“I hear you are singing a song of the past
I see no tears
I know that you know it may be the last”
So sang Steely Dan back on their ‘Countdown to Ecstasy’ album back in 1972. And, it wasn’t their last (as it shouldn’t have been), and now that song and album are deservedly getting their reissue/upgrade due. At the same time, so are many other songs and albums - there is a deluge of reissues, anniversary and deluxe editions, you name it.
Some like Steely Dan certainly deserve it, so do some songs and albums that didn’t get their real due when they were first released. Yet there are so many among those that, well, probably means a lot to the artists themselves and a few fans, but more, in particular, to record labels, that are hopping on the trend hoping there is yet another, (or maybe first) cash-in.
Whether any of the below artists will get into the reissue line at some point is yet to be seen/heard.
Bella White - Flowers On My Bedside
For singer-songwriters like Bella White, you need not a good song to carry it, but a good or at least an intriguing voice. White has got all of those here and should be on a roll.
NRBQ - Me and the Boys
Here is a band that has their stuff reissued, and more than deservedly so. If there’s a music style out there that NRBQ didn’t try out and made good of it let me know. No misses here.
Citizen Cope - Close to You
For the uninitiated Citizen Cope is not ‘that’ Citizen Cope or Julian Cope, put one Clarence Greenwood, who has quite a lot to say himself musically, a bit different than Julian, but quite good, no matter what.
John Baumann - Grand El Camino
Songs about cars can be somewhat tedious, unless there is some love and passion coming out from them, and Baumann has ample of both here, taking cues from the likes of Townes Van Zandt, Jackson Browne, and all the good guy, it seems.
Triptides - Unwound
There is no need to be aware that Triptides are from Southern California, as they have picked up all the good qualities of that late sixties and early seventies SoCal psych sound here.
The Murlocs - Qeen Pinky
The Murlocs love their psych too, here the more gentle side of it, adding quite a touch of old-fashioned soul to the proceedings here, doing justice to both in the process.
Holy Wave, Estrela Del Sol - Happy
You can call this a sort of summer psychedelia, the type that relies on some great harmonies too. Quite a treat as an announcement for their new album
Pale Blue Eyes - Takes Me Over
This trio prefers their eighties electro-pop combined with dream pop, but it seems they know both quite well to make sure that this pop ditty works quite well.
Dominic Sen - Prayer
With such heavenly vocals, you can only go wrong if the song itself is not up to par, but Sen obviously knows her way both around songwriting and arranging to make this one work.
Laura Wolf - Homebody
Wolf’s music is firmly here today, incorporating as much left-field songwriting into something that musically has both a head and a tail and sounds like a very good song.
trio WoRK - Dancing In The Dark
This is jazz-pop at its best - subtle, evolving backing and some even subtler vocals with an added touch of them being so fragile that they almost break up, but never do.
Mermaid - Boundaries
Boundaries as such are nothing that this L.A. duo of Brittany Campbell and Candace Quarrels really want to respect as far as their music is concerned, and judging by this one, they really shouldn’t.
Diesel Boy - Dirty Dishes
It’s been a while since these post-punk veterans have made a record, but they come back as if they haven’t lost any rush and force they started out with, nor that they have lost a sense of a good melody along the way.
Babygirl - Starlight
Another duo, another very good) dream pop song with quite a sparse arrangement that lets both the vocals and the guitar do their thing correctly.
Beau Jennings - People in This Town
The key to a good Americana song is to both keep the old formulas and bend them as much as possible at the same time, as Jenning (and The Tigers) do here, with its catchy organ sound leading the way.
McKenzie Stubbert - Falling Pt. I
Good neo-classical compositions rely on plenty of imagination from the composer, and Stubbert exemplifies that here with his combination of the usual and smart use of the 1949 Acrosonic piano.
Jacob Morris - Stoney
Morris is one of those artists that picks up ‘old’ well-known musical elements and gives them enough of his own personality to make them sound both familiar and new and fresh and the same time.
Laura Misch - Portals
If you want a strict genre definition of what Misch is doing here, you will have a hard time defining it. Maybe, instead, it is more advisable just to enjoy what she is doing here.
Organ Morgan - The Argument
Harris McMillan who is the man behind the moniker Organ Morgan, actually started out as a guitarist and drummer, and keeps that organ from his handle hidden here, but shows some excellent songwriting and arranging skills along the way.
dadá Joãozinho - Cuidado!
This Sao Paolo, artist, simply shows here that Brazilian music remains one of the never-drying wells and sources of musical invention, combining so many musical elements from Brazil and elsewhere that it could make your head spin - in the right direction, that is.