Rainy Day Music (American/UME, 2014)

With its rerelease, The Jayhawks' best album, "Rainy Day Music," has not really been expanded, as it was also originally 20 songs when you added in the bonus CD. It merely features different extra songs. It's still the band's best because there are just so many top-tier songs, starting with the jingle-jangle of "Stumbling Through The Dark" (which Gary Louris co-wrote with power-pop master Matthew Sweet), and continuing on with "Tailspin."

The best of the best is "Save It for a Rainy Day," which includes the winning lyrical couplet of "Pretty little hairdo don't do what it used to." There's just so much goodness throughout this work that it's difficult to know where to start when it comes to praising this effort. Had it been vinyl, you could have said you can drop the needle anywhere.

One of this reissue's bonus cuts is what's termed an "inbred" version/demo of "Tailspin" that tamps down the rock and roll and ramps up the twang. "Waiting for Salvation" is a pretty, acoustic country demo; like many of Louris' lyrics, it speaks sympathetically of a female character.

Think of this reissue as your chance for redemption because if you failed to purchase it 2003, now's an opportunity to redeem yourself and buy the thing.