I Can Only Give You Everything: A Quick Review Of The New Destiny Street Set From Richard Hell & The Voidoids

Like the ripped t-shirts he patched together with safety pins, 1982's Destiny Street has been a project that's been ripped apart and reconstructed by Richard Hell. Famously offered up again in 2009 with re-recorded vocals, the seminal release has gotten more attention than anyone could have imagined in 1982. And now, with this new set from Omnivore Recordings, the record's going to get even more careful study.

Destiny Street Complete offers up four runs at Destiny Street, each with its own set of unique charms, though the 2009 re-recorded vocals version is clearly the weakest part of this enduring puzzle. The 1982 original still churns with real passion, with the Voidoids -- Robert Quine (guitar), Naux (guitar), and Fred Maher (drums) -- working up a noisy racket behind vocalist and bassist Hell. "The Kid with the Replaceable Head" is still a hoot, even as "Downtown at Dawn" strives to update the early punk of NYC for a generation embracing New Wave. Still, there's precious little here that sounds like 1982, with Hell and his crew willfully lost in a then-recent past, even as they feverishly tried to bring forward old glories into life. Heard now, this original 1982 version of the album still sounds brash, purposefully-sloppy in spots, and precise in others (mostly down to Quine's laser-etching guitar-lines). At their best, like on a cover of Them's "I Can Only Give You Everything", Richard Hell & The Voidoids catch fire with spectacular abandon. The group sounds like they're all over the place, a loose assemblage of competing styles fighting it out in a cage. And yet, it's transcendent still.

The original Destiny Street is paired on disc one of Destiny Street Complete with the infamous 2009 Destiny Street Repaired. I've never been a fan of this, nor a fan of artists going back and re-doing bits of seminal albums (like Ozzy did by re-recording the rhythm tracks on his first few solo albums). It just seems silly to me, even with the presence of talented geniuses like Bill Frisell and Marc Ribot. I suppose it's worth having this here, to place it in context next to other versions of Destiny Street, but this oddly clean-sounding iteration will never be my go-to version of this record. Ribot and Frisell fans will find lots to enjoy here, though.

The second disc of Destiny Street Complete offers up yet a newer remastered, remixed version of Destiny Street, this one with help from Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs). Interestingly, three of the tracks here -- "Lowest Common Dominator", "Downtown at Dawn", and "Staring in Her Eyes" -- are built around 2009 vocals from Hell, atop a 1981 cassette rough mix. The liner notes mention this, and it's worth noting here since this version is being talked about by some as a sort of remix of the original record itself. It's not quite that, but it's close, of course. This version of Destiny Street is a bright-sounding beast, with some cuts, like opener "The Kid with the Replaceable Head", sounding more energetic than they've ever sounded, and others, like "Staring in Her Eyes", revealing a complexity that's more jazz than punk, as others have written. Given how great the original Destiny Street sounds on disc one here, I can't say I hear a need for this version but, if it's what the artist wanted, and it satisfies his complaints about how the record's always sounded, than it's something worth having out in the market.

If the three versions of Destiny Street were not enough to render Destiny Street Complete, the ultimate version of this release, a baker's dozen of demos from the era adds depth to this collection. Of course these are more raw than anything on any of the versions of the album itself, with the cuts that didn't make it, like "Crack of Dawn", being elegantly disheveled and rough. "Funhunt" is even better. This one, a showcase for Robert Quine, buzzes with possibility. These rarities, demos, and alternate versions combine to make a sort of addendum to the three versions of Destiny Street on offer here, and, a listener is likely to be pleased with whichever version is considered the standard. A remarkble compilation, Destiny Street Complete re-affirms the importance of Richard Hell as a singer, and the Voidoids as one of the most nimble bands to have survived the leap from punk to proto-New Wave. Little else in the early Eighties sounded this kinetic on these shores, and Destiny Street remains one of the real treasures of the era, and an album that now sounds better than it's ever sounded before.

Destiny Street Complete by Richard Hell & The Voidoids is out now via Omnivore Recordings.