Astralwerks Goes Reissue Crazy
Captain Beefheart, Simple Minds, Future Sound of London, Heaven 17

Artists caught in the crossfire of this comp and remix spree: The Future Sound of London, Simple Minds, Heaven 17, and, duh, Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band.

The Future Sound of London's Teachings from the Electronic Brain is a best-of collection that borrows tracks from the British electronic duo's six albums: Accelerator, Lifeforms, ISDN, Dead Cities, The Isness and the Otherness, and Tales of Ephidrina (the latter of which was recorded under the alias Amorphous Androgynous). The album includes the track "Lifeforms", featuring Cocteau Twins lead vocalist Elizabeth Fraser, as well as the groundbreaking 30-minute single "Cascade", which, despite its 30-minute-ness, reached the Top 30 in the UK.

Teachings:

01 Papua New Guinea (12" version)
02 Max (Dead Cities)
03 Everyone in the World Is Doing Something Without Me (Dead Cities)
04 My Kingdom (Dead Cities)
05 Smokin' Japanese Babe (ISDN)
06 Antique Toy (Dead Cities)
07 Lifeforms (Radio Edit)
08 Yage (Dead Cities)
09 Expander (12" version)
10 Glass (Dead Cities)
11 Far-Out Son of Lung and Ramblings of a Madman (ISDN)
12 The Lover (The Isness and the Otherness)
13 Mountain Goat (Amorphous Androgynous - Tales of Ephidrina)
14 Cascade (Shortform)
15 We Have Explosive (7" edit)

Meanwhile, Simple Minds want to make sure you don't forget about them (don't don't don't don't) with a compilation titled Early Gold. No, the album does not contain that memorable Breakfast Club track "Don't You (Forget About Me)" (which, according to a press release, the band completely hated, calling it "inane"); instead it culls from the group's earlier, more experimental albums: Life in a Day, Reel to Real Cacophony, Empires and Dance, Sons and Fascination, and New Gold Dream. Simple Minds handpicked fifteen tracks to demonstrate the alchemy of that earlier period.

Early Gold:

01 Life in a Day
02 Chelsea Girl
03 Changeling
04 Factory
05 Premonition
06 I Travel
07 Celebrate
08 Thirty Frames a Second
09 The American
10 Love Song
11 Sweat in Bullet
12 Promised You a Miracle
13 Glittering Prize
14 Someone Somewhere in Summertime
15 New Gold Dream 81-82-83-84

Heaven 17, the British synth pop band featuring members of Human League, receives reissue treatment when Astralwerks releases three of their early 80s albums: Penthouse and Pavement, The Luxury Gap, and How Men Are. Penthouse features the classic left-leaning dance track (and debut single) "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thing," which reflects the mood of much of Heaven 17's material: danceable, pop/funk-infused, and anti-consumerist. Each disc contains four or five bonus tracks.

Penthouse and Pavement:

01 (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thing
02 Penthouse and Pavement
03 Play to Win
04 Soul Warfare
05 Geisha Boys and Temple Girls
06 Let's All Make a Bomb
07 The Height of the Fighting
08 Song With No Name
09 We're Going to Live for a Very Long Time
10 Groove Thang
11 Are Everything (12" version)
12 I'm Your Money (12" version)
13 Decline of the West
14 Honeymoon in New York

The Luxury Gap:

01 Crushed by the Wheels of Industry
02 Who'll Stop the Rain
03 Let Me Go
04 Key to the World
05 Temptation
06 Come Live With Me
07 Lady Ice and Mr. Hex
08 We Live So Fast
09 The Best Kept Secret
10 Let Me Go
11 Who'll Stop the Rain
12 Crushed by the Wheels of Industry (Part 1 & 2)
13 Come Live With Me (12" inversion)

How Men Are:

01 Five Minutes to Midnight
02 Sunset Now
04 The Fuse
05 Shame Is on the Rocks
06 The Skin I'm In
07 Flamedown
08 Reputation
09 And That's No Lie
10 This Is Mine (Cinemix)
11 And That's No Lie (Remix)
12 Counterforce 2
13 Sunset Now (Extended)

Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band recapture their surrealistic mix of rock 'n' roll and rhythm 'n' blues with a reissue of 1980's Doc at the Radar Station and 1982's Ice Cream for Crow. The former is widely considered to be a highlight of latter-day Beefheart, while Ice Cream for Crow-- the band's swansong-- highlights his signature improvisational sing-talking (er, wheezing) that has inspired everyone from Tom Waits and PJ Harvey.

This CD reissue includes the rare track "Light Reflected off the Oceans of the Moon", a B-side to the 12" single for "Ice Cream for Crow", which was issued in hopes of getting club play. Ha!

Doc at the Radar Station:

01 Hot Head
02 Ashtray Heart
03 A Carrot Is as Close as a Rabbit Gets to a Diamond
04 Run Paint Run Run
05 Sue Egypt
06 Brickbats
07 Dirty Batch Yet
08 Best Batch Yet
09 Telephone
10 Flavor Bud Living
11 Sheriff of Hong Kong
12 Making Love to a Vampire with a Monkey on My Knee

Ice Cream for Crow:

01 Ice Cream for Crow
02 The Host the Ghost the Most Holy-o
03 Semi-Mutlticoloured Caucasian
04 Hey Garland, I Dig Your Tweed Coat
05 Evening Bell
06 Cardboard Cutout Sundown
07 The Past Sure Is Tense
08 Ink Mathematics
09 The Witch Doctor Life
10 '81' Poop Hatch
11 The Thousandth and Tenth Day of the Human Totem Pole Skeleton Makes Good
13 Light Reflected off the Oceans of the Moon