3 out of 5

Label: Touch and Go

Produced by: Ted Niceley, various

When it comes to rereleases, my question is always: is it worth it? With Touch and Go’s 25th anniversary reissue / remaster of House of GVSB, my opinion is admittedly tainted by a couple things: this is my least favorite GVSB album (yeah, Freak*On*Ica included), and I already own the bulk of the extra material included on the second LP. I realize both of those points aren’t great – the first being subjective, the second a very individual one – but I’ll try to detail out more why I feel the points still have relevance.

The album gets a remaster from Bob Weston, which sounds like a cool idea, but it kind of feels like trying to “stress” the recording like a pair of frayed jeans: this disc has always sounded so polished that I’ve never gotten much traction with it, and Weston bumps up the fuzz a little, but you can’t drastically change the inherent dynamic of the materia – it still sounds pretty slick, just with a bass-ier heavy mix. I’d also argue that that sound is somewhat purposeful, given the nightlife veneer of the album, but that again is getting more subjective

As to the second LP’s collection of B-side material, yes, it’s always nice to have this stuff gathered together, but it partially feels so random. It’s a fair amount of House-related stuff (the Disco Six Six Six EP; some songs from the original recording session), but the other randoms are truly that – random. A couple soundtrack / comp songs; a couple other EP songs. And between D666 and the Sexy Sam EP, that stuff is so common to find in used bins that it’s hard to get too excited about. Again, though, even given that, this doesn’t feel like it had much of a theme , just, let’s add some tracks onto a second LP; what fits?

It probably also doesn’t help that my copy skipped in a few places. The LPs look clean; I have a new, semi-nice player, but nonetheless…

So is it worth it? If House of GVSB is a preferred album for you, probably. But for this longtime fan, it’s an appreciated, if imperfect, rerelease, except / unless it encourage another remaster + bonus release of their other albums…