90 DAY MEN
We Blame Chicago
NUMERO GROUP
8/10
Definitive overview of oddball Chicago post-rockers
After releasing their debut single in 1996, Chicago-based 90 Day Men recorded three albums of fractured, textural and cacophonous music between 2000 and 2004. All three feature on this typically immaculate Numero boxset alongside a previously unreleased four-track 2001 Peel Session, plus a further album containing EPs, singles, rarities and outtakes. While contemporary reviews highlighted the influence of Slint, Nation Of Ulysses, Television and prog to the band’s unique sound, it’s also increasingly apparent that bassist Rob Lowe brought a huge jazz influence into their soundscapes. The music gets denser but richer through the three albums, and the band’s increasing confidence reaches the vocals – the initial post-rock mumble by guitarist Brian Case eventually replaced by Lowe’s Plant-adjacent heroics. It’s a fabulous overview of a very strange band. Pre-orders receive an additional treat – Orbit To Orbit, a bonus cassette which includes their debut 7”, “Taking Apart The Vessel”, alongside eight unreleased early tracks.
Extras 7/10 68-page oral history curated by Joan Of Arc’s Tim Kinsella. PETER WATTS
ABBA
The Visitors (reissue, 1981)
UMC
7/10
Swedish superstars’ formerly final LP gets deluxe treatment
Now split over two discs and mastered at half-speed at Abbey Road, ABBA’s eighth LP – also, until 2021’s Voyage, their swansong – has long been considered their breakup album, with Benny and Frida following Björn and Agnetha to the divorce courts weeks before release. It’s surprising, then, that, despite its classic bittersweet qualities, “One Of Us” – with loaded lines like “One of us is crying/One of us is lying/In a lonely bed” – sounds curiously optimistic, while “When All Is Said And Done” turns their disappointments into empathy for other separated couples. Similarly chirpy, underperforming final single “Head Over Heels” boasts glorious harmonies, but “Soldiers”’ distinctively ’80s styles, including twiddly guitar licks, is heavy-handed, and “I Let The Music Speak” apes contemporary Evita-style musicals.
Extras 7/10 Obi-strip and certificate of authenticity; individual releases of “Head Over Heels”, “One Of Us”, “The Day Before You Came” and “Under Attack” picture disc 7”s, plus coloured 7”s. WYNDHAM WALLACE
