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 Cult
RELEASE: Weapon of Choice
BACKSTORY: The hard-rock act this week releases a “prequel” to its current album Choice of Weapon on iTunes in the form of a 10-track set that serves as “document of a work in progress and offers a unique opportunity to hear The Cult’s process.” The demos collection will only be sold digitally from Tuesday until Dec. 21.
BUY: iTunes (Digital)
ARTIST : Pet Shop Boys
RELEASE: “Leaving”
BACKSTORY: The synthpop duo this week releases, in the U.K., the second single from its new album Elysium in a variety of digital, CD and vinyl formats. B-sides include a demo, a number of remixes of the title song by LuckyKid and the album’s producer, Andrew Dawson, plus non-album tracks (see full tracklists).
BUY: Amazon.co.uk (CD, digital, vinyl)
ARTIST : The Gun Club
RELEASES: The Las Vegas Story
BACKSTORY: Drastic Plastic this week reissues the third album from the acclaimed punk blues group, originally issued in 1984, on limited-edition, 180-gram audiophile vinyl. The album featured the return of original member Kid Congo Powers and then-future member of Sisters of Mercy, Patricia Morrison.
BUY: Amazon.com (Vinyl)
ARTIST : The Stone Roses
RELEASE: Turns Into Stone
BACKSTORY: Music on Vinyl this week releases, in the U.K., the Roses’ Slivertone-era compilation of non-album singles and B-sides on 180-gram audiophile vinyl, featuring tracks remastered in 2009 by producer John Leckie. The set includes “Fools Gold,” “Elephant Stone,” “One Love,” “What the World Is Waiting For” and more.
BUY: Amazon.co.uk (Vinyl)
ARTIST : Various
RELEASE: Teenage Kicks: 1977-1981, The Music That Changed Everything
BACKSTORY: This new 3CD box set, out this week in the U.K., collects 60 late-’70s, early-’80s tracks from punk and post-punk acts including The Cure, Public Image Ltd., The Specials, Generation X, The Skids, Adam and the Ants, XTC, The Jam and much, much, more.
BUY: Amazon.co.uk (Box set)
