Scenes From Vault Year 2023, Part 2

A rapid tour through the vault projects that inspired (or startled or prompted re-evaluation) this year

There is an essay to be written about how the heightened activity around old, forgotten or rediscovered music aligns with – or juxtaposes against, or comments on – what’s happening in current music.

This is not that essay.

Instead, in the spirit of the season, we’re engaging in the timeworn practice of stock-taking and highlight-reel making. Below, in short listicle form and no particular order, are vault projects, remasters and live albums that had plenty to inspire (and teach) listeners this year.  Enjoy!

Geri Allen & Kurt Rosenwinkel: A Lovesome Thing (Recorded 2012). Recorded at the Philharmonie de Paris in 2012, this captures intimate, wonderous, time-fluid conversations between the late pianist Geri Allen and guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel. Their “Embraceable You” is one for the ages.

The Replacements: Tim Let It Bleed Edition (Sire/Rhino, 4 discs).

Here’s another high-res lesson from the Replacements about the importance of a good mix: An exhaustively overhauled audio treatment, by Ed Stasium, of the band’s 1985 major label debut Tim. Stasium pumped up the guitar bite while retaining singer/songwriter Paul Westerberg’s shambling romantic aura, clarifying the band’s essence in the process. The box includes demos made with their hero Alex Chilton and audio from a (remarkably) lucid 1986 Mats show at Chicago’s Cabaret Metro.

Various Artists: The Memphis Blues Box (Bear Family, 20 discs).

I’m still in 1928, which means discs 2-4 of this massive historical undertaking. Turns out 1928 was a very good year in Memphis blues, what with Furry Lewis’ acidic protest “Judge Harsh Blues” and Frank Stokes’ lighthearted “Stomp That Thing” and intricate works by the Memphis Jug Band and others. The hardbound book offers contextual notes for each track and amazing photographs, and most of the music is rendered in the kind of astonishing detail that makes you go “This can’t be nearly a century old.”

Marvin Gaye: Let’s Get It On Deluxe Edition (1973).

Along with Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series entry this year (see below), this deserves to be remembered as an artifact about process. During the early gestation of what became his hit album Let’s Get It On, Marvin Gaye did exploratory songwriting and groove harvesting with pianist Herbie Hancock alongside session musicians Paul Humphrey and James Jamerson. The words weren’t written yet and some pieces are just skeletal backing tracks, but the earthy, sensual vibe is already there. And Herbie is a part of it.

Joao Gilberto: Relicário – Ao Vivo No Sesc 1998 (2 discs). The ‘90s solo live work from bossa nova pioneer Joao Gilberto runs hot and cold; this nicely captured Sao Paulo concert, discussed here, shows the master’s control over the tiniest nuances of rhythm.

Pharoah Sanders: Pharoah (Luaka Bop). Arguably of more historical importance than saxophonist Sanders’ final project Promises with the electronic musician Sam Shepherd (otherwise known as Floating Points), this long-bootlegged, now cleaned-up 1977 release shows just how intentional Sanders was about music as a pathway to illumination. Discussed a bit here.

Prince and the New Power Generation: Diamonds And Pearls Super Deluxe Edition. (1991, 7 discs). The latest vault excavation from Paisley Park retraces the paths Prince and his then-new band took to arrive at Diamonds And Pearls. This involved some boilerplate (for him!) ballads and raunchy party jams – there are three discs filled with music he rejected, mapping the creative fervor that defined much of his life. While some outtakes only reach medium heat, more of them exhibit the taut rhythm and dazzling hookcraft of D&P hits like “Cream.” And let’s be real: Those tracks would have been career-highlight singles for less gifted artists.

Husker Du: Tonite Longhorn (1979-1980), Sonic Youth: Live in Brooklyn 2011.

These two live sets make an excellent “Loud/Fast/Beginning/Ending” pairing. The appropriately grainy Husker Du release shows early live iterations of band’s renegade thrash abrasion, which evolved mightily from here; it’s a kind-of postscript to the Numero Group’s excellent 2017 anthology Savage Young Du. The Sonic Youth date comes from an outdoor show just before the band dissolved due to an acrimonious split between bassist Kim Gordon and guitarist Thurston Moore. The set list includes a heavy dose of Sonic Youth’s second album Bad Moon Rising (1985) but the playing is anything but nostalgic: Throughout, the band aims at a savage, evermodern, skillfully calibrated dissonance that hangs right on the cusp of chaos.

Joni Mitchell: Archives Vol. 3: The Asylum Years, 1972-1975 (5 discs, Rhino).

The demos and studio outtakes here focus on the period between Joni Mitchell’s 1972 release For The Roses and her considerably more experimental 1975 The Hissing of Summer Lawns. That was when Mitchell developed a sly, sophisticated sonic landscape (realized fully on Court and Spark) to frame her trenchant observations on love as it arrives and departs. A few gems among many: The “You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio” with Neil Young; “This Flight Tonight” and “Lesson in Survival” from a 1972 Carnegie Hall concert; an early alternate take of “Car On a Hill;” the 1975 demos of “Edith and the Kingpin” and “Shades of Scarlet Conquering.”

John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy: Evenings at the Village Gate (1961).

I had to keep reminding myself that these rousing and bone-rattling performances happened during the early days of John Coltrane’s modal and freeform explorations, just before the release of Africa/Brass in September 1961 and several years before A Love Supreme.  Already on the heroic quest, Coltrane plays with the combination of muscularity and precision that defines his early ‘60s output; he’s clearly energized by deep thinker Eric Dolphy, who by this point had refined his blindingly original approach. Start with this version of “Africa.”

Ahmad Jamal: Emerald City Nights Volume 3 (Jazz Detective, recorded 1966-68); Cal Tjader: Catch the Groove (Jazz Detective, recorded 1963-67).

These two sparkling collections, of previously unreleased music recorded at Seattle’s jazz club The Penthouse, argue that the sleuthing and restoration work involved in archival records is valuable. Overseen by Zev Feldman and issued on his Jazz Detective imprint, both titles make key specific contributions to our understanding of important artists. The third Jamal trove includes a devious turn through “Corcovado” and a coy, disarming solo piano interpretation of the standard “Emily” that shows Jamal’s lyricism; the Tjader captures several of the vibraphonist’s most exacting rhythm sections barreling full steam toward a fluid, inclusive, paradigm-shifting approach to Latin jazz.

Kirsty MacColl: See That Girl: 1979-2000 (Universal UK, 8 discs).

Since the recent death of Pogues legend Shame McGowan, we’ve been hearing lots of “Fairytale of New York,” his wry holiday duet with the late singer and songwriter Kirsty MacColl. With any luck, that’ll spark curiousity about the tremendously talented MacColl, whose voice elevated just about every song she sang. This box gathers all of MacColl’s output starting with her acclaimed 1981 debut and including her versions of songs like the fierce “They Don’t Know,” a hit for Tracy Ullman. MacColl’s songcraft evolved considerably over the years, but even on the synthopop-heavy Real – her second album that was shelved by her label – her signatures are evident: Smart and forthright lyrics that are made airborne by instantly grabby, highly addictive hooks.

Bob Dylan: The Bootleg Series Vol. 17: Fragments – Time Out of Mind Sessions (1996–1997) (Columbia, 5 CDs).

The Daniel Lanois produced Time Out of Mind landed in 1997, ending a seven-year drought between new Bob Dylan releases. It was a hazy listen – the syrupy grooves radiated humidity while the words pondered the signs and symbols of soul decay Dylan saw everywhere. This set includes a strikingly cleaned-up mix of the original album that expands its resonances, and outtakes that show Dylan testing out grooves like he’s trying on pants, looking for an effortless fit. Stellar moments include an agitated version of “Mississippi,” which Dylan redid for 2001’s Love and Theft, and animated, surprisingly experimental treatments of “Cold Irons Bound,” “Love Sick” and “Tryin’ To Get To Heaven.”

Arthur Russell: Picture of Bunny Rabbit (Audika, 1985-1986).

The small Audika label has put out ten full length albums of previously unreleased posthumous recordings by the cellist and experimental composer Arthur Russell since his death, from AIDS, in 1992. Like many of the earlier titles, Picture of Bunny Rabbit contains plaintive, elegaic melodies nestled within drone soundscapes, or clanging jostling percussion, or oddly gripping tape-reverse collages. It’s a kind of intimate wizardry.

Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru: Self-titled (Mississippi Records).

Many beloved musicians and iconic creators departed Earth in 2023. We’ll spare you the long tearful remembrances here (they’re everywhere!) but will honor them all by spending a moment marveling at the enduring impact of Ethiopian pianist, composer and nun Emahoy Tseque-Maryam, who died in March at age 99. She wrote a plaintive music of arpeggios and curlicues, and played with a poised deliberation that infused her lines with spirituality. She wasn’t out for fame – she was a nun who devoted most of her energy to education for disadvantaged young people – but as reissues of her recordings circulated a few years ago (here’s a riff from Echo Locator in 2022), Emahoy drew wide acclaim and press coverage in The New Yorker and elsewhere. The late recognition offers further confirmation that even in this moment of peak TikTok glibness, there’s still room for outsiders offering simple sounds that stir the spirit.

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