I am not a fan of Deluxe editions of albums that come out a year after their original release. To me to screams cash cow. To me you should be adding all the b-sides (remember them?) together for a remastering 20 years further down the line. However this silly movement has seen St Vincent join the band of artists doing this Deluxe Edition. First things first – don’t rebuy the album unless you don’t already have it. It’s a fantastic album and the new version adds four new tracks to the mix. Are they worth getting? Let’s see…
“Bad Believer” is really the single of them all. It’s a straight up rock track with flanging drums and guitar and a euphoric mix of freaking guitar riffs and 80’s over production. It’s what the original album was all about and really feels like a strong track that should have been their to start with. “Pieta” is more unusual. A rolling percussive wheel of beats keeps on rolling throughout while a bass riff plays beautifully off of some choral vocals for the chorus. There’s some great lyrics here particularly about the Holiday Inn. It feels really rough in the mix and dirty – which is the point. I approve! “Sparrow” is the most artistic as a broken riff clomps and flops its way slowly behind Annie’s voice that pushes on through. The song has this fallen apart vibe to every instrument – even the timing feels out at times. It’s strangely fun though. “Del Rio” closes the quartet with a hark back to the first two albums of St Vincent with a more traditional rock-based approach. Her guitar fuzz really works here as its catchy hook after catchy hook. Again, it could be a single and again it’s awesome.
So worth it? As individual purchases absolutely. Let’s quash this new trend though – I already bought the album first time round like a good follower. More strategy in your milking please!