Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 06/23/2009
Like the deluxe edition of
Murmur, the 2009 expansion of
Reckoning contains none of the scattered B-sides and outtakes rounded up the 1992 U.K. reissue. Most of these stray songs wound up on
Dead Letter Office or the bonus disc of
And I Feel Fine anyway, so this no great loss, and the live show from the
Aragon Ballroom in 1984 that takes up the second disc is a great gain, particularly as it contains early versions of
"Driver 8" and
"Hyena," the latter performed two years prior to its appearance on
Lifes Rich Pageant. As a whole, this concert doesn't crackle like the Toronto show added to the 25th Anniversary edition of
Murmur: the band is a bit tighter and the sound is bit more open, so it winds up lacking the furious rush of that highly adrenalized Toronto concert. Nevertheless, the
Aragon show shares much of the same ragged spirit, the band playing with a joyful abandon, a spirit that straightens out the ethereal elements of their earliest work and provides one hell of a good time.
~Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide