Is it just us, or has Record Store Day felt a little muted in recent years? Obviously the annual Black Friday celebration boasts less titles than the festivities held every April, but it's sometimes been a struggle to identify great archival titles or worthy re-pressed discs. Well, that certainly isn't the case this year: labels seem to have gone into overdrive stockpiling interesting LPs and singles worth a second (or first!) look - and one of the strongest showings might be Sony Music's Legacy Recordings, who are bowing no less than 16 titles for indie record retailers this spring.
It's a killer mix of stalwart cornerstone artists (Prince, Judas Priest, David Gilmour); first-time-on-vinyl '90s and '00s concert sets (Cypress Hill, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Soul Asylum); cratedigger alt-rock faves from The Grays and Shudder to Think; rare and unreleased material from Rage Against the Machine, John Legend and Crowded House's Neil Finn; a killer compilation timed to one of this year's most-anticipated arena tours; and Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music.
We say this often, but it really feels like there's something for everyone in this batch. We've got a rundown of each title below for you to add to your wish lists on Saturday, April 12.
Cypress Hill, Live At The Fillmore (2LP; 2500 copies; RSD exclusive - Ruffhouse/Columbia/Legacy)
Live hip-hop albums are all too rare on any format, making this 2000 set from the legendary San Francisco club a real treat for Cypress Hill fans. They put on a strong set that covered nearly every studio album they'd released at the time (from 1991's self-titled debut to that year's Skull & Bones, and were backed on several tracks by part of member Sen Dog's rap-rock project SX-10. This 2LP set looks to feature the 17 tracks that made up the original CD (and not the two secret tracks from a limited edition).
Neil Finn, Sessions At West 54th (2LP; 2000 copies; RSD exclusive - Work/Legacy)
The celebrated PBS program Sessions At West 54th was an East Coast answer to Austin City Limits; taped at Sony Music's own studio in New York City, it captured some of the finest off-beat artists around in some command performances. In 1998, during the show's second season (hosted by David Byrne of Talking Heads), Neil Finn came to the studio to promote his debut solo effort, Try Whistling This, bringing great life to tracks like "She Will Have Her Way," "Last One Standing," "Loose Tongue" and "Sinner." While Crowded House had recently split up, Finn of course regaled the audience with a few classic tunes, including "Don't Dream It's Over," "Fall At Your Feet" and even Split Enz's "I Got You." (And in a sign of great things to come for the band, a then 14-year-old Liam, Neil's son, joins the group on guitar - a spot he carries in Crowded House today.) This terrific set was released on DVD but is available as an audio product for the first time ever.
David Gilmour, Between Two Points (12" Single; 4000 copies; RSD exclusive - Legacy)
The only non-original track on the former Pink Floyd singer/guitarist's fifth solo album, last year's Luck and Strange, "Between Two Points" is Gilmour's unique take on a track he admired by British dream pop band The Montgolfier Brothers, featuring his daughter Romany on vocals and harp. This four-track EP features the original album version of the track alongside an unreleased live version from Gilmour's six-date run at London's Royal Albert Hall last October, along with a house-inspired remix and edit by Gilmour's keyboardist Rob Gentry.
The Grays, Ro Sham Bo (2LP; 1300 copies; RSD First - Epic/Legacy)
Treasured by critics but largely ignored by audiences, the sole 1994 album from The Grays is finally ripe for rediscovery in its vinyl debut. Featuring former Jellyfish member Jason Falkner, a then-little known session musician named Jon Brion, guitarist Buddy Judge and drummer Dan McCarroll, The Grays started as an informal jam session that became a much-hyped band with democratic intentions (with an almost exact split of songs from each member recorded for the album). Brion later went on to produce a number of major works for Elliott Smith, Fiona Apple, Mac Miller and others, and also entered a lengthy partnership as the composer for many of the films of Paul Thomas Anderson. Ro Sham Bo is newly remastered for this vinyl release, with two non-LP B-sides added on the fourth side.
Judas Priest, Live in Atlanta '82 (Red 2LP; 6400 copies; RSD exclusive - Columbia/Legacy)
The relentless metal energy of Judas Priest was hard to deny, particularly when they toured in support of one of their more celebrated albums, 1982's Screaming for Vengeance. This live set, recorded at The Omni in Atlanta on December 11 of that year, will be available for the first time outside of the enormous, career-spanning deluxe box set 50 Heavy Metal Years of Music.
John Legend, Get Lifted...Rising (LP; 3000 copies; RSD exclusive - Columbia/Legacy)
Just over two decades after his celebrated debut Get Lifted - the culmination of early sessions with Lauryn Hill, Jay-Z and Alicia Keys - Get Lifted...Rising offers eight rare and unreleased tracks from the album sessions, including an early version of "Used to Love U" and "Do What I Gotta Do," which samples Stevie Wonder's "Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do)."
Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets, Echoes (Live) (12" Single; 4000 copies; RSD exclusive - Legacy)
The Pink Floyd drummer has had a successful run on the road paying tribute to the group's earlier work, supported by Floyd's former touring bassist Guy Pratt, former Spandau Ballet singer/guitarist Gary Kemp, guitarist Lee Harris and keyboardist Dom Beken. On this unique single-sided 12" single with etching - mixed by Steven Wilson and cut to play in reverse on your turntable - the band takes on Meddle favorite "Echoes," as recorded during a set in Frankfurt, Germany this past August.
Thelonious Monk, Live At The It Club (2LP; 3500 copies; RSD exclusive - Columbia/Legacy)
Recorded in 1962 but not released until two decades later, in the immediate wake of the legendary jazz pianist's passing, Live At The It Club features a dozen of Monk's most scintillating compositions in a small club setting, backed by a quartet of Charlie Rouse on tenor sax, Larry Gates on bass and Ben Riley on drums. For this release, it's been newly remastered from the original analog tapes at 24-bit high-resolution.
Oasis, Time Flies...1994-2009 (4LP; 15000 copies; RSD First - Big Brother/Legacy)
As you wait for the Gallaghers' immensely anticipated reunion tour this summer - or pray to the music gods it's happening at all! - there's something to help you pass the time: a vinyl reissue of this 2010 compilation featuring all of the Britpop group's single A-sides, including "Wonderwall," "Don't Look Back in Anger," "Stop Crying Your Heart Out," "Live Forever" and more. Pressed on colored vinyl (it was not specified which), this pressing is also numbered.
Prince and The New Power Generation, Live At Glam Slam (Yellow 140g 3LP; 4000 copies; RSD exclusive - NPG/Legacy)
Though the Diamonds and Pearls box set didn't win a Grammy for Best Historical Album - and there's certainly a lot of feelings on both sides about the official cancellation of a planned Netflix documentary on the life and legacy of The Artist that was loudly condemned by estate management - Prince fans will have a chance to take it back to the music on Record Store Day with a standalone triple-vinyl release of the box's standout feature: a knockout 1992 set at Prince's Minneapolis nightclub with his new backing ensemble, The New Power Generation. This release features the full set on five sides of vinyl with an etching of the Diamonds album cover on the sixth.
Rage Against the Machine, Live on Tour 1993 (2LP; 15000 copies; RSD First - Epic/Legacy)
If reissuing a previous RATM RSD title last year raised your eyebrows, fear not - this year offers something all new. It's three sides (with an etching) of "untouched and unmixed" live recordings from the band's 1993 tour, in support of the previous year's Epic Records debut.
Lou Reed, Metal Machine Music (Metallic Silver 2LP; 2500 copies; RSD exclusive - RCA/Legacy)
The apotheosis of "you have to hear it to believe it," Lou Reed's defiant, abrasive, avant-garde collection of noisy guitar feedback is getting the 50th anniversary treatment with an "all-metal" pressing on metallic silver vinyl with a cover to match.
Shudder to Think, Pony Express Record (2LP; 2500 copies; RSD exclusive - Epic/Legacy) / First Love, Last Rites (Music from the Motion Picture) (LP; 2000 copies; RSD exclusive - Epic/Legacy)
One of the more unusual indie-to-major transitions in '90s alt-rock, D.C. rockers Shudder to Think made waves with their genre-bending Pony Express Record in 1994, considered to be one of the decade's more challenging and rewarding listens. Four years later, they began pivoting toward soundtrack work, creating a whole album for the indie film First Love, Last Rites (the directorial debut of The Lemonheads' Jesse Peretz, who continues to work in film and television today). That album became a cult favorite thanks to a galaxy of talent offering lead vocals to the songs, including Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins, Cheap Trick's Robin Zander, Liz Phair, X frontman John Doe, Matt Johnson of The The, and - in one of the first of many posthumous releases, the late Jeff Buckley. Both albums are now ripe for rediscovery with fresh vinyl pressings.
Soul Asylum, After the Flood: Live from the Grand Forks Prom, June 28, 1997 (2LP; 3500 copies; RSD exclusive - Columbia/Legacy)
Another first-time-on-vinyl release, this live set from the Minneapolis rockers revisits the group's performance at Grand Forks Air Force Base, which hosted a massive joint prom for high schools after the catastrophic Red River flood that previous April had displaced more than 50,000 residents. The spirited set mixed originals ("Runaway Train," "Misery," "Somebody to Shove") along with a wide-ranging offering of covers, including Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing," The Miracles' "The Tracks of My Tears," Glen Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy," Alice Cooper's "School's Out" and more.
Toad the Wet Sprocket, Welcome Home: Live At The Arlington Theatre, Santa Barbara 1992 (2LP; 2000 copies; RSD exclusive - Columbia/Legacy)
One more vinyl debut of a treasured set from a '90s act! Welcome Home was released in 2004 as the capper to a brief, temporary reunion tour (the group wouldn't formally reconvene again until 2008). It found the group returning to their hometown of Santa Barbara, CA for the first time since 1991's fear and the singles "All I Want" and "Walk on the Ocean" made them commercially successful.
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The USA singer Jack Jones recently died. Apart from the odd cd distributed through his official site, his RCA recordings have never been released on cd. Why is this and are there any plans for future releases. Many thanks.
Hi John, Jack’s RCA recordings have long been on our radar. Hopefully reissues will pan out in the not-too-distant future. All the best!
I don't know if UK Record Store Day releases will make it to the USA and/or Canada but one album that I hope will be available is the Wombles Golden album collecting all their UK singles and a rare bonus track on one gold vinyl record. The Wombles were the top selling singles band in the UK in 1974 and charted in the US with a Beach Boys pastiche (sadly not on the album). Great songwriting and production by Mike Batt lifted their records out of the novelty category into a legit pop band.
for some reason this site doesn't respond to my comments or tips. w/e.
For those who are interested, a remastered release of U2's album as "Passengers" with Brian Eno is being released on RSD with a b-side remix of Zoo Station released on the Miss Sarajevo single.
Sorry, I should clarify the site leadership does not. The readers haven't seen any of my tips because they seem to just quietly go away, no response/awknowledgement given.
What did I send a tip about? Past U2 RSD releases and Coldplay releases. Coldplay's "Moon Music" they released literally 4 versions of the same album. Seems like the kind of thing that a site called "The Second Disc" would cover, since they released the album with a Second Disc at least 3 times. Emailed Mike D, sent to Twitter as a @ post. No reply. Again: w/e. I follow the bands I collect closely and I just want to help let other fans know what's up.
Hi Jeff,
We are working on an RSD round-up for Universal's titles of interest, including the upcoming U2/Passengers reissue - unlike Sony or Warner, their catalogue titles don't seem to come from a central hub of UMe or UMC or UMR, all of which seem to be active reissue apparatuses at UMG. We will then highlight the other labels and titles we find interesting.
As to your other points - I am sorry your tips are not getting the response you want. The Second Disc is a catalogue site - focusing on mostly older music with a few exceptions mostly tailored to Joe and my own interests - and thus in most cases does not cover the standard practice of releasing a frontline album in multiple formats. (I made an exception last week for Sabrina Carpenter - a Grammy winner that week and an album I enjoyed.) Our Twitter account is rarely checked by Joe and not at all by me; I stopped using the account entirely last year (along with my own) because that app is absolute gutter trash. (I am posting our stories to BlueSky under the somewhat convoluted handle @theseconddisc.bluesky.social.)
The Second Disc has not and will never be all things to all people as far as reissue reportage goes. There are other sites that can, do and will post about multiple physical formats of other music and not, say, about smaller reissue labels or genres other than catchall pop and rock. There are other sites that will get to the news faster. Joe and I make almost no money from it as a venture, and my day-to-day is far more consumed with raising twins under the age of one. But we are proud and grateful for the readers we serve, including you.
…. And once again Sony leaves Billy Joel Live from Island to only be available in an overpriced box of albums I’ve purchased multiple times (ALL of them) and this long-time fan can’t get the holy grail he wants. Thanks for nothing, Sony!
Bad enough Live From Long Island was never made available on DVD, this audio version of the full show will probably never get a CD release or even digital release either. So I wait for a vinyl stand alone that Sony continues to hold back. Despicable.
The biggest selling artist in Sony’s history deserves much, much better. Open the vaults!
That should read “Billy Joel Live From Long Island.”