In my time at FLOOD, the greatest, most voluminous, and most personal reactions that I get from readers, producers, retailers, and co-founders stem from my exhaustive previews-reviews for Record Store Day. I know that despite your manic vinyl nerd-dom (and love of CDs, cassettes, and physical media in general), all of you may not know the rarity of some of the artists at hand.
Here’s hoping this feature aids all—casual buyers and deep crate-diggers—in your pursuit of RSD happiness.
Olivia Rodrigo & Noah Kahan, Stick Season/Lacy 7-inch (GEFFEN/MERCURY/ REPUBLIC)
Fresh from the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge comes the sound of yearning, angsty platinum-pop from two of its best and youngest. The ferocious guile that made Rodrigo’s GUTS so winning is all over her version of Kahan’s earnest “Stick Season”—so much so that when she sings the line “Now I’m stuck between my anger and the blame that I can’t face / And memories are something even smoking weed does not replace” it’s as if she was the one toking and driving. Kahan, too, finds his cover of Rodrigo’s “Lacy” sympathetic to his vibe while pulling his vocals out of their shell. Double wow. And multi-colored vinyl, too.
Cannonball Adderley, Burnin’ in Bordeaux: Live in France 1969 + Poppin’ in Paris: Live At L’Olympia 1972 (ELEMENTAL)
One of the brawniest saxophonists known to jazz and R&B, Cannonball Adderley not only had an ear for forward-moving melodies, but also an impeccable taste when it came to fellow forward-thinking young musicians such as cornetist Nat Adderley and keyboardists/soon-to-be fusion kings Joe Zawinul and George Duke. Both of these first-time-ever live releases across three years in France are filled with low-down, dirty progressive blues riffs and love songs so endearing and tactile they’ll make you blush. While the highlight of Olympia is a beyond-compare rendition of “Black Messiah,” dig deep into Paris’ “Work Song.”
Blur, Parklife [30th Anniversary Zoetrope Picture Disc] (WARNERS)
For those who didn’t attend Coachella and missed one of the increasingly rare gigs with Damon Albarn and Blur, this 30th anniversary edition of Britpop’s peak-era totem—complete with its cover etched into vinyl—is more than mere compensation. Here, the sneering synth-pop of “Girls & Boys” and the Kinks-iness of the title track are on full display without having to deal to C-hell-a brand marketing distractions.
Orbital, Orbital: The Green Album (LONDON)
At the top of the ’90s and the Brit electro-dance movement, the brothers Hartnoll—Phil and Paul—created an exciting brand of music that borrowed from the zest that was acid house, but focused on ambient, trance-mospherics and deep breakbeats, with a dollop of socially conscious messaging for an extra nudge away from the dancefloor. Their eponymous debut (also known as The Green Album) said it best and said it hardest, with “Choice” sampling speeches dedicated to anti-militarism and spacey, spacious tracks that left enough room in their atmospheric grooves for deep thinking and deeper, more meaningful MDA tripping.
Harmonia, Musik von Harmonia (GROENLAND)
If I yell the word “supergroup” in a crowded theater, few people would turn if it was indeed the meeting of Cluster’s Hans-Joachim Roedelius and Dieter Moebius with NEU! guitarist Michael Rother that was Harmonia. Yet their co-joined sound of eerie space melody and chugging, repetitive riffing put them at the very peak of the krautrocking mountain. This RSD exclusive offers up Harmonia’s 1973 debut LP remastered with a second disc of remixes and “reworks” from sympathetic, empathetic weirdos such as Slint’s David Pajo and electro-dub dude Matthew Herbert.
Bare Jr., Boo-Tay (IMMORTAL/LEGACY)
The country hardcore-punk/metal movement may have been popularized by Hank 3 (Hank Williams III) and refined/morphed/rejiggered by Shooter Jennings (Waylon and Jessi Colter’s kid), but Bobby Bare Jr.’s 1998 LP Boo-Tay is the roughest of roughneck “Southern-fried cowpunk garage-rock sound with electric dulcimer” music around. Honestly, I nearly forgot about Bare Jr.’s heavy-metal, harmonica-blowing country—and their live EP Custom Gauge Electric—until I saw this on the RSD list. Find this, and play it loud.
The 1975, Live at Gorilla (INTERSCOPE)
Considering all the drama that envelops vocalist Matty Healy when he hits the stage, a live album on white vinyl covering the entirety of his band’s hammy self-titled debut album is in order, no? From a February 1, 2023 concert date—the first time this UK art-pop outfit played this music since its 2013 release—splashy tracks such as “Menswear” and “Is There Somebody Who Can Watch You?” come alive as they never could on their studio versions.
Kristin Hersh, Hips & Makers (4AD)
From her highly personal, Beat-inspired stream-of-consciousness lyrics to her discordant freak-folk rock outs, the Throwing Muses vocalist turned solo artist Kristin Hersh was her most magically-realistic self on Hips & Makers. Primarily acoustic with a lustrous chamber-classical feel (thanks to cellist Jane Scarpantoni), everything within from the Anglo-folk traditional “The Cuckoo” to the luminous “Your Ghost” haunts and stays haunting. Presented on two LPs for its 30th anniversary, the RSD package also features Hersh’s EP Strings (along with its lost, lonely “The Key”), the buoyant bonus of “Hysterical Bending,” and bottle green vinyl.
Elton John, Caribou [50th Anniversary Edition] (MERCURY)
Like Stevie Wonder and David Bowie, the early- through- mid-’70s was a fruitful time for Elton John and Bernie Taupin. Their brand of AM radio pop touching on Delta blues, honky-tonk, R&B, and glam rock skyrocketed the pair to fame, with their finest, most autobiographical album—Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy—soon to follow. Caribou, however, was the bump in their Yellow Brick Road, a hastily recorded, rush-released album with a few great songs (“Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,” “Ticking”) and a lot of goofy filler. Time has fortunately been kind to Caribou, and RSD’s biggest fan offers up a Tiffany-blue anniversary double LP with welcome additions such as “Pinball Wizard” and “Sick City.” And remember, when Elton John releases RSD special product, it stays special to RSD.
Chet Baker & Jack Sheldon, In Perfect Harmony: The Lost Album (JAZZ DETECTIVE)
Jazz Detective CEO Zev Feldman has been on the rare, unheard Chet Baker tip for the last several years, focusing mostly on live radio station sessions recorded by the silver-toned trumpeter and sotto voce vocalist in the Netherlands. This time out, Feldman found the lost tapes to this 1972 trumpet duet in the archives of legendary film producer Frank Marshall (read your liner notes) with Jack Sheldon sharing driving duty with Baker on stewing standards such as “But Not for Me” and “Mi Corazon.” What’s fascinating about In Perfect Harmony is how you’d never expect the cool-blue Baker and the red-hot Sheldon to gel as empathetically as they do here.
George Harrison, Electronic Sound + Wonderwall Music (DARK HORSE/BMG)
Start with the fact that these two RSD exclusives are individually numbered in silver foil and feature high-quality inserts reproducing both of Harrison’s original LP artworks—so they look great. And there’s history in these picture discs. The Quiet One’s Wonderwall Music was released in 1968 and signaled the first solo effort from a Beatle (years before his All Things Must Pass) and the first LP to be released by Apple Records. Contrasting with these mostly instrumental rock-outs with bits of Indian classical music tied to its title’s film is a second RSD release that’s even more intriguing: the aptly titled Electronic Sound. This album from 1969 was one of two avant-garde projects released on Apple’s noise subsidiary, Zapple (Lennon and Ono’s Unfinished Music No. 2 was the other), with Harrison going wild on the Moog IIIp synthesizer that he painted on the album’s cover. Deliciously naïve experimental music doesn’t come rawer that this.
David Bowie, Waiting in the Sky (Before the Starman Came to Earth) (PARLOPHONE)
Bowie addicts who feared that his rarity cupboards were running dry (never) will scream for these never-before-heard Trident Studios quarter-inch stereo tapes dated “15th December 1971,” created as a provisional track listing of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. The mix is just a little bigger in spots without missing out on its ragged edge, and a bit bass-heavier than the schooner-in-a-bottle pristine sound we’ve grown used to with Ziggy. And additional rockers such as “Round and Round,” “Velvet Goldmine,” and the Jacques Brel ballad “Amsterdam” are now part of the Stardust legend.
The Doors, Live at Konserthuset, Stockholm September 20, 1968 (ELEKTRA/RHINO)
Rhino continues its deep dive into its live Doors archives, this time coming up with a shockingly never-before-heard radio broadcast tape made during Jim Morrison & Co.’s legendary post-Summer-of-Love tour with Jefferson Airplane. The tape is pristine and full-bodied, and hearing their creepy oompa-loompa cabaret rock sound applied to two Brecht-Weill cuts in a row (“Mack the Knife” and “Alabama Song”) is pure Weimar wonder. Don’t listen to “You’re Lost Little Girl” in the dark—it’s that spooky.
Shelly Manne, Jazz From the Pacific Northwest (REEL TO REEL)
How about start with “The Vamp’s Blues” and work your way backwards? That’s because Shelly Manne was no simple jazz drummer—as a composer, player, and band leader, he all but created the smooth but salty brand of cool-hot jazz that’s found on these two previously unissued concert recordings. Vintage tapes from 1958 and 1966 find Manne collaborating with the likes of R&B vocal great Ruth Prince, flutist Herb Geller, and pianist Russ Freeman on elastic jazz tracks with a cinematic feel.
Tom Verlaine, Souvenir From a Dream: The Tom Verlaine Albums (1979-1984) (ELEKTRA)
Though the shadow of Television’s ancient-to-the-future guitar techniques in distant vibrato loomed large over its leader Tom Verlaine’s solo career, he never lost track of creating a great, warm vocal sound (“Kingdom’s Come,” “Red Leaves”), clipped and taut melodies (“Words From the Front,” “Clear It Away”), and impressionistic poetry far apart from his pre-punk ensemble. And as good as his eponymous solo debut is overall, hearing Dreamtime’s “Without a Word” (a haunting new version of Television’s unreleased "Hard on Love”) and the cutting entirety of 1984’s Cover again is so sweet. Pressed on crystal-clear vinyl, this four-LP box is a worthy collection dedicated to a musician I still can’t believe is gone.
Neil Young + Crazy Horse, FU##KIN’ UP (WARNER)
To commemorate Young + Crazy Horse’s first full post-pandemic tour, Shakey is releasing his newest album—a grungy take on Neil’s hardest rocking lost classics such as “Farmer John” and “Valley of Hearts”—on double clear vinyl with a special lithograph whose secrets I refuse to reveal. The one thing that’s most noticeable about FU##KIN’ UP and this iteration of Crazy Horse is that it’s fuller and richer within their crusty rockouts due to their three-prong guitar attack from Young, Nils Lofgren, and Micah Nelson, the latter of whom adds his two cents on vocals and piano in this rich, cranky mix.
Frank Zappa, Zappa for President (UME)
Throughout his recorded music history, whether alone or with his Mothers of Inventions, Frank Zappa made political satire a savage sword to wield with a heavy hand. This two-album, splatter vinyl package commences with the scathing social critique “Brown Shoes Don’t Make” and closes with a non-so-reverent “America the Beautiful.” MAGA heads beware.
Captain Beefheart, The Spotlight Kid [Deluxe Edition] (RHINO)
After the best-album-ever/worst-sales-ever of 1969’s Trout Mask Replica, Captain Beefheart, for a time, moved backward to the blues and its deviant variants. The Spotlight Kid of 1972 used marimba and various odd percussive instruments to tell its mad tales of characters such as “Alice in Blunderland” and “Harry Irene.” On its RSD 2024 reissue, the original album is presented in AAA (full-blown analog) with an additional record of outtakes such as “Pompadour Swamp.”
Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Live in France: The 1966 Concert in Limoges (DEEP DIGS)
Don’t dare take the “Godmother of Rock ’n’ Roll” nickname lightly. From her swing cuts and early gospel tracks from 1938 such as “Rock Me,” through to her smart-ass lyrics and boogie-blues vibe on 1944’s “Strange Things Happening Every Day,” singer-guitarist Sister Rosetta Tharpe was famous for her take-no-prisoners sound. By the time she got to 1966 and France’s Grand Theatre, Thorpe was ready for bear with a blistering brand of raw, religious R&B on the likes of “Jesus Met the Woman at the Well” and the lengthy “That’s All/Denomination Blues.” Oh, and Sister’s take on “Nobody's Fault But Mine” tears Jimmy Page’s shredding to shreds.
Sparks, No. 1 In Heaven b/w Noël, Is There More to Life Than Dancing? (LIL BEETHOVEN)
RSD fans used to seeing two artists on split 45s will find this double LP pairing amusing. On Ron and Russell Mael’s private label, the first part of this RSD exclusive is the 45th anniversary double vinyl release of Sparks’ hypnotic, Hi-NRG synth-disco album No. 1 In Heaven, produced in Germany by Giorgio Moroder. With No. 1 still enthralling as one of the most innovative electronic albums of all time, Is There More to Life Than Dancing? from LA vocalist Noël is nearly as entrancing—albeit lesser known—and begs the question of who influenced who on the Moroder-Maels session, with the secret to the second album being that Sparks wrote, produced, and recorded that album the same year they did No. 1. Who doesn’t love a mystery?
Soft Cell, Non-Stop Extended Cabaret (MERCURY/ISLAND)
How could vocalist Marc Almond and sequencer-keyboardist Dave Ball have made their sleazy, catty, new-wave electro-pop totem sleazier and cattier? By letting Ball loose on the original analog studio recordings that were initially stretched to dance-mix length before they were shortened for radio play. With that, there’s more muscle and sinew to Soft Cell’s naughty, nuanced brand of cabaret. Plus, their first-ever song, “A Man Can Get Lost,” and a new, unreleased remix of its “Memorabilia” by The Hacker and Daniel Miller are part of this gorgeous two-LP package.
The Aggrovators, Dubbing at King Tubby’s Volume 1 & 2 (GORGON/VP)
King Tubby is to reggae what George Martin was to rock: the man who discovered its base impulses (or bass impulses, in Tubby’s case) and refined them while holding onto their root experience. Dubbing at King Tubby’s chronicles Osbourne “King Tubby” Ruddock’s ’70s output from his home studio at 18 Dromilly Avenue in Kingston in tandem with the first real live dub band of his time, The Aggrovators, featuring famed producer Bunny “Striker” Lee at the controls. Even Lee “Scratch” Perry owes a debt to its godfather, Tubby, and his take on punky reggae partying.
Talking Heads, Live at WCOZ 77 (SIRE/RHINO)
Within the last year, Talking Heads have been celebrating the vividly live soundtrack to their seminal Stop Making Sense tour document and the one-time punk band’s funky expansion. Yet the live Heads from the start were always radically engaging in concert—big hall or small club. Proof comes with this 1977 gig for WCOZ in Massachusetts, a cut-at-45 RPM (really impressive sound quality), two-LP set featuring truly wild and wiggy takes on “Pulled Up,” “Uh-Oh, Love Comes to Town,” and several songs that would follow on upcoming albums such as “Thank You for Sending Me an Angel” and “The Big Country.” And, of course, a rabid take on “Psycho Killer.”
Dwight Yoakam, The Beginnings and Then Some: The Albums of The ’80s (REPRISE)
If you could blend the crisp, sophisticated musicianship of Buck Owens’ Bakersfield sound with the curt outlaw country of Waylon Jennings—and add some real zeal when it comes to sparkling personality—you’d get what cocksure Dwight Yoakam’s Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc., Hillbilly DeLuxe, and Buenas Noches from a Lonely Room meant to the listening public, country charts, and beyond in the 1980s. Everything. What’s most impressive, then, beyond having these nouvelle C&W classics in one place, is the rugged, under-produced klatch of still-stunning demos from 1981 (“Miner’s Prayer” will hypnotize you), along with rarities such as his “Sin City” duet with another newbie in k.d. lang.
Brother Jack McDuff, Ain’t No Sunshine (REEL TO REEL)
From the moment “Theme from Electric Surfboard” unfurls, you know that this is no simple organ trio session. One of the first and best Hammond B-3 manipulators, McDuff always played fast and loose with his wrenching basslines and blues-drenched solos. Fact is, he often played the organ with the melodic, dexterous luster of a classical pianist—but with the soul he was born with and a feel for psychedelic zeal that came with the changing times. With that, Ain’t No Sunshine captures a previously unissued concert recording with tough-as-nails saxophonists Leo Johnson and Dave Young working their way through every McDuff Hammond line and vice versa. This is hard-scrambled battle jazz at its finest and funkiest.
Faces, The BBC Session Recordings (WB/RHINO)
Long before Rod Stewart and Ron Wood became English lords, they were the drunken slobs behind the raucous rock and roll of Faces. And if their studio LPs were a happily woozy mess, their many raw in-studio appearances on the BBC throughout 1970—the Top Gear and David Lee Travis Show gigs, in particular—were a drunken delight. Elongated, elastic takes on “I Know I’m Losing You” and “It’s All Over Now” are balanced by close-cut shaves on “Bad ’N’ Ruin” and “I Feel So Good.” These sessions need their own mega box.
The Dalai Lama, Inner World (CRAFT)
Before he got in trouble for kissing kids, the most peaceful, spiritual being on the planet released an album of sacred, soulful mantras and gentle teachings set to music of composer Abraham Kunin and multi-instrumentalist Anoushka Shankar. Pressed on gold vinyl, your inner world will be happily rocked upon listening.
Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons, The Genuine Imitation Life Gazette (RHINO)
Summer of Love audiences used to a high-pitched Valli & the Four Seasons doing innocent falsetto favorites such as “Sherry” for the top-of-the-pop charts freaked the fuck out when they heard the clean-cut Jersey Boys write and sing tracks such as “American Crucifixion” and make wild, spacious music more in line with the chamber-psych-pop of Pet Sounds than their usual post-doo-wop, Rat-Pack teen dreaminess. Yet this psychedelicized album—like its original, wrapped in newsprint—is the Four Seasons’ personal favorite among all of their recordings. Find out why. But avoid the photos of their sideburns—you’ll never recover.
Lil Uzi Vert, Luv Is Rage (ATLANTIC)
Right before rapper-fashionista Lil Uzi Vert became the toast of hardcore-emo hip-hop, they were making scorching-hot rap mixtapes with friends such as Young Thug and Wiz Khalifa. This is their second, made-in-Philly mixtape of 2015, the one that got them signed to the majors, with the run-on sentence of “All My Chains,” “Belly,” and “Enemies” setting a new gold standard for where real street hip-hop with style would head in the next decade.
Sonny Rollins, Freedom Weaver: The 1959 European Tour Recordings (RESONANCE)
Spread across four never-before-heard-in-full albums, the Saxophone Colossus finds beauty and noise with his most complex ensemble prior to his spiritual and musical reawakening later that same year on the pedestrian walkway of the Williamsburg Bridge in New York. Heavily bootlegged until now, Rollins challenges menacing bassist Henry Grimes and a series of robust, differently rhythmic drummers (Pete La Roca, Kenny Clarke, and Joe Harris, among them) to games of cat-and-mouse jazz, embraces of tender balladry, and out-and-out duels where Rollins’ muscular sax always comes out the ferocious victor. This is where Kamasi Washington got his fire.
Ernest Tubb and His Texas Troubadours, World Broadcast Recordings 1944/1945 (ORG)
This Texan singing-songwriting pioneer of country music brought swing to folksy traditionalism with the addition of rhythm guitarist Leon Short, colorful bassist Butterball Paige, and fiddler Johnny Sapp, who never let go of the bow. Tubb’s radio transcription “World Broadcast Recordings 1944-1945”—heard here in a first-ever vinyl pressing—is the axis upon which soon-to-be-modern country spun, with tracks such as “That’s All She Wrote” and “I Knew the Moment I Lost You” as highlights of the revolution.
Lowell George, Thanks, I’ll Eat It Here [Deluxe Edition] (RHINO)
There’s no saying, beyond this solo debut, what slippery soul innovator Lowell George would’ve done apart from his chicken-flavored Dixie ensemble Little Feat, and he died mere weeks after their release. Along with the full, delicious smorgasbord of Thanks and its sleek, chic hits such as “What Do You Want the Girl to Do” comes a hearty, handsome bonus album of previously unreleased alternate versions and outtakes from George’s 1979 recording sessions. Rhino is just starting to tuck into the Little Feet catalog at large, so this is a happy treat.
At the Drive-In, in/CASINO/OUT (CRAFT)
El Paso’s beloved post-hardcore band and the original home of The Mars Volta’s Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-López get their RSD due with a release of their forever-out-of-print second album. On purple and green smoke vinyl and 180 heavy grade, tracks such as “Chanbara” and “Alpha Centauri” sound as alive as they did when this first dropped.
Gene Clark, No Other: Sessions (4AD)
If lonely, dusty Americana has a patron saint, it’s Gene Clark. And if Gene Clark had a Bible in which to work from, it would be 1974’s beyond-seminal No Other. So, then, to find alternative sessions and additional outtakes of post-country classics such as “Silver Raven” and “Life’s Greatest Fool” is akin to hearing the holy grail of pop first hand. Along with a mirror board gatefold sleeve, the first album of Sessions contains the most interesting take of each track while the second disc features every first full take.
Yusef Lateef, Atlantis Lullaby: The Concert From Avignon (ELEMENTAL)
Before André 3000 picked up the flute and made it percolate for the 21st century, there was soulful saxophonist and flutist Yusef Lateef as its pioneer. And this never-before-heard performance features Lateef with an equally skilled and sensitive ensemble in Kenny Barron, Bob Cunningham, and Albert “Tootie” Heath. There’s way too much that sounds way too good on this lost, live classic, starting with “Yusef’s Mood” and Barron’s “The Untitled.” Yet when those two duet—just flute and piano—on the gorgeous balladry of “A Flower”…I promise André is shedding a sentimental tear.
Bernie Worrell, Wave From the WOOniverse (ORG/LOANTAKA)
The keyboardist and clavichordist known mostly from his days with Parliament Funkadelic didn’t make much solo music. When he did, however, it was Woo-tastic. These dirtball-funky tracks and mesmerizing ballads were left untouched and unreleased before his death, until his estate gathered the steam to get these gritty tracks together with the help of collaborators such as Bootsy Collins, Jerry Harrison, Sean Lennon, Marc Ribot, and Mike Watt. Along with each track’s immense funk cut into every groove, listeners will be shocked by so many subtler-shaded moments within Worrell’s self-composed WOOniverse. Plus, Funkadelic completists will want his solo version of George Clinton’s “Contusion.”
Linda Ronstadt, The Asylum Years (1973-1977) (ASYLUM/RHINO)
A four-album box set comprising everything that the Queen of California pop, rock, and Eagles-ishness did before going roller-disco, singing Elvis Costello, crooning traditional Mexican music, or making country with Dolly and Emmylou is one of the most delectable items on the RSD menu. From the spunk of “That’ll Be the Day” to the woe and wonder of “Old Paint,” Ronstadt’s open-faced and open-hearted vocals reveal a passion rarely ever witnessed in present-day charting music.
Various artists, A Tribute To NEU! (GROENLAND)
Dusseldorf’s NEU! was built on the premise of sonic economy and tearing down all levels of commodification. That means as far as krautrock went, NEU! was the meanest and leanest and sold the least—which of course meant they were the most influential of the lot. Here, on this new collection, The National (“I’m Gluck”), avant-rock all-stars of Mogwai and Man Man (“Super”), and more artists rip into Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger’s sparse-space catalog of non-hits.
Various artists, Love, LA: Duets and Covers From the City of Angels (ORG)
Curated and produced by Paige Stark of Tashaki Miyaki and Rick Ross (not that one) of Delicious Vinyl, Love, LA features some of your favorite vocalists—Angeleno and beyond—tackling the sound of the city for the benefit of the Fernando Pullum Community Arts Center, who provides performing arts instruction to youth in South Central. That means My Morning Jacket’s Jim James and Leslie Stevens covering “Leather & Lace,” comic Marc Maron and Paige Stark offering up their version of Love’s “Signed D.C.,” Particle Kid and Sunny War providing blue-black soul on “Never Let Me Down Again,” and more.
Various artists, The Power of the Heart: A Tribute to Lou Reed (LIGHT IN THE ATTIC)
Fourteen words—Rufus Wainwright doing “Satellite of Love,” Keith Richards doing “I’m Waiting for the Man”—sum up why this dreamily exquisite tribute to Lou Reed must exist. Everyone else (Ricki Lee Jones, Joan Jett, Afghan Whigs) is icing on the glum-but-gorgeous cake.