6 March 2013 (Day 65) – American West Coast Punks

I headed out on another country work trip having already decided to listen to a couple of US West coast punk albums.  By this I mean the scene that solidified around San Francisco and Los Angeles in the late 70s and early 80s.  I seem to remember many critics at the time writing scathing reviews about some of the key albums from this scene but this view has altered over the intervening decades.  The original criticism seemed to regard the West coasters as Johnny come lately's who were trying to ape "true" punk a few years too late and for suspicious reasons.  The revisionist view seems to be that although this might have been true, the scene did develop its own identifiable sound which influenced legions of subsequent musicians including the grungers in Seattle.

The first is an absolute beauty:

(170) Dicks – Kill From The Heart + Hate The Police EP

Although the band was originally from Texas, I regard them as a West coast band for two simple reasons. First, they were based in San Francisco for most of their initial career, but of far more importance was the influence they exerted over the scene.  This is regarded as one of the seminal American hardcore albums of the early 80’s and it was reissued only last year by the Alternative Tentacles label run by Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys. Probably a tad more melodic than the Kennedys, they shared that band’s anti far right wing political stance as evidenced by tracks such as Anti-Klan (Parts 1 & 2), Bourgeois Fascist Pig and Right Wing/White Ring.  Yet the best tracks on this are those which departed for the formula such a scorching cover of Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze and the 11 minute Dicks Can’t Swim, the closest thing to a funky jam that you’ll ever hear from a hardcore band. As an added attraction the Hate The Police EP is appended, notable for the title track which was subsequently covered by Mudhoney.

When this album ended, I intended to play a compilation album of similar material.  To my horror I realised that most of the tracks had not been re-imported.  Scrolling through my iPod (yes, I had pulled to the side of the road), I realised that most of the tracks from many of the compilation albums on it had likewise failed to import.  A replacement was required and so I went for an obvious choice:

(171) The Dead Kennedys – Live At The Deaf Club

There are a couple of live DK live albums out there but this one is the best.  It was recorded at the Deaf Club in Washington DC in 1979 before they had released their debut but they had already started to accumulate some of the tracks that were to define them.  There are strong versions here of Kill The Poor, California Uber Alles, Holidays In Cambodia and Police Truck but the undoubted high point is the three song encore of cover versions.  It is kicked off by their take on The Honeycombs 1964 hit Have I The Right before detonating a killer version of The Beatles’ Back In The USSR and Elvis Presley’s Viva Las Vegas.

(172) Flipper – Generic

This is my favourite album from this era and scene.  Flipper, like The Dead Kennedys hailed from San Francisco and specialised in a grungy sound which I suspect was integral to the eventual development of grunge.  After a relatively inauspicious opening trio of tracks, most of the remaining tracks on the album find the band hitting a riff and repeatedly grinding it out to the point of exhaustion, often singing just a key phrase until it totally lost any semblance of meaning.  (I Saw You) Shine, Way Of The World and Life all follow this template but they’re all upstaged by the closer, Sex Bomb.  Not in any way associated with the Tom Jones hit, this is a grungy 8 minute blast set to a demented late/“difficult” period John Coltrane type saxophone against a lyric comprising mostly the repeated phrase “Sex Bomb Baby”.   

(173) The Germs – (MIA): The Complete Anthology

The Germs were spawned out of Los Angeles and were notable for their shambolic live reputation and the antics of their lead “vocalist” Darby Crash who committed suicide the day before John Lennon’s murder.  I’d bought this number of years ago having been assured in a number of books about how influential this band had been.  I couldn’t hear it after listening to this album then and I’m still not sure that I could hear it today.  The only thing that kept me listening was the guitar work of Unplugged era Nirvana and occasional Foo Fighter Pat Smear and even this barely got me over the line.  Sometimes I think that some bands are fondly remembered for the presence more than anything else and I suspect this is probably a classic case.

After dinner, I diagnosed the cause of my iPod problem.  Apparently in doing the re-import I failed to specify the Various Artist compilations.  As a result the only tracks that were imported were those by acts whose individual albums had done so.  I’d like to think of this as learning but I suspect that by the time I need to do it again, iTunes will have changed the procedure again.

5 March 2013 (Day 64) – Some Unique Musical Visions

I dragged myself out of bed at 6am and returned to the kitchen to continue the re importing process.  By the time I halt it again 90 minutes later I’ve got about 29,000 tracks on, enough to make a reasonable selection at work.  I needed that ammunition because, apart from one meeting, another long day behind my desk loomed large.  Wanting something different to kick start my day, I headed off into the world of one of music’s strangest visionaries:

(166) Sun Ra – Space Is The Place

Sun Ra was a jazz musician who fused it with all sorts of stuff.  Equally adept at fronting huge orchestras or small combos he recorded in excess of 100 albums but never really enjoyed what you could call mass success - after all we are talking about jazz here and Ra’s claim that his ancestral home was the planet Saturn wasn’t going to garner much support among record company executives.  The CD edition of this album is one of only a handful released on anything resembling a major [jazz] label and it’s easy to hear why.  The album commences with the incredible 21 minute title track, a hypnotic number in which later period John Coltrane like saxophones play over a multitude of voices repeatedly singing the title in different pitches and tempos.  On paper this sounds weird but it actually works.  The remaining tracks ran the gambit of conventional jazz (such as Images) to the flat out weird (Sea Of Souls and Rocket Number Nine).

(167) Funkadelic – Maggot Brain

As their name implies, Funkadelic were one of the true pioneers of funk music but this album was about as close to a rock album as they ever got.  Led by the genius of George Clinton, this album is notable for the title track which kicks off proceeding.  Introduced by a spoken word intro by Clinton himself (ordinarily I’d say “whacked out intro” but coming after Sun Ra it sounds positively conventional) the track is effectively a 10 minute guitar solo performed by Eddie Hazel.  The playing here is infused with such emotion that its instrumentation is frequently forgotten.  The rest of the album is pretty damn good too, notably Can You Get To That and the plea for black unity You And Your Folks, Me And My Folks.

(168) Yo La Tengo – Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo

Yo La Tengo is one of the all-time great trios but is effectively a cult act known only by a fortunate few.  Unsurprisingly their main reference point is the ultimate cult act ,The Velvet Underground, but they also make a habit of producing extraordinary cover versions and instrumentals.  This album is a two disc rarities and B-sides album and unusually for such an album is packed full of highlights.  These include the frenzied guitar attack of Too Late; the indie pop of Cast A Shadow; Speeding Motorcycle in which they play live in a radio station studio whilst a fan sings the lyrics over the phone; a surf instrumental version of the Ramones Blitzkrieg Bop and One Self Fish Girl, another instrumental which uses motifs from Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart.  But the highlight of this package is the 26 minute closer Sunsquashed, an instrumental that appears to draw inspiration from the VU’s famed extended live workouts of Some Kinda Love.

(169) Frank Zappa – Our Man In Nirvana

Zappa is a natural fit here.  This is one of a series of bootleg records that he re-released under a program he termed “Beat The Boots”. This documents a performance just prior to the release of the Uncle Meat album and so it provides an opportunity to hear a his greatest guitar epic King Kong before his audience became too familiar with it.  This version runs to at least 30 minutes with no end in sight when the bootlegger's tape ran out; there are also cuts at different points in the album.  Also of note is the combination of A Pound For A Pound On A Bus and Sleeping On A Bus which goes for 25 minutes.  Amazingly, better versions of these tracks are available in the Zappa catalogue but not necessarily in the same album which made this an automatic iPod inclusion. 

After dinner I completed the reimporting process and not a moment too soon as I have a country drive tomorrow.

4 March 2013 (Day 63) – Recent Purchase Update

Having calmed down overnight, I consoled myself with the thought that at least I had a brace of new albums to play on the boom box at work today. 

(161) Gary Clark Jr. – Blak And Blu

Clark has received an incredible amount of positive press since this especially since this album, his major label debut, was released late last year.  So, does this live up to the hype? Yes and no.  Whilst an extremely proficient guitarist, I think Clark stylistically is really not all that dissimilar to Australia’s own Jeff Lang.  The only real difference to these ears is that, unlike Lang, Clark has the benefit of being an American (and therefore being somehow viewed as authentic – think of the fuss made over Seasick Steve a couple of years back) and having a major label behind him.  The album is fine enough – Third Stone From The Sun/If You Love Me Like You Say is a spectacular calling card and probably a concert highlight - but it can do with some “dirtying up”.  To me the album sounds too clean especially for someone with such a fuzzy guitar sound.  Still its early days and this will do for now.

(162) Band Of Horses – Mirage Rock

Now that’s almost more like it.  I was given a copy of their previous album Infinite Arms and must admit to being slightly underwhelmed.  This is a good step in the right direction with the addition of some loose sounding rockier numbers such as Knock Knock and Feud to complement the ballads (Slow Cruel Hands Of Time is superb) and general Americana.  I suspect that the next album will be the one that turns them into a major musical force or an Eagles for the 21^st Century.

(163) Foals – Holy Fire

My goodness, what happened here?  Their previous album Total Life Forever was one of the more promising albums from an English act in quite a while.  However, large slabs of this sound like off cuts from a below par Aztec Camera album.   A clear 80’s vibe permeates most of the record and only Providence hints at the impressive results that will surely emerge should the band trust their own instincts.

(164) Gallows – Self Titled

Gallows are an English hardcore punk band who mixes Naplam Death with a bit more melody and a greater political awareness.  Tracks such as Victim Culture, Odessa and the catchy Everybody Loves You (When You’re Dead) are as good as any act ploughing this particular field at the moment.  Plus, like all good punk acts, they’ve got the good sense to kept things down to a short running time.  Given a natural level of musical growth they could be an act that might mature spectacularly.

(165) Radiohead – Pablo Honey (bonus disc)

I managed to snaffle a Japanese pressing of the reissued 2 disc plus DVD edition of Radiohead’s debut from a cheap import shop in the city.  The second disc brings together early EPs incorporating mostly demos and live material, some outakes and a live BBC session.   Some of the material is worth hearing at least once especially a demo of Prove Yourself, a spectacular remix of Blow Out, a live Ripcord and an outtake called Coke Babies.  This latter track sounds very much like Creep Part 2 which probably explains why it wasn't released until now.  Although its easy to hear from the whole package how the R.E.M. comparisons emerged to dog them in this era, what struck me was the existence of tracks such as US version of Stop Whispering that sound more in tune with early period U2.  This is a feeling the live BBC Session of 22 June 1992 does nothing to dispel especially on Nothing Touches Me.

After dinner I started on the task of reimporting 37,000 tracks onto my iPod. A partial re-education process was necessary owing to a change in the iPod software since the last time I had to do this.  Initially tracks imported easily enough and then started to slow down.  At midnight I halted the import with the job about 60 per cent done.

2 and 3 March 2013 (Days 61 & 62) – The Weekend From Hell

I’ve just experienced a horrific weekend full of music related disasters and no listening.   My scapegoat is the absolutely bizarre situation that exists in Australia with respect to the sale of digital music.

It all began on Friday night when I decided to take advantage of the Australian dollar to download digital versions of albums that are impossible to get here in any physical form.  It was then that I discovered that you cannot purchase digital music from overseas iTunes or Amazon sites.  It seems that the reason is to protect local providers.

If this is truly the case, it is one of the more idiotic rationalisations I’ve ever heard.  iTunes prices in Australia appear to be about 50% higher than overseas.  This is for DIGITIAL music.  Just where are the overheads to justify the mark up?  It can’t be due to transport costs, warehousing costs or a rise in shop leases and I’m pretty sure iTunes isn’t one of the companies that attract the carbon levy.  As for Amazon, what is there to protect?  Amazon.aus is yet to be launched here and so denying Australians access to its downloads appears indefensible. As if to compensate for this, Amazon.UK did provide free delivery of books, CDs and DVDs to Australia for almost a full year but has since stopped this practice. (I suspect that if Amazon has a motive in denying downloading from overseas to Australia it is because they are planning to sell their downloads at the higher iTunes rate when Amazon.aus is eventually launched.)  No wonder the Government has launched an investigation into the sale of digital media in this country.  Even then I’d doubt that anything could be achieved.  After all, a free trade agreement is in force between Australia and the U.S and that doesn’t seem to have led to an appreciable difference here.

I’ve read somewhere recently that overseas companies deliberately charge Australians a premium charge in the supply of a great many goods with the justification being a belief that Australians are prepared to pay higher prices.  I do not know whether that is the reason with iTunes but I suspect the reason other industries get away with it is probably due to the way bricks and mortar retailers have not embraced the internet as a means to sell goods.  Last year’s push by some retailers to add a 10% tax to goods bought over the net was laughed at by the majority of Australian consumers and with good reason.  As so many letter writers pointed out, even with the 10% tax added, the goods would still be cheaper than those purchased in a store. Some of the stores involved in this campaign did relent and established internet sites but their sense of innovation over the net has been to do nothing more than provide a means for consumers to buy their stock for the same price as in their stores.

And this I suspect is the problem.  Overseas businesses know that established Australian businesses are largely unwilling to go the whole hog in using the internet.  As a result they can either set their prices in a manner that provides Australian consumers with the knowledge they’re obtaining goods at a cheaper rate that the bricks and mortar retailers that is sufficient to change their purchase patterns and nothing more.  Matters aren’t helped by the way Australian music retailers have approached the issue.  From what I can see for example, JB HiFi doesn’t even sell mp3s, preferring to flog its streaming service.  For a business that was initially sustained by customers who wanted to buy music in a physical form, this is a particuarly odd stance.

All of this provides a context, rationale, call-it-what-you-will for someone to actually want to download digital music for free.  I decided that, not only did I not have had a problem in doing this, I had practically been forced into it.   My justification was as follows: all I’m seeking to do is to replace vinyls and pre-recorded cassettes with a digital version I could burn to CD as the CD versions either do not exist or are not sold in this country.  Therefore a free download is justifiable given I’ve already purchased the music in question, was only seeking to update it into another format and did not have the means to do so at a reasonable price, if at all,  in this country.

This led to my second disaster as a result of downloading one such program.  Big mistake.  After doing this, I found that the service didn’t even come close to finding any of the albums that I wanted to download and so decided to delete it.  Finding the uninstall program was difficult enough and a few hours later had succeeded in deleted only part of it.  Unfortunately, the program had hijacked my browser and I needed to find a solution to that.  After a couple more fruitless hours on the net, it suddenly dawned on me that I had a software protection package.  Feeling completely idiotic, I ran it and my problem was solved.  Exit stage right free digital downloads.

Sunday did not begin well as I absorbed news about the previous night’s Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds gig at the Myer Music Bowl.  In view of the major shows I’ll be attending later this month, I decided to give this a miss.  After all I’ve seen every Cave tour bar one over the last 15 years or so plus Grinderman. Surely I could afford to miss this gig?  Then I discovered that the support act was Mark Lanegan and that the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra was also involved.  Did I miss news of these contributors or were these well-kept State secrets?  I decide not to answer this question all that self critically and go on to enjoy my Sunday, even making a few purchases.

Come Sunday night, I decide to add my purchases onto my iPod so I can listen to them on Monday.  Now I don’t know what exactly happened next but in a matter of minutes I had wiped all of the 34,000 songs off it!  I know that reimporting will be a time consuming hell.

Hence, this rant.

1 March 2013 (Day 60) – iPod Death Matches 4 & 5

I knew that it was going to be a long day behind my terminal ands so I figure it’s time to decide the fate on yet more albums on my iPod during the day.

iPod Space Death Match #4 – The Arcade Fire

I’ve kept all three Arcade Fire albums on my iPod as they’ve been released.  The main reason for this is that I can never make my mind up about them. But this is the first time I’ve played all three of the albums after one another.

(156) The Arcade Fire – Funeral

Like many debut albums, this album is an ambitious mash up of styles as the band relishes the first (and possibly at the back of their minds, thinking only) time in the studio.  An enthusiastic and pleasing listen, the band wisely back loaded the album with its three best tracks, Haiti, Rebellion Lies and In The Backseat, the latter two hinting at a capacity of producing epic numbers.

(157) The Arcade Fire – Neon Bible

Oh dear, why hadn’t I removed this one earlier?  The opening number Black Mirror basically picks up at where Funeral ended.  After that promising opening the band overplays its hand seemingly aiming to produce an album full of epic tracks each laden with lyrics straining for significance.   I’m prepared to chalk everything down to the time honoured second album blues until the final two tracks.  No Cars Go and the wildly overblown My Baby Is A Cave condemn the album to a likely very long period in the wilderness before I’ll consider playing it again.

(158) The Arcade Fire – The Suburbs

Musically this adopts a lighter tone which is welcome but ultimately grates against much of the lyrical content.  A sort of conceptual piece about life in the, presumably Canadian, suburbs, I would have thought that there wouldn’t have been much of a market for it.  But this sold reasonably well and won a couple of Grammys including album of the year; I suspect most of the purchasers may have been punters who caught the band live where I’m reasonably informed they’re a totally different proposition. 

Verdict: I’m keeping Funeral and consigning the others to the library.

iPod Space Death Match #5 – African Dub All-Mighty Chapters 1 and 2

Chapters 3 and 4 will remain on my iPod forever.  The question is whether Chapters 1 & 2 will stay with them.

(159) Joe Gibbs And The Professionals - African Dub All-Mighty Chapter 1
(160) Joe Gibbs And The Professionals - African Dub All-Mighty Chapter 2

There are more differences between both of these Chapters compared to Chapters 3 & 4 than there are between them.  There are none of the crazy sound effects which distinguished Chapters 3 & 4 and a reduced emphasis on the horns.  The guitars appeared to be emphasised on Chapter 1 to great effect.  Chapter 2 starts well but is fairly undistinguished by its end.

Verdict: I’m keeping Chapter 1 for the time being.

28 February 2013 (Day 59) – The Shuffle Sessions # 2

As I pondered what I was going to play today, I noticed my desk calendar.  The last day of the month and no shuffle session!  Disgusted I knew what I had to do, but as fate would have it I wasn’t really prepared. 

My day commenced with an absolute classic, the iPod selecting:

1.       Roy Orbison – Only The Lonely (from The Essential Roy Orbison)
2.       Luna – 23 Days In Brussels (from Penthouse)
3.       Bill Evans – Tenderly (from Everybody Digs Bill Evans)
4.       Robert Johnson – Come On In My Kitchen [vers 1] (from The Complete Recordings)
5.       Tool – Intension (from 10,000 Days)
6.       Bo Diddley 0 The Clock Strikes Twelve (from The Chess Box)

It was here that my lack of preparation caught up and I ran out of battery power.  It was such a pity because, after the opener, the session had developed into a nice morning groove with the Tool track in particular fitting in well.  After the recharge, a new shuffle produced another classic to open proceedings:

1.       Dusty Springfield – Wishin’ And Hopin’ (from Dusty. The Original Pop Diva)
2.       Major Harris – Love Won’t Let Me Wait (from Atlantic Rhythm & Blues 1947 – 1974. Vol. 8 (1970 – 1974)  My goodness, the squeals of female pleasure sound authentic – thank heavens I have the headphones on!)
3.       Rammstein – Wollt ihr das Bett in Flammen sehen? (from Live Aus Berlin)
4.       The Untouchables – Nic Fit (from American Hardcore. The History Of American Punk Rock 1980–1986: the 59 second original of a track subsequently covered by Sonic Youth)
5.       Gossip – Men In Love (from Music For Men: this should have followed the Major Harris track!)
6.       John Cooper Clarke – The It Man (from The Very Best Of John Cooper Clarke)
7.       Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble – Texas Flood [live] (from Cold Shot. Vol.2 Live In The USA 1987; the album is a bootleg released in Australia by a label called Apple House which exploited a hole in the country’s copyright laws.  Refer to Clinton Heylin’s book on bootlegs for more information.)
8.       Los Lobos – The Giving Tree (from The Neighbourhood)
9.       U2 – In A Little While (from All That You Can’t Leave Behind)
10.   Mastodon – Hand Of Stone (from Blood Mountain)
11.   James Chance And The Contortions – Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough [live] (from Live Aux Bains Douches 1980; yes, a cover of the Michael Jackson tune)
12.   Ramones – Animal Boy (from Ramones Mania)
13.   The Bats – Trouble In This Town (from Compiletely Bats)
14.   Simple Minds – The Kick Inside Of Me (from Sparkle In The Rain)
15.   Roy Buchanan – C.C. Ryder [live] (from Sweet Dreams. The Anthology)
16.   Elastica – See That Animal (from Elastica)
17.   M.I.A. - $20 (from Kala)
18.   American Music Club – I’ve Been A Mess (from Mercury)
19.   Luna – Pup Tent (from Pup Tent)
20.   Violent Femmes – Good Feeling [live] (from Viva Wisconsin)
21.   Bruce Springsteen – None But The Brave (from The Essential Bruce Springsteen – bonus disc)
22.   Lo Borges – Equatorial (from Brazil Classics 1: Beleza Tropical)
23.   The Kinks – This Strange Effect (from Picture Book)
24.   Wanda Jackson – Honey Don’t (from The Ultimate Collection)
25.   Dire Straits – Solid Rock (from Making Movies)
26.   Cream – I’m So Glad (from Gold)
27.   Monster Magnet – Theme From “Afterburner” (from Dopes To Infinity)
28.   Paul Kelly – Happy Slave (from Under The Sun)
29.   Daft Punk – One More Time (from Discovery)
30.   Ripe – Love Your Guts (from The Plastic Hassle)
31.   Prince – NPG Operator [2] (from the Gold Experience: one of a number of linking concept pieces between tracks on this incredibly underrated album)
32.   Tommy McCook – Revenge (from Yabby You – Jesus Dread 1972 – 1977)
33.   Bruce Springsteen With The Sessions Band – Pay Me My Money Down (from Live In Dublin)
34.   Big Bill Broonzy – South Bound Train (from Let Me Tell You About The Blues – Chicago)
35.   John Lee Hooker – Some People (from Alone)
36.   The Mess Hall – Keep Walking (from Devil’s Elbow)
37.   Jello Biafra With D.O.A. – We Gotta Get Out Of This Place (from Last Scream Of The Missing Neighbours)
38.   Morphine – Sheila (from Cure For Pain)
39.   The Small Faces – Rollin’ Over (from The Definitive Collection)
40.   Horace Andy – Kunta Kinte (from Mad Professor – Method To The Madness)
41.   Primal Scream & MC5 – Skull X [live] (from “Black To Comm”)
42.   Bob Dylan – The Ballad Of Frankie Lee And Judas Priest (from John Wesley Harding)
43.   The Soft Machine – Chloe And The Pirates (from Out-Bloody-Rageous)
44.   The Polyphonic Spree – Bizarre Prayer (from Live From Austin Tx.)
45.   Squeeze – Mumbo Jumbo (from East Side Story)
46.   Bobby Marchan – Funny Style (from The Fame Studios Story)
47.   The Butthole Surfers – Lonesome Bulldog (from Piouhgd)

At this point it was time to go home. Probably the most interesting thin g about this session was the number of tracks that came of single artist compilations.  Other than that, it was a nicely diverse selection of numbers, most of which would not have been selected in one by myself.

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.