The stores are open, spring is in the air, and the record buyer’s thoughts turn to records. Fortunately, it is Record Store Day again on April 23, so what are the super-coveted limited-edition releases to watch, and what trends can be learned from the combined efforts of the dozens of labels involved?
First of all, the big guns have anniversaries to mark. The rolling stones‘More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies) (UMC/ABKCO) gets a fiftieth anniversary refresh on two-tone vinyl with raised Gered Mankowitz litho prints. Joni Mitchell‘s Blue 50: Demos, Samples & Live Tracks From The Joni Mitchell Archive, Vol. 2 (Rhino) is a single 180 gram black LP of rarities from last year’s archival box.
Repressed on vinyl for the first time since ’72,dusty springfield‘s See All Her Faces (UMC/Mercury) gets a double-disc five-decade expansion with outtakes and additional tracks. T.Rex’s The Slider (Demon), meanwhile, marks half a century with an enticing picture disc: a 40th anniversary edition of Dire Straits‘Love Over Gold (UMC/Mercury) is a half-speed master to benefit War Child Charity.
Other anniversaries are less strictly observed. The doors‘ four LP LA Woman Sessions (Rhino) reveals the song-by-song studio development of the band’s 1971 farewell, including a demo of Riders On The Storm with soon-to-resign producer Paul Rothschild. A new iteration of Stevie Nicks‘ 1981 LP Bella Donna (Rhino) adds bonus features never before released on vinyl, while a repress of Marmots‘ Hogwash (Fire Records) has its original 1971 trifold cover restored and gets an extra disc of live album tracks from a BBC In Concert show.
Lou Reed‘s I’m So Free: 1971 RCA Demos (Sony CMG) is an early record of Lou’s first solo session.
The mysterious thrill of colored vinyl is, as always, well represented. fall out‘s Bustin’ + Dronin’ (Parlophone) is reborn on a blue and green double LP with a line from Japan’s OBI band, while Soul Jazz Records do super fine compositions Betty Harris: The Lost Queen Of New Orleans Soul and Studio One Classics are available again on green and purple wax respectively.
Scott WalkerBoy Child’s (UMC) solo composition is expanded to two 180 gram white albums with and new notes from Jarvis Cockerwhile The Unlimited League OrchestraThe classic 1982 Love And Dancing (UMC) remix gets the half-speed treatment and a white vinyl makeover. At 40, WHO‘s It’s Hard (UMC/Polydor) expand on orange and yellow vinyl.
Elsewhere, archival compilations become LPs in their own right. Pearls before porkThe Exaltation Of Tom Rapp (Earth Recordings) brings together unreleased recordings and rarities from the psych folk cult. Karen Dalton‘s Shuckin’ Sugar (Delmore Recording Society, INC) selects from three tapes from 1963, with Dalton singing solo and dueting with Richard Tucker. Comprising seven previously unreleased songs, it’s pressed by Third Man on “transparent, natural vinyl”.
Sandy DennyThe two LPs from The Early Home Recordings (Earth Recordings) see 27 pre-Fairport cuts make their vinyl debut, including two versions of Who Knows Where the Time Goes. Sandy can also be heard singing her signature song for the last time on Gold Dust Live At The Royalty (UMC/Island), where her final gig of 1977 made its vinyl debut. Her husband, teammate and producer Trevor Lucas‘Overlander (Earth Recordings), a long-lost 1966 LP, also gets an official reissue from RSD.
This year, the lofty seven-inch single remains a must-have format. Five 45 per Ronnie WoodThe Birds’ first band was presented as The Birds Ride Again (Flood Gallery), while from blondethe EP Sunday Girl (UMC/Capitol) is a 7-inch double-pack featuring the original 1979 hit version and the French version (on red wax), as well as the 1978 demo and a 1979 live version on a second yellow disc. foo fighters‘Making A Fire (Mark Ronson Re-Version) b/w Chasing Birds (Preservation Hall Jazz Band Re-Version)(Columbia) finds Grohl’s musician buddies covering Medicine At Midnight tracks.
About 10″, david bowieThe Toy EP collects rarities from 2000, while the four-track 12-inch Brilliant Adventure features unreleased material from the 1.OUTSIDE era (both Parlophone). Newly upgraded to 12″, U2‘s A Celebration (UMC/Island) adds two previously unreleased takes to the 1982 original. Turning singles into albums, conversely, is Frankie goes to Hollywood‘s Altered Reels (UMC), which collects the whimsical and demented cassingles of hits Relax and Two Tribes.
Live LPs are also tempting this year. Laura NyroTrees Of The Ages: Laura Nyro Live In Japan (Omnivore) was previously a 2003 Japanese CD-only release of 1994 performances in Tokyo and Osaka, while Grateful Dead‘s Wembley Empire Pool, London, England 08/04/72 (Rhino) comes on five LPs in a “Two Piece Telescope Box”. Jefferson Plane Live at The Monterey International Pop Festival (The Monterey International Pop Festival Foundation) marks the band’s first show release in 1967 on vinyl.
It’s fair to say that fans of live jazz will feel catered for. Revelations (Elemental Music) is a complete document of five LPs, illustrated and annotated with two French concerts by the colossus of free jazz sax Albert Aylerrecorded by French national broadcaster ORTF a few months before his death in 1970. Resonance Records made two Bill Evans shows in Buenos Aires from 1979 and 1973 officially available for the first time, mastered by Bernie Grundman: Grundman also does the honors on Charles Mingus‘ The Lost Album From Ronnie Scott’s (Resonance Records) recorded in 1972.
There are also movie soundtracks worth noting: Angelo Badalamenti’s OST to David LynchThe 1986 masterpiece Blue Velvet (Concord/UMG) is complemented by an hour of additional and alternate cues on “Marbleized Blue” vinyl, while Ennio Morricone works such as Una Pistola Per Ringo /Il Ritorno Di Ringo (BTF) and Trio Infernale (Rustblade) are available on a variety of eye-catching vinyl hues. Bruno NicolaiLa Dama Rossa Uccide Sette Volte (Decca / CAM Sugar)’s “sensual and deranged” film music is inevitably available on “Blood Red Vinyl”: Hip Hop OST Breakin’: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Get On Down), on the other hand , comes in a “Clear Squeezed Coke Bottle”.
Other RSD initiatives include a limited-edition Rega 15th anniversary turntable, available the same day, and many popular larks across the country, such as Shrubs & Dubs of Hackney offering shrubbery with RSD purchases (see the RSD site for more incentives to get out and mingle). Finally, does a book count for RSD? This is the case if it is the AZ Of Record Shop bags by Jonny Trunk (Fuel). Available this RSD, it’s a nostalgic, poignant and compelling trawl of over 500 vinyl bags from the 40s to the 90s, from Rumbelows to Muzik City and every stop in between. It’s time to go get bags, as well as records, to cherish, then.
To see recordstoreday.co.uk for more information. Support your local record store!
BONUS BEATS
More admirable RSD quirks to watch out for.
- Ronald Binge
Sailing By (Shipping Forecast Theme) / Elizabethan Serenade
(Vinyl Exotica 7″)
Radio 4’s ethereal late-night vibe masterpiece and ‘light music’ classic, finally brought together on blue wax.
- Ambrose Slade
Ballzy
(BMG LP)
’69 Slade LP only in the USA, on translucent blue vinyl and in its original livery. Notes misspelled Dave Hill’s name as ‘Hilton’!
- Nick Lowe
wireless world
(Yep Roc LP)
Nick’s 1978 LP was Pure Pop For Now People in the US and Jesus Of Cool everywhere else. He mischievously told an outlet that it was to be called Wireless World, and they reported him. 44 Years on Wireless World is finally out… on the “Dustbin Green” vinyl.
- Brian Bennett
Journey (A Journey in Discoid Funk)
(Real Gone Music LP)
Shadows Sticksman’s cult classic breaks’n’synths for sleazy, tipsy androids, on “Blue with Black Swirl” wax.
- the damned
Strawberries
(BMG LP)
The 40th anniversary re-release goes to Smellyvision with “pink and red strawberry-scented swirl vinyl.” Sniff!
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