Vintage Stash

In terms of musical culture, the Roman calendar could not accurately document when the 70's turned into the 80's. The explosion of experimentalism that ran through rock, jazz and pop during the latter part of the 60's morphed into strange and not always so wonderful things in the two ensuing decades. Still, there were those artists who confronted that stance, often in marked contrast to their previous efforts, offering work that’s still worth listening to (and reissuing on compact disc) today.

The 60's are commonly regarded as a period of unparalleled artistic adventure, but, for both rock and jazz, the foundation for experimentalism was solidly laid in the previous decade. Each of these double-CD 'Legacy Editions' comprehensively documents what a crucial year 1959 was for the world of jazz;  not concieved merely for holiday sales, these deluxe packages capture the historical significance of the work and reaffirm the timeless quality of truly great music of any genre.

No live recordings can truly capture the cumulative effect of the famed festival, but these five selections illustrate the range of performance from brilliant to mediocre.

Bob Dylan’s status as a bonafide cultural icon is such that even straight remasters of his previously recorded work, sans bonus cuts, warrant close examination. Released comparatively unobtrusively just prior to the drop of his new studio album Together Through Life, these four digi-pak’d titles, two of which are double cd sets, cover expanses of time and style that remind just now much the Bard and his music have changed (and changed us) over the years.

The second batch of expanded remastered cd’s of The Replacements is as much of a labor of love as the first four. The exhaustive liner notes and the meticulous detail former manager Peter Jesperson attributes to the bonus tracks (which sometimes double the number of cuts on a given cd) depict a dramatic backdrop to music that is wholly gripping on its own terms. Truth be told, the casual music lover who discovers The ‘Mats via these releases, not knowing their history, might very well come away convinced this Minnesota quartet is one of the finest rock and roll bands America’s produced in the last twenty years…or perhaps longer!

This is the debut of new regular column at Glide devoted to reissues, remasters and expanded editions of archival recordings. It is designed to serve as a reminder all good music is timeless, no matter when it was originally recorded or when it’s being (re-) introduced to new musiclovers. This edition focuses on THE REPLACEMENTS