Some Scottish vinyl to tempt fans on Record Store Day

It’s Record Store Day next Saturday and on Thursday I finally bit the bullet and started opening all the boxes that have been arriving over the last week.

We don’t order the vast amount of stock favoured by some shops but we still had more than 40 boxes to open with a few more to arrive. Scottish bands are not particularly well represented but there are still some interesting releases tempting folk to get involved.

The most Avalanche-related release comes from The Gentle Waves, which was the solo project of Isobel Campbell, then of Belle and Sebastian. Swansong For You was her second album originally released in 2000 and not pressed on vinyl since that time.

The most current of the Scottish releases is Dead by Young Fathers. The 10th anniversary reissue of the Mercury Prize winning debut album comes for the first time packaged as a double album, with the original album on disc one and the second disc containing a series of B-sides and rarities.

The oldest release comes from the Average White Band. Available on vinyl or any format for the first time and pressed on 140g white vinyl. These recently discovered tapes went missing from the mastering studio in 1974 and contain the long-lost concert at London’s Rainbow Theatre, when the band supported jazz legend Billy Cobham. From 1995 there is the release of Big Country’s eighth studio album Why The Long Face. Only 3000 copies of this were pressed at the time so it is sure to be highly sought after by fans and comes on turquoise vinyl.

Released in September 2023 within the You Can Have It All – The Complete Albums Collection 14-CD Box Set, this is the first vinyl LP release of Deacon Blue’s Peace Will Come, the 12-track acoustic album that contains re-interpretations of some of the bands best loved songs. Limited to only 1000 copies it comes on white vinyl.

A new collection of early versions of tracks that became Midge Ure’s debut solo album from 1985, The Gift, is another Record Store Day release. Scottish singer Shirley Manson, pictured, also has a release with her band Garbage. There are four new unreleased tracks featuring a cover of This Mortal Coil’s Song To The Siren and a brand new remix of the classic Bad Boyfriend which features Dave Grohl.

While there is always a chance a shop may run out of a release the days of very limited numbers are long gone and fans of big artists like David Bowie and The Cure will never be disappointed so long as they turn up on the morning of Record Store Day.

With the new Taylor Swift album out the day before it is guaranteed to be a weekend like no other.