DOUGLAS,CHARLES - Statecraft(Expanded Edition) (Sealed) (2CD)

Fifteen years ago, Charles Douglas wandered out of a Manhattan recording studio where he was putting the finishing touches on what was to become his final album, Statecraft. Featuring Joey Santiago of the Pixies on lead guitars, and recorded by Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr. producer Wharton Tiers, the album was intended as a huge step forward for this iconoclastic indie rocker, who had started his recording career when he was a teenager in Dayton, Ohio. His previous studio album, The Lives of Charles Douglas, had been a raw Ramones-meets-VU-meets- Jonathan Richman blast of energy, featuring Maureen Tucker on drums and production, recorded mostly live in the studio. Statecraft was meant as a much more fleshed-out affair, featuring offbeat horns and strings alongside the guitar assault of Douglas and Santiago's unmistakable signature sound. Upon its initial release, Statecraft would go on to gather praise from the likes of David Bowie (who sent a fan letter) and John Waters—as well as rave reviews in music magazines in the US and UK. Expanded reissue now presents Charles Douglas's original vision by collecting all of the studio tracks from the sessions on two CDs - adding nineteen rare and unreleased songs to the sixteen original tracks. The reissue also includes an extensive 28-page booklet of liner notes written by Charles Douglas himself, detailing his misadventures making Statecraft, which serve as a brilliant snapshot of life and music in NYC in the early 00's