BEST OF THE REST

Other reissues out this month.

Frank Zappa

Halloween ’81 ZAPPA/UMC

Last year’s six-disc record of Zappa’s ‘73 Halloween shows came with FrankenZappa mask and gloves. This sextet comes with Frankula mask and cape. A gimmick-free double-CD would have done. 6/10

John Coltrane

Giant Steps (60th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition) RHINO

Recorded two weeks after Coltrane completed work on Miles Davis’s Kind Of Blue, Giant Steps (warmly remastered and with eye-opening extras) similarly captures the sax virtuoso’s improvisational zenith. 9/10

Booker T & The MG’s

McLemore Avenue CRAFT

Fiftieth-anniversary vinyl edition of Steve Cropper, ‘Duck’ Dunn, Al Jackson Jr and Booker T Jones’s funky take on The Beatles’ Abbey Road across four lengthy instrumentals. An often overlooked treasure. 7/10

Sigue Sigue Sputnik

Flaunt It: 4CD Deluxe CHERRY RED

Being the adventures of a young bass player attempting to contrive the ultimate product. With electro-pop and sexualised rockabilly at its core, how could SSS fail? Well, it did. Just as it had for Alan Vega. 6/10

Bert Jansch

Crimson Moon 20th Anniversary EARTH

Expectations of a radical departure were high when Bernard Butler and Johnny Marr guested, but both fulfilled subtle, complementary roles to the master’s ever-exemplary acoustic. 7/10

Wayne County & The Electric Chairs

The Safari Years: 4CD CAPTAIN OI!

Near definitive four-disc anthology of the LGBT pioneer’s ‘blatantly offensive’ punk era offers rarely heard extras, monitor mixes and 1979 Peel session alongside the equally rarely heard classic Fuck Off. 7/10

Various

Peephole In My Brain: The British Progressive Pop Sounds Of 1971 GRAPEFRUIT

A brilliant collection from a pivotal year. Before genre fascism, the rock/ pop Venn diagram intersected naturally. Here Back Street Luv and Devil’s Answer brush flares with abundant curiosity-piquing obscurities. 8/10

Randy California & Spirit

The Euro-American Years ESOTERIC

A hugely expanded six-disc coupling of 1982’s Euro-American and 1983’s Shattered Dreams albums finds eternal underdog California in fine fingerboard-flaying form fronting yet another incarnation of Spirit. 7/10

Various

Oi! The Albums CAPTAIN OI!

Before Punk And Disorderly came the ultimate street punk template of skinhead/terrace-focused Oi! The Album (here alongside five diminishing-return sequels). Rejects, Sparrer, 4-Skins, Upstarts… Reliably brutal. 7/10

Robert Wyatt

His Greatest Misses DOMINO

Wyatt is injudiciously defined by two career-eclipsing covers: I’m A Believer and Shipbuilding. HGM provides an excellent opportunity to discover some astounding Wyatt originals. Eccentricity incarnate. 8/10

Allman Brothers Band

The Best Show You Never Heard: Warner Theater, Erie PA July 2005

Shortly after Hittin’ The Note, the Gregg, Jaimoe, two Trucks, Haynes, Burbidge and Quinones Allmans hit a particularly sweet spot in Erie with an inspired set-list. Settle back, you’ll be here for a while. 7/10

Motörhead

On Parole RHINO

With Larry Wallis on guitar and Lucas Fox on drums, this generously expanded On Parole collates Motörhead’s original ‘75/76 incarnation across demos for their ultimately shelved UA debut. 7/10