4 out of 5

Label: Rhymesayers

Produced by: Chris Blood (recorded by, mixed by)

Reissue – not a remaster, unfortunately – of E&A’s first album on vinyl, plus a bonus, 1-sided LP.

The first criticism is that lack of a remaster, but fair enough – maybe not necessary, as the original recordings are already pretty rich, and let’s assume sounded the way the crew wanted them to. (And maybe it’s wrong to remaster something when not everyone from the original group is around to voice an opinion on it.) That said, while the sound quality is nice, my copies do have some noise on the A-side and E-side bonus LP; possibly that’s present on the original recordings, but I’d suspect not, as I’ve had some inconsistencies with Rhymesayers vinyl. Nothing major, just some small clicks, as I’m hearing here. The couple reviews on Discogs don’t mention any noise on their copies, though, so maybe it’s just (non-)luck of the draw.

Otherwise, this is really a classy looking set, with individual full sleeves for each LP showing off Michael Larsen’s handwritten lyrics – possibly a complaint, that this substitutes for printed lyrics, but I think this is a cool way to honor the artist – and the etched bonus LP looks very cool. I also got colored vinyl, which is nicely synced to the album’s designs. And despite my mention of some noise, the bulk of this sounds really, really good.

As to the bonus material, one of those tracks (Before and After) was just an unlisted track on the original, so… sure, but the other three are from one of the album singles and the album instrumentals; definitely rarer acquisitions and fun (if all previously released) inclusions. If you haven’t heard them, Pushing Buttons is a pretty killer track, more in line with E&A‘s aggressions, and Architect’s Theme is old school boom bap; not as unique sounding but still quality. And of course, Before and After has Blueprint, so the duo make for a great pair.

So, for the most part, this comes down to whether or not you want this release on wax. If you already own it, the extra tracks + packaging updates make the call – I don’t think those are necessarily selling points without a remaster, but, hey, you do as you deem fit. Either way, this is a handsome update and an appreciative rerelease of a classic album.