16 Lovers Lane arguably even shades the triumphant Liberty Belle… when it comes to defining the Go-Betweens apogee. The extras, meanwhile, are both plentiful and tantalising.

The main draw here is the first release of three songs with myth-like status among the infatuated. ... There are a series of rough demos and what sounds like soundboard recordings of various sections of Paranoid Android in the first flushes of development (magnificently wigged-out, whirling dervish-style organ solo, come on down!) and a bare-bones take on Airbag, again featuring embryonic lyrics.

The Ramones unwittingly started one of the biggest upheavals music will ever see. Finally we get to find out why, in the most well-realised form yet. It’s heartbreaking that none of the original band are here to see it.

The mix is a massive improvement on the stereo that we’re used to--there’s so much more presence here from the off. For an album you know to feel somehow fresh, that’s quite an achievement. Purists may balk at some of the perceived liberties Giles Martin has taken (splitting and panning drum parts or backing vocals for starters), but he’s by no means claiming this is the definitive version of the album, and has clearly acted in the interests of the material.

That Bad Reputation deep cut – as well as five better-known extras including a spine-tingling Still In Love With You not heard before – reminds us we are in what was, for so long, uncharted territory. ... Live and definitive!

It’s an all-killer-no-filler collection that sees the band benefiting from a bedded-in Mick Taylor’s influence and the colossal confidence that being...

An abundance of never previously heard material casts fresh light on these initial efforts, revealing ideas and arrangements in gestation as Drake experiments with tempo shifts and subtle melodic variations. .... This wonderful compendium is akin to eavesdropping on that magic being born. [Jul 2025, p.97]

As the original album did for Prince’s artistic progression, so this super deluxe edition does for the posthumous reissue series: refine a vision, making good on all the promises of the past while pointing to a future full of possibilities. Whatever expanded edition comes next, if it builds on this it cannot fail.

Doolittle 25 fleshes out the original album with a disc of B-sides and contemporaneous Peel Sessions, plus a disc of demos (both of which are also available as a double-LP on gravid 180g vinyl), and armfuls of the aforementioned demos receive their first official release herein.

The nine studio rarities and 16 live tracks add light to the story. .... The live recordings from Los Angeles Sports Arena in April 1975 are a revelation. .... Wish You were Here 50, riding the gravy train or not, really does have plenty to delight. [Christmas 2025, p.120]

While this release fails to be definitive, at least it’s a start for a discography that had been long neglected by its creator.

The demos and live tracks will be intrigue enough--while the as-yet unconvinced may be surprised to find an album that remains relevant; as resonant, daring and evocative as it ever was.

What remains is a tightly-focused snapshot of an intensely creative period in Prince’s career: perhaps the most generous single-album box set of all time, for an album that itself just keeps giving.

The re-ordered track list reflects what had been noted in the MPL archive. At first it may seem like another money grab, before steadily, something rather beautiful emerges.

It’s one of those evocative retrospectives whose true worth exceeds monetary value. ... American Dreamer spotlights an uncompromising visionary who created music on her own terms and paved the way for Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush and Tori Amos and many more of today’s female singer-songwriters.

The whole thing works beautifully and, if you shop carefully, you will end up with superb value for money and a repackaging of a great album that for once isn’t stuffed with redundance.

It’s powerful stuff, still wholly worthy of “10 fucking stars”.

The new exclusive material for this Late Night Tales is quite superb; the cover of I’m Not In Love by Song Sung; Holmes & Steve Jones’ The Reiki Healer From County Down shows why he’s in such demand as a film composer. Best of all is the most amazing tribute by writer BP Fallon to the late guitar legend Henry McCullough.

The Velvet Underground features some of Reed’s strongest work; few will need reminders of the melancholy bliss of Candy Says and Pale Blue Eyes.... The two discs of different mixes of the record here (including the legendary mono “Closet mix” from the original pressing) are refreshing reminders of the quality of an album that’s often underrated in comparison to its predecessors.

Hardcore fans will own it all already, and newcomers will find it too daunting.

The album proper finds an omnipotent Led Zep still within hailing distance of the top of their game.

Its return is to be celebrated, not just for the bonus disc of a previously unavailable live show, but because it illustrates the formation of a blueprint (tough country-rock, literate confessional lyrics) that would serve Williams well for the next quarter century.

The Early Years 1965-1972 is the sonic equivalent to background reading and extensive footnotes for their remarkable body of recorded work.

Across the years, the album has often been discussed in terms of its proto-Britpop ‘moment’. But it holds up superbly freed from that context as a deeply distinct and thrillingly flash statement of what Suede do, creating its own world while doing practically everything it can to grab the attention.

Unprecedented in 1968 and unparalleled still, Electric Ladyland has bequeathed us no end of spoils. A fine celebration of Hendrix’s most kaleidoscopically-realised endeavour, this 50th anniversary set even restores his originally intended cover photo. Dig.

It can only tower when it comes to naming this decade’s great albums; miles above and light years ahead of anything else.

A impressively remastered album (including a new mix in the audiophile-friendly Dolby Atmos format), a decent live set. .... Remember REM any way you want, but Automatic For The People is a good if ultimately maudlin one.

The Super Deluxe edition of Vol 4 supplements a crisp remaster of the original album with extra discs containing alternative takes and revelatory studio outtakes (“What’s it called?” “Bollocks”), plus an entire set’s worth of live tracks from their March 1973 UK tour, a poster and a booklet so hefty you could tether a bull to it.

Of wider interest will be the small handful of demos (although they're hardly revelatory) and a full live show from the subsequent tour. It's here the songs seem less confined, more direct and powerful. .... Lamb... remains an album that relishes its ability to surprise. [Nov 2025, p.99]

Historically The Who Sell Out hasn’t always been given the serious critical attention afforded its successors Tommy, Who’s Next and Quadrophenia. Yet, it’s just as significant a touchstone in the Who canon, a pointer to, in particular, Townshend’s desire for the band to test both themselves and their audience. It makes this extensive and richly textured ultimate edition a “ragbag” worth rooting through.

The bonus disc corrals the single Pool Hall Richard and the jokey trumpet version of I Wish It Would Rain. Faces didn’t outstay their welcome and never took themselves that seriously.

Late in the year, it’s the most all-round glorious reissue of 2024. [Jan 2025, p.90]

DAMN. sees the rapper make a 180 degree turn from the sprawling jazz/funk/hip-hop odyssey of TPAB to deliver 14 taut, tough and wise cutting-edge examples of what’s possible in hip-hop today. ... Essential stuff.

(The CSNY versions of Young’s Sea Of Madness and Everybody’s Alone would’ve been nice for starters), but there’s still a huge amount here for fans. The demos include some absolute stunners: Young and Nash’s wonderfully languid take on the former’s Birds; a delicate and heady solo version of Crosby’s Laughing; and Nash’s reflective solo rendition of Sleep Song. The outtakes, meanwhile, reveal just how much control Stills took in the studio, with enough material here for a fine standalone solo album of gutsy, soul-steeped jams.

There's a lot to digest here. .... Tracks II is a formidable testament. [Aug 2025, p.97]

Exhaustive and impressively curated. .... The "fundamentals" are a bit like Get Back without the laughs, exras surely reserved for the fanatics. Patience may lead to moments of revelation for intrepid listeners, though on the whole, these experiments demystify the process of songwriting itself. [Feb 2025, p.95]

This collection is called Smash for a very good reason.

Packaged with some afterthe-event boisterousness courtesy of Neil McCormick’s sleevenotes and a sprinkling of mythologising, Definitely Maybe remains classic enough.

As you’d expect, plucking the most successful songs from their respective albums and reconfiguring them has both an impressive cumulative effect and sets them in a new context. But fans will have all of this music already. The real interest comes with what else is in the package.

There’s enough previously unissued material, alongside superb liner notes, to make this entertaining collection a boon for Ra’s growing number of disciples.

It’s a sumptuous package of an excellent album that’s made even more essential by the gorgeous packaging of the very limited triple-vinyl edition.

It’s both beefier--practically punching you in the face in places--and more nuanced, the vocal harmonies, for instance (in many ways, GNR’s secret weapon--you don’t notice they’re there, until you do), coming into their own. Amping up its already formidable power, the new mix never loses the sense that this was the work of a bunch of scrappy upstarts, while reminding you just how well-constructed Appetite really was. That’s underscored by the bonus material.

It’s the beautifully resigned sound of a failed search for redemption.

The 1970-71 period was arguably The Who’s, and Pete Townshend’s, most creative, and its celebration is to be welcomed at – almost – any price.

This is a beautiful way to remember--and relive--their purity, their passion and their power.

It is simply one of the most beautiful records ever made and anyone who hasn’t experienced it needs to stop reading and do so immediately. But for those of us who have, while they have already heard the best possible version of No Other (as we tend to learn from all box sets of this ilk, the best version got released), in these newly-discovered versions there is much to learn about and love.

Through The Open Window has, by necessity, a limited aperture – those inclined to do so will argue passionately over the merits of this take or that performance, officially or unofficially sourced, in forums where such discussions can be a bloodsport – but it nonetheless offers an expansive view of the many sides of Bob Dylan. [Dec 2025, p.93]

Otis and his touring band rip it up and the excitable singer thrills, with what now reads like a greatest hits.

Emma Pollock’s fourth – and finest – solo set navigates studies of ageing, loss, relationships and her autism diagnosis, all with a nimble poeticism to counterpoint seemingly weighty material. [Nov 2025, p.105]

Nightclubbing still sounds like nothing else released during the 80s, though its colossal influence repeatedly reveals itself.

Imagine: The Ultimate Collection is a fascinating snapshot of an artist if not quite in his imperial phase, then certainly at his most searching. From the new stereo remix down to the outtakes and an audio documentary pieced together from candid interviews with friend and DJ Elliot Mintz, we’re offered an exhaustive look at Imagine from all angles.

Ultimately, it's the live tracks fans are likely to return to most often, ranging from intimate solo simplicity to the ferocity of Crazy Horse in full gallop. [Nov 2024, p.95]

Songs Of A Lost World is a straight-up, bona fide masterpiece. [Dec 2024, p.102]

Rewardingly, Cinema buries its snout deep into the trough to root out the goods.

Some of the best playing of his career. Essential listening. [Christmas 2024, p.121]

This set, which has been remastered from the original analogue tapes, features sleevenotes by the unmatched Amanda Petrusich, as well as an interview with Sinatra and unseen photos from her personal collection. It’s nothing less than her supreme career warrants. Here’s to the queen of danger-pop, and to Light In The Attic for getting the belated celebrations started.

This new edition adds a second disc of extended 12” mixes, on which his sonic daring truly takes flight.

Put together with love and care, it’s all a grand tribute and beautiful vindication for a once-despised band. Those witless saps who savaged them may be long forgotten but Motörhead are up with the greats. We’ll never see their like again.

What’s significant about this box set is that it illustrates the major phases of Miles’ career in a live context, charting his journey from hard bop--via modal jazz and free bop--to jazz-rock and avant-funk.

An alternate version of Young Americans named after it’s working title, The Gouster, is compiled here officially for the first time, and works an absolute treat as an album in its own right. ... Still, Bowie completists will own everything here.

Her artistry had never been so robust. As the earlier, more mournful In Concert version of Carey shows, Mitchell would dig deep in the studio to find a euphoric vocal that causes the song to soar. ... For Mitchell at this stage, then, nothing was ever truly a failure, but more an opportunity to take her art to new heights.

Across six albums in less than a decade, Richard and Linda Thompson may not have entirely rewritten the folk handbook but they left some intriguing scrawls in the margins. There’s even more to study in this long-in-the-making, elegantly packaged set, with the inclusion of 31 tracks never before offered up for public consumption.

The acid test for long-term fans is how good the two bonus discs are. They shouldn’t be disappointed.

It’s as strong a collection as any of his in recent times and tied together of course by that voice--deeply authoritative, unfathomably evocative and really quite irreplaceable.

Sabbath leant towards greater sophistication without losing their elemental bent. The super deluxe treatment introduces plenty of live material from the same year’s North American tour.

For the most part, however, [Bob Dylan's] contributions feel like a step down from the level of those of his former bandmates, emphasising just how far they had come.

There are fever-dream phases of Queen II which are as thrilling as anything made that dazzling decade. .... Its reissue is significant. [May 2026, p.97]

Hhe serves up striking versions of some of his most famous Riverside-era compositions, including Rhythm-A-Ning, and Well, You Needn’t. Also featured is the only known studio recording of Light Blue. The second disc in this 2CD package includes alternate takes and rehearsal versions and is accompanied by an informative 60-page booklet, including an essay by Monk’s biographer, Robin D G Kelley.

Packed with motifs and allusions to cinema, it’s also a subtle commentary on the singer’s stratospheric rise to superstardom, lyricist Bernie Taupin retrospectively suggesting disillusionment was a recurring theme.

Those lyrics [from previously unreleased demo, Tired Of My Life], slightly tweaked, would also make the final It’s No Game; that they date to this period of self-doubt and self-discovery and ended up bookending one of the greatest decade-long streaks in music is revelatory. Demos of Hunky Dory standouts have fewer surprises: written during a spate of fevered creativity in Haddon Hall, his boho Beckenham pile, everything is all but there, a few lyrical improvements aside.

A strong contender for album of the year. ... Titanic Rising is remarkable for its breadth, effortlessly shifting from the 90-second ambient wash of the title track to Picture Me Better’s homespun take on the cosmic cowboyisms of Kacey Musgraves. Then there are Merings’ lyrics, evincing a similar shift in scale and scope.

In flickers of keenly inquisitive intelligence and lambent beauty, Patterns In Repeat puts any fears about parenthood and artistry softly yet surely to bed. [Nov 2024, p.98]

It is an album, certainly, that carries the magic and surprise that belongs only to strange times, that belongs to this moment completely: a record of the way we saw the world, once, the way it sounded, the way it felt, as we all stood still and watched.

The Miracle Year pairs this [First Avenue club] show with other assorted tracks, most of which sound like a glorious, scratchy cassette bootleg, led by the galvanizing Celebrated Summer and Chartered Trips. [Dec 2025, p.91]

If you want a more detailed account of each album, you’ll have to check our Reissue Of The Month review in RC 335. Limited, expanded editions of Sly & The Family Stone’s first seven long-players, from 1967’s A Whole New Thing to 1974’s Small Talk, were reissued in 2007 and are now out of print. This box set sort of plugs that gap.

These 17 discs comprise every Island studio album, each with generous extras, plus standalone discs of genuine historical worth.

An enthralling spiritual jazz manifesto. [May 2024, p.93]

Their political agenda from this distance is not quaint, it remains entirely relevant.

Black Rainbows magnificently roars around garage rock, jazz and even, on Erasure, Black Flag hardcore. Better still, Before The Throne Of The Invisible God is a heavenly soul-psych masterpiece, equally Sly Stone, Prince and Billie Holliday. It’ll continue to uncover fresh layers of magic for years, while being enticing from the off.

What becomes apparent with them is that with The E Street Band backing him, Springsteen seemed incapable of writing a clunker. At this point they were on fire and could have turned just about anything into a grandstanding rave-up or stirring anthem, as required.

Blue Weekend isn’t a perfect record, with the folky No Hard Feelings and Safe From Heartbreak (If You’ve Never Been In Love) a little whimsical next to everything else going on. It matters little, though. Rowsell’s rallying cry in Smile that “I ain’t afraid of the fact that I’m sensitive” is borne out in a wild and tender third album.

At the very heart of Elitism…, however, are The Modern Dance and Dub Housing: the two extraordinary slabs of wax upon which Ubu’s reputation largely rests. The result of a brief liaison with major label Chrysalis, Dub Housing arguably enjoys the better production, but it’s on The Modern Dance that Ubu thrillingly realised their self-styled avant-garage sound.

At once nostalgic and forward thinking, mournful and celebratory, it’s a multihued album with a sharp intelligence. In what will be their final work--the band have announced they won’t continue without Phife--Tribe have retaken their throne as hip-hop’s greatest band.

He peppers the album with very evocative, specific references that often sound like childhood memories (“The man who taught me to swim couldn’t quite say my first name”), creating an intimacy that many of his previous records have lacked.

Finally, this disturbing masterwork’s moment in the sun. Phoebus be praised.

No Cities To Love is Sleater- Kinney’s most focused, accessible and often furious work.

Most of this collection, however, offers fleeting impressions rather than signed-off, finished portraits. .... For Broadcast’s true believers, this is an essential and edifying experience, casting its own spells.

Embryonic versions of …Summer Lawns cuts are especially revealing, rough clay immediately prior to moulding, while the live material plays up her strengths as an easy communicator of often obtuse ideas.

The inclusion here of iconic tracks such as the aforementioned Little Johnny Jewel and Richard Hell’s Blank Generation shows that their label was indeed instrumental in documenting the birth of NYC punk, but elsewhere Chris Stamey & The dB’s Big Star-esque power-pop and The Student Teachers’ quirky, synth-driven art-pop prove that Ork and Ball were equally comfortable promoting bands who had little truck with the three-chord revolution.

Her voice may sound a little deeper and more gravelly and her delivery might be punctuated with a few more breaths at times, but there's no denying her command and power. [Dec 2025, p.100]

To overly analyse the motives or intentions behind any of these revelatory tracks (87 in all) is to risk missing out on their more implicit, primal joys. This is Dylan at one with his domain; explorative, inventive, persuasive and, as is almost always the case, enigmatic.

While the music collected here has ultimately been Hooker’s ticket to prosperity, awards, and the good life, its real value is its cultural and historical significance. The music that he created 60 years ago, even today in the 21st century, remains an essential part of the DNA of rock music. It’s (yep) a veritable boogie wonderland.

This new remix of the album’s original 11 songs is subtle rather than headline-grabbing, thanks to the sympathetic diligence of triple Grammy-winner Paul Hicks, a longtime friend of the Harrison family. That’s borne out by the softly-softly handling of the previously unheard outtakes, polished for public consumption but never at the expense of their embryonic intimacy. [Christmas 2024, p.123]

They still throw molotovs at the tabloid milieu's toxic rhetoric, decisiveness and xenophobia. Yet the music is, generally, more pensive and poetic and, thus, more powerful. [May 2025, p.103]

A fluid, fully felt album of artfully crafted confessionals and catharsis. [Apr 2025, p.103]

The album’s immediacy is impossible to escape.

Kouyate has recorded more consistent albums than this but, as a statement of defiance, Jama Ko could be his most important work.

75 Dollar Bill are blending elements from the past to create a stunning future.