deluxe

Contest the claim if you like, but there isn’t a better Ramones album than “Leave Home”, their second long-player.

Yes, the debut was retrospectively ground-breaking and a beacon for rock and roll’s shift back-to-basics, but “Leave Home” surely should have been the point where “punk” (at least as America knew it) crossed the line, converting from Cult Curiosity to Mainstream Soundtrack.

High-tensile guitars, off-colour humour, melodies and energy live large within its groove. Bubblegum, doo-wop, pop and rock bundled into the perfect musical package, married to an image of teen rebellion, leather jackets and shades. What the fuck is there not to love?

You probably know the back-story about the core package (the straight re-issue of the Bowie mix with live disc appended) so let’s cut to the chase and talk about the Deluxe Ediiton.

Drop Out With The Barracudas Deluxe Edition – Barracudas (Lemon Records)

Increasingly, the recording companies attempt to milk the last of the boomer dollars before retirement homes steal the last of our bank accounts.  They’ve already worked out that there's bugger all money in new recordings.  Even dependable old cash cows like KISS and The Who have made public statements to that end.

So record companies have learnt to spew out deluxe editions of the familiar, the obscure and the criminally ignored.  And, if someone is going to put out a multi disc collection of every taped concert on Sunset Strip, well oops.  My finger slipped on the buy button before I read about the goddamn postage.

The first of a series of what will hopefully be a series of archival editions hits the streets in March with the re-release of the Sunnyboys’ 1981 debut album in dramatically expanded form.

So, let’s assume that you enjoyed the plunge into the Matrix, and are curious to hear more.

This will of course, naturally lead you to their fourth, and last, studio album, "Loaded"; the Super Deluxe six disc box set is "Re-Loaded", the two disc set from 1997 is "Fully Loaded".

Now, "Loaded" itself is an excellent, heavily industry-influenced, subtly smart pop album. But, after coming from "The Matrix Tapes", you’ll feel that this album is a little too shiny, starchy and … just doesn’t quite have the juice.

I remember first hearing this LP after having thirsted through their first three records and wondering, ‘What the fuck happened to this band?’, then discovering that Mo Tucker wasn’t on drums for these sessions, that Doug Yule sings on four songs, and that Lou walked away as soon as recording was complete. David Fricke’s article on "Loaded" in the December 2015 issue of Mojo provides excellent background to what is a not-fully Velvet Underground record.