Imagine enduring an endless summer of drought… correction, an endless decade of drought where everything dries up and we as the parched inhabitants of a dried up and peeling earth, suddenly and without warning, the rains come, in total abundance, washing away the hardships and refreshing the land again…

Well these two latest releases, highlighting the career of Marshall Crenshaw, I look at in two ways.

The first as a welcome relief that granted, nothing brand new has come out of them, but taking a look back into the long empty resources of a pop music past, recapture the energy and cheer of an optimum moment in a time where it was okay to smile…

But secondly, I can't remember the last time I've heard a thing about the guy, then all of a sudden, there's not just a "Best Of" package hitting the market, but also a reissue of his first album, first released back in '82 and given a full facelift and many additional rarities and past highlights so as to basically double up its original contents!

A monumental offering for serious collectors and casual fans alike. Now at the forefront I don't want to come off like criticizing that which I don't understand-the fact is I never had any deep fascination or extensive knowledge of the artist's prior work but to put it bluntly, I'll soon have more than I ever could have imagined!

Crenshaw, a hybrid of working class talent that recalls the likes of Elvis Costello and Buddy Holly, alongside late model Beatle-esque harmonizing, first made waves nearly twenty years ago with the hit "Someday Someway," which is featured prominently on both releases here.

In addressing the "This is Easy," the "Best Of" compilation first, we discover, or at least I do, that Crenshaw's obviously had quite a body of work to speak of and twenty two tracks, spanning roughly a decade and a half's worth of recording, I'm a believer!

This Crenshaw "Anthology" of sorts features a massive booklet containing song by song analysis and special notes and commentary by the contributing factions and its here where the education process begins.

The musical set itself begins in a stylishly upbeat fashion with "Something's Gonna Happen" a rarity spawned initially from his first single, and as we scroll past that acoustical jive of "Someday…" one of the finer moments come in the form of "Maryanne" and "You're My Favorite Waste of Time" which originally appears as a non-LP track-so delight in the obscurity of your surroundings if you wish.

Fans may well remember another of the big hits of the time going back to "Whenever You're on My Mind" which now that I hear it again for the first time since I was… twelve, brings back that feeling of carefree innocence and pre-adolescent desire.

Regardless of where, when and what you were doing at the time, listening to anything by Marshall Crenshaw will most certainly change your outlook-a positive influence in every way, he's the essence of pop music faith, yet there's also the slightest traces of a rebel rocker that kicks out a jam or two in the process…

Crenshaw's first record, spawned back in '82 when everything under the sun was going on within the realm of rock music, was probably nothing like what anyone was looking for.

Going against the grain with its traditionally-inspired likeness to many of the greats of yesteryear, his self-titled debut featured a casual listing of catchy, sing-along crossover melodies-"crossover" in the sense that he dared cross a line of extremities when the likes of punk, metal, and fashion were soon to be all the rage… and yet he possessed none of it, just simply delivered from the heart rock and roll played with a passion, gimmick-free and without shameless pandering.

This vaulted classic gets an impressive lift here by way of nine extra bonus tracks, pulled from original demos and live material from some of his earliest performances, and an expansive foldout containing some of Crenshaw's own commentary as well as nostalgic remnants from the up and coming young performer.

One thing about the folks over at Rhino, when they set their minds to reestablishing the work of a prominent talent from the past, they don't fool around.

Anything and everything you'd ever want to know about Marshall Crenshaw is covered in great detail-and talk about making up for lost time!

But the music, for many a return to the "golden" years of pop, as absurd as that sounds, was actually one of the year's highlights when it first came out and it's easy to see why.

"This is Easy" and the Self-titled reissue are prime examples of an underexposed artist that always should have but never had their day in the sun… call it bad luck or poor timing, but the fact is, Crenshaw's talents seemed well ahead of his time and he, like many before him, will be remembered more for creating solid full length records that influenced many a trained listener rather than the quickly burnt now and again hit that's made for more "What ever happened to" gossip than anything substantial-that said, let's forget he ever did "Someday Someway" in the first place!

There are always exceptions of course, but good rock and roll's always gonna have a place in our musical society and while the name Marshall Crenshaw might always be associated for that one MTV hit, these two factually relevant and complete chapters represent far more than I ever expected and grant a talented artist the exposure he so richly deserved in the first place!

Released by Rhino Records

Review by Vinnie Apicella [va85@columbia.edu]