New vinyl reissues: May 8, 2026

Once again, we’ve got another big week of hot new vinyl re-releases to explore, with a little bit of everything for everyone. And this week our exclusive playlist is supercharged, with extra selections from interesting reissues that we didn’t manage to fit into the written previews.

Before we get started, Dutch label Music on Vinyl made an interesting announcement today. They’re venturing into the high-end reissue market with a series called Artone Signature. The name comes from Artone Label Group, the parent company of Music on Vinyl; the group is also interconnected with the Dutch pressing plant Record Industry, one of the best in the world. (Record Industry presses all the discs for Music on Vinyl.)

The project is launching with a 2-LP 45 RPM version of Golden Earring’s 1973 album Moontan (yes, that’s the one with “Radar Love”), which remains one of the best Dutch rock albums of all-time, making it a fitting figurehead for this series. They are using the Dutch tracklist, not the amended US/UK one that removed “Suzy Lunacy” and “Just Like Vince Taylor” and replaced them with an older song, “Big Tree, Blue Sea.” They’ve also slightly reordered the tracklist to make it spread more comfortably across four sides of vinyl.

The album has been newly remastered from the original tape, but there is no mention of the actual lacquer being cut from said analog tape, and Music on Vinyl almost always use digital sources for their discs; one can only surmise that a new high-res digital transfer was created, and this new Artone Signature Moontan was cut from that. (The DMM cutting head in the logo above is also a dead giveaway.) This is the only demerit I see with this program, which otherwise puts audio quality front and center; the reissue also includes a 12-page book, a development The Vinyl Cut is very much in favor of. Liner notes are the best.

There’s more info about the Artone Signature series and the Golden Earring Moontan reissue over on the imprint’s new home page. This has potential to be a significant development in the vinyl reissue world, as Music on Vinyl has close ties with Sony Music and are often responsible for that company’s reissues. If they start cutting from tape and have access to the Sony catalog, Artone Signature could be a real contender, joining the likes of Warner’s Rhino High Fidelity and Universal’s Vinylphyle series. However, we’ll just have to see how the series shapes up.

As for today’s playlist, it’s right here for our beloved paid-tier subscribers. Lots of extra songs this week—and a lot of bossa nova, too, for some reason. Enjoy!

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Thank you! Now let’s see what’s hitting the streets.

Peter Gabriel: Live at WOMAD 1982 [Real World]

In July 1982, the first WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance) Festival took place outside of Bath, England—the stomping grounds of its cofounder and marquee name, Peter Gabriel. The event celebrated indigenous music from around the globe, but naturally Gabriel played a set at the festival too, drawing heavily from his forthcoming fourth album, titled Security in North America and Peter Gabriel everywhere else. A live recording of that set was released digitally last year, but this week sees vinyl and CD versions enter the marketplace. It’s particularly interesting to hear the subtle changes in the not-quite-finished PG4/Security songs, as well as an embryonic version of “I Go Swimming.” While artistically successful, the first WOMAD was a financial disaster, resulting in Gabriel tapping his former Genesis bandmates for a reunion show later that year in Milton Keynes to save the organization from ruin. That gig—the only time Gabriel has done a complete performance with his former band—was famously not recorded, but this one was, and it finds Gabriel playing a lot of remarkable new material live for the first time.

The American Analog Set: Destroy Destroy Destroy [Numero Group]

The second box set collecting the works of the American Analog Set from Numero Group has arrived, following their 2024 box New Drifters, which covered the Austin, Texas, group’s first three albums. This new box, the 6-LP Destroy Destroy Destroy, covers their next three: 2001’s Know by Heart, 2003’s Promise of Love, and 2005’s Set Free, as well as the Everything Ends in Spring EP from 2005 and all the accompanying singles, B-sides, and stray tracks from the era. By this point the band had patented their own particular brand of “slow krautrock” that was centered on mesmeric rhythms, hushed vocals, and sustained golden tones from the Farfisa organ, but this period also saw them branching out stylistically, both drawing from and influencing the indie-rock movement of the ’00s and collaborating with the likes of Ben Gibbard and Matt Pond PA. Pre-sales of this just sold out on Numero Group’s site, but with luck your local retailer will have a copy.

Camera Obscura: Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi [Merge]

Camera Obscura’s first album, Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi, found the indie-pop band treading the winsome, twee-ish meadow path that their fellow Glaswegians Belle and Sebastian had followed to critical acclaim and underground success—that band’s Stuart Murdoch even co-produced Biggest Bluest Hi-Fi’s lead single, “Eighties Fan.” But the album also showed that even in these early stages, Camera Obscura already had an identity of their own, with the notable songwriting chops of frontwoman Tracyanne Campbell providing a particularly potent brand of unraveled-cardigan melancholy. The album, initially released in 2001 on the Scottish indie label Andmoresound, is being given its first vinyl release since then for its 25th anniversary. The new reissue is on Camera Obscura’s current home of Merge Records and includes the two B-sides that were added to CD reissues of the album.

Dee Felice Trio: In Heat [Real Gone Music]

The Dee Felice Trio attracted the attention of James Brown in 1968 when the soul maestro saw them perform at the Living Room Supper Club in the group’s hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. Brown got them into the studio to back him on his 1969 album Gettin’ Down to It, which found him tackling an array of jazz standards and even letting the Dee Felice Trio cut loose on a couple of instrumentals of their own. Brown also produced the trio’s own album, In Heat, which shared a couple of tracks with Gettin’ Down to It but also showcased the band’s ability to spread out from the supper-club format into more progressive jazz, soul, and funk styles. There’s still a lot of bossa-nova-derived dinner music here, but there’s also the sunny funk of “Oh Happy Day” and inventive covers of “Both Sides Now,” “Summer in the City,” and "Wichita Lineman.” First released in 1969 on Bethlehem Records, In Heat is now getting a vinyl remaster from the reissue champs at Real Gone Music.

Small Faces: Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake; The Autumn Stone [Nice]

These Small Faces reissues have been available overseas for some time, but this week they make their official bow in the States without those pesky import surcharges. Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake is the mod group’s 1968 swan song, a brilliant album that defined English psychedelia even as it broke the format and pointed the way forward to the harder rock that would come from the two groups that resulted from the band’s split, Humble Pie and Faces. And The Autumn Stone is a 1969 post-breakup compilation that collected album tracks and singles, becoming a de facto greatest-hits summation of their career. Nice Records, the artist-forward label that has full involvement with Small Faces drummer Kenney Jones, has reissued the mono mix of Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake on a half-speed-mastered disc cut by Henry Rudkins at AIR Mastering from a digital transfer from the analog master. And The Autumn Stone is expanded from two LPs to three with several previously unreleased tracks; the box set comes with a hardback book with extensive liner notes and photos.

Neil Diamond: Wild at Heart [Capitol/UMe]

Not exactly a new album from Neil Diamond, Wild at Heart collects nine previously unreleased songs and one alternate version from the 2007 sessions for Diamond’s Home Before Dark. That album was produced by Rick Rubin—as was this one—and found Diamond weeding out much of the schmaltz that had crept into his ’80s and ’90s material for a set that put his songwriting front and center. It was Diamond and Rubin’s second collaboration, following 2005’s similarly stripped-down 12 Songs, and now Wild at Heart completes the trilogy. With Diamond now fully retired and dealing with Parkinson’s, this should be a fine reminder of the songwriting chops that made his ’60s and early ’70s work among the most essential—and most neglected and misunderstood—wellsprings of the pop canon.

His Name Is Alive: Livonia; Home Is in Your Head; Mouth by Mouth [4AD]

The early work of Michigan dream-pop deconstructionist His Name Is Alive—the nom de record of Warren Defever—was collected in 2024 by 4AD for a 6-LP box set called How Ghosts Affect Relationships. With that box now out of print, 4AD is giving the three albums contained within their own stand-alone vinyl releases: His Name Is Alive’s 1990 debut Livonia, 1991’s Home Is in Your Head, and 1993’s Mouth by Mouth. Those first two albums collected years’ worth of Defever’s home recordings, which consisted of somnambulant soundscapes haunted by a woman’s voice (usually Karin Oliver), while the latter was an intentionally designed studio record and is probably the most potent realization of Defever’s unique style, populated by wraiths, eidolons, and faceless lullaby-singers. Apart from the How Ghosts box, none of these have received the vinyl treatment since their original releases in the UK, making these reissues all the more vital, even if none of the bonus material from the box set is included.

Ween: White Pepper; Quebec [Rhino]

Already in circulation via the band’s store and Rhino’s website, these two reissues of Ween albums make their way to retailers this week. White Pepper, from 2000, was their final album for Elektra Records and saw them softening some of their weirdness to make a more straightforward pop-rock album, although its nooks and crannies still contained plenty of psychedelic eccentricity. 2003’s Quebec found band members Dean and Gene Ween dealing with personal issues and mining a darker sound, with lyrics describing drug addiction, divorce, and emotional fallout. Both albums have received dodgy vinyl pressings over the years but now have spiffy remasters from Rhino (Quebec has been pressed at 45 RPM across four sides), although some Discogs reviewers mention minor issues with noise and ticks on the new pressings, which were done at GZ’s Memphis plant.

Deee-Lite: World Clique [Mobile Fidelity]

The immortality of New York dance trio Deee-Lite is well assured, with their 1990 smash “Groove Is in the Heart” firmly ensconced in the pantheon of great club tracks. The song married New York City’s house and hip-hop cultures with a groove that was both sleek and funky, riding a Herbie Hancock sample over an infectious chorus and guest appearances from Q-Tip and Bootsy Collins. The rest of Deee-Lite’s debut album, 1990’s World Clique, is not as distinctive but still shows an unusual focus on songwriting and melodic construction as well as a psychedelia-informed aesthetic, setting it apart from other dance records of its day. Still, it’s a bit surprising to see Mobile Fidelity get their hands on it. They’re treating it to a 2-LP 45 RPM rendition that’s cut from a DSD transfer of the analog tape, and the album’s sample-laden, kaleidoscopic production should react well to MoFi’s careful treatment and excellent pressings from their Fidelity plant in Oxnard. This one’s limited to 2000 copies.

Punch: Punch [Ancient Grease]

New York hard rockers Punch released a lone 7-inch during their existence: the odd-couple pairing of the gossamer, string-laden ballad “Rainbow Man” and the proto-metal crunch-’n’-squeal of “Deathhead,” released on Raftis Records in 1970. That latter song turned up on one of the countless Brown Acid compilations, and now Ancient Grease Records has located enough material for a full-length of Punch music, taken from tapes recorded 1970 and 1971. The preview track, “Times Ago,” sounds like it’s from a live show, perhaps—quite well recorded, although the bass drum is on the weak side—and suggests that for Punch, the heavier rock sound was where the band felt most comfortable. The Ancient Grease LP includes an eight-page booklet, which should provide some much-needed info on the group, but as of right now virtually nothing exists on the web, nor does the record appear on Ancient Grease’s website at the moment. Still, your local retailer should have it in stock should you feel like a bit of hard-rock excavation.

Vampisoul

Two fine titles come to us from the excellent Spanish label Vampisoul this week: Roy Ayers Ubiquity’s 1973 album Red Black & Green finds the soul-jazz vibraphonist at his best, a funky, jazzy, soulful strut through originals and covers like Bill Withers’s “Ain’t No Sunshine” and the Temptations’ “Papa Was a Rolling Stone.” The ensemble features trumpeter Charles Tolliver, future David Bowie drummer Dennis Davis, and string arrangements by William S. Fischer. Also from Vampisoul comes a new pressing of Marcos Valle’s 1965 bossa nova classic O Compositor e o Cantor, with the Brazilian songwriter offering gentle delivery amid arrangements by Eumir Deodato.

Jazz Alley

It’s a quick trot down Jazz Alley today, with none of the heavy-hitters and cut-from-lathe purveyors having anything on deck for us this week. But some important jazz works are getting reissues from lesser-known labels. Play Loud Records is reissuing the Art Ensemble of Chicago’s 1969 album People in Sorrow, recorded for Pathé Marconi during the group’s extended stay in France. A group-composed, singular piece, it features trumpeter Lester Bowie, saxophonists Roscoe Mitchell and Joseph Jarman, and bassist Malachi Favors. Meanwhile, Tokyo’s P-Vine is repressing the Bobby Hamilton Quintet Unlimited’s Dream Queen, a 1972 soul-jazz effort that got a recent re-release on Now-Again Records. Lastly, Dexter Gordon’s 1976 effort Stable Mable is getting a reissue on 180-gram vinyl, although not much more is known about this edition, which is coming from SteepleChase, the Danish label that released the original version 50 years ago.

Classical Corner

Six new analog-cut titles are coming to the classical market this week, although each of them is prohibitively expensive, making entry into this genre difficult apart from well-heeled and already converted audiophiles. Four new ones from Decca’s Pure Analogue series are here: Bernard Haitink and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam’s 1970 recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, which has recently vaulted into the all-time-elite-symphony category thanks in part due to its thematic centering in Tár; Seiji Ozawa and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra’s 1975 recording of Dvořak’s Symphony No. 9 (“From the New World,” perhaps the most approachable and durable symphony ever composed); Georg Solti and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra’s 1979 rendition of Richard Strauss’s Eine Alpensinfonie (aka An Alpine Symphony—actually, it’s more of a tone poem); and Zubin Mehta and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra’s recording of three pieces by Edgard Varése: Arcana, Intégrales, and Ionisation. These were all mastered by Rainer Maillard and cut from tape by Sidney C. Meyer at Emil Berliner Studios. Over at Acoustic Sounds, they have the two latest entries in their RCA Living Stereo series, both featuring Russian-American violinist Jascha Heifetz, whose style dominated midcentury violin technique but whose red-blooded intensity feels a bit like a quaint throwback today. The two new entries are Heifetz’s pairing of Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 and Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4, with backing from Sir Malcom Sargent and the New Symphony Orchestra of London, originally released in 1963; and the combo of Glazunov’s Violin Concerto and Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante, performed with the backing of a no-name orchestra—quite peculiar for RCA and a performer of Heifetz’s status at the time. These were cut from tape by Bernie Grundman several years ago for a series on Classic Records, although these are the rarer 45 RPM cuts (which, in the Glazunov/Mozart case, has never been used before now).

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

Johnny Ace: Aces Wild: The Greatest Singles 1952–56 [Acrobat]
*Lionel et Stéphane Belmondo: Calypso Diola [Diggers Factory]
*Jane Birkin: Versions Jane [Universal France]
Boogiemonsters: Riders of the Storm: The Underwater Album [Music on Vinyl]
*Chico Buarque: Viva [Universal Music Brasil]
Jimmy Cobb Quartet: Jazz in the Key of Blue [Chesky]
*Skeeter Davis: Here’s the Answer [Sepia]
Deicide: Once Upon the Cross [Real Gone Music]
Bo Diddley: Say Man! The Singles & More 1955–62 [Acrobat]
Dionysos: Happening Songs [Diggers Factory]
The Fabulous Thunderbirds: Live in London 1985 [Last Music Company]
*Face to Face: Live [Many Hats]
*Gilberto Gil: Louvação [Universal Music Brasil]
*Bebel Gilberto: Tudo [Music on Vinyl]
*Buddy Guy: Blues Singer [Music on Vinyl]
*Thee Headcoatees: Girlsville [Damaged Goods]
John Lee Hooker: Boogie Chillen’: The Early Years 1948–62 [Acrobat]
Abdullah Ibrahim: Water from an Ancient Well [Enja]
In This Moment: The Dream [Brutal Planet]
Isis: In the Absence of Truth; Wavering Radiant [Ipecac]
Yuki Kajiura: Noir soundtrack [Wayô]
*Natalia Lafourcade: Musas Vol. 1; Musas Vol. 2 [Music on Vinyl]
Ray LaMontagne: Till the Sun Turns Black; Gossip in the Grain [Liula]
*Lindstrøm: It’s a Feedelity Affair [Feedelity]
Johnny Maestro: Little Miracles: The Sweetest Singles 1957–61 [Acrobat]
Roy Orbison: Go! Go! Go! Best of 1956–62 [Acrobat]
Orgy: Candyass [Real Gone Music]
The Pasadenas: To Whom It May Concern [Music on Vinyl]
Phish: New Year’s Eve 1995, Live at MSG [Jemp]
Poison Idea: Pearls Before Swine: The Early Years Volume 2 [American Leather]
The Pussycat Dolls: PCD; Doll Domination [A&M]
Queensrÿche: Queensrÿche; The Verdict [Alone]
*The Rapture: In the Grace of Your Love [DFA]
Saxon: Metalhead [Music on Vinyl]
Dinah Shore: Doin’ What Comes Natur’lly [Acrobat]
David A. Stewart: Lily Was Here soundtrack [Music on Vinyl]
Swell Maps: The John Peel Sessions [Mute] (wide release after RSD Black Friday)
*The Sword: Age of Winters [Kemado]
*The Taxpayers: Exhilarating News; A Rhythm in the Cages [Asian Man]
Tendouji: Mad City [Jet Set]
Tesseract: One [Century Media]
Tha God Fahim: The Dark Shogunn Saga Trilogy [Nature Sounds]
Merle Travis: The Picking Pioneer: 1946–49 [Acrobat]
Valdrin: Beyond the Forest [Avant-Garde]
Rumil Vildanov: Kino Variants 1967–1986 [Von]
Kitty Wells: Honky Tonk Angel: A Decade of Hits 1952–62 [Acrobat]
Randy Weston: The Music of Randy Weston [In+Out]
Buster Williams: Something More [In+Out]
Sonny Boy Williamson II: Do It If You Wanta: The Best Trumpet & Checker A-Sides 1951–62 [Acrobat]
*The Woggles: Stop and Take a Minute: A Collection of B-Sides and Rarities [Wicked Cool]
*The Yawpers: American Man; Human Question [Bloodshot]