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: Wire
RELEASE: Red Barked Tree
BACKSTORY: The classic postpunk act — featuring original members Colin Newman, Graham Lewis and Robert Grey — returns this week with their 12th studio album, and the first since 2008’s Object 47. The 11-track disc is produced by Newman, and is preceded by the 2-minute-long single “Two Minutes” (see tracklist here).
BUY IT: Red Barked Tree via Amazon.com
ARTIST: Pixies
RELEASE: Wave of Mutilation: Best Of
BACKSTORY: Beggars Banquet in the U.S. this week releases three recent greatest-hits collections by the Pixies, Love and Rockets and The Cult on vinyl for the first time. The Pixies collection, originally released on CD in 2004, features 23 songs, including album cuts, some B-sides and a cover of Neil Young’s “Winterlong.”
BUY IT: Wave of Mutilation: Best Of via Amazon.com
ARTIST: Love and Rockets
RELEASE: Sorted! The Best Of
BACKSTORY: The band’s 2003 greatest-hits album is released in the U.S. on vinyl for the first time by Beggars Banquet this week. The 15-track set spans Love and Rockets’ career, from 1985’s Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven (“Haunted When the Minutes Drag By”) to 1998’s Lift (“Holy Fool”), and touching on everything in between.
BUY IT: Sorted! The Best Of via Amazon.com
See new releases by The Cult and Nova Mob, and a Smiths tribute, after the jump…
ARTIST: The Cult
RELEASE: Pure Cult: The Singles 1984-1995
BACKSTORY: This 19-track singles collection from 2000 — itself basically a tweaked reissue of 1993’s Pure Cult: For Rockers, Ravers, Lovers and Sinners — is released on vinyl in the U.S. for the first time this week by Beggars Banquet, and features hits such as “She Sells Sanctuary,” “Wildflower,” “Rain,” “Fire Woman” and more.
BUY IT: Pure Cult: The Singles 1984-1995 via Amazon.com
ARTIST: Nova Mob
RELEASE: The Last Days of Pompeii
BACKSTORY: The 1991 debut by former Hüsker Dü drummer, songwriter and co-vocalist Grant Hart is reissued this week, putting the album back in print for the first time in 20 years. The expanded CD includes a remixed version of the original 12-track album, plus five demo songs Hart used to land a deal with Rough Trade International (see tracklist here).
BUY IT: The Last Days of Pompeii via Amazon.com
ARTIST: Various Artists
RELEASE: Hand in Glove: The Smiths Tribute
BACKSTORY: The 14-track tribute to The Smiths put out last summer as a digital-only album by 24 Hour Service Station this week arrives in CD form, with classic tracks (“There Is a Light That Never Goes Out,” “Reel Around the Fountain”) covered by indie acts such as Vampire Slayers, Q-Burns Abstract Message, Thee Chinadoll and Skinnys 21 (see tracklist here).
BUY IT: Hand in Glove: The Smiths Tribute via Amazon.com
