Rather than update our original posts, we felt this Friday was a good time to inform readers of a trio of modest CD sets that represent some great archival audio from bigger releases by Rhino and Warner Music in the past few years.
Last summer, Rhino continued a surprising amount of catalogue from the latter portion of Van Halen's celebrated career - the period in the mid '80s and '90s when former Montrose vocalist Sammy Hagar took over for original singer David Lee Roth - with an expansion of the group's 1991 effort For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. The 2CD/2LP/Blu-ray set offered the remastered album with an audiovisual representation of the quartet's 1991 live set at the Westend Market in Dallas, Texas. The show, featuring versions of Unlawful cuts "Poundcake" and "Top of the World" plus previous hits like "Why Can't This Be Love" and even the Roth-era "Panama," fulfilled a promise kept by the group some years earlier, after Hagar cut a local show short in 1988 due to problems with his voice. This resultant show was put on free of charge - and now it's available separate from the box as Live in Dallas 1991 on March 7, available on both CD and LP.
Recent years for Rhino have afforded for lavish and occasionally dramatic box sets devoted to the work of post-punk heroes The Replacements. The group's most recent may have been the most shocking of all: Tim (Let It Bleed Edition) was a deep dive into the group's 1985 breakthrough - their first release on Sire Records, featuring favorites "Bastards of Young" and "Left of the Dial." The centerpiece of the rarities-packed 4CD/LP box was a dramatic new mix of the original album by original engineer Ed Stasium, unclogging producer Thomas Erdelyi (better known as Tommy Ramone)'s dishwater-cloudy mix and serving as perhaps an ideal introduction to the group. On April 11 - a week before a 2LP vinyl set for Record Store Day brings together both mixes - Rhino will release a 2CD set that will feature both mixes, as well.
Finally, this year brought news of Neil Young's Oceanside Countryside, an archival album meant for release in 1977 but ultimately supplanted by Comes a Time. (A version was included in last year's Archives Vol. III box set, but this set preserves the intended versions and mixes meant for the final album nearly 50 years ago.) When it was initially announced, it was vinyl and digital only - but Young will belatedly issue a CD version for fans on April 25.
Pre-order links and track lists for all three titles are below. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
Van Halen, Live in Dallas 1991 (Warner/Rhino R2 726720, 2025)
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
- Poundcake
- Judgment Day
- There's Only One Way to Rock
- Runaround
- Why Can't This Be Love
- Panama
- A Apolitical Blues
- Finish What Ya Started
- I Can't Drive 55
- Best of Both Worlds
- Top of the World
All tracks recorded live at Westend Market, Dallas, TX - 12/14/1991 and released on For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge (Expanded Edition) - Warner/Rhino R2 726426, 2024
The Replacements, Tim (Deluxe Edition) (Sire/Rhino, 2025) (Amazon U.S. / Amsazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
CD 1/2: Original album (Ed Stasium Mix (released on Tim (Let It Bleed Edition) - Sire/Rhino R2 724823, 2023) and 2023 Remaster (originally released as Sire 25330, 1985))
- Hold My Life
- I'll Buy
- Kiss Me on the Bus
- Dose of Thunder
- Waitress in the Sky
- Swingin Party
- Bastards of Young
- Lay It Down Clown
- Left of the Dial
- Little Mascara
- Here Comes a Regular
Neil Young, Oceanside Countryside (Reprise/NYA 721400-2, 2025) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
- Sail Away (*)
- Lost in Space (**)
- Captain Kennedy (**)
- Goin' Back (*)
- Human Highway (*)
- Field of Opportunity (+)
- Dance Dance Dance (+)
- The Old Homestead (**)
- It Might Have Been (*)
- Pocahontas (*)
(*) first released on Archives Vol. III, Reprise/NYA 075993996258, 2024
(**) first released on Hawks and Doves, Reprise HS 2297, 1980
(+) previously unreleased mix
The vinyl for Oceanside Countryside is due on March 7; it is not available for streaming on Neil's official site at this time.
I thought the Van Halen/Dallas was exclusive to Record Store Day, and that is why I bought it. I guess they only meant the red vinyl is the exclusive. Had I known they were going to do this, I would have waited for the CD instead.
I’m so grateful to Rhino for this standalone Replacements release of the Tim remix. To say that mix was a profound revelation really would really being underselling it. I bought (and really love) the box, but it will be nice to have this copy to schlep around with me. And, hey, if we’re dreaming, I would happily shell out for a standalone release of the Don’t Tell A Soul mix that was included with the Dead Man’s Pop box set.
Thanks, for this post!