars?’ (2016 mix):
DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and PCM Stereo 96kHz/24bit
HUNKY DORY 2015 REMASTER
Demon Music have launched a series of half-speed mastered vinyl editions of albums from classic artists, across three decades.
The process of half-speed mastering is generally accepted as a legitimate way to deliver higher quality vinyl pressings and is a topic SDE has covered in the past, with Abbey Road’s Miles Showell giving us a good explanation of the benefits of the process a few years ago when the Brian Eno half-speed mastered vinyl editions were released. Demon’s half speed vinyl is being cut at Air Studios by renowned engineer Barry Grint and he explains the process in his own words, below.
The first three titles in Demon’s campaign are The Yardbirds’ 1966 album Yardbirds/Roger The Engineer, Labi Siffre’s self-produced third album, 1972’s Crying Laughing Loving Lying (which features ‘It Must Be Love’, later covered by Madness) and Haircut One Hundred’s Pelican West (released in 1982). The first two half-speeds are actually out already with Haircut One Hundred due at the end of February as part of the wider reissue campaign.
The LPs are all pressed on 180g black vinyl and come with special four-page inserts and an OBI-strip. The Yardbirds and Labi Siffre were cut from the original master tapes, whilst Haircut One Hundred was cut from digital transfers of the original tapes.
These are available now, with the exception of Haircut 100, which you can pre-order!
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Kylie Minogue / Impossible Princess vinyl LP Vinyl LP
£16
Kylie’s 1997 album was reissued last year on vinyl.
The Kinks / Everybody’s in Showbiz 2LP vinyl
£16
This 2022 2LP reissue features a bonus LP of The Kinks Live at Carnegie Hall in New York on 3 March 1972)
The Kinks / Muswell Hillbillies Vinyl LP
£16
The 2022 vinyl reissue of The Kinks 1971 album Muswell Hillbillies. No bonus tracks on this one!
The Beatles / Revolver 5CD box set 5CD super deluxe
£90
The Beatles’ 1966 album gets the super deluxe treatment. Features 5CDs and a hardcover book.
The Kinks / Muswell Hillbillies / Everybody’s In Showbiz box set Box set
£97
Deluxe Kinks box set issued earlier this year that features six coloured vinyl LPs, four CDs, a ‘Ray Davies 1971 Home Movie’ Blu-ray, a 52-page hardcover book and more!
Duran Duran / Medazzaland 2LP pink vinyl 25th anniversary 2LP pink vinyl
£24
First time on vinyl for Duran Duran’s 1997 album. This is a 2LP set pressed on pink neon vinyl.
Supergrass / Supergrass coloured vinyl LP Coloured vinyl LP
£17
Supergrass’ 1999 album remastered and pressed on orange vinyl. Features the singles ‘Pumping On Your Stereo’, ‘Moving’ and ‘Mary’.
Hall & Oates / Marigold Sky 2LP vinyl 25th anniversary 2LP vinyl
£15
25th anniversary 2LP set of Daryl Hall and John Oates’ 1992 album Marigold Sky.
The Associates / Sulk 40th 3CD+LP deluxe 3CD+LP hardcover deluxe
£33
The 3CD+LP deluxe of The Associates’ Sulk. RIP Alan Rankine.
![David Bowie / Brilliant Adventure [1992-2001] 18LP vinyl box set](https://superdeluxeedition.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/propercover.jpg)
David Bowie / Brilliant Adventures 1992-2001 11CD box 11CD box set
£63
Superb price for the examination of David Bowie’s 1990s-era.
The Police / Outlands D’Amour blue vinyl LP Blue vinyl LP
£15
2022 coloured vinyl reissue.
Elton John / Regimental Sgt. Zippo vinyl LP vinyl LP
£8
Pink Floyd / Animals CD+LP+Blu-ray deluxe CD+LP+Blu-ray
£39
Pink Floyd deluxe box set with the new mixes of Animals. Includes 180g vinyl LP, CD and blu-ray (with 5.1 mix and hi-res stereo
1971: Marc Bolan Songwriter / T. Rex 2LP vinyl
£22
A 19-track, 2LP set curated by T.Rex authority Mark Paytress. This double vinyl package includes the full-length versions of the hits ‘Hot Love’ and ‘Get It On’, the single version of ‘Jeepster’ along with other recordings from 1971: B-sides, working versions of ‘Telegram Sam’ and ‘Life’s A Gas’, and demos like the 15-minute complete acoustic demo of ‘Children Of Rarn’.
Bryan Ferry / Taxi CD coloured vinyl LP CD packaged in Japan mini-LP CD style
£5
Bryan Ferry’s 1993 album was recently reissued. This CD is well worth picking up because the packaging is similar to Japan ‘paper sleeve’ vinyl replicas. For a fiver, this is an excellent deal.
There were some great archival releases this year (see SDE’s Favourite Reissues of 2022), but in truth, 2022 won’t go down as a classic. Perhaps labels and rights holders were still nursing the COVID hangover of 2020/21 and supply chain problems and persistent issues with lead time on vinyl production led to projects being cancelled, put on hold or worse, rushed through with compromises. Or maybe not? Paul McCartney managed to deliver an 80-disc box set didn’t he, although even that came at a cost, as we shall see below. Requiring 240,000 vinyl records to be pressed, perhaps his box was a problem for others (“Bloody Macca and his singles box is stopping me getting my job through” I can imagine a frustrated product manager saying). As 2022 approaches its end, we can all reflect on the achievements and missed opportunities of 2022. Naturally, we will all have items without lines through them on our personal and professional ‘to do’ lists but the New Year is a great time reset and think about the next 12 months. I know it’s good to accentuate the positive, so this isn’t a long list, but below you’ll find SDE’s biggest disappointments of 2022. What are yours? Leave a comment.
Money Don’t Matter 2 Night, because there’s nothing to spend it on. After decades of zero reissue activity, it finally felt as if things were changing and there was some momentum in the Prince camp with the superb reissues of 1999 and Sign ‘O’ The Times in 2019 and 2020, respectively. We can give the estate and the record label the benefit of the doubt with regards to the lack of action in 2021, due to the ongoing issues around COVID with related supply-chain issues – and the already problematic lead time for vinyl production – but this year also came and went without any sign of the much-rumoured Diamonds and Pearls / ‘Symbol’ album reissue. It’s now been well over two years since we enjoyed that spectacular Sign ‘O’ The Times reissue and the only aspect which has eased the pain a little bit is Sony’s activity with the material that they have the rights to. The ‘lost’ Welcome 2 America album put out in 2021 was much better than anyone could have expected, even if the box set was somewhat overblown and ludicrously overpriced in the UK. Likewise, the Prince and the Revolution Live release from this year was also decent, even if the audio was more impressive than the visuals.
Watch SDEtv unbox the Welcome 2 America super deluxe
There’s so much inherent goodwill from George Michael diehard fans (the self-styled ‘lovelies’) that record label Sony don’t seem to have to try too hard to please them. It took the best part of five years to follow-up the troubled Listen Without Prejudice reissue and with Older, the ace up their sleeve was that while the album was easily available at a charity-shop-near-you on CD, it was nigh on impossible to get hold of on vinyl via the used market – unless you were willing to spend absurd amounts. So with the ‘vinyl revival’ in full swing, the record label knew the pent-up demand was there and duly satisfied it with a multitude of different coloured limited editions, which is, somewhat depressingly, becoming the norm these days. At least they correctly made the album a double LP, which is how it should have been formatted in 1997, with its running time of an hour. The reason the Older reissue gets listed under ‘disappointments’ is nothing to do with the vinyl but rather the box set. The fact is, under George Michael’s control, both Faith and Listen Without Prejudice were awful box sets and it seems that Michael’s estate is pleased to carry on this good work. Their iron-clad control of the archive ensured that the super deluxe edition offered nothing any reasonable person could describe as ‘rare’ and therefore it failed at the first hurdle. It was nothing more than a collection of previously released CD single bonus tracks (remixes, largely) spread over four extra CDs and one bonus LP (Upper). Add to that the album proper (duplicated across 2LPs and one CD) and the content was stretched like a wafer thin mint – what you might call an After Eight-disc box set. Incredibly, this £140 presentation was the only way to buy the reissue of Older on CD (except in Japan). Granted, It was well-presented and felt ‘premium’ but where was the stuff people actually want: video content (TV appearances, documentaries, promo video) and unreleased audio (such as demos and alternate versions)? To add insult to injury, the one really interesting NEW element – a Dolby Atmos Mix of Older – wasn’t included in the expensive box and indeed hasn’t been made available physically at all. You have to laugh. Taking into account the very high price, the lack of rarities, the ‘forcing’ of three vinyl records onto CD buyers and the failure to include the Atmos Mix on a blu-ray within the package, Older, in SDE’s estimation, is one of the worst box sets of 2022 which is rather sad considering what a great album it is.
Watch the SDEtv unboxing video of Older
While it has always been the case that surround sound mixes (generally now referred to as ‘spatial audio’) may or may not make an appearance in physical music box sets, at least in the past they weren’t included mostly because they didn’t exist, normally due to either budgetary constraints or lack of interest – or understanding – from the artist (or label). The difference in 2022 is that labels are going to the time and trouble of creating the spatial audio mixes (mostly Atmos Mixes at the behest of Apple) but then are still not including them as content within a physical box set. In other words, they are wasting great ‘content’. There are many unfortunate examples this year, including the Seal deluxe set, the aforementioned George Michael Older reissue and The Beatles’ Revolver 5CD super deluxe. The audiophile fans that enjoy spatial audio simply prefer physical product, so to assume people are happy to ‘make do’ with lower quality, compressed Atmos Mixes on streaming services is to completely misunderstand the audience. That’s like trying to force a £200 box set on an income-stretched millennial. The feedback from SDE readers has been crystal clear on this and the success of the SDE Surround Series in 2022 tells its own story.
Paul McCartney’s “multi-year” Archive Collection reissue programme started in 2010 and delivered nine albums in its first five years (Band on the Run, McCartney, McCartney II, Ram, Wings Over America, Wings at the Speed of Sound, Venus and Mars, Tug of War and Pipes of Peace). That’s 1.8 albums per year. By comparison, in the last five years (December 2017 to December 2022) we’ve had just three albums (Wings Wild Life, Red Rose Speedway and Flaming Pie), a ration of 0.6 albums per year. So in terms of Archive Reissues the output has reduced by two thirds. You could forgive the 80-year old if he was slowing down and trying to take things easy, but he hasn’t and he’s not! This year has included the time-wasting whim of fancy that was the ‘McCartney’ box (featuring McCartney, McCartney II and McCartney III) and we’ve had to endure that slightly annoying situation where albums that have already had the Archive Collection treatment are being reissued AGAIN as 50th anniversary half-speed vinyl pressings, taking up production time in pressing plants and news-cycle time in the media. It’s only three years since Wings Wild Life was reissued, so did we really need a half-speed just three years later, while we are still waiting or first-time reissues of London Town and Back to the Egg?! The same thing is likely to happen next year since Red Rose Speedway is 50 in April and who would bet against a 50th anniversary Band on the Run bumping the two remaining Wings albums to the back of the queue? Great though the 7″ Singles box was, it was a something of a distraction, like butterflies buzzing round Paul’s head. Clearly something HE wanted to do instead of being fan-driven. It must have taken a Herculean effort from team PM to deliver this 80-disc box, denying them any time to get on with the job in hand which is surely to get the album reissues out! Let’s have London Town and Back to the Egg in 2023 please. That Would Be Something.
Your guess is as good as mine as to why it has taken over 30 years to improve on Rykodisc’s expanded CD edition of David Bowie’s 1971 album Hunky Dory… but it has! Post-Ryko, Bowie went on to approve further EMI expanded editions of albums such as Young Americans, Station to Station, Space Oddity/David Bowie, Diamond Dogs and Ziggy etc., but Hunky Dory was always ignored. Weird. Divine Symmetry changes all of that and offers us ‘The Journey to Hunky Dory‘ which is an accurate enough description of the audio content. The four CDs and blu-ray within the large book format (same dimensions as Conversation Piece) is dynamite, in that it finally blows open the archive to reveal a wealth of truly fascinating content, including early songwriting demos, radio sessions, alternative mixes, rare live performances and so on. The book does a great job of making sense of it all, with testimony from people who were there and it also brings to life some of the dusty old source material via some amazing photographs of acetates, old quarter-inch reels and so on. This set would have been close to perfect had it included some kind of spatial audio version of the album. There is a 5.1 mix of ‘Life On Mars’ on the blu-ray – the first commercially issued spatial audio mix of a Bowie song since his death nearly seven years ago – but not only is that just one song, it’s also the deboned 2016 mix where Ken Scott presents us with fillets of strings, vocals and piano rather than the full song (there’s no guitar or drums at all). Despite this significant omission – and a few grumbles about the album-proper only being on the blu-ray – Divine Symmetry is still highly recommended and easily earns a place at the top table of 2022 reissues.
Read more about Divine Symmetry (an SDEtv unboxing will be published before the new year)
A decade has passed since the excellent 2012 double-CD reissue of Swing Out Sister’s 1987 debut It’s Better To Travel, with the only archival activity of any note since that time being a nothing-to-see-here 2014 ‘best of’. This long overdue box set doesn’t go deep into the band’s career – covering just the first three studio albums – but it certainly features Swing Out Sister’s most popular long-players. Such was the proliferation of extra material (B-sides, remixes, live concerts etc.) this examination of what you might call the ‘hit years’ (1986-1993) stretches to eight CDs. It’s a reminder of quite how different the first three records are – from each other – and how much fun and sophistication they deliver. The tremendous Live at the Jazz Cafe concert is finally officially released, in full, outside of Japan and the three CDs of remixes leave virtually no stone unturned in the hunt for rare/unreleased versions. The icing on the cake is great packaging, sensible pricing and the band – Corinne Drewery and Andy Connell – personally talking you through each album and the B-sides, in the superb booklet.
Watch the SDEtv unboxing video of Blue Mood, Breakout & Beyond
Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be, but this collection of music from the films of director John Hughes presses all the right buttons and delivers a first class shot-in-the-arm of 80s feel good factor. Great music, (mostly) great films, from a great era. On the face of it, it’s a strange mix; oiften obscure tracks from obscure indie bands syncing to moving pictures in mainstream ‘Hollywood’ films. But it worked beautifully and created some memorable moments that stick in the brain better than jagged glass. Furthermore, Life Moves Pretty Fast has been done properly, with the approval of Hughes’ estate and the original music supervisor, Tarquin Gotch, on board to curate the whole thing. Available as a 6LP set and 4CD bookset (the deluxe of which includes a seven-inch single and cassette). Packaging is ace, utilising images of actual John Hughes cassette tapes which he used to yea or nay tracks suggested by Gotch (and sometimes to playback the music on set, while the filming was happening, to get the actors in the groove). I’l like me, my friends like me… and you’ll like this!
Read the SDE interview with Tarquin Gotch about Life Moves Pretty Fast
This collaboration between Neil and Tim Finn was released in late 1995, not long after Crowded House’s Together Alone tour finished. Crowded House were basically history by this point (although the split wasn’t announced for another six months) and, with that in mind, FINN feels like a long slow exhale, a release of pressure as New Zealand’s most celebrated musical siblings go home, and muck around on some improvised instruments, and write and record some songs for fun. It is a charmingly quirky record, not exactly ‘lo-fi’ (that’s probably not in producer Tchad Blake’s DNA) but it’s full of emotion, melody and great songs, like the moving opener ‘Only Talking Sense’ and searing piano ballad ‘Last Day of June’. It was issued on CD at the time, but not on vinyl, so this year’s reissue was well worth the wait and not only includes the remastered album as a 180g vinyl pressing, but also a bonus LP of early ’90s demos most of which went on to become tracks on Crowded House’s 1991 album Woodface (including ‘Weather With You’, ‘Four Seasons in One Day’ and ‘It’s Only Natural’). Yes, these brothers know how to write songs! If not quite a ‘lost’ album, then maybe FINN had just become mislaid. Indie label Needle Mythology ‘found’ it and pointed us in the right direction and so we can now enjoy it all over again. Hopefully, the promised 2CD version will emerge in 2023.
Read more about the FINN reissue
The four year wait was probably worth it, as the Numero Group and UMC delivered the Blondie Against The Odds box set across an almost perfect series of physical formats. The production values across the board were absolutely top notch, with mirror board packaging, high quality book formats (even for the cheaper editions), and limited edition coloured vinyl for those quick off the mark. Trying to keep track of what audio was offered on the dizzying amount of formats took some doing but in essence the 3CD and 4LP versions delivered only the rarities and didn’t bother with the six studio albums, whereas 10LP and 8CD options gave you EVERYTHING. The former dialled things up to ’11’ and, with not much change from £300, had a price tag to match, but it always felt like a decent investment with two weighty hardcover books, bonus 10-inch and seven-inch records and even a bullet-proof cardboard mailer that came with bespoke artwork. The 8CD super deluxe probably offers the best value without scrimping on quality and indeed by some quirk of packaging the book in this set is actually slightly bigger than the one in the massive vinyl box. Overall, totally brilliant for fans, but I can’t help wondering whether this was ultimately profitable for the record label since it must have cost a small fortune to manufacture this à la cart menu of box sets. Whatever the situation, at least someone can take pride in creating something good, unlike, say, the Guns N’ Roses Use Your Illusion box which also looks unfeasibly expensive but missed the target by a mile in terms of fan-pleasing content.
Watch SDEtv unbox every Against The Odds format
Some fans seem to have become a little bit blasé about Beatles reissues, perhaps because we’ve been spoiled since 2017 by a series of super deluxe editions of late-period albums, all centred around 50th anniversaries (until COVID/Disney intervened and messed up the timeline for Let It Be). The narrative around the Revolver reissue was that it was disappointing in terms of the amount of rare audio being delivered; notably more expensive than previous sets; and was missing a key bit of content, with no blu-ray containing an Atmos Mix. However, if you focus on what we were getting rather than what we weren’t, there was still a phenomenal amount to enjoy. Thanks to the much-touted ‘de-mixing’ technology (from the Peter Jackson camp), Giles Martin had the tools to sort out that pesky, and hastily created, 1966 stereo mix with a new 2022 version of the album that felt more balanced and captured the spirit of the mono original. Two discs of ‘Sessions’ offer some incredible insights into the embryonic stages of one of the band’s very best albums (perhaps the best) including early takes of ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’, ‘Love You To’, ‘Paperback Writer’, ‘Eleanor Rigby’ and ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’. Then there’s John’s incredible demo of ‘Yellow Submarine’, both ‘second versions’ of ‘Got To Get You Into My Life’ and a chance to listen to ‘Rain’ at the speed it was actually recorded (faster than the master version). A new transfer of the original mono mix is included along with the much-maligned ‘4-track EP’ (which contains both new 2022 mixes and original mono versions of Paperback Writer and Rain (the non-album A and B-sides). The packaging and artwork look fantastic and the book is truly superb. Unlike with Bowie’s Divine Symmetry, UMC and Apple had got fans used to having blu-rays with spatial audio mixes in Beatle box sets, so the absence of such a disc in Revolver was a proper shock and harder to shrug off. The omission was apparently down to the Atmos Mix not being ready at the point where the label had to ‘push the button’ to get the physical product made for Autumn 2022. Granted, this set doesn’t compare well with 2018 The White Album super deluxe CD package which delivered THREE discs of Sessions, the Esher Demos on CD, and the blu-ray with spatial audio but it’s natural that there’d be more outtakes from a sprawling double album and the Esher Demos are effectively unique and no other album has demos like that. So while the near-perfect Revolver doesn’t get a near-perfect box set, it doesn’t have to be to earn a place in SDE’s favourite reissues of 2022 because it’s still fantastic examination of The Beatles at the top of their game.
Read more about the Revolver super deluxe edition reissue
A very long overdue reissue of the Go West album that most people remember: the band’s 1985 debut, home to the smash hits ‘We Close Out Eyes’, ‘Call Me’ and ‘Don’t Look Down’. I’m a big fan of great pop albums being treated as seriously as classic rock, or prog, long-players and the label duly delivered with a 4CD+DVD large format package that brought everything together, including the remastered album, the original Bangs and Crashes remix set, a disc of unreleased demos and rarities, an unreleased 1985 gig at the Hammersmith Odeon and a DVD crammed with promos, BBC TV appearances and a live performance in Japan. It seems that nice guys can come first and Peter Cox and Richard Drummie are an interesting pair, bonding over a shared ambition back in the early 1980s but with quite different outlooks on life and how to go about achieving success. This set was worth the wait and it seems we can expect more of the same for albums two and three.
Read the SDE interview with Peter Cox and Richard Drummie discussing the Go West album
There are so many old pop/rock documentaries or video collections ‘locked’ on ye olde formats like VHS or Laserdisc and mostly labels and artists don’t seem that bothered (hello, Kate Bush). A But Police guitarist Andy Summers took it upon himself to drive this particular project and get this 1982 documentary (filmed in 1980/81) properly restored and available on a physical format. It now looks and sounds fantastic and is a reminder – if it was needed – what a great live band The Police were. We’ve been starved of Police reissues, so maybe there’s an element of feast after famine here, but these sets (CD+DVD, CD+blu-ray and Vinyl+DVD) are affordable and even offer some bonus audio via CD or vinyl LP. Arresting content, now please can we have that Regatta De Blanc box?
Read the SDE review of Around The World
It’s easy to focus on what Paul McCartney hasn’t given us from the archives these past couple of years, such as London Town or Back To The Egg reissues (or ANY archive releases, for that matter), an updated video collection on blu-ray, some physical spatial audio mixes, Dub Sandwich… But you have to admit that even if it wasn’t at the top of anyone’s ‘wants list’, the recently issued 7″ Singles box set is audacious and amazing. It’s hard to think of any music box set that covers more than a 50-year period and surely only McCartney has the back catalogue, the will and perhaps the means to deliver what, on paper, sounds like a crazy idea – 80 singles in one box. Putting all the 45s in a little wooden crate is pure McCartney (pun intended) and is reminiscent of his idea to put the Fireman Electric Arguments super deluxe in a big metal box (a late suggestion which led to six months of delays). The packaging wow factor – with the red straps and metal clasps – really does make a lot of difference and of course this was a proper limited edition. Yes, 3000 units was much higher than the 333 copies of the Third Man Records’ McCartney III vinyl, but then this set was over £600 and not $65. It’s all been done properly with a great book, the bonus white label and of course 159 tracks via 80 physical singles. You have to wonder if McCartney will bother to issue any more singles, if only not to date this package which contains virtually everything. Immense.
Watch the SDEtv unboxing video of The 7″ Singles
With Ultravox’s Vienna 5CD+DVD box set Chrysalis really hit the sweet spot, delivering virtually everything you could possibly want – original version of the album, Steven Wilson stereo and 5.1 mixes, B-sides & remixes, unheard cassette rehearsals and a live concert performance – all for around the £50 mark. So it’s no surprise to see that the same approach was adopted for 1981’s Rage in Eden, which was reissued this year. As well as having similar content, the large format presentation was consistent with what had come before and vinyl fans weren’t ignored and got treated to a 4LP set which offered much of the same bonus content. There was even a picture disc edition and an RSD special with instrumentals. If Carlsberg did reissues….
Read the SDE interview with Midge Ure as he discusses Rage in Eden
