This week we’re taking a look at some vinyl reissues that are basically essential for any collector. Most of these have been lovingly reissued on 180 Gram (or better) vinyl, gatefolds, and the whole sha-banger. Check em out while they’re still here, limited pressings abound.

Roxy Music – Stranded / Country Life

Beach Boys – Sun Flower / Surfs Up

Without question, the resurrection of the Beach Boys in a vibrant critical and commercial capacity was a significant retrospective development of music in the ’90s. Pet Sounds becomes, now that we think about it, arguably the greatest pop production ever; a box set commemorating the album and the group’s legacy are released and uniformly lauded; pop groups everywhere shamelessly draw inspiration from the acid-tinged barbershop quartet arrangements; a handicapped Brian Wilson even manages to release something of a comeback. With this extensive overhaul, it’s right to expect some chafe only zealots with fat wallets could feel compelled to purchase. But such is not the case with this particular release, which pairs up the two first and best artifacts of the slow, golden sunset of the Beach Boys’ decline. - Pitchfork

Big Star – #1 Record / Radio City

Like The Beatles, Big Star had at its core two great forces: Chilton, and the enigmatic, cult icon Chris Bell. The band started with Chris at the throne, and he was a died-in-the-wool Beatles disciple. There was a tacit power struggle as to the direction of the band during their first album, #1 Record, and Alex wanted control. By Radio City, Bell was intimidated out of the band and Alex had free reign.

No one before Chris or after ever really challenged Alex musically, and I think Alex might even admit that to himself. Radio City was Chilton’s way of showing only to himself that he could write better Beatles-like songs than Bell ever could. My theory is that Chilton’s motivation for Radio City was to show up Bell. That is the source of the passion, angst and intensity on Radio City. That type of rivalry made The Beatles great, except they stayed together despite their dissonance, creating a larger body of work. That Chilton showed up Bell with Radio City may have literally killed the late Bell, a tortured, complex man who never had the chance to find a support system that would have allowed him to accept his homosexuality. Indeed, his early death some label as a suicide was a tragedy of the highest order. – Pop Matters

Cocteau Twins – Garlands / Head Over Heels

the best comparison points are to the Cure on Faith and Pornography, perhaps Metal Box-era PiL, a touch of Joy Division here and there — in sum, deep, heavy mood verging on doom and gloom. Bassist Will Heggie, in the only full album he did with the Twins, clearly follows the Peter Hook/Simon Gallup style of low, ominous throb, while Guthrie’s guitar work more often than not screeches loudly than shimmers. Fraser’s singing has a starker edge, unsettling even at its most accessible, sometimes completely disturbing at other times. The strongest track, “Wax and Wane,” has the trio creating a powerful but also surprisingly danceable track, the crisp drumbox beat working against Guthrie’s compelling atmospherics and Fraser’s vocal hook in the chorus. – Garlands / Allmusic

The album introduces a variety of different shadings and approaches to the incipient Cocteaus sound, pointing the band towards the exultant, elegant beauty of later releases. Opening number “When Mama Was Moth” demonstrates the new musical range nicely; Fraser‘s singing is much more upfront, while Guthrie creates a bewitching mix of dark guitar notes and sparkling keyboard tones, with percussion echoing in the background. Other songs, like the sax-accompanied “Five Ten Fiftyfold” and “The Tinderbox (Of a Heart)” reflect the more elaborate musical melancholy of the group, while still other cuts are downright sprightly. “Multifoiled” in particular is a charm, a jazzily-arranged number that lets Fraser do a bit of scatting (a perfect avenue for her lyrical approach!), while “In the Gold Dust Rush” mixes acoustic guitar drama into Fraser‘s swooping singing. Perhaps the two strongest numbers of all are: “Sugar Hiccup,” mixing the mock choir effect the band would use elsewhere with both a lovely guitar line and singing; and “Musette and Drums,” a massive, powerful collision of Guthrie‘s guitar at its loudest and most powerful and Fraser‘s singing at its most intense. – Head Over Heels / Allmusic

Hello there folks of the some-what free world, my name is Amelia. I am the newly employed member of the Pure Pop weekend crew. I am quite pleased to be included in this strange and happy family, and to get us better aquainted, I’ll give you a little intro to let you know what I’m about.

Unfortunately, I missed the last topic of discussion on the Pure Pop blog, the subject being, “music to off yourself to.” I’ll admit that I’m partial to music of the melancholic, so I’ve got a couple picks to share. At the onslaught of my angstiest moments, I always turn to the song “Love Letter Typewriter” by the 90′s midwestern favorite Mineral. The whiny anguish of  these emotional rockers is the perfect fuel to give me the courage to bleed out. Up the street, not cross the road folks!

Another tune for my last goodbye would be just that, “Last Goodbye” by the late Jeff Buckley. Perfect for playing from tape on a beat-up boombox in the back of my pick-em up truck as I fill my pockets with rocks and walk into a river. Yes, as you sad sap 90′s kids know, Buckley did indeed drown.

So, come say hi to me on Saturdays and Sundays, there’s plently more amusing morbidity where those picks came from.

I’m of two minds about the increasing number of albums that are released in multiple versions. With many high-profile releases, the common practice is to release a standard, bare-bones edition as well as at least one expanded “deluxe” version. Is this an exploitative attempt to squeeze extra revenue from super-fans, or is it a generous means to stave the insatiable hunger they have for their obsessions?

The whole thing reminds me of the up-selling ploy employed by most movie theaters. When you buy a large popcorn instead of a medium, the cost to the theater rises less than the extra cash you spend. They don’t just make more money, they get a better profit ratio. I’m speculating here, but it seems a lot of record labels are operating on the same principle.

So, when is it worth it, and when are we beeing fleeced? Two recent releases illustrate the difference quite well. On the one hand, Rancid’s latest, Let the Dominoes Fall, has a healthy special edition. In addition to the album, the deluxe version includes a disc of acoustic performances, a dvd, a couple of posters and a set of guitar picks, all for roughly six dollars more than the standard edition. I wouldn’t think twice about dropping the extra cash.

On the other hand, Trey Anastasio’s Time Turns Elastic, out earlier this week, was released in two versions that are hardly distinguishable. What does an extra five dollars reward a Trey fan? An embossed cover. This, friends, could hardly be described as “worth it”. I don’t want to get into name-calling here, although words like greedy, short-sighted and idiotic do come to mind. Suffice to say, don’t waste your money.

These examples demonstrate the kind of range consumers are faced with. It is unlikely the number of multiple-version releases will go down any time soon, so my advice is to make sure you know what you’re spending your money on.

Winston Churchill called it “The Black Dog”, that lurking black cloud of discontent and despair. We’ve all felt it at one point another. Just as music can compliment our positive experiences, it can also keep us company during our less enjoyable ones. This week, we asked Pure Pop staffers, what do you listen to when you want to end it all?

m. Breiner — If I’m  just thinking about the end point,  I’ll always listen to the Marshall Jefferson 12″ mix of the Pet Shop Boys‘ Being Boring to pull me back.  But when it’s really time to pass the exhaust pipe, Chicago 3-32, the Boss’s Born in the USA, or anything from the Oasis oeuvre will do the trick. Good bye cruel world..

Amy — I can’t say I’ve ever wanted to “end it all”, but when I’m feeling a little down all I want to hear is a deep whiskey- soaked voice full of sadness and sorrow to console me and make me realize that I am not alone.   Not that I can’t listen to Tom Waits in any mood… but on those darker days Franks Wild Years really hits the spot.  The track Innocent When You Dream is always the turning point of my mood; depressing yet hopeful.  The album ends with a deeply beautiful song, Cold Cold Ground, allowing the perfect amount of time to wallow in despair before re-entering my usually happy world.

Tanner – Gosh where to start, I mean at this point in my life i’ve got an album or two for ever shade, gradient and texture of despair. Are we talking, Gothy Romantic despair (Disintegration, Treasure)? Or maybe Nihilistic philosophical despair (I see a Darkness, Silent Shout, anything ever by Current 93)? Drifting, amorphous senses of emptiness? (Mirages, Desiderii Marginis’ Seven Sorrows, Northhaunt’s Horizons)  What about actual, real world, “I lost something tangible never to get it back” despair? I guess, if i need to pair it down though, my real place of despair lies mainly in that real world emotional, everyday realm – And for that I go to Bonnie Prince Billy’s “Master and Everyone” – Not the flat out most empty, despairing, brutal album ever, or even of his career, but the world he’s working in on this album is like a cold empty room that was only just recently occupied, warm, and safe. It’s those day to day moments, when the wound is still fresh that the despair is most acutely felt.

Herb — I’m generally a fan of sad music but when I’m completely at the mercy of the demons of discontent, Chris Bell’s I am the Cosmos usually finds its way onto my record player. The album is soaked in yearning, regret and blistering anguish. It’s that much more of a crushing listen when one considers the album in the context of the late Bell’s career; he recorded the album over the better part of a decade while working for his family’s restaurant. He died tragically at the age of twenty-seven. The album wouldn’t be released for another fifteen years. *shudder* Still, the album’s excellence always pulls me back from the void.

Brandon — Although I’m barely self-aware enough to consider ending it all, when I’m feeling blue I repeatedly listen to “Barbarella” by Scott Weiland. Like anyone with a heart, I am deeply moved by Mr. Weiland’s personal and professional life. This taut, stoic number really captures the valleys of this miraculous poet’s experience. “Don’t know just who I am / don’t know about the lamb / I’m the meat of the feast”. Well said, Scott. Well said.

Matt — Asking me what I listen to when I feel like ending it all is sort of like asking a Smurf what it listens to while punching Gargamel’s cat in the balls. That is to say, it don’t happen much. To be honest, I think all that “I’m-so-sad” music is pretty garbage. If you feel like ending it all, you should exercise or get a girlfriend, right? On the other hand, if there was a zombie apocalypse and they were breaking into my fortification and I didn’t want to let them feast on my brains I’d probably play Weird Al’s “Dare to be Stupid” while I took care of myself. Respect.

Phoenix have been slowly perfecting the formula they haphazardly hit upon with the single Too Young on their not so united, first album, United. Over the course of the last four albums and a variety of stylistic explorations, they’ve finally found their groove, and oh what a genuinely entertaining groove it is.

There’s nothing unnecessary, nothing out of place on Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, every guitar lick, every drum fill, every arrangement speaks to the singular vision of a band that has boiled off it’s excess through regular touring and recording. What’s left is tight, lean – and highly entertaining, evoking equally feelings of nostalgia and excitement for things yet to come. And like any great Pop Rock album, it never over stays it’s welcome, with it’s entirety, 10 tracks, coming in around 35 minutes.

To put it another way, if Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix were a sandwich, it’d be a nice fresh chicken salad sandwich, with little bits of grape, or cranberries maybe, on a baguette, crisp romaine lettuce, a bit of Brie, a just a dash of salt and pepper. That’d be a great sandwich. It’s definitely a great album.

Sonic Youth – The Eternal

Here it comes now. HERE IT COMES NOW! Four slightly wrong notes in exactly the right order. Turn on the distortion pedal now! Regress your heavy metal. Strip all the Yngwie Malmsteen away. Play the chugga chugga like a 14-year-old full of dumb and cum. They’re rocking now. People were so pleased with Sonic Youth for releasing a pop album three years ago (Rather Ripped) that no one stopped and said: “Yeah, this is great, and ‘Incinerate’ and ‘Do You Believe In The Rapture?’ are up there with the best but there are too many songs like ‘Rats’ and ‘The Neutral’ just hanging around getting in the way.” Well, fuck that. This sounds like ‘Cinerella’s Big Score’ and lasts for 131 seconds. READ THE FULL REVIEW

Black Eyed Peas -The E.N.D.

“The E.N.D.,” the group’s fifth studio album and the third since the singer Stacy Ferguson (better known as Fergie) joined and took it from the earnest hip-hop underground to the glamorous, necessarily compromised pop mainstream, is more accomplished and more confounding than any of the foursome’s previous efforts. It’s likely to dominate radio and the Internet this summer, its sharp flavors simultaneously driving listeners nuts and drawing them back. READ THE FULL REVIEW

Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca

Move over Merriweather Post Pavilion and make way for the best record of 2009 (so far). I speak of Bitte Orca, the new nine track accomplishment from Dave Longstreth’s long running band, Dirty Projectors. After several years of making critically praised but widely unheard experimental rock, Longstreth and co. have succeeded in creating their magnum opus: a work of art that is not only aurally complex but also deeply enjoyable on a purely aesthetic level. READ THE FULL REVIEW

Anti-Flag – People or the Gun

What makes The People or the Gun succeed is it’s blatant honesty & rapid-fire pace (11 tracks in 30 minutes), and that it’s a back-to-basics record for this intelligent and well-informed band who took a forgettable turn with The Bright Lights of America, an album that wasn’t as bad as it was just unmemorable. Thankfully, this self-produced record settles the score with a handful of pissed off numbers (“You Are Fired” rips through a major-label tirade in less than 20 seconds) and anthems that reaffirm the injustices we face, but remain hopeful that change lies on the horizon (“When All the Lights Go Out,” a somewhat ironic title in context to their last album). READ THE FULL REVIEW

Neil Young – Archives Vol 1.

Even the first disc of juvenilia is fascinating. His songwriting ability is in place surprisingly early: a 1963 demo called I Wonder ended up as Don’t Cry No Tears on 1975′s Zuma and he has returned to 1965′s Sugar Mountain throughout his career. But what’s most striking is the sound of Neil Young literally trying to find his voice as he is buffeted along by the gusting pop culture of the 60s. He tries everything, including singing in a weird, clipped accent around the time of the British Invasion, manfully attempting to bulk-up the fragility that would become his trademark, even essaying the didactic coffee-house bellow so expertly mocked in A Mighty Wind: it was awfully blustery up on Sugar Mountain in 1965, with the wistfulness of the song’s lament for adolescent innocence trampled by the earnest desire to be taken very seriously indeed.  READ THE FULL REVIEW

Upon viewing any given Pure Pop employee one might not immediately think of passion or virility. Suspend your disbelief for a moment and accept that we’ve all enjoyed a tender moment or two. The following list are albums we like to set the tone, enhance the mood or stave the inevitable disappointment we inspire.

Herb: Roxy Music – Avalon: The final album of Roxy Music’s career (provided they never release the reunion album they’ve been threatening us with for the last five years) is an interesting beast. It’s sort of the illogical successor to their previous two efforts. All three represent Roxy’s abandoning of the art-rock grandeur of their earlier albums for sheeny synth-pop. However, while Manifesto and Flesh + Blood are playful and aloof, Avalon is drenched in emotion and sincerity. To be honest, it first occurred to me to put it on during an intimate moment when I read a review that described the album as “yuppie make-out music”. The next rare chance I had to try it out for myself, something clicked and I’ve since alienated a handful of women with this sensuous sonic souflee.

Matt – DJ Funk – Booty House Anthems: DJ Funk is criminally written off as a novelty artist in many circles, partly because of the themes contained in his music but more so because the man is a genre unto himself. Ghetto house may be comparable to similar genre hybrids, but it is unique nonetheless. It also primal and sexually charged, the perfect companion to rapturous relations.

Brandon - Dave Matthews Band-Crash – To be fair, I don’t really need a full-length album for making love. A thirty-second itunes song preview is sufficient, but if pressed, as I am, I’d have to go with DMB’s 1996 masterpiece Crash. Rich in moments that are both tender and exuberant, this album evokes the kind of love-making I aspire to, as opposed my irregular rituals of humiliation.

Mike Breiner — Since i never can find my “Is It All Over My Face? / Why Don’t We Do it in the Road? / Love Comes in Spurts / Too Many Creeps / Pump It Up / What Does Sex Mean To Me?” mix in time, any ambient wallpaper disc or open will do.

Amy — Lil’ Kim – The Notorious K.I.M. Talk about one bad-azz freaky lady!  This album is full of provocative and explicit pornographic lyrics that create an attitude rather than an atmosphere.  Once those beats start bumpin’ there is no turning back, you know you’re in for a “wild” ride.   Track #2, “Custom Made”, is always a good one for getting those creative juices flowing.   Lil’ Kim truly is the “Queen Bee” of setting the mood.

Tanner – M83 – Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts - This is the soundtrack to really epic sex – as a skilled and multi-faceted maker of love, i need music accompanyment that at points matches the grand, arcing crescendos of my craft, and then in a turn, plays like a quiet supporting soundtrack to my more tender, (yet fierce!) emotionally vulnerable moments.  And as an added bonus, after me and my lover have finished and returned from our trip around the sun, we can listen to this album again while watching Ladyhawke with the sound off. It sync’s up perfectly!

Mike Crandall – Van Morrison- Late 80s albums. First, this gets you away from the classic rock hits.  Second, there is calm, warm spirituality to this period that can set the right mood but with enough jazzy pep at times that makes it not completely fade away.  No Guru, No Method, No Teacher, very laid-back, would be a good choice or you could go with Avalon Sunset, which has a few big time love songs.  Heck, go with Hymns to the Silence , that’s a double album. OR Sam Cooke “Night Beat”.  One of my favorite albums of all time.  This is his stripped down, late night album is fairly different and the most intimate outing of his career.  The simple arrangements put his fantastic voice front and center where he belts out some great tunes about love and lost.

Dave Matthews Band – Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King

For all the immortality it imparts, rock & roll has a way of taking its practitioners before their time. Like the Who, 
 Metallica, and many more before them, the Dave Matthews Band have faced the sudden loss of a founding member: Saxophonist LeRoi Moore died last August from injuries incurred in an ATV 
accident, midway through the recording of their latest album. His spirit — and his sound — looms large, however, on Big Whiskey. The GrooGrux King of the title references Moore, as does the figure at the center of Whiskey’s intricate cover art (drawn by 
Matthews himself); his sweet, solitary sax flourishes even bookend the album. Read The Full Review

Iggy Pop – Preliminaires

What do you get if you cross the godfather of punk with nihilistic enfant terrible of French literature, Michel Houellebecq? No, the answer is not comprehensive cover if you drive over a cliff in a fit of weltschmerz, but Preliminaires, a curious, often haunting little Anglo-French album with strands of jazz, blues, country and electro-pop that contemplates the futility of human existence through songs with titles such as Nice to Be Dead. Read the Full Review

Rancid – Let the Dominoes Fall

Though they may look a little goofy still rocking spiked Mohawks and tattered attire as men in their early-to-mid-40s (save for new drummer, 31-year-old Branden Steineckert, formerly of the Used), Bay Area stalwarts Rancid display a sense of true musical growth on their long-awaited seventh full-length, Let the Dominoes Fall. The album marks their first work together as a band since 2003’s Indestructible—released on Hellcat in conjunction with Warner Bros.—and is a most welcome return to their roots on the Epitaph label, where they initially rose to fame through such seminal new school punk favorites as 1994’s Let’s Go and 1995’s …And Out Come the Wolves. Read the Full Review

Paolo Nutini – Sunny Side Up

Sunny Side Up is a considerably less well-groomed affair than Nutini’s massively successful debut These Streets . There’s no polish or politesse here. Instead, Nutini plays the raggedly soulful Paisley boy on his homecoming, dispensing warm words of wisdom and heartfelt hippie sentiment to his nearest and dearest. Simple Things rides a chick-a-boom rhythm while doling out homely hokum about “going round my Mum’s house for my tea”, while you could imagine Harry Belafonte crooning High Hopes.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/may/17/paolo-nuttini-sunny-side-up

Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas – II

Fortunately, II  isn’t a letdown– assuming you don’t count its lack of immediacy as a disappointment. On the first Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas album, eight out of 13 tracks ran less than six minutes, and most of them gave you a pretty good idea of where they were going right away. Here, only one of the eight songs clocks in under seven-and-a-half, and the standard structure relies on slow-build compositions that stretch out, decompress, and mutate; they don’t so much segue from track to track as they melt into each other. And while it might feel a little like a marathon anywhere other than the dancefloor, there’s more than enough going on over the course of a track– instruments warping themselves into new beats, new riffs, and new melodies– to give it a certain dynamism. Read the Full Review

Axel Willner a.k.a. The Field’s debut full-length was hailed by many (including myself) as one of the best albums of 2007. From Here We Go Sublime was serene, warm, melodic and, well… sublime. His style is deceptive in initially sounding slight and repetitive. Deeper listening, however, reveals nuance and structure.

Read ten reviews of The Field’s music and you’ll read eleven attempt to classify them into an electronic music subgenre. Micro-house? Sure. Minimalist techno? Okay. Tiny trance? Yeah, that’s the one. Suffice to say, it’s electronic music with a dancey pulse garnished with warm keys and samples. It loops in unpredictable ways. It builds and is taken apart. It’s wonderful.

Yesterday and Today, The Field’s newest effort, is not a massive departure stylistically. It is perhaps a little more blown out. Some of the songs have a simulated crackle and hiss, as if you were listening on vinyl. Still, fans will know what to expect, and it’s surely exactly what they’re hoping for.

The most unexpected moment on the album comes in the form of a cover of The Korgies’ “Everybody’s Go to Learn Sometime”. You may remember it for Beck’s version which played over the credits of The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Willner does an amazing job of reappropriating it for his style. Among other changes, he opts to omit the song’s chorus entirely.

I shall leave it at that. If you’re not interested in an album made by the kind of musician that can take an obscure 80′s synth-pop ballad and make it more infectious and gripping while omitting the chorus, this album’s not for you.

A few weeks ago we along with Higher Ground ran a facebook contest asking David Byrne fans to submit works of sidewalk chalk artwork to win free tickets, autographed CDs and t-shirts! The show was last night, and by all accounts Byrne delivered in spades (in bridge, spades rank as the highest of the four suits. fyi.) – We hope our winners had a great time!

1st Place – Ginevra Shay

2nd Place – Steve Crawford