Perhaps other record labels should take a moment to quit bitching about downloads killing music and look to the few labels out there who are actively doing something to prevent it by actually putting out packages that offer value for money. Peaceville are a label (alongside Century Media, Southern and Earache) who understand that fans want to feel that they (and their artists) are appreciated and treated with a certain amount of respect. As a result the recent spate of reissues coming out of the Peaceville stable have been a model of what the industry could do to halt its decline in that they have all been put together with a care and love for the subject matter that borders on the obsessive.
Quite what has led to Peaceville going quite so overboard on repackaging almost every classic album of the eighties and nineties is hard to determine, perhaps someone has dropped amphetamines into their water supply, but the net result is that fans of doom, death and black metal are having the time of their lives picking up sensibly priced reissues of classic albums with all manner of extras and gorgeous packaging to boot. Here we have Katatonia’s stunning ‘last fair deal gone down’, an album that introduced me to the band and which has burned up my record deck over the years thanks to the quality of the songs and the depth of emotion that pumps through each and every song.
This edition, produced to celebrate the album’s tenth anniversary, comes packaged in a glorious digi-book and features the b sides to the ‘Sulfur’ and ‘teargas’ EPs on a second disc making this the most complete version of the album yet to appear. Named after a song by Robert Johnson, ‘last fair deal gone down’ is a beautiful, simmering ode to misery which, while not quite up to the standards of the impossibly stunning ‘night is the new day’, still stands tall as a landmark in the band’s illustrious back catalogue some ten years on. Quite what makes ‘Last fair…’ is open to debate; firstly you have the slow-paced but perfectly orchestrated guitars of Anders Nystrom and Fred Norman which build a delicate web of sound around the listener until you’re trapped in their silken cocoon for the duration; then there’s the haunting vocals of Jonas Renkse which sound quite unlike anyone else in this genre of music or perhaps it is the versatility of the songs themselves which slither and twist their way into your consciousness, never obvious or lamely clinging on to a hook when there are sumptuous vistas of misery to explore instead. Any or all of these factors may influence your opinion, but what is clear is that Katatonia have a unique place in the hearts of doom metal fans and ‘last fair deal gone down’ is one of several essential albums in their back catalogue and the perfect music for sitting in the low light of evening with a glass of Absinthe/whiskey (delete as appropriate) revelling in quiet introspection.
As for highlights of the album? Impossible. Ok there’s the simmering beauty of ‘teargas’, or the slow-building sadness of ‘tonight’s music’ but the truth is Katatonia don’t write tracks, they write albums and that is nowhere more apparent than on this album which should only ever be absorbed as one piece, not chopped up on your ipod like musical sushi, and it is as an album that this wonderful record works best, which its why it’s all the better that the powers that be decided the extra tracks belonged upon a second disc and not tacked onto the end in some paltry money-saving exercise. Adding to the feel of expense and care is the packaging itself. Always adorned with beautiful artwork (the 2004 re-issue also saw the album as a rather sweet digi-pack) the dig-book format shows off the art in the best possible light outside of vinyl and the lyrics have been printed to a size that is actually legible without the aid of a microscope, which is always a bonus. The only criticism I might have of the new package is that it would have been nice to have seen liner notes added by the band – then this truly would have been definitive – but aside from that this is a glorious new version of a stunning album and it will undoubtedly allow a new audience to appreciate it’s beauty.
As for the extra tracks, well the quality never dips with lead-off track ‘sulfur’ proving to be an especially worthwhile addition. An acoustic lament complete with harmonised vocals and orchestral flourishes, it suddenly explodes into life in the second half with all sorts of unexpected elements making It the perfect accompanying piece to the wealth of delights found on the first disc. Also present is the nimble ‘March 4th’ which leaps at the listener with an unexpected ferocity, ‘help me disappear’ which suffers from a slight recording disparity with the previous two (stronger sounding) tracks, and which sees Jonas sound more like Robert Smith than ever to the extent that I had to check if the song was a Cure cover. By contrast the final track, ‘O how I enjoy the light’ is a cover (originally recorded by Will Oldham of the Palace brothers) albeit reworked in a substantially Katatonia style and it forms a fine coda to the main album disc.
Is it worth re-purchasing ‘Last fair deal gone down’ on the strength of these bonus tracks? Well, honestly the answer is no, especially if you have the 2004 re-issue of the album which came complete with the ‘Sulfur’ EP and contained every track apart from the ‘O how I enjoy the light’ anyway. However, if your copy has (like mine) taken a battering or if you came to Katatonia in more recent years then this is an essential addition to your collection as it is stunningly packaged, has some great extra tracks and is at a price that won’t make you feel violated when you hand over your card (unless you buy it in HMV who will likely demand your soul as well as your hard-earned). In short ‘last fair deal gone down’ represents everything that a great reissue should be and music fans can only hope that the other labels take note quickly.
