Critic’s Pick: Throwbacks: Reissues by ABBA, Bedhead, JB’s, Kinks, Paramount, more

These days everything’s pretty dusty in Southern California. To paraphrase Travis Bickle, someday a real Discwasher will come and brush all this grit off the vinyl. Until then, experts with good ears will have to suffice.

Below, the week in reissues, archival recordings and old tape, all gussied up for new ears.

-- Four Swedes helped define pop music in the 1970s. Their names: Agnetha, Frida, Benny and Bjorn, and together they were ABBA, purveyors of hits including “Knowing Me, Knowing You,” “Take A Chance,” “Waterloo,” and many heavenly others. At the peak of its popularity, the quartet ruled the charts with breathtaking singles that still sound essential 40 years later. Proof: the forthcoming “ABBA -- Live at Wembley Arena.”

Recorded at the end of 1979 at the peak of the group’s fame, the Wembley set spans 25 songs, and will arrive from Universal Music Sept. 30 on double-disc and triple 180-gram vinyl.

Also coming out will be the only ABBA-sanctioned book ever issued, called “ABBA -- The Official Photo Book.” Featuring 600 images, many never before published, the tome includes recollections by the four ABBA members (and no doubt many glistening 1970s polyester pantsuits). Details!

-- The Kinks’ will deliver a Stateside reissue of its excellent, unsung country-rock classic “Muswell Hillbillies” on Nov. 10. The set features remasters taken from the original tape, and a second disc of outtakes and unissued recordings. Want evidence of Ray Davies’ genius as a songwriter? Look no further than “Oklahoma, USA.”

-- The respected archival imprint Numero Group has announced plans to reissue a collection of Dallas guitar rock band Bedhead’s gathered output. The mesmerizing ‘90s guitar group was respected in its time -- releasing music through Butthole Surfers drummer King Koffey’s Trance Syndicate imprint -- but hasn’t achieved the throwback acclaim as some of its more popular kindred spirits such as Slint and Neutral Milk Hotel.

That may change with “Bedhead: 1992-1998,” an exhaustive collection of the band’s albums, singles and unreleased recordings. Listen to the band cover the Stranglers’ “Golden Brown” in 1995 over at NPR Music.

-- Here’s a brilliant idea perfectly executed: Ask producer Joe Boyd (Fairport Convention, Nick Drake, R.E.M., more) to cull the late BBC DJ John Peel’s record collection and highlight some unknown gems. Totally fascinating.

-- The heaviest archival release of 2013, both literally and figuratively, is getting an equally dense second volume: “The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records, 1917-1932, Vol. 2,” an exhaustive, loving look at the seminal early American record label, will see a release in the fall, almost exactly a year after Volume 1 stunned a certain segment of the population able to afford a nearly $500 artifact. How can the labels outdo their first volume? With the following, according to Third Man.

800 newly-remastered digital tracks, representing 175 artists

90+ fully-restored original 1920s-30s Paramount ads from Chicago Defender

6 x 180g LPs pressed on alabaster-white label-less vinyl, each side with its own hand-etched numeral and holographic image

250 pg. large-format clothbound hardcover book featuring original Paramount art and the label’s curious tale

400 pg. encyclopedia-style softcover field guide containing artist bios & portraits and full Paramount discography

Polished aluminum and stainless steel cabinet, evoking 1930s high art deco stylings and America’s own Machine Age modernism

First-of-its-kind music and image player app containing all tracks and ads, housed on sculpted metal USB drive.

The ultimate artifact? Yes. Another “wonder cabinet”? Yes. All the details.

-- A while back during a listening session with a few vinyl fiends, Now-Again label head and soul-funk expert Eothen “Egon” Alapatt pulled out a stunning rarity: a test pressing of “These Are the JB’s,” a never-issued 1970 album by James Brown’s incredible backing band.

The story of how Egon secured the record is for another time, but suffice to say that the forthcoming, first-ever issue of the album should be pre-ordered directly. Four songs stretching across two sides, the record features the JB’s in their hot, tight infancy and will be released by Now-Again on Nov. 28 in a vinyl-only limited edition run. Get it before it’s gone.

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