Last year, Vanguard Records caused a sensation by releasing on vinyl five classic titles from their vaults on Record Store Day. Immediately afterwards, Vanguard and Record Store Day asked fans to vote on www.recordstoreday.com for the five classic titles to be reissued on Record Store Day 2011. These five titles are limited to 1000, and available EXCLUSIVELY at participating independently owned record stores on Record Store Day 2011, Saturday, April 16:
Skip James Today! Newly re-mastered from the original tapes, this classic 1965 album ranks alongside the best of the period, with AllMusic declaring that James “might have made the best music of anyone who resurfaced during the mid-’60s… certainly, there weren’t many albums made during that time as good as this one.”
John Hammond So Many Roads Newly re-mastered from the original tapes, this classic 1965 album features a stellar supporting cast including Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson, Mike Bloomfield, and Charlie Musselwhite.
Mississippi John Hurt The Immortal Newly re-mastered from the original tapes, this classic 1967 album was dubbed “one of the best albums of country blues ever recorded” by AllMusic.
John Fahey Requia (and Other Compositions for Guitar Solo) Newly re-mastered from the original tapes, this classic 1967 album stands as one of the most innovative “folk” recordings of the period, with the master guitar player exploring musique concrete and tape collage techniques alongside his signature blues derivations.
Country Joe & the Fish Electric Music for the Mind and Body Newly re-mastered, this classic 1967 album was dubbed by AllMusic “their most joyous and cohesive statement and one of the most important and enduring documents of the psychedelic era, the band’s swirl of distorted guitar and organ at its most inventive.”
In addition to these releases exclusively available to Record Store Day participating stores, Vanguard and Sugar Hill will be releasing additional titles to indie record stores on Record Store Day before making them available to other retailers at a later date. Those include vinyl reissues of Nickel Creek’s Nickel Creek, This Side and Why Should The Fire Die? albums and a Vanguard compilation album called Follow Me Down: Vanguard’s Lost Psychedelic Era (1966 -1970), which marks the first hand-selected foray into Vanguard’s archives for “lost” records and 45s.
More Record Store Day exclusive releases are being confirmed, and information on those titles will be coming fast and furious in the next few weeks.
For more information on exclusive Record Store Day events, products and participants, visit www.recordstoreday.com.
Record Store Day is managed by the Music Monitor Network and is organized in partnership with the Alliance of Independent Media Stores (AIMS), the Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS) and celebrates the culture of independent record stores by playing host to in-store events/performances, signings and special product releases on a global scale.
Record Store Day takes place annually on the third Saturday of April.
Record Store Day Sponsors:
Crosley Radio, EMI Distribution, Fontana Distribution, Furnace MFG, NARM, RED Distribution, Sony Music, Universal Music Distribution, Vivendi Entertainment, WEA Distribution, and Warner Bros. Records.
