Release Round-Up: Week of June 21

Peter Tosh, Legalize It: Legacy Edition / Equal Rights: Legacy Edition (Columbia/Legacy)

The first two albums by the onetime Wailer are greatly expanded with rare alternate mixes and other goodies. (Official site)

Ace, Five-a-Side: Expanded Edition / Time for Another/No Strings: Expanded Edition (Cherry Red)

How long can you wait for expanded editions of the whole Ace catalogue? Each set (Five-a-Side as one set and the other two albums in another package) is remastered and expanded with a host of BBC session tracks. (Cherry Red)

Suede, Head Music: Deluxe Edition (Edsel)

We’ve been totally remiss lately about the Suede remasters, which by all accounts are damn good. So let us remind you that an expanded edition of Head Music came out today, with similar expansions of Suede, Dog Man Star and Coming Up already available. And A New Morning will be expanded next week! (Official site)

Carly Simon, No Secrets / Bad Company, Straight Shooter (Audio Fidelity)

The latest Audio Fidelity Gold CDs are Carly Simon’s breakthrough LP (the one with “You’re So Vain,” which I hope Matt Rowe correctly predicts will be expanded in the near future) and Bad Company’s great sophomore album (with “Feel Like Makin’ Love” and “Shooting Star”). (Audio Fidelity)

Various Artists, ICON (UMe)

They just. Won’t. Quit. (Original post with links to all the titles in this batch)

Legacy Grows New Reissues by Peter Tosh

In 1970, a non-profit organization, the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), was created to influence public opinion on the legality of cannabis use in America. With the support of advisory board members like Willie Nelson, Bill Maher and Tommy Chong, it’s arguably one of the best-known and best-organized groups on marijuana advocacy.

Six years after NORML was created, one of the most potent pro-pot songs was released – Peter Tosh’s “Legalize It.” Tosh was a luminary figure on the reggae music scene, having been a founding member of The Wailers with Bob Marley (his work can be heard up through the Burnin’ album in 1973). Tosh eventually struck out on his own and created some of the most evocative music of the genre, particularly his first two albums for Columbia, Legalize It (1976) and Equal Rights (1977).

This month, Legacy kicks off a celebration of the late Tosh’s life and career, first by releasing the title tracks to those two albums on a special 7″ single for Record Store Day (available on red, yellow or green vinyl) and by re-releasing his 1976 NORML public service announcement to radio stations across America. Then, on June 21, Legacy will release some fully-loaded Legacy Editions of both albums.

Each two-disc set is filled with scores of rare and unreleased material: Legalize It features one disc with the original album and seven unreleased demo versions, and another with Tosh’s original, unreleased mix for the record (allegedly “rescued from the garbage heap by someone ‘with a keen eye,’” according to a press release) and a handful of extremely rare “dub plate” versions pressed as high-quality acetates for use in clubs and dance halls.

Equal Rights, which featured the drum-and-bass team of Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare (soon to become one of the most beloved production teams in reggae and dance music history), is similarly packed, featuring 22 rare and unreleased bonus tracks, including outtakes, demos, alternate versions and more dub plates. Both are also augmented with new liner notes by Roger Steffens (for Legalize It) and Herbie Miller (for Equal Rights). Both men are well-known as reggae enthusiasts and personal contacts of Tosh; Steffens is the curator of The Reggae Archives, a large collection of Wailers and Tosh ephemera, and Miller, Tosh’s former manager, curates the Jamaica Music Museum in Kingston.

Check the track listings for both versions after the jump and order them here and here at Amazon.