27 February 2013 (Day 58) – Twofers

No great science sits behind the task of writing my posts.  Most of my themes hit me either at the start or during the day.  If I don’t have one, I’ll start by writing about the specific albums I’ve listened to during the day.  Inexplicably an idea will then emerge, a kind of Kevin Costner/Field Of Dreams variation; “If you write it, it will come”.  I thought that this is what was going to happen today only for this to be usurped by the literal realisation that the theme was before my eyes. 

For once my use of the word literal is absolutely appropriate because the answer was written out before me.   I maintain a journal in which I record what I’ve listened, any thoughts that might hit me at the time and, of course, my theme.  When I reread today’s entry, I saw the word and the theme staring at me from the page in the indecipherable scrawl that passes for my handwriting – twofer.

 A twofer is a wonderful tool used all too infrequently by record companies for the benefit of the consumer where you get two albums for the price of one.  In many cases this is the application of common sense.  In the vinyl era, most albums were no longer than 40 minutes each, or rather 20 minutes per side.  This was basically all that vinyl albums could hold without suffering a loss of sound quality.  The maximum length of most CDs is 80 minutes although I’m unsure why that is the case.  Ergo, two vinyl albums can fit on the one CD.

(A digression: my cynical thought for the day.  I’ve always wondered why record companies were willing to let artists release 60 – 70 minute albums in the CD era.  Could it be by ensuring albums were this length they could have a reason not to justify the future rerelease of back catalogue as twofers?)

There are some wonderful twofers out there.  My version of the first two Big Star albums is in the form of a twofer as are most of the Fela Kuti albums in my collection.  Billy Bragg’s first two releases, Life’s A Riot With Spy Vs Spy and Brewing up, were combined in a twofer called Back To Basics.  Gang Of Four’s first two albums each has 4 track EPs attached to them and Australian psychedelic surf rockers Taman Shud had their first two of the albums released on a disc titled 1968 – 1972.

But my definition of twofers also includes 2 disc sets each containing a separate album.  There are loads of great, value for money ones out there.  These are especially good if one is a high profile album and the other is something that you might not have purchases. This was especially the cases with a Heaven 17 set I managed to snag.  I purchased it because I wanted their Penthouse And Pavement album on CD but the package also held The Luxury Gap.  Both albums came with a generous helping of bonus tracks which, in the case of the latter album, lifted it to be on a par with the other. 

I’ll also include certain types of Collector’s/Anniversary/Deluxe/Legacy albums as a twofer as well.  In some instances the package will consist of the original album on one disc and either themed rarities, a live show or a demo package on the other.  Some great examples of this include all of the R.E.M. 2 disc anniversary edition of all their albums up to Document; every released album in The Cure’s catalogue which comes with a set of rarities, B-Sides or live material put together by Robert Smith and the versions of Who’s Next, Raw Power, the first two Elvis Costello albums and most of the Tuff Gong releases of the key Bob Marley albums which come complete with a live album from the era.

And here are some others:

(154) Ike & Tina Turner – The Ike & Tina Turner Show Live!
(155) Ike & Tina Turner – The Ike & Tina Turner Show Live! Vol. 2

This is a single disc containing two shows originally recorded in Texas in 1964 (Vol. 1) and 1965 (Vol. 2). These are the two albums to get of this era as they convey the excitement of their live show on which their reputation was founded and which eventually drew them to the attention of The Rolling Stones and Phil Spector.  It means that it contains none of the latter day hits such as Proud Mary, Nutbush City Limits and River Deep, Mountain High that most people associate with them.  To those people familiar with the lush, mature sounding Tina Turner of her latter day post Ike solo years, the sound of her voice – essentially that as a flat out screamer -  will come as quite as quite a shock.  Ike’s razor like guitar work is to the fore on these albums which contain a number of rock and soul standards including Twist And Shout, I Can’t Stop Loving You, Let The Good Times Roll (all on Vol. 1), Shake A Tail Feather, Ooh Ooh Pah Doo and You’re No Good (all on Vol. 2).

(142.2) The Byrds – (unissued)

This was the second, unreleased disc that was released as a Legacy Edition of the (untitled) album.  The official title of the package appears to be (untitled)/(unissued).  Like the first disc, it contains a mixture of unreleased studio and live recordings.  Most of the best material of the studio material was also released on The Byrds Box Set including All The Things, the sensational Lover Of The Bayou and a version of Willin’ released before Little Feat’s.  The live material isn’t as great as that on the other apart from a wonderful You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere.  This might explain why most of the live material are covers including Leadbelly’s Take A Whiff On Me and three Dylan numbers – It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding), My Back Pages and This Wheel’s On Fire.