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15.11.13 MusicWeek 43


NEW REISSUES / CATALOGUE ALBUMS


THE RAMONES • The Sire Years 1976-1981(Rhino/Sire 8122796278)


The essence of American punk, The Ramones hit the ground running in 1976, opening their self-


titled debut album with their “Hey Ho, Let’s Go!” rally call in the first song, Blitkreig Bop. Primitive, powerful and exciting, it sets the tone for this new box set, which brings together the band’s first six seminal albums in a frills-free clamshell-clad box set. Their songs short, succinct and totally lacking in the bombastic indulgence that afflicted much of rock music at the time, The Ramones are probably more iconic now than they have ever been and this set - which includes Ramones, Leave Home, Rocket To Russia, Road To Ruin, End Of The Century and Pleasant Dreams - is very reasonably priced at around £20. There are no bonus tracks but neither does there need to be - each album is a self- contained and enjoyable time capsule, especially End Of The Century, which provided the band


with its highest-charting album in The USA, UK and much of the rest of the globe.


VARIOUS •Wigan Casino 40:


Northern Soul(Spectrum SPECXX 2104)/Northern Soul: The Collection (Rhino 2564640644)


One of these two albums very obviously celebrates the 40th anniversary of the opening of


Northern Soul’s spiritual home in Wigan, the other not - but they are massively complementary, with the result that a punter buying both will be rewarded with 115 unique tracks for around £10. The Spectrum album is a 40 track two CD set, the Rhino album runs to three CDs and 75 songs, and each retails for about the same price. You get more bang for your buck on Rhino, and it is a great compilation, with less overused selections but basic packaging with no liner notes. Wigan Casino 40: Northern Soul includes lengthy and informative liner notes from Richard Sealing, and majors on the


genre’s biggest songs - Do I Love You, Landslide, I’m On My Way et al. Northern Soul: The Collection counters with Get Ready, The Snake and Both Ends Against The Middle.


VAN MORRISON •Moondance (Warner Music 8122796385)


Warner Music expands Van Morrison’s classic 1970 breakthrough album Moondance


from 10 to 60 tracks in a handsomely-bound new 4 CD box set, which also includes a Blu-ray audio disc with high-resolution 5.1 and stereo mixes of the original album, and a beautifully realised 28-page booklet full of information and photographs. Famously curmudgeonly Celt Morrison is far from amused by this new incarnation of his cornerstone work, which has also been beautifully remastered. Housing four of Morrison’s best tunes - Crazy Love, Caravan, Into The Mystic and the title track - and completely devoid of fillers - it is a


soothing, spiritual record, the like of which Morrison never quite managed to equal. The many and various session takes, alternate versions and mixes add to the understanding and appreciation of a masterpiece in the making, with, for example, a looser early take of Caravan providing a nice fresh perspective on an old friend, while I Shall Sing - which missed the cut and went on to be a hit for Art Garfunkel - is a joyous reggae- tinged celebration of some merit.


VARIOUS • Piccadilly Sunshine


Part 13(Particles PARTCD 4027)/Piccadilly Sunshine Part 14 (Particles PARTCD 4031)/Piccadilly Sunshine Part 15 (Particles PARTCD 4032)


The Piccadilly Sunshine series started in 2009 and has a reputation for sourcing obscure but worthy


recordings from the late 1960s and early 1970s. Parts 13, 14 and 15 of the ongoing series each contain 20 newly-excavated obscurities, none of which charted. Part 13, for example, includes former Shadows bassist


Jet Harris rare vocal excursion My Lady which was written by Troggs frontman Reg Presley, who also penned Her Emotion for Page One labelmate Cain. Both sit easily in a varied selection of pop/pysch/garage recordings which also include the pre-fame Mud’s Flower Power and the superb Oh Girl by US exile Richard Henry. The only really bad track on the album, Don’t Worry About A Thing, is a quirky, old-fashioned and irksome single by then Radio 1 DJ David Symonds. Part 14 includes the perky Join My Gang by Oscar, who turns out to be Paul Nicholas singing a Pete Townshend throwaway; Wolverhampton band Finders Keepers’ uptempo melodic harmony cut Friday Kind Of Monday; and Glasgow band Studio Six’s highly-collectable Bless My Soul, a turntable hit that somehow failed to sell. Completing the triumvirate, Part 15 starts with the entrancing and dramatic Jonathan Whatsit by the completely unknown Vic Richards and includes the bizarre May A Man Be Merry by Lionel Bart and Come Down Little Bird, a typical sunshine pop confection from Mark Wirtz credited to The Whales.


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