New vinyl reissues: February 20, 2026
Let’s jump right into this week’s new reissues, which include two just-announced titles from Vinylphyle and a pair of MoFi releases as well. You ready?
One sec—first, a quick reminder about our February vinyl giveaway. Click the box below to learn all about it and enter! You’ll need to be on our paid-subscriber tier, but that’s something you’ve been planning to do anyway... right?
Ned Lannamann
All right, now we can jump into the week.
Heart: Dreamboat Annie & Jellyfish: Spilt Milk [Vinylphyle]
Two new Vinylphyle titles have just been announced, continuing Universal Music’s premium vinyl series with deeper explorations of the multinational entertainment conglomerate’s vast catalog. First up is Heart’s 1975 debut Dreamboat Annie, the Vancouver-recorded album that introduced Seattle’s Wilson sisters to the world and includes songs like “Magic Man” and “Crazy on You” that still regularly turn up on movie soundtracks. The Vinylphyle edition is cut from the original analog tape by Joe Nino-Hernes at Sterling Sound’s Nashville facility. The other new Vinylphyle is Jellyfish’s Spilt Milk, a heavily Queen-indebted power-pop suite from 1993 that was the San Francisco band’s second and final album. Nino-Hernes cut this one from a 96/24 digital remaster made in 2025 and split the album’s 46 minutes over three sides of vinyl. Both Vinylphyles were pressed at RTI and come in deluxe gatefolds with four-page inserts that included liner notes. Heart is available for order directly from Universal right now, while Jellyfish will ship out next week. Be aware that some buyers have complained that recent Vinylphyle shipments have not been adequately packaged, leading to annoying split seams in the jackets; some have advised buying more than one LP at once in order to strengthen the packaging, but please, don’t buy anything you’re not going to listen to and love. Hopefully one day Universal will make these available for purchase from your brick-and-mortar local, or upgrade their shipping packaging. Or both! NL
Johnny Cash: Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar [Intervention]
The esteemed Gig Harbor, Washington, label Intervention Records has taken on the mantle of reissuing some of Sun Records’ key masterworks, beginning with an excellent all-analog 45 RPM remaster of Dance Album of Carl Perkins that came out at the end of last year. (Read our review right here.) Intervention continues with the second installment: another all-analog 45 RPM remaster, this time of Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar. It’s strange to think of Johnny Cash having a debut album, but indeed he did, and the very first Johnny Cash LP entered the world way back in 1957 via Sun Records—it was in fact a collection of the various 7-inch singles that Cash had released on the label starting in 1954. Kevin Gray of Cohearent Audio cut the disc, which was sourced from the original single masters from the Sun Records archives and then compiled to a new 1/2-inch analog reel. The package is deluxe all the way, with Gotta Groove–pressed vinyl, a Stoughton tip-on jacket, and an insert with liner notes by Colin Escott. Featuring faithful representations of vital recordings like “Folsom Prison Blues,” “I Walk the Line,” and “Get Rhythm,” this is one of the most important vinyl reissues of 2026. NL
George Michael: Faith [Epic/Sony]
Just as his pop group Wham! was reaching peak popularity, George Michael walked away from the project in hopes of making music that appealed to grownups rather than the millions of teens who made up the duo’s fanbase. His first effort was 1987’s Faith, a hot-as-blazes pop gem that courted controversy with its first single “I Want Your Sex” and continued Michael’s chart dominance with six top-10 US hits and album sales that broke the 10-million mark. Strangely, Sony has decided to jump the gun on Faith’s 40th anniversary next year with new vinyl pressings of the LP hitting stores this week. Fans and newbies have plenty of options to choose from, including a single-disc recreation of the original LP, a double-disc version that includes the full 13-minute “Monogamy Mix” of “I Want Your Sex,” and colored vinyl and picture disc variants. RH
Tori Amos: Strange Little Girls [Rhino]
Tori Amos’s 2001 covers album came with a twist: The songs were all written by men, so Amos rejiggered them to be sung from a female perspective. She then took it a step further, developing a character for each interpretation, and accompanying each song with a customized photographic portrait of the character. There were six different cover variants for the CD release, but for the album’s first-ever release on vinyl, all 12 photos are getting a chance to be on the front cover. (And you thought Taylor Swift went overboard with all the different variants.) Deep-pocketed completists can get a bundle with all 12 versions, but otherwise you’ll have to decide which one is your favorite. “Heart of Gold”? “Happiness Is a Warm Gun”? “I Don’t Like Mondays”? Another part of the fun is trying to match up the cover photo with the song. Now expanded to two LPs, there are four additional covers on Strange Little Girls, including Bruce Springsteen’s “Growin’ Up” and Alice Cooper’s “Only Women Bleed.” NL
Clipse: Lord Willin’; Hell Hath No Fury; Til the Casket Drops [Sony]
Last year saw the release of Let God Sort Em Out, the first full-length in 16 years from Clipse, the hip-hop duo from Virginia that reached legendary status in the ’00s by making streetwise poetry out of their time working in the illegal drug trade as teens. With the dust finally settling on that brilliant record, Sony has seen fit to keep the momentum going with fresh vinyl pressings of the pair’s first three albums: 2002’s Lord Willin’, 2006’s Hell Hath No Fury, and 2009’s Til the Casket Drops. Though I adore all of those early works by Clipse, my heart remains with Hell Hath No Fury. On that album, rappers Pusha T and Malice were matched blow for blow by the production work of their Virginia Beach buddies the Neptunes. Two decades later, the hip-hop scene is still trying to make sense of—and replicate—the kaleidoscopic beats that Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo cooked up for tracks like “Keys Open Doors” and “Ride Around Shining.” RH
Bob Dylan: Greatest Hits Volume II; Oh Mercy, MTV Unplugged; Time Out of Mind [Columbia/Legacy]
A somewhat arbitrary selection of Bob Dylan albums are making their way back to vinyl this week: 1971’s double LP Greatest Hits Volume II, which swept up some key album tracks that were missing from the first volume and augmented them with a few previously unreleased tunes; 1989’s Oh Mercy and 1997’s Time Out of Mind, both produced by Daniel Lanois and generally rated as the best of Dylan’s post-Desire albums; and 1995’s MTV Unplugged, which was a thing that happened, evidently, but of which even hardcore Dylanologists have no lasting memory. All four of these have been in and out of print on vinyl over the years, so it will be nice to have affordable, good-sounding versions of them at the ready (although you can still find a ringworn copy of Greatest Hits Volume II in the used bins for a few bucks). Time Out of Mind in particular is perfectly suited to be back on vinyl—something of a revelatory shock upon its release, it suggested the beginning of a Dylan renaissance that never quite ensued, but it nevertheless remains one of the best albums of the ’90s. NL
Blink-182: Enema of the State [Definitive Sound Series/Interscope]
We’ve been very impressed with Universal’s Definitive Sound Series of one-step pressings so far, and even if some of the choices don’t line up with our particular musical tastes, there’s little question that ample care has been put into making them sound phenomenal. The series expands its lineup with a pressing of the 1999 pop-punk smash Enema of the State from San Diego-area snot rockers Blink-182. There were some inescapable radio hits on this one, including “All the Small Things” and “What’s My Age Again?” and now that many Blink-182 fans have aged into a higher income bracket, they can hear these saturated, maximally produced tunes in the best fidelity possible. The one-step was mastered from the analog master tape by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering, pressed at RTI on on a high-end Neotech vinyl compound, and comes in a shelf-worthy slipcase. “Dysentery Gary” never sounded so good. NL
Laughing Hyenas: That Girl: Live Recordings 1986–1994 [Third Man]
Anchored by the caustic combination of former Negative Approach vocalist John Brannon and guitarist Larissa Strickland, Detroit’s Laughing Hyenas added some bluesy fury to America’s underground rock scene through the ’80s and early ’90s and wound up influencing the future careers of Nirvana (the band chose Butch Vig to produce Nevermind after hearing his work on the Hyenas’ 1989 album You Can’t Pray a Lie) and the White Stripes. The latter band’s creative leader Jack White has already reissued the Hyenas’ three studio albums through his label Third Man Records, which this week returns to the well with That Girl, a double-LP set of live recordings compiled from Brannon’s personal tape archive. According to the label, the chosen tapes were transferred, mixed, and mastered by fellow Detroiter Bobby Emmett. RH
Little Walter & Sonny Boy Williamson [Chess/Analogue Productions]
Two new harmonica-heavy reissues from Chicago’s Chess Records hit turntables this week courtesy of Analogue Productions, as part of the Chess Records 75th Anniversary Series. The Best of Little Walter is something of a misnomer, as it was the Louisiana bluesman’s first solo full-length, after having established himself in Muddy Waters’s band. But the 1958 LP was a collection of 12 of Little Walter’s scorching-hot singles for Checker Records, and when put together, it makes for one of the most significant blues albums ever released. The 1966 album The Real Folk Blues was released after Sonny Boy Williamson’s death in 1965—we’re talking about the second Sonny Boy Williamson, the one who recorded for Chess—but it collects several recordings he had made for Chess in the years prior, including “One Way Out,” “Bring It on Home,” and “Checkin’ Up on My Baby.” Both discs were cut from analog tape (mono in the case of Little Walter; a mixture of stereo and mono for Williamson) by Matthew Lutthans at the Mastering Lab and pressed at Quality Record Pressings and come in tip-on gatefolds. NL
Peter Baumann: Romance 76 [Bureau B]
In the years between his last days as a member of Tangerine Dream and his founding of Private Music (the label responsible for the mega-success of Yanni), Peter Baumann released a series of fine solo records that continued his exploration of the possibilities of synthesizers and electronic music. His first effort, 1976’s Romance 76, was actually recorded during breaks in the Tangerine Dream touring schedule, and it balances spare minimalist instrumentals that make wise use of early drum machines and sequencers with bolder compositions like “Meadow of Infinity (Part I),” which features members of the Munich Philharmonic under the baton of Peter’s father Herbert. This 50th anniversary pressing from German label Bureau B is limited to just 500 copies and comes on translucent yellow wax. RH
Ricardo Eddy Martinez: Expreso Ritmico [Mr Bongo]
First released in 1978 on Cuba’s Areito Records, Ricardo Eddy Martinez’s Expreso Ritmico is an Afro-Cuban funk-disco workout that features ambitious orchestrations, cooing female vocals, and mega-danceable Latin rhythms. The infallible tastes at Mr Bongo are putting this one back in circulation, and it’s bound to singe some eyebrows, as this is a maximalist audio smorgasbord jam-packed with aural delights. Martinez soon emigrated to the US and worked with Gloria Estefan, Chick Corea, Arturo Sandoval, Julio Iglesias, and countless others, but this album captures his unbridled sonic creativity like nothing else. NL
Yellow Magic Orchestra: YMO Trans Atlantic Tour New York 11/06/1979 [Great Tracks/Sony Japan]
Originally released as part of last year’s CD box set YMO 1979 Trans Atlantic Tour Live Anthology, this live recording of Yellow Magic Orchestra performing at the Bottom Line in New York City is getting its own breakout vinyl release this week via Sony Japan. This particular set represents the last night of YMO’s first international tour, which included US dates with the Tubes as the Japanese ensemble rode the surprise success of “Firecracker,” a single from their 1978 self-titled debut. For this tour, the trio (Ryuichi Sakamoto, Haruomi Hosono, and Yukihiro Takahashi) were supporting their second LP Solid State Survivors and augmenting their live sound with guitarist Kazumi Watanabe and keyboardist Akiko Yano. The resulting set is precise, dynamic, and a lot of fun to listen to. This double-LP set is the third breakout vinyl release from that 2025 box and, like those, was mastered by Goh Hotoda and Yumetoki Suzuki and cut by Shinya Matushita of Piccolo Audio Works in Tokyo. RH
Sugar: Copper Blue; File Under: Easy Listening; Beaster [BMG]
With new music trickling out and reunion dates on the horizon, Sugar, the power trio led by ex-Hüsker Dü singer/guitarist Bob Mould, is giving their three studio efforts—1992’s Copper Blue, 1994’s File Under: Easy Listening, and the 1993 EP Beaster—fresh vinyl pressings on colored wax this week. This trio of recordings finds Mould flexing his chops as both a pop songsmith and a purveyor of loud noise rock à la his pals in Pixies and My Bloody Valentine. The best of the batch remains Beaster, a six-song molten-hot excoriation of Christianity that revels in washes of guitar feedback and Mould’s shredded yet tuneful vocals. RH
The Butterfield Blues Band & Carly Simon [Mobile Fidelity]
MoFi just announced they’re shipping two new titles this week. The first is the Butterfield Blues Band’s classic East-West album from 1966, a breakthrough of blues-rock that had ripple effects throughout the music scene. The extended jam of the title track, while not the first by a rock act—the Rolling Stones’ “Goin’ Home” from a few months earlier gets that honor—sewed the seeds for acid rock and the American psychedelic movement, as it incorporated modal jazz and improvisation into the electric blues format. The rest of the album’s pretty killer, too. MoFi’s releasing the original Elektra mono mix via a mastering chain of analog master to DSD, with the 33 RPM vinyl pressed at Fidelity. The other MoFi title is Carly Simon’s third album, 1972’s No Secrets, which includes her giant hit “You're So Vain” (speaking of the Stones, Mick Jagger sings backup on that one) and features the memorable cover photo from legendary rock photographer Ed Caraeff. It, too, is sourced from a DSD digital transfer of the master tape, but is cut at 45 RPM and spread over two vinyl discs, which were also pressed at Fidelity. NL
Nean: Doo Dah Nean [Black Editions]
Issued first in 1996 in limited and decidedly dodgy-sounding form on cassette by Japanese label La Musica, the one and only album by the all-female Tokyo group Nean is a truly singular affair. The trio’s work sits somewhere in the zone occupied by the prolific Texas mystery man Jandek and the New Hampshire trio the Shaggs, as they all share an unbound approach to making music and a strange, alluring darkness that creeps into their work. Nean also incorporate a slightly unsettling sexual energy through the wordless groans and moans of vocalist Naoko and the cockeyed tribal rhythms of drummer Non. Black Editions, the Los Angeles label that has, since 2015, been doing the lord’s work by making rare Japanese psychedelic and experimental releases more widely available, is responsible for this first-ever vinyl pressing of Nean’s lone LP. RH
Wishbone Ash: Wishbone Ash; Pilgrimage [Proper Records]
While original pressings have never been difficult to find, having the first two albums by Wishbone Ash back on vinyl is something to celebrate. The British rock band found an intriguing intersection of blues, folk, and prog within their tangled guitar lines, taking the reins that Peter Green and Richard Thompson had let go of after their departures from Fleetwood Mac and Fairport Convention, respectively, and whipping them in a hard-rock direction. 1970’s Wishbone Ash is the bluesier affair, with some extended instrumental workouts on Side 2. 1971’s Pilgrimage contains the stunning “The Pilgrim,” which points the way to their masterpiece (1972’s Argus), as well as “Jail Bait,” a dumb-as-rocks boogie number that became one of their best-loved tracks. (It was the ’70s.) Barring quick colored-vinyl appearances on the wretched Culture Factory label in 2019, these two albums have not been pressed to wax in decades, and the excellent curators at UK’s Proper Records are responsible this time, making these long-overdue reissues something of a coup. NL
RCA Living Stereo Series [Analogue Productions]
Analogue Productions trots out two more 45 RPM double LPs in their RCA Living Stereo series this week, reissuing the legendary Shaded Dogs that make RCA’s classical stereo recordings from the late 1950s and early 1960s so coveted among collectors. These are phenomenal-sounding recordings, although the performances are decidedly in the midcentury style. That’s especially the case with Jascha Heifetz’s stab at the Beethoven Violin Concerto, recorded in 1955 with Charles Munch and the Boston Symphony but not released until 1959. Heifetz’s playing is equally brawny and saccharine, shining in the solo passages with his tremulous vibrato. A real shame that the concerto—which fits so brilliantly on two sides of vinyl—must be chopped into quarters to accommodate the 45 RPM format. There’s also a 1958 batch of overtures from Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Tchaikovsky’s 1812 gets top billing, but there’s Mendelssohn’s Fingal’s Cave, Brahms’s Tragic, and one of Liszt’s Mephisto Waltzes to round things out. Fortunately, it’s one piece per side on this one. These are old analog cuts made by Bernie Grundman from back in the Classic Records days. NL
Propagandhi: How to Clean Everything; Today’s Empires, Tomorrow’s Ashes [Fat Wreck Chords]
Bay Area punk label Fat Wreck Chords dips into their archives with regularity these days, releasing fantastic vinyl reissues of some classic releases. This week brings us a pair of delights from Canadian political punk group Propagandhi: 1993’s How to Clean Everything and 2001’s Today’s Empires, Tomorrow’s Ashes. The former is the trio’s debut, released when the band still included future Weakerthans leader John K. Samson on bass, and the latter was a co-release on the group’s own imprint G7 Welcoming Committee. Both are unflinching vivisections of the North American sociopolitical and cultural landscape, tackling everything from animal rights and organized religion to ska posers and the corporatization of punk rock. Both of these limited-run reissues include a nice selection of bonus material, including demos and, in the case of How to Clean Everything, three tracks cut from the original album release. RH
Jazz Alley
Things are a touch lonesome down Jazz Alley this week, but Blue Note has kept the ball in the air with two new installments in their Classic Vinyl Series. First up is The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson, Vol. 2, which has a slightly unusual history as an full-length album: It comes from the three 10-inches that trombonist J.J. Johnson recorded for Blue Note (in 1953, 1954, and 1955). These were reissued as a pair of 12-inch LPs in 1956 when the 10-inch format began to fade away. This is the second of those reconfigured LPs (the first became part of the Classic Vinyl Series back in 2023), and it features an astonishing array of performers, including Charles Mingus, Hank Mobley, Horace Silver, Kenny Clarke, Clifford Brown, Paul Chambers, and more. Blue Note is also reissuing Thelonious Monk’s Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 2, which is similarly sourced from 10-inch records recorded between 1947 and 1952. It captures the pianist at his revolutionary best, incorporating dissonance and startling rhythmic figures within the developing bebop style. Both discs were cut by Kevin Gray from the mono analog masters and pressed at Optimal.
OTHER REISSUES OF NOTE:
Antibalas: Security [Music on Vinyl]
Jorge Ben: From Brazil [Jazz Samba]
Black Marble: It’s Immaterial 10th anniversary edition [Ghostly International]
Ken Boothe: Mr. Rock Steady [Studio One]
Brothers Osborne: Pawn Shop 10th anniversary edition [EMI Nashville]
Ray Charles: The Genius of Ray Charles [20th Century Jazz Masters]
Clifford Brown & Max Roach: Brown and Roach Incorporated [Wax Time]
Chromosome: Chromosome 12-inch [Fog & Co.]
Leonard Cohen: In Concert at the BBC 1968 [1960’s]
Coil: Backwards [Cold Spring]
Cream: Royal Albert Hall, London May 2-3-5-6, 2005 [Surfdog]
Miles Davis: Relaxin’ [20th Century Jazz Masters]|
Deep Purple: Purpendicular [Music on Vinyl]
Dru Hill: Enter the Dru [Def Jam]
Bill Evans Trio: Portrait in Jazz [Wax Time]
Faster Pussycat: Wake Me When It’s Over [Music on Vinyl]
Florist: Holdly [Double Double Whammy]
Dick Gaughan: Live at the BBC 1972–79 [Last Night Glasgow]
Geinoh Yamashirogumi: Ecophony Rinne [Time Capsule]
The Gun: Gun [Music on Vinyl]
George Harrison: Wonderwall Music; Electronic Sound [BMG]
Lightnin’ Hopkins: Rooster Crowed in England [Blues Joint]
Antonio Infantino ed Il Gruppo Di Tricarico: Follie Del Divino Spirito Santo [Black Sweat]
Pedro Iturralde: Jazz Flamenco [Elemental]
The Iveys: Miniskirts & Rainbows [Y&T Music]
Jean-Yves Labat: Underwater Electronic Orchestra [Ojo de Mujer]
John Lewis & Sacha Distel: Afternoon in Paris [Jazz Wax]
Locust: Morning Light [Apollo]
Merzbow: Red Magnesia Pink [No Holiday]
Thelonious Monk & John Coltrane: Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane [Number One Essential]
Opeth: In Live Concert at the Royal Albert Hall [Music on Vinyl]
Lee Scratch Perry & the Upsetters: Return of the Super Ape [Cleopatra]
Peter, Paul and Mary: Peter, Paul and Mary [Pan Am]
Phish: New Year’s Eve 1993, Live at Worcester Centrum [Jemp]
Baden Powell & Vinicius de Moraes: Os Afrosambas [Ojo de Mujer]
The Record Company: Give It Back You [Craft]
The Revillos: Here Come… [Heavy Soul]
Max Roach Trio: Featuring the Legendary Hasaan [Music on Vinyl]
Sade: German TV Broadcast [Mind Control]
Boz Scaggs: Silk Degrees [Music on Vinyl]
Nina Simone: At the Village Gate [Wax Time]
Nina Simone: Little Girl Blue [Jazz Images]
Sugarhill Gang: Sugarhill Gang [Music on Vinyl]
Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Super Sonic Jazz [Wax Time]
Peter Tosh: Equal Rights [Music on Vinyl]
Total: Sky Blue Void [No Holiday]
Ali Farka Touré: Farka [Survival Research]
Toy Dolls: Absurd-Ditties; One More Megabyte [Radiation Reissues]
2 Brothers on the 4th Floor: The Very Best Of [Music on Vinyl]
Muddy Waters: I’m Ready [Music on Vinyl]
Walker Wheeler, Jr.: Redneck Shit [Pepper Hill]
The Who: Live in Voorberg 1973 [1960’s]
John Williams: Home Alone soundtrack [Mondo]
Womack & Womack: Love Wars [Music on Vinyl]
Various Artists: Aman Aman: Greek Anatolian Laments [Mississippi]
Various Artists: Brazil Greatest Hits [Wagram]
Various Artists: Freestyle Rewind [Tommy Boy]
Various Artists: Music for a Revolution Vol. 2: Guinea’s Syliphone Recording Label 1968–1980 [Radio Martiko]
Various Artists: O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack [Lost Highway/Interscope]
Various Artists: 600% Dynamite [Soul Jazz]
Various Artists: Soul to Soul soundtrack [Liberation Hall]
