Indulge yourself with linen-wrapped slipcases, in-depth liner notes and heavy art-card covers as Ken Kessler brings you 20 of the best deluxe reissue LPs coming your way...
With the vinyl revival now so firmly established that new pressing plants are being built, the competition has heated up regarding mastering, pressing techniques, vinyl thickness, playback speed and, as seen here, presentation. Deluxe packaging and pressings cost more, so it is applied mainly to milestone albums.
Not all artists strike gold after leaving the limelight of a successful group, but those that do can enjoy glittering new careers. Johnny Sharp unveils his Top 20 solo album smashes
Bands are a dying breed, it seems. As the cost of supporting four or five hedonistic and emotionally unstable young people while they record music that will attract revenue of approximately 76p per million streams becomes prohibitive, agents and record labels would rather invest in solo artists - lower overheads, you know how it is.
Rarities, remixes, outtakes and alternate tracks... Ken Kessler picks his way through the latest single-artist compilation albums to bring you the perfectly curated must-have sets
Compilations primarily used to mean ‘best ofs’ with, say, all the hits for those who just weren’t invested enough to crave an artist’s or band’s complete catalogue. While more focused than ‘various artists’ collections like the interminable Now That’s What I Call… series, they were just as variable sonically because the track selection might span several decades.