3 out of 5

Label: Peek-a-boo Records

Produced by: Ryan Hadlock, Octopus Project

Not reflective of my rating of the original album, or of the Golden Beds EP, the 3-star review is more a response to the Why of this remaster album.

An anniversary reissue is one thing: remastered; repackaged.  Maybe nothing new for fans, but makes it fresh in the mind for newer-comers.  But to dress it up as a special edition – and add extra material so now the fans will double dip – is questionable when those extras are either already available or of minimal interest.

There’s a sense of panicked filler on this new edition of Hello, Avalanche – which is still an easy used find on vinyl, mind you – as the entire album fits on one Long Player, but to get that Buy Me Again! encouragement going, some rough cuts and odds and sods were dug up for an LP 2.  …Except that was only one side, so then let’s add another already-available-in-this-format-and-easy-to-find EP (Golden Beds) to pad things out.

All the re-released stuff is certainly quality, and admittedly sounds great: the remastering is fantastic.  I don’t get too much mileage out of the unreleased stuff, though, as it comes across as scattershot ideas which were generally elsewhere developed into something much more compelling; OP is a group that works really well when vibing off of fully composed ideas – these extras are interesting enough but don’t produce anything I’d actively relisten to.

Lastly: New packaging!  …No new liner notes or inserts.

It’s not super expensive, and it’s 3 LP sides of great (if previously available) music, with some “listen if you want to” cutting room floor material, but there’s not really a draw – except from a collecting perspective – to pick this up if you already own the featured album and EP.