Session highlights 2CD and 2LP sets • Audiophile vinyl releases • No previously unreleased material
The Beach Boys have announced a series of releases to celebrate the 60th anniversary of their landmark album Pet Sounds, due in May.
The sets include the vinyl debut of tracks previously available on 1997’s Pet Sounds Sessions box set; two vinyl releases aimed at audiophiles and a single-disc zoetrope vinyl pressing.
Pet Sounds – 60th anniversary releases:
Pet Sounds Sessions Highlights (2CD or 2LP) – 25 alternate takes, a cappellas, and tracking sessions previously released on The Pet Sounds Sessions. The 2LP set is available on either black or white/green splatter vinyl. All formats include new liner notes by Howie Edelson and a detailed sessionography
Vinylphyle Edition (2LP) – Disc one features Pet Sounds in mono, cut from the original 1966 assembled master reel. Disc two features Mark Linett’s 1996 stereo mix, overseen by Brian Wilson. Gatefold tip-on jacket and four-panel insert including Howie Edelson’s liner notes. Initial pressing of 3,000 copies, pressed at RTI on 180g black vinyl
Definitive Sound Series edition (LP) – Pressed at RTI on Neotech VR900 D2 180g vinyl, cut by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering from “rarely used” circa-1972 original analogue tapes. Limited to 6,000 individually numbered copies. Each copy includes a certificate of authenticity documenting the mastering, plating, and pressing process
Zoetrope vinyl (LP) – Original album, unconfirmed whether it’s in mono or stereo. Textured sleeve.
Though completists will feel duty-bound to collect the new editions, anybody who already has either The Pet Sounds Sessions or the 40th/50th anniversary editions will probably feel underwhelmed by the announcement. While the vaults are presumably empty, the decision to duplicate a track on both discs of the sessions set (the a cappella ‘I’m Waiting For The Day’) is baffling. Meanwhile, considering the Giles Martin Dolby Atmos Mix is out there, many might have felt its inclusion on a Blu-ray was an open goal. There will also be a digital release of the full 90-track Pet Sounds Sessions box set.
The Pet Sounds anniversary editions will be released on 15 May via Capitol/UMe. These variants are mostly D2C right now but standard 2CD and 2LP should filter through to via standard channels, soon. Until then try places like The Sound Of Vinyl, uDiscoverMusic.com and similar.
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The Beach Boys
Pet Sounds Sessions Highlights - Amazon exclusive 2LP yellow vinyl
Publishers Rocket 88 have announced the first official book on theThe Alan Parsons Project, planned for publication in Autumn 2026 and available for pre-order now.
Author and journalist Joel McIver tells the story of the band using new interviews with Alan Parsons himself, as well as numerous musicians who featured on APP albums, along with archival interviews, including newly discovered recordings of Eric Woolfson. The book will also feature rare and previously unseen photographs from family archives.
Alan Parsons Project will be available in two editions:
Classic Edition: Blue hardback cover, includes option to have your name printed in the book. £45.
Signature Edition: Limited to 650 copies. Housed in green clamshell presentation box, signed by Alan Parsons and Sally Woolfson, includes stamped and numbered photograph of Alan and Eric, plus a CD of a previously unheard interview with Eric Woolfson. £300.
Reworking of 1996 debut plus bonus tracks • Box set includes remixes, live tracks and demos
Placebo have announced a reworking of their 1996 self-titled album, due in June.
The London-based three-piece, led by Brian Molko, caused a stir in the mid-’90s with a couple of singles on indies (‘Bruise Pristine’ on a Fierce Panda split 7” and ‘Come Home’ on Deceptive) before signing to Virgin subsidiary Hut. Placebo’s glammed-up image, post-grunge riffs and Molko’s distinctive vocals (not to mention the singer’s talent for promotion) quickly earnt them a besotted fanbase and in 1997 they broke through, with the spikey and sassy ‘Nancy Boy’ reaching No 4 in the singles chart and helping their debut album to go platinum.
Thirty years on, the band have returned to Placebo to give the album’s 10 tracks, plus the original CD’s ‘secret track’ ‘HK Farewell’ and ‘Come Home’ B-side ‘Drowning By Numbers’, a sonic overhaul for RE:CREATED.
Molko and bassist Stefan Olsdal explain, “We think of this record as a director’s cut. We haven’t recreated it from scratch. We went back to the original master tapes and brought 30 years of playing these songs live back into the record.
“This project was about finally finishing the record, dragging it into the 21st century sonically, while preserving the integrity and the spirit of the original. It’s not about improving it, there’s nothing wrong with it, it’s about completing it.”
In terms of variants, the 2CD edition adds live tracks and demos on CD2, while a 2LP deluxe vinyl offers remixes on its second disc, along with a seven-inch single. A single vinyl LP is album-only but also comes with the seven-inch single. A Placebo store-exclusive box set offers everything across 3LPs, includes the seven-inch and adds a cassette with demos (same demos included on CD 2).
Completists may be disappointed that the dozen or so B-sides and mixes released across the album’s singles haven’t been included in any of the formats. Best keep hold of those CD singles / seven-inch singles / tapes a bit longer.
1998 debut album reissued for the first time • LP and 2LP set with B-sides and rare tracks
Unbelievable Truth will reissue their debut album Almost Here on vinyl for the first time this April.
The recently reunited Oxford trio’s debut was originally released in May 1998 on Virgin and reached No 21 on the UK album chart, drawing comparisons with Talk Talk and Crowded House, while singles ‘Higher Than Reason’, and ‘Solved’ reached the UK Top 40.
Vocalist and guitarist Andy Yorke, bassist Jason Moulster and drummer Nigel Powell formed the band in 1993 but split a couple of years later, at which Yorke – younger brother of Radiohead’s Thom – took off to Russia to work as an interpreter. On his return, the band reformed and signed to Virgin. They recorded Almost Here in Great Linford Manor in Buckinghamshire, with Powell producing and Jeremy Wheatley co-producing and engineering.
Almost Here will be available on two formats:
180g black LP in a replica of the original vinyl sleeve
180g black 2LP packaged in a gatefold sleeve, with a second disc featuring B-sides and rare tracks
It’s currently unclear whether Almost Here has been remastered for the new reissue or if it will also be available on CD. All of the bonus tracks on the second disc of the 2LP version were originally B-sides to the singles released from Almost Here, with the exception of ‘From This Height’ which featured on the Japanese version of the album.
The band are currently working on their fourth album and will play The Lexington, London on 24 March. Almost Here is out 24 April 2026 via Proper.
Everything But The Girl have announced expanded CD editions of two of their key albums – their 1984 debut Eden and the million-selling Amplified Heart (1994) – for release this April.
Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt met while studying at the University of Hull in 1981. Thorn had already formed the DIY post-punk group Marine Girls and recorded their beloved debut album Beach Party. Meanwhile, experimental singer-songwriter Watt’s debut single – ‘Cant’, produced by Kevin Coyne – was released that year on Cherry Red. The pair started a side project, Everything But The Girl, and released their first EP, ‘Night And Day’ (led by a cover of the Cole Porter standard) in 1982.
After a couple of years pursuing their respective solo projects, Thorn and Watt came together again in 1984 for their debut full-length, Eden, a timeless set of plaintive bossa nova (No 28 single ‘Each And Every One’), shimmering indie-pop (‘Another Bridge’), wee-small-hours jazz (‘Crabwalk’) and more.
Fast-forward a decade and the pair’s seventh album, Amplified Heart, documented the aftermath of Watt’s near-death experience with the rare autoimmune disease Churg-Strauss syndrome. The album’s frank and raw explorations of love and relationships were set to a stripped-back, folk-rock sound (Danny Thompson was on bass; Richard Thompson guested on lead guitar on ‘25th December’), flecked with subtle electronic flourishes. On release, Amplified Heart struggled to make an impact and EBTG looked set to be dropped by their label. But when the album’s second single, ‘Missing’ was remixed by house producer Todd Terry, it became a worldwide hit (No 3 in the UK, No 2 in the US), giving Amplified Heart a new lease of life and the band belated mainstream success.
The 2026 Eden deluxe edition features 26 tracks on one CD
For these new reissues, Eden and Amplified Heart have not been remastered they use the same Miles Showell mastering from the previous reissues. In terms of bonus tracks, the contents are similar to the increasingly pricey reissues from the early 2010s Edsel campaign, with slight differences. The new-look, single CD Eden includes all of the B-sides and home demos from its 2012 reissue but omits the four BBC session tracks and adds their 1983 version of The Jam’s ‘English Rose’, originally recorded for the NME’s Racket Packet cassette.
Meanwhile, Amplified Heart is a 2CD set which, again, includes the B-sides and demos from its previous expanded reissue. It also includes two live tracks which appeared on that 2013 set – ‘Walking To You’ and ‘25th December’, both recorded at a 1994 Toronto gig – but appears to feature a further three previously unreleased live tracks. And while the 2013 set added four remixes of ‘Missing’, the new set only includes two but adds a ‘Rollercoaster’ remix.
Both reissues will come in six-panel digisleeve packaging and will include a 20-page booklet and are released on 3 April 2026 via Chrysalis.
Rhino will issue a deluxe edition of theEagles’ fourth album, One Of These Nights, in May.
Released in June 1975, One Of These Nights took the band to a new level of success in the US, reaching No 1 on the Billboard 200 and featuring three huge hit singles: ‘One Of These Nights’ (US No 1); ‘Lyin’ Eyes’ (US No 2) and ‘Take It To The Limit’ (US No 4). It was also their last album to feature original member Bernie Leadon, who quit the band after the release of One Of These Nights by pouring a beer over Glenn Frey’s head. Though Leadon would later insist his departure was for health reasons, there was a growing musical tension within the band between their country roots and the radio-friendly songs from the Frey and Don Henley camp.
The forthcoming deluxe edition of One Of These Nights will be available as either a 3CD+Blu-ray or 3LP vinyl set. Both editions will include a new mix of the original album by Rob Jacobs (assistant producer on Hell Freezes Over) and a previously unreleased, 16-song 1975 concert recorded on 28 September 1975 at Anaheim Stadium, California – Leadon’s last show with the band. The first taster of the set, a cover of Chuck Berry’s ‘Carol’ can be previewed, below. The Blu-ray will include the new mix of One Of These Nights and the live show in both Dolby Atmos and hi-res stereo (no word on who has done the immersive mixes).
The set marks the first time that One Of These Nights has been released with bonus tracks and the first time that an Eagles studio album has had the deluxe treatment since the frankly disappointing Hotel California 40th anniversary edition in 2017.
Refreshingly, the 3CD+Blu-ray set is well priced, at around £35, although it wouldn’t have hurt to have included the original mix of the album on the Blu-ray. You can expect to pay about twice that for the 3LP set, although not on Amazon in the UK which appears to have mis-priced the triple vinyl package.
One Of These Nights deluxe edition will be released on 1 May 2026.
Super Furry Animals have announced an early rarities and demos collection, Precreation Percolation to be released on vinyl and CD in May.
Precreation Percolation takes us back to 1993, when actor Rhys Ifans was still on lead vocals for the Welsh psych/techno/folk/pub rock/Tropicalia/you-name-it collective. Ifans features on the first taster from the compilation, the heady space-rock of ‘Uncle Sam’, as well as the previously unreleased ‘AK Serenade’ and ‘Choking On Your Lust’, as well as ‘No Fixed Abode’, released in 2022 as a fundraiser for the Save The Severn Estuary campaign.
It’s the latest in the band’s comprehensive (and consistently excellent) reissue series, helmed by archivist (and former Flaming Lips drummer) Kliph Scurlock and mastered by Donal Whelan at Hafod Mastering.
The vinyl edition of Precreation Percolation comprises the band’s first two EPs – originally released in 1995 on Welsh indie Ankst – Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyndrobwllantysiliogogogochynygofod (In Space) and the more snappily-titled Moog Droog.While the vinyl is a single-disc reissue of the EPs, the CD adds 22 (CD) bonus tracks (11 more on the digital version).
A bunch of songs from the EPs – ‘Fix Idris’, ‘Blerwytirhwng?’, ‘Pam V’ and ‘Focus Pocus / Debiel’ – featured on the 1998 B-sides comp Out Spaced, while a re-recorded version of Moog Droog’s ‘God Show Me Magic’ became the band’s second single on Creation (and first Top 40 hit) and featured on their classic 1996 debut Fuzzy Logic.
The majority of the demos set is previously unreleased, apart from ‘No Fixed Abode’, ‘Don’t Be A Fool Billy’ (originally released on the 1995 Fierce Panda comp Mortal Wombat) and ‘Dim Brys, Dim Chwys’ (released on the 1995 Ankst compilation Triskedekaphiliaas well as Out Spaced). A set of instrumental demos from the time have been tweaked for ‘2026 Redux’ versions, while fans will be intrigued by early versions of SFA classics, including the fantastically sweary ‘The Man Don’t Give A Fuck’ and what appears to be a demo of ‘Some Things Come From Nothing’ from 1999’s Guerrilla.
With SFA returning for a sold-out tour this summer, the timing couldn’t be better, but physical collectors might be slightly put out by the digital-only tracks – surely anybody interested in this would be willing to pay a few extra quid for a 2CD version with all the tracks?
Precreation Percolation is out 1 May 2025. It’s worth noting that vinyl editions (the band’s shop have a mint green version) ship with a CD as well, which is pretty cool, albeit in a “slim card wallet” (it’s not clear whether this is artworked or just a plain sleeve).
Paul Weller has announced Weller At The BBC Vol. 2 a 3CD or 3LP vinyl set that collects tracks recorded for the Beeb between 2008-2024.
The set covers a period of creative rejuvenation for Weller, with eclectic and expansive albums including 22 Dreams (2008), Sonik Kicks (2012), True Meanings (2018) and On Sunset (2020) which saw him embrace pastoral folk, psych-soul Krautrock, electronica, dub and jazz influences. Weller also looks to his past, performing songs from his days with The Jam and The Style Council, as well as a smattering of early solo classics. There are also a bunch of cover versions, including his unexpected and soulful take on Billie Eilish’s ‘What Was I Made For?’.
The news won’t come as any surprise for eagle-eyed fans – Weller’s upcoming Record Store Day release is a double A-side single of BBC session tracks, ‘When Your Garden’s Overgrown’ (BBC Radio 2 In Concert 2015) / ‘Boy About Town’ (BBC Radio 2 In Concert 2019). When the single was announced, the German RSD site confirmed the tracks would be appearing on the 3CD Weller At The BBC – Vol. 2 – news which spread quickly across Weller’s socials. The two RSD tracks are among those that feature on the 3CD set (48 tracks) but don’t make the 3LP version (34 tracks) – for full details see tracklisting below.
Whereas the first volume was divided into “sessions” and “live” sets, each arranged chronologically, Weller At The BBC Vol. 2 flits between the years. And while Vol 1 was complimented by a standalone DVD and a completist-pleasing monster digital file set (188 mp3s), there are no signs of similar releases for Vol 2 at the moment.
Weller At The BBC Vol. 2 is out 24 April 2026, via Parlophone.
Richard Barbieri will release Hauntings, his first studio album in five years, in April.
While Barbieri has yet to release any full songs from the new album, a video trailer posted by the synth wizard’s label Kscope (see below) suggests that the album will develop the foreboding and atmospheric soundscapes of his previous album, 2021’s Under A Spell.
Along with Babieri’s trademark sound designs and electronics, Hauntings features performances from Morgan Agren (drums and percussion), Percy Jones (bass guitar) and Luca Calabrese (trumpet).
Intrigued Barbieri fans can order Hauntings on a range of formats: a 2LP vinyl set (red or black vinyl), CD+Blu-ray edition with Dolby Atmos, 5.1 surround & hi-res stereo mixes or a trusty single CD version.
Hauntings will be released on 10 April 2026, via Kscope.
Hue And Cry have announced their new studio album, Everybody, due in May. The first single from the album, the pulsing electro anthem ‘Stronger’, is out now.
Everybody will be Pat and Greg Kane’s first album of new material since 2017’s Pocketful Of Stones and sees the duo looking back to their formative influences for inspiration. “Pat wanted to make an electronic record, referencing Bowie’sLow along with Simple Minds, Japan and The Human League,” says Greg.
They spent two years of experimenting with tech new and old before turning to Yoad Nevo (Pet Shop Boys, Duran Duran) to assist with the mixing process. “We’re still pushing for something new in 2026, says Pat, “From a wall of arpeggiators and synths, humming and pulsing away, we’ve wrested out 10 songs that have as much of our mind, body and soul in them as any of our previous music.”
The 10-track album will be released on CD and orange vinyl and there will also be a limited-edition collector’s box edition comprising the following:
Everybody CD (signed)
140g purple and grey marble-effect Everybody LP (signed)
Blu-ray containing Dolby Atmos mixes of Everybody
7” single featuring two exclusive tracks from the Everybody sessions
Live At Kelvingrove 15-track live album (on CD) recorded in Glasgow in 2025
Pat and Greg will be touring the album in October. “It’s always the most exciting thing to be playing live with the full Hue And Cry band – we can give all the hits and audience favourites – the full widescreen treatment” says Pat. “Come and see us, looking as sharp as you like, and let’s elegantly party together.”
Everybody is released on 29 May 2026, via Blairhill Records.
Scritti Politti will release a remastered edition of their 1982 debut album, Songs To Remember, on CD and vinyl in April.
Songs To Remember represented a shift in direction from the dissonant, dub-post-punk of the Green Gartside-led group’s early singles, reflecting the frontman’s embrace of soul, lover’s rock, jazz and early rap. This shift towards a poppier sound didn’t mean Gartside’s lyrics were toned down, over the course of Songs To Remember he references Nietzsche, Derrida and Wittgenstein. By way of irresistibly buoyant melodies and gossamer production, Gartside Trojan horsed philosophical theories into the hit parade – Songs To Remember reached No 12 in the UK album chart and paved the way for further glories.
Reissues of the album have been thin on the ground over the years. Virgin’s 1985 pressing was the album’s last time on vinyl, while it last saw the light of day on CD in 2001. None of the previous editions featured any bonus tracks, despite the clutch of extended mixes and B-sides included on contemporary 12” singles ‘Faithless’ and ‘Asylums In Jerusalem’/’Jacques Derrida’.
The new edition is no different, though the audio has been fully remastered for this reissue by Alex Wharton at Abbey Road Studios, overseen by Gartside himself.
The vinyl will come in a replica of the original packaging, featuring an embossed sleeve with a pictogram of a bee in the front corner of the cover.
Songs To Remember is out 10 April 2026, via Rough Trade.
Marillion have announced the latest in their series of deluxe edition box sets. Their 11th studio album, 1999’s marillion.com, will be reissued as expanded as 3CD+blu-ray ‘media book’ and 5LP box sets in June.
Recorded at their own studio, The Racket Club, between December 1998 and August 1999, the album’s zeigeisty title reflected Marillion’s embrace of the internet as a means of communicating directly with their fans, leading to early forays into crowdfunding. The band – at this point Steve Hogarth (vocals, piano, percussion), Steve Rothery (guitar), Mark Kelly (keyboards), Pete Trewavas (bass, guitar, backing vocals) and Ian Mosley – were credited on production, along with Steven Wilson, who assisted on five of the album’s nine tracks.
3CD+blu-ray deluxe edition of Marillion.com
Both variants of the new deluxe editions include a new mix of the original album by Michael Hunter, as well as a previously unreleased recording of the band’s complete set at Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London on 20 November 1999.
In keeping with previous sets in the series, the blu-ray is stacked with value-for-money extras. In terms of audio content, the new remix of the album is included in hi-res stereo and 5.1 surround sound (although not Atmos), along with 23 demos and early versions. And there’s also a generous amount of video content – the 98-minute documentary film, Thank God For The Internet; the 16-track Shot In The Dark concert film, recorded at the 1999 Web UK Convention and first released on VHS in 2000 and issued on DVD in 2002; and bonus live tracks.
marillion.com is released on 19 June 2026, via ear Music.
Welcome to this SDE preview of Record Store Day for 2026. Below, we have highlighted over 25 releases that caught our eye and nearer to the time we hope to bring you the traditional SDEtv video preview. Enjoy…
The lack of vinyl release of a-ha’s eighth studio album, originally released on CD in 2005, has given its title an – unintended surely? – ironic edge over the years. But this year’s Record Store Day will change all that, with a 2LP set remastered by Bill Inglot – the man behind the band’s super deluxe editions – hitting the shelves. Also on the way is a 2CD edition featuring 21 tracks, 15 of which are apparently previously unreleased demos and alternate versions, though the release date and tracklisting are not yet confirmed.
Air / Moon Safari – Live Theatre Herodes Atticus, Athènes (UK, 1000 units)
Air’s 2024/25 reunion shows saw the French duo play their rightly adored 1998 debut album Moon Safari in full. If you missed out, you can ease your woes by tracking down a copy of their first live album, Moon Safari – Live Theatre Herodes Atticus, Athènes, recorded on 29 June 2025 at the Athens Epidaurus Festival in the spectacular setting of the Odeon Of Herodes Atticus, on the southern slopes of the Acropolis, Athens, thought to be the world’s oldest theatre.
Annie Lennox / Live In Central Park (UK, 1250 units)
This 2LP set marks the first time that Annie Lennox’s landmark 8 September 1995 concert at the Summerstage, Central Park, NYC, has been made available on vinyl. First released in 1995 as the VHS …In The Park – with 8 tracks also available on a limited edition 2CD set of 1995’s Medusa – the show captures Lennox during her solo glory years, with a setlist drawing heavily on the much-loved Diva and including a clutch of songs from Medusa, a covers set which drew upon her powers of interpretation. Lennox also looks back to her Eurythmics days with versions of hits including ‘Who’s That Girl?’ and ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)’. Live In Central Park will be pressed on red opaque vinyl.
Art of Noise / The Seduction of Claude Debussy (UK, 800 units)
Another vinyl debut – this time for the fifth and final album by eclectic art-pop collective Art Of Noise, originally released on CD, cassette and MiniDisc in 1999. The Seduction Of Claude Debussy was a typically ambitious concept from the group, giving the music of the titular composer a contemporary reworking – all electronic beats, lush arrangements and synth soundscapes – with guest appearances from Rakim, Donna Lewis and, on narration duties, John Hurt. This 2LP set, released by Demon Music, is pressed on translucent blue vinyl, includes the original album and four bonus remixes originally intended for a 1998 12-inch and eventually released on the digital-only 2022 EP Born Again! – their first time on a physical format.
Badfinger / No Dice (UK, 500 units)
Bafflingly, this will be the first vinyl release since the early 70s for Badfinger’s second album, a great leap forward that included the heartstring-tugging ballad ‘Midnight Caller’ and the power-pop thrills of ‘No Matter What’. This release, pressed on orange vinyl, will use the remaster on the increasingly hard to find 2010 CD reissue and follows the 2025 reissue of debut album Magic Christian Music for National Album Day. Let’s hope there’s more on the way from Swansea’s finest.
Bat For Lashes, A Fleet Of Bats: Early Demos (UK, 1000 units)
Natasha Khan’s dazzling debut album is released as a 2CD set this week which includes an extra disc featuring seven previously unreleased demos plus a couple of BBC session tracks. This RSD single LP release loses the live tracks but adds a further three demos – ‘Feathers And Fur’, ‘Two Shadows’ and ‘Missing Time’. Though ‘Feathers And Fur’ is currently a mystery, the other two tracks featured on hens-teeth rare demo CDRs handmade by Khan and given out at shows around Brighton around 2004-05.
Blur / Live At The Budokan (UK, 2000 units)
Blur’s first official live album was originally released as a Japan-only 2CD set in May 1996. Demand led to a mail order-only UK copy, available to Blur fan club and mailing list members. This RSD release will be the first time the set is available on vinyl, a chance for fans to get reacquainted with Blur in their Britpop pomp – thrill to a jetcharged ‘Popscene’, swoon to the lovelorn drama of ‘To The End’, indulge in a lairy knees-up to a brass-heavy ‘Parklife’. The 2LP set is pressed on red vinyl and comes in a gatefold sleeve with gloss finish and exclusive live photos from the band’s 1995 Japanese tour.
Bruce Springsteen / Sea.Hear.Now Asbury Park 2024 (UK, 1750 units)
There are homecoming shows and then there are Bruce Springsteen homecoming shows. Springsteen and the E Street Band pulled out all the stops for their 15 September 2024 show on the beach at the Sea.Here.Now festival, Asbury Park. Previously available as a no-frills 3CD set from nugs.net, it’s back as either a 5LP or 3CD set. Expect a powerhuse set heavy on songs loaded with local significance (‘Growin’ Up’, ‘4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)’, ‘Local Hero’, ‘Jersey Girl’) and rarely performed nuggets (‘Thundercrack’, ‘Tougher Than The Rest’). The entire 30-song set is here, though surely there could have been an effort to make sure that vinyl listeners didn’t have to flip the record during the epic ‘Meeting Across The River’ into ‘Jungleland’?
Camper Van Beethoven / Tusk (UK, 1000 units)
Fleetwood Mac’s sprawling 1979 double-album Tusk is now rightly praised for its experimental tendencies and burnt-out weirdness (Lindsey Buckingham’s tracks) and its melancholy beauty (Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks’ contributions). But back in 1987, when indie darlings Camper Van Beethoven hit upon the idea of covering the entire album, Tusk was still seen as a self-indulgent flop. CBV’s mischievous project fell apart after a few days in the studio but was finally released in 2003. The result is loose and lo-fi, ranging from the blissed-out ‘Over And Over’ to a droning ‘Storms’ and a joyful version of ‘Angel’ that could pass as a lost eels single. Elsewhere, a distortion-heavy ‘Sara’, the beatbox-driven ‘Sisters Of The Moon’ and a yeehawing hoedown through ‘That’s Enough For Me’ are irreverent fun. This will be its first release on vinyl, a 2LP set – one purple and one crystal clear, with an embossed cover.
Catherine Anne Davies & Bernard Butler / In Memory Of My Feelings (UK, 750 units)
This collaboration between Davies (aka The Anchoress) and Butler (currently of Butler, Blake & Grant) was the first release of original material on journalist Pete Paphides’ labour of love label Needle Mythology back in 2020. Back then, the album was a surprise – a collaboration written and recorded in just 15 days and then left to percolate for four years. This new edition has been pressed on heavyweight gold vinyl and, as with the original vinyl issue, a seven-inch single featuring a cover of Madonna’s ‘Live To Tell’ and a version of the duo’s ‘The Patron Saint Of The Lost Cause’ rearranged for harmonium.
The Colourfield / Deception Expanded Edition (UK, 1000 units)
It’s been heartening to see the recent surge of vinyl reissues of the late great Terry Hall’s back catalogue. Last year brought us the RSD 2LP of The Colourfield’s debut, Virgins And Philistines, along with the 2LP ‘Dinked’ Edition of Hall’s underrated second solo album, Laugh. With the comprehensive 5CD+DVD box set The Sound Of The Colourfield on the way, this year’s Record Store Day will see the first vinyl issue of The Colourfield’s deliciously downbeat second album, Deception, since its 1987 release. This 2LP set is pressed on clear 140g vinyl and features the remastered album plus a bonus disc of the tracks recorded during initial sessions for the album at Studio Davout, Paris, taken from the new box set.
David Bowie / Hallo Spaceboy EP (UK, 5000 units)
This Record Store Day, the Bowie camp are turning their attention to 1995’s Eno collaboration 1.Outside with two releases. First up is a clear vinyl, half-speed mastered reissue of the single-LP edit of the album Excerpts From 1.Outside, its first outing since Music On Vinyl’s 2013 pressing. There’s also an EP version of 1996’s ‘Hallo Spaceboy’, which featured two remixes of the 1.Outside track by the Pet Shop Boys alongside a further pair by Soft Cell’s Dave Ball and Ingo Vauk. This version adds an instrumental mix which appears to have been taken from a 1996 promo 12” and a previously unreleased Tim Simenon remix. It’s pressed on neon pink vinyl – but careful when you open it, moondust may cover you,
Frankie Goes To Hollywood / Radio One Sessions 1982-1983 (UK, 2000 units)
The formative years of pop supernova Frankie Goes To Hollywood are explored on this 2LP set of BBC sessions – two for John Peel (24 November 1982 and 3 December 1983) and the 24 February Kid Jenson show – originally released on last year’s 7CD+blu-ray Welcome To The Pleasuredome box set. It’s fascinating to hear the likes of ‘Two Tribes’ and ‘The Power Of Love’ stripped back, before being given the monumental Trevor Horn production job that would make them the band on everyone’s lips in 1984.
King Crimson / Penn State 29 June, 1974 (UK, 1000 units)
Recorded on the US tour to promote Starless And Bible Black which saw the Bruford-Cross-Fripp-Wetton line-up of King Crimson implode, this live set – released here for the first time on vinyl and spanning 2LPs – captures the band on coruscatingly heavy form. The multi-track recording went unreleased until three tracks appeared on the 1992 4CD box set The Great Deceiver (Live 1973-1974) and the whole concert was later released on the monolithic box set, The Road to Red. This release includes a bonus recording of ‘21st Century Schizoid Man’ from the band’s Central Park show two days later.
Labi Siffre’s deft and wise-beyond-their-years songs have recently found new audiences thanks to their appearances on the soundtracks to modern classics The Holdovers (‘Crying, Laughing, Loving, Lying’) and Sentimental Value (‘Cannock Chase’). Both of those songs feature on his classic third studio album, Crying Laughing Loving Lying, which will be reissued for RSD as a 2LP set pressed on yellow vinyl. The second disc features eight bonus songs, including the breezy hit single ‘Watch Me’.
Though Lightning Seeds fans have a bunch of greatest hits compilations to choose from, Ian Brodie and co have yet to release a rarities set. That’ll change on 18 April with the release of Quarrelsome Moments: B-Sides and Rarities. Though a tracklisting has yet to surface, a teaser video on the band’s socials is soundtracked by their version of Thunderclap Newman’s 1970 No 1 single ‘Something In The Air’, first released as B-side to their 1992 single ‘The Life Of Riley’. Meanwhile, the RSD blurb promises “alternate mixes, cover versions and two previously unreleased tracks”.
Madonna / The Confessions Tour (UK, 3000 units)
Recorded live at Wembley Arena in August 2006 during Madonna’sConfessions On A DancefloorTour, this 13-track set was originally released as the CD in the 2007 The Confessions Tour CD+DVD set. This is the first time the tracks have been released on vinyl and not just any old vinyl, but starburst pink/purple splatter vinyl. Time to get that mirrorball down from the loft.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark / Archive Vol. 1 (1981-1990) (UK, 1800 units)
Originally released as the Unreleased Archive Vol 1 disc in the 2019 5CD+2DVD Souvenir box, this is the set’s first time on vinyl. The 22-track 2LP compilation offers a plethora of intriguing insights into the OMD’s creative process. These are mainly doodles and half-formed ideas, as titles such as ‘Organ Ditty’ and ‘Unreleased Idea’ suggest (similarly ‘Guitar Thrash’ sounds exactly as you’d expect), but there are gems studded throughout, such as the charming electro-pop of ‘Weekend’.
Peter Gabriel / Sledgehammer (UK, 3000 units)
One for the zoetrope lovers, this 12-inch single features imagery from Peter Gabriel’s era-defining ‘Sledgehammer’ music video, which – when spinning and seen through a smartphone camera set to 30 frames per second – become animated figures. But what about the music? It’s a reissue of the original UK 12-inch single, with the extended version of ‘Sledgehammer’ on the A-side (not the superior John ‘Tokes’ Potoker Dance Mix) and ‘Don’t Break This Rhythm’ and ‘I Have the Touch (‘85 Remix)’ on the B side. Let’s be honest though, anyone buying this is primarily interested in the novelty value of seeing a tiny Peter Gabriel dancing on their turntable. And who are we to deny them that pleasure?
Pink Floyd / Live at LA Sports Arena, 1975 (UK, 1000)
An April 1975 issue of the LA Times revealed that 350 fans were arrested, mostly for possession of marijuana, during the first three of Pink Floyd’s five shows at the Los Angeles Sports Arena that month. In the midst of that stoned chaos, security failed to notice that bootlegger extraordinaire Mike Millard had smuggled in some heavy-duty recording equipment by hiding it in his wheelchair (which he didn’t need). Though Millard’s ethics were questionable, his wily ways led to a legendary bootleg. The tapes were restored and remastered by Steven Wilson and released only on the blu-ray of last year’s Wish You Were Here 50th anniversary set. That paves the way for this standalone release for RSD on either a clear 4LP set or 2CD.
Porcupine Tree / We Lost The Skyline (UK, 1200 units)
It’s that man Steven Wilson again. This time in his day job as a member of prog titans Porcupine Tree. We Lost The Skyline is a stripped-down, eight-song set performed by Wilson and John Wesley at Park Avenue CDs in Orlando, Florida, in 2007. It was released on CD and Netherlands-only LP the following year and was included in the 2024 Fear Of A Blank Planet 5CD+blu-ray box set. Now it’s back, on 180g ‘crystal clear’ vinyl half-speed mastered at Abbey Road.
The Power Station / The Power Mad: Live at the Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA, 21/8/85 (UK, 750 units)
Originally part included in last year’s 4CD set celebrating the 40th anniversary of The Power Station’s debut, this will be the first time on vinyl for this 15-track live set. Original vocalist Robert Palmer had departed by the time the Chic / Duran Duran supergroup came to tour their debut album, but actor and singer Michael Des Barres stepped in. The audience’s reaction during this cover-heavy 3LP set (‘Dancing In The Street’, ‘White Light White Heat’, loads of Duran) suggests that Palmer wasn’t missed too much.
RUNT w/Todd Rundgren / The Necessary Cosmic Frenzy (UK, 500 units)
Here’s the first vinyl release of what is considered Todd Rundgren’s debut solo performance, from 30 June 1971 (some Todd watchers maintain that he’d already played a show at the Troubadour, LA). Previously released on the 2016 3CD set Box O’ Todd, the set – released on translucent light blue vinyl – finds Rundgren backed by The Tomorrow People at Sigma Sound Studios, Philadelphia, and was broadcast live on US radio (hence the bootlegs). It’s a little rough and ready but shows Rundgren’s talent while pointing to his future with an early performance of ‘It Wouldn’t Have Made Any Difference’.
Suede / Coming Up At The BBC (UK, 1750 units)
Suede completists are in for an expensive RSD, what with the Catherine Anne Davies & Bernard Butler album, the clear vinyl reissue of Here Come The Tears, the 11-track set of previously unreleased Antidepressants demos and the rather cheekily-named Coming Up At The BBC. The latter promises a “reconstruction” of the band’s glammed-up 1997 third album using tracks originally broadcast on the BBC, from live shows (including their 1997 Reading Festival headline slot) to sessions for Mark Radcliffe and the Evening Session. The only exception is ‘Picnic By The Motorway’, which comes from their 1999 Roskilde show as no contemporary or BBC version of the song exists. It’s pressed on hot pink vinyl.
T. Rex / Songs from “Marc” (UK, 1000 units)
Hot on the heels of his best album in years, Dandy In The Underworld, Marc Bolan’s six-part Granada TV series Marc began broadcasting on 24 August 1977, putting the T. Rex frontman back in the spotlight and into living rooms around the country. Tragically, Bolan died before the last episode was aired. Music from the series has been released before on CD – on The Marc Shows (1989) and Marc – Songs From The Granada TV Series (1998) – but this release, on opaque orange vinyl, uses a recently discovered quarter-inch tape of material from shows one to four to offer “greater clarity than ever before”. Love to boogie? Get in line.
Talking Heads / The CBS/Columbia Demos (UK, 2000 units)
A companion piece to Tentative Decisions, last year’s Black Friday RSD release of early Talking Heads demos and live tracks, The CBS / Columbia demos features 15 tracks recorded by the then-three-piece in 1975. While press materials claim all of the tracks are previously unreleased, a couple of tracks from the CBS demo session have made it out before – ‘Sugar On My Tongue’ opened the 1992 comp Sand In The Vaseline and the 2003 box set Once In A Lifetime, and ‘I Want To Live’ also featured on SITV – so it’ll be interesting to see if these are different takes. Cut at 45rpm across 2LPs, this set replicates the running order of CD2 of Tentative Decisions: Demos & Live, set for release on 13 March.
XTC / LIVE BOOTS – Live At Emerald City 1981 (UK, 1000 units)
The first of a planned series of XTC “official bootleg” releases (Live Boots), this 2LP set pressed on 200g audiophile vinyl captures the band in the midst of their 1981 US tour. The show was broadcast on US radio station WMMR and has circulated as the misleadingly titled bootleg Fab Foursome In Philly (it was recorded in New Jersey). The band hurtle at breakneck speed through a Black Sea and Drums And Wires-heavy set. Andy Partridge is clearly having a blast throughout, asking the crowd “Are you optimistic?” during a crackling ‘Burning With Optimism’s Flame’ and spitting out the likes of ‘This Is Pop’ and ‘Statue Of Liberty’ with untethered glee. Don’t believe us? Partridge writes in the sleevenotes that “we were tighter than a firefly’s fundament that night, even more astounding was the adrenaline-soaked speed we took every song at”. And he should know.
Record Store Day is on 18 April this year. These releases should be available via participating record shops. If your favourites have not been included in this list, let us know what you are looking out for, by leaving a comment.
Van Halen will celebrate 40 years of 5150 with a new five-disc super deluxe edition, in March.
The 1986 album was Van Halen’s first with former Montrose singer Sammy Hagar on lead vocals – rock legend has it that he was recommended by a mechanic working on Eddie Van Halen’s Lamborghini – and the first without producer Ted Templeman. Engineer Donn Landee and Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones took over on production duties and, though 5150’s embrace of love songs unsettled some fans, it was a massive hit, selling over six million in the US alone.
The 5150 super deluxe includes:
LP and CD1 – The original album remastered by engineer Donn Landee
CD2 – Single edits, extended versions and live tracks originally released as B-sides
CD3 – 12 tracks recorded at their 27 August 1986 concert in New Haven, Connecticut, originally released as the 1986 VHS Live Without A Net (the 2004 DVD release included the whole set)
Blu-ray – The full Live Without A Net film given a high-definition upgrade, promo videos for ‘Dreams’ and ‘Why Can’t This Be Love’
24-page book
Separate 2CD and 2LP versions replicate the tracklisting of the first two CDs of the super deluxe. An Amazon-exclusive green vinyl edition will also be available.
As with previous VH sets, the lack of any previously unreleased material will be a frustration to fans, not to mention the disc which is essentially an edited audio version of Live Without A Net. And of course the studio album is not included as hi-res or in immersive audio on the blu-ray.
Formats galore, but are they offering anything new?
A few of The Alan Parsons Project’s early ’80s albums will be reissued in March. The Turn Of A Friendly Card (1980), Eye In The Sky (1982) and Ammonia Avenue (1984) will each be available on the following formats:
2LP ‘CV 45 Audiophile Edition’ – Half-speed mastered at 45RPM
LP – Half-speed mastered available as either black/coloured 180g vinyl
CD – Expanded and remastered with four bonus tracks
The 2LP sets were done at Abbey Road by Miles Showell and use hi-res transfers taken from the original tapes. They’re pressed at Optimal with 180g black vinyl housed in poly-lined inners with numbered obi-strip
Additionally, the official APP shop offers each of the albums as limited-edition, single LP coloured vinyl half-speed mastered editions. Also, the first 500 orders of any vinyl edition ships with a numbered art print of the corresponding album.
The early ’80s adventures of The Alan Parsons Project saw more symphonic pop-prog studio wizardry from Parsons and Eric Woolfson with a trio of their most cohesive – and most commercially successful – albums. As you’d expect, this means that reissues have been frequent over the years.
TheTurn Of A Friendly Card has been well served of late, first with Sony’s 2015 box set and then with Esoteric’s 2020 deluxe edition (including the album and a plethora of bonus tracks on CD and a Blu-ray audio disc), but this will be the album’s first standalone release on wax since Music On Vinyl’s 2011 pressing. That Esoteric set was the gold standard in terms of bonus tracks, with Woolson’s songwriting diaries, demos, rough mixes and backing tracks that make the four previously released tracks on the new CD feel downright stingy.
Recent editions of the multi-million selling Eye In The Sky include 2017’s super deluxe, a lavish (and sought-after today) 35th anniversary set including 3CDs, Blu-ray audio, 2LP and a 7” flexi-disc. Meanwhile, five years later the album was given a 2LP 45RPM Mobile-Fidelity Sound Lab pressing. Again, the bonus tracks on the new CD set are old news to APP fans.
Ammonia Avenue was also given the deluxe, multi-format treatment by Esoteric in 2020, but – as with The Turn Of A Friendly Card – this will be its first standalone vinyl pressing since Music On Vinyl released a single LP edition back in the early 2010s.
The Turn Of A Friendly Card, Eye In The Sky and Ammonia Avenue are out 27 March via Cooking Vinyl
Aerosmith have announced a series of ‘Legendary’ editions of their self-titled 1973 debut album to belatedly celebrate its 50th anniversary.
On its January 1973 release, Aerosmith’s debut was given a lukewarm reception, not helped by their record label Columbia focusing their efforts on another of their acts releasing a debut album – a certain Bruce Springsteen. Aerosmith reacted by touring as if their lives depended on it. On the road, they found their audience and when an edited version of the power ballad ‘Dream On’ was released as a single in late 1975, it became a hit, eventually peaking at No 6 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Aerosmith has been reissued plenty of times over the years, but these new sets will mark the first time the album has been released as an expanded edition.
The audio content is essentially the same over the three expanded editions – the original album twice (as a remaster and a ‘2024 remix’); a live show recorded at Paul’s Mall, Boston, in March 1973; and – perhaps the real draw for fans – six recently discovered alternate takes from the album sessions.
The 4LP+12″ Legendary Collectors Edition (click to enlarge)
The premium 4LP + 12” version (underhandedly called a 5LP set) features clear/red vinyl for LPs 1 & 2 and comes with some dubious paraphernalia – including an intricate 3D Aerosmith pop-up ‘diorama’. It has a retail price of – wait for it – £240 in the UK (D2C-only), while the 4LP set, which jettisons all the ‘tat’ (and the 12-inch) still comes in at around £130. Incidentally, that 12-inch single features just two tracks: the remaster and remix of ‘Dream On’ which are on LP 1 and LP 2 respectively, anyway. All of the audio included on the bells ’n’ whistles version is on the 3CD set, which it has to be said doesn’t look particularly ‘deluxe’ and is still over £30.
Beck will release the eight-song mini-album Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime in February on opaque red vinyl.
Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime is Beck’s first compilation since 2000’s B-sides set Stray Cat Blues (he’s still yet to release a greatest hits set) and features two previously unreleased recordings – solo acoustic covers of Hank Willams’ ‘Your Cheatin’ Heart’ and Daniel Johnston’s ‘True Love Will Find You In The End’.
The rest of the album is made up of covers, with the exception of a Beck original, the swoonsome ‘Ramona’ (from the soundtrack of Edgar Wright’s 2010 film Scott Pilgrim Vs The World). The title track – his take on The Korgis’ 1980 hit – was first released on the soundtrack of the 2004 Michel Gondry film Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind and has gone on to become among Beck’s most popular songs. The cover of Elvis’ ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love’ originally featured on Resistance Radio: The Man In The High Castle Album,an “imagined soundtrack” to the TV show produced by Danger Mouse and Sam Cohen.
Also featured is the first physical release of a genuine Beck rarity – his version of The Flamingos’ ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’, originally recorded as part of multimedia artist Doug Aitken’s Song 1 installation, in which covers of the doo wop track (other artists involved included Devendra Banhart and Lucky Dragons) played over video projections on the exterior of the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC.
Another obscurity comes with Beck’s cover of ‘Michelangelo Antonioni’, taken from the 2012 album A Tribute To Caetano Veloso, which saw artists including Os Mutantes, Chrissie Hynde and Seu Jorge celebrate the Tropicália great. Meanwhile, Beck’s take on John Lennon’s ‘Love’ is another relative rarity, first released on the Starbucks exclusive CD compilation Sweetheart 2014, which also included tracks by Vampire Weekend, Fiona Apple and Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings.
With no career-spanning packages, major albums in need of vinyl reissues (any chance of Midnight Vultures Mr Hansen?) and no Deluxe Editions since the 2008 version of Odelay, let’s hope this is the first sign of the Beck vaults being opened up.
Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime is out 13 February 2026, via EMI. There is no CD version (at least, for now).
NOW Music are following up last year’s Now Yearbook presents The 60s set with a second volume that moves onto the years 1963 and 1964.
There’s obviously some significant omissions, but artists featured on this compilation include The Kinks, The Animals, Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, The Beach Boys, The Hollies, The Searchers, Petula Clark, Dionne Warwick, Dusty Springfield, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Ronettes, Shirley Bassey, Gerry and the Pacemakers and many more. Full tracklistings are below.
60s Vol 2: 1963-1964 4CD deluxe edition
Formats are the usual 4CD sets in deluxe hardcover book and card sleeve variants (both 88 tracks) and 3LP coloured vinyl (white) with 54 tracks.
Now Yearbook presents 60s Vol 2: 1963-1964 will be released on 27 February 2026.
Guitar wizard Adrian Belew’s late ’80s / early ’90s solo albums are soon to be collected in a 3CD clamshell box. The Atlantic Years 1989-1992 comprises Mr Music Head (1989), Young Lions (1990) and Inner Revolution (1992).
The run of solo albums capped off a remarkable decade for Belew. In 1977, he was playing in a Nashville covers band called Sweetheart when Frank Zappa – acting on a tip-off from his chauffeur (naturally) – asked him to join his band. Zappa’s exacting standards and crack backing band added up to a crash course in experimental music and Belew flourished. The guitarist caught Brian Eno’s eye, who recommended him to David Bowie. When Bowie approached Belew after a gig in Berlin with an offer to join his band, Zappa was apparently furious. “Quite a guitar player you have here, Frank,” Bowie said, according to Belew, when Zappa discovered them dining together. “Fuck you, Captain Tom,” said Zappa.
Despite Zappa’s blunt reaction, Belew joined Bowie for the 1978 Isolar II world tour and played on 1979’s Lodger. The following year, Belew formed his own band, GaGa, and started a relationship with Talking Heads which saw him play on Remain In Light and become a touring member of the band, as well as contributing to solo projects. During this time, Belew also became the frontman of King Crimson (as you do) for Discipline (1981), Beat (1982) and Three Of A Perfect Pair (1984) and recorded the 1982 solo album Lone Rhino (1982).
Post-Crimson, Belew formed The Bears, recording two albums of melodic guitar-pop crammed with angular riffs and hooks, while following his experimental urges on the 1986 instrumental album Desire Caught By The Tail. But his solo career really took off with Mr Music Head, an art-rock tour-de-force on which Belew recorded almost every instrument. The opening track, ‘Oh Daddy’ – a duet with his daughter Audie – even became an unexpected novelty hit. Belew reunited with Bowie on the Sound + Vision tour, leading to Bowie penning ‘Pretty Pink Rose’ for him (not a classic) and co-writing ‘Gunman’, both from 1990’s Young Lions. This second album in the box set is the only one to offer bonus tracks: two of them: ‘Shoe Salesman’ and ‘Neptune Pool’.
The last disc offers the ’60s pop-inspired Inner Revolution which followed in 1992, featuring appearances from Belew’s former Bears bandmates Chris Arduser and Mike Barnett.
The Atlantic Years 1989-1992 is out 27 March 2026 via Esoteric.
April 1975 was an excellent time for fans of unhinged blues-jazz-rock freakouts as Frank Zappa and the Mothers joined forces with Captain Beefheart for a two-month tour of the US. The tour was commemorated by Bongo Fury, mostly taken from two shows at the magnificently named Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, Texas, on 20 and 21 May 1975 and released in October that year.
Though Zappa and Beefheart had shared the stage on occasion and worked together in the studio (Zappa produced the Captain’s weirdo triumph Trout Mask Replica, while Beefheart provided snarling and wild-eyed vocals to ‘Willie The Pimp’ on Hot Rats), the tour marked the first time the old high school chums had toured together. They were backed by a group of dyed-in-the-wool Mothers – Terry Bozzio (drums), Napoleon Murphy Brock (tenor sax, vocals), George Duke (keyboards, vocals), George Duke (keyboards, vocals), Bruce Fowler (trombone) and Tom Fowler (bass) – along with newcomer Denny Walley (slide guitar, vocals), a friend of Zappa’s younger brother Bobby.
Though the original Bongo Fury focused on new material, mostly sung by Beefheart, the tour featured plenty of material from the Mothers’ 1974 repertoire – including ‘Florentine Pogen’, ‘Stinkfoot’ and ‘I’m Not Satisfied’ – as well as a few golden oldies, such as ‘Sleeping In A Jar’ and ‘A Pound For A Brown (On The Bus)’, both of which hadn’t been played since 1971. There were also a couple of new songs played on the tour which, till this point, have remained unreleased – ‘The Velvet Sunrise’ and ‘Portuguese Lunar Landing’. Meanwhile, the regular encore was a blast through ‘Willie The Pimp’.
5CD+blu-ray edition of Bongo Fury (click image to enlarge)
This new anniversary set marks the first time that 1975 recordings of all of these and more have been officially released. The only other song released from the Armadillo shows to date is an early take on Zoot Allures’ ‘The Torture Never Stops’, released on 1991’s 2CD live compilation You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol 4.
The new 50th anniversary super deluxe edition expands the original album with five CDs of material (roughly 80% unreleased) including studio outtakes and live tracks plus the two Armadillo concerts complete and remixed from the original 16-track masters. The blu-ray features new Dolby Atmos, 5.1 mixes, and high-resolution stereo audio with “bonus surround experiences” from Zappa’s vault. The set also includes a book including unseen photos and sleevenotes from Walley and the Zappa estate’s ‘Vaultmeister’, Joe Travers.
Vinyl collectors have the choice of a 2LP set – featuring an all-analogue mastering of the original album by Bernie Grundman plus a bonus disc featuring highlights from the super deluxe set – or a single LP featuring the new Grundman master, available on black or ‘orange & black galaxy vinyl’. All vinyl formats include a lithograph print and booklet.
This 50th anniversary reissue of Bongo Fury is released on 20 March 2026, via UMR. Vinyl links coming…
