A number of classic albums are being reissued in the run-up to Christmas. We’ve selected an essential few along with some brand-new albums.
The first comes from Babyshambles: Produced by The Clash’s Mick Jones and boasting a vocal cameo from Kate Moss, 2005’s Down in Albion evokes the sights and smells of its era while possessing a forward-looking perspective to create a perpetually relevant body of work that both charts and soothes the human condition. Alongside the album’s original 16 tracks, this edition includes five carefully chosen songs from the band’s archives, with several – despite bootleg fame amongst the band’s fanbase – getting their first official release.
1995’s The Great Escape features the hit singles ‘Country House’, ‘The Universal’, ‘Stereotypes’ and ‘Charmless Man’. The album was Blur’s follow-up to their global breakthrough album, Parklife, which charted at no. 1, selling over 120,000 copies in its first week and going on to achieve triple platinum status in the UK (nearly a million sales to date).
Geese recorded their third album, Getting Killed, in ten fast-paced days. With scant time for overdubbing, what emerged is a chaotic comedy, shambolic in structure but passionately performed, informed by an exacting vision. Big riffs are layered on choir samples; hissing drum machines pulse softly behind screeching guitars. Geese balance a disarming tenderness with an intensified anger, trading their love of classic rock for a disdain for music itself.
IDLES and acclaimed director Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler, Black Swan) quickly formed a creative kinship, united by a deep mutual respect for each other’s work. When Aronofsky began developing his latest film, Caught Stealing, he turned to his favourite band to shape the film’s sonic identity. IDLES recorded the full film score, drawing inspiration from the gritty energy of the 1990s New York punk scene that permeates the film, including four original tracks.
Arca’s iconic @@@@@ mixtape – the scorching of earth that preceded the launch of her critically lauded Kick series – finally gets a limited-edition first-ever physical release. Delivering 62 minutes of quantum states, this is some of her most delicate and astonishing work to date: hard, soft, emotional, brutal, sincere and playful.
Our release of the week is undoubtedly one of the most important albums in the history of popular music: Pink Floyd’s iconic 1975 album Wish You Were Here, which includes ‘Shine on You Crazy Diamond’, the hypnotic ‘Welcome to the Machine’, the scathing ‘Have a Cigar’ and the essential title track. This special edition allows fans, for the first time, to delve deeper into a pivotal moment in Pink Floyd’s history with a wealth of studio rarities including previously unreleased alternate versions and demos.
Click on an image to order your copy.