Holding the Music in Your Hands ®
This ‘breakout’ standalone blu-ray edition of Genesis’ The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway features an Atmos and Stereo remaster of the 1974 album. Pre-order via the SDE shop, below.
In 2025, I think around this time of year, I posted about how it was all going to get a bit ‘messy’ with regards to SDE Surround Series blu-ray announcements. Well, I’m sorry / not sorry to say that history is about to repeat itself as we get to the ‘business end’ of year, when record companies start to bring out the big hitters.
In other words, in the next couple of months there will be many SDE blu-ray announcements. As you (hopefully) realise, I do try to do my best in terms of either spacing these releases out or bringing them together, but ‘herding cats’ is the phrase that comes to mind. Record labels, artists, artist management tend to set the agenda and while I will try to influence, I’m not in charge.
The SDE Surround Series is, in many ways, a victim of its own success. In 2022 we released six exclusive blu-rays, which were easy to space out and manage over a 12-month period. Last year we had 22! There have already been 15 announcements in 2026 and there’s more to come.
Anyway, as I say, it’s a case of sorry / not sorry, because it’s going to be great – really great – just buckle up, hold on and enjoy the ride! I said the same thing last year, but if you are a fan of surround sound and immersive audio there may be a time when you look back and think of the last few years as halcyon days.
As usual, mum’s the word, but I can tell you in 2026 the SDE Surround Series still has to offer classic albums from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, along with a few surprises.
Thank you, as always, for your support and interest in these products. I really am as much of a fan as you are and continue to strive to bring the best albums, to the best format with as much bonus material as I can persuade labels and artists to supply! And now with our own SDE Records label, I have some great plans in place for 2027.
Cheers,
Paul
(Paul Sinclair, SDE founder/editor)
Visit the SDE shop for SDE Surround Series blu-rays and other blu-ray audio products (along with selected vinyl and CDs)
A selection of Wham!’s live performances from their historic 1985 trip to China will be released for the first time, on a special live EP in December.
10 Days in China – The Live EP features four songs that all went to number one in the UK and/or the USA with two (‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go’ and ‘Freedom’) from the first concert in Beijing and a pair (‘Everything She Wants’ and ‘Careless Whisper’) from the second (and last) show in Guangzhou.
This live audio has been newly mixed and mastered by Chris Porter from the original recordings and will be released on 12-inch vinyl and CD single. Whether this EP is a taster of a full length live album next year or all we’ll be getting, remains to be seen.
The announcement of this release has presumably been timed to coincide with a showing of Mike Christie’s excellent documentary of the same name, on BBC TV, in the UK, on Saturday 29 August at 9pm. You can read SDE’s interview with Mike about his film, here.
10 Days in China – The Live EP will be released on 4 December 2026 via Sony.
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The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ 2006 album, Stadium Arcadium, is being reissued for its 20th anniversary.
The band’s ninth studio album features the singles ‘Dani California’, ‘Tell Me Baby’, ‘Snow (Hey Oh)’, ‘Desecration Smile’, and ‘Hump de Bump’.
This anniversary reissue seems like an empty exercise in coloured vinyl, since there’s three different versions of the 4LP set with Amazon and other chains stocking a ‘Canary Yellow & Apple’ version; indies offering a ‘Brown Smoke & Orange Smoke’ hue and the band’s shop going with a ‘Sea Blue and Ruby Red’ pairing (also available via Warner channels).
Although original vinyl pressings command reasonably high prices, there has been no shortages of vinyl reissues over the years, including a 2012 RSD pressing (rumoured to be re-presented leftovers from the original run), a highly regarded 2016 US repress, and yet another American repress in 2020.
At least these new editions are easily available in Europe even if there are no bonus tracks and no word on remastering.
These Stadium Arcadium 4LP vinyl reissues are out on 2 October 2026, via Warner Records.
Happy Mondays / Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches CD, Vinyl, Box Set
The Happy Mondays’ 1990 album Pills ’n’ Thrills and Bellyaches is reissued across multiple formats, including the limited edition ‘Pill’ version which SDEtv unboxed recently, along with the vinyl and CD versions.
For whatever reason, Paul McCartney’s Flowers in the Dirt (1989), Flaming Pie (1997), Red Rose Speedway (1973) and Wild Life (1971) are all being made available as single CD reissues. The gatefold card sleeve packaging makes these mildly interesting. Flowers in the Dirt actually snuck out as a single black vinyl reissue back in June (the 2017 archive version was a 2LP set with the demos).
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NOW Music’s Yearbook Vault series continues next month, when the spotlight falls on 1986, and songs that were minor hits, hit-adjacent or, and let’s use the word, flops.
For this release, the usual ‘Yearbook’ 4CD option of deluxe hardcover book packaging or more basic card sleeve edition, offers 77 tracks, while a 3LP coloured vinyl (purple) delivers 44 songs from the first year in the post-Live Aid era.
1986 represents an interesting 12 months, because many artists for whom having hit singles in the UK had been like falling off a log in, say, 1984, were suddenly realising that the musical landscape had shifted while they weren’t looking and in ’86 the big hits they had enjoyed were not coming quite so easily. I’m looking at you Howard Jones, Paul Young and Nik Kershaw.
This is good news for this Vault compilation, because there’s some relatively big names here, including Paul McCartney whose label EMI panicked when the experimental ‘Pretty Little Head’ FAILED TO CHART in early November of ’86 and the executives possibly had the equivalent of a COBR meeting and broke the glass on the box marked ‘Emergency Macca Ballad’. They released ‘Only Love Remains‘, barely more than a month later, and while it charted, all Paul’s efforts, including an expensive looking video (featuring ‘Professional’ Gordon Jackson) and various TV appearances (The Tube, a primetime slot on ITV) were in vain, as it peaked at 36. As with almost everything from the Press to Play album, ‘Only Love Remains’ was remixed for its single release. Vault ’86 includes the single version which has never been on CD, so that’s good (although the sax solo in the middle of the single version definitely isn’t).
Paul Young’s first single from his third solo album, 1986’s Between Two Fires, had been ‘Wonderland’. This was a song that took half an hour to get to the chorus (“don’t bore us…”, as Roxette once said) and it was his first single in the UK not to get into the top 20 since the original release of ‘Love Of The Common People’. The plan, presumably, was that ‘Some People‘ would come to the rescue! Sadly for Paul, it did even worse – much worse, peaking outside the top 40 at a lowly No 56. In fact, Vault ’86 misses the opportunity to give us a double-bill of PY non-hits, since CBS persevered with a third single, ‘Why Does A Man Have To Be Strong?’. WE DON’T CARE said the great British public and it did even worse, stalling at a miserable No 63.
Vault ’86 also reminds us that acts we know and love as ONE HIT WONDERS did actually ‘try again’; they didn’t want to be one hit wonders, after all. So yes, Belouis Some did release a few singles that weren’t ‘Imagination’ and funnily enough one of them was called ‘Some People‘! It was a very minor hit, but if history teaches us anything, it’s that 1986 was not a year to release a song called ‘Some People’. Weirdly, Belouis seemed determine to have a a hit with the word ‘Some’ in the title. He tried again in 1988 with ‘Some Girls’, then in 1993 released ‘Something She Said’ and then ‘Sometimes’. Give it a rest, mate! (none of them were hits).
‘Ed’s Funky Diner‘ was actually a great follow-up to It’s Immaterial’s ‘surprise’ hit, ‘Driving Away From Home’, and it deserved some success, but hey, Life’s Hard and Then You Die. Of course, Hollywood Beyond is the quintessential one hit wonder. ‘No More Tears‘ was the single after ‘What’s The Colour Of Money?’ and if you can’t remember how it goes, you’re not the only one. NOW gives us an opportunity to refresh our collective memories. This song peaked 40 places lower than the first single, at No 47.
Other tracks include Nik Kershaw’s ‘Nobody Knows’ (No 44) and Howard Jones’ All I Want (No 35), both artists, like Paul Young, experimenting with new producers (in Nik’s case himself!) and it not really working out. The Thompson Twins‘ ‘Nothing in Common’ wasn’t released in the UK, but it didn’t trouble the upper reaches of the American chart when it was issued there (their previous two singles had been top 10 hits Stateside).
Three singles from Sting’s brilliant The Dream of the Blue Turtles album failed to get into the UK top 40 which seems crazy, and ‘Moon Over Bourbon Street‘, when issued as the fifth 45 (A&M were probably enthused because ‘Russians’ had reached No 12) was the last of them (No 44). Sting would have to wait until 1994 before chalking up a solo UK top 10 single (‘When We Dance’).
Tears For Fears make an appearance on Vault ’86, with a song that was both the first and last single from Songs From The Big Chair: ‘Mothers Talk‘. Included here is the US Mix, not issued in the UK. In America, it reached 27 which sounds decent, until you recall that the first three singles from the album were No 1, No 1 & No 3!. Roland Orzabal told this writer that he much preferred the version re-recorded for the North American market: “I always thought we got ‘Mothers Talk’ slightly wrong. It was a bit too fast. The US version worked really well, we were happy”. There’s plenty more interesting selections on this new compilation; scroll down for full tracklistings.
NOW Yearbook Vault ’86 will be released on 18 September 2026.
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Next month, Parlophone will release Motörhead On Parole: The Alternative Mixes on vinyl LP.
These are the first recordings by the band in 1975-76 featuring Lemmy, Phil Taylor, Larry Wallis and Lucas Fox. These alternative mixes were originally issued on CD as part of the On Parole 3CD+blu-ray box set but get their vinyl debut here, pressed on 140g Black & Clear Smokey Marble vinyl.
These mixes are brought together for this release in album running order, giving a true alternative to the original album which was recorded in 1976 but not released until 1979 (as the fourth record).
On Parole: The Alternative Mixes will be released on 25 September 2026, via Parlophone.
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Roxy Music’s 1973 album, For Your Pleasure will be reissued in November in what represents the first major Roxy reissue campaign since the art-rocker’s eponymous debut was re-released back in 2017.
Regarded by many as their masterpiece; you could call it the ‘Godfather II” of studio albums, in that it’s at least as good as, if not better, than the first record. Their last long-player to feature Brian Eno, For Your Pleasure expands on what the band started a year earlier and features more elaborate production and experimentation.
Frontman Bryan Ferry remembers the expectations of delivering a second album:
It was a good pressure. Realising, now there’s an audience to write for. An intelligent audience. I felt a responsibility for the work that I hadn’t for the first album, certainly with regard to the lyrics. There was a hunger in the whole band to do more: a very strong urge to get back into a recording studio and make a better record than the first one.
Bryan Ferry
Preceded by the non-album single ‘Pyjamarama‘ (the band’s second top 10 single in the UK), For Your Pleasure includes ‘Do The Strand’ which wasn’t issued in the UK as a single, but did get a limited release in Europe. Other highlights include ‘In Every Dream Home A Heartache‘ and the nine-minute ominous minimalism of ‘The Bogus Man‘.
The 2026 reissue is available as a 3CD+DVD box set, an SDE-exclusive blu-ray, alongside a 2CD edition and 2LP vinyl versions. As well as the album on CD 1, the box set features features a second CD of 20 unheard songwriting sketches recorded at home by Bryan Ferry, band rehearsals and studio outtakes newly mastered by John Webber at AIR Studios. A third CD is filled with live sessions, singles and instrumentals, including 14 previously unheard recordings. The DVD features rare TV and live performances from the 1972–1973 period, originally broadcast by the BBC, German and Swiss television networks.
The box set includes a 116-page book, complete with exclusive archive content, includes a 7000-word essay built from new interviews with the band, producers and creative team, and a 2500-word essay by Michael Bracewell. The book is illustrated with many rare and unpublished photographs, lyrics and work-in-progress lyric notes by Bryan Ferry, tape scans, tour dates, and a For Your Pleasure chronology. The book also includes an essay by Nick de Ville on Roxy Music’s visual world.
The SDE blu-ray is stunning: It includes a Dolby Atmos Mix of the original album by Bob Clearmountain, alongside 5.1, Stereo and Atmos Instrumentals (also by Clearmountain). Additionally, in a best-of-both-worlds type scenario, it also offers a Steven Wilson dedicated 5.1 Mix of For Your Pleasure and a flat transfer of the 1973 stereo mix from a copy of the original EQ’d production tapes captured at stunning 192 kHz / 24 bit resolution (a 48/24 is also available).
Audio streams on the For Your Pleasure SDE exclusive blu-ray:
Additionally, the non-album single ‘Pyjamarama’ is included on this disc in multiple streams, including Dolby Atmos and a pair of 5.1 mixes, by Clearmountain and Wilson, respectively:
And even the B-side of that single, ‘The Pride and The Pain’ is available in 5.1, remixed by Steven Wilson, in addition to the original stereo.
On top of all that, this blu-ray features over an hour of unreleased outtakes and Peel Sessions. This is effectively CD 2 of the 2CD set, in stereo at 48/24 resolution:
The SDE exclusive blu-ray is #71 in the ongoing SDE Surround Series and is presented in the same high quality deluxe hardcover media book packaging used for the Roxy Music’s Flesh + Blood (and Avalon) and as ever, it ships with a free, collectible SDE Surround Series slipcase.
Dolby Atmos Mixes on blu-ray offer much higher quality than their streaming counterparts. They are not compressed as on streaming platforms. Encoded in Dolby TrueHD Atmos it has a bit rate 10 times higher (up to 8000 kbits/s) than streaming’s Dolby Digital Plus (768 kbits/s).
The For Your Pleasure blu-ray audio is TIME LIMITED release; the pre-order window closes at midnight GMT on 27 August 2026. Availability after that point cannot be guaranteed. You can order both the SDE exclusive blu-ray and the 3CD+DVD box set from the SDE shop using this link or the buttons below. If you are looking for things to order this with, options include The Beatles’ Rubber Soul blu-ray, the Family Silver’s Electric Blend on blu-ray, Jethro Tull’s Aqualung on blu-ray or Phil Collins’ Face Value (also on blu-ray).
For Your Pleasure will be released on 6 November 2026 via UMR/Virgin.
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70 The Family Silver / Electric Blend
69 Suede / Coming Up
68 Simple Minds / Once Upon A Time
67 Tina Turner / Private Dancer
66 Producers / Made in Basing Street
65 Thin Lizzy (1971 debut)
64 Bryan Ferry / Taxi
63 Bryan Ferry / Bête Noire
62 Roxy Music / Flesh + Blood
61 Tori Amos / In Times Of Dragons
60 Heaven 17 / The Luxury Gap
59 Heaven 17 / Penthouse and Pavement
58 Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris / All The Roadrunning
57 The Who / Quadrophenia
56 George Michael / Faith
55 Bryan Ferry / Boys and Girls
54 Thin Lizzy / Nightlife
53 Fine Young Cannibals (FYC) / The Raw & The Cooked
52 Tears For Fears / Songs From The Big Chair
51 Propaganda / A Secret Wish
50 Frankie Goes To Hollywood / Welcome to the Pleasuredome
49 Elton John / Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
48 The Who / Who Are You
47 The Human League / Dare
46 Split Enz / ENZyclopedia Volumes 1 & 2
45 Mark Knopfler / Sailing to Philadelphia
44 Matt Deighton / Today Become Forever
43 De La Soul / 3 Feet High and Rising
42 Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel / The Best Years of Our Lives
41 Mike Oldfield / Hergest Ridge
40 Claudi Brücken / Night Mirror
39 Elton & Brandi / Who Believes In Angels?
38 Dire Straits / Brothers in Arms
37 INXS / Listen Like Thieves
36 Roxy Music / Avalon
35 Envy of None / Stygian Waves
34 Bryan Ferry / Retrospective
33 Simple Minds / Sparkle in the Rain
32 Simple Minds / New Gold Dream
31 Elton John / Diamonds
30 The Who / Who’s Next
29 Thompson Twins / Into The Gap
28 Tears For Fears / Songs For A Nervous Planet
27 Thin Lizzy / 1976
26 Bronski Beat / The Age of Consent
25 Tori Amos / Unrepentant Geraldines
24 Ultravox / Lament
23 Crowded House / Gravity Stairs
22 Luther Vandross / Never Too Much
21 Keane / Hopes and Fears
20 Wham! / Make It Big
19 Wham! / Fantastic
18 Mark Knopfler / One Deep River
17 Paul Young / No Parlez
16 Def Leppard / Diamond Star Halos
15 Soft Cell / Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret
14 Trevor Horn / Echoes – Ancient and Modern
13a Duran Duran / Danse Macabre De Luxe
13 Duran Duran / Danse Macabre
12 ABC / The Lexicon of Love
11 Suede / Suede
10 Mike Oldfield / Tubular Bells
9 Tears For Fears / The Hurting
8 Bob Dylan / Time Out Of Mind (2022 Remix)
7 Ten Years After / A Space in Time
6.5 Various Artists / Concert For George
6. Orbital / Optical Delusion
5 Brian Eno / ForeverAndEverNoMore
4 Shakespears Sister / Hormonally Yours
3 Gilbert O’Sullivan / Driven
2 xPropaganda / The Heart is Strange
1 Tears For Fears / The Tipping Point
Now That’s What I Call Music will release a sixth volume in their occasional ‘Era’ series, in September. Dubbed One More Time… 1996 > 2007 Essential Pure Pop, it celebrates the explosion of pure pop that dominated the charts in the late ‘90s and most of the first decade of the new millennium.
The set is offered in ‘Yearbook’ style packaging, which means 4CD deluxe hardcover book and standard card sleeve sets and a 3LP coloured vinyl edition.
The CD versions boast 84 tracks featuring the likes of Britney Spears, S Club, Girls Aloud, Sugababes, Atomic Kitten, Steps, Billie Piper, The Spice Girls, All Saints, Hear’Say, B*Witched, Liberty X, Aqua, Gina Gee, Leona Lewis and many more. Full tracklistings, below.
The 4CD deluxe version features a 28-page booklet with notes on all the featured tracks and this release is also available on 3LPs pressed on attractive pastel pink, blue and green vinyl, hosting 48 tracks.
Now That’s What I Call An Era: One More Time… 1996 > 2007 Essential Pure Pop will be released on 11 September 2026.
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The Sundays / Reissues CD, Vinyl
The Sundays‘ three studio albums, released between 1990 and 1997 are reissued on vinyl and CD.
J-Tull Dot Com: Another Cast of the Net showcases Jethro Tull’s 1999 album. Newly remixed by Bruce Soord, this limited 3CD+Blu-ray set includes the original mixes on CD1, the 2026 remixes on CD2, as well as a third disc of bonus material, including six completely unreleased studio tracks and three live recordings taken from the band’s tour in 2000. The Blu-ray features Dolby Atmos, 5.1 Surround Sound and 24bit stereo mixes of the main album, as well as 24bit stereo mixes of most of the bonus material.
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First full concert album from Sparks, brothers Ron and Russell Mael, recorded in 2025. Live On The Moon comprises a full live set of twenty songs spanning the band’s 54 year career, including ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us’, ‘The Number One Song In Heaven’, ‘When Do I Get To Sing “My Way”‘, ‘The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte’ and songs from their most recent album MAD!
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Carly Simon returns with a new studio album of original songs, more than five decades after her solo debut. Check out ‘Howl’, below.
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The brilliant Laura Veirs returns with Temple Songs, her first album in four years. Available on CD or Red vinyl (we have a few vinyl copies left on the SDE shop).
Second Song is a new studio album by Neil Young, his second recorded with the band The Chrome Hearts.
Produced by Lou Adler and the Volume Dealers (Neil Young & Niko Bolas) the records features seven songs and this album is being described as “semi-acoustic” which is always a tantalising propect when it comes to NY.
The title track runs to 11 minutes and you can hear it above. Second Song will be issued on CD and vinyl and is set for release on 18 September 2026, via Warner Records (more links coming).
FOR FANS OF: Paul Weller, Matt Deighton, Ocean Colour Scene, classic rock/pop
The SDE Surround Series of blu-ray audios continues with The Family Silver’s 2015 album Electric Blend which is being issue on our own, SDE Records.
If you are unacquainted with the band, The Family Silver are a classic British power trio (in the tradition of Cream, The Jim Hendrix Experience and The Police) comprising singer and guitarist Matt Deighton (Mother Earth, Paul Weller, Oasis), drummer Steve White (Paul Weller, The Style Council) and bass player Damon Minchella (Ocean Colour Scene).
As with the Eg and Alice album SDE Records reissued earlier this year (now sold out), Electric Blend is another undiscovered gem of a long-player; a wonderful fusion of superior, purposeful rock (‘An Electric Blend’, ‘Give Up Your Tears’, ‘From Out Of The Blues’); feelgood soul-pop (‘Peace & Love (Don’t It Feel Good?)’, ‘A Newer Yesterday’); and atmospheric pastoral folk (the epic ‘Overshadowed’, ‘Yeah No’).
The band recorded the album in 2015 and self-released it via direct-to-fan platform PledgeMusic at the end that year. Sadly, they are yet to follow it up, although the ‘Blaze of Light’ EP, featuring six new songs, (including ‘If Only For Tomorrow’ – more on that shortly) was sold at a few gigs in 2017.
Richard Whittaker (who Atmos’d The Who’s Quadrophenia earlier this year) has remixed the entire Electric Blend album, the 6-track EP and bonus track ‘Privilege’ in immersive Dolby Atmos, 5.1 Surround and Stereo for this new blu-ray release. Additionally, it includes instrumental versions (in all three audio streams) and the original stereo mix.
Electric Blend + Blaze of Light EP + ‘Privilege’ audio streams on the SDE-exclusive blu-ray are as follows (all audio is 48/24):
Furthermore the blu-ray includes never before seen video footage of the band rehearsing and playing live at London’s Under The Bridge Venue in 2016. This runs for just under 30 minutes. This region-free blu-ray is #70 in the SDE Surround Series and is packaged in the usual clear amaray case with a collectible SDE Surround Series slipcase. It’s limited to 1,000 copies worldwide and will be released in October.
As well as the blu-ray edition, a 2CD deluxe is being made available. Presented as a high quality DVD-sized casebound book, the deluxe edition offers newly mastered versions of both the Electric Blend and Blaze of Light EP alongside previously unreleased acoustic sessions, early mixes and three non-album bonus tracks. This set features a gloss finished front cover with Pantone silver highlights. The 28 pages in the book offers a track-by-track guide to the album from all three band members via new interviews by Sean Hannam. This 2CD deluxe edition is also limited to 1,000 units worldwide and is being released alongside the blu-ray in October
Both formats can be ordered together in a special bundle on the SDE shop which ships with a FREE an exclusive 6-track CD single of ‘If Only For Tomorrow’, a wonderfully catchy song from the ‘Blaze of Light’ EP. All six tracks are previously unreleased, with four of them being unique to this CD single, including an extended mix of ‘If Only For Tomorrow’. This CD single is packaged in a stylish 6-panel digi-sleeve.
Finally, SDE has a limited number of tickets to a special Electric Blend playback event in Central London on the release date of this reissue, which is 16 October 2026. You will get to hear selections from Electric Blend and the Blaze of Light EP in Dolby Atmos in the presence of all three band members (Matt Deighton, Steve White and Damon Minchella) who have also promise to play a song or two live using acoustic instruments! This is a one-night-only event and 45 tickets are available.
The Electric Blend blu-ray audio, the 2CD set, the BUNDLE and tickets for the playback are all exclusively available to order via the SDE shop, via this link or the buttons below.
69 Suede / Coming Up
68 Simple Minds / Once Upon A Time
67 Tina Turner / Private Dancer
66 Producers / Made in Basing Street
65 Thin Lizzy (1971 debut)
64 Bryan Ferry / Taxi
63 Bryan Ferry / Bête Noire
62 Roxy Music / Flesh + Blood
61 Tori Amos / In Times Of Dragons
60 Heaven 17 / The Luxury Gap
59 Heaven 17 / Penthouse and Pavement
58 Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris / All The Roadrunning
57 The Who / Quadrophenia
56 George Michael / Faith
55 Bryan Ferry / Boys and Girls
54 Thin Lizzy / Nightlife
53 Fine Young Cannibals (FYC) / The Raw & The Cooked
52 Tears For Fears / Songs From The Big Chair
51 Propaganda / A Secret Wish
50 Frankie Goes To Hollywood / Welcome to the Pleasuredome
49 Elton John / Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
48 The Who / Who Are You
47 The Human League / Dare
46 Split Enz / ENZyclopedia Volumes 1 & 2
45 Mark Knopfler / Sailing to Philadelphia
44 Matt Deighton / Today Become Forever
43 De La Soul / 3 Feet High and Rising
42 Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel / The Best Years of Our Lives
41 Mike Oldfield / Hergest Ridge
40 Claudi Brücken / Night Mirror
39 Elton & Brandi / Who Believes In Angels?
38 Dire Straits / Brothers in Arms
37 INXS / Listen Like Thieves
36 Roxy Music / Avalon
35 Envy of None / Stygian Waves
34 Bryan Ferry / Retrospective
33 Simple Minds / Sparkle in the Rain
32 Simple Minds / New Gold Dream
31 Elton John / Diamonds
30 The Who / Who’s Next
29 Thompson Twins / Into The Gap
28 Tears For Fears / Songs For A Nervous Planet
27 Thin Lizzy / 1976
26 Bronski Beat / The Age of Consent
25 Tori Amos / Unrepentant Geraldines
24 Ultravox / Lament
23 Crowded House / Gravity Stairs
22 Luther Vandross / Never Too Much
21 Keane / Hopes and Fears
20 Wham! / Make It Big
19 Wham! / Fantastic
18 Mark Knopfler / One Deep River
17 Paul Young / No Parlez
16 Def Leppard / Diamond Star Halos
15 Soft Cell / Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret
14 Trevor Horn / Echoes – Ancient and Modern
13a Duran Duran / Danse Macabre De Luxe
13 Duran Duran / Danse Macabre
12 ABC / The Lexicon of Love
11 Suede / Suede
10 Mike Oldfield / Tubular Bells
9 Tears For Fears / The Hurting
8 Bob Dylan / Time Out Of Mind (2022 Remix)
7 Ten Years After / A Space in Time
6.5 Various Artists / Concert For George
6. Orbital / Optical Delusion
5 Brian Eno / ForeverAndEverNoMore
4 Shakespears Sister / Hormonally Yours
3 Gilbert O’Sullivan / Driven
2 xPropaganda / The Heart is Strange
1 Tears For Fears / The Tipping Point
Elvis Costello’s 1977 debut, My Aim Is True, will be reissued as a 5CD box set in October.
The album features the songs ‘Alison’, ‘(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes’, ‘Mystery Dance’ and, in the US, ‘Watching The Detectives’, which was a non-album single here in the UK.
The idea behind this box is that traces Costello’s transformation from a young computer operator through his brief attempts to break into the London ‘singer-songwriter’ scene while recording songs in his bedroom; to eventually recording three failed singles for Stiff Records; ‘Less Than Zero,’ ‘Alison,’ and ‘(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes’ with members of the American band Clover, before forming the Attractions and having a U.K. hit single with ‘Watching The Detectives’ (on which only Costello and Steve Nieve appeared).
The My Aim Is True super deluxe features 104 “tracks, demos, masters, outtakes, live performances, interviews, and other rare recordings” half of which are previously unreleased.
CD 1 features a new 2026 remaster of the original album from the original analog tapes and adds ‘Watching The Detectives’ as the last track.
CD 2 is called The Blue Print, and gathers 17 recordings from 1975 and 1976, including 13 previously unreleased. The songs span bedroom tapes, early Pathway recordings and 13 performances from a 1976 session at the Hope & Anchor Studio.
CD 3 is dubbed The Stranger In The House and contains 28 demos, outtakes and early band recordings, 15 of which have never been released, including every surviving outtake and demo from My Aim Is True.
CD 4, Becoming The Attractions, opens with a solo performance of ‘Alison,’ from Elvis Costello’s U.K. television debut to his first live appearances under his new name to perfromances in America in late 1977 and 1978. 25 tracks, 12 previously unreleased.
The collection closes with Covered In Clover, an unreleased recording of Costello’s 2007 reunion with Clover at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall. They performing My Aim Is True in its original U.K. sequence before concluding with ‘Watching The Detectives’.
It’s packaged in a hardcover bookset (see above) and each of this set’s five discs is accompanied by extensive new writing from Costello, alongside rare and unseen photographs, handwritten lyrics from his notebooks and diary entries from 1976, and lists of songs he was performing solo, as then he was being rejected by every publisher and A&R man in London before Stiff Records heard something in his songs.
This new deluxe set is in marked contrast to 2020’s Armed Forces super deluxe (watch the SDEtv unboxing) which contained nine pieces of vinyl and no CDs at all. Costello at the time was unmoved by fan complaints about the lack of CD option and actually doubled down, claiming that the compact disc “really is demonstrably inferior to vinyl, as a sonic storage system”. There is a vinyl version of My Aim Is True, an all-analogue LP version (the remaster is available as a single CD as well).
My Aim Is True (marketed, apparently without irony, as a 49th Anniversary Edition) will be released 2 October 2026 via UMe. It’s D2C only until Friday when it will become widely available (check back here for links).
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Primal Scream / 'Bunker Trilogy' reissues CD, Vinyl
Primal Scream release expanded editions of their so called ‘Bunker Trilogy’: Vanishing Point was out last month and this week XTRMNTR is reissued on vinyl and CD.
Steve Hogarth‘s 1997 debut album (his band included Richard Barbieri and Dave Gregory) is reissued as a 3CD+blu-ray ‘media book’ edition. The CDs feature the remastered album and Live at Dingwalls, 2000 but the blu-ray is packed with demos, other live tracks and a 45 minute documentary and the H Band at the Paradiso.
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This week saw the announcement of a Rubber Soul box set. It has been almost four years since Apple Corps launched a super deluxe edition of a Beatles studio album. The last time was September 2022 with Revolver (when the 5CD super deluxe edition received a lowly 1.9 / 5 rating by SDE readers). To put this in perspective, Sgt. Pepper, ‘The White Album’, Abbey Road and Let It Be were all released in a four year period (between 2017 and 2021) so to only have had one box set in the following four year period suggests that Apple’s priorities have been shifting somewhat.
It’s not that nothing has been happening, rather the project choices have been, at times, odd. The ‘Now and Then’ single of 2023 ended up leading to a massive ‘Red’ and ‘Blue’ album reissue campaign and created lots of work for Giles Martin and his team in terms of new 2023 stereo and Atmos mixes.
In 2024, Apple felt obliged to celebrate the ‘US Albums’ and then last year we had Anthology 4 and the Anthology Collection (reviewed on SDE) created to mark the fact that the original series was going to Disney+.
There was nothing inherently wrong with any of this, but the US Albums campaign felt like retreading old ground (they’d done it a decade earlier) and Apple rather annoyed fans by initially announcing that the only way to get Anthology 4 would be to buy Anthologies 1, 2 & 3 all over again (albeit remastered) in an Anthology Collection box set. They later U-turned on this strategy.
Alongside announcements about 3 Savile Row and various film projects, it has, at times, felt like the thing the Fab Four are most famous for – their music, and specifically the amazing run of studio albums between 1963 and 1970 – was no longer a priority, with wider cultural ‘legacy’ projects rising to the top. So, at push, we could call Rubber Soul a ‘back to basics’ type reissue campaign, but does it deliver what fans want?
Both vinyl and CD box sets, unsurprisingly, offer new stereo mixes of the album by Giles Martin and Sam Okell. This is fairly much par for the course these days, and every other format uses this mix as the ‘main’ mix for the album. But what of the two other stereo remixes? The original 1965 stereo mix (which by stealth appeared in The Beatles in Mono CD box) and George Martin’s 1987 stereo remix (which was remastered and reissued on CD and vinyl in 2009) are nowhere to be found on any format. No one is saying that we necessarily need these on separate CDs or vinyl LPs in the big box sets, but surely there was a place for them on the blu-ray edition, with its enormous capacity for audio and video? (more on that format, shortly). In 2021, when I asked Giles Martin if Let It Be actually needed a stereo remix [full interview here] his answer was “Does it need remixing? Erm… it’s not for me to say, really; I just get asked to do it”.
The charge of ‘erasing history’ by superseding original mixes of The Beatles’ albums with new mixes is normally batted away with a defensive “the originals are still available”, but is that actually the case and how easy is it for the average punter to even tell the difference between old and new product? If you search for ‘Revolver’ on Amazon in the UK the first five listings are versions of the 2022 reissue, all of which use the 2022 new stereo remix as the ‘main’ version of the album, and the single CD edition is around £13. Fifth in the search results is a CD copy of the 2009 remaster (with the 1987 stereo mix), which is only available via a third-party seller and costs £25. There’s nothing in the blurb to make it clear that you are getting the older mix, so a casual fan looking for a copy of Revolver on CD will almost certainly buy the £13 listing and perhaps not understand the distinction between the two versions. It’s a similar story with vinyl. The new stereo mix is very good in my opinion, but that’s not the point.
There’s always this feeling with new Beatles product that they want you to forget about what has come before. If you recall, two songs from Rubber Soul (‘Think For Yourself’ and ‘Nowhere Man’) were completely remixed in stereo for the 1999 Yellow Submarine ‘Songtrack’ release. These were stunning at the time and while I’m sure Giles Martin would argue that both are now redundant due to advances in technology (particularly ‘de-mixing’) would it have killed Apple to have included them somewhere in this reissue, as a nod to the history of the audio evolution of tracks from Rubber Soul?
On a more positive note, the original mono mix of Rubber Soul is included in both the 4CD and 5LP box sets, but again not on the blu-ray, which we should probably talk about. First off, it’s great news that after the bemusing disappointment of no physical blu-ray in Revolver (or for that matter the ‘Red’ and ‘Blue’ albums) the format returns for Rubber Soul. Reading the comments on SDE during this week, there’s some debate around whether it’s a good or bad thing that it’s standalone and not part of the box set but personally I welcome this. The box sets are already quite expensive, so including a blu-ray in them would just make it even more pricey and, let’s be honest, there will be plenty of fans who want the vinyl or CD boxes but are not interested in immersive audio. Also, even when blu-rays were included in the big boxes, they were only ever in the CD super deluxe not the vinyl one. That issue is side-stepped by making it a standalone product.
In terms of the blu-ray content, while it’s a great format and still well worth buying, you have to say it’s a little bit disappointing. There’s no 5.1 mix which is crazy, because they are relatively easy to create from an existing Atmos Mix, albeit I imagine nothing is ‘easy’ in the world of approvals with the surviving Beatles and John and George’s Estates. More annoying is the lack of mono mix of Rubber Soul. That really should have been included alongside mono mixes of what they are calling ‘The Single’, which means the songs from the double A-side: ‘We Can Work It Out’ and ‘Day Tripper’. The past is ignored, so on the blu-ray, the album and the single only exist in mixes created in the last three years.
I imagine that internally, the thought process was that offering too much (It’s All Too Much?) content on the blu-ray for a £29.99 price point would threaten sales of the big boxes which have a higher price tag (circa £135 and £200 for CD and vinyl sets). Apple are in the business of trying to make money, after all. But both boxes already have 26 tracks of sessions/demos/outtakes not on the blu-ray, so I’m not convinced. And let’s throw in the fact that the 2CD set – which is even cheaper than the blu-ray – offers 14 of those sessions/demos/outtakes denied to blu-ray buyers. There’s a strong argument to be made that the blu-ray should have included the 14 tracks from the 2CD as bonus content. And, as stated earlier, the blu-ray would have made a great home to both the original 1965 stereo mix and the 1987 remix, for archival purposes, so it’s sad that’s not happening. The videos of ‘We Can Work It Out’ and ‘Day Tripper’ are, of course, very welcome.
The final comment is that, until recently, Apple were always relatively restrained with single LP vinyl formats when it came to The Beatles; we had some picture discs, but that has mostly been it. But for Rubber Soul we are getting coloured vinyl and ‘Zoetrope’ versions, in addition to the normal black vinyl editions. That’s still far from Macca / Rolling Stones madness when it comes to multiple vinyl options, but maybe there’s more to come, such as a Blood Records announcement? We’ll have to wait and see.
Rubber Soul will be reissued on 2 October 2026 via UMR/Calderstone. More product details are here on the SDE post, and you can pre-order various formats from the links below.
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The Beatles’ 1965 album Rubber Soul will be reissued in October across a number formats, including, for the first time for the Fab Four, a standalone blu-ray audio.
The album has been newly mixed by Giles Martin and Sam Okell in Atmos and Stereo and the key formats are as follows
All of the new Rubber Soul formats feature the album’s new stereo mix, sourced directly from the original four-track master tapes. The audio has been remixed with the help of de-mixing technology developed by the award-winning sound team led by Emile de la Rey at Peter Jackson’s WingNut Films Productions Ltd.
The super deluxe box set versions feature 24 early session recordings, including 20 previously unreleased takes and three previously unreleased home demos – among them early versions of Day Tripper and We Can Work It Out, plus Little Girl, a previously unheard John Lennon song outline never before released or even rumoured. The boxes also include the original mono album (but not the original 1965 stereo mix, last seen in the 2009 Mono CD box), the original Capitol US album version and the 1965 double A-side single.
Both box sets offer an 88-page hardbound book featuring a brand new written introduction by Paul McCartney, and a foreword compiled from John Lennon’s own words, alongside rare photographs, in-depth album background and track notes.
In addition to the above formats, there’s also single CD and single LP versions, and some D2C vinyl versions including a Zoetrope edition.
Rubber Soul will be reissued on 2 October 2026 via UMR/Calderstone. Pre-order the blu-ray and special bundles via the SDE shop using this link or the buttons below. The Suede blu-ray pre-order ENDS today.
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Queen’s 1986 concert in Budapest – previously released on VHS and Laserdisc as Live in Budapest and then on blu-ray and DVD as Hungarian Rhapsody: Live in Budapest – has been restored for a new release simply called Queen Budapest.
Captured on 27 July 1986 at Budapest’s Népstadion, during the band’s ‘The Magic Tour’, the concert was the last filmed live performance of the band with Freddie Mercury, showing the band at the height of their powers as a live act. Queen also became the first Western rock band to perform behind the Iron Curtain, with 80,000 tickets sold and an estimated 45,000 listening outside.
The filmed footage (directed by János Zsombolyai) has been “meticulously restored” from the original filmed 35mm footage by Sir Peter Jackson’s Park Road Post Production facility in New Zealand, with newly remixed audio from the original multitrack recordings available across the various formats.
The audio will be available on 2CD and 3LP vinyl formats and the concert film will be available on three home video formats: DVD, blu-ray and 4K UHD blu-ray. It’s good to see the 4K version available simultaneously and this version can be pre-ordered from the SDE shop. Both blu-rays feature Dolby Atmos, 5.1 and Stereo audio while the DVD has 5.1 and stereo.
Peter Jackson’s team have done a magnificent job of restoring the original film footage, at the highest resolution ever; it’s pristine and the quality is breathtaking. I think you’re going to love it. For the sound, we’ve been able to do some top quality restoration work as well.
Brian May
Queen Budapest will be released on 30 October 2026 via Sony. Pre-order the 4K blu-ray via the SDE shop using this link or the button below. Links for the other formats will follow shortly.
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The Durutti Column / Renascent CD, Vinyl
The Durruti Column return with a new studio album, Renascent – their first in 16 years.
The Yes Album, Fragile and Close to the Edge are released as standalone blu-rays with Atmos, 5.1, Stereo mixes, and in some cases, instrumentals. Bundle available on the SDE shop.
From Genesis to Revelation, the 1969 album from Genesis will be reissued in October.
This campaign is the first re-issue of the album, prepared with co-operation and approval of original band members Tony Banks, Peter Gabriel, Anthony Phillips and Mike Rutherford.
Stephen W Tayler has created new stereo, 5.1 Surround Sound and Dolby Atmos mixes of the album with a remit to “focus more on the band contributions with less emphasis on the orchestrations of the original album mixes”. All three of these new mixes are included in the 4CD+blu-ray box set.
The set includes remixes of ‘A Winter’s Tale’, ‘One Eyed Hound’ and album out-takes ‘Image Blown Out’ and ‘Visions of Angels’ (previously unreleased) along with new remasters of the original stereo mix and the rare mono mix of the album and associated singles, along with a CD of demos from 1967 and 1968, four of which are previously unreleased and mixed by Stephen W Tayler.
The blu-ray obviously features the new Dolby Atmos and 5.1 Surround and Stereo mixes of the album but also includes bonus video content of Tony Banks, Peter Gabriel and Mike Rutherford at AIR Studios in London discussing the album and reviewing the new mixes. Finally, the set features a 68-page illustrated book with an extensive essay by Jon Dann with contributions from Tony Banks, Peter Gabriel, Anthony Phillips and Mike Rutherford.
A 2CD deluxe is also available which pairs Steven W Tayler’s new stereo mix (and the four bonus tracks) with the remastered original stereo. A 2LP edition offers the new stereo mix on LP 1 and the four bonus tracks on the second vinyl record (effectively a 12-inch EP).
From Genesis to Revelation will be released on 9 October 2026 via Esoteric.
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NOW Music will release Yearbook 1971 in August.
In 4CD guise (deluxe hardcover book or cheaper card sleeve version) this contains 80 track including some classic from the likes of Elton John, Paul McCartney, Rod Stewart, T. Rex, Neil Diamond, John Denver, Cat Stevens, Carly Simon, Marvin Gaye, Isaac Hayes, Deep Purple, Free, Janis Joplin, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Slade, Sweet, Bill Withers, The Jackson 5, The New Seekers and more.
A 3LP version, offers a cut down selection of 50 songs and is pressed on yellow vinyl.
NOW Yearbook 1971 will be released on 28 August 2026, in CD form, with the vinyl version going back to 2 October.
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