THE BEST OF ELSEWHERE 2022: THE YEAR IN REISSUES

With rock culture now almost 70 years old, every year – if not every month – is the anniversary of something.

And since record companies, artists and accountants discovered the market for reissues, and especially expanded reissues, we've seen scores of them every year roaring at us.

Some are comprehensive to the point of being the exclusive domain of obsessive -- like the 19 disc limited edition box set of King Crimson On (and off) The Road 1981-1984 – others more manageable.

Much as Elsewhere would have loved to have gone through the eight CD set of Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot or even the reissue of four of Joni Mitchell's albums (The Asylum Years 1972 – 1975), the former seemed like a very long haul and the later simply offered remastered versions of those albums.

We just never got to them, and many others of similar ilk.

Of those we did, we choose half a dozen here as well worth investigating for whatever reason we identify.

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The Beatles: Revolver

Might as well start with the big one: the final album when these four men – Ringo the oldest still only 25 when they were recording, George Harrison just 23 – were “a little dance-hall band” as Harrison memorably described them.

After this they increasingly went their separate ways but for Revolver there they were facing each other and experimenting with very different types of songs (Eleanor Rigby to Yellow Submarine is quite a leap) and new sounds (backwards tapes, the sonic landscape of Tomorrow Never Knows).

The expanded edition of the remastered album allowed insights into their working method (“In the place where I was born, non one cared” sings Lennon plaintively) and how the songs came into existence in the studio in the short time they had.

Elsewhere looked at the road to Revolver here and our consideration of the expanded reissue is here.

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Tall Dwarfs: Unravelled 1981-2002

This extensive collection (55 songs) was still not even close to being everything they did, but was a sonic reminder of how influential and enjoyable the duo of Chris Knox and Alec Bathgate (who complied this and did the artwork) were as they re-defined lo-fi, outside alt.whatever but also often wrote incredibly catchy pop alongside their more experimental side.

And woven through are Knox's penetrating social observations which can be as astute as they are uncomfortable.

Lotta fun to be had here though.

You can read our appraisal here and Alec Bathgate was interviewed about the project (and his own solo work) here

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The Dream Syndicate: What Can I Say, No Regrets/Out of the Grey

Whether you thought they were part of the Paisley Underground, the mutant pop offspring of electric Neil Young, indie.rock or somehow attached to alt.country, LA's Dream Syndicate helmed by Steve Wynn were one of those bands (like the Church, Saints and Replacements) which rewarded longtime loyalty.

Their third album Out of the Grey in '86 should have been their crowning moment when fans of all those genres recognised their particular genius . . . but it didn't;t happen like that./

However this 51 song collection of that album and songs around that period confirms what we said: “At various points the Dream Syndicate here channel the spirits of Crazy Horse, Velvet Underground, Television, rocked-out Americana (Drinking Problem), the Saints albums from around the same period (Dying Embers) and more . . . but all of which adds up to the Dream Syndicate”.

Great rock'n'roll band with pop sensibilities, excellent reissue.

You can read out appraisal here

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The Rolling Stones: Live at El Mocambo 1977

Most Stones fans will say immediately that Get Your Ya-Ya's Out was the great Stones live album.

Well, it was . . . until this arrived 45 years after the night in a Toronto club when everything – notably Richards' drug bust and British punks consigning them to the dustbin reserved for old fart rock stars – conspired against them.

And against the odds they pulled out a blinder which roamed back into their early days, through hits and recent album tracks, and had Billy Preston on piano and organ adding blues and gospel as required.

A great live album.

You can read what we wrote about it and the times here

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The Finn Brothers: Finn

We said the double vinyl reissue of the Finn album with rehearsals of Weather With You, It's Only Natural, There Goes God and Four Seasons in One Day (which ended up on Crowded House's later Woodface album) and other songs meant this came off like the Beatles White Album for its almost casual craftsmanship, wonderful songs (the psychedelic Suffer Never) and brittle pop (Kiss the Road in Rarotonga).

Two men in one room.

Remarkable.

You can read our full consideration here

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Sola Rosa: Get It Together

This was the 2009 turning point for Andrew Spraggon's Sola Rosa project which assimilated funk'n'soul, reggae, jump jive, scratching, strings and hip-hop's all-inclusive ethos on an enjoyable album with local and international guests which was diverse but cohesive.

The long-awaited reissue saw it get first time release on vinyl as a double album and allowed us to hear again its maturity, intelligence and downright good time enjoyment.

You can read out appraisal here.

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All these albums are available at digital outlets, but when it comes to well packaged box sets and reissues, possession is nine-tenths of the lore.