They’ll Be Compiled, in a Week or Two

The a-ha reissue/compilation frenzy continues. The band’s official Web site just announced another compilation from Rhino Records, just months after last compilation The Singles 1984-2004 got a domestic release.

This new set, 25, features two discs’ worth of hits and favorite album tracks from every one of the band’s albums, including the new farewell single “Butterfly, Butterfly (The Last Hurrah).” Pretty much everything that’s on The Singles 1984-2004 (and reaching a bit further, the 1991 comp Headlines and Deadlines: The Hits of a-ha) can be found here, so if you’ve been waiting to get some sort of a-ha comp (and why have you been waiting? these guys are great), this might be the one to get. There’s also a few rare single mixes and things for collectors too. (Speaking of collectors, the site also posted a photo gallery of the packages for the soon-to-ship deluxe editions of Hunting High and Low and Scoundrel Days.)

The set is due out in Norway on July 19 and should hit other markets “in the coming months.” Hit the jump and take on another a-ha anthology.

Reissue Theory: The Tubes, “Outside Inside”

The music industry is a crazy place. One year your band’s putting on a crazy stage show that equally satirizes and utilizes the grandest excesses of rock, the next minute you’ve got a hit single with most of the members of Toto for support.

Such is the tale of The Tubes, one of many ambitious, underappreciated bands from the ’70s and ’80s. During the band’s early tenure on A&M from 1975 to 1981, they had a significant following thanks to their funny songs (first single “White Punks on Dope” hit the Top 30 in the U.K. and was covered by Motley Crue) and outsize stage productions (directed by Kenny Ortega, known for other outsize productions like the High School Musical series and Michael Jackson’s This is It). Their biggest LP on A&M, 1979’s Remote Control, was a biting concept album jabbing at T.V. culture with Todd Rundgren in the producer’s chair.

But they left the label broke and dejected after their follow-up to Control was shelved. The Tubes made the sweeping decision to retool their image: the stage show was toned down and the songs were poppier, thanks to the production efforts of David Foster, who’d become famous in the ensuing decades for some of the most delightfully bombastic pop ever (Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Josh Groban). Their debut for Capitol Records, The Completion Backward Principle, cracked the Top 40, setting the stage for Outside Inside. Lead single “She’s a Beauty” was the band’s biggest hit ever, at No. 10 on the Billboard charts. The song had the band dovetailing nicely with Foster’s production and the co-songwriting abilities of Toto’s Steve Lukather (he penned the song alongside Foster and Tubes frontman Fee Waybill), who bought most of his bandmates along for the ride as well – David Paich and Steve Porcaro are credited on the record, and Bobby Kimball’s unmistakeable voice can be heard singing on the chorus. (In another bit of Toto-related irony, the well-received video for the single starred Robert Arquette – now Alexis – who is the sibling of Rosanna, the namesake of one of Toto’s biggest singles.)

Two other singles were spun off the record but were far less successful. However, final single “The Monkey Time” is notable for being slightly re-recorded for single release; vocalist Michelle Gray replaced Martha Davis of The Motels for the single (which would find its way on some CD pressings in place of the album version).

There was one more LP for Capitol afterward, the Rundgren-produced Love Bomb, and then no activity from The Tubes until 1996. In that time, Waybill became a valued collaborator to another soft-pop heavyweight, the one and only Richard Marx. But the band sure went out after a hell of a high note, and one that should earn the special treatment on CD someday. (Maybe it would start a reissue campaign for the band on both sides of the fence, Capitol and A&M.)

Step inside another world after the jump.