New visits to landmarks by John, Who, Allmans

As record companies scour every nook and cranny of their domains for extra sources of revenue to pump up sagging bottom lines, one bonus for music fans has been a deluge of album reissues. Most are straightforward re-releases that they hope will squeeze a few more dollars out of their catalogs, but occasionally companies are taking the time to put some real effort into these packages.

Not every album warrants the extra attention, to be sure. But for those that are pop landmarks in some sense, the royal treatment is justified.

Elton John, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” MCA/Universal. The British pop musician was a star by the time his seventh studio album was released in 1973. But “Yellow Brick Road” sealed his status as pop’s first bona fide superstar of the 1970s.

This 30th anniversary two-CD reissue is a bit skimpy on extras. There are just four bonus tracks -- three songs that appeared as B-sides of singles, plus an acoustic-guitar-based version of “Candle in the Wind” -- and a comparatively short essay by John Tobler about the making of the album that nonetheless offers intriguing back stories on several of the songs.

The recurring theme of “Yellow Brick Road” was the sad fate awaiting innocents who venture into the cold, cruel world. But John and lyricist Bernie Taupin also addressed the way art, especially the movies, shapes our expectations about life, love and romance.

There is much sadness in “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” but also many light moments that made for a richer listening experience. Some tracks border on melodrama (“Candle in the Wind”) and others, especially 30 years later, sound self-consciously arty (“Grey Seal”).

But John and Taupin also delivered one of the great country songs that was never a country hit in “Roy Rogers,” with a poignancy that could stand alongside the works of Bob Dylan or John Prine: “Nine o’clock mornings/ Five o’clock evenings/ I’d liven the pace if I could/ I’d rather have ham in my sandwich than cheese/ But complaining wouldn’t do any good.” Oh, to hear George Jones tackle that one....

In “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting,” they also turned out a better Stones-inspired rocker than the Stones could muster in 1973, while offering several of the sharply detailed character sketches that were always their strength.

The Who, “Who’s Next,” MCA/Universal. As the follow-up to the Who’s landmark rock opera “Tommy,” group leader Pete Townshend had the idea for an even more ambitious, extended musical drama to be called “Lifehouse,” about nothing less than the power of music to change the world for the better.

But it got bogged down by various artistic and logistical roadblocks, and at the 11th hour, when a new Who album was due, Townshend shoved “Lifehouse” to the back burner and in relatively short order came up with what ranks as the Who’s most powerful and tightly focused work.

The two-disc deluxe edition contains the original album on the first nine tracks of the first disc. Six additional tracks offer alternate versions of four “Who’s Next” songs as well as a powerful live version of the classic “Baby Don’t You Do It” and Townshend’s original version of “Pure and Easy,” one of the cornerstones of the “Lifehouse” project.

The second disc consists of a 1971 concert at the Young Vic Theatre in London with several “Who’s Next” numbers and various cover songs, most in performances previously unreleased. Lively new essays by Townshend and John Atkins evoke all the drama of a pivotal period in the life of one of rock’s greatest groups.

The Allman Brothers, “The Allman Brothers at the Fillmore East.” Mercury. The original double album that elevated the Allmans from regional heroes of Southern rock to national stardom is expanded with tracks left off the original because of time restrictions.

Many of those performances were parceled out on subsequent Allmans releases but have been returned to their rightful place to give a more accurate rendering of the 1971 concerts at which they were recorded.

The big additions are the 23-minute version of “Whipping Post” and a rendition of “Mountain Jam,” loosely based on Donovan’s “There Is a Mountain,” that runs just shy of 34 minutes, a testament to the heyday of guitar-based jamming.

What elevates the Allmans’ jamming above 95% of the pointless noodling that often passes for jamming is the endlessly melodic and inventive instrumental harmonizing of the group’s lead guitarists, Duane Allman and Dickey Betts.

Various artists “The Harder They Come” soundtrack. Hip-O/Island. Perhaps more than any other album, this is the one that launched reggae beyond cult status in the U.S. Jimmy Cliff’s starring role in the film promised a level of stardom he never achieved, but it was through no fault of his music. His gritty title song, the anguishing ballad “Many Rivers to Cross” and the unyieldingly optimistic “You Can Get It If You Really Want” led the way on an album that also featured a mighty grouping of fellow reggae acts, including Desmond Dekker, the Maytals, the Melodians, Scotty and the Slickers.

The second disc of this expanded reissue has an additional 18 reggae hits and non-hits of the period, including Dekker’s “Israelites” and Johnny Nash’s “I Can See Clearly Now,” that add up -- minus any Bob Marley tracks -- to a fairly comprehensive look at the dynamic reggae scene of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.

Aretha Franklin, “One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism,” Arista/BMG. The Queen of Soul returned to her gospel roots for an extraordinary session, recorded over three days in July 1987, that originally appeared as a two-LP set. The deluxe double CD reissue includes four previously unreleased numbers, among them “Father, I Stretch My Hands to Thee,” in which Franklin duets with Mavis Staples, and an extended introduction of Aretha and the Franklin Sisters by the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Had she not turned to pop in the early ‘60s, she’d likely be known today as the greatest gospel singer since Mahalia Jackson. In fact, that’s probably true anyway.