STE's Best Reissues of 2023
Neil Young, the Replacements and the Who are here plus a complete overview of Nick Lowe's early band Brinsley Schwarz, scene overviews from Ace Records, an unreleased Rick Springfield album from 1974
The year in old music (or Dig the Old Breed)
Same caveats apply to my list of favorite/best reissue/archival releases of 2023 as they do to my list of favorite/best albums of 2023: I try to keep up the best I can but things slip under my radar . This is a snapshot of the titles that made the biggest (positive) impression on me in the past year.
I may be predisposed to favor music, scenes and imprints that are new discoveries to me but I have my limits. I don't cherish rarities for rarity's sake—I have an extremely limited appetite for revivals of private press obscurities. I'd rather hear truly excavated gems, like the Stax songwriter demos, or have a various artists compilation tell a story, which is something Ace Records does extremely well.
That said, I do like having official releases of long-bootlegged material, such as Neil Young's Chrome Dreams and the Who finally offering their own version of Lifehouse.
Lavish packaging is nice, even irresistible, but it doesn't trump the actual music.
I will not deny that my number one pick is certainly a sentimental one—I love the band, I'm thrilled to have them be the subject of an exhaustive retrospective—but it's also a title that illustrates how there is a need for physical reissues. Streaming services aren't a repository for all of musical history. Brinsley Schwarz is available on streaming services but their basic catalog is only represented by only one (admittedly excellent) comp; the majority of the titles are recently-released archival material that's primarily of interest to hardcore fans. Plenty of other notable bands, such as the Move, are suffering from similar fates where some—but by no means all—of their great material is on streaming. It's just enough to offer a hint of their greatness but not enough to convey all the idiosyncrasies that make the music endure.
In other words, don't rely on streaming as your main outlet for listening. Go exploring and have some fun.
Best Reissues of 2023
Brinsley Schwarz—Thinking Back: The Anthology 1970-1975
The kings of Britain's pub rock scene of the early 1970s, Brinsley Schwarz were such a dynamic live act that Elvis Costello followed them around like a Deadhead, eventually befriending the group's singer/bassist Nick Lowe. Costello would soon cover and popularize Lowe's "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding," a song that the Brinsleys cut on their last album, 1974's The New Favourites of Brinsley Schwarz—a record produced by Dave Edmunds, who would become Lowe's partner in Rockpile just a few years later. "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding" functions a bit as a fulcrum for Brinsley Schwarz, camouflaging hippie sentimentality in a sterling pop melody. Lowe, his fellow songwriter Ian Gomm and the rest of the Brinsleys were indeed shaggy hippies—onetime mods infatuated with the bombast of early Yes who had their minds blown by the country charms of the Band and Crosby, Stills & Nash. Initially, they couldn't quite get a grasp on their fondness for folky harmonies. Brinsley Schwarz and Despite It All, both released in 1970 in the midst of a massive promotional push by manager Dave Robinson who was testing out gonzo ideas he'd later perfect at Stiff Records, are earnest and occasionally endearingly embarrassing. By Silver Pistol, their woodshedding is paying off: they're tighter as a band and as songwriters, with Lowe showing the influence of the maverick troubadour Jim Ford on "The Last Time I Was Fooled." Nervous on the Road is where Brinsley Schwarz pulls it all together, blending funky soul, rock & roll rave-ups and sincere folk-rock with a pop punch and impish sense of humor. From that point on, the Brinsleys are loose, funny and lively, a group that could ramble through Chris Kenner's New Orleans R&B classic "I Like It LIke That" with a woozy grin and turn Tommy Roe's frothy oldie "Everybody" into a stomping glam rocker. By pairing the albums—including the unreleased It's All Over Now, which features Lowe's first stab at "Cruel to Be Kind;" this is the lone Brinsleys album on streaming services—with outtakes, live cuts and one-off singles released under pseudonyms, Thinking Back: The Anthology 1970-1975 shows how music that lays in the margin can be instrumental in capturing the character and spirit of a band.
Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night: Brooklyn Disco 1974-5
Neil Young—Chrome Dreams
The Who—Who's Next/Lifehouse
The Memphis Blues Box: Original Recordings First Released on 78's and 45's 1914-1969
One of those massive doorstep box sets from Bear Family that increasingly seems like a relic from the past, this 20-CD chronology of Memphis Blues from jug bands to funk-blues shows the value of this exhaustive format: it's instructive but also a blast.
Little Feat—Dixie Chicken [Expanded]/Sailin' Shoes [Expanded]
Jon Savage's 1980-1982: The Art of Things to Come
Soul'D Out: The Complete Wattstax Collection
The Ducks—High Flyin'
One of the legendary unreleased Neil Young projects, the Ducks were literally a bar band. Teaming up with Moby Grape's Bob Mosley, Neil led the Ducks through a series of Santa Cruz clubs in the summer of 1977, playing some of his songs, some of Molsley's, and a bunch of covers to boot. High Flyin' is the first time the Ducks have had an album to their name and, in a sense, it is easy to see why: this is a lark, something that made sense for a few nights many years ago. Its very throwaway nature makes it delightful: it's a low-stakes good time.
Charles Mingus—Changes: The Complete 1970s Atlantic Studio Recordings
The Replacements—Tim (Let it Bleed Edition)
Written in Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos
John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy—Evenings at the Village Gate
Sonic Youth—Live in Brooklyn 2011
Rick Springfield—Springfield
An unreleased album from 1974 that finds Rick Springfield attempting to navigate a lane separating bubblegum glam and AOR rock—a savvy, ultimately unmarketable hybrid that has more than its share of period charms. My Allmusic review. https://www.allmusic.com/album/springfield-mw0003957056
Elvis Costello & Burt Bacharach—The Songs of Bacharach & Costello
Grateful Dead—Wake of the Flood [50th Anniversary]
Crabby Appleton—Go Back: The Anthology
In the Light of Time: UK Post-Rock and Leftfield Pop 1992-1998
The Spinners—Complete Atlantic Singles: The Thom Bell Productions 1971-1979
Vince Guaraldi—A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
It's little wonder that the soundtrack to 1973's A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving has never appeared as an album until now: take out all the reprises, bonus mixes and alternate takes, you have just 19 minutes of music. That's enough for an EP and it's also enough to show that Vince Guaraldi was cannily adapting with the times, incorporating electric pianos and lightly funky swing, a combination that makes A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving seem considerably less austere and melancholy than A Charlie Brown Christmas.
Prince—Diamonds & Pearls [Super Deluxe Edition]
John Lee Hooker—Burnin'
The White Stripes—Elephant XX
The Beatles—1962-1966/1967-1970 [Expanded]
Pink Floyd—The Dark Side of the Moon: Live at Wembley 1974
PJ Harvey—B-Sides, Demos & Rarities
Alice Cooper—School's Out/Killer
Joni Mitchell—Archives, Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975)
Elvis Presley—Aloha from Hawaii
Sonny Rollins—Go West! The Contemporary Records Albums
London A to Z
Sandy Posey—Born a Woman: The Complete MGM Recordings
Fleetwood Mac—Rumours Live
Devo—50 Years of De-Evolution
Autonomy—The Productions of Martin Rushent
REM—Up [25th Anniversary]
Talking Heads—Stop Making Sense [40th Anniversary]
Dollar Bill Y'All: Spring Records and the First Decade of Hip-Hop
Syd Barrett—The Solo Works of Syd Barrett
Tom Waits—The Island Years [Vinyl Reissue Series]
Folk, Funk & Beyond—The Arrangements of John Cameron
Steely Dan—Vinyl Reissue Series
Nirvana—In Utero [30th Anniversary]
Pharoah Sanders—Pharoah
Acetone—I'm Still Waiting
She's Got the Power! Female Power Pop, Punk & Garage
The Breeders—Last Splash: 30th Anniversary Original Analog Edition
Loma Northern Soul
Drive-By Truckers—The Complete Dirty South
Bob Dylan—The Complete Budokan 1978
Neil Young—Official Release Series, Vol. 5
A Way to Make a Living—The Dolly Parton Songbook
Stevie Nicks—Complete Studio Albums and Rarities
Bob Dylan—The Bootleg Series, Vol. 17: Fragments—Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996-1997)
