Short Takes: Early Details on Reissues from Pearl Jam, Kate Bush

• A new Rolling Stone article has revealed some details about the upcoming batch of catalogue titles from Pearl Jam. The forthcoming reissues of Vs. (1993) and Vitalogy (1994) will feature “previously unheard bonus tracks (including an alternate version of “Corduroy” and a guitar-and-organ version of “Betterman”), an entire 1994 Boston show and a cassette from their Monkeywrench radio series.” The article is not clear, but it seems as though both albums and bonus material may be paired together, or a separate box set is going to be released. More details to come, we’re sure.
• Following rumors that Kate Bush may release new music in 2011 – her first effort since Aerial in 2005 – it’s now being reported that four of her albums (The Dreaming (1982), Hounds of Love (1985), The Sensual World (1989) and The Red Shoes (1993)) will be reissued this year. Bush has got control of the masters from EMI, and is working with David Munns, a former EMI and Polygram executive, on the reissues.

Back Tracks: Aerosmith Part I – The Columbia Years

Aerosmith isn’t dead, but it may as well be. Frontman Steven Tyler was preposterous in his first televised appearance as a judge on American Idol (though there was some very funny writing about the whole ordeal), and if you’re like me, you wish Tyler had stepped away from such ridiculous duties and went on to perform with what many have called America’s greatest rock and roll band – even if it sounded more like their recent, pop-oriented rock instead of their bluesy, pre-metal days.

To celebrate Tyler, guitarists Joe Perry and Brad Whitford, bassist Tom Hamilton and drummer Joey Kramer, we’re taking a trip down memory lane through the music of Aerosmith. They’re not a band bursting with vault tracks, though they’ve had their share of remasters, box sets and compilations, as you’ll soon see over the next few days. Walk this way toward our first part of the Aerosmith journey, which covers their first stint on Columbia Records.

Kinks Reissues Get Klearer

The other day we’d mentioned that The Kinks’ first three U.K. albums were being expanded across the pond. Amazon’s U.K. pages had track listings for the double-disc sets, but there wasn’t much in the way of annotations. If a song popped up twice, was it an alternate mix? A live version? A demo? We didn’t know, so we didn’t say much.

Now, U.K. site Spin CDs has put up track listings for Kinks, Kinda Kinks and The Kink Kontroversy, and while there’s still a small bit of speculation to be had, the track lists seem clear enough that The Second Disc feels comfortable enough to report on it.

In traditional Universal form, the deluxe editions look pretty hefty, if not bursting with unheard gems. Generally, each album is presented with one disc of the original LP and another of non-LP singles and B-sides, demos, outtakes and live BBC sessions. (Kinks is presented differently, having both a mono and stereo mix available.) Many of the bonus cuts have been presented elsewhere, from the Castle reissues that were released in England in the late 1990s to 2008’s massive Picture Book box set. A couple of alternate versions and a few of the BBC tracks are presented for the first time anywhere on these sets, as you’ll see below.

Ordering info and the full track lists are after the jump. Of course, if you see anything that should be changed, let us know in the comments.