New vinyl reissues: May 22, 2026

It’s another high-flyin’ week in the world of vinyl reissues, and we’ll glide into that in just a moment, but I’ll kick off today’s newsletter with a bit of vinyl-related news.

Yesterday, Interscope-Capitol announced that all—but one—of their Definitive Sound Series titles will be making their way to indie brick-and-mortar stores on June 26. This includes the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, which was flagged as sold out on the Capitol site not long after its release last Friday, May 15, but should probably be available again before too long. And it sounds like a good amount have held back for this indie-store push as well. The one title that is NOT going to be available is R.E.M., which is really and truly sold out.

I had thought Dr. Dre’s The Chronic was sold out too, but it’s on the list. Also included: Blink-182’s Enema of the State, Beck’s Morning Phase, Lionel Richie’s Can’t Slow Down, Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song, and A Perfect Circle’s Mer de Noms. You should be able to get all of these at your local, starting June 26.

This is fantastic news. As a die-hard supporter of physical record stores, I applaud Interscope-Capitol’s initiative here and am pleased to see these releases going outside the direct-to-consumer model and into brick-and-mortar shops. While a select few online retailers have historically been apportioned some DSS releases to sell, this retail push brings local record stores back into the loop.

Oh, and not to bury the lede, but Interscope-Capitol also teased the next three titles in the series. No release dates or source info as of yet:

• Marvin Gaye: Let’s Get It On
• Hole: Live Through This
• A Perfect Circle: Thirteenth Step

For our paid subscribers, here is today’s playlist, with selections from all of the reissues I’m previewing today, plus some extra tracks from the long list at the bottom. It’s a good one this week, so if you have yet to upgrade your subscription, you’re really missing out. Here’s how to fix:

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Let’s get into the week.

First off, here’s a quick recap of four releases that were announced after last week’s New Reissues post went up last Thursday. This is what I wrote in Saturday’s newsletter:

First is Mobile Fidelity’s long-awaited UltraDisc one-step pressing of Van Halen’s 1984, which is now finally in stock and available for ordering. But the bigger news is the announcement of three new entrants in the Rhino High Fidelity series. They’ve selected Dusty Springfield’s Dusty in Memphis, the 1969 classic that found the English singer on tracks recorded at Chips Moman’s American Sound Studio in Memphis; Cher’s 3614 Jackson Highway from the same year, which brought the LA singer/actress down to Muscle Shoals (that’s the studio’s address in the title); and Joni Mitchell’s 1974 masterpiece Court and Spark, which reinvented the Canadian songwriter’s folk sound to contain heavy jazz inflections. I’ve seen mixed reaction to Rhino’s announcement, ranging from typical male-centric dismissiveness of female performers to complaints about the widespread availability of Dusty in Memphis and Court and Spark via previous reissues and befuddlement at the inclusion of Cher.

To my thinking, the inclusion of the Mitchell and Springfield albums is exactly what Rhino High Fidelity should be doing: creating definitive editions of foundational works for years to come, even if it’s familiar terrain for seasoned record collectors. And as far as Cher goes—it’s a surprising choice, to be sure. But 3614 Jackson Highway was one of the first full-lengths (perhaps the first?) ever recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Sheffield, Alabama, a new facility launched when the Swampers split off from Rick Hall’s FAME stable. That alone makes it a record of immense historical importance. Do I think it’s one of the best things recorded at Muscle Shoals? Not necessarily. But its cultural significance can’t be overlooked.

Ted Lucas: Images of Life [Third Man]

Detroit guitarist/songwriter Ted Lucas released a lone self-titled album on the tiny OM label in 1975. Over the years Ted Lucas gained a reputation as a hidden gem, with Jack White’s Third Man Records reissuing it in 2025. Now Third Man goes one step further—well, three steps, actually. Images of Life is a three-LP box set that collects much of Lucas’s unheard work from before and after his only released album. Disc 1, Strange Mysterious Sounds, contains dabblings in garage-rock and psychedelia from 1965 to 1970 with the bands the Spike Drivers, the Misty Wizards, and the Horny Toads; Disc 2, Rainy Days, is mostly solo acoustic home recordings from 1970 to 1974; and Disc 3, Impossible Love, is his unreleased 1979 album, produced by Don Was and apparently bearing a “yacht-rock” sound. I haven’t heard the third disc, but the first two are positively stunning; Rainy Days in particular is evidence of a major voice in full command of a remarkable songwriting talent. Lucas passed away in 1992, but recognition for his music, once almost forgotten entirely, continues to grow with each passing year. This Images of Life set should accelerate that well-deserved growth exponentially.

Ray Barretto: Acid [Fania/Craft]

Brooklyn-born, Puerto Rico-descended percussionist Ray Barretto signed to New York’s Fania Records in 1967, and his first effort for the Latin label, 1968’s Acid, is a boogaloo classic, blending the sounds of American Latin music, R&B, jazz, and Cuban styles into an energetic whole. Recorded live in the studio at RCA’s Manhattan facility, the album is fantastic-sounding, with Barretto’s congas, Orestes Vilato’s timbales, Louis Crúz’s piano, and René Lopez and Roberto Rodriguez’s trumpets contributing to the sensory experience. The mono mix has been recut from the original analog tape for this Craft Records reissue, which should sound pretty darn remarkable.

The Cranberries: Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? [Vinylphyle]; Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? 3-LP expanded [Island/UMe]

Irish band the Cranberries had a massive hit with their first full-length, 1993’s Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?, which ate up American radio waves with the singles “Linger” and “Dreams.” While also bearing hallmarks of Irish folk and the alternative rock of the early ’90s, the album is best understood now as a commercial centering of the often elusive, sparkling sounds of dream pop, with guitars strumming ethereally and Dolores O’Riordan’s sylphlike voice adding layers of gossamer exquisiteness. The Cranberries would go on to expand their palate with future efforts, but their debut is really quite watery and simple, the sound of a young band getting an exceptionally big break. Nevertheless, it’s now regarded as a nostalgic classic—as evidenced by its premium reissue on UMe’s Vinylphyle line, which was cut from the 1993 analog master reel by Joe Nino-Hernes and should sound pretty darn stunning. There’s also a three-LP expanded edition, which includes a full album remix by producer Stephen Street and a disc of bonus tracks and live stuff.

Whiskeytown: Pneumonia [Lost Highway]

The legacy of Ryan Adams gets thornier and thornier (his 2025 meltdown in Australia being the latest in a long string of unfortunate incidents), although reckoning with his catalog has been made somewhat easier by the fact that his more recent, post-scandal output doesn’t have a patch on his earlier work and is therefore easily ignored. But his early stuff remains worth revisiting. Case in point: Pneumonia, the farewell album of Adams’s ’90s band Whiskeytown, which is a lovely pop record that expanded the range of North Carolina group beyond the alt-country they’d made their bones on. Recorded in 1999 but not released until 2001 due to record-label difficulties, it’s now back on vinyl after a single 2011 pressing that now commands high prices. Culled from more than 100 tracks, the album calls back to the classic sounds of the Beatles, Van Morrison, and the Band, with Adams’s precocious songwriting generally deserving of those lofty comparisons. The album comes on “clearwater blue” double vinyl.

The Grateful Dead: The Grateful Dead Movie Soundtrack [Mondo/Grateful Dead]

I’m not enough of a Deadhead to know how The Grateful Dead Movie is generally regarded among their fan base (although it’s pretty easy to surmise that they love it unconditionally), but outside of the Dead’s insular sphere it’s usually not frequently mentioned as one of the all-time great rock-docs. Filmed at the band’s October 1974 run at the Winterland—right before the group went on indefinite hiatus—the movie was futzed and tinkered with until its eventual release in 1977; a tie-in soundtrack album didn’t materialize at the time, although 1976’s Steal Your Face comes from the same batch of shows. In 2004, the film was overhauled and expanded for a two-DVD reissue, and the following year a five-CD version of the soundtrack appeared with plenty of extra tracks. Now that five-CD set has come to vinyl on 10 colored LPs, made in conjunction with toy and movie-soundtrack specialists Mondo Records, who often make beautiful-looking packages but whose actual vinyl can sometimes be less than optimal, in my experience. It should look stunning on the shelf, at least. The box set is already sold out on the Dead’s site, but looks to still be available at Mondo’s.

Meiko Kaji: Otoko Onna Kokoro No Aika [Wewantsounds]

French label Wewantsounds is fully devoted to reissuing the 1972–1974 output of Japanese singer/actress Meiko Kaji, best known to western audiences for her theme songs for 1972’s Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion and 1973’s Lady Snowblood, both of which were reappropriated by Quentin Tarantino in Kill Bill. Kaji’s records from this period, recorded for the Japanese label Teichiku, are full of similarly dramatic pop songs, often sentimental and melancholy, with lush orchestrations and Kaji’s wonderfully stirring delivery. Otoko Onna Kokoro No Aika was her 1974 effort, and it includes her version of the theme song from Tokyo Drifter. Wewantsounds’ reissues are beautiful affairs, with excellently reproduced artwork, inserts containing liner notes, and, of course, obi strips; their previous Meiko Kaji reissues have sold out in short order, so interested parties should move reasonably quickly.

Laghonia: Glue; Etcétera [Munster]

Excellent Spanish label Munster is reissuing two albums by the Peruvian psychedelic rock band Laghonia: 1970’s Glue and 1971’s Etcétera. Originally called New Juggler Sound, Laghonia were heavily influenced by the British rock of the late ’60s, with organs and wah-wah guitars blending with homegrown rhythmic and percussive elements, and their two albums are splendid blends of pop, rock, blues, psych, and Latin music. Munster is also reissuing Caleb Quaye’s 1967 psychedelic classic “Baby Your Phrasing Is Bad” on 7-inch—not ordinarily our purview, but it seems too cool not to mention.

Howlin’ Wolf: The Real Folk Blues; Muddy Waters: The Real Folk Blues [Chess/Acoustic Sounds]

Acoustic Sounds’ series of Chess Records reissues continues with two of the Chicago label’s compilation albums, both released in 1965 as part of a series called The Real Folk Blues, although the title is a misnomer, as these two albums document Chicago electric blues. Howlin’ Wolf’s disc collects classics like “Killing Floor,” “Sittin’ on Top of the World,” and “Tail Dragger,” dating from as far back as 1955. The Muddy Waters disc goes back even further, with its earliest recordings dating from 1947. It’s got “Mannish Boy,” “Rollin’ and Tumblin’,” and “Screamin’ and Cryin’.” Both mono LPs were cut by Matthew Lutthans and pressed at QRP; the Howlin’ Wolf disc is sourced from digital, while the Muddy Waters comes from an analog tape.

Neil Young: Unplugged; Sleeps with Angels; Mirror Ball [Reprise]

Three of the four albums in Neil Young’s recent box set Official Release Series Discs 26, 27, 28 & 29 are now available separately. (The fourth, 1992’s Harvest Moon, was already available as a stand-alone vinyl release.) We’ve got a review of the box set from last October right here, although it’s more than six months old, meaning you’ll need to be a paid subscriber to read it. For you cheapskates, here’s the gist: 1993’s Unplugged and 1994’s Sleeps with Angels were recorded digitally, so these are cut from those digital files—in the case of the tremendous Sleeps with Angels, recorded with Crazy Horse, it doesn’t matter because it’s a masterpiece any way you slice it. Unplugged, meanwhile, is a fun live effort but far less essential. 1995’s Mirror Ball, however, is something new altogether. Recorded in Seattle with Pearl Jam, some tracks were mixed to analog and some to digital; Young and his producer John Hanlon remixed the digital ones from the analog multi-tracks, making for a revised, all-analog edition of the album. The mix differences are generally subtle, but avid listeners familiar with the album will most likely notice them. In my view, Sleeps with Angels and Mirror Ball are essential Young albums—among his very best—and having them readily available on vinyl is excellent news. These are not listed on Young’s or Warner’s site currently, but they should be available at your local retailer. [UPDATE 5/22: These are now for sale at Young’s site.]

Bob Dylan: Another Side of Bob Dylan; John Wesley Harding; New Morning [Columbia/Sony]

Sony Music continues their sporadic repressings of Bob Dylan titles, pressed not from analog but from their (quite good-sounding) digital masters, as is Sony’s wont—we’ll take what we get in order to keep these albums in print. This week’s batch includes 1964’s solo acoustic record Another Side of Bob Dylan, a hard pivot away from the protest songs of Dylan’s previous album, 1963’s The Times They Are a-Changin’, and toward more personal and psychological topics. 1967’s John Wesley Harding was Dylan’s first post-motorcycle-crash statement, an elusive and elliptical batch of sparely produced tunes heavily influenced by western movies and Biblical verses. And lastly, 1970’s New Morning is a sprightly, sunny collection that shows Dylan in a surprisingly easygoing mood. All three are essential in my book, although used originals are not hard to come by.

Jazz Alley

It’s another crowded week down Jazz Alley, headlined by Blue Note’s reissue of Miles Davis’s seminal Birth of the Cool album on their premium Tone Poet line. Birth of the Cool, a 1957 full-length compiled from Davis’s various 10-inches on Capitol Records dating from 1949 and 1950, formalized the official launch point for the cool jazz subgenre, a marked contrast to the busy virtuosity of bebop and the commercial danceability of big band and swing that thrived in the 1940s. The last reissue campaign for Birth of the Cool, the 2019 vinyl release of The Complete Birth of the Cool, was lacking in satisfactory sonics, but it’s safe to assume that this Tone Poet release—cut by Kevin Gray from Capitol’s analog “phono reels” (see our two reviews of Frank Sinatra on Tone Poet for more on what those are) and pressed at RTI—won’t have the same problem. Speaking of Miles, French label the Lost Recordings is releasing a live Davis set taken from 1964 recordings in Helsinki and Berlin, featuring the Second Great Quintet with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams. In a limited edition of 500, Live in Helsinki • Berlin 1964 has a high-end price to match; the mono recordings were digitally restored using the Phoenix Mastering process and then cut to lacquer by Kevin Gray and pressed to 200-gram vinyl at Marciac Workshop Pressings.

Acoustic Sounds/Analogue Productions continue their Impulse! Records series with a new cut of McCoy Tyner’s Inception, the 1962 album that was Tyner’s first as the headline name, reaping the rewards from his many years playing with John Coltrane. It was cut from tape by Matthew Lutthans and pressed at QRP. And the Salina, Kansas, conglomerate also continues to repress selections from their Fantasy 45 series from the early ’00s, with new 2-LP 45 RPM pressings of Wynton Kelly’s Kelly Blue from 1959 and Charlie Byrd’s The Guitar Artistry of Charlie Byrd from 1960 (both originally released on Riverside), as well as Tony Bennett and Bill Evans’s 1975 collaboration, The Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Album, and Evans’s 1976 release Quintessence (both originally released on Fantasy). These feature the original mastering from Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman, cut from tape and pressed at QRP.

OTHER REISSUES OF NOTE:
(*star denotes inclusion in this week’s paid-subscriber playlist)

*The Album Leaf: One Day I’ll Be On Time [Numero Group]
*Lily Allen: Alright, Still; It’s Not Me, It’s You; Sheezus; No Shame [Parlophone]
*Amyl and the Sniffers: Giddy Up/Big Attraction [Amyl and the Sniffers]
Anathema: Pentecost III [Peaceville]
Dorothy Ashby: Plays for Beautiful People [Waxtime]
David Bazan: Strange Negotiations [Undertow]
Mary Black: Anthology [Warner UK]
Bloodbath: Grand Morbid Funeral [Peaceville]
Bomfunk MCs: Freestyler [Music on Vinyl]
Cedric “Im” Brooks: United Africa [Water Lily/Pressure Sounds]
Brown Spirits: #1; #2; #3 [Soul Jazz]
*Cabaret Voltaire: 3x45 [Mute]
Cam’ron: Crime Pays [Nature Sounds]
Ron Carter: All Blues [Pure Pleasure]
Coil: Astral Disaster [Infinite Fog]
John Coltrane: Coltrane [20th Century Jazz Masters]
The Daisy Chain: Those Fucking Mod Bastards: Johnny, Mary & Me Sessions 1993 [Soundflat]
Dead Boys: Down on the Bowery; From the Sleaziest Catacombs [Cleopatra]
The Dead Milkmen: Big Lizard in My Backyard [The Giving Groove] (wide post-RSD release)
Ilse Delange: After the Hurricane: Greatest Hits & More [Music on Vinyl]
*Paco de Lucia: Fuente y Caudal; Entre dos Aguas [Elemental]
*DIIV: Oshin [Captured Tracks]
Fields of the Nephilim: Fallen [Jungle]
Fastway: Fastway [Music on Vinyl]
*Fugees: Blunted on Reality [Sony]
Serge Gainsbourg: Avant Gainsbarre [Vinyl Passion]
Marvin Gaye: Collected [Music on Vinyl]
*Guilty Razors: Complete Recordings - 1978 [Born Bad]
Herbie Hancock: Takin’ Off [Wax Time]
*Heldon: Agneta Nilsson (Heldon IV); Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale (Heldon V) [Bureau B]
Glenn Hughes: The Way It Is; Songs in the Key of Rock [Reissued Sounds]
Robert Johnson: King of the Delta Blues Singers Vol. 2 [Music on Vinyl]
Toby Keith: 35 Biggest Hits [Show Dog Nashville]
*Kruder & Dorfmeister: DJ-Kicks [!K7]
Jerry Lee Lewis: This Is [Vinyl Passion]
Chuck Mangione: Everything for Love [Chesky]
Mindless Self Indulgence: How I Learned to Stop Giving a Shit and Love MSI [Music on Vinyl]
*Mindless Sinner: Turn on the Power [High Roller]
*The Modern Lovers: Rock ’n’ Roll with the Modern Lovers [Music on Vinyl]
Wes Montgomery: The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery [Wax Time]
Lee Morgan: Take Twelve [Jazz Wax]
Ennio Morricone: Colori [Quartet]
Musical Youth: Mash Down Birmingham [Needle Mythology]
Brenda Lee: This Is [Vinyl Passion]
NOFX: The Decline EP [Fat Wreck Chords]
Original Cast: Sunday in the Park with George [Music on Vinyl]
*Paul Pena: Paul Pena [Different Strokes]
Porcupine Tree: The Incident; Fear of a Blank Planet; Deadwing; In Absentia; Lightbulb Sun; Stupid Dream [Transmission]
*Maddy Prior & June Tabor: Silly Sisters [Chrysalis] (wide release after UK RSD)
Tito Puente: Dance Mania [Descarga]
Rilo Kiley: Rkives [Little]
Alan Ross: Best of [ZYX Music]
*Arthur Russell: Love Is Overtaking Me [Audika]
Nina Simone: Silk & Soul [Music on Vinyl]
Nina Simone: I Love to Love [Vinyl Passion]
*The Strokes: Room on Fire [Sony]
Donna Summer: Crayons [Music on Vinyl]
Sweet: Reincarnation [Metalville]
*Twin Peaks: Down in Heaven [Grand Jury]
Vegas (Terry Hall & Dave Stewart): Vegas [Music on Vinyl]
*Why?: Elephant Eyelash [Waterlines]
Shiho Yabuki: Alpha Wave Music [Subliminal Sounds]
Various Artists: Ciao Italia [Vinyl Passion]
Various Artists: Cocktail Bossa Nova [Vinyl Passion]
Various Artists: La Contra Ola: Synth Wave & Post Punk from Spain 1980–86 [Bongo Joe]
Various Artists: Funk & Soul Instrumentals 1967 [History of Soul Records]
Various Artists: Listen Up! - Ska [Kingston Sounds]