Compilations, Soundtracks, re-issues and re-mixes:

Live: If you missed Woodstock 99, don’t worry you can still relive it. Epic Records has released a 3 CD set with a total of 35 tracks. Put this in your CD player and then light it on fire: Korn, Offspring, Lit, Buckcherry, Kid Rock, Limp Bizkit, Rage Against the Machine, Metallica, Creed, Sevendust, DMX, Godsmack, Megadeth, Bush, Live, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Roots, Rusted Root, Bruce Hornsby, Dave Matthews, Brian Setzer, Sheryl Crow, Everlast, Everclear, Jewel, Elvis Costello, Alanis, Jamiroquai, G. Love and the Chemical Bros.
Also just released is the Saturday Night Live 25 year Aniversary double CD set on Dreamworks with 30 live performances from the TV show. Disc one is the AC disc with Paul Simon, Sting, Eric Clapton, Counting Crows, Annie Lennox, James Taylor, Jewel, Lenny Kravitz, Tom Petty, Grateful Dead, Dave Matthews, Billy Joel, Elvis Costello, David Bowie and Randy Newman. Disc 2 is the Alternative disc with Nirvana,, Neil Young, R.E.M., Hole, Beastie Boys, Dr. Dre, TLC, Arrested Development, Oasis, Green Day, Beck, Pretenders, Alanis, Janet and Mary J. Blige. ¶ For all you closet Rocky Horror fans, Meat Loaf’s VH1 Storytellers performance is finally available on CD from BMG.
The recently reunited Sunny Day Real Estate have a live album out too on Sub Pop, called simply enough, Live. This is really well recorded and has a cool cover as well.
You don’t need a big record deal to put out a live album though, just check out Officer Negative’s Live At The Roxy on Screaming Giant. Comps & Tributes: Wouldn’t it be Beautiful is a comp from Messenger Records (Great name and logo guys!) that supposes how nice it would be if all the bands on this comp were signed, which of course most of them aren’t. Daniel Lanois, Gary Jules, Richard Buckner and Chris Whitley are the only artists you might have heard from this comp, but their appearance signals a certain qaulity. Intrigued? Take a chance.... ¶ DCide: The 40 is a 40 song two CD set from DCide records with bands like Clare Quilty, EBO, Baby Fat, MK Ultra DC, Poole, Smartbomb, Chia, Burglar, Adam West and lots more.
Pspyched (spiked!) is ‘the secret world of alternative nuggets’ comp from Beggars Banquet and has tracks from bands like Darkside, Ripe, The Icicle Works, The Hypnotics, Mercury Rev, Loop, Tones On Tail, Rollerskate Skinny and more.
Cinema Beer Belly Vol 4 is the punk rock compilation from Hopeless Records that comes in both CD and VHS formats and is fucking crammed to the gills with quality punk. Both formats have 20 tracks from the same bands with the same songs like Mustard Plug, Sick Of It All, AFI, Superchunk, Bad Religion, Scared Of Chaka, Man Or Astroman, The Melvins, Samiam, Gameface and more.
Music To Listen to Music By is the Coldfront Records comp with a fine selection of bands like Hagfish, Mcrackins, Divit, Diesel Boy, Tilt, Bracket, Wynona Ryders, Limp, Electric Frankenstein, REO Speedealer, Toilet Boys and lots more.
MOM III is out now on Hollywood and if you didn’t already know this means Music For Our Mother Ocean and benefits the Surfrider Foundation, a very worthy organization that helps keep our oceans from getting fucked up. Contributors, man of whom are surfers, include Brian Setzer w/ Brian Wilson, Butthole Surfers, Beck, Lisa Loeb, Janes Addiction, Pearl Jam, Gary Hoey, Red Hot Chile Peppers, Everclear, Ben Harper, Smash Mouth, Beastie Boys, Chris Isaak, Lit and more.
Just in case one Clash Tribute this quarter wasn’t enough, there’s another one on Chord titled City Rockers. True to the spirit of the band, this one leans a little more towards the raw side with tracks from Dave Smalley, Hot Water Music, Murphy’s Law, Kid Dynamite, Dropkick Murphys, Incognegro, Error Type 11, Fang and lots more.
A different type of tribute is another solo album, Under the Influences, from Mike Ness on Time Bomb. Following very closely on the heels of his excellent Cheating At Solitaire album, this is an album of covers of musicians that influenced Ness over the years, like Carl Perkins, Bobby Fuller, Marty Robbins, Hank Williams Sr., George Jones, Wanda Jackson and the Carter Family. He even covers Social D’s Ball & Chain. Much of this material was added to his live set on his recent solo tour and this was recorded with his touring band. ¶ Start Your Engines is the Side One Dummy Comp with tracks from The Bleeders, Custom Made Scare, Hellbillys, Teen Idols, Reo Speedealer, Nobodys, Speedbuggy, Hai Karate and more.
Mailorder is Still Fun is a comp from Kung Fu Records with 28 tracks from bands like Blue Meanies, Alkaline Trio, The Chinkees, Korea Girl, Less Than Jake, Slow Gherkin, The Muggs and lots more.
No Borders on Suburban Home is a comp of Japanese & American Hardcore. 18 tracks featuring US bands you’ve heard of and dig, like 88 Fingers Louie, Snapcase, Kid Dynamite and Sick of it All along with Japanese bands you’ve never heard of but will soon like. ¶ Fox Sports presents Game Time! is the latest sports/rock tie in with ‘19 of your favorite stadium pumping crowd rocking hits.’ 23 tracks from artists like Puff Daddy, Dave Grohl, Kid Rock, Snoop Dogg, Blur, The Prodigy, Master P, John Madden, Smash Mouth, Sugar Ray, Enrique Iglesias, Ice Cube, Moby, Republica, Crystal Method and more.
X-Ray Music is a nicely designed and cool comp of dub from Blood and Fire featuring artists like King Tubby, Lee Perry, Prince Jammy and others.
On the Hip-Hop tip are three new comps. First in is Rare and Rugged: Hip-Hop on the Cductive.com Tip with tracks from Dead Poets Society, The Herbaliser, Mood Swingaz, Eminem, Pumpkinhead and more.
MC2 and JDog present Killers and Dealers in Violent Areas is from Nor Cal’s own Double Action Records and has tracks from Brotha Lynch Hung, Mr. Doctor, Kreep and BG Wax.
Get Crunk! on Tommy Boy has tracks from the L.G.’s, Three Six Mafia, Da Organization, Goodie Mob, Crooked Lettaz, UGK, Mystikal, VIP, Playa Haters and more.
Lastly, but not leastly is Mash The Place Up, a comp of some of the best drum and noise tracks from South London’s Ambush Records which has tracks from DJ Scud, Aphasic, Shizuo and others. This comp was originally released as individual 12 inches, which were quite rare. Soundtracks: The OST to Gregg Araki’s new film, Splendor, is on Astralwerks and is pretty cool with tracks from Fatboy Slim, Slowdive remixed by (rb) Locust, The London Suede rb Lionrock, Everything But The Girl rb Chicane, Air rb Moog Cookbook, The Chemical Brothers, Hurricane #1 rb James Lavelle, Lush rb My Bloody Valentine and more.
Another very cool OST is Fight Club on Restless. Unusually these days, it really is original, with 15 electronic/sample based songs composed for the movie by The Dust Brothers.
One of the highlights of the American Beauty OST on Dreamworks is Elliott Smith redoing Because from the Beatles’ Abbey Road album. But there’s some other good tracks here as well from The Folk Implosion, Bill Withers, the Who, The Eels, Gomez and more. Reissues, Greatest Hits & EPs: One of the best re-issues I’ve heard in quite a while is One Last Wish on Dischord. This was a short lived band that played six shows, recorded this album and broke up after four months. What makes this so good and worth releasing now is who’s on it; Guy Picciotto and Brendan Canty of Fugazi and Edward Janney of Girls Against Boys make up 3/4ths of the band along with Michael Hampton. This was recorded by Don Zientra and produced by Ian Mackaye. Worth getting for sure.
I once wrote in Heckler about how when we received a new Cocteau Twins CD, every reviewer we had-punks, rockers, and hip hop fanatics alike were ready to fight over it. Well here we go again. The Twins have never released a ‘greatest hits’ or b-sides CD, but this is pretty close. The BBC Sessions on Ryko is a two CD set that was recorded live in the BBC studios from 1982 to 1996 and includes lots of their more well known tracks as well as several un-released songs.
On a smiliar note is Rarities, B-Sides and Slow, Sad Waltzes from the Cowboy Junkies on their own Latex Records. From a band that was noteworthy for being low key and offhand this is actually a welcome return to form.
Another great CD to check out is Unwound; A Single History, 1991-1997 on Kill Rock Stars. As the title suggests, 17 songs from this elusively great band are collected on one CD. For fans, but this will convert newbies as well. ¶ Another big one for the fans is Sensefield’s Part Of the Deal EP on Grape OS. Five gorgeous tracks of melodic emo-hardcore with three new songs and two songs from their new WB album all in a collectible, nicely designed package.
More of a widely accesible ‘rarities’ release, then a re-issue is The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion’s Xtra Acme on Matador, that has 19 songs (74 minutes) of songs left off Acme, including remixes by David Holmes and Dante Ross with guests that include Moby, Calvin Johnson, Jim Dickinson and Money Mark.
On a slightly related tip is Sideways Soul, Dub Narcotic Sound System meets the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion in a Dancehall Style on K Records that further explores the Olympia, WA/NYC and Calvin Johnson/Jon Spencer connection.
Herbie Hancock was pretty ahead of his time, so it’s only fitting that some of his more progessive work, much of which was produced by Bill Laswell, is now being reissued on Legacy/Columbia. Look for Future Shock, Sound System, Perfect Machine and Best Of, The Hits! to be reissued this month.
Fall In Love All Over Again, is a 24 song CD of unreleased, rare and live tracks from Pinhead Circus on Soda Jerk records. ¶ In a totally different vein is The Lost Trident Sessions from the Mahavishnu Orchestra also on Columbia/Legacy. This will attract a special audience. I’m gonna send my copy to Matt Rodriguez.
The Children of Jah is a collection of tracks from The Chantells & friends like Lopez Walker, The Terrors, Jah Berry and more recorded between 1977-79.
Dirty Little Secrets, Music To Strip By is the latest re-issue CD from My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult on Ryko and contains 18 mostly previously un-released tracks.
The Best of Yaz w/ Alison Moyet, who went on to a healthy solo career and Vince Clarke, Depeche Mode founder who then went on to form Erasure is out on Mute/Reprise and documents this chapter from these two influential musicians.
The Divine Comedy’s A Secret History, The Best Of is on Red Ink. I won’t pretend to know a single thing about this band; this CD showed up 2 hours before Fed-X is picking this issue up. Later. –JB