New vinyl re-releases: September 19, 2025

There's a lot happening in the world right now, but in our little vinyl corner, it feels a bit like the calm before the storm. We're basically days away from the start to the holiday shopping season, and that means vinyl reissues galore. It makes sense to want to save your pennies for something special. Still, there are a number of things to get excited about this week for the truly devoted and/or addicted.

Tariffs continue to be a problem, in that they're preventing some very nice imports from coming to the US. We'll have a fuller report on that soon, but for now, just be patient if your vinyl procurer is having trouble getting what you want.

One more thing before we launch into this week's bounty: Here's a gift link to a fun New York Times story about the people who collect records that got pressed onto cereal boxes in the 1950s, '60s, and beyond. These collectors are a very, um, particular bunch, and to hear them wistfully mourn the fading away of their niche cultural fascination is to look unto the void itself. Don't pour milk on your records, kids. Here's the week. NL

DEMON

The late Terry Hall didn't release much music under his own name, preferring to stay within the confines of the groups he was a part of (the Specials, Fun Boy Three, and the Colourfield, among them). But when he did drop some proper solo material, it allowed him to continue flex his well-toned pop songwriting muscles. Those skills were in full flower on Laugh, an ebullient LP from 1997 that is getting a fresh vinyl pressing this week. On it, Hall worked closely with former Aztec Camera/Smiths member Craig Gannon, and co-wrote a handful of songs with the likes of Damon Albarn (Blur), Sean O'Hagan (the High Llamas), and Stephen Duffy (the Lilac Time). DEMON RH

RHINO

With much ballyhoo, Rhino is reissuing 1973's Buckingham Nicks, the debut and only album from the duo of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, who went on to join Fleetwood Mac on New Year's Eve 1974. Since the two principal parties don't seem to get along very well, it's a minor miracle this is happening at all, especially for an album that the two have kept out of print since the early 1980s. Whether they think of it as musical juvenilia or if Stevie just doesn't like the amount of sideboob she's showing, Buckingham Nicks is perhaps the preeminent American rock record that didn't survive into the CD age. Now it's finally back, with all the trimmings. A Rhino High Fidelity pressing aimed at audiophiles already sold out its first numbered run of 5,000; a second unnumbered run is available from Rhino directly and at retailers. The RHF pressing is all analog, cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearant from a safety copy of the master tape, according to this recent podcast interview. An additional pressing, mastered by Chris Bellman of Bernie Grundman Mastering, is being made more widely available at a lower price point and in a dizzying array of colored vinyl variants, one of which you should be able to find at your local independent retailer on Friday. Since Bellman made the digital transfer for CD and streaming, I will hazard a guess that this vinyl cut is also from his hi-res file, although the hype sticker says "newly remastered from the analog tapes," which is vague enough to mean anything. [UPDATE: On his private Rhino High Fidelity Fan Club Facebook page, Steve Westman of The Audiophile Roundtable podcast confirmed that Rhino has told him that the Chris Bellman cut IS also all-analog, not cut from a digital file. This is from a post back in July—apologies for missing that.] RHINO NL

SKEP WAX

Just as British jangle-pop nonpareils Heavenly dropped their first new music in nearly 30 years with the single "Portland Town," the recently reunited group have also wrapped up their work of reissuing their ’90s output with this week's remastered vinyl edition of Operation Heavenly. The 1996 album found the quintet wrapping their candy-floss sounds in the harder-edged guitar sound of their Britpop contemporaries to delicious, delirious effect. There's bittersweetness wrapped up in this re-release, too, as it was the last to feature drummer Matthew Fletcher, who died by suicide mere months before the album was set to drop. SKEP WAX RH

ORG MUSIC

Hot on the heels of their excellent Funkadelic reissues (read our review here), Org Music is tackling the debut full-length of Manhattan Beach pop-punk pioneers the Descendents. Milo Goes to College is being offered in standard and "Punk Note" editions (a riff on Blue Note Records), which is maybe the way to go if you already have a copy with the iconic cover art on your shelf. Good luck explaining the lyrics to your kids. ORG MUSIC NL

STONES THROW

Until now, Tropical Dandy was one of the few albums headlined by pop chameleon Haruomi Hosono that had never been issued outside of his native Japan. The good people of Stones Throw are rectifying this oversight this week, in part, to honor the 50th anniversary of its initial release. The LP stays true to its name with a groovy, synth-forward tone that is giving sleazy seaside dive bar vibes or a Sandals resort gone to seed. STONES THROW RH

MOBILE FIDELITY

The silky-smooth soft rock of the Doobie Brothers' Minute by Minute has been screaming out for a lavish, 2-LP 45 RPM pressing on the big-ticket MoFi imprint ever since it entered the world in 1978, so much so that it's surprising it hasn't happened already. Fear not, for you're now able to hear the lactose-enhanced synth-funk bounce and Michael McDonald's inimitable falsetto on "What a Fool Believes" on the most expensive format possible—well, that is, until MoFi decides to do a One-Step. Here's the chain, per MoFi: "1/4" / 15 IPS / Dolby A analog master to DSD 256 to analog console to lathe." So yes, a digital step. MOBILE FIDELITY NL

TANGERINE

It's hard to think of someone as influential and well-known as Ray Charles as having any "lost" records, but anything can happen with an artist as prolific as Charles, and 1963's Ingredients in a Recipe for Soul just might qualify. It reached number two in the charts, but hasn't been available legitimately on vinyl since the '60s. Ingredients includes the big hit "Busted" and finds Brother Ray in big-band balladeer mode. The reissue comes with full oversight from his estate, and is part of the Ray Charles Remaster Series that kicked off in August. TANGERINE NL

BLUE NOTE

Something definitely worth celebrating amidst this ongoing vinyl explosion is the work that Blue Note has been doing to get treasures from their vast vault back into circulation. This week, they grace us with a repress of Freddie Redd's 1960 album Shades of Redd. The pianist's second release for Blue Note as a bandleader, the album is straight bop brilliance with some sharp work by saxophonists Jackie McLean and Tina Brooks and the tasteful swing of drummer Louis Hayes. For this entry in their ongoing Classic Vinyl Series, the label has handed the master tapes to the ever-reliable Kevin Gray for mastering and had the 180-gram LPs pressed at Optimal Media in Germany. BLUE NOTE RH

Blue Note is also reissuing Sonny's Crib, an 1957 joint from pianist Sonny Clark, who's joined by John Coltrane, Donald Byrd, Curtis Fuller, Paul Chambers, and Art Taylor. Two weeks after this session, Coltrane, Fuller, and Chambers would of course go on to record Blue Train, but what the Clark set captures is that transitional area from bebop to hard bop, showcasing all the musicians at the peaks of their powers. This is also an all-analog cut from Gray and pressed at Optimal. BLUE NOTE NL

MUNSTER/VAMPISOUL

Some of our favorite Spanish labels (Guerssen, Munster, and Vampisoul) are having difficulties getting their records from Spain to the States at the moment due to the ongoing tariff situation. Nevertheless, some recent reissues look like they're going to be available in the US this week, so snap 'em up if you see 'em. Ranil y su Conjunto Tropical's Sonido Amazónico compilation covers Ranil's work from the late '70s and early '80s; he's one of the chief practitioners of Amazonian cumbia. And Psychedelic Cumbia Party compiles the work of Peruvian cumbia practitioners Los Zheros, who incorporate surf guitars into their cumbia. Those both come from Vampisoul.

Meanwhile, sister label Munster's got a reissue of the charming Peruvian pop band Grupo Amigos' 1973 album Paloma Mensajera, which is heavily indebted to the glam rock and power-pop sounds coming (mostly) from the UK around that time. They've also got a tremendous-looking comp called Joropop: Psych Pop & Folk in Venezuela 1968–1976 that includes some really rare, beautiful stuff. Then, to wake you rudely from that reverie, they've got a reissue of Basque punk band Eskorbuto's 1985 album Anti Todo, a seminal record from the robust Spanish punk scene of the 1980s. MUNSTER/VAMPISOUL NL

SUNDAZED

Longstanding reissue imprint Sundazed adorns record store shelves with two represses this week. Four years after issuing a gold vinyl edition of On the Bandstand, a cheerfully rambling 1963 effort from Bakersfield, California, country legend Buck Owens, Sundazed is dropping a shiny black wax version. Also on deck is a yellow mono version of Distortions, the blazing hot debut full-length by Minneapolis garage-rock stompers The Litter that was originally released back in 1967. SUNDAZED RH

WARNER CLASSICS

Daniel Barenboim and Staatskapelle Berliner's Beethoven cycle from 2000 has been trickling out on wax, decades after it was released on CD and the short-lived DVD-Audio format. Earlier this year we got a three-disc set with Symphonies 3, 4, and 5, and now we have another triple LP with Symphonies 7 and 9, both of which are, y'know, pretty good symphonies. On the whole, Barenboim's cycle is decent enough, with sweet sound and no overbearing flaws, but in some ways it feels like the end of an era, when major labels were willing to bankroll giant artistic endeavors like complete symphony cycles recorded with state-of-the-art technology. WARNER CLASSICS NL

OTHER REISSUES OF NOTE:
Thomas Dolby: The Golden Age of Wireless [Music on Vinyl]
Eero Koivistoinen Quartet: At Belmont Jazz Club [Svart]
Bryan Ferry: Frantic; Avonmore [BMG]
Yellow Magic Orchestra: Live at the Greek Theater 8/4/79 [Great Tracks]
Emil Gilels: Live at the Concertgebouw 1980 [The Lost Recordings]
Ozobby Horn: Born to Move On [Afrodelic]
Amber Rubarth: Sessions from the 17th Ward [Chesky]
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades: Canciones del Solar de Los Aburridos [Craft]
Charlie Rouse Band: Cinnamon Flower [Resonance]
Cal Tjader Mambo Quintet: Ritmo Caliente! [Descarga]
Dido: No Angel [Sony Legacy]
Gabor Szabo: 1969 (repress) [Ebalunga]
Grupo Amigos: Paloma Mensajera [Munster]
Herbie Hancock: Mwandishi [Music on Vinyl]
Jim Croce: The Definitive Croce [BMG]
Skylar Spence: Prom King 10-year anniversary 2-LP [Carpark]
Harold Budd: Avalon Sutra [Darla]
Kamelot: Ascension 1995–1998 [BMG]
Os Cariocas: A Bossa dos Cariocas [Jazz Samba]
Various Artists: Dream a Dream with Studio G: Cratedigger's Archive 1970–2009 [Jazz Dispensary/Craft]