Welcome to the revised CDRWL! After closing down in 2015, I was able to focus on other aspects of the music hobby. Eventually I wanted to get back to obscurities. I never really left them, and I have many scattered reviews across my flagship review site Unencumbered Music Reviews (UMR). Now I'm culling through those and adding new entries into this blog, which I have renamed Obscurus Subterraneum Musica, though the URL will remain as before.
Why the rename? Because it's not really a CD reissue wishlist anymore. But that event remains a good guidepost for what is truly obscure. Once it's on CD, the album in question becomes more well known. Having said that, I'll include albums that were unknown to me when I started this blog in 2009 and have since been reissued on CD.
When I first started this blog it was far more progressive rock focused. Over time, jazz fusion, electronic, and hard rock albums started to flow in. And everything in between. My primary goal here is to have a single source for the researcher. Which includes me, and it helps that I've shared my thoughts down on virtual paper, as I often forget myself what I've heard, or what the contents were.
As for nomenclature, I've gone back to the basics. Artist name and Priority (cover that topic in a minute) are your labels. All newer and revisited reviews will be stored in UMR and a link will be provided. Older reviews that have not been revisited will stay here until which time I can get back hearing them again for a fresh perspective, and then adding to UMR. I've also added a new label called LP reissue, which is sort of a halfway house to the CD reissue. Many labels have moved away from CDs since the buying public went back to records last decade. I've always been an LP collector, but I still really enjoy my CD collection - especially ones with bonus tracks and archival releases.
I've also tightened the time frame to that of the original LP era (~ ending around 1991 or so). I had some LP only issues from the 90s in here but decided they were specialist releases from the beginning and CD reissues are superfluous, unless they add a ton of relevant bonus tracks. That's not really the focus of this site in any case.
I had started to pull forward all the entries after scrubbing them, but I decided against that, and I'm in the process of updating those. Primarily that's because UMR has moved from album posts to groups posts, more aligned with this site. So that project is still in process. I also have about six years of obscurities to add here, so we have a ways to go before we're starting with new-to-me albums. Since Purple Peak Records went from selling my own collection to also reselling finds in the wilds, I've also discovered plenty of unknown cassettes within the genre confines of this site. There's much to learn. Many many more posts will be coming.
As for the Priority tag, it once meant "What's the priority for a CD reissue?" Today it is nothing more than a guideline of obscurities I like the most to the least. Even if a group has only one great release and the others are subpar, the post will get the highest rating available.
Priority: 1. These are my favorite obscurities. On RYM, they would usually equate to a 4.5 or 5.0 release, with some 4.0's.
Priority: 2. Excellent album and equates to a 4.0 usually, but could be a high 3.5.
Priority: 3. Still a very good album, generally a 3.5 with some 3.0's creeping in, especially ones I think have growth potential.
Priority: none. Generally these titles fall out of my interest area, or are lesser examples of a preferred style. By no means does that indicate it's a poor effort, though sometimes it does.
Bootleggers are still running wild, so if you think a CD has already been issued, I do encourage you to read this old FAQ I put together 15+ years ago.
3/8/25
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