THIS WEEK

Reissues & archival releases

Andy Kaufman: Andy and His Grandmother (Drag City/Process Media)
The late anti-comedian did many things and anti-things in his lifetime, but he never released an album. Thus, this is the first: a collection of material culled from 82 hours of microcassette recordings he made between 1977 and 1979. Bill Hader narrates; Kaufman co-conspirator Bob Zmuda provides the liner notes.

Leon Fleisher: The Complete Album Collection (Sony Classical)
Next Tuesday is the American pianist’s 85th birthday. To celebrate, this box gathers on 23 CDs his 55 years of recordings for Columbia/Epic and Sony Classical, beginning in 1954 and concluding in 2009. Each disc comes in a mini-LP slipcase with original artwork. Fleisher himself is celebrating with a 2013-14 tour of the U.S. and Canada. For dates, click here.

Doc Watson: The Definitive Doc Watson (Sugar Hill)
Two-CD set of the late legend from Deep Gap, North Carolina, is the first compilation to jointly anthologize the Vanguard and Sugar Hill periods of his discography.

Ezra Furman: The Year of No Returning (Bar/None)
Furman and his old band, the Harpoons, impressed me at SXSW 2011. This is his first solo album, originally self-released last year, appearing now on CD for the first time.