New CDs: The Church, Soft Boys, Gary Numan, Dexys Midnight Runners, Nick Heyward

Record Rack: A round-up of the week’s new albums, expanded reissues and/or box sets, appearing each Monday on Slicing Up Eyeballs.

ARTIST: The Church
RELEASES: Deep in the Shallows, Of Skins and Heart, The Blurred Crusade
BACKSTORY: The Aussie rockers this week begin rolling out 30th anniversary reissues with expanded editions of their first two albums, from 1981 and 1982, plus a 2CD singles comp.
BUY IT: Deep in the Shallows, Of Skins and Heart, The Blurred Crusade via Amazon.com

ARTIST: The Soft Boys
RELEASES: A Can of Bees, Underwater Moonlight
BACKSTORY: The first two albums by Robyn Hitchcock’s late-’70s/early-’80s neo-psychedelic band — originally released in 1979 and 1980 — are reissued this week in stripped-down CD and audiophile vinyl editions that come with new download-only bonus tracks. (See full tracklists here.)
BUY IT: A Can of Bees, Underwater Moonlight via Amazon.com

ARTIST: Dexys Midnight Runners
RELEASES: Searching for the Young Soul Rebels
BACKSTORY: The 1980 debut album from the band that’s still best, and in some circles probably only, known for “Come On Eileen” gets an expanded 30th anniversary reissue this week. The new 2CD edition features a remastered version of the original 11-track album, plus a bonus disc featuring 21 singles, B-sides, demos and BBC sessions.
BUY IT: Searching for the Young Soul Rebels via Amazon.com

ARTIST: Nick Heyward
RELEASE: North of a Miracle
BACKSTORY: The Haircut 100 frontman’s 1983 solo debut receives a 2CD reissue this week in the U.K., with the original 10-track album filled out with a host of B-sides, instrumental tracks and remixes (four of which are appearing on CD for the first time), plus a previously unreleased nine-track live set recorded in London in November 1983.
BUY IT: North of a Miracle via Amazon.com

See more releases from Gary Numan, Wedding Present, Squeeze and more after the jump…

ARTIST: Sharpe + Numan
RELEASE: Automatic
BACKSTORY: Cherry Red this week reissues, in the U.K., the one and only album by synth pioneer Gary Numan and jazz keyboardist Bill Sharpe (it’s out in the U.S. next week). The expanded edition of the duo’s long-out-of-print 1989 album features five bonus tracks, including  remixes of “I’m on Automatic” and “No More Lies.”
BUY IT: Automatic via Amazon.co.uk

ARTIST: The Wedding Present
RELEASE: Live 1989
BACKSTORY: David Gedge and Co. this week release, in the U.K., the third in a series of reissues of old live tapes the band used to sell at gigs in the late ’80s. The new 2CD set chronicles concerts in Germany and England — the latter of which consists of the Wedding Present playing Ukrainian folks songs. (See full tracklist here.)
BUY IT: Live 1989 via Amazon.co.uk

ARTIST: Crowded House
RELEASE: The Very Very Best Of
BACKSTORY: The week sees the release in the U.K of a new 19-track best-of (the U.S. edition is out next week) that covers 1986’s self-titled debut through 2007’s reunion album Time On Earth, but stops short of including anything off of this summer’s Intriguer. There’s also a limited-edition version with a DVD featuring 25 music videos. (See full tracklist here.)
BUY IT: The Very Very Best Of via Amazon.co.uk

ARTIST: Squeeze
RELEASE: Spot the Difference
BACKSTORY: The British pop-rockers’ disc of re-recorded hits, which arrived in the U.S. back in August, is released in the U.K. this week in a single-disc edition that’s the same as the American release and a 2CD set that features a limited-edition 10-track bonus disc recorded live at San Francisco’s Fillmore this past summer.
BUY IT: Spot the Difference via Amazon.co.uk