Music Reviews: Prince s Sign O the Times (Super Deluxe Edition) Plus Richard Hell
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Jeff Burger, BLOGCRITICS.ORG
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A new edition of
Sign O the Times, Prince s brilliant and remarkably eclectic 1987 double album, easily earns its super deluxe billing with a long list of bonus goodies. Delivered in an LP-sized slipcase, the set includes an excellent remaster of the original album on two discs, plus six additional CDs: one with remastered single mixes and edits, three with previously unreleased contemporaneous material from the vaults, and two with a terrific June 1987 concert from Utrecht in the Netherlands.
There s more. The package also incorporates a 120-page hardcover book with the late artist s handwritten lyrics for many of the songs; numerous period photos; extensive essays by Lenny Kravitz, Dave Chapelle, and others; and notes on the material. Last but definitely not least, the set includes a DVD that contains a full-length, previously unr
He had a talent for pushing the boundaries beyond what was conventionally acceptable.
So Malcolm McLaren, the Godfather of Punk, would have been delighted that, more than a decade after his death, he is embroiled in a marmalade-dropper of a memoir described by one critic as ‘the most graphically effective sex writing I’ve read in a long time’.
It’s the debut literary work of Young Kim, the petite Korean-American who shared the past 12 years of McLaren’s life after meeting him at a party in Paris, held after a show given by McLaren’s former lover, Vivienne Westwood.
Courtney Marie Andrews all feature in the new
Uncut, dated March 2021 and in UK shops from January 14 or available to buy online now. As always, the issue comes with a free CD, comprising 12 tracks of the month’s best new music – plus a very special
Weather Station sampler compilation only for our subscribers.
LEONARD COHEN: 50 years ago,
Songs Of Love And Hate ushered in a strange and compelling new era for rock’s pre-eminent poet. With help from his friends and collaborators, we examine his remarkable decade – from turbulent tours, intellectual crises, incursions into warzones, lost albums and firearms incidents – and discover how Cohen’s good humour and towering genius endured. “He was aware, probably for the first time, of the impact his songs were having.”
Legendary punk rock band
Blank Generation in 1977, but its follow-up LP,
Destiny Street (recorded in 1981 and released in 1982), wasn’t up to snuff recording-wise, according to the renowned
Richard Hell.
Finally
Destiny Street (the New York-based rockers’ second and final album) has been taken into the meticulous and informed care of
Omnivore Recordings and restored, revamped, and expanded into the classic opus it was meant to be.
On January 22nd Omnivore is releasing
Destiny Street Complete, a four-record (two CDs; digital) odyssey with new liner notes by Richard Hell outlining the
Destiny Street saga. Omnivore will also release a vinyl version of the new
The list reflects my idiosyncratic tastes, so maybe you ll find something here to enjoy yourself.
THE BOBBY LEES: Skin Suit. I discovered this garage-punk band from
Woodstock, N.Y., after my friend Chris Bentley booked them for an early-October show at Buzzbin in Canton.
This record, produced by the estimable Jon Spencer, contains a bunch of rip-roaring originals and sharp covers of Richard Hell s Blank Generation and Bo Diddley s I m a Man.
ELLA FITZGERALD: The Lost Berlin Tapes. Someone unearthed this sublime radio recording of Ella and her fine piano-bass-drums trio in concert in Berlin in March 1962 and Verve released it. The vocalists warm, joyous and inspired performance is crisply recorded with a you-are-there vibe, and the song list is wondrous, including Hallelujah, I Love Him So, Cry Me a River, Summertime and Mack the Knife.