Zoom
May 19, 2015

Description
Nearly 20 years after their iconic debut, The Knack returned proclaiming “Pop is dead! Bring your shovel!” But, Zoom proved this was anything but the case. With new drummer Terry Bozzio (Missing Persons, Frank Zappa), Doug Fieger, Berton Averre, and Prescott Niles delivered the album Knack fans had been waiting for—one Fieger often cited as his favorite.

Beginning with Havin’ A Rave Up! Live In Los Angeles 1979 and Rock & Roll Is Good For You: The Fieger/Averre Demos, Omnivore Recordings is ready to bookend and complete The Knack story by reissuing expanded versions of their final three albums, beginning with 1998’s Zoom.

The album’s original 14 songs are joined by 5 bonus tracks, 4 previously unissued! “She Says” (recorded during the Zoom sessions) first appeared on the now out-of-print Proof: The Very Best Of The Knack. Three demos and a Bozzio helmed version of their classic “My Sharona” round out the remastered audio program, which includes set-list staples like “Pop Is Dead,” “Can I Borrow A Kiss,” and “Harder On You.” With fresh artwork and liners featuring a new interview with Averre and Niles, this version of Zoom will not only excite their fan base, but introduce the group to a multitude of new listeners.

It’s time to get The Knack again—and this reissue of Zoom takes its rightful place as an essential part of their catalog!

Tracklist
1. Pop Is Dead
2. Can I Borrow A Kiss
3. Smilin’
4. Ambition
5. Mister Magazine
6. Everything I Do
7. Love Is All There Is
8. Terry & Julie Step Out
9. Harder On You
10. You Gotta Be There
11. Good Enough
12. In Blue Tonight
13. Tomorrow
14. (All In The) All In All
[Bonus Tracks]
15. She Says
16. Mister Magazine (Demo)
17. Harder On You (Demo)
18. (All In The) All In All (Demo)
19. My Sharona (Terry Bozzio Version)

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V862HH4/?tag=imwan-20

Normal As The Next Guy
June 9, 2015

Description
No one expected another album from The Knack. But, those who knew where to look were overjoyed with 2001’s Normal As The Next Guy. It’s safe to say that The Knack were never given their due as an album act. Normal As The Next Guy would ultimately serve as their final studio release—and it contained everything they’d worked on and perfected up to that point.

Touching on every genre they’d previously tackled, from the pop of “Disillusion Town” and “It’s Not Me,” to the Beach Boys-psychedelia of “The Man On The Beach” and a re-recording of Serious Fun’s should-have-been-huge “One Day At A Time” (which was climbing the charts as their then label folded), Normal As The Next Guy serves as a fitting bookend to where the band came from, and what they’d achieved. And, how musically powerfully they always were.

Supplemented with three of Doug Fieger’s songwriting demos, this expanded reissue presents the original’s 12 tracks in a new light, and helps extend the story started with Havin’ A Rave Up! Live In Los Angeles, 1978. Omnivore Recordings is proud to re-introduce this release, sadly under-valued at the time of its original release, but ready over a decade later to be presented to those who may have never had a chance to be Normal As The Next Guy…

Tracklist
1. Les Girls
2. Disillusion Town
3. Girl I Never Lied To You
4. Normal As The Next Guy
5. Spiritual Pursuit
6. It’s Not Me
7. One Day At A Time
8. Seven Days Of Heaven
9. Dance Of Romance
10. Reason To Live
11. A World Of My Own
12. The Man On The Beach
[Bonus Tracks]
13. Seven Days Of Heaven (Demo)*
14. Spiritual Pursuit (Demo)*
15. Reason To Live (Demo)*

* Previously Unissued

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00W2X67BY/?tag=imwan-20

Live From The Rock 'N' Roll Fun House
July 24, 2015

Description
After 6 studio albums and 3 decades of playing together, The Knack released their first official live album in 2002. The “soundtrack” to a performance on an imaginary 1960s television broadcast, Live At The Rock ‘n’ Roll Fun House was the culmination of the reason everyone “got” The Knack in the first place.

Omnivore Recordings was honored to release an early snapshot of the band on stage with Havin’ A Rave-Up! Live In Los Angeles, 1979, and is proud to complete the live picture with the final release from the band, remastered and expanded, and following in the footsteps of May’s reissue of Zoom and Normal As The Next Guy in June. All of the band’s history is represented—from the singles including “My Sharona,” “Good Girl’s Don’t,” and “Baby Talks Dirty” to album favorites like “Another Lousy Day In Paradise,” “Siamese Twins (The Monkey And Me),” and “(She’s So) Selfish.”

In addition to new artwork and liner notes, as well as remembrances from members of the band themselves, this version of Live From The Rock ‘n’ Roll Fun House contains two tracks recorded for the original CD/DVD, but never issued until now; Normal As The Next Guy’s “It’s Not Me” and “Seven Days Of Heaven.” The addition of those tracks now represents material from all of their studio releases.

Live From The Rock ‘n’ Roll Fun House offers fans everything they love about The Knack—stellar songs and a rocking performance. While this would be the last album released by the group before the passing of Doug Fieger, it represents why they maintained a rabid fan base. They were an incredible live band.

So, get your tickets for the Fun House! You’ll be glad you did.

Tracklist
1. Pop Is Dead
2. Baby Talks Dirty
3. Oh Tara
4. Can I Borrow A Kiss
5. Another Lousy Day In Paradise
6. Good Girls Don’t
7. One Day At A Time
8. It’s Not Me*
9. Siamese Twins (The Monkey And Me)
10. Harder On You
11. Sweet Dreams
12. Seven Days Of Heaven*
13. That’s What The Little Girls Do
14. (She’s So) Selfish
15. My Sharona
16. Havin’ A) Rave Up
17. Tequila/Break On Through (To The Other Side)

* Previously unissued

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YJNQW1A/?tag=imwan-20

The trailer:



Previous releases by The Knack on Omnivore:

  

Zoom is a wonderful album.

And the new remaster sounds pretty good. Although, as much as I love (LOVE) Terry Bozzio, the version of "My Sharona" with him is not as good as the original. It feels very odd to say this about a Bozzio drum part, but it lacks a certain punch in the mix, and it feels like it's lacking the energy of the first. I'm not sure if that's because he was holding back or was being held back or what, but there's a crispness to Bozzio's playing (see Jeff Beck's "Guitar Shop") that is lacking here.