Destiny Street Repaired

Since 1977, Richard Hell has made only three studio albums, Blank Generation (1977), Destiny Street (1982), and Dim Stars (1992). Destiny Street contains some of his best and most popular songs - such as 'The Kid with the Replaceable Head' and 'Time' - but Richard always felt dissatisfied with the sound of the album. He was in the worst depths of his drug dependency at the time it was made, and couldn't muster enough commitment to bother showing up for over a week of the recording sessions. He'd call in and order more guitar tracks. Then in 2004 Hell was able to recover rights to the album. He deliberately let it go out of print, pending a hypothetical improved version to re-release. Two years later he discovered a two-track mix of the original 1982 rhythm tracks of bass, drums, and two rhythm guitars, without any vocals or solos or further guitar. Hell realized this created an opportunity to re-make the record on the foundation of the original band. Destiny Street Repaired is the result. It's a freshly recorded, edited, and mixed version of Destiny Street, using players of the highest caliber to replace the undifferentiated multi-overdubbed, extended guitar solos of the original, and presenting all new vocals, and some new edits and arrangements, by Hell. Relevant too is that the new guitar players - Bill Frisell, Ivan Julian, and Marc Ribot - were all greatly admired by, and share musical values with, Robert Quine, the deceased main soloist in Richard's original band, the Voidoids. In an unprecedented move, Hell has grabbed the best part of a twenty-seven year old recording, and mixed in fresh guitar genius, and brilliant new vocals and production, to fulfill the original music's tremendous potential: Destiny Street Repaired.