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Led Zeppelin
The Complete BBC Sessions
Although considered stuffy and staid, the
BBC recorded Hendrix, The Beatles and many
others at their peak. This three-CD expanded
version of the 1997 double disc (remastered by
Jimmy Page, with eight previously unreleased
tracks) is for obsessives – three versions of
You Shook Me
and
I
Can't Quit You
, five of
Communication Breakdown
, etc – but over the
two years from March 1969 covered here you can hear them adding
real swagger and taking no prisoners. Among the newly released
tracks, check the explosive, five-minute
Communication Breakdown
from London's Paris Theatre in ‘71 where Page's guitar solo shoots
fireworks in every direction, then the song deliberately stutters down
to nothing and rebuilds to a thrilling conclusion. The release is on five-
record vinyl also with download code, 44-page booklet and a limited
edition numbered print of the cover art. Big got bigger, loud a whole
lotta louder.
The Beatles
Live at the Hollywood
Bowl
You'd think there was nothing
left to exploit in The Beatles'
catalogue (other than the
film
Let It Be
and an album
of their final rooftop concert).
But this is the first reissue of
the live album from concerts
in 1964 and '65, with four
previously unreleased tracks.
It's American rock'n'roll (
Twist
and Shout
,
Dizzy Miss Lizzy
,
Roll Over Beethoven
,
Long Tall
Sally
,
Everybody's Trying To Be
My Baby
) in a British accent,
and their hits of the time
(
Ticket to Ride
,
A Hard Day's
Night
,
Help
,
She Loves You
etc). With screaming.
The Builders
Beatin' Hearts
It's not often we get to use
the word “polymath” but it
describes multi-lingual poet,
writer, publisher, dramatist
and musician-without-
portfolio Bill Direen, whose
reputation seriously kicked in
with this debut album (after
a series of singles and EPs)
in 1983. Released on Flying
Nun, it includes a version of
Denis Glover's poem
The
Magpies
alongside Direen's
idiosyncratic pop. Nun founder
Roger Shepherd considers it
“a masterpiece” and “totally
timeless” although admits it
was perhaps a “bit too grown
up” for Nun fans at the time.
Now reissued on vinyl, for
grown-ups.
By
Graham Reid
29
MUSIC
Surfer Rosa
(1988)
The impressive debut produced by Steve Albini announced
a very different-sounding band (with odd lyrics) and topped
the US indie charts. Raw, influential (Cobain loved it and
got Albini in for Nirvana's
In Utero
) and often bruisingly
melodic alongside the sonic aggression.
Doolittle
(1989)
The 'hits' album produced by Gil Norton, which includes
Monkey Gone to Heaven
and the poppy
Here Comes
Your Man
with indie radio favourites
Debaser
and
Crackity
Jones
. The easy-entry album for sometimes uneasy
listening, and the quiet/loud dynamic which became a
grunge hallmark.
Trompe Le Monde
(1991)
After the spacerock-cum-surf sound and themes of
Bossanova
the previous year, this was a return to their
raw mix of power pop, alt-rock and melodic noise. Not the
critics' favourite (too much sci-fi), but fans loved it.
Indie Cindy
(2014)
A collection of the three EPs released over 2013-2014 (all
produced by Norton), and the first release without Deal.
The strong beginning of their second life.
PIXIES
And also...
Black Francis' output as Frank Black has its many highlights in a pop-meets-
noise way, notably 1994's
Teenager of the Year
and, for real fans, the
curiosity
Frank Black Francis
double from 2004 which comprises one disc of
pre-Pixies demos, and another disc on which he revisits some Pixies songs
in a stripped-back manner. Deal's band The Breeders (with Tanya Donelly of
Throwing Muses) kicked off with the powerful
Pod
(1990) and peaked with
Last Splash
(1993).
For more interviews, reviews and overviews from Graham Reid visit
www.elsewhere.co.nzIn 1986, the man known as Black Francis (and
later Frank Black) gave up the idea of going to
New Zealand to see Halley's Comet to form a
band.That band was the Pixies, who inspired
countless others in their first lifespan.They split
in 1993, reformed in 2004 (although founding
member/bassist Kim Deal quit in 2013) and have
a new album,
Head Carrier
, due out on September
30. A long, if broken, life... but what are their
essential albums?