By January 31st of this year, I had already ordered a ridiculous number of multiple-CD box sets since Christmas. With three delayed in the production process, five have already landed on my doorstep (OK, one was small enough to fit in the mailbox). Reviews follow in the order that I tripped over them on the porch coming home from work. As usual, order links are embedded in the Artist/Title listing and streaming options follow whenever available.
Wilco, A Ghost Is Born Deluxe Edition: springing from entangled hardcore and Americana roots, Jeff Tweedy had steered Wilco through band tumult and record company rejection to plant a left-field cultural marker with 2001’s freak-folk classic Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. The band’s 2004 follow-up A Ghost Is Born went to further extremes, a sputtering tornado of punky guitar thrash, electronic noise, avant-garde improvisational systems and lyrical grapplings with personal vulnerability, mental dysfunction and substance abuse. Heavy? Yep. But never offputting or boring; Glenn Kotche and John Stirratt lay down lateral yet accessible beats that float (“Muzzle of Bees”, “Wishful Thinking”) crackle (the hypnotic “Spiders (Kidsmoke)”) shuffle (“Handshake Drugs”, “Theologians”, “I’m A Wheel”) and stomp (“At Least That’s What You Said”, “The Late Greats”) while Leroy Bach and Mikael Jorgenson add spicy, soulful accents and colors. All the while Tweedy waxes deadpan yet primal, ripping holes in the fabric of his personal time and space, searching out both tender and torturous byways to catharsis and healing. If that kind of quest sounds up your alley, this reissue gives it up in excelsis: the finished album plus 4 discs of jammed “Fundamentals”, 2 discs of outtakes and alternates, and a double-disc live show with then-new members Pat Sansone and Nels Cline fleshing out Tweedy’s unique, unlikely Hero’s Journey. Great, extensive liner notes by Replacements biographer Bob Mehr as well. Already on my Favorites list for the year.
Yes, Close to the Edge Super Deluxe Edition: Well, I did ask for this — and Rhino delivered! The third in the series of SD Yes reissues, this captures what might be the quintessential prog band’s quintessential album in pristine, high-impact sound (both the original mix remastered and Steven Wilson’s latest remixes). It all comes down to the three original tunes from 1972 — the side-long title track, the majestic “And You and I” and the remarkably funky “Siberian Khatru” — with Jon Anderson’s wailing word games, Steve Howe’s lacerating guitar licks, Rick Wakeman’s extravagantly classical keys, and the simmering, bubbling rhythm work of Chris Squire and Bill Bruford all battling for space yet somehow fusing into a triumphant whole. Bonuses include plenty of rarities and alternates (including both versions of Yes’ classic take on Paul Simon’s “America”) and a complete live show from the tour that followed, with Alan White’s beefy thwack on drums replacing Bruford’s loose, limber dance. Well worth hearing and picking up, even if you have previous reissues; another instant Favorite.
Steven Wilson, The Overview: If Wilson has never realized his dream of broad pop stardom, he’s entranced the mainstream rock press this time around — both usual (Prog Magazine) and unusual (MOJO named it album of the month) suspects have hailed The Overview as a return to prog that doubles as a conceptual tour de force. For once, though, I’m underwhelmed; while intermittently galvanizing, the two-track album stubbornly refuses to coalesce in my ears. Is Wilson’s musical material stretched too thin? (Side One’s 23-minute suite “Objects Outlive Us” is ultimately a set of variations on one six-chord sequence.) Are his influences, for once, undigested? (The Dark Side of the Moon, Tangerine Dream and “Space Oddity” are practically italicized and bracketed on Side Two’s title suite.) Or is it more likely that I’m bouncing off Wilson’s main conceit (admittedly snarky paraphrase: “the universe is big, cold, and dead, so loosen up in your petty day-to-day lives and find your own existential purpose in the face of meaninglessness”)? As stunning as its high points can be, for me The Overview feels like Wilson’s chilliest, least empathetic effort since his 2008 solo debut Insurgentes. Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if hearing SW live this fall, backed by the players responsible for the instrumental highlights here (Randy McStine and Adam Holzman absolutely bring the goods) shifts my perspective. After all, I wound up advocating for The Future Bites . . . Bonuses of the sold-out deluxe edition include an orchestrated version of Side One and the complete take of album closer “Permanence”, with saxophonist Theo Travis lighting up Wilson’s ambient aural nebulas.
Sonic Elements, IT – A 50th Anniversary Celebration of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway by Genesis: Genesis’ first entry into the superdeluxe marketplace, a 50th-anniversary remaster of their 1974 rock opera, wound up being delayed until June. In meantime, we have to content ourselves with this remake, masterminded by keyboardist/conceptualist extraordinaire Dave Kerzner. But never fear; there’s contentment — indeed, satisfaction — aplenty to be found! An all-star team of contemporary American giants (Kerzner, Fernando Perdomo on guitar, Billy Sherwood on bass) have the time of their lives rewiring The Lamb as a lushly upholstered, dynamic film score, complete with Nick D’Virgilio’s drums and orchestrations repurposed from a similar 2009 project. But the secret sauce here is vocalist Francis Dunnery (whose credits range from original lead singer for Brit neo-proggers It Bites to guitarist for Robert Plant); his magnificent, dramatic singing echoes Peter Gabriel’s originals while avoiding the safety of imitation. Dunnery absolutely inhabits Genesis’ Puerto Rican punk pilgrim Rael on his journey from the streets of New York through realms of embodied myth to absorption into Jung’s collective unconscious (I think). It’s all done with love, gusto and plenty of polish, and it’s absolutely thrilling. Available as a basic double-disc set, a Deluxe triple set with alternate versions of multiple tracks, or a hi-res download with even more alternate takes. Well worth every penny, whichever version you opt for, and in the running for the Favorites list.
Rush 50, Deluxe Edition: So how do you put together yet another Rush anniversary compilation — especially the first since the passing of Neil Peart? Rush 50 turns out to be a pretty ingenious solution to the problem — not just one of marketing, but of producing genuine value. Yes, it’s organized around the career arc of everyone’s favorite Canadian hard-prog power trio as usual; yes, there’s at least one song from every album, with career high points from Fly By Night to Clockwork Angels given extra representation. But more than half the 50 tracks are live versions — spanning the decades from an early TV appearance recorded at an Ontario secondary school to the encore from the final gig of the R40 tour, taken from the canonical All the World’s A Stage, the bonus concerts on recent 40th-anniversary reissues, later live video/audio packages, and the vaults. If some of the fledgling band’s material seems woefully unfashionable now — the Beatles’ “Bad Boy” spun into a psychedelic workout a la Cream, for example — we still get the privilege of eavesdropping as Alex Lifeson, Geddy Lee and Peart grow in muscularity, depth and confidence, building an audience with their audacity and prowess, while time stands still before our ears. The mouthwatering physical package, with sympathetic, well-reported overviews of the band’s first and final decades plus mouthwatering new art by the stalwart Hugh Syme, is the icing on the cake here. Even if most of this material is familiar to longtime fans, having it all in one box turns out to be a genuine pleasure.
— Rick Krueger
