New vinyl reissues: August 21, 2026
Plus a ton of new announcements, including Rhino’s Rocktober, three new Vinylphyles, the R.E.M. DSS, and more.
It’s another brimming week of vinyl reissues, but before I get into that, a huge amount of upcoming titles have been announced in the past few days. There’s a lot to talk about—including an insane amount of stuff on the way for Rhino’s Rocktober series—but I’ll attempt to keep things as brief as I can. Apologies in advance to your wallet.
Interscope-Capitol’s Definitive Sound Series will follow up their sold-out pressing of R.E.M.’s Murmur/Chronic Town with a one-step pressing of the Athens, Georgia, band’s 1984 sophomore album Reckoning. This is cut from tape by Chris Bellman and is limited to 5000 copies, with preorders here and the album due out September 18.
Meanwhile, Tom “Grover” Biery, the guy responsible for the Definitive Sound Series, is also reissuing Terry Callier’s brilliant 1972 soul-folk-jazz album Occasional Rain, with production by the immortal Charles Stepney. This will be on Biery’s Slow Down Sounds label, cut from the analog master tape by Kevin Gray and pressed at RTI. Those in the know are well aware of this album’s brilliance, so if you’re unfamiliar, it’s well worth checking out. Preorders can be made here, and—in something I’ve never seen before—Biery has made a needledrop of the vinyl test pressing available as a stream, which might be the coolest way to immerse yourself in this album as you await the reissue’s arrival, also on September 18.
Universal’s Vinylphyle series has just announced three fascinatingly wide-ranging additions to the series. Two of them are available right now: The Allman Brothers Band’s classic 1971 double live album At Fillmore East, cut from the 1971 quarter-inch 15ips non-Dolby master tape by Jeff Powell; and GZA’s 1995 album Liquid Swords, cut to two LPs from the 1995 Sterling Sound digital master by Joe Nino-Hernes (the product description says, “While sessions were recorded to 2-inch 24-track tape, final mixes were printed on DAT tapes”). And coming October 23 is Frank Sinatra’s 1966 double live album Sinatra at the Sands, featuring backing by Count Basie’s orchestra, arranged and conducted by Quincy Jones. This is a brand-new mix of the album, cut from the digital mixdown by Nino-Hernes. All Vinylphyles were pressed at RTI; the early-access ordering links are here (but those tend to disappear, so you can go here if that link no longer works). Anyone ordering all three deserves a pat on the back for having wildly diverse musical tastes.
Meanwhile, Craft’s Original Jazz Classics are reissuing that holiday chestnut, Vince Guaraldi’s A Charlie Brown Christmas. This is approximately the 8,453,435,650,239th time this album has been released on vinyl—but the OJC version is cut from analog master tape by Matthew Lutthans and pressed at QRP, and it should favor very well when compared to the countless colored vinyl and novelty editions that have been reissued over the years. It’s available for preorder here—along with two other entries in the OJC series: John Coltrane with the Red Garland Trio and Relaxin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet, both originally released in 1958 on Prestige and newly cut from the master tapes by Kevin Gray and pressed at RTI. All three are due out October 9.
And last but definitely not least, Rhino has announced a positively HUGE lineup for Rocktober, with 54 vinyl reissues hitting brick-and-mortar record stores (and some online vendors) during the weeks of October—including several new Rhino Reserve pressings and a few Rhino High Fidelity editions breaking their way out of Rhino’s D2C exclusivity. (This is on top of an imminent release in the Rhino High Fidelity series that is reportedly coming first thing tomorrow morning early next week [UPDATE: the announcement has been pushed back to Monday, August 24]—for more about that, read my newsletter from earlier this week here.) This year’s Rocktober is looking pretty dang stacked; some of these titles may be available to order from Rhino directly, but Rocktober is a retail-oriented series, so your best bets will likely be your local record store or preferred online retailer. Here’s the rundown.
October 2
INXS – Underneath the Colors (grape vinyl)
INXS – INXS (sea blue vinyl)
Type O Negative – October Rust (2-LP picture disc)
October 16
Phil Collins – Dance into the Light (2-LP on translucent orange and blue vinyl)
Crosby, Stills & Nash – Crosby, Stills & Nash (Rhino High Fidelity - cut from analog tape)
Dr. Feelgood – Down by the Jetty (stereo mix)
Love – Love (transparent red vinyl)
Love – Da Capo (transparent orange vinyl)
Love – Four Sail (light blue vinyl)
Joni Mitchell – Blue (Rhino High Fidelity - cut from analog tape)
Joni Mitchell – Court and Spark (Rhino High Fidelity - cut from analog tape)
Motörhead – On Parole alternate mix (smokey marble vinyl)
Pretenders – Get Close 40th anniversary edition (white vinyl)
Tom Verlaine – Tom Verlaine (clear vinyl)
Tom Verlaine – Words from the Front (clear vinyl)
Tom Verlaine – Dreamtime (clear vinyl)
Tom Verlaine – Cover (clear vinyl)
ZZ Top – Eliminator (yellow vinyl)
October 23
Devo – Something for Everybody (1-LP on black vinyl and 7” blue vinyl)
The Doobie Brothers – Best of the Doobies (Vol. 1) (Coke bottle green vinyl)
The Dream Academy – The Dream Academy (Rhino Reserve - cut from analog tape)
Hootie & The Blowfish – Fairweather Johnson
Hootie & The Blowfish – Musical Chairs
Hootie & The Blowfish – Scattered, Smothered and Covered (2-LP)
Hootie & The Blowfish – Hootie & The Blowfish (2-LP)
Mott the Hoople – Brain Capers (Rhino Reserve - cut from analog tape)
Nada Surf – High/Low (Rhino Reserve)
Never Shout Never – Harmony
Randy Newman – Sail Away (Rhino Reserve - cut from analog tape)
Randy Newman – Good Old Boys (Rhino Reserve - cut from analog tape)
Ramones – Ramones (mono)
Doug Sahm – Groover’s Paradise (Rhino Reserve - cut from analog tape)
Rod Stewart – Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 (teal vinyl)
Rod Stewart – Greatest Hits, Vol. 3 (yellow vinyl)
Tony Joe White – The Best of Tony Joe White (2-LP)
October 30
The B-52’s – Cosmic Thing (Rhino Reserve - cut from analog tape)
The Chills – Submarine Bells (Rhino Reserve - cut from analog tape)
Alice Cooper – Goes to Hell (Rhino Reserve - cut from analog tape)
The Cramps – Flamejob (Rhino Reserve)
Buddy Guy & Junior Wells – Play the Blues (Rhino Reserve - cut from analog tape)
Killswitch Engage – Killswitch Engage (2009)
Ministry – Filth Pig (expanded edition) (2-LP)
Ministry – Dark Side of the Spoon (expanded edition) (2-LP with etching)
Mudhoney – Piece of Cake (green vinyl)
Mudhoney – My Brother the Cow (pink vinyl)
Mudhoney – Tomorrow Hit Today (red vinyl)
Mudhoney – Live! 1993-1998 (white vinyl)
Mudhoney – Five Dollar Bob’s Mock Cooter Stew/4-Track Reprise Demos (white vinyl)
Porno for Pyros – Good God’s Urge (Rhino Reserve)
Todd Rundgren – Runt (Rhino Reserve - cut from analog tape)
Todd Rundgren – The Ballad of Todd Rundgren (Rhino Reserve - cut from analog tape)
The Stooges – Fun House (Rhino High Fidelity - cut from analog tape)
The Velvet Underground – Loaded (Rhino High Fidelity - cut from analog tape)
ZZ Top – Greatest Hits (2-LP on translucent yellow and blue vinyl)
Lots of exciting new Rhino Reserves in the lineup, which were cut by Matthew Lutthans at the Mastering Lab, with the exception of Porno for Pyros and Nada Surf, which were cut by Jeff Powell at Take Out Vinyl. I’ve indicated which releases I can confirm were cut from analog tape. (Note: The advance product image of Todd Rundgren’s Runt that I had access to does not include the usual “Cut from Analog Tape” language in the Rhino Reserve hype sticker, but I have been told that it was indeed cut from the original tape.)
And there’s plenty of other non-Reserve stuff in this list, like a mono mix of the Ramones’ debut and loads of Mudhoney and solo Tom Verlaine (and Hootie, if that’s your thing). Plus, those Love colored vinyl releases could even be carve-outs from the excellent Love box set that came out during last year’s Black Friday, cut from tape by Chris Bellman. Here’s hoping.
Getting back to this week’s vinyl reissues, here’s the new playlist, visible to our paid-tier subscribers.
If you’d like to access our weekly playlists, simply upgrade your subscription and start listening. In addition to these wide-ranging playlists, you’ll also be able to enter our monthly vinyl giveaways—one of which is going on right now! For all the details on our August giveaway, and to upgrade your subscription, click on this box.
Ned Lannamann
Rush: Fly by Night [Mobile Fidelity]
Mobile Fidelity’s much-anticipated Rush series kicks off with a reissue of their second album, 1975’s Fly by Night, the first with drummer Neil Peart in the fold. This finds the Canadian trio establishing more of their identity than on their debut, with the golden guitar pop of the title track meeting the firestorm riffage of “Anthem” and the proggier crags of “By-Tor and the Snow Dog,” plus gentler tones in songs like “Rivendell” and “Making Memories.” It’s one of Rush’s most unassuming and genial records, and it should make for a fine entry point in MoFi’s series, which will give all their albums up through 1985’s Power Windows the 45 RPM 2-LP treatment, with the albums from their peak period (1976–1982) undergoing MoFi’s UltraDisc one-step process. Fly by Night was transferred to DSD and cut from that hi-res digital transfer; it’s a limited, numbered pressing (although I’m having trouble finding out just how many there are gonna be).
Happy Mondays: Pills ’n’ Thrills and Bellyaches [London]
The Madchester scene was in full swing when the Mancunian dance-rock outfit Happy Mondays released Pills ’n’ Thrills and Bellyaches, their 1990 album of celebratory, drug-fueled rhythms that threw caution to the wind, caring not a whit whether the album title was consistent in its use of the word “and” or its abbreviation “’n’.” Heady times, indeed. The album of baggy, era-defining tunes is now undergoing a huge reissue, with a 5-LP box set available as well as single LPs in either black or red vinyl. Or, for the adventurous, there is this mysterious “Pill Edition,” which contains all sorts of (presumably fake) drug paraphernalia (and presumably CDs or a download of some sort). While this is a newsletter that ordinarily celebrates vinyl, for Pills ’n’ Thrills and Bellyaches, some sort of pill-intake format might be the one that embodies the album’s truest essence.
The Grateful Dead: Dick’s Picks Vol. 6 [Real Gone Music]
Look alive, Deadheads: This just went on sale today and is limited to a mere 1000 copies, so it won’t last long. It’s a 5-LP vinyl reissue of the Dead’s show at the Hartford Civic Center on November 14, 1983, newly mastered by Jeffrey Norman, who reportedly was able to fix the sound to a greater extent than on previous releases. Lacquers were cut at Well Made Music and the pressing was done at Gotta Groove, so it should sound pretty righteous. This show features an early outing of the Garcia-Hunter song “Keep Your Day Job,” plus it features both the “Scarlet Begonias/Fire on the Mountain” and “Estimated Prophet/Eyes of the World” medleys, rare for a single show. If this is your cup of (dosed) tea, probably best not to wait.
7Zuma7: Deep Inside… [Ripple Music]
The Dutch stoner-rock band 7Zuma7 only released one full-length during their five-year lifespan, but now 1999’s Deep Inside… has been reissued on the San Ramon, California, label Ripple Music as part of their Beneath the Desert Floors series. You’d be forgiven for assuming the Eindhoven outfit crawled out from somewhere in the sun-scorched deserts of California, but instead this four-piece hailed from the land of gin, tulips, Vermeer, and sensible bicycle transportation. The album is brash and glammy with a hint of sleaze, making for an enjoyably tuneful late-’90s rock record that swims against the then-prevailing tide of dumbass mook-metal. It’s not for me to say Deep Inside… is a lost classic, but if I casually lob out a phrase like that, maybe you’ll be more inclined to check it out. So, yeah. Lost classic.
Muddy Waters: At Newport 1960 & Little Milton: We’re Gonna Make It [Chess/Acoustic Sounds]
Chess Records’ Acoustic Sounds series has readied two fine new ones. Muddy Waters’s At Newport 1960 likely needs no introduction; one of the first live blues albums ever released, it is well-established as a legendary recording and marks Waters’s crossover point to wider appreciation from white audiences as well as Black. And Little Milton’s 1965 album We’re Gonna Make It includes the guitarist/vocalist’s massive title hit. Sadly, Little Milton doesn’t get talked about all that much anymore, but his music spanned blues, R&B, soul, and funk, and he recorded for not just Chess Records but also the Sun, Stax, and TK labels, with his recordings showcasing his diversity and accessibility. Both Chess releases were cut from analog at the Mastering Lab by Matthew Lutthans and were pressed at QRP.
Jimmy Reed: At Carnegie Hall & Skip James: Devil Got My Woman [Bluesville/Craft]
Craft’s Bluesville series is also keeping on track, with two new reissues also cut from analog by Matthew Lutthans at the Mastering Lab. Jimmy Reed’s 1961 album At Carnegie Hall—a studio recording, despite its title—was initially released by Vee-Jay Records as a double album, with the second LP subtitled The Best of Jimmy Reed; Craft is reissuing the first album of the set, which includes the big hit “Bright Lights, Big City.” Meanwhile, Skip James’s Devil Got My Woman is a 1968 album that marked James’s final recording before his death from cancer the following year at age 67. It finds James revisiting many of the country-blues songs he had written and recorded in the preceding decades.
Paul Ngozi: Heavy Metal: Live! Nairobi International Casino! [Now-Again]
In addition to their stellar work with the catalog of Zamrock band Witch, Now-Again Records has also offered comprehensive reissues of the Zambian collective Ngozi Family and its guitarist Paul Ngozi. The latest is Ngozi’s 1977 album Heavy Metal: Live! Nairobi International Casino! While you’re not going to hear much in the way of what we ordinarily think of as “heavy metal” (and truth be told, some of this album doesn’t sound especially live to me, either), there is the wonderful, earthy, fuzzy, psychedelic-tinged Zamrock of Ngozi, which always manages to get its rhythmic hooks into the listener.
Jazz Alley
It’s a big time down Jazz Alley this week, with three Rhino Reserve pressings of late-period Miles Davis to celebrate the jazz trumpet legend’s centennial: 1987’s Music from Siesta, 1989’s Amandla, and 1991’s Dingo. The first two are collaborations with bassist Marcus Miller, while the third is a collaboration with French composer Michel Legrand. Siesta and Dingo are soundtracks, while Amandla was a front-facing studio effort from Davis with elements of go-go, zouk, funk, and smooth jazz. Meanwhile, the Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series trucks along with Grant Green’s 1967 Street of Dreams, recorded in 1964 with Bobby Hutcherson on vibes, Larry Young on organ, and Elvin Jones on drums. The other Blue Note Classic this month is Jimmy Smith’s Softly as a Summer Breeze, recorded in 1958 and released in 1964. Both were cut from tape by Kevin Gray and pressed at Optimal. Meanwhile, Verve is releasing Verve Records: The Sound of America, a 4-LP compilation that surveys the label’s earliest years, during the tenure of its founder Norman Granz, who started the label in 1956 and sold it to MGM in 1960.
OTHER REISSUES OF NOTE:
(*star denotes inclusion in this week’s paid-subscriber playlist)
Adelitas Way: Notorious [Endurance Music]
*Horace Andy: A Serious Thing [Gorgon Music]
The Atlas Moth: An Ache for the Distance [Profound Lore]
Gene Autry: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Other Christmas Classics [Sony]
Joey Bada$$: 1999 [Pro Era]
Baphomet’s Blood: Metal Damnation [Dying Victim]
Buckshot LeFonque: Music Evolution [Music on Vinyl]
J.J. Cale: Number 10 [Music on Vinyl]
Johnny Clarke: Originally Mr. Clarke [Gorgon Music]
David Allan Coe: Texas Moon [Sun]
*The Cramps: Gravest Gravy [Vengeance]
Bing Crosby: Ultimate Christmas [UMe]
Dance Gavin Dance: Downtown Battle Mountain; Instant Gratification [Rise]
Paul Di’Anno’s Battlezone: Fighting Back [Deko Music]
DJ Shadow: The Mountain Will Fall [Mass Appeal]
The Fabulous Thunderbirds: What’s the Word? [The Last Music Company]
Andy Fairweather Low: Sweet Soulful Music [The Last Music Company]
*First Aid Kit: Stay Gold [Sony]
The Fray: The Fray [Sony]
Vince Guaraldi: It’s a Mystery, Charlie Brown [Lee Mendelson]
Vince Guaraldi: It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown pumpkin shape vinyl [Craft]
The Highwaymen: Live at Nassau Coliseum [Sony]
*Roger Hodgson: In the Eye of the Storm; Hai Hai [A&M/Universal]
Whitney Houston: The Preacher’s Wife soundtrack [Sony]
Freddie Hubbard: Red Clay [Music on Vinyl]
Hungry Ghosts: Hungry Ghosts [Eminent Vinyl]
Insane Clown Posse: The Great Milenko [Hollywood/RSD Essentials]
The Invisible College: The Luxury of Horns [Eminent Vinyl]
Michael Jackson: Got to Be There; Ben; Music & Me; Forever Michael (Japanese import editions) [Motown]
The Jackson 5: Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5; ABC; Third Album; Maybe Tomorrow; The Best (Japanese import editions) [Motown]
Thad Jones: Three and One [Steeplechase]
Robert Earl Keen: Ready for Confetti [Lost Highway/Interscope]
Robert Earl Keen: Live from Austin, TX [New West]
Carole King: A Holiday Carole [Sony]
*Kiss: Destroys Anaheim ’76 [Universal]
Dillon & Paten Locke: Food Chain; Side Dishes [Full Plate]
*Maps & Atlases: Perch Patchwork [Merge]
Bernie Marsden: Stage [Conquest Music]
MKB Fraction Provisoire: Feu! [Rotorelief]
Idris Muhammad: Power of Soul [Music on Vinyl]
Musiq Soulchild: Aijuswanaseing [Universal]
My Dying Bride: Anthology of Sombre Reflections [Peaceville]
Nas: It Was Written [Sony]
Nechazz: Pieces of a Dream [Habibi Funk]
Willie Nelson: Pretty Paper [Sony]
New Bomb Turks: Nightmare Scenario [Music on Vinyl]
*Stevie Nicks: Stand Back [Atlantic]
Lee Noble: No Becoming [Primordial Void]
Nsync: Home for Christmas [Sony]
Nurse with Wound: Rock ’n’ Roll Station: Redux Extraction [United Dirter]
*Old & In the Way: Live at Sonoma State, Nov. 4th, 1973 [Round]
Orquesta la Super “C”: Mujer Brava [Charly]
*Osibasa: Welcome Home; Ojah Awake [Prestige Elite]
Ulf Pettersson: Schizo 12” [Subliminal Sounds]
Portion Control: 1983–86: Hit the Pulse to Purge [Artoffact]
*Pup: The Dream Is Over [SideOneDummy]
Puscifer: Donkey Punch the Night [BMG]
Queen: A Night at the Opera; News of the World; The Game; Live at Wembley ’86; Made in Heaven [CMG/Sony]
The Ramones: Generatin’ Steam Heat: Live in Germany 1978 / Live at CBGB’s 1976: FM Broadcast [Dear Boss]
*The Rolling Stones: Forty Licks colored vinyl [UMe]
Roosevelt: Roosevelt 10th [City Slang]
Kelly Rowland: Here I Am [Universal]
Conway Savage: Too Dark to See [Impressed]
Save Ferris: It Means Everything [Parting Gift]
She Wants Revenge: She Wants Revenge; This Is Forever [Geffen]
Sielun Veljet: Kuka Teki Huorin [Svart]
Hugh Steinmetz with the Radio Jazz Group: Afrodisiaca [Formalibera]
*Swell Maps: The John Peel Sessions [Mute]
*Ten Years After: Cricklewood Green deluxe [Chrysalis]
Toyah: Revelations: B-Sides & Rarities [Cherry Red]
The Tragically Hip: Live July 22–August 20, 2016 [UMe]
Meghan Trainor: A Very Trainor Christmas [Sony]
T-Spoon: Greatest Hits [Music on Vinyl]
Warsaw: Warsaw [Vinyl Passion]
Within Temptation: Enter; The Silent Force [Music on Vinyl]
Various Artists: Barfuss in Scherben - Deutschepunk 1979–1986 [Tapete]
Various Artists: A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector [Sony]
*Various Artists: Empire Records: The Soundtrack [A&M/Universal]
