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Caribou reissues

After all these years I haven't changed my mind about the first two Manitoba albums, now reissued under the new (but not improved) name Caribou and featuring a bonus disc each. Start Breaking My Heart is a decent record but it sounds even more uninspiring and dated now while Up In Flames is a spectacular modern classic.

 

Leaf (UK)/Domino (US)

Big ups for the bonus material on Start Breaking My Heart. If Assholes Could Fly is my absolute favorite Manitoba single, all three songs were completely out in the blue: punchy and vibrant, inspiring and catchy, yet none appeared on any record at that point. I had to send somebody to Europe to even find me the 12" single of that because I never found it locally. The bonus tracks from the Give'r single were already included the last time somebody sent a promo of Start Breaking My Heart to Brainwashed (I think this is either the third or fourth time) but now they all exist on a second disc. Big whoop. (Notably absent is the "Dundas, Ontario" music video which came on the Give'r EP, not found on the Marino DVD.)

All the bonus tracks from the singles from Up In Flames are included on the bonus disc for this release, but that only amounts to six total audio tracks.  It's probably because I like the sound from Up In Flames that I think these songs rank higher in quality than the bonus cuts from Start Breaking My Heart. However, all six of these came as a bonus disc to Up In Flames back when it was reissued in 2003 with a bonus disc for the first time. I'm sure there's other things kicking around, like compilation appearances (where's "Pat Benetar's Hairdresser"?) but these reissues present the perfect opportunity to finally get these discs for those who somehow missed out the first (or even second) time around, however, those who have them don't need to worry. For me, I guess I can finally move my CDs from the Ms to the Cs in my collection.