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: Morrissey
RELEASE: Bona Drag: 20th Anniversary Edition
BACKSTORY: The former Smiths singer this week releases, in the U.K., an expanded 20th anniversary edition of his beloved early-career singles compilation in CD and 2LP editions, featuring six Viva Hate-era outtakes appended to the original 14-track collection, which also features newly altered artwork. (Full tracklist here.)
BUY IT: Bona Drag: 20th Anniversary Edition via Amazon.co.uk
ARTIST: Ministry
RELEASES: Every Day is Halloween, Undercover
BACKSTORY: Al Jourgensen this week releases a pair of similar, but differently titled, compilations in the U.S. and U.K. that combine a mix of the industrial giant’s best-loved hits and new cover versions of songs by the likes of AC/DC, Jimi Hendrix and Amy Winehouse. (Full tracklist here.)
BUY IT: Every Day is Halloween: Greatest Tricks via Amazon.com, Undercover via Amazon.co.uk
ARTIST: Midge Ure
RELEASES: The Gift, Answers to Nothing
BACKSTORY: The former Ultravox frontman this week releases, in the U.K., expanded 2CD editions of his first two solo albums, which were originally released in 1985 and 1988. The new sets feature a full contingent of B-sides, 12-inch mixes and live tracks, some of which are previously unreleased. (Full tracklists here.)
BUY IT: The Gift, Answers to Nothing via Amazon.co.uk
ARTIST: Blondie
RELEASE: Blondie at the BBC
BACKSTORY: EMI this week releases the band’s entire 22-song Dec. 31, 1979, concert in Glasgow, Scotland, uncut on CD — it was broadcast live on the BBC at the time — packaged with a DVD that features live footage from the concert, three vintage “Old Grey Whistle Test” performances and four different “Top of the Pops” cuts.
BUY IT: Blondie at the BBC via Amazon.com
See more new releases from Madness, a-ha, The Undertones after the jump…
ARTIST: Madness
RELEASE: Mad Not Mad: Deluxe Edition
BACKSTORY: The latest title in the British pop-ska act’s ongoing reissue series is this 1985 album, which this week is expanded, in the U.K., into a 2CD/1DVD set that includes a bonus CD filled with B-sides and a DVD that includes the record’s promo videos and a number of live performances filmed for various BBC shows.
BUY IT: Mad Not Mad: Deluxe Edition via Amazon.com
ARTIST: a-ha
RELEASE: 25: The Very Best Of — Deluxe Edition
BACKSTORY: This import-only 2CD anthology from the soon-to-retire Norwegian pop trio is released this week, in the U.K., as a deluxe edition with a DVD appended that includes 17 of the band’s music videos, including a clip for the trio’s farewell single “Butterfly, Butterfly (The Last Hurrah).”
BUY IT: 25: The Very Best Of — Deluxe Edition via Amazon.co.uk
ARTIST: The Undertones
RELEASES: Teenage Kicks: The Very Best Of
BACKSTORY: The seminal Irish punk/New Wave act — and favorite of the late John Peel’s — is anthologized this week in the U.K. with a new 20-track compilation CD that also includes the music videos for “Teenage Kicks” and “My Perfect Cousin,” plus new liner notes by bassist Michael Bradley.
BUY IT: Teenage Kicks: The Very Best Of via Amazon.co.uk
ARTIST: Various
RELEASE: Born Stiff: The Stiff Records Collection
BACKSTORY: London’s Stiff Records is commemorated this week in the U.K. with a new 2CD, 45-track anthology featuring cuts from the imprint’s late-’70s, early-’80s heyday by the likes of Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Devo, Damned and Ian Dury.
BUY IT: Born Stiff: The Stiff Records Collection via Amazon.co.uk
