Statistics Unplugged

The Cranberries‘ second album No Need to Argue has been remastered and expanded for a double CD and 2LP vinyl release in November. Originally released in 1994, the album was the band’s commercial peak, with global sales in excess of 17 million. No Need to Argue contains the single ‘Zombie’ which topped charts across Europe (although interestingly, only peaked at 14 in the UK) and was seemingly played endlessly on MTV at the time. The two-CD deluxe features, on the first disc, a 2020 remaster of the album (“from the original tapes”), three B-sides (‘Away’, ‘I Don’t Need’ and ‘So Cold In Ireland’), a previously unreleased song ‘Yesterday’s Gone’ (which was recorded unplugged for MTV in New York in 1995), a cover of the Carpenters’ ‘(They Long To Be) Close to You’ and a remix of ‘Zombie’. The second CD in this package features nine unreleased demos and eight live tracks.

Wishful Thinking' is one of Recall Records' excellent two-disc anthologies of '80s UK pop bands. It covers the entire career of China Crisis, from their first single, 1981's "African and White," through tracks from their Virgin catalogue, to selections from the Liverpool-based group's sporadic indie releases of the '90s. Built around the songwriting duo of singer/keyboardist Gary Daly and guitarist Eddie Lundon, China Crisis went from a style best described by the title of their first album, DIFFICULT SHAPES AND PASSIVE RHYTHMS, to a much smoother and more commercial style which shared surface characteristics with such fellow '80s pop folks as Prefab Sprout, Eyeless In Gaza, and Aztec Camera. Disc One, with knottier tunes like "Working With Fire and Steel" and the lovely "Black Man Ray," is the better half, but the engagingly melodic tracks on Disc Two come close.

To some, Jethro Tull will always be associated with Ian Anderson's flute playing and more rocking, arena-worthy moments. But like Led Zeppelin, Tull was all about balancing their sonic mood swings; they could effortlessly transform between being loud & proud rock & rollers to more tranquil folksmen in the blink of an eye. The 2007 compilation, The Best of Acoustic Jethro Tull is self-explanatory, since the 24-track set focuses solely on the "unplugged" side of Tull. But some of Tull's finest moments were acoustic guitar-based, including such early classics as "Mother Goose," "Skating Away (On the Thin Ice of the New Day)," and "Fat Man" (here's a fun game to play: the next time you watch the movie Boogie Nights, try to spot the scene that uses the latter song)…

Phil Ochs - The Early Years (2000) {Vanguard Records 79566-2 rec 1963-1966}
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© 1963-66, 2000 Vanguard Records / Welk Music | 79566-2
Folk / Folk Rock / Political Folk / Singer-Songwriter

This is actually an expanded version of the Vanguard CD Live at Newport, although it isn't billed as such. It includes all 13 songs from that album, prefacing them with seven studio tracks that Ochs did for the 1964 Vanguard compilation LP The Original New Folks, Vol. 2. Even if you think you own everything by Ochs, you'll need this if you're a completist, because only five of those Vanguard studio tracks actually made it onto The Original New Folks, Vol. 2. The other two, "How Long" and "Davey Moore," were recorded at the same sessions, but were previously unreleased.

Mixed by Grammy Award-winning mixer/engineer Paul Hicks, overseen by Dhani Harrison and remastered and cut at Abbey Road by Alex Wharton, All Things Must Pass is George’s spiritual high, a true classic and unquestionably one of the greatest albums ever made.

Although it’s fair to say that Ken Hensley, as a musician, a songwriter and artist, is probably best known for the decade he spent in Uriah Heep, from 1970’s “Very ’Eavy… Very ’Umble” through to 1980’s “Conquest”, as the band’s keyboard and organist, guitarist, and often their principle songwriter, Ken has forged a varied and exciting musical career over the past 50+ years. From stints with bands as wide ranging as southern boogie merchants Blackfoot, to shock rockers WASP, it’s as a solo artist, and with the band Ken Hensley & Live Fire, that Ken has secured his enduring legacy. Following on from last year’s “The Bronze Years 1973-1981” collection comes “Tales Of Live Fire & Other Mysteries”, a 5CD set that revisits two prolific years for Ken, with albums released in 2012 and 2013.

After rising to fame at the helm of the popular folk-rock band 10,000 Maniacs, Natalie Merchant enjoyed even greater success as a solo artist during the mid-'90s. Her literate, socially conscious songs established her among the preeminent women in pop music, while her solo debut – 1995's Tigerlily – helped pave the way for a number of female performers in a pre-Lilith Fair market. She continued releasing albums well into the 2000s, often examining specific genres or subjects, although Tigerlily remained her biggest-selling record…