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Pissed!
By Johnny Angel

Barrel Scraps:
Plenty of glittery musical gems sit in the trash heap of history itching to be reborn as flashy CDs

You'd think that by now virtually every desirable platter ever recorded would be available on domestic CD. Think: Isn't it so that aging boomers and their aging vinyl stashes are a natural market for any and all product that once tickled their fancies? And with labels like Sundazed, Rhino and Razor and Tie licensing up yesterday's obscurities en masse, there can't be that much left that could conceivably break even.

To achieve this modest feat, according to one Warner Brothers re-issue maven, a disc must have at least the capability to move about 5,000 copies. Marketing, shipping, artwork--these are the cost factors inherent in the re-packaging of albums. The biggest cost in the manufacture of a record is recording, which is moot in reissue-land.

And consider some of the outright rarities that have made it onto aluminum, like Skip Spence's Oar or Gene Clark's No Other. So how hard could it be, for example, to find 5,000 Americans willing to part with a measly twelver for some of the following gone-but-not-forgottens?

The Rolling Stones--Metamorphosis
Jimi Hendrix--Rainbow Bridge
Various Artists--Nuggets
Various Artists--Let Them Eat Jellybeans
Lou Reed--The Blue Mask and New Sensations
Phil Ochs--Pleasures of the Harbor
The Dictators--Manifest Destiny
Bloodbrothers DMZ--DMZ
Various Artists--All Homestead Recordings 1984-86
Pere Ubu--The Modern Dance
The Dead Boys--We Have Come For Your Children
Various Artists--Live at the Roxy
The Zero Boys--The Zero Boys
Teenage Head--Teenage Head
The Diodes--The Diodes
Howard Tate--Howard Tate
The Young Marble Giants--Young Marble Giants

These are but a scant few titles. I'm sure you have your own pet peeves that remain gone, daddy gone.

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