Remasters

In recent years, even as CD sales decline, there have been numerous reissues of albums on CD. Recent reissues in the past few years include the Pretenders's first four albums, Whitney Houston's first album (a 25th commemorative reissue), Carole King's seminal "Tapestry", Erasure's "The Innocents," Elvis Presley's "Elvis in Memphis," and, of course, most notably, the recent Beatles remasters. Even Bananarama and Samantha Fox have reissued their back catalogues.

This month, Hip-O-Select is reissuing Diana Ross' 1973 "Touch Me in the Morning" album. Like many reissues, this will feature remastered sound, plus bonus tracks. In this case, fans will get a whole other album in addition to the 1973 release. Originally the album was intended to be a collection dedicated to Ross' first-born daughter Rhonda, but was scrapped in favour of a more pop-sounding release. Ross has had a number of her '70s releases reissued on CD, so having "Touch Me" added to this growing list of reissues is a plus for fans.

But there are many other albums waiting to be reissued. For the most part, they need to be remastered because the original CD releases featured poor sound and need an upgrade. Here is a list of albums I would like to see reissued.

1) Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A" - one of The Boss's biggest selling albums really needs the reissue treatment only to upgrade the '80s sound quality of the album's original CD release. Plus, it's one of the biggest albums of the '80s and it's time to revisit this classic, and give it the redux treatment that "Born To Run" received.

2) Prince's Warner Bros catalogue - this will probably NEVER happen as Warner Bros and Prince seem to still bask in their feud that has been going on for years (case in point, Warner Bros did not feature any Prince songs in their career-spanning box set "Revolutions in Sound" - or perhaps Prince would not allow WB to use his songs). But who wouldn't want to see deluxe packages of "1999," "Purple Rain" and "Sign O' The Times," plus all the other classic Prince albums from the late '70s and throughout the '80s?

3) Anita Baker's "Rapture" - Baker's surprise 1986 smash featuring her special brand of jazzy R&B desperately needs a sound upgrade, not to mention a remastering job which will allow her stunning vocals to shine through.

4) Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt's "Trio" - this album featuring three of music's finest female vocalists was a deserved hit in 1987, but their three voices really need to shine on an upgraded CD remaster.

5) Natalie Cole - Live! - This brilliant concert album was issued sometime in the '90s on CD but quickly disappeared. Cole was very popular in the mid-70s as an R&B queen, then reinvented herself in the early '90s by covering her father's catalogue (and other jazz classics). But Cole was never better than on this 1977 live album. She really belts it out on this one, and it's time someone belts out a new CD of this classic.

6) Madonna's "Like A Prayer" - Madonna's critically acclaimed 1989 album could use a sound upgrade, not to mention I am sure there are some demos and unreleased tracks that could be added to a reissue, in addition to the popular club remixes of the title track and "Express Yourself."

7) George Michael's "Faith" - one of the biggest albums of the '80s, released in 1987, like Springsteen's "Born in the USA" is begging for a reissue. Surprisingly, there was not a 20th commemorative reissue in 2007. Perhaps a 25th anniversary reissue in 2012?

8) Donna Summer's "Live and More" - Perhaps not as essential as Summer's "Bad Girls," but "Live and More" was her first number one album in the US, not to mention it featured the popular 17-minute opus "MacArthur Park Suite," featuring her disco cover of the Richard Harris classic. This album was one of the most popular - and significant - albums of the disco era, alongside the Saturday NIght Fever soundtrack.

9) Nirvana's "Nevermind" - As it approaches its 20th anniversary, Nirvana's breakthrough album has - perhaps surprisingly - never been reissued since its release in 1991. I imagine we will see a commemorative reissue in 2011.

10) "Here at Last... Bee Gees... Live" - say what you will about the Bee Gees, they released some incredible singles and were known to put on a good show. Surprisingly, they have only released a few live albums. This live album from, released in 1977, captures the Brothers Gibb just before they would shoot into the stratosphere with "Saturday Night Fever."

So, music listeners, what albums do you think should be given the deluxe treatment?

The Holy Grail of CDs

So, here it is. Finally. After months of trying to obtain a copy of what is becoming the Holy Grail of CDs: a box set of newly discovered live performances by Ella Fitzgerald from the early '60s, I finally have one in my hands. Yes, I am now the owner of Fitzgerald's "Twelve Nights in Hollywood."

I had a chance to buy a copy in November of last year at Soundscapes, one of Toronto's few remaining CD stores, but I didn't have enough money at the time, and when I returned to Soundscapes a week later, they were sold out. It was the same scenario on Amazon.com, which would quickly sell out of the set even when a new shipment came in. Who knew that a CD box set would be such a hot item in this digital age? I mean, who buys CDs anymore? And who buys box sets?

Surprisingly, there have been a number of excellent box sets released in the few years. Sony/Legacy has released some superb box sets on Roy Orbison, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Hall & Oates and Elvis Presley in recent years. Labels Atlantic Records, Motown and Warner Bros have released box sets covering their respective histories. I imagine the high prices for these sets give the record companies a good profit; otherwise, we wouldn't see so many box sets released these days.

But I'm most impressed by the success of Verve's "Ella Fitzgerald: Twelve Nights in Hollywood." There has been such a high demand for this collection of unreleased live performances by the legendary jazz vocalist. Fitzgerald's releases are readily available on CD (her Songbook series has been very successful on all formats from vinyl to CD), but this latest box set will surely be a collector's item. Word has it that Verve has only pressed a certain amount of copies, making this collection a limited edition.

I still buy CDs regularly, but the release of "Twelve Nights in Hollywood" has been a true event. Obviously, finding unreleased material by Fitzgerald is significant enough, but as with their previous releases of Fitzgerald's work, Verve has done a superb job with the packaging of this set. Now that it is in my hands, I cannot wait to listen to the four discs of Fitzgerald giving an intimate performance at the Crescendo in the early '60s.

Many music fans are willing to pay big money for this set. Perhaps you will, too, especially if you're a jazz fan. I'm sure this will be a CD set you will want in your collection.

That is, if you can find it.