Public Enemy deluxe reissues

I was excited by this post, as I had been waiting for releases like this for years. These are brilliant albums (Nation of Millions is rightfully cited as not only the greatest hip-hop album of all time but one of the best albums of all time).
I have some of their 12″ singles from this period and these are brilliant also – great to see them get a digital release. The No Noise version of Bring The Noise is even better than the album version. The remix of Brothers Gonna Work It Out is a great companion to the album version, with extra verses. The Anti-High Blood Pressure Encounter Mixx of Night Of The Living Baseheads far exceeds the album version, which is over too quickly in comparison – the remix makes it even more epic. SDE readers rightly discuss how crucial the 12″ single and 12″ extended remixes were to pop, electronic and alternative music in the 80s and early 90s – this was also very true of hip-hop. In comparison, not many classic hip-hop albums have had the deluxe edition treatment and many hip-hop 12″ remixes have not had a digital release. I’m very grateful for these 2 albums getting the deluxe edition treatment and including these 12″ versions, which feature some absolute gems.
About the only quibbles I have with these is the duplication of the soundtrack version of Fight The Power on the Black Planet CD reissue, when it is also on the Nation of Millions CD reissue. If this was removed from disc 2 of Black Planet, it could have allowed for the 6:45 12″ Extended Version of Fight The Power to go on instead (this version doesn’t feature here). Another omission is the uncensored version of Get The F**k Outta Dodge, which appeared on the 12″ of Can’t Do Nuttin’ For Ya Man (the instrumental of Revolutionary Generation could have made way for this). Also, the radio version of Terminator X To The Edge Of Panic from the Baseheads 12″ would have fitted on disc 2 of Nation Of Millions, as well as Sophisticated (a radio-friendly version of Sophisticated Bitch – a track from their debut Yo! Bum Rush The Show) which appeared on the 12″ of Bring The Noise (at least the one I’ve got, which is a split 12″ with LL Cool J’s Going Back To Cali and Jack The Ripper). But I’m a happy customer.
There’s probably not as much extra material for Yo! Bum Rush The Show and their 4th album Apocalypse 91 to get the 2CD treatment. However, a 2nd CD for Bum Rush could include Sophisticated, the demo version of Public Enemy No 1 (which I read about in a PE article in Mojo, which seemed very tantalising) and the London gig which had snippets used on Nation of Millions. Apocalypse Now might only be able to be propped up by the Pete Rock remix of Shut ‘Em Down and instrumental versions of Move and Can’t Truss It.
These are extremely exciting, important and critically acclaimed albums – it’s odd to me that this post has attracted far less comments than releases by the likes of Thompson Twins and Alphaville – but I’m pleased SDE isn’t a hip-hop free zone.
Surely the first 4 De La Soul abouts should get the 2CD reissue treatment, too – they also had incredible 12″ maxi-singles.

I’m in anticipation of the Fear of a Black Planet release, but got the It Takes… edition delivered last week. I can tell you that the Fight the Power Live DVD isn’t the complete VHS version. A couple of minutes have been cut, which include for certain (not sure if it’s the only edit that was made) the part of the intro to the show were Professor Griff and the S1W’s are hyping the crowd over Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock’s It Takes Two beat. This has probably something to do with copyright issues, but I am bummed about this. For me it was an integral part of the first introductionarial minutes of the tape and still remember the goose bumps it gave me when watching it for the first time 25 years ago (and many more times since).

Excellent news. Looks like a couple of fairly comprehensive bonus discs with the CDs. Good to see ‘Fight the power’ live on DVD as well.

Seemed expensive when they were first announced, but they’ve settled to reasonable prices.

Would have been nice to see a vinyl reissue of ‘It takes a nation’ as well on double vinyl as in 2005, which tends to be pricy on the second hand market, there’s a lot of music to fit on a single disc so is a quiet pressing. Would have also been nice to see ‘Fear of a black planet’ reissued on triple vinyl, as it was on a tour promo many moons ago.

Minor quibbles aside, I’m looking forward to these a lot, along with the Stereo MCs box set.