Reissues Volume 2
Record labels continue to react to the ever-growing demand for vinyl copies of older releases and here we spin some of the great titles that have been reissued recently.
Robin Trower - Live! 50th Anniversary Edition - (2LP, complete concert edition 2026 mix)
While Robin Trower is going strong today as he continues to record new music and perform live, the music found in this 1975 recording draws from his first few albums, the era widely considered his heyday. The band was a power trio consisting of Trower on guitar, James Dewar on bass and vocals and Bill Lordan on drums and here they rip through a dozen songs that comprise the entire Stockholm show, compared to only seven cuts on the original album. The hard rocking "Day of the Eagle" begins the show and Trower stuns with his guitar work right from the get go, often sounding like Jimi Hendrix. A long take on favorite "Bridge of Sighs" follows; for audience members not already stoned, the dreamy track provides a drug-free entry into an alternate reality. Early Trower favorites like "Lady Love," "Too Rolling Stoned," "Althea" and "Little Bit of Sympathy" are also included with encores being "Confessin' Midnight" and a cover of the B.B. King classic "Rock Me Baby," the only non-original on the album. Packaged in a gatefold jacket and with inner sleeves loaded with liner notes and commentary and with the trio in outstanding form,
Live! makes for a nice keepsake and snapshot of the era.
digital underground - Sex Packets (35th Anniversary) - (2LP, 180-gram light blue and black splatter vinyl)
Wow, what an amazing package for digital underground fans! The two disc set is packaged in a very cool gatefold jacket that features "3D" art on the inside; that is to say the art "pops up" as the jacket is opened, featuring cartoonish versions of band members situated around a giant mixing board. It's a very fun piece to geek out over when listening to the music, or even to be put on display (somewhere it won't be fondled!) Then both discs are pressed on outrageous light blue and black splatter vinyl and packaged in inner sleeves with photos and credits. And to top it all off there's also an album-sized booklet with lots of rare photos. Of course there's the music, beginning with the band's big hit, "The Humpty Dance," a great funky hip hop groove. The band was especially influenced by the P-Funk sound and a perfect example here is "Rhymin' on the Funk" and they put their own sweet spin on funk with humorous lyrics on "Underwater Rimes," here appearing in a remixed version. The band's other big hit is here too; "Doowutchyalike" rocks along for nearly nine minutes. It too has humorous lyrics like "Have a neck bone, you don't have to say please, eat wutchyalike!" And fans can eat up three bonus tracks: "A Tribute to the Early Days," the instrumental "Humpstramental Mix" of "The Humpty Dance" and the previously-unreleased "Blue View." Non-stop fun!
The Cramps - Songs the Lord Taught Us, Psychedelic Jungle, Bad Music for Bad People
Here's triple the fun for fans of The Cramps with these three reissues. First up is the album that started it all, the Alex Chilton produced debut
Songs the Lord Taught Us. The 1980 album features the tribal beat and wild vocals of "TV Set," a suitable lead off track and introduction to the band that would never be pigeonholed. After the wacky punk of "TV Set" the foursome featuring Lux Interior on vocals and Poison Ivy on guitar tune into a rockabilly groove for "Rock on the Moon," the lo-fi garage rocker "Garbageman" and another fan favorite, the psychobilly "I Was a Teenage Werewolf" where Lux sounds truly tormented while Ivy twangs away on her guitar. This one is on black vinyl. 1981's
Psychedelic Jungle finds the band producing themselves and they did a good job of it, coming up with one of their most popular tunes in the process, the spooky "Goo Goo Muck." The rockabilly burner "Rockin' Bones" is here as is the delightful (and again spooky!) "Voodoo Idol." Another fan favorite, the swamp rockin' "Primitive" is included as is the feedback-enhanced "Don't Eat Stuff Off the Sidewalk." With the album beginning with "Green Fuz" and ending with "The Green Door" it is only fitting that the record is pressed on fluorescent green vinyl. Another cool bonus is an insert of a lithograph print of the cover art. Finally there's
Bad Music for Bad People, a compilation of previously-released tracks like "Garbageman," "Human Fly," the single mix of "Goo Goo Muck," "I Can't Hardly Stand It," "TV Set," "Drug Train" and "Uranium Rock." Adding to the fun here is the fact that this limited and numbered pressing is on glow in the dark vinyl, so listen with the lights out if you dare! Another bonus is an insert of a lithograph of the cover art.
Creed - Live in San Antonio - (2LP, metallic silver colored vinyl)
This live set, comprising of 13 songs, was recorded at San Antonio's Freeman Coliseum in November of 1999. The Tallahassee band was riding high at the time, racking up hits and platinum albums. Here they begin their show with, appropriately enough, "Are You Ready?" from the
Human Clay album. With
Human Clay being only a couple of months old at the time it is no surprise that they play a good deal of it here, including "What If," "Faceless Man," "Say I" and "Beautiful." But the
Human Clay highlights performed here are two of the bands enduring big hits, "With Arms Wide Open" and the blockbuster "Higher" which closes out the show. The set also includes takes on Creed biggies "Torn" and "One." Packaged in a sturdy gatefold jacket.
Ray Barretto - Together
- (180 gram black vinyl)
Originally released on the vaunted Fania label and here reissued by Craft Recordings, this album of great salsa and Latin funk grooves from conga master Ray Barretto also features his original band members Adalberto Santiago on vocals, Orestes Vilato on timbales and Luis Cruz on piano among them. The title cut "Together" kicks off the album; the song has long been regarded as one of the best of Latin funk recordings and features Barretto taking a rare vocal turn. Barretto's band features two trumpet players and they shine on "Adiviname Y Olvidate" as they parp to Santiago's vocals and over all the great percussion which also includes bongo work from Tony Fuentes. Side A's smooth "Hipocresia Y Falsedad" was a hit, as was Side B's "Vive Y Vacila." Don't expect to sit still when listening to
Together, a record meant to dance to or at least do some serious swaying. Barretto has a vast catalog of releases; Together is a nice entry point for the uninitiated.
