2017 Reissues in Review

Click the album titles for reviews and song samples.

Various Artists – At the Louisiana Hayride Tonight. There is no way to overstate the historical sweep and artistic brilliance of this 20-disc, 2-book box set.

Raspberries – Pop Art Live. No band could sound this good thirty years after they called it quits. But they did. They really, really did.

Chris Bell – Looking Forward: The Roots of Big Star /  I Am the Cosmos /  Complete Chris Bell. With three new releases, Omnivore expands and clarifies Chris Bell’s work before and after Big Star.

The Rolling Stones – Their Satanic Majesties Request. The Rolling Stones’ red-headed step-child gets a deluxe  CD + vinyl release with original lenticular art!

Tim Buckley – Venice Mating Call /  Greetings From West Hollywood. Expanded looks at Buckley’s legendary 1969 stand at the Troubadour.

Various Artists – Woody Guthrie: The Tribute Concerts. Collected and expanded edition of 1968 and 1970 tribute concerts.

The Creation – Action Painting. Original mono sides, new stereo mixes that retain the music’s punch, odds ‘n’ sods and a nifty eighty-page book.

Dennis Coffey – Hot Coffey in the D – Burnin’ at Morey Baker’s Showplace Lounge. Motown Funk Brother plays out live in Detroit in 1968 in a trio with organist Lyman Woodard.

Art Pepper – Presents West Coast Sessions! Volumes 1-6. Japanese only sessions with Sonny Stitt, Pete Jolly, Lee Konitz, Bill Watrous, Jack Sheldon and Shelly Manne.

Carmaig De Forest – I Shall Be Re-Released. 1987 political-folk debut that was out of print for far too long, and now with eleven bonus tracks!

Tom Armstrong – The Sky in an Empty Eye. Meditative acoustic numbers with notes of dripping neo-psych and electric slide from the dawn of home multitrack recording.

The Searchers – Another Night – The Sire Recordings 1979-1981. Tuneful two-album comeback from British Invasion legends.

Winfield Parker – Mr. Clean: Winfield Parker at Ru-Jac. A magnetic soul vocalist, and the second volume in Omnivore’s Ru-Jac reissue program, following 2016’s release on Gene & Eddie.

Jerry Yester – Pass Your Light Around. A full album of finished recordings from the 1970s that were surprisingly left unreleased at the time.

The Sneetches – Form of Play – A Retrospective. Well-crafted pop from an undeservedly obscure 1980s Bay Area band.

Peter Case – On the Way Downtown – Recorded Live on FolkScene. Collected live performances from 1998 and 2000 show off Case’s on-stage magic.

The Beau Brummels – The Very Best Of: The Complete Singles. The complete mono A-sides of San Francisco legends.

Flat Duo Jets – Wild Wild Love. Debut cassette-only EP and album from revolutionary Chapel Hill duo in one rockin’ package.

Arthur Alexander – Arthur Alexander. A quiet gem from 1972 with six bonus tracks and liner note by Barry “Dr. Demento” Hansen.

Alex Chilton – A Man Called Destruction. Among Chilton’s most accessible albums, mixing originals and cover, reissued with seven bonus tracks.

Roy Orbison – Black & White Night 30. Thirtieth anniversary reissue of Cinemax special with previously unreleased performances, and a mini-documentary with rehearsal footage and interviews.