Reissues have long been a solid cash cow for the music industry. The segment really took off after the introduction of compact discs convinced a lot of folks to buy CDs of everything that they owned on vinyl. During the 1990s and early 2000s when relatively few new albums were coming out on LP, indie labels such as Sundazed countered the CD revolution by reviving perennial favorites and rare titles on LP; even major label CBS/Sony was somewhat quietly repressing LPs off and on. Today, both serious and casual music collectors are continuing to fuel the resurgence of LP sales by purchasing a boatload of reissues. It's somewhat ironic that this time around, collectors are often looking for vinyl reissues of albums that were initially released only on CD and sometimes cassette (or occasionally in miniscule quantities on LP).
Currently, the reissue market is hard to keep up with; the major labels have returned to the game full time rather than ceding most of the action to smaller labels. And a particular (and welcome) focus has indeed been first-time issues of albums that didn't come out on LP in the 1990s or 2000s. If you're in the market, remember that supply is often not meeting demand, and in many cases it is impossible to predict how long a title will be available. So, if a favorite first-time-on-LP issue emerges, it's best to pony up when you see it; waiting can backfire. Many pressings are very limited and not being re-pressed due to recent supply chain issues.
Since hitting the national charts with a bang in the mid-1980s, Dwight Yoakam has remained a consistent presence in the country music scene. As his robust honky-tonk sound has more often than not been at odds with mainstream country radio, it is perhaps surprising that all three of his 2010s albums hit the Top 10 of the Billboard country album charts, including the 2016 bluegrass outing Swimmin' Pools, Movie Stars.... Those three albums all came out originally on LP, the first new Yoakam albums on vinyl since 1990. During the last year, a reissue program by New West has been working backwards through his 2000s catalog. First came 2005's Blame the Vain and the 2007 Buck Owens tribute album Dwight Sings Buck, both originally released by New West. Toward the end of 2020, Dwight's Used Records (2004) and Population Me (2003) emerged; these two albums were originally CD-only releases from a couple imprints of the Koch International empire. (New West also has reissued the 2005 Live from Austin TX on LP in both 2017 and 2020.)
So far I've picked up Blame the Vain (which is an album I missed at the time; it's great) and Population Me. This was his first non-Warner Brothers release since the original six-track iteration of Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. on Oak Records in 1984...not that a label switch indicated any sudden change in musical direction. It's a concise 10-track collection of mostly Yoakam originals, including a nice duet with Willie Nelson, "If Teardrops Were Diamonds." Also a standout is one of the covers: The Bacharach-David pop standard "Trains and Boats and Planes" is transformed into a country dance tune, with the bonus of banjo by Earl Scruggs. There's no mastering info for the LP version but it sounds fine (it's remarkably similar tonally to the original CD, so I suspect it could just be the digital master here). Here's hoping New West has plans to continue backward into Yoakam's 1990s Warner Brothers catalog. The only one of those to ever see the light of day on LP is the Christmas album, of all things. (New West NW5429, 2020)
In the "unexpected reissues" category: If you predicted a 40th anniversary Iron City Houserockers LP, raise your hand. Your time is now, as Have a Good Time (But Get Out Alive!) is once again available on LP. Teacher and songwriter Joe Grushecky's band and solo outings have long been acclaimed by the critics but commercially never got much exposure beyond his Pittsburgh home base, and that's a shame. This is a solid slice of rust belt rock, which in hindsight sounds like the missing link between the street theatrics of Bruce Springsteen and the rootsier, down-to-earth heartland rock of John Mellencamp. In attitude it's like the most punk rock bar band record ever, with songwriting good enough to match the energy level.
There is even a direct Springsteen connection. According to a press release about the reissue, Steven Van Zandt of the E Street Band was involved in the recording sessions at one point, though he was uncredited at the time. If that's not enough star power to draw you in, guitarist Mick Ronson and former Mott the Hoople leader Ian Hunter are credited on the original LP with arrangement and production assistance. (And there are indeed moments of Hoople-esque grandeur on some of the album's songs.)
The reissue (along with a CD and download of the first Iron City Houserockers album, Love's So Tough) is part of a relaunch of the Cleveland International label, a marque you may recognize from your old Meat Loaf Bat Out of Hell album (that one was co-released with Epic, while the Houserockers albums came out through MCA back in the day; more on the label's backstory can be found here.) The LP comes with a download card for 16 bonus tracks from the CD version of the release. With luck this will help shine a light on Grushecky's extensive discography as a regional performer since the late '80s. (Cleveland International CIR5003-1)
k.d. lang was also part of the Warner Brothers empire in the '90s, initially on Sire and later on Warner itself. WB was one of the majors who did continue releasing selected LPs pretty much straight through the vinyl desert era, and unlike Yoakam's albums at the time a couple of lang's albums for the label did come out on vinyl on original issue. (One that didn't was Ingenue, but that oversight was rectified a few years ago with a 25th anniversary LP; more recently Drag made its initial bow on vinyl, and Invincible Summer was reissued, both by Rhino/Warner.) After WB, lang moved to Nonesuch, and those albums did not come out on LP initially. However, the 2008 album Watershed emerged in 2020, and 2004's Hymns of the 49th Parallel was first reissued on LP in 2016 (and apparently has been re-pressed several times, if the Discogs listings with different catalog numbers is accurate).
The Ingenue reissue (from lang's current label, Nonesuch) was an instant buy for me when it came out, and it's very well done. I'm more in catch-up mode on the others, and went back to the earliest one first with Hymns of the 49th Parallel. As with most Nonesuch LPs I've encountered, this is also a very nice record all around; it's a quiet pressing and the mastering is fine. That's an important aspect of any lang record since you don't want anything interfering with the purity of her vocals, and for Hymns it's especially needed since this is not loud music. It's a collection of songs by Canadian songwriting legends (Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and others) delivered in mostly meditative, understated arrangements, with possibly the most mellow lang vocals on record. In fact, this album is so sedate it did not grab my attention when it first came out. I thought it was fine, but it hasn't been one I returned to often. After listening to the LP a few times this week, though, that may change. It's definitely a mood piece but if you can settle into that mood it's a perfect record for a mellow day. (Nonesuch 075597943689, 2016)
