As the last two Friday’s 2006 dwindle away, so too do my annual December Year-End Lists. My efforts to this point have gone widely unnoticed (WHY, I ask!? What’s not to love about “Top Ten Deaths of the Year!!”), but I’m willing to venture a guess that if I focus the final two Fridays on music-related lists, more outside interest will be generated. I’ll dedicate today to my favorite re-issued records of the year, and next week will be the big top-50 countdown. Watch me now as I sell out to the masses.
I apologize in advance for typographical errors or bad grammar, I’m in a rush here.
OLIVE GARDEN PRESENTS
THE TOP TEN RE-ISSUES OF 2006
(EAT GREAT, LISTEN GREAT, BE GREAT)
Honorable Mention: Cluster – Cluster 71; Narrows – Alligator; Phil Sawyer – Childhood’s End; Cul De Sac – Ecim; Can – Delay 1968; Public Image Ltd – Metal Box; The Fix – Speed of Twisted Thought
10) Harmonia – Music Von Harmonia (Lilith) – In October, I ranked this my 6th favorite Krautrock record(and the best of Harmonia’s output, although some may disagree), so you can imagine my excitement when I learned I could actually own the album. For those who are not in the know, Harmonia was a side-project that retrospectively could be looked at as a supergroup: Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius from Cluster along with Michael Rother Neu! It’s beautiful, ambient, and cosmic as hell. Three tenets of a great recording.
09) Sebadoh – III (Domino) – It’s a weird album that tends to veer off course at times, and the lyrical content tends to be a tad emotional, but III is a fantastic, catchy record. What’s better, I just read that the original lineup is going to be touring extensively across the country in the coming months. Get ready to cry your eyes out while you rock out. LISTEN NOW – “Hassle”
08) Subway – Subway (Guerssen Records) – An obscure folk record from the early ’70s. How many of these obscure folk records from the early ’70s are there, anyway? It seems like each year, four or five new ones are unearthed and re-issued. Last year it was Gary Higgins and Bill Holt, this year it’s Subway, Phil Sawyer, Roger Rodier and Sibylle Baier. It just goes to show you, if you’re a musician and no-one likes your music now, wait thirty years! Oh, and I guess I should mention the record. It’s really good.
07) Achim Reichel & Machines – Die Grune Reise / Erholung (Melting Point) – For the most part, this list is comprised of records I would have otherwise never heard about if it wasn’t for their being re-issued. A.R. & Machines is a Krautrock band that managed to totally eclipse my radar (much like Virus a few years ago), but thankfully I found The Green Journey (that’s what the title translates to), and it’s helped expand my mind consistently for the past couple months.
06) Roger Rodier – Upon Velveatur (Sunbeam) – Another of the unearthed ’70s folk records, Roger Rodier is a French-Canadian descendant of the lazy, hazy school of folk. Nick Drake is an obvious reference point, but there’s a bit more English sound to the music. Beatles-y folk. That’s what I’ll call it.
05) Chavez – Better Days Will Haunt You (Matador) – In the days of yore, when I held an internship at Water Music Studios in Hoboken, my boss Rob used to tease me about missing Chavez rehearse at night after I’d left the premises. “Oh, Evan. Chavez was here last night in North Room. You just missed them.” He knew it’d get on my nerves. With all the love Matador has been giving Pavement these past few years, it’s about time they spread it around and pay some respect to one of the most overlooked bands of the ’90s.
04) Bobby Beausoleil – Lucifer Rising OST (Arcanum Entertainment) – The movie itself took something like twenty years to film. Jimmy Page turned down the opportunity to compose a score for the film. Hired in his place was imprisoned killer Bobby Beausoleil, who composed and recorded the whole fucking with a band of prisoners! It’s crazy cosmic music, really heady Morricone-sounding stuff. Added bonus points because the dude was a killer and his orchestra consisted of fellow inmates. LISTEN NOW – “Movement: The Second”
03) Sibylle Baier – Colour Green (Isota) – There are a dozen or so impressive folk tunes on this gem. Consistently great songs on yet another lost record from the early ’70s. It makes you wonder what the hell was going on back then. Was everyone so completely out of their minds they just buried these records and forgot about them until the drugs wore off at the start of the 21st century? LISTEN NOW – “Tonight”
02) Os Mutantes – Os Mutantes (Universal / Polydor Brazil) – Hurray for…Universal (!?) for making this classic Brazilian psych-pop available to the masses after being so long out of print. While some of these albums I’ve listed (Rodier, Sebadoh) can tend to drag, this is one record that will awe you for the duration. Holy Jesus is it good. Almost the best of the year. LISTEN NOW – “A Minha Menina”
01) This Heat – Out of Cold Storage (RER Megacorp) – Duh. I don’t own it because it’s like $100 for the box-set, but I’ve got it through other, cheaper means. It’s basically their complete catalog. And it’s so worth tracking down (if you can afford it), because literally everyone who’s making experimental music right now is in someway beholden to This Heat. All the modern takes on Kraut music, all the modern post-rock or math-rock bands, they’d be washing cars and taking our fast food orders if it wasn’t for This Heat. If you don’t want to get the whole box, you can listen to the self-titled record or Deceit and you’ll catch my drift. So, so, so important from a musical history standpoint. LISTEN NOW – “S.P.Q.R.”
