...Roundup...

Recently I spent some time with a few quality reissues... seems in the past year a load of stuff came out that were already personal favorites and a classy reissue was sorely needed!! Here are a few thoughts...



Jade Stone and Luv
maybe my favorite of this batch, gets the full treatment it deserves from Subliminal Sounds. really an untoppable LP the more lounge/rhinestone/weird stuff that I hear. this is just miles beyond the rest as far as charisma, creativity, wildness, and fun are concerned. on my old copy of this I would always get sad when 'reality' came on because it meant the voyage was over, but now you are treated to a KILLER track from a rare 45. i mean rally good. great inner sleeve interview with Jade, which if you had any doubts about how real this one is/was, sends them flying out the window. Mr. Stone lived it! sounds great, feels great... get one before they're all gone!!!


Peter Grudzien
another massive all time knock down the walls favorite of mine was released by Subliminal Sounds this year... cool thing is, the reissue is a double LP!! the Grudz's 2nd LP is included in this package and man, you do not want to miss this. "The Garden of Love" may be even further out than "the Unicorn" and well, fans of the seminal gay psychedelic masterpiece know just what that really means. I wouldn't rate one above the other, they're both totally unique and totally excellent. grab this before it gets tucked away into every crowded sanctuary this side of Paducah...

Rayne
i don't know if these are still kicking around, as the Shadoks label releases tend to get grabbed pretty quickly, but suffice it to say they did a really good job, and usual complaints about off sound quality from the label are not in evidence here. great insert with the band's story, and if you haven't heard this one yet in this lifetime, well, you're in for a treat. my favorite rural outlaw thrash ever.


Patron Saints
a very early favorite of mine as i began smelling the flowering buds of home-town american psychedelia... so i was very excited to hear its availability now in a beautiful reissue from the Time-Lag label. some say this issue loses a bit of atmosphere, as it draws from the master tapes and not the more compressed sounding original vinyl issue, and while i hear the difference, i think you can still love this one even if it sounds a little more 3-d... the songs are still gorgeous and the original cover art is lovingly reproduced with a lyric insert and a bonus 7" which has material as good as any song off the LP. i say GO GET ONE!


Raven
i was so pumped to see this one back on the shelves, and re-released by the man himself!! presented in a new cover(mr. R looking ready to take heads - look out J. Winter!), for a minute i feared a 21st century re-mix or some other infringement on the original Ohio basement biker blowout, but thankfully it is still as raw as ever and remains a fabulous slice of smacked out 70s dementia. on a musical level this has gotta be the single greatest biker private rock LP... if you find the right guy on ebay Raven will sign it for you! yow!


Mayo Thompson
love, love, love this record to death, and always kinda dreaded 200+ going prices for an original. this was a perfect solution to that problem... one of my all time favorite weirdo ssw/folk/??? records, and justly so it is just really hard to put into words what is going on here. Drag City just put this out with a bonus 7" that is also killer. a special one for the right ears... don't miss.


Bobb Trimble
a very anxiously awaited reissue of both of Bobb's lofty 80s mindbenders was found to be a cup half empty by those who had been reared on original copies of these masterpieces. complaints about tinkering with the sound and production circulated and while they do sound way too cleaned up, i would have to argue for the accessibility of these to ALOT of new ears. Secretly Canadian (a major indie label with wide distribution) put them out, Bobb is getting a nice cut of the loot, so ya know what? i can dig it... bonus: is the super cool first time issue of color jackets for these. check it out!

otherwise...
excited for the Farquhar repro on Shadoks to hit my doorstep, and the summer ought to bring several other long awaited things to greet the public domain, so stay tuned!! as a last note here, i currently have some titles on eBay that may interest readers of this site... folk/lounge/psych, etc. you can check them out here. i also have a bunch of things in the pipe for posting here. i will try to get to a few things up here before i drift out again... best, CG