Today’s installment of Reissue Theory is going to tread over familiar ground, in honor of two bands who turned out some great live sets last night at New Jersey’s State Theater: Cheap Trick and Squeeze.

Though both bands have their share of hardcore fanatics, they didn’t seem to be as vocal last night – at least one person was heard musing after the show that neither band catered to the greatest-hits crowd (Cheap Trick’s set mixed most of the favorite early tracks with new material – the band is still putting out albums, with The Latest (2009) being, well, the latest – while Squeeze bolstered their set equally with their best-known singles and a few lesser-known singles or album cuts, like “When the Hangover Strikes” or “Hope Fell Down” from the Difford & Tilbrook record.)

In spite of that crowd sentiment – and an admittedly poor sound mix for Cheap Trick – the show was a great night for all involved. And, unsurprisingly, it got your catalogue correspondent thinking about (what else?) back-catalogue affairs. Both of them have had an elevated presence in the reissue world. Cheap Trick’s Epic-era catalogue has been slowly but surely remastered and expanded by Epic starting in the late 1990s, finally picking up steam again a few months ago with a two-fer remaster of One on One (1982) and Next Position Please (1983) on the Friday Music label. Squeeze saw remasters of their first six LPs on CD with mostly unreleased pairs of bonus tracks in 1997; there have been more thorough expansions since of Argybargy (1980), Sweets from a Stranger (1982), Frank (1989) and Ridiculous (1995) (not to mention a set of live BBC recordings and an ongoing series of Squeeze demos released on Glenn Tilbrook’s Quixotic label).

But of course there’s always room for improvement. That reissue of One on One/Next Position Please uses the original LP track listing of the latter album, a playlist that not only removes two tracks that appeared on previous CD issues but also discounts the “Authorized Edition” overseen by the band for digital release in 2006, which reordered the album to the band’s original preference, unearthing two unreleased tracks in the process. It’s rather odd that, after working with their former label on a digital release, the band wouldn’t get such a set out on compact disc.

As for Squeeze, there’s the matter of Play, their grossly underrated 1991 effort. Play is sort of an odd duck as it seems to be one of the least-played offerings from the band (not counting the limp Domino (1998), which is the band’s last new record to date). It’s also one of the only Squeeze albums not released through Universal’s A&M, instead being owned by Warner’s Reprise label. (Universal has licensed some of the Play-era tunes for various compilations, notably Excess Moderation (1996) and Big Squeeze: The Very Best of (2002).) While it has in fact gotten a barely-there CD reissue through Wounded Bird Records, it added none of the B-sides that the band put out during this phase of their career, most notably the fan favorite “Maidstone.”

Thus, The Second Disc openly pictures a world where “Authorized” CDs of Next Position Please and Universal-owned Play reissues would be possible. They’d look a little something like what you’ll see after the jump.

Cheap Trick, Next Position Please: The Authorized Edition (originally released as Epic FE (LP)/EK (CD) 38794, 1983)

1. I Can’t Take It
2. Borderline
3. I Don’t Love Here Anymore
4. Next Position Please
5. Younger Girls
6. Don’t Make Our Love a Crime *
7. 3-D
8. You Talk Too Much *
9. Y.O.Y.O.Y.
10. Won’t Take No for an Answer
11. Heaven’s Falling
12. Invaders of the Heart
13. Twisted Heart **
14. Don’t Hit Me With Love **
15. You Say Jump +
16. Dancing the Night Away +
17. Play by the Rules ++
18. Invaders of the Heart (Long Version) ++

* Original CD bonus track (released as B-sides to “Dancing the Night Away” (Epic 34-04078, 1983) and “I Can’t Take It” (Epic 34-04216, 1983))
** Intended for original LP, previously unreleased on CD
+ Released but not intended for original LP
++ Outtakes from a cassette given away at Trickfest II, 1998 – previously unreleased on CD

Squeeze, Play (Originally released as Reprise 26644-1, 1991)

1. Satisfied – 5:10
2. Crying in My Sleep – 5:03
3. Letting Go – 5:01
4. The Day I Get Home – 4:51
5. The Truth – 4:13
6. House of Love – 3:23
7. Cupid’s Toy – 4:31
8. Gone to the Dogs – 3:54
9. Walk a Straight Line – 3:50
10. Sunday Street – 4:16
11. Wicked and Cruel – 4:14
12. There is a Voice – 4:02
13. Maidstone – 3:36 (U.K. 7″ B-side to “Sunday Street” – Reprise W0054, 1991)
14. Mood Swings – 3:02 (U.K. 12″ B-side to “Sunday Street” – Reprise W0054T, 1991)
15. Happiness is King – 4:01 (U.K. 7″ B-side to “Satisfied” – Reprise W0071, 1991)
16. Laughing in My Sleep – 4:07 (U.K. 12″ B-side to “Satisfied” – Reprise W0071T, 1991)