Re-Release Me (And Let Me Live Again) Out-of-print albums you’d like to see reissued. →[More:]

With the advent of the CD and the intarweb and various other infernal engines, there has been an upsurge of older, deleted material being remastered and reissued, often with various out-takes and live cuts appended. This is good.

Inevitably, however, there are a few gems that have either slipped under the radar entirely or were re-released only to be dropped again. Here are a few I thought of off the top of my head – please feel free to add your own.

Big Dipper – Heavens
Après REM, le deluge. Of the approximately forty billion jangly pop bands which sprang into existence in the mid-to-late 80s, these guys were among the best. I’ve heard rumors of Heavens being reissued soon, but then again if you listen long enough you’ll hear anything. In the meantime, here’s a taste: “Lunar Module”.

The Original Sins – Big Soul
In perusing Brother JT’s site while preparing this post, I was surprised to see that the Sins are still playing out. I thought they’d split up long, long ago. It just goes to show: ya gotta pay attention, always. Anyway, this is an album full of big, dark, loud garage/psyche goodies, with a little tinge of Dylan just for kicks. If “It’s All In My Head” whets your appetite, there’s an anthology (another surprise) available now through the website that looks pretty good.

Bram Tchaikovsky – Strange Man, Changed Man
One of the better power pop releases of the late 70s, featuring a full-on twelve-string attack. You may know the band for the single released from this album, “Girl of My Dreams”. While that’s a fine song (as is the title track), I chose another to share here. I’m perverse that way. Here’s “I’m the One That’s Leaving”.

Zeitgeist – Translate Slowly
Sweet, downbeat jangle-pop from Austin, TX. They did a fantastic cover of Willie Nelson’s “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain”, and their originals were pretty fantastic as well – “Araby”, “Things Don’t Change”, “Freight Train Rain” all stick out in my memory. A fave from the early 80s. I wish I had a track to post here, but apparently I missed the window during which the album was available on CD. Sorry.