New vinyl reissues: October 16, 2026
There’s a lot to talk about this week. It should be a pretty busy weekend at ye olde record store, despite some of the more well-heeled and industry-connected vinyl fanatics making their way to Kansas for Acoustic Sounds’ Vinyl Summit, a celebration of the audiophile company’s 40th anniversary. Don’t let the FOMO get you down, because there’s a ton of choice vinyl hitting the racks this Friday that will make your weekend outing to your local shop just as exciting as nestling up alongside a mildly famous YouTuber as you listen to some live blues in a Salina bar.
First, a few announcements. I will once again be appearing on Steve Westman’s Live Audiophile Roundtable this Saturday, October 17, at 12 noon Eastern/9 am Pacific—go here to watch it. As to what we’ll be discussing, that remains to be seen, but you can join us live on Saturday to find out, or catch up later at a time of your choosing. The wonders of the internet!
Also, The Vinyl Cut’s October vinyl giveaway is live! It’s a darn good one this month, one that should get the collectors salivating. It’s a test pressing of the Definitive Sound Series one-step of Beck’s Morning Phase. Not only does this pressing sound amazing in its own right (read my review here), but you can’t currently get this ultra-rare test pressing anywhere else. You’ll need to be a paid subscriber to enter the contest, so click below to find out all the details about that.
Ned Lannamann
As usual, let’s run through the latest reissue announcements before we get into the meat of the week.
I have to mention up top this surprise late addition to this year’s Record Store Day Black Friday roster: a gold-vinyl pressing of the Beatles’ Rubber Soul, cut from Capitol Records’ East Coast analog master tape. If you’ve been holding out on the big Rubber Soul box (read my in-depth review of that excellent set here) but were sorely tempted by its inclusion of the US edition—with the altered tracklist and extra reverb—you can try your luck on Black Friday (November 27). They’ve pressed up 15,000 copies, which is a lot, but I’d expect this one to be a hot item.
Mobile Fidelity has two new items up for preorder this week: War’s 1973 album The World Is a Ghetto, and Linda Ronstadt’s Spanish-language Canciones de mi Padre from 1987, a celebration of the Mexican music of her family’s heritage. Both were mastered from DSD digital transfers by Krieg Wunderlich and pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing; release dates TBD. The War album is a 45 RPM 2-LP set and Ronstadt is a single disc at 33 RPM.
Over at Craft Recordings, they’re reissuing all three volumes of Billy Bragg and Wilco’s wonderful Mermaid Avenue series, in which they set new melodies to Woody Guthrie lyrics for which Guthrie’s own melodies remain undocumented. Recorded in 1997 and 1998, the albums were originally released in 1998 (Volume I) and 2000 (Volume II), with a third volume included in a 2012 3-CD/1-DVD set. Volume III was available as a Record Store Day release in 2013 but to the best of my knowledge has not otherwise been pressed to vinyl. All three are available separately with color variants, and there’s a 7-LP set that includes everything and adds 16 additional unreleased songs, as well as a bonus 7-inch with a Woody Guthrie home recording. All of this bounty comes our way on December 11.
Third Man Records is reissuing Loretta Lynn’s terrific 2004 comeback album Van Lear Rose, produced by Jack White and featuring a bonus track, due out November 13. And Craft’s Original Jazz Classics series keeps trucking along, with a whopping four new titles coming on December 4: Bill Evans Trio’s 1962 album How My Heart Sings, John Coltrane’s 1958 album Soultrane, Sonny Rollins’s 1956 album Work Time, and the Miles Davis Quintet’s 1961 album Steamin’, which came from the famous 1956 sessions. These were all cut from tape by Kevin Gray and pressed at RTI, with Stoughton tip-on jackets. It’s going to be quite a list for Santa this year.
It seems that those of us who lived through the ’90s are doomed to repeat it over and over again. Marilyn Manson’s 1996 album Antichrist Superstar album, which has not been legitimately available on vinyl since 2013, is coming from Waxwork Records as a 30th-anniversary edition on January 15. And in other mediocre ’90s music news, Craft are reissuing Bush’s 1996 album Razorblade Suitcase with four extra bonus tracks. Lastly, Rhino is putting Madonna’s Evita soundtrack from 1996 on vinyl for the very first time, a 3-LP set on red or gold vinyl, although the latter appears to be sold out.
Here’s the week’s playlist, which plucks a song from 30 of the most interesting new vinyl reissues and has enough music to scratch your discovery itch for the next few days. It’s available only on our paid tier, so please consider upgrading! Not only will you get to enter the Beck vinyl giveaway that I mentioned earlier, but you’ll also get these weekly playlists, which probably do a better job of giving you a sense of what’s coming out this week than my typed words ever could. Paid members also get full access to the site’s archives, commenting privileges on every article, and the warm fuzzies that come from the knowledge that you are supporting an independent publication that relies solely on you to pay the bills. Don’t you want to be able to look your dog in the eye and tell him you’re a good person?
And now, with the guilt tripping out of the way, let’s see what all those folks in Salina are missing out on this week.
Rhino Rocktober
Rhino Records’ Rocktober retail campaign soft-launched at the start of the month, with a smattering of vinyl reissues hitting brick-and-mortar record stores (you’ll need to go out in person to get ’em—they won’t show up on Rhino’s site until later), but this is the first week that they’ve got more than two or three things on offer. A lot of these are colored-vinyl reissues that are presumably carve-outs from previously released Rhino box sets. These include three albums from foundational LA psych band Love: 1966’s Love (on transparent red vinyl), 1967’s Da Capo (transparent orange vinyl), and 1969’s Four Sail (light blue vinyl)—essential classics all. I think it’s likely these share the same Chris Bellman analog mastering from the Love vinyl box set that came out on last year’s Black Friday, in which case they’re pretty terrific-sounding; read my review of that box here. Also, the four Tom Verlaine albums that were released as a box on Record Store Day 2024 get individual releases: 1979’s Tom Verlaine, 1981’s Dreamtime, 1982’s Words from the Front, and 1984’s Cover, all on clear vinyl. If these are the same cuts as the box, these were also done by Chris Bellman and have good reviews on Discogs, although I haven’t heard ’em myself.
Also on colored vinyl are the 40th anniversary edition of Pretenders’ 1986 album Get Close (on white vinyl), ZZ Top’s 1983 MTV blockbuster Eliminator (on yellow vinyl—almost assuredly not the same cut as the Rhino High Fidelity), and Phil Collins’s lesser-heard 1996 album Dance into the Light, a 2-LP set on translucent orange and blue vinyl. And Motörhead’s On Parole—which was recorded 1975 and 1976 and was supposed to be the band’s debut, although it ended up being shelved until 1979—is being reissued on “smokey marble” vinyl; these mixes are billed as “The Alternate Mixes,” which were newly done by Richard Digby Smith for the 3-CD On Parole box set from earlier this year. That box also featured a very good Steven Wilson remix of the album which came out on vinyl for Record Store Day (my review’s here); as to how these mixes differ, I cannot say.
Plus, Rhino is releasing a stereo mix of Dr. Feelgood’s 1975 debut album, Down by the Jetty, which was originally only in mono. The stereo mix was initially released on a 2006 CD set, and I believe this is its first appearance on vinyl—black, in this case. Lastly, as part of Rocktober, three new Rhino High Fidelities are making their way to retail stores for the first time: Crosby, Stills & Nash’s 1969 self-titled debut (read my review here) and two from Joni Mitchell, 1971’s Blue (review here) and 1974’s Court and Spark (review here). All three feature analog masterings by Kevin Gray and are superb.
National Album Day
Saturday, October 17 is National Album Day in the UK, which is sort of the little British cousin to Record Store Day, and this year includes more than 80 vinyl reissues of some pretty well-known albums. A lot of these are colored or novelty pressings, and while it’s unlikely that many of these National Album Day entries feature new or notable masterings, it’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility. Details are scant, I’m afraid, so I’ll just point you to the big list and let you fend for yourself. You’ll notice that some of these are identical to the Rhino Rocktober entries I’ve mentioned above, while others are going to be available in North America as regular releases, and yet others will be part of Record Store Day Black Friday. In other words, if you see something you’ve gotta have—like Annie Lennox’s Bare, INXS’s Welcome to Wherever You Are, or New Order’s Brotherhood—but don’t live in the UK, your coveted record may make its way to, uh, wherever you are in due time. (Bare comes out in the US on November 13, Welcome to Wherever You Are lands Stateside on RSD Black Friday, and Brotherhood will be in US stores this week.)
The Orchids: Unholy Soul [Circuitry]
Scottish band the Orchids have been intermittently putting out great albums since the late ’80s, but their second, 1991’s Unholy Soul, remains one of their finest, a winsome and heartwarming collection of lightly dreamy pop, folk-inflected epistles, a few Madchester try-ons, and flirtations with the dance culture that infected the British music scene at the time. They’d lean further in that direction with 1994’s Striving for the Lazy Perfection, often regarded as their high point, but the delicate touches of Unholy Soul make for some of the most beautiful music they ever put out. First issued by legendary Bristol indie label Sarah Records, Unholy Soul has all but vanished from vinyl bins since its original release. Now Circuitry Records have reissued this long-overdue gem with a second disc of contemporaneous singles and EP tracks. (Bandcamp link here; US distributor link here.)
Tears for Fears: The Seeds of Love [UMe]
It looks like three different vinyl configurations of Tears for Fears’ magnum opus The Seeds of Love are heading our way this week. (A 3-CD set is also in the offing, although it looks like a simple paring down of the 4-CD/1-Blu-ray box from 2020.) The 1989 album was their follow-up to the inconceivably successful Songs from the Big Chair and found the band’s ambition exploding to almost unfathomable proportions. Seen as a slightly overblown affair upon release, its sturdy pop undergirding and excellent production have served it well, with moments of delight, like the effervescently Beatlesque “Sowing the Seeds of Love,” offsetting the more pretentious and bombastic elements. So, the three new vinyl versions are: 1) A half-speed master, cut by Miles Showell at Abbey Road. 2) A Steven Wilson remix, pressed on “sunburst orange and red” vinyl. 3) A 2-LP set with a bonus disc of B-sides, outtakes, and demos, pressed on blue vinyl with alternate cover art. All three of these have their selling points and redundancies, making the fact that they’re not available together as, say, a 3-LP set immensely frustrating. Also, at nearly 50 minutes long, this would have been a perfect candidate for a 45 RPM double-LP pressing. Just sayin’.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Magic Boy: Live at Berkeley - First Show [Sony]
This set comes from Hendrix’s final tour, recorded on May 30, 1970, less than four months before his death. He was backed by Mitch Mitchell on drums and Billy Cox on bass and was also working on studio recordings in between tour dates for an ultimately unfinished album, potential songs from which appear in the set. Portions of this Berkeley show have been released on record and film before, notably on the Rainbow Bridge and Hendrix: In the West LPs and in the 1971 film Jimi Plays Berkeley. This is ostensibly the first complete release of the show, with the tapes newly remixed by Eddie Kramer. While it’s unlikely there’s any unheard manna from Hendrix heaven on this disc, it’s hopefully another corrective to the disarray his posthumous catalog has languished in since his death. Bernie Grundman did the mastering—a very good sign—and the double LP set, cut at QRP, is affordably priced.
The High Spirits: I Believe [Sundazed]
Minneapolis garage rockers the High Spirits released three singles in the 1960s but never put out a full-length—until now. Sundazed has collected the A- and B-sides of those singles plus 10 additional tracks from the period for an album that surveys their full career from the mid-’60s to their breakup in 1969, charting their progression from R&B-based garage rock to psychedelia. There are plenty of covers of classics, like Bobby Bland’s “Turn On Your Love Light,” Jimmy Reed’s “Bright Lights, Big City,” Bobby Lewis’s “Tossin’ and Turnin’” and a charming version of the Who’s “Substitute” with roller-rink organ. But there’s also a smattering of originals in the mix too, and the collection maps out a little-known corner of MPLS rock history. Oh, and Kevin Gray cut the lacquer, too.
Dave Frishberg: Oklahoma Toad [Oglio]
Pianist Dave Frishberg released Oklahoma Toad on Creed Taylor’s CTI Records, but to designate this fascinating hodgepodge a “jazz” album does it a disservice. It’s really an unconventional singer/songwriter album, featuring Frishberg’s left-field compositions that dabble in country, folk, funk, blues, and rock as well as jazz. If you don’t know Frishberg, you certainly know his songs—he was one of the contributors to the beloved Schoolhouse Rock cartoon series, so if you’ve ever had “I’m Just a Bill” rattling around your head, you have Frishberg to thank. Schoolhouse Rock is actually a good comparison for Oklahoma Toad: catchy songs with witty lyrics and a slightly off-center delivery, although perhaps slightly less educational content. The album was produced by none other than Margo Guryan and David Rosner and is full of continuous surprises and delights. This reissue from Oglio Records comes with a bonus 7-inch and liner notes by Bill Reed.
Brian Eno: Drawn from Life & Another Day on Earth [Opal]
Brian Eno started Opal Records in 1988, but the label lapsed in inactivity after a few short years, barring a one-off release here or a Record Store Day reissue there. Eno has now fully resurrected Opal in order to reissue two of his harder-to-find albums: 2001’s Drawn from Life (a collaboration with German composer J. Peter Schwalm) and 2005’s Another Day on Earth. The former is a more abstract work, built out of soundscapes and lightly rendered ideas, while the latter is a song-oriented album. Drawn from Life got a very limited vinyl release 25 years ago, while Another Day has never been on vinyl before, making these two reissues crucial for Enoheads. They are available on standard black wax, while Drawn from Life has a “translucent cerise” option and Another Day on Earth has a “translucent lime green” version.
Jazz Alley
The British Jazz Explosion series has been difficult to keep tabs on here in the States, but two new incredibly exciting titles are dropping, making it a good time to lock in and start paying attention. British/Jamaican saxophonist Joe Harriott’s 1965 album High Spirits finds him fronting a quintet playing a cool, razzle-dazzle version of jazz that anticipated Swingin’ London; this pressing, cut from 24/192 digital, puts the stereo mix on vinyl for the very first time. And the Alan Skidmore Quintet’s 1970 album was one of only 22 records released on Deram’s Nova series; it features a strain of jazz influenced by the European classical movements and the avant-garde. Also cut from 24/192 digital transfers of the analog tapes, it’s a fearlessly exploratory album that makes a much-needed return to vinyl. These reissues mark the first vinyl releases of these titles in more than half a century.
Meanwhile, two new ones from Blue Note’s Classic Vinyl Series land this week. Jackie McLean’s 1960 album Swing Swang Swingin’ puts the alto saxophonist alongside pianist Walter Bishop Jr., bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Art Taylor. And Lou Donaldson’s 1960 album Sunny Side Up features Donaldson’s alto fronting a hard-bop quintet that flirts with the nascent soul-jazz sound. Both were cut from tape by Kevin Gray. Also on the AAA tip is Real Gone Music’s analog reissue of Freddie McCoy’s Spider Man, a 1966 cool jazz set from the vibraphonist; it looks like it’s already sold out on the Real Gone site, but should be available through your local retailer. And Speakers Corner is reissuing 1967’s The Electrifying Eddie Harris, a 1967 set of wonderful soul jazz that finds Eddie Harris experimenting with the Varitone sax pickup, allowing for electronic effects like octave doubling and tremolo to augment his mellifluous tone. If this follows previous Speakers Corner releases, it was cut from tape by Kevin Gray.
ECM’s Luminessence vinyl series continues with the first vinyl pressing of Jan Garbarek’s 1998 album Rites. Black Editions Archives have a 1979 Albuquerque, New Mexico, concert from Cecil Taylor Unit. Live at the KiMo Theatre is a vintage performance of free jazz that will raise the hair on every part of your body; Kevin Gray cut the lacquers for the 2-LP set, which comes in a handsome jacket with a 12-page booklet. And lastly, Craft’s Jazz Dispensary continues with Studio G’s Nature’s World, which isn’t really a jazz album but more of a library music record featuring John Cale’s synthesizers, originally composed and recorded in 1982 for use in nature documentaries.
OTHER REISSUES OF NOTE:
(*star denotes inclusion in this week’s paid-subscriber playlist)
Trace Adkins: Dreamin’ Out Loud [UMe]
Alexisonfire: Crisis [Dine Alone]
Marc Almond with Starcluster: Silver City [SFE/Cherry Red]
*Dave Alvin: Blackjack David [Craft/Hightone]
Ian Anderson: Homo Erraticus [Madfish]
Ash: 1977 [BMG]
Dorothy Ashby & Frank Wess: In a Minor Groove [Real Gone Music]
Rosa Balisteri: Morsi cu Morsi: Songs of Suffering, Anger and Poverty from Sicily (1972–78) [Black Sweat]
*Be Bop Deluxe: Modern Music [Esoteric/Cherry Red]
Bloodgood: Out of the Darkness [Retroactive]|
Carter Burwell: Carol soundtrack [Varèse Sarabande]
*Mariah Carey: Daydream [Sony]
Giuseppe Chiari: Il Metodo Per Suonare [Alga Marghen]
The Church: Priest = Aura [Music on Vinyl]
The Civil Wars: The Civil Wars [Music on Vinyl]
Cold: Year of the Spider [Real Gone Music]
Miles Davis & Marcus Miller: Music from Siesta [Music on Vinyl]
Deakin: Sleep Cycle [Domino]
The Dickies: Balderdash from the Archives [Cleopatra]
Al DiMeola: Elegant Gypsy [Music on Vinyl]
The Drags: Set Right Fit to Blow Clean Up [Total Punk]
*Electric Light Orchestra: A New World Record [Sony]
Eleventh Dream Day: By the Time They Got to Lounge Ax [Laughing Bee]
*Roky Erickson & The Explosives: Live at the Whisky 1981 [Sunset Blvd]
The Fall: Ersatz GB [Cherry Red]
Fila Brazillia: Black Market Gardening [Music on Vinyl]
Firefriend: Sulfur [Feeding Tube/Cardinal Fuzz]
Robert Lester Folsom: Music and Dreams [Anthology Recordings]
Focus: Hocus Pocus: The Best of Focus [Music on Vinyl]
45 Grave: Sleep in Safety [Real Gone Music]
Rob Gee: Punk, Funk & Live [Music on Vinyl]
God: Possession [Real Gone Music]
*The Sensational Alex Harvey Band: Framed [Madfish]
*Heavens to Betsy: Baby’s Gone; Calculated [Kill Rock Stars]
Rafael Anton Irisarri: Sirimiri [Umor Rex]
Billy Joel: Turnstiles [Sony]
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook: Night Song [Real World]
Kiss: You Wanted the Best, You Got the Best! [Mercury]
Korn: Life Is Peachy [Sony]
Louise: Naked [90/9/Cherry Red]
Eddy Louiss & Michel Petrucciani: Conférence de Presse [Diggers Factory]
Manchester Orchestra: I’m Like a Virgin Losing a Child; You Brainstorm, I Brainstorm, But Brilliance Needs a Good Editor [Favorite Gentlemen]
Motion City Soundtrack: My Dinosaur Life [Music on Vinyl]
Naked Raygun: This Place Used to Be a Strip Joint [Laughing Bee]
Robert Nasveld: Robert Nasveld [Metaphon]
Oleander: February Son [Music on Vinyl]
Polly Paulusma: Scissors in My Pocket [One Little Independent]
Pop Will Eat Itself: Cure for Sanity [Music on Vinyl]
Vincent Price: Witchcraft-Magic: An Adventure in Demonology [Real Gone Music]
*Willis Alan Ramsey: Willis Alan Ramsey [Antarctica Starts Here]
Rashad & Confidence: The Element of Surprise [Below System]
Rise Against: Revolutions Per Minute [Fat Wreck Chords]
Sacred Warrior: Rebellion; Wicked Generation [Retroactive]
702: No Doubt [Motown]
*Andy Shauf: The Party [Anti-]
Slade: Nobody’s Fools [Slade]
Soft Cell: Danceteria [Big Frock]
Sons of Otis: Paid to Suffer; Spacejumbofudge [Heavy Psych Sounds]
Space: The Art of Space Disco (1977–1978) [Because Music]
Taking Back Sunday: Louder Now [Craft]
TDK: Esto Es una Empresa Capitalista; Carnevision [Beat Generation]
Texas Tornados: Live from Austin, TX [New West]
Tokyo Blade: Tokyo Blade [High Roller]
Rick Wakeman: The Stage Collection [Purple Pyramid]
Wednesday 13: Transylvania 90210: Songs of Death, Dying and the Dead [Real Gone Music]
Bob Weir: Blue Mountain [Rhino/WMG]
Ween: Boognish Provides [Rhino]
Windy & Carl: Portal [Kranky]
Within Temptation: Hydra; Bleed Out [Music on Vinyl]
Z-Factor Featuring Jesse Saunders: Dance Party Album [Numero Group]
Various Artists: Cairo Soul Series Vol 10: Beauty Is Embarrassing [Cairo]
*Various Artists: Beirut City Pop [Habibi Funk]
Various Artists: Demon Knight soundtrack [Real Gone Music]
Various Artists: Iranian Funk; Iranian Nuggets [Akenaton]
Various Artists: Lex XX [Lex]
Various Artists: The Return of the Living Dead soundtrack [Real Gone Music]
