Here’s a trivia question for you: Which member of the iconic new wave trio the Police was the first to release a solo album?
Not singer-bassist Sting. Not guitarist Andy Summers. And though technically not drummer Stewart Copeland, it was his alter ego Klark Kent who holds the honor for the 1980 eponymous pseudonymous release.
One day in college many, many years ago I took the bus downtown to browse the bins at my favorite used record stores, and there scored the Klark Kent album on translucent green vinyl.
It’s been decades since that album vanished from my collection and I miss it still. But now I can buy it again when Record Store Day 2023 arrives on Saturday, April 22.
Yes, it’s a 12-inch version and not the 10-inch one I originally own. But it’s pressed on green vinyl and man, I’m tempted.
Here are 10 other tempting titles coming to independent record stores hopefully near you as exclusive releases on Record Store Day this year.
Chet Baker / ‘Chet’: This lushly romantic album gets its first U.S. release on vinyl (and in mono) since its original 1959 release. Baker’s trumpet is accompanied by Pepper Adams on saxophone, Bill Evans on piano, and a handful of other jazz greats. This RSD release will have pouring yourself a drink and turning the lights down low before the opening track “Alone Together” is over.
Hal Blaine / ‘Psychedelic Percussion’: One of the most-recorded drummers in history, Blaine, a member of producer Phil Spector’s Wrecking Crew house band, played on roughly 150 No. 1 hits. This 1967 all-instrumental jazz album was Blaine at his most creative, playing every kind of percussion you can imagine. Here the groovy sounds and cover are matched with the gold and turquoise vinyl of the disc.
The Cure / ‘Show’: Get in the mood for the Cure’s Hollywood Bowl shows in May with this double-album picture-disc edition freshly remastered by Cure maestro Robert Smith. Recorded on the “Wish” album tour in Detroit in 1992, this is the first vinyl edition since then.
Ol’ Dirty Bastard / ‘Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version’: On the late Wu-Tang Clan rapper’s solo debut, ODB made an album as wild, unpredictable and entertaining as he was. Here, it arrives on two picture discs.
Willie Henderson & the Soul Explosions / Funky Chicken: Hark back to the turn of the ’70s when the American soul music scene had room not just for Rufus Thomas’ 1969 hit “The Funky Chicken” but Willie Henderson’s 1970 album with two separate “Funky Chicken” songs. So much funk! So many chickens! This album is a hidden soul gem, complete with the Beastie Boys’-sampled bonus track “Loose Booty.”
John Lennon / ‘Gimme Some Truth’: This 36-track hits compilation arrived in 2020 so it’s possible you already have it. But until RSD 2023 you can’t have it in a box set of nine 10-inch white vinyl records each with four tracks. Something cool, something for completists.
Elvis Presley / ‘Burning Love: The RCA Rehearsals’: Elvis wanted his April 1972 tour to succeed, and the work he put into that is collected here on a double album that compiles the best of the recorded rehearsals for those shows.
Ramones / ‘Pleasant Dreams’: Here the blitzkrieg bop of the classic punk band from Queens gets a reissue of its 1981 album with the original mixes restored, three additional songs not originally on the record, and alternative artwork pulled from the record company vaults.
The Rolling Stones / ‘Beggers Banquet’: The blues-rock classic from 1968 included such hits as “Sympathy for the Devil” and “Street Fightin’ Man.” But it’s “Salt of the Earth,” with its lyric of “a swirling mass of grey, blue, black and white,” that inspired the grey, blue, black and white swirl vinyl on which this is pressed.
Taylor Swift / ‘folklore: the long pond studio sessions’: Swift and the musicians on this 2020 release recorded it remotely. Here, though, is the live version they made when it was safe again to be in the studio together in the fall of that year. The 75,000 copies made for RSD make it the largest run of any RSD release, far more than the 15,500 for Pearl Jam’s “Give Way.”
Tom Tom Club / ‘Tom Tom Club (Expanded Edition)’: This side project of the Talking Heads’ rhythm section (and married couple) bassist Tina Weymouth and drummer Chris Frantz is a joyful record with songs such as “Genius of Love” and “Wordy Rappinghood.” This version is expanded with a second record containing 12-inch mixes, B-sides and more.
The Violent Femmes / ‘Violent Femmes (40th Anniversary)’: The 1983 debut by the Violent Femmes brings the band to Southern California for a handful of full album shows in May. Here you can snag an exclusive picture disc edition of the record that delivered songs such as “Blister In The Sun,” “Add It Up,” “Gone Daddy Gone” and more.
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