Ok, we’re back with the second installment of “The Top 10 Reissues of 2009″. Seeing as all such lists are completely subjective and as such subject to the whims of their imperfect, ego-driven, sex-god authors (well, at least this list is), you can expect to see a few albums you may not agree with, or maybe never even heard of. Yes, I’m that cool—I listen to albums you’ve never even heard of. Sometimes albums that haven’t even been written yet. Albums that only exist in my own warped, feeble mind. MUWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Yes, I lead a sad life.
Anyhoo, I chose the albums that I did not in the hopes of being esoteric and cool (I’m thirty, work a corporate job and have a double chin and a bad haircut; I gave up on pursuing “cool” a while ago) but because I really, truly love these albums. They are my “desert island” albums, my shoulder to cry on when I’ve had a bad day, or a friend to dance with when I need to celebrate. I know I could find real people to fill these roles, but it’s easier to buy things. Plus most of the people I know don’t make very good music. Herb for example. (Just kidding Herb.)
So here’s #6-4 of my favorite reissues of the year. If you haven’t heard them, pick up a copy at Pure Pop (or have them order you a copy if it’s not in stock). If you end up loving the album, buy me a beer. If you hate it, kick me in nuts and demand your money back. Or just leave a comment in the field below. Enjoy!
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6) Marble Sky – “The Sad Return”
Underground cassette culture can be a curse or a blessing. While it can be truly amazing to discover the next great noise god on your coveted, handmade uber-limited release C-20, it can also be incredibly frustrating when (because you were too broke or not in the know enough to purchase it) the album everyone is talking about goes out-of-print.
This was the case with “The Sad Return”, the first album by Marble Sky (side project of Impregnable/Secret Abuse/Roman Torment/etc. etc.’s Jeff Witscher). Released originally in a run of only 15 cassette copies on Callow God in 2007, “The Sad Return” became one of the most talked about underground albums of that year. The lo-fi, blissful synthesizer drones on the album recalled everything from Brian Eno’s “Apollo…” to Eliane Radigue’s Arp works to New Age pioneers like Steven Halpern or Laraaji, yet had a unique, decayed beauty that was distinctly its own.
While low-quality mp3 rips of the album existed online, for the fans clamoring for a physical copy it seemed like a proper reissue would never come. Finally, nearly two years after the initial release, the wonderful Students of Decay label released a gorgeous, remastered version of “The Sad Return” on CD, with sophisticated and evocative artwork pro-printed on a standard digipak. This time, they did a run of 500 copies, so this one should stay in print for a little while….but I wouldn’t sit on it.
5) Klaus Schulze – “X”/”Mirage”
2009 was a big year for reviving 70s progressive synth and Berlin School electronic music. While new artists like Oneohtrix Point Never paid homage with bliss riffage that owed heavily to the period, the nostalgia kick was also fueled by vinyl and CD reissues of some classic albums from two of the original masters, Klaus Schulze and Kraftwerk
Klaus Schulze started his career as a drummer for prog ambient legends Tangerine Dream and later was a founding member of Ash Ra Tempel. However, he is probably best remembered for his solo works, which constituted some of the first true “ambient” music. “Mirage” and “X” were two of his greatest works from what is arguable his greatest working period, the late 1970s.
“Mirage”, first released in 1977, is easily the darker of the two albums, with an abundance of minor keys and heavy, brooding oscillations. The album starts off with the haunting and lovely “Velvet Voyage” sounds just as its name implies, moving gentle from one theme to the next and blending lovely synthesized vocal and string choruses with sequenced rhythms and burning riffage. The simple chiming, xylophone-esque sequence that starts off the second track, “Crystal Lake”, could easily be mistaken for an early John Carpenter movie soundtrack. However, the track quickly moves along to introduce increasingly complex polyphony as sequence builds upon sequence, then fading out to a beautiful, droning New Age bliss-out. The final track, “In Cosa Crede Chi Non Crede?”, is the shortest piece on the album (it still has an epic 19-minute+ runtime) but provides a nice gentle, jingling comedown from the heaviness of the previous two 1/2 hour epics.
“X” was Schulze’s 1978 follow-up to “Mirage” and despite the short amount of time between releases, it shows a tremendous amount of growth. The compositions are more complex and allow for much less subtle displays of technical skill and mastery of dynamics. Compared to the relative sedateness of “Mirage”, “X” simply rocks out. From the proggy riffage of “Friedrich Nietzsche” that could put Rick Wakeman to shame through to driving motorik of “Frank Herbert”, “X” is in many ways a more confident and arguably more commercial Schulze release that foreshadows his work in the 1980s, while still retaining some of the Berlin School elements that make his 1970s work so powerful.
4) Kraftwerk, “The Catalog”
Everybody knows Kraftwerk. Even people who told listen to electronic music (hell, even your mom) will recognize the main riff from “Autobahn” or recognize a picture of the group from their heyday. Whether it’s the kitschy, commercial quality of their later work or the famous “man-machine” robotic quality of their stage presence/marketing persona, Kraftwerk somehow became an ubiquitous part of our modern cultural zeitgeist.
So Kraftwerk is the most famous German electronic group of the 1970s…..but how many people do you know who own their albums? They’re one of those bands that everyone has heard of, but not that many listen to. A big part of the reason is that their sound is frozen in time, encased in early electronic music kitschy-ness that can turn some people off. But a bigger reason is availability and quality of the existing recordings. The original vinyl releases have become increasingly rare and expensive for good quality copies, and the original CD releases suffered from poor mastering.
This year, all that changed when Kraftwerk reissued eight of their best-known albums individually and as a boxed set called “The Catalog” (the name is a bit misleading, as it doesn’t include Kraftwerk’s more experimental, krautrock inspired early work) on both CD and vinyl formats. Finally, you get to hear Kraftwerk as they were meant to be heard, and if there was ever a band whose albums demanded the ultimate in pristine quality, it is Kraftwerk. While they wrote some melodies and vocal harmonies that rival The Beatles and The Beach Boys (well, at least their lesser works….) the real star of the Kraftwerk show are the synthesizers. Hearing these albums remastered makes you realize just how powerful it must have been to hear these machines live for the first time, the completely inorganic zippering highs and gut-thumping low end.
An analog synthesizer is a beautiful thing, and Kraftwerk’s songs were nothing more than an ode to the machines they loved, just like a e.e. cummings love poem is as much an ode to the words themselves as to any human object. It’s no accident that Kraftwerk called one of their best albums “The Man-Machine”. They wanted to be robots; they wanted to be nothing more than passive operators of this wonderful equipment, the ultimate “gear heads”. As a result, it makes Kraftwerk’s rise to popular success even more impressive.
More than anything though, these are just fun songs that provide a nice historical look at the origins of modern electronic dance music. If you’re a Kraftwerk initiate, I recommend picking up “Computer World” or “The Man-Machine” and going from there. Just don’t be surprised if you develop an overwhelming desire to become a robot.
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Ok, that’s it for Part 2. Join us next week for Part 3, featuring the three best reissues of 2009!
