Reprise レコード& CD

Review: Celebrating its 30-year anniversary with a monolithic deluxe edition, Green Day's Dookie has gone on to become one of the cornerstones of pop-punk, pre-dating Blink-182 with its global expansion. Spawning timeless anthems such as 'Basket Case', 'Longview' and pop smash hit 'When I Come Around'; the album signalled the artistic prowess and bright future the band have continued to live up to in the decades since. Complete with 17 previously unreleased demos, studio outtakes and both their Woodstock 1994 and unreleased Barcelona 1994 live performances, as well as a 36-page book cataloguing the creative journey of these formative years, this 6xLP beast is not for the faint of heart but for the devout and avid legions of generation spanning followers the trio still continue to amass to this day.

Review: If you want to talk about landmark albums, how about Dookie? The third LP from a then-fresh faced but already-jaded Green Day represented a true 'moment' in the development of skate rock and punk, pre-empting the rise of pop punk. Casting a mind back to 1993, when the record hit, and memories prevail of record walls lined with t-shirts sporting the iconic artwork, and a sense that the future of guitar music would be anything but the overblown stadium mega rock that dominated much of the 1980s. Perhaps that never quite became the truth - Green Day catapulted this sound to the top of main stage festival bills in just a few years - but the raw energy, voice of generation X attitude still hits today. We could try and namecheck the highlights, but ultimately, from 'Burnout' to 'All By Myself', Dookie is the largely upbeat driving force of a very special time.

Review: Neil Young fans rejoice, for his fabled 'lost' album of the late 70s is finally seeing the official release that has been denied for so long. Chrome Dreams was originally compiled as an acetate to be considered for release in 1977, but it never made it to press and only existed as a widespread bootleg. A fair wedge of the songs made their way onto other Neil Young and Crazy Horse releases in other versions, but there's something special about hearing the likes of 'Hold Back The Tears' in this context, recorded as a solo acoustic affair with a rawness which lets Young's craft shine through in all its glory.

Review: With Neil Young's late 60s and early to mid-70s music being so well beloved, fans are ecstatic about this release. Dume is a 16-song album (2 LPs) by Neil Young with Crazy Horse from 1975, recorded during the Zuma recording sessions. It includes tracks and outtakes from Zuma. Thus, think of it like the most complete package or extended version on Zuma. This period (just three years after Harvest) of Neil's music is some of his most productive and beloved writing in his 50+ year career. These extra tracks add not only just more music to enjoy but a unique look into the sessions as they were. The two albums are housed a beautifully packaged gatefold as well.