Trip Shakespeare's first two albums to be reissued Dec. 16

"Toolmaster of Brainerd" is coming out of retirement. Sort of.

The first two albums by Minneapolis' cult-loved, gorgeously haired psychedelic pop-rock band Trip Shakespeare, "Applehead Man" and "Are You Shakespearienced?," are getting the expanded-edition reissue treatment from Omnivore Recordings, a cool collectors-geared label out of Los Angeles that specializes in '70s-'80s reissues. Both of the long-out-of-print records will be repackaged as digipacks and colored-vinyl sets with seven to nine bonus tracks apiece on Dec. 16, the label announced today.

"I've been promoting this idea to the guys and gal for close to 20 years," Trip bassist John Munson said of the reissues, admitting there was reluctance from certain other band members to pursue the idea – "a general desire to let sleeping dogs lie."

Fortunately, the group found a rabid partner willing to bite into the work. Munson said label founder Cheryl Pawelski, a former exec at Rhino Records and EMI/Capitol, is a longtime fan of the band. The label did a terrific job on the redux of Bob Mould's "Workbook" earlier this year and has other recent reissues from Big Star, Hank Williams, the Motels, the Knack and Jellyfish.

Click here for the info on the label's site about these TS reissues. Omnivore also posted a promo video for them, which we've embedded below.

For those unaware, Trip Shakespeare was formed by St. Louis Park-reared singer/guitarist Matt Wilson and his Harvard classmate Elaine Harris on drums. They regrouped in Minneapolis with Munson and later Matt's brother Dan Wilson, going on to garner indie notoriety in the late-'80s but petering out after singing to A&M Records in the early-'90s. Munson and Dan Wilson would land the radio hits that eluded Trip a half-decade later with Semisonic, and Dan has co-written some other songs of late you might know.

Trip's first two albums were originally recorded for the tiny Gark Records and picked up by Twin/Tone Records. The expanded edition of "Applehead" will include the popular B-side "Susannah," early versions of "The Nail" and "Patricia" (which would come on later albums) and three unreleased tunes. In addition to the original album tracks -- including the band standards "Toolmaster," "Two Wheeler, Four Wheeler" and "Diane" -- the "Shakespearienced" reissue will include early versions of "Snow Days," "Bachelorette" and "Reception," plus four unreleased songs.

Of course, the bigger question fans will have is whether or not the band members might stage another reunion timed to these reissues. They did a short set – their first in 20 years – at least year's holiday concerts by Munson's New Standards.

Don't count on anything more, Munson said: "There is currently no plan. If there is great hue and cry for one we might consider it, but it would be a significant time commitment to make it happen."

In the meantime, feel free to hue and cry for "Toolmaster" when Matt Wilson and Munson play the New Century Sessions next Friday. They're used to it.