antimusic.com: Remake-Remodel: The Kinks, Thin Lizzy and Traffic Review

The Kinks, Thin Lizzy and Traffic

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The only thing better than a great classic rock album is a great classic rock album with extra goodies! Universal Music has an ongoing project where they're re-releasing keystone albums from some highly-influential classic rock acts, all loaded with previously impossible-to-find stuff like demos, live versions, alternate takes and other music that was until now collecting dust in the vault. Here's what you can expect to find on some of the most recent titles.

The Kinks
The Kinks-Deluxe Edition
Kinda Kinks-Deluxe Edition
The Kink Kontroversy-Deluxe Edition

Between them these first three Kinks albums from the mid-'60s hold many enduring songs: "You Really Got Me," "All Day and All of the Night," "Tired of Waiting For You," "Set Me Free," "Stop Your Sobbing" and many more. Added to The Kinks is a mono version of the entire album and a mono version of the Kinks-Size EP holding covers of songs like "Louie, Louie" while among the cuts appended to Kinda Kinks are a demo of "I Go To Sleep," a song the band never released but that was recorded by Peggy Lee and much later the Pretenders. Kinda Kinks-Deluxe Edition also includes the Kwyet Kinks EP with the original version of "A Well Respected Man." The Kink Kontroversy-Deluxe Edition has seventeen extra cuts including the 1966 hit "Dedicated Follower of Fashion." Scattered throughout the albums are never before heard outtakes and snippets of BBC interview pieces. The guys were all in their very early twenties when this music was recorded.

Thin Lizzy
Jailbreak-Deluxe Edition
Johnny the Fox-Deluxe Edition

Thin Lizzy had released five albums previously but it was Jailbreak and the huge radio hits "Jailbreak," "Cowboy Song" and "The Boys Are Back in Town" that kick started the band's career on American shores. Jailbreak-Deluxe Edition presents the album in its original form and then adds remixes and/or live versions of those hits along with rarities like a long version of "Fight or Fall" and an early take on non-album cut "Derby Blues." Johnny the Fox didn't have big hits but it had plenty of killer FM radio cuts like "Don't Believe a Word," "Borderline" and "Johnny the Fox Meets Jimmy the Weed" and you'll hear multiple versions of them all here.

Traffic
John Barleycorn Must Die-Deluxe Edition

Traffic continued their penchant for "stretching out" on this album, turning in near 7-minute jams on "Every Mother's Son," the title track and the funky jazz/rock instrumental "Glad." Alternate versions of those FM staples are included here along with takes on earlier favorites like "Medicated Goo" and "40,000 Headmen."

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