Marshall Crenshaw takes his 40 Years in Showbiz! Tour to Manhattan’s City Winery. (It’s a show you can watch from the comfort of your home – hopefully my head won’t be in the way!) Just as exciting as seeing this living power-pop legend celebrate his fourth decade of performing: some of his long-out-of-print classic albums are coming back into circulation courtesy of a new label home.
Earlier this month, Yep Roc announced a double LP expanded edition of Crenshaw’s hook-filled debut album for Record Store Day Black Friday. In addition to the classic album, includes a host of great cuts like “There She Goes Again,” “Cynical Girl” and others, it’ll feature newly redesigned artwork plus seven rare and unreleased cuts for hardcore fans, including a brace of four-track early versions of songs from the album recorded between 1980 and 1981.
Marshall Crenshaw’s self-titled album has been called one of the greatest albums of the 1980s by Rolling Stone, Spin, MOJO, Paste and others. It includes his breakthrough hit, “Someday, Someway” and many other classic pop rock songs. Remastered by Greg Calibi, this 40th anniversary reissue includes the original album + 7-song bonus EP, w/5 previously unreleased songs. This is a 2022 Black Friday, Record Store Day release.
And the timing couldn’t be better: several of Crenshaw’s classic albums, recorded in the ’80s for Warner Bros. Records, have fallen out of circulation as the singer/songwriter has successfully claimed the copyright from his old label. “Marshall Crenshaw, Field Day” (1983), “Downtown” (1985) and “Mary Jane & 9 Others” (1987) are all digitally unavailable, as is “Thank You, Rock Fans!!”, a 1982 concert issued on vinyl by Warner’s Run Out Groove in 2017. (When not keeping busy on other current projects, from a long-gestating documentary on legendary record producer Tom Wilson to tour dates on his own and with The Smithereens (following the passing of original frontman Pat DiNizio), Crenshaw has revisited some of his back catalogue, including an expanded reissue of 1999’s “Miracle of Science” and a curated vintage live collection.)
The website Rock NYC recently confirmed some of Crenshaw and Yep Roc’s plans for his Warner albums: “Field Day” is slated to get a similar reissue for its 40th anniversary next year. (Intervention Records issued an expanded vinyl edition of that album in 2017 that included the original US Remix EP.) It’s a safe bet that the wider release of the expanded “Marshall Crenshaw” – especially digital and streaming editions, if you’ve somehow missed this album in the last 40 years, trust us that you’ll want to make up for lost time this fall.
Yep Roc’s expansion of Crenshaw’s debut, “Marshall Crenshaw (40th Anniversary Edition) available at all participating Record Store Day retailers November 25th.
The Fat Angel Sings 