18 Record Store Day releases you’ll miss if you sleep in
Get ready to starve your wallet and feed your turntable because the 11th anniversary of Record Store Day falls this weekend (Saturday, April 13). Because let’s face it, looking at playlists on your phone is kind of boring, but that triple-vinyl set of twenty one pilots’ Blurryface Live is a joy to witness and caress.
There’s something exclusive for everyone on RSD. What that means is you’ll have to line up in the middle of the night in front of your favorite retailer while most of your friends and loved ones are at home doing things such as binge-watching The Umbrella Academy for the fifth time or, um, sleeping. But what’s a couple of hours of sleep when you’re in the midst of the most glorious of troves, collecting the things that will color your leisure time forever?
Yes, we’ve drunk the Kool Aid, and now it’s your turn, dough-head. Here’s a woefully incomplete list of things you’ll miss if you stay home on Record Store Day.
1. Adrenalin O.D. – Let’s Barbeque 12-inch
There’s a good chance that if your parents are cool, they begrudgingly sold their copy of Adrenalin O.D.’s classic 1983 seven-inch in order to put your sorry ass in college. You can make it up to them by snagging this 12-inch LP reissue. It features all the original tracks (plus a previously unreleased one) along with the Jersey legends’ 1982 demo. All dressed up in a sweet gatefold sleeve. Don’t dally: There are only 1,100 of these beauties.
2. Bad Religion – “My Sanity”/“Chaos From Within” seven-inch
Producer Carlos De La Garza is manning the boards on the new album from legendary SoCal punk mainstays Bad Religion, and judging by what we’ve heard (hey, we know people), this taste of the sessions is pretty fecking wondrous.
3. Basement – “Be Here Now”/“Are You The One”
British post-emo contingents Basement deliver “Be Here Now” from last year’s Beside Myself LP, along with a previously unreleased B-side from the same sessions. The split blue/white vinyl combo is pretty amazing, as well.
4. Beartooth – “Takeover”/“Messed Up” seven-inch
Two burners (not bangers) that were inexplicably left off last year’s Disease make their way into your consciousness with all the subtlety of a baseball bat with an urgent appointment to meet you at the bridge of your nose. Caleb Shomo knows what he’s doing, and we’re glad we don’t have to wait for another bite from the ’tooth.
5. Green Day – Woodstock 1994
You’ve seen the videos of Billie Joe Armstrong catching a mouthful of flying sod at the legendary festival. Now blast the whole gig at ear-bleeding volume at home. This is some serious peak Green Day, with 10 songs of unfiltered adrenaline (including versions of “Welcome To Paradise,” “Longview” and “Basket Case”), culminating in (what else?) “Shit Show.” Only you and 6,799 of your coolest friends can get one. Set your alarm and don’t fuck up.
6. Halestorm – “Buzz”/“Chemicals” seven-inch
After rockin’ Halestorm’s Vicious LP, you know how awesome “Buzz” is. On the flip side of the green-colored gem is a non-LP track from those sessions called “Chemicals.”
7. Julien Baker – “Red Door”/“Conversation Piece” seven-inch
Next-level confessional singer-songwriter Julien Baker delivers a double dose of amazement on this red vinyl single. Fans will rejoice at the release of the previously unreleased live-show favorite “Red Door,” while “Conversation Piece” is a song that didn’t make it onto Turn Out The Lights.
8. Justin Courtney Pierre – Open Mic At The Lo-Fi: Vol. 1 EP
The former frontman of Motion City Soundtrack delivered a wonderful solo debut in the form of last year’s In The Drink. This fine artifact contains four previously unreleased songs—three JCP originals and a cover of the Jesus And Mary Chain’s “Drop”—on one side and a v. cool etching on the flip.
9. Mastadon – Stairway To Nick John 10-inch
Last September, the members of Mastodon mourned the loss of their manager/friend/No. 1 fan, Nick John. They were asked by John’s family to perform a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway To Heaven” at his funeral. Somebody made a bootleg recording of the event, which prompted the band to enter the studio to record it and earmark the royalties to pancreatic cancer research. Solid dudes, solid cause, heavy as hell.
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10. The Menzingers – “No Penance”/“Cemetery’s Garden” seven-inch
Two Will Yip-produced tracks from the sessions that birthed 2017’s After The Party LP finally see the light of day. IPA punks should trim some cash off their bar tab for this Menzingers release. See you in line, beardos.
11. My Chemical Romance – The Black Parade Is Dead! double LP
Originally released in a DVD/CD package, My Chemical Romance’s final live performance as their classic-rock-steeped alter ego gets a proper vinyl release. Soldiers in the MCRmy get the whole Mexico City concert, as well as the non-LP B-sides from the original album’s singles, “Kill All Your Friends,” “My Way Home Is Through You” and “Heaven Help Us.” If you spent stupid money on the red-white-and-blue pressing of Danger Days, you should be reading this while camped out in front of a store right now…
12. Ramones – Live At The Palladium double LP
All hail the kings of American punk-rock history! Originally entering the marketplace as a CD found in the 40th-anniversary box set of the Ramones’ Road To Ruin album, this live show of “da brudders” was recorded on New Year’s Eve 1979 and sourced from original drummer Tommy Ramone’s cassette copy. It’s punk-rock history, buddy, and if that’s not good enough for you, wait in line for the Teal Album…
13. Joe Strummer – The Rockfield Studio Tracks 12-inch
The late frontman of British punk icons the Clash is celebrated with this 180-gram 12-inch single featuring “Forbidden City” and the cool-jazz exercise “The Cool Impossible.”
14. Thrice – Deeper Wells EP
Thrice’s 2018 LP, Palms, was definitely a high point in their storied career, a document that made their detractors feel stupid for writing them off years ago. When you hear an album that great, did you ever wonder, “Man, what were the tracks they left off the record like?” Here are four unreleased songs from the Palms sessions, including “Deeper Wells,” “A Better Bridge,” “In This Storm” and “Stumbling West.”
15. The Used – The Used Live From Maida Vale 12-inch
Bert McCracken and his team descended upon the British Broadcasting Company’s Maida Vale facility to record four tracks, including “Rise Up Lights” and “On My Own,” as well as covers of songs by Nirvana (“Smells Like Teen Spirit”) and Linkin Park (“Shadow Of The Day”).
16. Weezer – The Teal Album
This collection of cover versions is for all the people who got behind the social media onslaught to have Team Weez cover Toto’s yacht-rock staple “Africa.” Where else are you going to find unironic covers of the Turtles (ask your parents), Black Sabbath and Tears For Fears on the same record? Who wouldn’t push over elderly people and pregnant mothers and kick tiny dogs to get this? Most certainly the hill the nerds will die on this weekend.
17. The Wonder Years – Live From Maida Vale 10-inch
The socially conscious, emotionally stirring Pennsylvania contingent the Wonder Years re-recorded four songs from their Sister Cities LP at the British Broadcasting Company’s Maida Vale facility.
18. Youth Of Today – “One Night Stand”/“Anarchy In Vienna” seven-inch
Somebody once told us a Title Fight member spent hundreds of dollars on an original, late-’80s Youth Of Today shirt. It’s good to know that YOT still inspire such die-hard fandom, and this cover of a song recorded by ’70s TV-pop act the Partridge Family is back in our faces again. The song was originally released on Revelation Records’ Revelation 100 compilation, but this time you get it in a Sex Pistols homage picture sleeve with a previously unreleased track recorded live in Europe.
