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The duco01 12 Favourite Reissues and Archival Recordings of 2025

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What on earth happened in 2025? Normally, when I reveal my favourite Reissues and Archival Recordings of the Year, there’s a plump, juicy list of 25 or even 30 fabulous old albums to consider. This year, there are only twelve. Either a) there just weren’t many decent reissues released this year, or b) there were plenty of decent reissues – it’s just that I didn’t hear many of them. Indeed, even amongst the 12 albums on this list, it’s only really the top three or four to which I can give an unequivocal “Buy” recommendation. A disappointing state of affairs. Oh well: perhaps it’s just a blip, and normal service will be resumed next year. Without further ado, I give you the moderately dynamic dozen. We’ll take the first half first, from 12 down to 7…

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  1. 12. Grateful Dead – The Music Never Stopped
    In 2025, the ever-upbeat Grateful Dead archivist Dave Lemieux came up with another mammoth (60 CD + 1 cassette) box set entitled “Enjoying the Ride”, with recordings of around 23 shows. As the Dead have now been putting out archive shows at a furious rate since 1991, the quality of the releases is inevitably going down. These are not Premier League GD concerts but, say, Isthmian League GD concerts. “The Music Never Stopped” is a 3CD compilation cherry-picked from the big box. What can I say? It’s OK. If you’re new to the Dead, there are countless 3- or 4CD compilations of tracks from different shows which are infinitely superior. Try “Ladies and Gentlemen” (New York City 1971), “Steppin’ Out” (England 1972) or Believe It If You Need It” (Pacific North West 1973-74).

    11. The Who – Live at the Oval 1971
    I thought I was going to play this a lot more than I did. I was hoping that “My Generation” would be 15 minutes long, as it is on “Live at Leeds”. But it isn’t. It’s only 3½ minutes long. Boo! Oh, and am I the only Who fan who dislikes “Pinball Wizard”?

    10. Grant Green – Solid
    This is part of Blue Note’s laudable “Classic Vinyl” series of reissues. Grant Green is my favourite jazz guitarist, although I’m bound to say I prefer “Idle Moments”, “Matador”, “Street of Dreams”, “Born to be Blue”, “Green Street” and “Feelin’ the Spirit” to this.

    9. Warren Zevon – Epilogue: Live at the Edmonton Folk Festival
    This was the last paying gig that Warren Zevon ever played, in August 2002. It’s a duo performance: WZ is accompanied by a multi-instrumentalist named Matt Cartsonis. Zevon had the feeling he was sick, but hadn’t yet plucked up the courage to see a doctor. To be honest, he already sounds a little raggedy, croaking his way through Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You”. Still, the album is nice to have, as it’s the final live recording of a truly great songwriter. And you get one of the only two live versions of “Dirty Life and Times” that he ever played. The next day, Zevon packed his bags and took a flight to L.A. for his fateful appointment with the doc…

    8. Arvo Pärt – Silentium
    In commemoration of Arvo Pärt’s 90th birthday, Mississippi Records licensed four performances of Pärt’s music from different sources, and put them out on one CD.

    7. Hiroshi Yoshimura – Flora
    If you’re in the mood for a bit of cool 1980s Japanese ambient, then Yoshimura is your man. He produced a steady stream of fine works in that decade. Start with “Music for Nine Post Cards”, and then “Surround”, and then “Green”, and then this.

    The Top Six will be posted a bit later!

  2. OK – here we go with the Top Six…

    6. Kristen Noguès & John Surman – Diriaou
    Kristen Noguès (1952 – 2007) was a Breton Harpist. John Surman, as you probably know, is a Devonian saxophonist and clarinettist. The two of them did a few gigs as a duo in 1998, including the Dre Ar Wenojenn Breton music festival, where this was recorded. It’s a very fruitful collaboration all round.

    5. Karen Dalton – Shuckin’ Sugar
    Since Karen Dalton’s two studio albums from 1969-71 were first reissued in 1997 and 2006 respectively, there have been a steady stream of lo-fi home recordings released to satisfy demand for more product featuring this remarkable singer. Rough old reel-to-reel tapes have been unearthed, and three albums’ worth of material have been compiled: “Cotton-Eyed Joe”, “Green Rocky Road” and “1966”. Shuckin’ Sugar is better than all of those, I think. It was originally an expensive Record Store Day vinyl release a few years ago, but finally got a CD release this year. It contains a set recorded by Dalton and her then boyfriend Richard Tucker at a folk club in Boulder, Colorado in 1963. It’s well worth hearing, and Karen Dalton, of course, has a supernatural voice.
    “When you’re listening to her, whether you like it or not, you have to enter her world. And…it’s a despairing world.” – Nick Cave

    4. Techniques All Star – Meditation Dub
    The admirable French reggae reissue label Hornin’ Sounds has put out this fine dub set from 1977. Winston Riley is at the controls, dubbing up hits from the likes of Johnny Osbourne and Alton Ellis.

    3. Augustus Pablo – King Tubbys Meets Rockers at 5 Cardiff Crescent, Washington Garden, Kingston
    Another top reggae release from a French label – in this case Only Roots. All fans of Jamaican music know that when King Tubby got his hands on Augustus Pablo productions, real alchemy was created. Somehow, some previously unreleased mixes have been located in a dusty archive, and they don’t disappoint.

    2. Toumani Diabate – Kaira
    This is a vinyl reissue of a 1988 record. “Kaira” was the first solo kora album ever to get a worldwide release. It’s eighteen months since we lost the great Malian griot at the age of only 58. He’s my favourite African musician of all time. My critical faculties fail me when I hear Toumani’s kora. The easy cascades of notes rippling from those 21 strings. You can’t beat it.

    1. Bruce Springsteen – Lost and Found: Selections from the Lost Albums
    I couldn’t afford the full, overpriced 7CD “Tracks II” box, but this single (80-minute) CD compilation from it was an excellent substitute. I know everybody says this, but why did Bruce not think that this material was good enough to release at the time? With the exception of the two unexciting rock’n roll numbers in the middle of the album, the songs are uniformly strong. And there’s a broad variety of material here: I like the gospelly ones, the Latin-ish ones and the crooner ones. I wonder if he’ll do any of these songs in concert? I’d love to hear live versions of, say, “Unsatisfied Heart”, “Inyo” or “Sunliner”.

    Right: that’s about it.
    As a little postscript, my Top Five Gigs of the year were:

    1. James Yorkston, Nina Persson and Johanna Söderberg at Södra Teatern, Stockholm
    2. Mathias Eick Quartet at Fasching, Stockholm
    3. Benjamin Lackner Quintet feat. Mathias Eick, at Fasching, Stockholm
    4. Ablayé Cissoko & Constantinople, Stallet, Stockholm
    5. The Waterboys, Göta Lejon, Stockholm

    A safe and healthy New Year to all who sail in the Good Ship Afterword!

    • If you don’t mind, I’ll add ten points to Tracks II, to avoid confusion.

      I wasn’t aware of the Reggae reissues. This is why your annual best-of-the-years are so valuable. Thank you.

    • Yes, that’s right. They’re playing a standing venue called Nalen. If they were playing a seated venue, I’d go and see them again, despite the fact that I saw them (and Nina Persson) in September this year. Decades ago, standing gigs used to be my favourites, but not now. My poor old back and legs start aching before the support act has even left the stage. I’m sure I’m not the only Afterworder who struggles with standing gigs now … didn’t we have a thread about this a few months ago?

  5. Thanks Duco. I too will be exploring that Augustus Pablo set.
    That Toumani’s would be the first international kora release surprises me. I have a few traditional kora releases, a couple with the research done by Lucy Duran. All would pre date this I think.

    • Ethnomusicologist Lucy Duran certainly is a remarkable person: an academic at SOAS, a music producer, journalist, wolof speaker, and all round good egg.

      Here she is, talking (very briefly) about Toumani Diabate’s “Kaira”. Her bit starts after about 19 seconds of the short video.

      • Lucy speaks Wolof. I take my hat off to her.

        I was a little surprised that Kaira was recorded in London. Paris was such a big centre for the recording of so much African music, not least Salif Keita’s Soro.

        • Yes, Lucy Duran used to be married to a Gambian guy and lived in West Africa for many years. In the 1980s she organised trips to Senegal (including gigs) for people interested in West African music. That’s how people like Ian A. Anderson and Andy Kershaw made their first visits to the region.

          • How do you know all this stuff @duco01?

            Your comment led me to this interview with Lucy…..

            https://www.afropop.org/articles/lucy-duran-on-the-life-and-music-of-toumani-diabat%C3%A9

            What a fascinating interview.

            She had such a fantastic knowledge of the music and the people and spoke several local languages.

            Lucy explains….

            BBC Radio 3, the classical music station, had a very forward-looking producer called Willie Robson and Willie was planning a big festival at the South Bank in London to celebrate musics of royal courts. He said, “I’ve got something from India. I’ve got something from Japan. But I know there’s no classical music in Africa,” and I go, “What!? Of course there is. There’s the music of the royal court of Mali, which for centuries ruled the greatest empire in West Africa.”

            So I handpicked a group to include Sidiki Diabaté, his son, Toumani, Kandia Kouyaté, who was my favorite female singer, Mariam Kouyaté, Sidiki’s wife Mariam with a big, big voice, whose child is the kora player Madou Sidiki Diabaté, and then a wonderful singer called Djelimady Sissoko no 2 and Belen Kouyaté on balafon. So there were six musicians, all from Mali who had never been in London before, except for Toumani, and they just blew everyone away.

              • That’s a fascinating read – I’m so glad to have found it through the brilliant inter-connectedness of the Afterword. I was a student in Bristol at the time of the first WOMAD in 1982, and as consequence of that I worked as a steward at the festival. That was my immersion in African music off to a fantastic start. Reading this interview has sparked up a lot of happy memories and as a consequence I’ve invested in a copy of the 25th re-issue of the ‘New Ancient Strings’ album that Lucy talks about, which came out 10 years after Kaira. Can’t wait to hear it!

            • Re: “How do you know all this stuff?”

              Well, I’m currently reading Ian A. Anderson’s autobiography, “Alien Water: six decades paddling in unpopular music” (2025).
              It’s the story of his life as a musician, singer, folk club manager, journalist, photographer, record label boss, festival promotor, radio broadcaster and, of course, Editor of Folk Roots magazine for over 40 years. What a guy!

                • Yeah, I’m enjoying the Ian A. Anderson book. I think anyone who’s interested in how the folk and world music scene in the UK has developed over the past 55 years would be interested in it. Anderson’s style is factual, straightforward, journalistic. It’s hardly the most moving (auto)biography I’ve ever read, but Anderson is very through in detailing all the endeavours he’s been involved with, and that itself is enough to make it a worthwhile read.

                  Two men don’t come out of the book very well:

                  – Ewan MacColl
                  – John Martyn

                    • No, I suppose they don’t.
                      MacColl comes over as dogmatic and self-important.
                      Martyn was clearly an obnoxious, vicious bully.

                  • Obnoxious, vicious bully. I won’t argue with that.

                    Did I ever tell you that a pal of mine who worked for IsIand was John Martyn’s minder on a US tour. It was like that movie, GET HIM TO THE GREEK. A total nightmare .

                    But regardless of all we know about him, I still enjoy his music.

                  • In the mid 80s, John Martyn and his band were recording demos at a studio in Glasgow where a friend of mine was a tape op. He was used to bands being belligerent, entitled arseholes, but JM and his crew were Next Level.

                    There was a corner shop nearby, which provided breakfast rolls, off-licence, Newsagent, Post Office, etc.

                    One of my friend’s tasks was to take the breakfast order, then go to the shop to collect it. It was very SPECIFIC order – five different variants of “Ten Bensons, a packet of Green Rizla, one lighter (NOT A GREEN ONE), two bottles of Newcastle Brown, a quarter bottle of Bacardi, a can of Coke, one roll with bacon – FAT CUT OFF, one roll with a fried egg – HARD FRIED – and potato scone”. While this was all on the studio bill, most bands would slip him a wee tip for going out in the pishing rain to gather their essentials. Not John Martyn, or his boys. They would just complain – “THIS IS COLD!!” “THIS IS HOT!” “WHERE’S MY KETCHUP?!?!?”.

                    Never a kind word.

                    • Great anecdote @el-hombre-malo.

                      Now I am even more baffled. How could someone who was such a complete a-hole write such beautiful songs?

                      That reminds me of a wonderful scene in Hardy’s JUDE THE OBSCURE, where Jude goes to visit a man who has written his favourite hymn, a sublimely beautiful piece of music.

                      And the composer is an absolute tosser.

                      I’ve thought of that chapter many times over the years….

                      I am very glad that I have never been offered a trip in the Tardis to go back and visit Bill Shakespeare,

                      I am certain I’d be horribly disappointed.

    • i took a look a wiki to find out more about Toumani.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toumani_Diabat%C3%A9

      His father, Sidiki Diabaté Senior, recorded the first-ever kora album, in 1970, MALI- CORDES ANCIENNES alo known as MALI- ANCIENT STRINGS on the Music du Monde label.

      https://www.discogs.com/release/4749514-Various-Mali-Cordes-Anciennes-Mali-Ancient-Strings?srsltid=AfmBOoojhg0ziLu7w7GkNO2wHteHtOr5UtnW2UQro5bn9dMzvDEoLbrm

      It was not easy to track that one down..

      Sidiki Toumani is also the name of the Touman’s son who is also a gifted kora player. I saw them at Roskilde and the also played Glasto. Talk about a proud father.

      Sidiki and Toumani have performed and recorded with the very popular French pop star Matthieu Chedid also known as M.

      Here is a review of the album they made..

      https://www.200worldalbums.com/post/mali-lamomali-toumani-diabat%C3%A9-sidiki-diabat%C3%A9-m

      Songlines was a lot les impressed

      https://www.songlines.co.uk/review/lamomali

      Matthieu is the son of the rather talented French singer Louis Chedid.

      This song is an old favourite of mine.

  6. I asked for, and received, as a Christmas gift, the Warren Zevon double LP. I’m a big fan, and looked forward to hearing his last concert. I’m a bit disappointed. I love it because it is what it is, but the music/recording is poor. Side 1 is mostly acoustic guitar based, and the guitar is very low in the mix. Also, it is out of tune. I believe this was a radio broadcast, and usually the sound on such things is great…not so here. Side 2 is piano based and much better. Side 3 somewhere in between. Side 4 has no music but has an etching on Zevon’s face…lovely. This was the first time I got involved in Record Store Day…..I probably won’t bother in the future.

  7. Nick Drake – Five Years Left

    For so many years, the common belief was that there was nothing in the Drake vaults worth releasing. But this handsome box proved that not only was there stacks of material waiting to be heard, I can’t imagine how they could have done it better. It’s probably largely down to Cally Caloman’s smart decision to document the gentle, thrilling evolution of the album, rather than plonking down the album and a disc of random outtakes, demos and rehearsals.

    Khruangbin – The Universe Smiles Upon You II

    They re-recorded their 2015 debut entirely and it’s a lovely, shimmering thing – maybe you could begin to pin them down as “psych-funk”? This re-recording is even more seductive than last year’s A La Sala. This is band that takes fanatical care in recording, so savouring this on vinyl means you get a lovely rich soundscape, anchored by thick, agile basslines, socking great drums and those beautiful ethereal vocals.

    David Bowie – I Can’t Give Everything Away

    I’m rating this for the music. Kicking off with Heathen (on vinyl! It sounds sooo good) and winding up of course, with the valedictorian Blackstar (notwithstanding the odds and sods Re:Call comp) with live albums from Montreaux and Dublin padding things out. The towering philosophical palimpsests – Heathen and Blackstar – bookend the less taxing art rock of Reality and The Next Day perfectly. But then, the box itself. It’s as if Warners marketing dept really hate their jobs. From the hideously designed box to the lack of any of the much fabled Blackstar outtakes, it seems a poor job on some of Bowie’s finest music.

    Kraftwerk – Autobahn

    I got the Blu-ray. I dig a good Atmos mix and Ralf Hutter’s done an amazing job in separating out the various elements of the title track and creating the impression that you’re actually whizzing along the autobahn in your little Volkswagen, humming ‘wir fahr’n, fahr’n, fair’n on the autobahn’. The visuals are dated, the graphics clunky, but it all adds to the charm.

    New Order – Low Life

    As above, I do like a good Atmos mix and the recent Blu ray releases of Movement, Brotherhood and Low Life have all been Steve Wilson-ed really well. Movement is surprisingly strong – never my go-to New Order album has lost its general airlessness and some of its claustrophobic feel and tracks like Truth, Dreams Never End and Senses really emerge into the light. But it’s Low Life I’ve been enjoying the most. Wilson’s had a lot of fun playing around with the mix, throwing elements across the soundstage to great effect. This Time of Night, The Perfect Kiss, Face Up all especially kick ass.

    The Beatles in Mono

    Vinyl reissue at extreme price but I did it. I knew it would sound good – I had just acquired a new turntable and justified it to myself by considering this would cover replacing worn out copies, some titles I was missing in mono and the mono masters. But as with the Bowie box, the packaging was a disappointment. The record sleeves are cheaply made. They appear to have been glued together with Pritt stick, the printing is poor quality (the washed out cover art of Beatles for Sale looks like it’s a fourth gen colour photocopy). But that aside, this is the Holy Grail in one box.

    Rolling Stones – Black and Blue (vinyl)

    Never an album I was drawn to, but the Steven Wilson (him again!) mix has revealed a bouncy, fun LP that’s got a lovely crisp sound in this mix (compared to an old vinyl copy) clearly not to be taken seriously. If Woody was a Stones album ‘Black and Blue’ is what he would be.

    Seefeel ‘Quique’

    I’ve always loved this 1993 album, it reminds me of living in Cornwall at that time. A Too Pure release at the time, it was in the same universe as the Aphex Twin 85-92 album or The Orb’s UF Orb. This ‘redux’ reissue did some cosmetic tweaks to sharpen up the analogue synthscapes, as well as adding a bunch of extra tracks and mixes. It’s a spacious, bubbling, narcotic dubscape with floating atmospheric textures and clanky, thudding beats combining in a dreamy whole .

    Floyd – Live in Pompeii

    It was great to finally be able to get such a clear, powerful mix of this on vinyl this year, after only having lo res mp3s for years. I’ve had the neighbours banging on the walls when ‘One Of These Days’ kicks in. Hm, let’s see who’s behind this lovely, atmospheric mix – well, stap my vitals, you wouldn’t believe it – yes its that Steven Wilson again. Does he ever sleep?

    Francoise Hardy – Complete Vogue Recordings 1962-1967

    I really like her later 60s/early 70s albums, I found them to be more adventurous in terms of collaborators and styles – moves towards country, folk and rock (even working with Dave of ‘Chas’n’ fame), Mick Jones and Jerry Donahue on 1972’s ‘Et si je m’en vais avant toi’). But this box set was a lovely thing, a massive 14 LP set going back to the earliest, plinky-plonky ye-ye stuff through to the smoky, mid-60s hits. I can’t say I’ve relistened to the live performances much but it’s a wonderful box to dip into time and again when you’re in the mood.

  8. Here’s another clip of Toumani from the BBC

    And an interview with Andrew Marr.

    I’ve now checked. The first Toumani album I heard was Djelika.

    https://www.discogs.com/release/2185723-Toumani-Diabate-Djelika?srsltid=AfmBOoqUB4sJgq04v-rhTNP6NOoa9UJJ_m9eLwc-Y4Mu_DpVKF2wpOoe

    Recorded in Brussels and London and produced mostly by Joe Boyd.

    I saw him for the first time when he was touring that album. it was a trio- kora, ngoni and balafon. Three instruments I’d never heard before. A revelation.

    Kora: Toumani Diabate
    Balafon: Keletigui Diabate
    N’goni: Basekou Kouyate

    This clip of Keletigui has some very useful notes.

    His big idol was Lionel Hampton.

    More useful info from thote notes…

    In 1998, Kélétigui joined forces with Habib Koité. With Habib, he played local bars in his home town, Bamako and toured the world where he finally gained worldwide recognition for his talents. On Sandiya, Diabaté is joined by the best of the best of Malian musical artists, notably, Toumani Diabaté, Djelimady Tounkara and Habib Koité.

  9. Going slightly off-piste, I stumbled across another great vedette from Mali, KANDJA KOUYATE.

    https://awesometapes.com/2007/08/12/la-grande-vedette-malienne-kandja-kouyate-et-lensemble-instrumental-du-mali/

    Love the review on the AWESOME TAPES FROM AFRICA site. It’s far out, man.

    This cassette is perfect in almost every way. It makes me want to drop acid and burn incense or something, it’s so smokey and dark and surreal. Like late Coltrane.

    The distortion here and there on the second side is the bummer (it’s the recording and/or tape, not computer fuzz).

    She is accompanied by L’Ensemble Instrumental National du Mali

    Here is some background on them.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Ensemble_Instrumental_National‘

    Founded in 1961 they were an important PR too for spreading the word about the independent, new country’s culture.

    Interesting to see where they toured. USSR, China, Libya, Korea, Paris, Washington, New Orleans….

    • Kouyaté was part of Les Amazones d’Afrique when I saw them live, in 2016, at a festival. Alongside Mariam Doumbia, Oumou Sangaré, Mamani Keïta, Nneka, with three guys in their backing band and a fierce female drummer (and Mamani adding drums as well).
      It was a brilliant gig in the blazing sun, and they had a fancy sofa mid-stage for Kouyaté and Doumbia to sit on while the others were having their turns at the mic. A very memorable gig.

      • I saw them at Roskilde in 2024 and they really rocked the house, @Locust.

        The line up seems to be rather flexible but this doesn’t seem to effect the quality.

        And they dress to impress. No jeans and T Shirts for these ladies.

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