REISSUES

DIGGIN’ IN THE CRATES FOR UNTOLD TREASURES
By Andrew Hultkrans

Getting an early jump on male-pattern baldness

tHe monks

Black Monk Time

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MYSPACE AMAZON

Five discharged American GIs playing beat music in mid-’60s Germany: (1) meet local existentialists who convince them to be the “anti-Beatles,” (2) go to the barber to get monks’ tonsures, ( 3) acquire black robes and noose-rope neckties, ( 4) retrofit six-string banjo with internal microphone, ( 5) make unholy racket in stinking rathskellers, ( 6) presage punk more genuinely than any other snotty garage band, the Stooges included. “Complication” remains the most credible antiwar song ever; Iraq War supporters who haven’t served in the military should give it a listen.

per was hardcore punk on bad acid and heroin. These brainy San Francisco retards influenced many who made glorious noise in the late ’80s and early ’90s, most notably Nirvana. Liner notes to these welcome reissues written by Krist Novoselic, Henry Rollins, and the Melvins’ King Buzzo.

Lafayette afro-rock Band Darkest Light: The Best Of

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MYSPACE AMAZON
An early-’70s Long Island funk
crew who moved to Paris and
absorbed the North African
vibes of the Barbès district, the
Lafayettes didn’t sell much in
their time, but the searchlight
saxophone intro to “Darkest
Light” has become a holy grail of
sampling—looped first by Public
Enemy, and then more lucratively
by Teddy Riley for Wreckx-N-
Effect’s 1992 chartbuster “Rump
Shaker.” “Hihache” is certainly
the only track mined by both
Aimee Mann and Wu-Tang Clan.

artistically relevant for more than four decades. The lauded 2008 reissue of Jesus of Cool whetted appetites for this affectionate two-CD career summation.

fLipper

Album—Generic Flipper

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Gone Fishin’; Sex Bomb Baby!; Public Flipper Limited: Live 1980–1985

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MYSPACE AMAZON

Turgid when others were amped, arty when all was austere, more out of tune than anybody, Flip-

BoB wiLLs & His texas pLayBoys The Tiffany Transcriptions

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AMAZON
Progenitors and foremost prac-
titioners of Western swing—a
stunningly hot blend of country
with big-band jazz, polka, and
jump blues—Wills and his Play-
boys recorded hours of music
live in the studio in 1946–47 to be
sold as syndicated radio shows.
This weighty ten-CD box finds
the master fiddler (and former
blackface minstrel) creating a sin-
gular eccentric form analogous to
Django Reinhardt’s Gypsy jazz.

nick Lowe Quiet Please: The New Best of Nick Lowe

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AMAZON
Lowe is a well-loved Brit
songsmith/producer whose pub-
rock roots (Brinsley Schwarz),
support from more famous peers
(Elvis Costello), knack for power-
pop gems (“Cruel to Be Kind,”
“[ What’s So Funny ’Bout] Peace,
Love and Understanding”), and
willingness to collaborate (Rock-
pile, Little Village) have kept him

COURTES Y THE MONKS

pearL Jam Ten: Super Deluxe Edition

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MYSPACE AMAZON
The Ticketmaster adversaries
and reluctant superstars revisit
their commercial heyday with a
multiversion mega-reissue of this
blockbuster grunge talisman. The
most opulent package includes
two CDs (remastered orginal
album, Brendan O’Brien remix),
one DVD (MTV Unplugged), four
vinyl LPs (the two album versions
and a 1992 concert), a three-song
cassette that replicates Eddie
Vedder’s audition tape (with
Vedder singing over the group’s
instrumental demos), and a
“composition notebook” filled
with notes and photos. Whew.