US Pixies / Cocteau Twins reissues

I did a wee day trip to the most powerful of nations the United States 
Of America today and bought a few 4AD items...

US Pixies / Cocteau Twins reissues:
On a budget - REVIEWED

Assuming you already own the first four UK Cocteau Twins reissues, then 
all you really need to do is get "Garlands" again as the US version 
fixes up the "Blood Bath" typo (both on outer and inner sleeves). Then 
get the new US version of "Blue Bell Knoll" (actually says 'remastered 
by Robin Guthrie' under the clear disc tray, and has the 'www.4ad.com' 
web address on the disc itself, the first 4AD CD to do that as far as I 
can recall) and "Heaven Or Las Vegas" (also remastered by Mr. Guthrie). 
The other US Cocteau reissues are virtually identical to the UK 
releases. For now, it seems, the remastered versions of "BBK" and "HoLV" 
are US-only, though the 4AD mail order have some copies in stock now. As 
mentioned before, "BBK" uses the vinyl version of the cover sleeve 
rather than the CD sleeve we've lived with previously. Looks very nice! 
Oddly enough, both "BBK" and "HoLV" use the original disc art rather 
than using the standardized design of the first four discs.

For the Pixies, assuming you own all the Pixies CDs, there's no real 
reason to buy any of them over again in US reissue form apart from 
"Bossnova", which is worth getting simply for the horrific printing 
error (excessive reds, looks awful and they should have sent it back to 
the printers). A collectable up there in the kollektor skum 
essentialness as the botched French version of Kristin Hersh's "Sunny 
Border Blue". For katalog number kreeps like me, getting the new "Come 
On Pilgrim" and "Surfer Rosa" are worth getting for their new catolog 
numbers: "COP" - MAD709CD and "SR" - GAD8030CD.

All Pixies and Cocteau discs sport clear disc trays with some sort of 
color and/or art underneath.

Verdict?

The remastered Cocteaus are amazing, and hearing the "new" "Blue Bell 
Knoll" and "Heaven Or Las Vegas" proves it was definitely worthwhile to 
have Mr. Guthrie remaster them. All six of the Cocteau reissues are 
essential...

For the Pixies: Since there's no remastered discs and buying the catalog 
over again simply for a clear disc tray is a little too much even for 
me, definitely DO buy the new "ugly" cover art of "Bossanova". It's 
SEVERELY wretched, MUCH worse than the 1998 This Mortal Coil US reissues 
that forgot to add the band name to the front sleeve of "It'll End In 
Tears", employing a ultra dark red for fonts on "Filigree" and using a 
crass yellow color instead of the elegant gold ink on the fonts for "Blood".

I also purchased the new Medicine album. The female vocalist is Shannon 
Lee, the daughter of Bruce Lee (!). Also found the US version of "What 
Sound" by Lamb that comes with extra tracks and a bonus DVD!

Cool as phack!


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