Reissues Revisited

In the summer, I wrote a sarky, angry blog (mmm, not like me…) about EMI and their cruddy reissues. The label, sensing that a worldwide recession was just round the corner, unleashed a dastardly plan to get themselves back in the black – by releasing deluxe (don’t use that word often enough) versions of so-so albums that not many people bought in the first place. So, the world was treated to BRMC’s second album and Gomez’s feted-for-five-minutes debut in “expanded form”, although neither were expanded to include songs or deodorant, respectively. A pointless, but quite funny, misstep of a company sinking into oblivion but still keen on reminding everyone that they released some average albums, that they were now planning to EXPAND upon, once upon a time. Cute.

I was taught this week, though, that reissues need not be the moron’s choice of record release when I received a brilliantly beefed-up version of Pearl Jam’s classic debut ‘Ten’. This is a lesson, EMIPEEPS, in how to re-release an album, with two discs of worth-the-dosh goodness – one a remastered version of the album, one a remixed (not in a Jive Bunny & The Mastermix way) version by grunge supremo Brendan O’Brien, who has dragged their 1991 sonic explosions up to ’09 speed. Then we get to the juicy stuff, outtakes from initial recording sessions, never-before-heard (that phrase should be an integral part of any reissue, non?) versions of songs that haven’t been heard much before by anyone anyway. For PJ geeks (hello Jon!) this is PJ porn – ‘Just A Girl’ and ‘Breath’ from the first time Ed Ved recorded with the band, as well as an unused version of ‘State Of Love And Trust’. Deluxious! Don’t worry if you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s nothing a trip to their Wikipedia page won’t fix.

The finished album will be released in four different packages, all armed with never-before-seen –or-heard extras. Amazing. It’s the start, apparently, of all of Pearl Jam’s being repackaged, re-investigated and re-released in the run-up to their 20th anniversary in 2011. Plenty of examples to learn from then, EMI?