Blondie - Against the Odds 1974-1982
Expected for a long time, this integral of the New York group led by Debbie Harry and Chris Stein affirms the durability of a repertoire full of hits.
Revealed on the stage of CBGB's in Manhattan in 1976, the group knew how to exploit the sensual charm of the blonde singer, one of the most lightning pop stars of the time.
Madonna's avowed model, Debbie Harry is the major asset of these discs which have gone through the years well, which we rediscover with pleasure with an impeccable sound.
Box 10LP and 1 single (Universal Music) from 45 to 305 euros.
Debbie Harry is the major asset of these discs which have gone through the years well, which we rediscover with pleasure endowed with an impeccable sound.
UniversalMusic
David Bowie - Divine Symmetry
The Parlophone label continues the chronological reissue of the Englishman's albums with this year an essential reference:
Hunky Dory.
Released in 1971, this album, which was the collaboration of the artist with the RCA label and producer Ken Scott, is also his first classic, on which we find the songs Changes,
Quicksand
and
Life on Mars
.
We discover here, scrupulously documented, the different stages of the conception of titles, in often unpublished recordings.
5-CD box set (Parlophone/Warner Music), 119 euros.
Two books accompany Divine Symmetry, with a 100-page hardcover compendium including memorabilia and exclusive photos and a 60-page replica of David Bowie's notebook featuring handwritten lyrics, costume sketches, recording notes and setlists.
Warner Music
Eric Clapton - The Complete Reprise Studio Albums vol.1
The Reprise label celebrates thirty years of collaboration with the
guitar hero
from the sixties on two vinyl boxes.
The first of them covers the period between 1983 and 1998. Years of transition for the English musician, struggling in the 1980s before experiencing a spectacular comeback the following decade.
Blues, blues, blues on the program with solid performances from an artist who has not yet become infrequent because of his recent positions on the Covid-19.
Box of 12 LPs (Reprise/Warner Music), 265 euros.
Limited-edition 12-LP box set revisits Eric Clapton's first six albums for Reprise, with an exclusive Warner Music bonus LP
PJ Harvey - B sides, demos & rarities
A fine way to celebrate the musician's thirty-year career with this anthology made up of alternative versions of her great pieces.
A fascinating alternative itinerary, which reveals the strength of the writing and the power of the interpretation of this bubbling singer.
From the punch
Dry
to his more recent productions, PJ Harvey lets us glimpse behind the scenes of his inspiration and it's often astounding.
Box 6 LP (Island/Universal Music), 135 euros.
From
Dry
to his more recent productions, PJ Harvey lets us glimpse behind the scenes of his inspiration and it's often astounding.
UniversalMusic
The Kinks - Muswell Hillbillies/Everybody's in Showbiz, Everybody's a star
The Davies brothers entered the 1970s with Muswell Hillbilies, the Kinks' last great album.
A very striking work from the era before the big leap to stadium rock.
Columnist inspired by England, Ray Davies signs some inspired vignettes there.
In addition, the box contains a reissue of
Everybody's in showbiz,
a half-live, half-studio record with intact charm.
Box 11 LP (BMG), 196 euros.
The box contains a reissue of
Everybody's in showbiz,
a half-live, half-studio disc with intact charm.
BMG
Mark Knopfler - The Studio Albums 2009-2018
Revealed by Dire Straits, the antihero Mark Knopfler preferred to flourish under his own name from the mid-1990s. This second chronological set reveals everything there is to love about this man.
Impeccable writing, with an undeniable literary dimension, a careful interpretation both on guitar and vocals, and a sense of production that allow these records to cross the years with grace.
9 LP or 6 CD set (Universal Music)
Joni Mitchell - The Asylum Albums (1972-1975)
After her debut on the Reprise label, Joni Mitchell was one of the first to follow David Geffen (Bob Dylan would follow) when he set up Asylum.
She delivers there discs which initiate the turn which she takes at this time, where she progressively abandons folk for the shores of jazz.
Daring, inspired, sometimes experimental, the Joni Mitchell of those years was nothing less than one of the most exciting musicians on the planet.
Fans like Prince or Morrissey will remember it a few years later.
4 LP or 4 CD set (Asylum/Warner Music)
Manset - Mansetlandia
4 white vinyls covering the period from 2006 to 2018, large extracts from the albums Obok, Manitoba no longer responds, A bird has landed, Operation aphrodite and on board the Blossom.
Either one of the most interesting phases in the career of a singer like no other, who has cultivated his difference since 1968 and continues his journey with inspiration.
HIS new album, the Crab with Men's Claws is moreover one of the most stimulating of this year which is coming to an end.
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Live at the Fillmore 1997 (Warner Music)
Whether you choose the short version (2Cd or 3 LP) or the XXL version (4Cd or 6 LP), this collection of live recordings captured at the Fillmore in San Francisco is a marvel.
We hear a group at the height of its abilities, having fun drawing an impressive cartography of American music: folk, blues, rock'n'roll.
With many covers and strong guests (Roger McGuinn and John Lee Hooker), the songwriter who died in 2017 shines with all his brilliance.
Pink Floyd - Animals, 2018 Remix
Ready for four years but postponed due to the pandemic and open conflict between Roger Waters and David Gilmour, the new version of this cult album is finally seeing the light of day.
A more aggressive mix makes it possible to restore the violence of the subject, in full punk turmoil.
The band's last great album, Animals is the missing piece in the trilogy of masterpieces that began with D'arc Side of the Moon and continued on Wish you Were Here.
Deluxe Gatefold box set, CD, vinyl, Blu-ray and SACD (Parlophone/Warner Music)
Wilco -20th anniversary super deluxe edition
Top of the discography of this group sometimes considered as the American version of Radiohead, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was first refused by Jeff Tweedy's record company and his family before becoming a classic when it was released in 2001. In its version the most copious (11 LPs!) this commemorative box traces the disturbed genesis of a disc which will allow the group to settle in the long term.
Twenty-one years later, Wilco has also released a superb album in 2022.
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, 2 LPs, box set of 8 LPs or 11 LPs and 1 CD (Nonesuch/Warner Music)
Neil Young - Harvest 50th anniversary edition
Tree that hides the forest (the very prolific career of its author), an album to which we tend to reduce it too often, Harvest, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, benefits from a top-of-the-range reissue.
And if it's not Neil Young's best album, it remains a generational record, one of those found in all the good nightclubs.
In addition to the original songs maniacally remastered by the sound obsessive Young, this copious box set houses a live BBC audio and video, as well as a handful of previously unreleased tracks.
But what makes this object essential is the two-hour film, Harvest Time, which recounts the making of the songs with many unpublished images and a few scenes from anthology.
A great way to celebrate a hit that doesn't
Box 2 LP, 1 single and 2 DVD or 2 CD and 2 DVD (Reprise/Warner Music)