Everything Is Back Again
This fall Universal Music will reissue Elvis Costello's My Aim Is True in a "Deluxe Edition" two-CD set, making it the disk's third reissue since its original 1977 release. Meanwhile, fans of the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds have had a total of nine different opportunities to buy that album in different configurations since 1965. As Ethan Lee wrote in the April 20 Wall Street Journal:
"Improved sound quality and previously unreleased tracks are usually the selling points for the endless recycling of classic albums. The primary target is die-hard fans, who are suckers for buying the same beloved music over and over just to get versions that sound a little bit better, or have one or two additional obscure oddities."
"Suckers," eh?
A couple of days later in The New York Times, Ben Ratliff discussed bands that are essentially "reissuing" themselves. He argued that groups like Rage Against the Machine, the Pixies, and Iggy Pop's Stooges often sound more mature and musically rewarding today than they did in their so-called prime. And, as he notes, there is a lot of "high-profile reuniting" going on, with the Police, Genesis, the Jesus and Mary Chain, Squeeze, Smashing Pumpkins, and maybe even Van Halen all hopping back on the tour bus.
I wish I remembered who recently noted that bands don't break up anymore; they just take more time off between tours.