A selection of remastered catalog titles from the Rolling Stones and John Mellencamp will be making their way into stores in the coming weeks.
In Mellencamp’s case, the first volley of “Definitive Remaster” reissues is due March 29 from Universal Music Enterprises and Island/Def Jam. The releases are timed to coincide with his Words and Music U.S. tour that will kick off March 23 in Savannah, Ga.
Each disc will boast one previously unreleased track in packages boasting lyrics and complete original artwork. All but one of the initial five re-releases bear the name John Cougar, a moniker forced upon the artist early in his career against his will.
Originally released only in the U.K. and Australia, Mellencamp’s third album as John Cougar, 1978’s “A Biography,” will see its first release in the United States. The album boasts the artist’s breakthrough single, “I Need a Lover,” released Stateside the next year on “John Cougar,” and is augmented with the U.K. single version of the song.
“John Cougar,” his first album to reach Billboard’s album chart (peaking at No. 64), and 1980’s “Nothin’ Matters and What If It Did” (No. 37 peak) add the previously unreleased songs “Take Home Pay” and “Latest Game,” respectively. The 1982 No. 1 smash “American Fool” — which boasts the hits “Jack & Diane” and “Hurts So Good” — adds the previously unreleased title track.
With 1983’s “Uh-Huh,” the artist began to take back his name, billing himself as John Cougar Mellencamp. The new “Definitive” version of the album, which topped out at No. 9 on the album chart, adds a B-side acoustic version of the hit “Pink Houses.”
The Stones discs, due April 5 from Virgin/EMI Music Catalog Marketing, are popular compilations that have been out of print in the United States for some time.
Conceived as a career overview to advance a North American tour, 1975’s “Made in the Shade” collects 10 tracks from the first four Stones albums. The album, which peaked at No. 6 on Billboard’s album chart, includes “Brown Sugar,” “Dance Little Sister,” “Angie” and “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker).”
As its title facetiously alludes, “Sucking in the Seventies” was a 1981 look back at the previous decade of Stones output, with hits like “Shattered,” “Wild Horses” and “Beast of Burden” joined by then rarities like the B-side “Everything Is Turning to Gold” and a live version of “When the Whip Comes Down.” The set peaked at No. 15 on the album chart.
Over the past few months, the Stones have been working on material for a new album expected in late summer/early fall via Virgin. A world tour will follow.
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