Bryan Ferry’s 13th studio album, Olympia, will be reissued next month on CD and vinyl.
Originally released in 2010, Olympia includes contributions from Brian Eno, Phil Manzanera, Andy Mackay, David Gilmour and Nile Rodgers. The single ‘You Can Dance’ was co-written with Dave A. Stewart of Eurythmics fame. Bryan told SDE earlier this year that Dave was “a real character. But he’s very throw away in his approach… whereas I want to get it finished. When we did ‘You Can Dance’, it started off as a country and western kind of track and I turned it into something with a different feel altogether”.
The album features model Kate Moss on the front cover and at the time of release was available in various editions including a CD+DVD deluxe with two bonus tracks and some video content. A large format super deluxe added a bonus CD of remixes. A Vinyl Factory pressed 200g deluxe vinyl was also available.
Olympia available on 180g red vinyl
For 2025, the new CD edition effectively replicates the old deluxe but loses the DVD. So the two bonus audio tracks are the same: ‘Whatever Gets You Thru The Night’ and ‘One Night’. A new LP version is pressed on 180g red vinyl. Bryan Ferry has overseen updated artwork for both formats (this appears to be minor).
Simultaneously, with Olympia is a reissue of Ferry’s 1999 album As Time Goes By, a collection of cover versions of popular songs and jazz standards. Like Olympia this record was co-produced with Rhett Davies. No bonus tracks on CD this time, just the 15 songs that were originally on the album. The LP reissue is pressed on 180g ‘honey gold’ vinyl.
Olympia and As Time Goes By are reissued on 30 May 2025 via BMG.
After the apparent sacking of Who drummer Zak Starkey – much publicised a few days ago – the band have now confirmed that Zak “has not been asked to step down from The Who”.
Frontman Roger Daltrey had complained on stage at the band’s recent Teenage Cancer Trust shows at the Royal Albert Hall about the drums, stopping ‘The Song is Over’ saying: “To sing that song I do need to hear the key, and I can’t. All I’ve got is drums going boom, boom, boom. I can’t sing to that. I’m sorry guys.”
It sounded more like a sound mix problem in Daltrey’s ear monitor rather than Starkey doing anything wrong, but an explanation has been posted on The Who’s social accounts, written by Pete Townshend where he says that he “takes some responsibility for the confusion” adding “maybe we didn’t put enough time into the sound checks, giving us problems on stage”.
Zak isn’t let off the hook entirely, with Pete saying he “made a few mistakes and he has apologised”. Townshend also points out that “Roger and I would like Zak to tighten up his latest evolved drumming style to accommodate our non-orchestral line-up and he has readily agreed”.
In summary, Pete says: “We are a family, this blew up very quickly and got too much oxygen. It’s over. We move forward now with optimism and fire in our bellies”.
The Who’s next scheduled live dates are in Italy in August. Roger Daltrey is currently playing solo shows in the UK with Scott Devours on drums.
Robin Trower’s third album, For Earth Below, is being reissued for its 50th anniversary.
Released in 1975, it built on the success of his previous album Bridge of Sighs, reaching No 5 on the Billboard chart in the USA.
50th anniversary 4CD media book edition
In terms of the reissue, a 4CD media book edition features a remastered version of the original 1975 mix, a new unearth ‘extended’ stereo remix, a disc of outtakes and rarities and a newly mixed concert from LA available in its entirety for the first time. Notes are from David Sinclair including interviews with Robin Trower and Bill Lordan. A 2LP vinyl edition pairs the remastered original mix with the new extended stereo mix.
For Earth Below will be issued on 27 June 2025, via Chrysalis.
Horslips at the BBC is a forthcoming CD box set that comprises live performances, BBC TV footage and rare archival material.
The band emerged in the early 1970s, forging their ‘Celtic Rock’ sound, drawing from Irish traditional music and British/American rock. This new box set comprises 4CDs and a DVD starting in the early 1970s and including performances from the 2010s when the band were active again.
CD 1 includes performances from Radio 1’s In Concert, The Old Grey Whistle Test, Radio 1’s Sounds of the 70’s, 2nd House (BBC 2) and Radio 1’s John Peel Show
CD 2 largely focuses on a 1979 In Concert performance for Radio 1, but adds an unplugged ‘comeback’ session from 2010 and a BBC Northern Ireland performance of ‘Sideways To The Sun’ from 2019.
CD 3 showcases a 2011 performance with the Ulster Orchestra at Belfast’s Waterfront Hall, in a previously unreleased BBC Radio Ulster ‘broadcast mix’.
CD 4 offers 1979 ‘working mixes’ of the album Short Stories, Tall Tales, recorded at Dublin’s Windmill Lane. Apparently recently discovered, these illustrate a band in transition, shifting from the US FM rock to a spikier, sharper British New Wave sound.
The final disc is a DVD that brings together clips from The Old Grey Whistle Test, 1974 documentary material and fan footage of two songs from the 2011 Waterfront Hall concert (synced to the official BBC audio).
This set comes as a hardcover book package with notes by Mark Cunningham, BBC producer Jeff Griffin and Colin Harper. Mastering comes courtesy of Eroc in Germany and band associate Cormac O’Kane who mastered 2023’s massive More Than You Can Chew box.
Horslips at the BBC will be released on 4 July 2025 (was 30 May), via Madfish.
This 8CD set features newly mastered albums released between 1994 and 2004 along with three bonus CDs of B-sides, remixes, edits and rarities. The albums in question are:
The Living Return (1994)
Shapes And Patterns (1997)
Filth And Dreams (1999)
Somewhere in the Night (2001)
Where Our Love Grows (2004)
This set has been compiled in conjunction with Corinne Drewery and Andy Connell and the booklet features notes from John Earls. The packaging will be the same as before and a third SOS box in this series has been confirmed!
Certain Shades Of Limelight will be released on 18 July 2025 (was 27 June), via Cherry Pop.
Get ready for tomorrow’s Record Store Day by watching this special SDE preview featuring a selection of the exclusive releases. What is on your list? Let us know via the comments.
Pulp will release More, their first studio album in almost 24 years, this June.
The 11-track album was recorded in November and December last year by producer James Ford and according to Jarvis Cocker, “this is the shortest amount of time a Pulp album has ever taken to record. It was obviously ready to happen”.
Dedicated to Steve Mackey, the album is available to pre-order on various coloured vinyl editions (blue, green etc.) and also CD and cassette.
More is released on 6 June 2025 via Rough Trade Records.
Nick Drake’s debut album Five Leaves Left will be issued as a four-disc box set called The Making Of Five Leaves Left, in July.
The album was released by Island Records in 1969 and was produced by Joe Boyd. The new box sets comes in 4CD and 4LP vinyl variants (identical tracklistings) and include unaccompanied demos, studio outtakes and previously unheard songs. There’s over 30 previously unheard outtakes, in total. The whole set has been mastered by John Wood.
4CD box set of The Making of Five Leaves Left
The box sets come with a 60-page book, printed on textured paper stock and is written by Hidden Masters’ Neil Storey (in collaboration with Richard Morton-Jack) who worked for Island back in the day. The book includes full track recording details and recording history.
The Making Of Five Leaves Left will be released on 25 July 2025 via UMR.
This September, The Divine Comedy will release a new album called Rainy Sunday Afternoon.
It was recorded at Abbey Road in the autumn of 2024 and is the band’s first studio album since 2019’s Office Politics. Not that Neil Hannon hasn’t been busy, since then…There was the excellent 24CD box set Venus, Cupid, Folly & Time (SDEtv unboxing, here) and Neil recently contributed the original songs to the film ‘Wonka’.
Neil Hannon says: “My musical output is, for better or worse, a representation of my personality. A good chunk of that personality revels in the rumbumptious; celebrates the silly. And I made ample use of that for the Wonka songs”. He continues, “I have, though, like everyone, a darker, more melancholy side. And for one reason or another it has been much in evidence of late. I needed to use this album as an outlet for those feelings. To work through some stuff. Mortality; memories; relationships; political and social upheaval. Everyone should get to make an orchestral pop album once in awhile. It should be available on the NHS.”
‘Achilles’ from Rainy Sunday Afternoon
The 11-track album is available to pre-order now from the band’s official shop as a 2CD deluxe with bonus disc ‘Live in Paris & London’ – a collection of deep cuts and fan favourites from 2022’s celebratory career-spanning shows. There’s also a green coloured vinyl and a deluxe vinyl in casebound book packaging which comes black vinyl and the bonus CD (but not a CD of the album). Signed bundles are also available.
Rainy Sunday Afternoon will be released on 19 September 2025. The track listing has not been published, as yet.
London Records mark 40 years of Bronski Beat’s single I Feel Love – a collaboration with Marc Almond – with a brand new CD single.
The song originally featured on the Age of Consent album in ’84 and was then remixed for the 1985 Hundreds of Thousands remix album, with new vocals from Almond, and released as a single. It peaked at No 3 on the UK chart.
This standalone CD single features 10 tracks and is different from the SDE exclusive CD single of ‘I Feel Love’ that was available exclusively from the SDE shop last year, with certain formats of The Age of Consent. The tracks are as follows:
I Feel Love (with Marc Almond)
First Church (Feel More Love)
I Feel Love (Early Version)
I Feel Love (Promo Dub Mix)
I Feel Love (with Marc Almond) (Cake Mix)
I Feel Love (Fruit Mix)
Puit D’Amour
The Potato Fields
Signs (And Wonders)
I Feel Love (with Marc Almond) (7” Version)
The ‘Promo Dub Mix‘ and ‘First Church (Feel More Love)‘ are previously unreleased. This CD single is limited to 1000 units and comes in a high gloss card wallet with new cover art.
It’s available to order from the band’s official shop and is released today, via London Records.
The Smashing Pumpkins’ 1993 classic presented as a 2LP set on 180g vinyl in original packaging. Features ‘Today’, ‘Disarm’ and ‘Cherub Rock’, although you probably knew that. Red vinyl ‘RSD Essentials’ version also available.
Orbital’s self-titled second album, known as ‘The Brown Album’, is being reissued across a number of formats, in May.
Released in 1993, it features tracks such as ‘Halcyon + On + On’, ‘Impact (The Earth Is Burning)’ and ‘Lush 3-1’ and ‘Lush 3-2’.
Two box sets are available: a 4LP vinyl package and a 4CD box, both large format. They come with a 60-page hardcover book (which features notes by Andrew Harrison), two A6 flyers and a sticker. The vinyl is cut at half speed, although it’s not clear if that extends to the two bonus LPs in the box (which additionally comes with a slipmat for your turntable). The CD box offers 22 bonus tracks, the 4LP set, delivers 11 bonus tracks (see full tracklistings, below).
4CD box set comes with a 60-page book and folio for the four discs
An album-only 2LP set is available on black vinyl and coloured variants and there’s also a 2CD set and a cassette available. The 2CD version is simply the first two discs from the 4CD box.
The Brown Album is reissued on 23 May via London Records. The official shop is offering signed prints with either of the box set editions.
Claudia Brücken – of Propaganda and xPropaganda fame – will release her fourth studio album, Night Mirror, in July. The new album will be available across various formats, including an SDE-exclusive blu-ray audio which features a David Kosten Dolby Atmos Mix (amongst other audio streams).
Written and recorded in London between 2023-2025 with longtime collaborator John Williams, Night Mirror is a fantastic album, one that personally I spent weeks listening to and loving before coming to the decision to make this number 40 in the ongoing SDE Surround Series. Songs include the driving pop of ‘Rosebud’, (the first track available) the dark textures and crunch of ‘Sound And The Fury’, the warm glow and nostalgia of ‘The Only Ones’, the electronica of ‘Shadow Dancer’ (which has some very Pet Shop Boys-sounding synths!) and the yearning ballad ‘To Be Loved’. The production is brilliant – very layered which really lends itself to Atmos and 5.1.
For the uninitiated, Claudia Brücken first came to notice as the lead singer of Düsseldorf electronic music pioneers Propaganda, one of the first signings to ZTT Records. Propaganda enjoyed chart success with singles such as ‘Dr Mabuse’ and ‘Duel’ and their 1985 debut, A Secret Wish, is a classic, landmark electronic pop album. In 2022, with Susanne Freytag, Claudia formed xPropaganda and together with producer Stephen Lipson made the album The Heart Is Strange, which was No 2 in the SDE Surround Series and reached No 11 in the UK charts.
This project brings together a team of brilliant contributors that SDE has worked with before, including designer Philip Marshall who is responsible for the artwork (Philip did xPropaganda and worked on the Frankie Goes To Hollywood reissues put out by Salvo in the 2010s), David Kosten (whose Atmos Mixes for SDE include Paul Young’sNo Parlez and the Thompson TwinsInto The Gap) and Demon Music who worked with us on the Paul Young and Suede SDE Surround Series blu-rays.
The SDE exclusive blu-ray of Night Mirror features the following content:
Night Mirror – Dolby Atmos Mix
Night Mirror – 5.1 Surround Mix
Night Mirror – Stereo Mix
Night Mirror – Binaural Mix (headphones only)
Night Mirror – Dolby Atmos Instrumental Mix
Night Mirror – 5.1 Instrumental Mix
Night Mirror – Stereo Instrumental Mix
Night Mirror – Binaural Instrumental Mix
David Kosten’s Atmos Mix is very immersive, making full use of all the channels and the three dimensional space. We’re still looking for ways to make these blu-rays even better; trying to deliver great content, so for the first time on an SDE Surround Series release we are including ‘binaural’ mixes of the album (on Night Mirror, in both vocal and instrumental variants). These are for headphones-only. If you plug your headphones into your amplifier/receiver and select the binaural mixes you’ll hear the Atmos Mix over headphones, similar to how it is when you listen to Atmos Mixes via Apple Music. This works with ‘normal’ headphones, you don’t need special ones.
Night Mirror is a region-free blu-ray audio and is #40 in the ongoing SDE Surround Series. It will be packaged in a clear amaray case and ships with a free, collectible SDE Surround Series slipcase.
Because the xPropaganda The Heart Is Strange exclusive blu-ray release was so early in the SDE Surround Series, many people would have missed out, so with that in mind, we are doing a small repress of what was No 2 in the series that is available to order alongside Night Mirror. The Heart Is Strange blu-ray will come with an SDE slipcase, as per the original. The Night Mirror album is also available to pre-order on dark cherry-coloured vinyl LP. Bundles are available.
This Night Mirror blu-ray is exclusive to the SDE shop and is limited to 1500 units and it will be released on 4 July 2025, via Demon Music. Secure your copy by pre-ordering direct on the SDE shop using this link or via the pre-order buttons below.
Bruce Springsteen will release Tracks II: The Lost Albums, a new box set that features seven unheard records he made between 1983 and 2018.
It features 82 previously unreleased songs and according to Springsteen: “The Lost Albums were full records, some of them even to the point of being mixed and not released. I’ve played this music to myself and often close friends for years now. I’m glad you’ll get a chance to finally hear them. I hope you enjoy them.”
From the lo-fi exploration of LA Garage Sessions ’83 (CD 1 in the box), serving as a crucial link between Nebraska and Born in the U.S.A., to the drum loop and synthesizer sounds of Streets of Philadelphia Sessions (CD 2), The Lost Albums offer context to 35 prolific years of Springsteen’s songwriting and home recording.
“The ability to record at home whenever I wanted allowed me to go into a wide variety of different musical directions,” Springsteen explained. Throughout the set, that sonic experimentation takes the form of film soundtrack work (for a movie that was never made) on Faithless (CD 3), country combos with pedal steel on Somewhere North of Nashville (CD 4), richly woven border tales on Inyo (CD 5), orchestra-driven, mid- century noir on Twilight Hours (CD 6) and E Street flavoured rock on Perfect World (CD7).
The box comes in 7CD and 9LP variants, including original packaging for each record and 100-page cloth-bound, hardcover book with rare photos, sleeve notes on each lost album from Erik Flannigan and a personal introduction on the project from Springsteen himself.
A 20-track, single CD / 2LP highlights release called Selections From The Lost Albums Track will also be available. Tracks II: The Lost Albums will be released by Sony on 27 June 2025.
Paul McCartneyis releasing a third batch of albums as limited edition Japanese mini-LP SHM-CDs (compatible with all CD players).
Three of the five albums are from the post-Wings era in the period, in the early 1980s, where Paul was a solo artist again and enjoyed significant chart success with singles such as ‘Coming Up’, ‘Ebony and Ivory’, ‘Pipes of Peace’ and ‘Say Say Say’ (all number ones in America and/or the UK). The albums in question are:
McCartney II (1980)
Tug of War (1982)
Pipes of Peace (1983)
CHOBA B CCCP aka ‘The Russian Album’ (1988)
Flowers in the Dirt (1989)
As with the SHM-CDs that made up ‘Batch 2’, albums that have not received the Archive Collection treatment (in this case 1984’s Give My Regards to Broad Street and 1986’s Press to Play) are sadly excluded from this campaign. CHOBA B CCCP, or ‘The Russian Album’, is the exception.
These are sometimes called ‘paper sleeve’ editions and and each is presented as vinyl replica CDs with the usual exacting standards from Japan including OBI-strip, extra booklet with Japanese lyrics, ‘rice paper’ sleeve for disc protection and re-sealable outer clear sleeve. Original inner sleeves are recreated as is the original packaging (McCartney II and Pipes of Peace are gatefolds, the other three are not).
Masterings are all as per the original Archive Collection releases, so 2011 for McCartney II, 2015 for Pipes of Peace, 2019 for CHOBA B CCCP and 2017 for Flowers in the Dirt. Tug of War is the 2015 remix. All the CDs are ‘album-only’ with no bonus tracks. CHOBA B CCCP is the original 11-track version as issued in The Soviet Union, not the 14-track international CD that was eventually issued in 1991. Flowers in the Dirt includes the original CD-only bonus track, ‘Ou Est Le Soleil?’.
These are extremely limited, but as before the SDE shop has secured a guaranteed allocation and is offering them only as a 5CD bundle, which you can order via this link or the buttons below. Strictly one bundle per customer please (multiple orders will be cancelled).
All five are released on 23 May 2025, via Capitol.
Tracklisting
McCartney IIPaul McCartney/SHM-CD
Coming Up
Temporary Secretary
On The Way
Waterfalls
Nobody Knows
Front Parlour
Summer’s Day Song
Frozen Jap
Bogey Music
Darkroom
One Of These Days
Tracklisting
Tug of WarPaul McCartney/SHM-CD
Tug of War
Take It Away
Somebody Who Cares
What’s That You’re Doing
Here Today
Ballroom Dancing
The Pound Is Sinking
Wanderlust
Get It
Be What You See
Dress Me Up As A Robber
Ebony And Ivory
Tracklisting
Pipes of PeacePaul McCartney/SHM-CD
Pipes Of Peace
Say Say Say
The Other Me
Keep Under Cover
So Bad
The Man
Sweetest Little Show
Average Person
Hey Hey
Tug Of Peace
Through Our Love
Tracklisting
CHOBA B CCCP aka The Russian AlbumPaul McCartney/SHM-CD
Chicago’s second album, Chicago II is being reissued as a 2LP set, later this month.
This is the Steven Wilson Remix version of the 1970 album (originally known as just Chicago) that was first issued back in 2017 on standalone CD and vinyl editions. In 2018 the remixes also featured on a 2LP+2CD+DVD collector’s edition box set.
The album includes the tracks ’25 Or 6 To 4′, ‘Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon’, and this new 2LP set is released on 25 April 2025 via Rhino.
Ballet For A Girl In Buchannon: i) Make Me Smile ii) So Much To Say, So Much To Give iii) Anxiety’s Moment iv) West Virginia Fantasies v) Colour My World vi) To Be Free vii) Now More Than Ever
LP 2
Side C
Fancy Colours
25 Or 6 To
Prelude
A.M. Mourning
P.M. Mourning
Memories Of Love
Side D
It Better End Here: i) 1st Movement ii) 2nd Movement iii) 3rd Movement iv) 4th Movement v) Where Do We Go From Here
The now out-of-print UltravoxLament CD box set of last year has been reformatted and will be available at a cheaper price point, in June.
The 7CD+DVD box set pulls together a newly remastered version of the album, all the single versions, B-sides, 12-inch remixes and rarities, along with 45 previously unreleased tracks, including a brand new 1980s style extended remix of every track on the album by Moby, Steven Wilson and Blank & Jones and Midge Ure.
The box set also features a newly mixed full concert from Hammersmith Odeon 1984, a handful of work in progress mixes and Steven Wilson’s 5.1 mix on the DVD. All this is offered in new clamshell style packaging, as pictured above.
Lament will be released on 13 June 2025, via Chrysalis.
The pre-order window for the Dire StraitsBrothers in Arms SDE-exclusive blu-ray is about to close.
The blu-ray audio – #38 in the ongoing SDE Suround Series – will feature a Guy Fletcher Dolby Atmos Mix, an exclusive instrumental version of the album (also in Atmos), the 5.1 Surround Sound Mix from 2005 and two stereo mixes.
Audio streams on the Brothers in Arms SDE exclusive blu-ray:
2022 Dolby Atmos Mix (48/24)
2022 Dolby Atmos Instrumental Mix (48/24)
2005 5.1 Mix (96/24)
1985 CD Version Stereo Mix (96/24)
1985 Vinyl Version Stereo Mix (96/24)
The blu-ray audio is region-free and will ship with a free and collectible SDE Surround Series slipcase and is exclusively available via the SDE shop using this link or the buttons below.
The pre-order window closes on Wednesday 2 April 2025 and is the last point you can guarantee a copy of this release, although there is a chance of some availability due to cancellations/contingency stock much nearer to the release date (which is 16 May 2025).
Be aware, the last six releases in this exclusive immersive audio series are already out of print – including Bryan Ferry, Elton John and The Who – so do not miss out! The 3CD set is also worth picking up for the previously unreleased live concert, from 1985.
Brothers in Arms will be released on 16 May 2025, via UMR/Mercury.
Tracklisting
Brothers in ArmsDire Straits/40th anniversary
2022 Dolby Atmos Mix (48/24)
2022 Dolby Atmos Instrumental Mix (48/24)
2005 5.1 Mix (96/24)
1985 CD Version Stereo Mix (96/24)
1985 Vinyl Version Stereo Mix (96/24)
