Best New Tracks

Best New Reissues

Reckoning [Deluxe Edition]

R.E.M.
Reckoning [Deluxe Edition]

[Universal / A&M / IRS; 2009]

10.0
 

Find it at: Insound | eMusic | Lala

The "Deluxe" reissue of the R.E.M.'s debut full-length, Murmur, was revelatory, breathing astonishing new life into a 25-five-year-old album. Greg Calbi's expert remastering job brought forward previously unheard detail and force. This newfound clarity lifted the sonic veil on an album made by record nerds who understood the common ground between the Soft Boys, Gang of Four, and the Velvet Underground. Reckoning couples the energy of Murmur with the experience of a group that has spent a few years touring and recording, documenting that crucial moment when a band's ideas and ambitions are overtaken by the unique chemistry of its players. This remastered edition augments the album with a disc containing a 1984 live show.

Hot Buttered Soul

Isaac Hayes
Hot Buttered Soul

[Stax; 2009]

9.2
 

Find it at: Insound | eMusic | Lala

Isaac Hayes' 1969 album stood as a newer, funkier phase of Southern soul, but it hinged on a sound more opulent than the most sharp-suited Motown crossover bid. It's an exercise in melodrama and indulgence that lays it on so heavy it's impossible not to hear it as anything but the stone truth. And it's an album whose edited-down singles-- both of which went top 40 pop-- sounded more like trailers for the real thing. Songs like "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", all 18-plus sprawling minutes of it, turn the idea of a slow build into something monumental.

Foxbase Alpha / Continental

Saint Etienne
Foxbase Alpha / Continental

[Heavenly; 2009]

8.7 / 7.6
 

Find it at: Insound | eMusic | Lala

The 1991 debut album from the venerable UK group has been reissued with a disc of bonus material. Foxbase Alpha squeezes so many "lighter side of" sounds-- be they from the worlds of rock, dance, soul-- into one LP that it's a marvel it sounds so unified, mostly owing to the group fixing on the platonic house rhythm as the glue to hold their disparate passions together. And if Foxbase itself represents one of the 90s more successful (and unexpected) fusions, the reissue's second disc of bonus tracks is more like exploratory lab work.

The Singles, Vol. 7: 1970-1972

James Brown
The Singles, Vol. 7: 1970-1972

[Hip-O Select; 2009]

8.6
 

Find it at: Insound | eMusic | Lala

On March 9, 1970, James Brown's band blew up, and it was arguably the best thing that ever happened to him. Hours before a show in Columbus, Georgia, they threatened to quit unless they got better pay and better treatment; Soul Brother #1 fired them and flew in the Pacemakers, a bunch of teenagers from Cincinnati who knew his songs as well as any other funk band in those days. Having mostly abandoned songs-as-we-know-them, Brown's new band subjugated everything to the groove. The string of classic singles that band recorded are all included here, beginning with "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine".

Funcrusher Plus

Company Flow
Funcrusher Plus

[Definitive Jux; 2009]

9.0
 

Find it at: Insound | eMusic | Lala

Company Flow had an important role as one of the last crucial bridges between the East Coast hardcore battle rap of the 1990s and the deep-end abstraction that was to follow in the transition from underground hip-hop to "indie rap". It's the kind of rap that was out-there enough to be aggressively polarizing, yet true enough to the game that no less a classicist than DJ Premier co-signed it. Their lone full-length, 1997's Funcrusher Plus, serves as a valuable reminder of how advanced El-P, Bigg Jus, and DJ Mr. Len were at the time and how well their take on hip-hop holds up now.

From Her to Eternity / The First Born Is Dead / Kicking Against the Pricks / Your Funeral... My Trial

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
From Her to Eternity / The First Born Is Dead / Kicking Against the Pricks / Your Funeral... My Trial

[Mute; 2009]

7.3 / 7.0 / 8.2 / 9.5
 

Find it at: Insound | eMusic | Lala

Thirty years into his performing career, Cave's critical stock has arguably never been higher, following the one-two punch of 2007's Grinderman one-off and last year's Bad Seeds return Dig!!! Lazarus, Dig!!! But these expanded reissues of his first four albums explain how he got here. The real keeper is 1986's Your Funeral... My Trial, which showcases Cave and the Bad Seeds' various modes and models with peak-form precision, building up from the elegantly wasted reveries, creepy cabaret set pieces, and exquisite murder balladry of the album's first act before erupting into the show-stopping, whip-cracking surges  of the second.

Enter the Vaselines

The Vaselines
Enter the Vaselines

[Sub Pop; 2009]

8.0
 

Find it at: Insound | eMusic | Lala

In 1992, at the urging of ardent admirer Kurt Cobain, Sub Pop released The Way of the Vaselines, a compilation of the short-lived and then-little-known band's extant recordings (a whopping 19 tracks). Originally slotted neatly into the mid-to-late 80s Scottish shambolic pop underground of the Pastels, Shop Assistants, and BMX Bandits, the Vaselines career was a lark, and many of their songs were written for a laugh by horny but essentially pretty wholesome kids with time on their hands. This new 2xCD set of remastered originals and extras gives listeners an opportunity to reevaluate the band on its own terms.

Broken Record Prayers

Comet Gain
Broken Record Prayers

[What's Your Rupture?; 2009]

8.2
 

Find it at: Insound | eMusic | Lala

Although UK's Comet Gain have been around for years, they've never made major waves outside the DIY indie community. Even so, they've gained a fierce following of music lovers who seem to share their passion for Orange Juice, Anna Karina, old typewriters, George Orwell, Dexys Midnight Runners, and, above all else, vinyl. This 20-song collection, featuring disparate songs that flow together with bright, energetic fluency, provides a timely and carefully filtered introduction to the band's discography.

Black Monk Time / The Early Years (1964-1965)

The Monks
Black Monk Time / The Early Years (1964-1965)

[Polydor / Light in the Attic; 1966/2009 / Light in the Attic; 2009]

9.2 / 7.5
 

Find it at: Insound | eMusic | Lala

 

Light in the Attic keeps up its winning streak, reissuing one of the most underrated albums of the 1960s, as well as rate work from the uncompromising Monks. [Joe Tangari]

 

Let's Stay Together / I'm Still In Love With You / Greatest Hits

Al Green
Let's Stay Together / I'm Still In Love With You / Greatest Hits

[Fat Possum / Hi; 1972/2009 / Fat Possum / Hi; 1975/2009]

8.7 / 9.4 / 9.7
 

Find it at: Insound | eMusic | Lala

Fat Possum reissues three records from Al Green's legendary Hi catalogue, two of which now stand as stone classics of 1970s soul.

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