This month…
THE BEATLES
1962–1966/1967–1970
APPLE
9/10, 9/10
Fabs gear! Expanded triple-LP versions of the ubiquitous 1970s compilations
Having been a decisive factor in the Beatles split, it’s interesting that Allen Klein was charged with rebooting their reputation. The pipe-smoking US businessman compiled the chronological “red” and “blue” albums when a bootleg Fab hits box called Alpha And Omega was advertised on TV in the USA. These comps arrived in 1973 to re-present The Beatles to a Dark Side Of The Moon world. The chronological concept and cover presentation were rock solid then (you would wager this was where Noel and Liam first heard “I Am The Walrus”), but the sell 50 years on is twofold. First up there’s “Now And Then”, the very good 2022-3 revisit of a 1979 Lennon demo. Then there’s the fact that the tracklisting now includes more Macca compositions (“I Saw Her Standing There”), some more George, some key covers (see: “Twist And Shout”) and more Revolver weirdness. That the early numbers can hold their own in this context is due to their Giles Martin remix using Peter Jackson’s MAL AI tech. Beyond this point you’d imagine AI-assisted remixes of the Fabs catalogue from Please Please Me to Rubber Soul will be forthcoming soon…
JOHN ROBINSON
BLACK DOG PRODUCTIONS/THE BLACK DOG
Bytes/Spanners (reissues, 1993, 1995)
WARP
8/10, 7/10
Warp IDM relics reissued
The Black Dog were, briefly, the trio of Ken Downie, Ed Handley and Andy Turner, before Handley and Turner peeled off to pursue Plaid full-time in the mid-1990s. Bytes – celebrating its 30th anniversary – became synonymous with Warp’s shift from bleep techno to home listening as part of their Artificial Intelligence series. It rounds up the various aliases deployed by the three members – hence Black Dog Productions – who offered a whimsical, light-footed take on Detroit techno that seemed more tongue-in-cheek than some of their po-faced peers (see Close Up Over’s string-laden “Caz” or Balil’s dreamy “Merck”, both Handley and Turner cuts, or the more ominous sci-fi sounds of Discordian Pope’s “Fight The Hits” and IAO’s “Clan (Mongol Hordes)”, both Downie). Spanners, on which they worked together as The Black Dog for the last time, is equally serene and silly, ranging from Latin freestyle (“Barbola Work”) to textbook chillout (“Pot Noddle”) and, in “Chesh”, one of Warp’s unsung masterpieces.
PIERS MARTIN
BLACK SABBATH
Hand Of Doom: 1970–78
BMG
8/10
What is this that stands before me? Sabbath’s glory years, on picture disc
From doom to bust in eight years, Black Sabbath’s 1970s career – here in picture disc form – is rock’s hardest-swinging cautionary tale. Founded on the inexhaustible supply of riffs from Tony Iommi and the personality of Ozzy Osbourne, the dissolution of their classic lineup came after a perfect storm: their Netflix drama would warn of strong language, drug misuse and synthesisers. Members nearly all agreed that their final album (1978) should more properly have been1973) generally restarted their clock. 1975’s , written during court depositions, contains some of their heaviest, most inventive, music. The band’s last two albums had a couple of decent songs but were markedly self-conscious. The music wasn’t broke, but the band were by now unhappy enough at the top to try and fix it.
