Record Store Day 2025 is this Saturday! At theartsdesk on Vinyl we’ve been playing through exclusive RSD goodies. Check the reviews. Then check head to your local record shop! See you amongst it.
I apologise for the lack of current pop, particularly female pop singers, both established and rising. I spent time chasing such material but none arrived. Our RSD Special, then, lacks this tasty sliver of seasoning, but is still extremely tasty.
That aside, DIVE IN!
THEARTSDESK ON VINYL’S CHOICEST CUT OF RECORD STORE DAY APRIL 2026
Robert Plant with Suzi Dian Saving Grace: All That Glitters… (Nonesuch)
Righteously in the spirit of things, Robert Plant and his band recorded this four-track EP specifically for Record Store Day. It’s unclear (to me) exactly how Plant found this band for last year’s folky Saving Grace album but they seem to be a gathering of musicians he discovered near his Midlands country home during COVID Lockdown, including singing accordionist Suzi Dian, with whom he shares vocals (and who’s the drummer’s wife). She comes to the fore on a slow-strummed, churchy take on Gillian Welch’s “Orphan Girl”. Two other songs are traditional numbers, “The Blackest Crow” and the likeably understated waltz “Two Coats”, while the final tune is Bert Jansch’s “Poison”. It doesn’t hold to the original’s marching acoustic Sixties-ness, or even the Jansch’s darker, Dylan-esque 1990 electric take; instead it offers an ominous existential dirge-lament, ripe with murky rustic gloaming. Unlike almost all his peers, Plant never seems to coast. He clicks into his muse, in this case an earthy local lineage, and is supported by a band keenly aware where he wants to go. It’s a more than worthy companion piece to the album that preceded it.
VINYL REVIEWS FOR RECORD STORE DAY APRIL 2026
Suede Antidepressants Demos (Suede Ltd/BMG)
Suede are currently on an endless tour of the entire globe, including China, celebrating last year’s Antidepressants album. Following 2022’s Autofiction, it was the second album to represent the band's snappy sonic respray, seasoned with post-punk guitar dissonance and middle-aged angst. The RSD alternate version has the exact same track-listing but made up of demos recorded in guitarist Richard Oakes’ home studios in London and Sweden. I prefer it to the finished album. While it’s not, for the most part, a billion miles different, these takes have the rock polish sandpapered off, the reverb warmth is upped, and Brett sounds sometimes more in-the-moment. Some songs diverge from their final form more than others. “Sweet Kid”, for instance, has a welcome hint of Fifties rock’n’roll twang to it. It’s subtly changed but a surprisingly rewarding set which arrives in an inner sleeve with recording details.
The All Seeing I + Crooked Man Return of the Crooked Cat (London)
Sheffield electronic music royalty Richard Barratt, AKA DJ Parrot, recently released his third album as Crooked Man, entitled Crooked Stile. It’s tasty and was reviewed in the last edition theartsdesk on Vinyl (here). Perhaps to draw attention to it, he’s put together a quartet of remixes of cuts from the 1999 album Pickled Eggs and Sherbert by The All Seeing I, a trio of which he was part. Side A contains two remixes of “1st man in Space”, featuring Phil Oakey. Originally a jolly sliver of surreal pop, it now becomes “1st Crooked Man in Space” and “1st Crooked Dub in Space”, the former stark, squelchy, bubbly electro, seamed through with a sinister synth line, the latter, the same, but squidgier and cut about. Side B has a finger-clickin’ downtempo stroll around the originally technoid “I Walk” (called “I Walk Crooked”) and “Return of The Crooked Cat”, a disco-flecked, house roller with easy listening tendencies, which dips into the band’s Top 10 hit “Walk Like a Panther”, which featured Tony Christie. It’s an entertaining rejig.
Pavey Ark More Time/More Speed (Sunk Island)
Pavey Ark are an indie-folk outfit from Hull, whose second album receives a limited-to-500 vinyl run on gatefold, signed by band leader Neil Thomas, replete with an insert that gives a chance for the owner to win further rare Pavey Ark bits. Their music is deliciously orchestrated (just listen to the brass on “Epoch”), string-swathed, heartfelt and wholesome. The songs glow with delicate vocal feeling, leaving guitar-picked quiet space where required but orchestral swell elsewhere (even recalling “Bittersweet Symphony” on one occasion). The RSD blurb makes a big deal of the fact it was mastered by the bloke who fronts cult Isle of Wight indie outfit The Bees. But it has heaps more going for it than that. Whatever your opinion of the music, this is exactly the kind of release Record Store Day should be getting behind, giving under-sung independent bands a platform.
Rainbow In Concert 1976: Live in Köln (Edsel)
Rainbow have a bunch of live albums but this RSD set is taken from one of their first ever European shows, at the start of the tour for their second album, Rising. Mega guitarist Richie Blackmore had only left Deep Purple the year before and, with new singer Ronnie James Dio, is clearly having a ball. This is well prior to Rainbow’s chart success (“I Surrender”, “Since You Been Gone”, etc), so what we have is a sword’n’sorcery-fixated outfit who rock out thunderously, with real groove (except when Blackmore decides to play “Greensleeves”, which is virtuosic but incongruous). The songs are taken from the band’s first two albums, except for Deep Purple’s “Mistreated” and then-unreleased song “Kill the King” (a blistering take). First time on vinyl - triple on red, yellow and blue vinyl, no less – it’s an object lesson in Seventies rock as tight, ballsy and invigorating.
Elton John The Remixes (Postiva)
Positiva collects together eight club remixes of Elton John tunes. Thus we have two versions of Pnau’s COVID-era cut’n’paste song-medley hit “Cold Heart”, The Blessed Madonna’s bubbling roller and a funkier take by Claptone. Then there’s Purple Disco Machine’s high street-house “Hold Me Closer”, another medley which nicks the chorus to “Tiny Dancer”. 2 Bears strip back yet another Pnau medley song, “Sad”, from 2012, a lean house-ification and something you might hear in a real club (not that there are many of those left in 2020s Britain because the kids want to drink coffee and go to the gym). "The Shine a Light" version of his disco-soul flavoured 1975 hit “Philadelphia Freedom” is, I think, around 20 years old, a housey stomp. The Shep Pettibone remix of “I Don’t Wanna Go On With You Like That” is nice, from 1988, redolent of hi-NRG and early Pet Shop Boys, with solid percussive thrust. The RuPaul collaborative rejig of “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” dates from 1993 and was originally produced by Giorgio Moroder, here given a smooth jazz-house treatment by Roger Sanchez. Finally production trio KDME gave the classic “Rocket Man” a slight rerub in 2003, boosting its dancefloor potential. There’s plenty here that's not for me but the contributions by 2 Bears and Shep Pettibone make it an attractive proposition. Comes on glow-in-the-dark vinyl. I was also sent a very deluxe edition in a Postiva/Elton logo-laden cardboard box, containing a Postiva/Elton slipmat and a Swatch watch.
Roy Hargrove Bern (Time Traveller)
In 2000 the respected bebop trumpet man Roy Hargrove was in the middle of a prolonged exploratory phase, taking in developments in hip hop and R&B (for instance, he worked with D’Angelo earlier in the year). Listening to the set he played at the International Jazzfestival in Bern, Switzerland, that May, available for then first time here, these flavours aren’t immediately obvious, except on the funkin’ “Caryisms”. But his flighty fluidity of play on this five-track, limited-to-3000 EP is a exhilarating (just check out the interaction with drummer Willie Jones II on “Circus”). Also supported by Sherman Irby on sax, Larry Willis on piano and Gerald Cannon on bass, this is the sound of a tour band oiled and sparring. Hargrove died in 2018 but this memento is lively treat for jazz buffs.
Paul Weller When You’re Garden’s Overgrown/Boy About Town (Parlophone)
Paul Weller has been around so long that he now has a second volume of live at the BBC recordings (released at the end of April and in next month’s edition of theartsdesk on Vinyl). And that’s just from his solo years! To celebrate, a 7” single is appearing which features a punchy “When Your Garden’s Overgrown”, a psyche-rock-ish highlight of his 2012 Sonik Kicks album, recorded for Jo Wiley’s show, and a version of the much-loved Jam album cut, “Boy About Town”, reimagined with the London Metropolitan Orchestra and electronic whizz Hannah Peel as a ruminative backwards glance at youth. Both were recorded at the BBC Radio Theatre, the former in 2015, the latter in 2019.
Adrienne Lenker Live at Revolution Hall (4AD)
Big Thief are a band whose critical stature only seems to grow with their glacially slow rise to a wider public profile. The three members also each have busy solo careers, none more so than frontperson Adrienne Lenker. Last year she took an unconventional route to summing up her career so far, a podcast-ish overview of a three-night stand she performed in Portland’s Revolution Hall, taking in all kinds of off-stage chat, audience burbling, soundchecking, what sounds like off-the-cuff dressing room strum-throughs, as well, of course, as a plethora or her work, from better known material such as “Not a Lot, Just Forever” to unreleased songs such as “Happiness” and “Oldest”. It ranges from solo acoustic to small ensemble, and from bootleg rustling to crisp sound deck fare. On two records, limited to 3000, it offers a relaxed intimacy, a folky friendliness, and solid, understated songwriting, making a good case for the singer.
Pink Floyd Live From the Los Angeles Sports Arena, April 26th 1975 Boxset (Columbia)
Mike Mallard, who died in 1994, was one of the most renowned illicit concert recorders of all time, due to his gold run of high-end bootlegs of the 1970s biggest bands as they toured California. His 1975 recording of Pink Floyd in L.A. has long been a fan favourite (it should be noted that Mallard was a “tape trader” and didn’t approve of profit-motivated bootleg sales). The set was on board some versions of the band’s recent 50th anniversary edition of Wish You Were Here but is now spread over four transparent records, the sound cleaned up by musician and prog audio nerd Steven Wilson. It’s easy to see why it has the reputation it does. For starters, the opening “Raving and Drooling” is a prototype for the song “Sheep” but is much more enjoyable than the song it eventually became, featuring relentless psychedelic riffage and a Doctor Who theme interlude. But there’s much more to chew on – for well over two hours! – including a gigantically extended “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” and the whole of Dark Side of the Moon, before concluding with the mega-jam that is “Echoes”. The pot’n’flared trouser era rarely sounded better.
The Brand New Heavies Heavy Rhyme Experience: Vol.1 (London)
I’ve long disliked The Brand New Heavies’ music, regarding it as dull, smooth jazz-funk for Nineties sorts who regarded rave as an insult to their precious “rare groove” and/or the soulful end of early house. Far more vibrant things were going on back then. This is exactly what I still think of The Brand New Heavies. BUT I completely forgot that before they melted into the blandosphere they did a couple of albums worth hearing, 1990’s P-funkin’ self-titled outing and, even better, 1992’s Heavy Rhythm Experience: Vol.1. The latter receives an RSD reissue and is a fine snapshot of a moment in time, with the band backing a who’s who of contemporaneous hip hop, names such as Gang Starr, Main Source, Black Sheep and The Pharcyde, with even lesser-known names such as the ragga-tastic Jamalski hitting home runs. It’s a truly vibrant, funky set and, unfortunately, I shall now have to remember it as a caveat every time I’m in a pub debate being rude about The Brand New Heavies.
Camper Van Beethoven Tusk (Cooking Vinyl)
If people have heard of Camper Van Beethoven at all, it’s almost always because of a single they released 40 years ago, “Take the Skinheads Bowling”. But the eccentric California indie outliers have since done all manner of quirked, entertaining and/or lovely things (check out their 2013 album La Costa Perdida, as a relatively straightforward and enjoyable example). In 2002 they covered the entirety of Fleetwood Mac’s post-Rumours Tusk album which now reappears on double vinyl as purple and transparent as the music. It’s a delight, from start to stop, a wobbly stoned indie-freak-folk joy – just check out the melted brass-farting take on “Save Me a Place”, for starters. On double and available for the first time in a long time, it’s even endorsed by Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham, whose cover sticker quote concludes, “I have to say, I love it.”
John Lennon Love: Meditation Mixes (Universal)
Back in the Nineties there were raves aligned with the “zippies” or cyber-hippies, those who saw interlinks between rising hedonistic-electronic culture and the psychedelic uprising of the 1960s. At such events, there were sometimes “dream machines” in the chill-out rooms, devices where one would lie, eyes closed, with eye-wear that pulsed at frequencies designed, via altering the brainwaves, to send the mind to a meditative space (while, in the main room, the Drum Club – or similar - laid down tribal techno ‘til dawn). Not as culturally vital as Insta-pics of pecs in front of an L.E.D. display sponsored by JD Sports, clearly, but worth remembering. Sean Lennon did not, as far as theartsdesk on Vinyl knows, attend raves, But his Meditation Mixes of his father’s work embrace the same principles as brain machines, especially, he suggests, when used in league with the stroboscopic Lumenate phone app. In 2024 he released a set of mixes around John Lennon’s 1973 song “Mind Games”, and now it’s the turn of 1970’s “Love”. It arrives on Pearlescent vinyl in a triple gatefold “lilac mirrorboard” sleeve, nine versions, four of which contain a “binaural beat, an auditory illusion created within the brain when the right and left ears hear two slightly different frequencies… which can activate different brain patterns for scientifically proven therapeutic effects”. I don’t know about that but (a) I prefer its spaced-out ambition to some dude’s autotune rap about he can afford an expensive car and (b) a dip into these ambient Eno-esque numbers might prove balmy for frazzled heads before bedtime.
Status Quo Live at Hammersmith ’79 (Demon)
On 26th June 1979 Status Quo’s If You Can’t Stand The Heat Tour hit the Hammersmith Odeon. By then Rick Parfitt, Francis Rossi, Alan Lancaster and John Coghlan were a bludgeoningly in-sync blues-rock juggernaut. This much-bootlegged set now makes it to vinyl for the first time, double translucent red vinyl in gatefold, at that. There’s something almost punk – although nothing at all like punk! – about the Quo’s rugged simplicity, as they pummel into the likes of The Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues” and the swaggering crude guitar gut-punch of “Big Fat Mama”. By the time they reach the conclusory guitar, drum and crowd sing-along to Chuck, Berry’s “Bye Bye Johnny” listeners will either have left the area or be standing, hands on hips, doing those upper body moves. You know the ones.
Art Of Noise The Seduction of Claude Debussy (ZTT/Demon)
The Art of Noise had a convoluted on-and-off existence (very much off, this century). A version of the electronically innovative unit revived for a couple of years at the end of the 1990s, missing JJ Jeczalik, a key member of their final previous incarnation, but including post-modernist pop journo and ZTT Records conceptualist Paul Morley and super-producer Trevor Horn, both involved in the original Eighties line-up. Ever present, front and centre is Horn’s old orchestral arrangements buddy Anne Dudley. For some reason, the band briefly now contains Lol Creme of 10cc. It’s the first time on vinyl (four sides of it, all of them bright blue) for this concept album about composer Claude Debussy, with then-cutting-edge drum & bass rhythms stewed in with referential piano, operatics, John Hurt narration, and a rap from Rakim, among much else. The Art of Noise were no longer at electronic music’s leading edge, but, vaguely redolent of Malcolm McLaren’s brief hip hop-meets-opera flirtation, their explorations are convincingly offbeat, exciting, and rhythmically on-point.
The Sisters of Mercy First and Last and Always (Warner Music)
This RSD version of goth’s 1985 lynchpin album will be of interest mainly to Sisters ultra-nerds. It’s the same track listing as the original, which was reissued last year (and reviewed positively by theartsdesk on Vinyl, here), but features alternate mixes of “Black Planet”, “No Time to Cry”, “A Rock and a Hard Place” and the title track. These originally appeared only on the Japanese release of the album (and this is their first appearance since). The fact is that these “Japanese” mixes were the original album mixes, while the ones most Sisters fans will be familiar with are ones further fiddled about with in the final run-up to mastering by lead Sister Andrew Eldritch (or possibly an associate sound engineer – no-one quite knows). I’ve played both versions of the songs side by side. The “Japanese” mixes are warmer, bassier, more reverb-thrumming, with tints of additional instrumentation; they are richer, for sure. But one can see what Eldritch was up to with his last-minute tweaks. They rendered the four songs rhythmically sharper, colder, better to pose and preen to amid the dry ice. Unfortunately, due to the studio skills of whoever did it, they also render the sound less full, thinner, more trebly. With all that said, I’ve grown fond of the versions I know and will probably stick with them, but Eighties goth super-geeks will find this edition worth checking out.
Coldcut Sound Mirrors (Ninja Tune)
Coldcut were one of the key names in Britain’s late-Eighties clubland revolution. They were also one of the few British acts to take their hip hop-meets-acid house singles into the charts as the decade ended. And they founded Ninja Tune Records for which, alone, they deserve their place in the history books. Their last album was, unbelievably, 20 years ago, but now reappears on numbered transparent coloured vinyl (one-to-1000), in die-cut outer and inner sleeves (an “injection moulded, zero PVC, non-toxic and fully recycled record,” it says on the cover). The 12 tracks wander round house, breakbeat, poetry, hip hop and more, but this isn’t the bubbling euphoria of “Doctorin’ the house” and “Stop this Crazy Thing”. Instead, it’s mostly lathered in a melancholy sense all's not well with the world, from the Pop Will Eat Itself-ish, paranoic electro-rock of “Everything is Under Control”, featuring Jon Spencer and Mike Ladd, to the existential downtempo contemplations of “Mr Nichols”, featuring Saul Williams. Fortunately, the moodiness is more than balanced by uplift in the songs, sounds and production.
Terry Callier At the Earl of Old Town (Time Traveller)
For 20 years, from the early Sixties to the earl Eighties, The Earl of Old Town was a key hub for Chicago singer-songwriters, a lively bar where then likes of John Prine and Bonnie Koloc learned their trade. The soul-laced folkie Terry Callier was a rising regular on the city circuit in October 1967, when this set was recorded. It now appears for the first time, well-mastered and restored, pressed to two discs in gatefold with photo booklet and further info. Aside from female working class folk revivalist Hedy West’s “900 Miles” none of the songs appeared on his debut album, which came out the following next year. Despite clatter and chat ever-present, it’s a rich, bluesy collection, featuring songs by Willie Dixon, as well as his contemporaries such as Tom Paxton, the more eccentric Dino Valenti’s “Birdses”, and traditional fare such as “Gallows Pole”.
Xmal Deutschland The Complete BBC Peel Sessions (4AD)
4AD Records have been casting light lately, via carefully curated reissues, on gothy female-centric Eighties German post-punkers Xmal Deutschland. This two-record set, on silver vinyl, contains one session for John Peel’s show on each side, from 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1985. It opens with a visceral take on their best-known song, “Incubus Succubus”, and that side maintains its combination of Banshees-like guitar and impressively metronomic drumming, all in attack mode. 1983 continues in the same vein but then heads into slower Cocteaus-adjacent threat on “Reigan” and the rolling toms of “Vito”. 1984 is where it grows less fierce and, to these ears, more interesting, with the band offering moody takes on their Tocsin album, like a more melodic Southern Death Cult. The final 1985 selection will be of most interest to their fans as the band later turned three of its songs into the 12” Sequenz EP but one number, the pop-leaning “Der Wind”, never made it. Enjoyment will depend how much the listener can wear of frontwoman Anje Huw’s keening vocalising, but record one is for the punk-leaning and record two for those interested in sounds bridging to today's dark wave artists.
Hollie Cook Shy Girl in Dub (Mr Bongo)
Ben McKone is the drummer for likeable reggae-pop performer Hollie Cook and co-produced her fifth studio album, Shy Girl, last year. Now he’s given the chance to pull it to pieces in a set of dub versions, appearing on pine-green vinyl with a set of stickers. He doesn’t do anything too brutal and whacked-out, which suits her, maintaining the genial tone of the original. Highlights include the pared-back echo’n’bass of “Dubbing On”, the brassy “Dub Me in Your Arms”, and the Twinkle Brothers-ish “Deep Dub”, and the whole thing is executed with ease and precision, Cook’s light vocals floating around within. Whether you’re a fan of herbal refreshments or not, once the needle drops, it’s a warm summer night cuddle.
Brian Wilson On Tour 1999-2007 (Oglio)
Brian Wilson died last year but anyone who saw him perform in recent years will agree that something had died in him well before that. However, when he was first resurgent at the start of the century, having been carefully managed back from financial ruin and mental burn-out, he had a gold run of live global dates with a tight and supportive band (an iteration of L.A. unit Wondermints). This set, in gatefold, offers a snapshot of the era. Its 14 songs run the gamut from versions of other people’s songs, such as Harry Nilsson’s This Could be the Night” and his rivals The Beatles “She’s Leaving Home”, to 2000s releases, such as “Desert Drive”, to relatively obscure Beach Boys numbers, such as rockin’ out on the 1972 single “Marcella”. Wilson sounds more present than he later became and it’s an interesting smorgasbord of less expected cuts.
Ian Dury and the Blockheads Live in London 1980 (BBC/Demon)
By the end of 1980 Ian Dury’s pan-flash of proper pop stardom was already waning but the artistic kudos coming his way was not. Nor would it. On Christmas Eve the BBC broadcast a concert from London’s Dominion Theatre, via The Old Grey Whistle Test for TV and John Peel for the radio. The band is astounding, The Blockheads, featuring Wilko Johnson, Clash drummer Topper Headon, and jazz legend Don Cherry, and the set combines their chops endearingly with Dury's roughness and spiky wit. On four sides of orange vinyl, its sounds meaty, and reminds, yet again, what a unique phenomenon Dury and his Blockheads were, poetry as we rarely hear it the charts, and deathless choruses. It culminates, of course, with “Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick” and “Sex & Drugs & Rock Roll”, but the journey there is just as enjoyable.
Yusuf Lateef Alight Upon the Lake: Live at the Jazz Showcase (Resonance) + Mal Waldron Stardust & Starlight: At the Jazz Showcase (Resonance)
Clear care and attention has been put into these two from Resonance Records, with deep-diving professorial jazz historian Zev Feldman co-producing the music. First an unreleased-‘til-now 1975 set by US saxophonist-flautist Yusuf Lateef at Joe Segal’s Jazz Showcase venue in Chicago. It’s spread over three well-mastered records, and comes with an eight-page booklet of photos, alongside extensive liner notes featuring input from Lateef’s son, as well as his biographer Herb Boyd. As a jazz-listener, theartsdesk on Vinyl remains (relatively) ingénue, rooted in other musical worlds and how they connect with jazz, but I can dig this set. Lateef and his band - pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Bob Cunningham and drummer Albert Heath – lay their wares out in a fashion that, even when super-busy, has a laidback, thoughtful quality, especially when the flute is to the fore. It’s not a quick-dipping tapas, but a main meal to fill the room
and relax into. Resonance offer another Jazz Showcase live set in the double-on-gatefold Stardust & Starlight by pianist Mal Waldron. Again, the sound is crystal, offering an assiduously in-the-room live feel, and, again, the album comes with a multiplicity of interviews and info. Waldron’s is a purer jazz but accessible due to his tendency to improvise around standards, such as “Stardust”, “Round Midnight” and “Stella by Starlight”. His band, Steve Rodby on Bass and Wilbur Campbell on drums, offer effortless support but are happy to briefly jump into the limelight where required. However, many will flip to the final two tracks, wherein bebop pioneer Sonny Stitt takes flight on alto sax.
The Stranglers Rarities (Parlophone)
The Stranglers were aged 27 (Hugh Cornwall), 24 (Jean-Jacques Burnel) 27 (Dave Greenfield) and 38 (Jet Black) when punk rock broke during the latter half of 1976. This made them easily the oldest of the key Brit 1970s punk bands, which was a point against them, but their cultural knowledge and musical experience led to music that sustains interest decades after many who mocked them have been forgotten. This rarities collection illustrates the point, 13 songs that run the gamut; a French language version of doom-laden smack anthem “Don’t Bring Harry”; extended mixes of classics such as “Bear Cage” and “Shah Sha A Go Go”; two sides of throwaway rock’n’roll for a single they did with a now-long-lost singer Celia Gollin (as Celia and the Mutations); edits of the famous singles “No More Heroes”, “Peaches”, “Walk On By” and “La Folie”; various B-sides; a new wave banger sung in Swedish. A worthwhile set shining a light on an eclectically talented bunch.
Flying Lotus 1983 (Brainfeeder)
20 years ago Flying Lotus was one of a hugely influential wave of warped-out Los Angeles hip hop-tronic initiators. Sounds he was then at the vanguard of making, alongside the club where he and his peers would meet, Low End Theory, would flavour IDM, the next wave of hip hop, and eventually pop. Now his 2006 debut album, out of print for over a decade, reappears, with new mirrored cover art, on splattery gold vinyl, remastered by Low End Theory main man Daddy Kev, himself. 1983’s gloopy glitch-noodling instrumentals, ticking along over strange beats, still sound admirably head-curdling, sometimes sweet-natured, but as often scrunching about in subterranean undergrowth.
Ike White Changin’ Times (Rhino)
American producer Jerry Goldstein, now 86, has had quite a life. As a member of Sixties act The Strangeloves, he co-wrote “My Boyfriend’s Back” and “I Want Candy”, and, as a manager, he was involved with Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone, War and others. But a lesser-known chapter of his life is his discovery of Ike White, serving life for murder in Folsom Prison. Goldstein sponsored the making this 1976 album (created in gaol). It’s honeyed soul, lightly laced with funk. I have a tendency to use the word “smooth” pejoratively about music, but in the case, the smoothness is like oil, massaging the music into the listener. Never frenetic, White’s music is tender, groovy and organic (and has been sampled by Ice Cube. Snop Dogg and others). He had quite the life story, disappearing when released from prison (Ammar Kalia offered a biographical overview in The Guardian back in 2020, if you’re interested in Googling). This RSD edition is freshly remastered with an insert of new photos, notes and background, including input from Goldstein.
Gay Dad A Leisure Noise (London)
London band Gay Dad’s then-contentious 1999 debut album arrived at a time when the music industry and the pop public didn’t really know what they wanted or what was coming around the bend. Superclubland had grown superdull, Coldplay, Travis and the internet were in the ascendant, and the indie resurgence had yet to happen. Listening to A Leisure Noise in 2026, on vinyl the colour of the sleeve, it’s hard to see what the fuss was about. The single “To Earth With Love”, a Top 10 hit, is a rock pastiche, and the band’s biggest song. It represents for the whole thing – “C’mon let’s get it on, put yer platforms on!” Unlike most debut albums, they don’t sound hungry or chomping-at-the-bit, more like old friends and music biz insiders astounded to be having fun on London Records’ buck.
We welcome any and all vinyl for review. Please hit thomash.green@theartsdesk.com for a postal address.
Add comment