News

Yep Roc Records thrilled fans of great power-pop when they expanded and reissued Marshall Crenshaw’s long out-of-print 1982 debut album last year, hitting vinyl for Record Store Day and following up soon after on CD and digital. This summer, the magic continues with a similar reissue for Crenshaw’s second LP Field Day.

After the delirious magic of Crenshaw’s first LP – including the Top 40 hit “Someday, Someway” and a host of other great tunes – even the best of predictions wouldn’t have had a follow-up hitting quite the same highs. And yet Field Day is that rare follow-up that can stand toe to toe with its predecessor. Working with producer Steve Lillywhite (who’d helm two guitar-laden rock masterpieces that year, U2’s War and Big Country’s The Crossing), Crenshaw unloaded 10 terrific songs, including a few holdovers from his songwriting notebook (the sugar-sweet “Whenever You’re on My Mind” and the Beatles-esque “For Her Love”) and sterling compositions like “Monday Morning Rock” and “Our Town.”

“Out of all my albums, Field Day was by far the most fun to make,” Crenshaw said in a statement announcing the reissue. “It really occupies a zone of its own and has a special place in my heart.” He wryly added how some of the songs addressed his newfound brush with fame, and “this sorta fast-paced life that I lived for a short time. I’m sure you’ve had the experience, where you walk out of the club and find out that it’s the next day, that the sun is out, and you didn’t know.”

Field Day, newly remastered by Greg Calbi, will also be augmented with bonus tracks on all formats: two non-LP B-sides (including a cover of Elvis Presley’s “Little Sister”) and four unreleased cuts including an early version of penultimate track “What Time is It?” and instrumental “TV track” versions of “Our Town” and “Monday Morning Rock.” (Not included here, however: John Luongo’s alternate mixes of tracks commissioned for the U.K.-only U.S. Remix EP, which were included on a double vinyl package from Intervention Records several years ago.) As with his first album, Field Day will sport new cover art – this one modeled on a poster that promoted the original album when it was issued by Warner Bros. – plus new notes from the artist himself.

Once more, Yep Roc and Crenshaw look to have made a reissue worth leaving this world behind. It’ll be available July 14 and can be pre-ordered below.

Field Day (40th Anniversary Expanded Edition) (Yep Roc, 2023)

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

* denotes previously unreleased track

1. Whenever You’re on My Mind
2. Our Town
3. One More Reason
4. Try
5. One Day Without You
6. For Her Love
7. Monday Morning Rock
8. All I Know Right Now
9. What Time is It?
10. Hold It
11. Our Town (TV Track) *
12. Monday Morning Rock (TV Track) *
13. What Time is It? (Guide Vocal Version) *
14. Jungle Rock
15. AKA “Durham Town” *
16. Little Sister

Tracks 1-10 released as Warner Bros. album 23873, 1983
Track 14 released as B-side to “Whenever You’re on My Mind” – Warner Bros. 7-29630, 1983
Track 16 released on U.S. Remix EP – Warner Bros. (U.K.) W0187T, 1984