Tag: Record Store Day

Record Store Day 2023 – My Guide to the Most and Least Essential Releases

For as long as I can remember, independent record stores across the world have celebrated Record Store Day. At first a small initiative to get people to shop at their local record stores, it’s now an excuse for thousands of people to join hours-long queues at record shops across the world to buy one (or several) of the several hundred special releases made for that day that will only ever be sold in stores, and for which pre-orders are not allowed to be taken. As the list of releases has grown, the quality of those releases has diverged. While some of the announced records are long-awaited reissues of rare and important material, others are obvious cash grabs meant to appeal to the completist nature of a certain type of collector. Now, I’ll sort some of these in buckets for you, starting with the most essential and ending with the least essential.

I’ve focused on the U.S. list for this post as this is where we are and will be waiting in line. 
Continue reading “Record Store Day 2023 — My Guide to the Most and Least Essential Releases”

Record Store Day 2020: A Woefully Out-of-Date Preview of What Was Supposed to Happen

Record Store Day didn’t really happen this year, but tomorrow is the first of 3 “RSD Drops” where most of what was intended to be released back in April is finally being sent to your local independent record store. Methods of sale vary wildly from store to store so be sure to call or email ahead to find out how to wait in the queue, if you’re even able to. Records will be online much faster than ever before, so keep your eyes on the independent sellers who also sell online. For actual, final Record Store Day info, visit http://www.recordstoreday.com. And now, travel back in time to early April when I was about to press publish …

For a dozen years now, independent record stores across the world have celebrated Record Store Day. At first, a small initiative to get people to shop at their local record stores, it’s now an excuse for thousands of people to join hours-long queues at record shops across the world to buy one (or several) of the several hundred special releases made for that day that will only ever be sold in stores, and for which pre-orders are not allowed to be taken. As the list of releases has grown, the quality of those releases has diverged. While some of the announced records are long-awaited reissues of rare and important material, others are obvious cash grabs meant to appeal to the completist nature of a certain type of collector. Now, I’ll sort some of these in buckets for you, starting with the most essential, ending with the least essential. Continue reading “Record Store Day 2020: A Woefully Out-of-Date Preview of What Was Supposed to Happen”

Single Review: Blur – Fool’s Day

I totally feel like this kid today

I am, and there’s no better word for it, a Blur superfan.  They’ve been my favorite band since I was 17.  That was 1995.  You can do the math.  But all old jokes aside, I was very sad that I couldn’t make the trek to London to stand in line for hours and get one of the 1,000 copies of the new Blur 7″ “Fool’s Day” released for Record Store Day in the UK.  As an old-school collector who spent all my lunch money on imported Blur singles, this was a painful decision.  At least no one could go because of some sort of apocalyptic devil-ash, and I take solace in that.  And in the fact that the internet exits… but I’ll get to the song now. Continue reading “Single Review: Blur — Fool’s Day”