RECORD STORE DAY
The lockdown’s been bad for many things – and not buying records in person has been a grievous wrong. This June 12 that all ends. But what to buy? Read on for our ready reckoner.
RECORD shops have always been a vital part of MOJO readers’ lives, every one of them essential exchange points for sustaining music, info and vibes. This June 12’s global Record Store Day, joyously, they will be open for business again. But, when you stop by, say Spillers Records in Cardiff, or New York’s Downtown Music Gallery, from 8am sharp, which limited one-off exclusives will you be looking out for?
Albums-that-never-were get their freaky, unreal due this year. Before Elton John’s
1969 debut Empty Sky, he had an album called Regimental Sgt. Zippo (Mercury) ready to go: finally incarnated on vinyl, this RSD edition features some songs heard on 2020’s Jewel
Box, five “finished” versions, and the first non-bootleg release of You’ll Be Sorry To See Me Go. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’
Angel Dream (Warners), meanwhile, is “a remixed, remastered and re-imagined” version of 1996’s She’s The One: intriguingly, Angel Dream will replace its predecessor in the catalogue. Also new to the 12-inch racks are Prince’s 1998 acoustic set The Truth (CMG), single-album box set selection Joni Mitchell’s Archives Vol. 1 (Rhino) and Marc Bolan & T.Rex’s Star King (Demon), which collects ‘working’ takes of familiar tracks. There’s more tape archaeology on Johnny Paycheck’s Uncovered: The First Recordings (Lightning Rod), which collects the intense country hardman’s early ’60s demos, recorded while he was playing bass in George Jones’s band. The Replacements’ The Pleasure’s All Yours: Pleased To Meet Me Outtakes & Alternates (Rhino Warner) gives a different view of their 1987 LP, while Richard Hell And The
Voidoids’ sign-off LP can be heard in protean form on Destiny Street
Demos (Omnivore). Underground listeners will want The Residents’ Leftovers Again?!? (Ralph), which compiles 16 unreleased oddities from the ’70s, including an alternative version of Satisfaction.
In the unheard live LP section, the four-album Charlie Parker – Bird in
LA (Verve) boasts performances from 1945, 1948 and the complete recording of “the infamous July 1952 ‘naked party’” at the Los Angeles home of artist Jirayr Zorthian. Dirty Three’s Ocean Songs: Deluxe Boxset (Bella Union) adds the group’s 2005 performance of their 1998 album, with Nick Cave on piano, at the New York ATP Festival, on blue and violet vinyl. The Grateful Dead’s mighty six-album Olympia Theatre, Paris, France 5/3/72 (RBDO 2171) contains the whole show with a special etching on side 12, while Keith Richards’ red vinyl 7-inch Wicked As It Seems/Gimme Shelter (live) (BMG) brings two unreleased recordings.
It’s not all about the unheard, of course. Getting their first represses since release are Dennis ‘Blackbeard’ Bovell’s I Wah Dub (PLG UK Catalog), Jonathan Richman’s Having A Party With Jonathan Richman
“Charlie Parker’s Bird In LA boasts the complete recording of “the infamous July 1952 ‘naked party’”
(Concord/Craft), R&B singer James Ray’s sole, self-titled LP from 1962 (Vinyl Revival) and, on splatter vinyl, Dublin hippies The Coterie’s super-rare 1969 LP A Swing To
Folk (Munster). Also re-available for less than the hundreds of quid you’d normally pay are the eponymous 1969 psych blues LP Jaklin (Morgan Blue Town),
Carla Whitney’s 1975 LP Choker Campbell & The Super Sounds (Attic) and a 7-inch of Ike & Tina
Turner’s Bold Soul Sister/ Somebody (Somewhere)
Needs You (Selector
Series), the latter a Frank Wilson-penned Northern soul fave.
Up for some coloured vinyl? Sober reason alone cannot explain the appeal of a bright yellow remaster of The Rolling Stones’ Hot Rocks (UMC), a ‘turquoise & cream’ pressing of Toots & The Maytals’ Funky Kingston
(Get On Down) or a ‘Crystal Clear’ edition of Poly Styrene’s Translucence (PLG UK), but who’s complaining? Similarly, eye-catching editions of The Who’s Face Dances (yellow and blue, UMC), Black Sabbath’s Master
Of Reality (purple, BMG) and Bert Jansch’s
Black Swan (silver, Earth Recordings) will mesmerise revolving at 33rpm, as will picture discs including The Kinks’ Percy (BMG), the
Motörhead/Girlschool St Valentine’s Day Massacre EP (on 10-inch, BMG), Janis
Joplin’s Pearl (CMG), ELP’s Tarkus (BMG), and The Cure’s Faith (Elektra). There’s much more that cries out to be snapped up, of course: the five 45s of the Elastica Singles box (Rough Trade), for example, The Flaming Lips’ silver vinyl The Soft Bulletin
Companion (Warner), the Miles Davis Champions: Rare Miles From The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions yellow LP (Legacy) or Warpaint’s The Fool/Andrew Weatherall Sessions (Rough Trade), where the late Lord Sabre’s full album remix makes it to expanded wax.
After all that excitement, there’s another RSD “drop” on July 17: tempting releases already confirmed include The Heartbreakers’ L.A.M.F. – The Found ’77 Masters (Jungle). The original got a faulty mastering job, but after a tape called ‘Copy Master 12.7.77’ was – we quote – “found in an attic” last year, it can finally be heard as intended in a limited transparent purple edition. Also pending are Jerry Dammers’ At The Home Organ: Demos 1980-82 (10-inch, 2 Tone), the first vinyl pressing of Ann
Peebles’ This Is Ann Peebles since 1969 (Fat Possum), the first 7-inch vinyl release of the
Vince Guaraldi Trio’s Baseball Theme from Peanuts (Concord/Craft), with an alternate take on the B-side, and a commercial release for 1981 Clash interview LP If Music Could
Talk (CMG). Add Crosby, Stills, Nash &
Young’s Déjà Vu Alternates (Rhino Atlantic), plus live LPs from John Prine, Ramones, Aretha Franklin and more, and, truly, we are spoiled. Just remember, if your record isn’t in stock, what about all the records that are? Good hunting, vinyl junkies.
See recordstoreday.co.uk for more info. Support your local record shop!