Sandie Shaw Reissues Are At Your Feet from Salvo (UPDATED 6/3)

UPDATE (6/3): Available today, Salvo has expanded and reissued three more Sandie Shaw LPs. They are 1968’s The Sandie Shaw Supplement, featuring covers of The Rolling Stones (“(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”) and Simon & Garfunkel (“Scarborough Fair”); the self-produced cult hit Reviewing the Situation (1969) and 1988’s Hello Angel, her first LP for Rough Trade and featuring a heap of single-only material with labelmates and fans The Smiths.

ORIGINAL POST (4/8/2013): British pop chanteuse Sandie Shaw is at the center of a new reissue campaign in 2013 from U.K. label Salvo Records, with three expanded albums and one new compilation hitting the shops overseas today.

Born Sandra Ann Goodrich in Dagenham, Essex, Shaw was one of U.K. pop’s most notable female performers, thanks to her idiosyncratic performances (she was often seen on Top of the Pops and other British pop shows performing to her singles while barefoot) and reputation as an interpreter of other peoples’ songs. Between 1964 and 1969, Shaw had eight U.K. Top 10 hits for the Pye label, including No. 1 singles “(There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me” (the first hit interpretation of the Burt Bacharach-Hal David classic, before Naked Eyes made it a U.S. hit in the ’80s), “Long Live Love” and “Puppet on a String” – the latter of which, although not a favorite of the performer’s, earned her wider acclaim when her performance won the Eurovision Song Contest. It was the first time a British act took home the prize.

Shaw briefly retired from the industry in the 1970s, but was lured out again in the 1980s by a new generation of performers that counted themselves fans. B.E.F., the electronic music duo of Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh (after their departure from the Human League but before recruiting Glenn Gregory to form Heaven 17), backed her up on a version of another Bacharach-David gem, “Anyone Who Had a Heart.” Chrissie Hynde invited her to perform her biggest U.S. hit “Girl Don’t Come” with The Pretenders. And so taken were the duo of Morrissey and Johnny Marr by Shaw that they got her signed to Rough Trade Records alongside their band, The Smiths, and joined her on several of her first singles for the label – all covers of the band’s songs. (Morrissey and producer Stephen Street would pen “Please Help the Cause Against Loneliness” for Shaw’s 1988 album Hello Angel; his own version was released on the expanded edtion of the Bona Drag compilation in 2010.)

Shaw still records and tours today; for her 60th birthday, she re-recorded “Puppet on a String” to her liking with Howard Jones and producer Andy Gray. And her (self-owned) catalogue will come to Salvo this year, with one batch including a new compilation (Long Live Love: The Very Best of Sandie Shaw) and expanded editions of her first three albums, appended with dozens of non-LP single tracks.

After the jump, check out full track details and pre-order links for all of Salvo’s expanded titles!

Short Takes: Musicians Talking About Their Reissues

It’s rare when musicians do any amount of press on reissues, usually because they’ve got bigger things to worry about or are deceased. So the notion that some of the people behind three major catalogue campaigns have all had something notable to say in the past few days is certainly worth the attention of any catalogue fan:

• Johnny Marr gave an extensive interview with The Onion‘s AV Club about his memories of The Smiths as filtered through the assemblage and release of Rhino’s The Smiths Complete box. While he expressed regret that “monitor mixes and instrumental versions and slightly different versions of songs” weren’t included on the box (owing to “some kind of legal issue there that I never want to talk about”), he said working on the box bought back a lot of memories – all of them good. “I can only speak for myself, and say that I don’t have any negative thoughts about the times back then or the times now, or the people in it,” he said.
• A rare interview with Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine for Pitchfork sheds some light on one of the strangest catalogue stories of the last few years. It turns out the saga of the MBV remasters was even lengthier than Slicing Up Eyeballs’ vigil, stretching for more than a decade. The problems, Shields says, stemmed with not only negotiating a deal with Sony U.K. to his liking (in which he maintains control of the master recordings), but the tapes themselves went missing. And Shields thinks Sony might have hidden them on purpose. “Only after I started threatening to get Scotland Yard involved did they magically, suddenly reappear,” he said. “The true story is as yet to be determined, but we’ll fight that one out in the near future.” But fear not – relations are seemingly good enough for Shields to promise vinyl remasters “probably in a few months.”)
• Doing press for the release of Martin Scorsese’s Living in the Material World, a new documentary on George Harrison (and companion outtakes disc, released today), the former Beatle’s widow Olivia promises more material will emerge from the vaults someday. “There is some music that possibly will come out, some more early tapes, demos, nice things, nice performances of George,” she said, also suggesting a “nice idea” of allowing other notable musicians the opportunity to finish some of his unused song sketches.

Release Round-Up: Week of April 3

Johnny Cash, Bootleg IV: The Soul of Truth (Columbia/Legacy)

Three complete gospel albums – one of which was never released – and a heap of unreleased material make this one to look out for if you like The Man in Black at his sacred best.

Morrissey, Viva Hate: Deluxe Edition (Liberty/EMI)

If you can call it that, an expanded edition of Moz’s debut album, remastered with one bonus track, one edited track and one excised track.

Elvis Costello & The Imposters, The Return of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook!!! (Hip-O/UMe)

The standalone CD and DVD contents of that box set that everyone rightfully hated, including Costello himself.

Doris Day, With a Smile and a Song (Turner Classic Movies/Sony Masterworks)

Just in time for the legend’s birthday! A two-disc set of highlights personally selected by Day, devoted equally to her songs in film and on standalone albums.

fIREHOSE, “lowFLOWs”: The Columbia Anthology 1991-1993 (Columbia/Legacy)

Mike Watt’s late ’80s/early ’90s punk trio’s last two albums, with a heap of B-sides and rarities, in honor of fIREHOSE’s reunion tour.

The Human League, Dare: Deluxe Edition (Virgin/EMI)

Don’t you want this expanded edition of the British synthpop band’s breakthrough album?

The Smiths, The Smiths / Hatful of Hollow / Meat is Murder / The Queen is Dead / The World Won’t Listen / Louder Than Bombs / Strangeways, Here We Come / “Rank” (Sire/Rhino)

The remasters released in that mega box set last year are now available on their own.

Release Round-Up: Week of September 27

‘Tis the season! The big guns for the fourth quarter are starting to be drawn.

Elvis Presley, The Young Man with the Big Beat / Elvis Presley: Legacy Edition (RCA/Legacy)

The newest Elvis box set is all about 1956: five CDs of complete studio masters, outtakes, vintage audio interviews and live material. For the casual fan, the Elvis Presley Legacy Edition includes the Elvis Presley and Elvis LPs with the hit non-LP singles of that era. (Official site)

Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon: Experience and Immersion Editions / Discovery Remasters (EMI)

So you have all the basic remasters of every album, and the deluxe and mega-hyper-deluxe editions of Dark Side. Merry early Christmas! (Official site)

Nirvana, Nevermind: 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (DGC/UMe)

A lot of ways to celebrate the definitive grunge album for its 20th anniversary. Which one are you getting? (Official site)

The Smiths, Complete (Rhino U.K.)

The most mega of mega-boxes for The Smiths is out now in the U.K., and will be out in October in the States. (Rhino U.K.)

Sting, 25 Years (Cherrytree/A&M/UMe)

A 3-CD/1-DVD overview of Sting’s solo career. If you have all his albums, you’re probably going to want to wait until the price dips below its current Amazon price tag of $110. Like, way below. (Official site)

Wes Montgomery, Movin’: The Complete Verve Recordings (Hip-o Select/Verve)

Did Wes record it for Verve? If yes, it’s here, five discs’ strong. (Hip-o Select)

Davy Jones, David Jones: Deluxe Edition (Friday Music)

No Monkee-ing around here! Jones’ Colgems solo LP, exapnded and remastered. (Sorry about the pun back there.) (Amazon)

Barenaked Ladies, Hits from Yesterday & The Day Before (Reprise/Rhino)

A simple best-of for the Canadian rockers. (Official site)

The Jesus & Mary Chain, Automatic / Honey’s Dead: Deluxe Editions (Edsel)

The next links in the chain of 2-CD/1-DVD reissues! (Another pun! See what I did there?) (Official site)

Buck Owens, Bound for Bakersfield 1953-1956: The Complete Pre-Capitol Recordings (RockBeat)

Another fun one from RockBeat! (Amazon)

Passions Just Like Mine: Smiths Mega-Box Arrives in U.S.

Ready your credit cards! Rhino has the super-exhaustive Smiths box set ready for order in the United States.

As previously reported, the set is available in three distinct formats: a box set of the band’s eight main albums on CD, remastered by Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr and Frank Arkwright; a box of those albums on 12 vinyl LPs and a mega-box – limited to 4,000 copies worldwide – featuring all the CDs and vinyl with 25 bonus 7″ singles, art prints and The Complete Picture DVD. While it’s not absolutely everything the band ever released in their four influential years together, it’s pretty darn close.

The sets are available October 18; you can order them and read the track lists after the jump.

Weekend Wround-Up: The Smiths, The Beatles, Pearl Jam and More!

Happy Friday!  We’ve got some tidbits to tide you over till we return on Monday, with much, much more!

• If you’re eagerly awaiting that complete Smiths box set but are worried about the falling American dollar, worry no more!  Thanks to fine folks at MusicTAP for the heads-up that Rhino will be releasing The Smiths – Complete in the U.S. on October 18!  The American edition will be available in the same configurations as in the U.K.: a gigantic Limited Edition Super Deluxe Box set, a vinyl LP box, and a CD-only set.  In all forms it includes all eight of The Smiths’ long-players:  studio albums The Smiths (1984), Meat is Murder (1985), The Queen is Dead (1986) and Strangeways, Here We Come (1987); non-LP singles compilations Hatful of Hollow (1984), The World Won’t Listen (1987) and the U.S.-only Louder Than Bombs (1987) and the live album “Rank” (1988).  Read our full post here and mark your calendar for October 18, just a few weeks after the U.K. release date!

• The only surprise about Apple and EMI’s Beatles 1 remaster is that it took so long to happen!  But for those interested, September 13 will bring a reissue of 2000’s massively successful Beatles 1 compilation utilizing the 2009 remasters from Abbey Road Studios.

Items on Pearl Jam and Jefferson Starship are waiting for you after the jump!

The Smiths Are Out of the Bag: Massive U.K. Box Planned

As we at The Second Disc HQ love to point out, Morrissey once set his scathing lyrical pen on record companies’ propensity for reissues on The Smiths’ “Paint a Vulgar Picture.” Currently, he must be shitting bricks: Rhino U.K. is planning The Smiths – Complete, a box set compiling the influential band’s entire discography, all newly remastered.

Clever fans spotted the presence of the set on the label’s site late last night (we have super-reader Dean H. to thank for hipping us to it), and our good friends at Slicing Up Eyeballs did a post on the whole affair earlier. But trying to order the set would yield nothing.

Now, however, the set is official: the band’s eight albums – studio albums The Smiths (1984), Meat is Murder (1985), The Queen is Dead (1986) and Strangeways, Here We Come (1987); non-LP singles compilations Hatful of Hollow (1984), The World Won’t Listen (1987) and the U.S.-only Louder Than Bombs (1987) and the live album “Rank” (1988) – will be included in the set, all newly remastered by former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr with engineer Frank Arkwright in London’s Metropolis Studios.

The set is available as a vinyl offering or on CD (with mini-LP replica packaging included throughout), but die-hard fans are going to want to check out the super-deluxe version. And what’s on that, you say? Hit the jump to find out!

Reissue Theory: The Smiths, “The Queen is Dead”

Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we take a look at notable albums and the reissues they may someday see. Has the world changed or have we changed? Whatever the answer, The Smiths’ The Queen is Dead, which recently hit the quarter-century mark, is a classic of British rock – and, like all of The Smiths’ albums, it would make a prime candidate for a deluxe reissue.
It wouldn’t be enough to someday see remasters of The Smiths’ core discography (the four studio albums, the Rank live album, and Hatful of Hollow and The World Won’t Listen/Louder Than Bombs compilations). It would be a pleasure to see all of them expanded in some way, shape or form, as a tonic to the consistent compilations that have hung around record shops since the band’s untimely breakup in 1987.

We’ve certainly talked about such ideas before, but no theoretical expansion would excite me more than one for The Queen is Dead, the band’s penultimate and arguably most beloved album. It’s one of only three albums to have gone gold in both the U.K. and the U.S., and features some of Morrissey and Johnny Marr’s most solid songwriting together. And, as luck should have it, June 16 marked the album’s 25th anniversary of release in its native country.

So meet us at the cemetry gates (or after the jump, whichever you prefer) for a trip down memory lane with The Queen is Dead.

Reissue Theory: The Smiths, “Meat is Murder”

“Re-issue ! Re-package ! Re-package !
Re-evaluate the songs
Double-pack with a photograph
Extra track (and a tacky badge)”

– “Paint a Vulgar Picture,” The Smiths

Sometimes one wonders why a band as listenable, influential and obsessed over as The Smiths doesn’t get much in the way of back catalogue treatment. Outside of a few compilations (most recently 2008’s The Sound of The Smiths) and a box set of reproduced singles, that’s been more or less it; the albums haven’t been repressed since Sire/Warner Bros. acquired the band’s repertoire in the early 1990s. Granted, given lyrics like those above, maybe it’s not so surprising.

But why not? There’s a lot to discover from those few studio albums. Earlier this year, fans campaigned on Facebook to get “How Soon is Now?” – easily one of the band’s most memorable tunes – to the top of the U.K. charts in honor of the 25th anniversary of sophomore LP Meat is Murder. It didn’t work, but it might have gotten people thinking about the band – and that record was as good a place as any to start.

The “hits,” so to speak, aren’t as copious on Meat is Murder; aside from “How Soon is Now?” (which was only included on the U.S. version of the album) and “That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore,” that was really the extent of it. But Meat is Murder succeeds as an album, perhaps even better than The Smiths’ self-titled debut, thanks to a cleaner production (credited solely to the band) and the continual gelling of the Morrissey-Johnny Marr songwriting partnership. Hard-driving tunes like “Barbarism Begins at Home” and “Nowhere Fast” exemplify this step up greatly.

The months leading to Meat is Murder also saw the release of some non-LP singles that stand among The Smiths’ greatest records. The one-two punch of “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now” and “William, It Was Really Nothing” (and their respective B-sides – single-only track “Girl Afraid” from “Heaven” and both “How Soon is Now?” and “Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want” on the “William” single) indicate the beginnings of a creative streak paralleled by few bands of the era.

Thanks to the fastidious research of author Simon Goddard and his biblical tome The Smiths: Songs That Saved Your Life, we know there’s a bit of vault content that would enhance any theoretical reissue of Meat is Murder. Let’s start the day off right with a Reissue Theory look at this, one of the best rock albums of the 1980s, after the jump.

Reissue Theory: The Smiths – “The Smiths”

One of the books devoured by this author over the Easter break was The Smiths: Songs That Saved Your Life by Simon Goddard. If you’re a fan of The Smiths, are thinking about being a fan of The Smiths or just like ’80s alt-rock in general, you would do well to add this to your bookshelf. It provides an in-depth account of every song released or recorded by the band in their too-brief career and covers Morrissey, Johnny Marr, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce through prose that’s both artistic and technical. It’s as detail-oriented as any self-respecting Smiths fan would be, too, armed with plenty of appendices to collate their work as ornately as possible.

Needless to say, reading the book provoked some thought on what deluxe editions of their albums would look like – a difficult proposition if ever there was one. The Smiths recorded many of non-LP tracks (both singles and B-sides) in their four-year career, but they were quick to collate them. Indeed, Hatful of Hollow (1984) and Louder Than Bombs (1987), which collect many of these tracks, stand tall next to the studio LPs in general. That, coupled with the many Smiths compilations released by WEA/Rhino in the 1990s and 2000s, make it difficult to figure out how to configure such a set of reissues.

Ultimately, the way I see it is those non-LP tracks create a rounded experience with the album proper, and should be included even if they are readily found elsewhere. And believe me, there’s still a lot of unreleased material to go around, as this Reissue Theory look at The Smiths’ first LP shows. There’s a whole alternate version of this record, recorded with Troy Tate and heavily bootlegged, that would be worth a release. Take a look at this charming tracklist after the jump.