Review of Rhino re-releases
City Paper, 2001-08-23
- MIchael Pelusi
Re-Release Me
Many classic albums are issued again
and again.
Heres why.
by Michael Pelusi
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illustration: Jim Campbell
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In 1993, Rykodisc Records began a two-year project reissuing the first
11 albums from Elvis Costello.
Never mind that some of these albums had been released only 7 or 8
years prior, and that others, arguably, didnt warrant re-releasing
(theres Goodbye Cruel World, which even Costello himself
doesnt really like). There was a palpable excitement among Costello-philes.
Each CD contained a plethora of bonus tracks demos, B-sides,
live tracks and the like along with lavish booklets containing
illuminating liner notes from E.C. himself.
Whats more, the CDs sounded spectacular; bright and vibrant in
the high end, deep and punchy in the low. The fine print of a few of
those reissues boasted that the albums were remastered using something
called "the latest 20-bit remastering." Hmm, sonic neophytes
collectively figured, that must be it.
This past Tuesday, Rhino Records kicked off its own Elvis Costello
reissue series. In addition to the first 11 albums (1977-86) originally
on Columbia, this series will include the subsequent six Costello recorded
for Warner Bros. (1989-1996). And, yes, the discs include bonus tracks
and new liner notes by Costello. And, yes, the CDs have been remastered.
Again.
Also on Tuesday, over at Legacy Recordings, the reissue boutique arm
of Sony Music, that label just re-released and upgraded Simon and Garfunkels
entire catalog available separately or together in a boxed set.
This, even though the duo also had a Collected Works (all the
albums stuffed onto three CDs) and another box Old Friends
in their discography. Its a less formidable task than Rhinos
five albums to Costellos 17 and neither are the
first artists to have their catalog extravagantly re-presented more
than once (David Bowie and Steely Dan to name two; thereve also
been single albums to get the multi-remaster treatment, like Dusty Springfields
Dusty in Memphis ). But the deluge raises the question: How
often are music geeks (and maybe even some regular people) going to
have to contemplate re-purchasing their favorite records?
On the phone from Rhinos L.A. offices, Senior VP of A&R Gary
Stewart sounds palpably ecstatic about the series, even when hes
repeating near-verbatim lines from the labels press release announcing
it. When the Costello catalog went up for grabs not too long ago, Stewart
flew to the singers home in Ireland with the Rhino sales director,
he says, "to convince E.C. that we were gonna approach his records
in a nontraditional way
that we werent going to just strip
mine the two or three titles that everybody goes after; that we were
gonna look at the entirety of his career."
Unlike the Rykodisc series, the Rhino albums will not be released chronologically,
but thematically. The first three releases ostensibly represent Costello
the solo artist, with his debut My Aim Is True (1977), Spike
(1989) and 1996s All This Useless Beauty (recorded with
the Attractions, but they were breaking up. So its a solo album,
okay?). Future series will examine Costello the rocker, Costello the
studio auteur, Costello the roots revivalist and so on.
The labels pulled some insightful and extensive liner notes from
Costello, lyrics, extra photos and every conceivable annotation of the
who-played-what-or-pressed-what-button variety. Perhaps most notably
though, its gone the distance in the bonus track department
so much so that a separate disc is delineated on each package for them.
The price? $17.98, the same it would cost to buy a new single CD.
Stewart says the second-disc concept was hatched to give "breathing
space" for the bonus tracks sake. But he also notes, "you
can also have the purity of the original record," and that may
be the more important benefit. Sure, its nice getting 14 bonus
tracks on Rhinos Dusty in Memphis deluxe reissue, but
that albums great partially because it exists as its own entity.
The extra tracks come off like, oh, I dont know, discarded footage
reapplied to a Coppola movie.
And what about the people who bought those Rykodisc reissues (or, for
that matter, the Warner albums, all of which were released during the
CD age)? Stewart admits, "If [the extra] items dont provide
enough of an allure for one to want to purchase this again, we understand."
But, listing again those extra items, he promises, "We intend to
work really hard to make people who are purchasing this for a second
or third time very happy."
Why do reissues sound so good? What is this bit remastering? Is it
the aural equivalent of a car wax, making an analog recording shine
like new, the years wiped away by the smooth cleansing of digital technology?
To quote Steve Martin: Nahhh. Bit remastering? "Thats
just the sampling rate and the conversion technology," says Bob
Irwin, head of the upstate New York-based reissue label Sundazed. While
its gone from 20 to 24-bit these days, all the digital technology
in the world doesnt mean jack without the original masters. "If
you get your hands on the absolute original master tape, 99 percent
of your battle is done," says Irwin, also a contracted freelance
producer for Legacy who helmed both the Old Friends box and
the new S&G series. Meanwhile, Sundazed, which Irwin started in
1989, has found considerable fortune reissuing everything from Nancy
Sinatra to Buck Owens to half-forgotten surf and garage bands of the
60s. They even acquired the rights to release 180-gram vinyl of
Legacys reissues of the Byrds and Bob Dylan.
In the dark days of the 80s, when the record industry was faced,
all of a sudden, with the exploding CD industry, the sound quality of
older albums pressed onto CD left a lot to be desired. "[Reissues
are] a thousand percent better than they used to be," says Jud
Cost, a Santa Clara music critic who writes liner notes for Sundazed
as well as a reissue review column for the Philly-based music magazine
Magnet. "They used to be kind of slapdashed. They would master
things from vinyl, if you can believe. Nowadays, companies feel like
they have to go back to the original source tapes, which is how it should
be."
The improvement of reissues seems crucially linked to the efforts of
guys like Rhinos Bill Inglot (who remastered the Costello discs)
and Irwin: Gearheads and analog lovers who didnt forget to keep
up with the rising technology. Irwin makes the job of reissues producer/label
head sound like one for the Indiana Joneses of record geeks. "In
the early days, it was road trips. It was a couple of guys in a car
driving to Nashville to search through the tape vault a hand
search tape by tape to find the original Knickerbockers [the
60s frat-rock band] masters."
According to Inglot, the problems in the old days were "not necessarily
[that] the people were doing poor work or that the quality of the pressings
were poor, but really more just having more time and more ability to
better research and find the proper tapes
And the sonics all follow
that. Based on that proverb that, you know, theres a certain bodily
function that you cant shine."
So how far will this business of re-reissues go? Will 13 years later
bring us yet another My Aim Is True? Gary Stewart and Rhino
are pretty confident that theyve unearthed every rarity possible,
so were safe in that respect. Adam Block, general manager at Legacy,
believes the future hedges on "a new form of delivery that dictates
the reinvention of the catalog business and catalog marketing,"
but clams up when asked to place bets on any particular technology.
Inglot is more forthcoming, citing DVD audio (marketed by some record
labels) and SACD (from Sony, Legacys owner), as well as downloadable
music. But will it cause the seismic shift CDs did? Thing is, consumers
will have to like the new technology, and notice the improvement, to
want to refurbish their music collection. Inglot says, "Im
somewhat skeptical. Cause its definitely gonna happen. Its
like the future of the record business; theres no doubt its
gonna change, but anyone that tells you where they think its gonna
go, they dont really know."
Though it pains the skinflint in me to admit, the Costello reissues
are pretty damn fine. The bonus tracks and liner notes are fab. And
while it might take golden ears to notice the minute improvements in
the sound quality of Spike and All This Useless Beauty,
My Aim Is True sounds more vibrant even to someone raised on
Rykodiscs version. Inglot stresses that theyre not "trying
to right wrongs." Its more "a balance between remaining
true to the spirit and the sonics of the original record and trying
to cross-pollinate that
with the technology thats at hand."
Whats important is that the painstaking remastering process lets
you hear anew the brash immediacy and sharp-as-nails POV of the ballyhooed
classic album. If Rhino can convince more than just Costellos
rabid fan base of this, theyll really be on to something.
Says Jud Cost, "To keep great stuff like Elvis Costello in print,
you gotta do it again, and [Rhino has] found more things to put on there
and made better notes. I dont think its overkill. Unless
theyre trying to saturate the market with stuff thats already
available. The way theyre doing it now, I think, is pretty healthy."
The Elvis Costello Home Page