Republica are reissuing their self-titled debut for its 30th anniversary, and the addition is a live recording most people have never heard. A Day At The Races was captured at the National Sports Centre at Crystal Palace in August 1997. Six songs from it had a brief CD release at the time; the other three have now been mixed and mastered from the original multi-track tapes.
The double vinyl edition arrives on 9 October. Its colouring is a nod to singer Saffron's red and black hair, which is the sort of detail that only works on a band whose visual identity was that fixed.
The original album did the work that made this worth reissuing. It peaked at No. 4 in the UK, went platinum and spent six weeks in the Top 10 in 1997. Ready To Go reached No. 13 and Drop Dead Gorgeous No. 7, and the record also found an audience in North America, charting in the Modern Rock Top 10.
Its second life has been in film and television. Wes Craven asked for the record for the Scream soundtrack, and its sync history now runs past 500 placements, taking in Captain Marvel, Ted Lasso and Yellowjackets, along with a Dua Lipa campaign for Vogue and the new Trainspotting musical. That is why Ready To Go and Drop Dead Gorgeous keep reaching listeners who were not born when they charted.
The band came up alongside Elastica and Lush, peers in a mid-1990s British scene that has been steadily reissued over the past decade, and the anniversary edition puts Republica's debut in that queue.
A UK tour follows, billed as 30 Years of Ready To Go. It opens on 16 October at Strings on the Isle of Wight and closes on 29 November at Thekla in Bristol, taking in Southampton, Sheffield, Leeds, Manchester, Glasgow and London along the way. Tickets are on sale.
The reissue joins the autumn's other rock and pop anniversary editions on the release calendar, and the tour dates are listed alongside them in the tour guide.
The facts
- The 30th anniversary double vinyl is due on 9 October.
- It adds A Day At The Races, recorded at Crystal Palace in August 1997.
- Six of those songs had a brief CD release; three are newly mixed from multi-track.
- The debut peaked at No. 4 in the UK and went platinum.
- Ready To Go reached No. 13 and Drop Dead Gorgeous No. 7.
- The album appeared on the Scream soundtrack at Wes Craven's request.
- Its sync history now runs past 500 placements.
- The UK tour runs from 16 October to 29 November.
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