The Best and Worst Releases of Record Store Day 2017

BY Exclaim! StaffPublished Apr 18, 2017

This year marks the landmark 10th instalment of Record Store Day, with the event ballooning from a modest promotional push behind indie record stores into a globe-spanning commercial bonanza celebrating all things vinyl. A decade ago, RSD was marked with a handful of exclusive releases intended to attract buyers to independent brick-and-mortar shops. Now, dozens upon dozens of special releases flood the marketplace from indie labels and majors alike.

Of course, no good thing comes without a backlash, and Record Store Day regularly faces criticisms of clogging the market with unwanted reissues and gimmicky picture discs and colour variants. Some records fly off the shelves and fetch hefty resale prices on online resale sites; others languish in bargain bins all year round. Independent labels have complained in the past that RSD causes a backlog at vinyl pressing plants, resulting in painfully slow turnaround times due to the event.

That being said, it's difficult to get too cranky about Record Store Day. After all, anything that can spark the public's interest in buying music is welcome indeed. And while we certainly acknowledge that there are more than a handful of dismal cash-grabs in this year's lineup of releases, there are also some must-haves. We'll be hitting up our local shops this weekend just like everyone else.

If you're having trouble separating the wheat from the chaff in the massive list of exclusive releases, Exclaim! is here to help. Read on for our list of the best and worst releases this Record Store Day below, and head here to see the entire list of exclusives that will be up for grab this Saturday (April 22).

The Best Releases of Record Store Day 2017:

10. Penguin Cafe & Cornelius

Umbrella EP
(Erased Tapes)



To be honest, we have no idea what to expect from this release from Japanese electronic-music hero Cornelius and long-running neo-classical combo Penguin Cafe, but that's why it's here. After all, who doesn't like a good mystery? This 12-inch EP contains four tracks, with these very different worlds colliding into god knows what as they rework and reimagine each other's material. While Record Store Day has a way of getting reissue heavy, this a stellar example of a release trying to give something new to the world — a sentiment that's an easy one to get behind. (Brock Thiessen)

9. The War on Drugs
"Thinking of a Place"
(Atlantic)



Following 2014's stunning Lost in the Dream, the War on Drugs made the leap to Atlantic Records, and with this 12-inch single, they will officially make their major-label debut. This is the band's first new material in three years, and it's a two-parter, with "Thinking of a Place (Part 1)" on the A-side and "Thinking of a Place (Part 2)" on the flip. It remains to be seen whether this is a stand-alone or part of an impending full-length (the cover text that reads "early mix for Record Store Day 2017" suggests the latter). Either way, we can't wait to hear if it recaptures the psychedelic heartland haze of Lost in the Dream. (Alex Hudson)

8. Goblin 
Notturno 
(AMS)



While Italian prog rock/soundtrack legends Goblin may be best known for their horror scores like Suspiria and Profondo Rosso, it's one of the band's crime/action works that will see release this RSD. Reissue masters AMS will unearth the band's ultra-rare Notturno — an album originally released on the celebrated Cinevox label in 1983 and now basically impossible to get on vinyl. While it's unclear if the reissue will feature any bonus material, it does feature some great new cover art, which comes packing a beautifully minimal punch and looks rather bad-ass. If you've been itching to complete that hard-to-attain Goblin collection, you have just got one step closer. (Brock Thiessen)

7. Swet Shop Boys
Sufi La
(Customs)



With their incredibly underrated full-length Cashmere last year, Swet Shop Boys penned bars about everything from life as a South Asian man in a post-9/11 world to their love lives. Now, former Das Racist MC Heems, English rapper/actor Rizwan "Riz MC" Ahmed and producer Redinho are set to trade the political fare for the party life on new EP Sufi La. A six-track collection of all-new material, the EP is said to feature "an ode to the Mughal pastime of birdwatching" and a track that sounds like "Sugar Hill Gang inspired by Brandy and Monica's 'The Boy Is Mine.'" Sufi La will arrive on 12-inch white vinyl in a limited run of 1,000 copies, and if their cleverly penned debut was any indicator, no one should sleep on this second chance to broaden their hip-hop horizons. (Calum Slingerland)

6. UGK
Too Hard to Swallow
(Get On Down)



UGK are no strangers to Record Store Day, having released a Texas-shaped picture disc of their "Int'l Players Anthem" team-up with Outkast for RSD's Black Friday event in 2016. Now, the duo's 1992 major label debut Too Hard to Swallow is set to come to wax for the first time in a run of 1,000 copies to celebrate its 25th anniversary, presented as a 2xLP set on clear vinyl. This one should be a no-brainer for students of the game to pick up, with Bun B and the late Pimp C now revered as Southern hip-hop legends by old heads and current titans of the genre alike. (Calum Slingerland)

5. Spacemen 3
For All the Fucked Up Children / Playing with Fire / Recurring
(Space Age)



While recent years have been kind to Spacemen 3 fans thanks to a series of vinyl reissues, much of the legendary space rock group's material has still remained frustratingly hard to get on wax. This RSD that will change somewhat, thanks to not one but three vinyl reissues. Celebrating the much-loved project once helmed by Spiritualized's Jason Pierce and Pete "Sonic Boom" Kember will be vinyl reissues of their first-ever recording session from 1984, For All the Fucked Up Children, as well as the brilliant latter-period albums Playing with Fire (1988) and Recurring (1990). Mega bonus points go to these actually be official reissues. And hey, if these are cool enough for Homer Simpson, they are definitely cool enough for you. UPDATE (4/20, 12:40 p.m. EDT): Despite our excitement for these Spacemen 3 releases, the band have now urged fans not to buy these reissues. You can learn more here. (Brock Thiessen)

4. Coheed and Cambria
Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness
(Legacy)



Though it contains their biggest hit, "Welcome Home," Coheed and Cambria's Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness has long remained their only studio full-length that was never treated to a vinyl edition. That changes this Record Store Day upon the arrival of the record as a 2xLP set, mastered from the original source recordings and pressed to eye-catching splatter vinyl. HiFi-obsessed neo-prog acolytes will surely find comfort in air-guitaring their way through the third instalment in the band's ambitious Amory Wars tetralogy from the comfort of their living room. (Calum Slingerland)

3. David Bowie
Cracked Actor (Live Los Angeles '74)
(Parlophone)



Late, great glam god David Bowie has a pair of albums coming out this Record Store Day. There's BOWPROMO, a recreation of a 1971 promo album (featuring cuts from the then-upcoming Hunky Dory), but it's this live album that we're more excited for. It was recorded in 1974 in the promotional tour following that year's Diamond Dogs. But unlike the prior album David Live, which was also captured earlier that same year, it finds Bowie in the transition point between the theatrical glam rock of his early '70s work and the plastic soul of the albums that followed. For Bowie fanatics, this is essential, to say the least. (Alex Hudson)

2. SONOR Music Editions' RSD Onslaught
(SONOR Music Editions)



If you've yet to dive into the fascinating world of SONOR Music Editions, there's no better time than now. The Italian reissue label will be unearthing a total of four releases this RSD, with each deserving a "Holy Grail alert." As is SONOR's M.O., the releases will shine a light on Italy's much-forgotten but musically fascinating soundtrack/library movement of the late '60s and '70s. Among the releases are Puccio Roelens's ultra-rare 1969 effort La Musica Di Puccio Roelens and Luis Bacalov's 1973 score to La Seduzione. Best of all, though, SONOR will reissue two releases from famed jazz/funk/psych combo I Marc 4, 1970's G.L.P. 1001 and G.L.P. 1002. SONOR states of the latter: "Music swings from jazz to funk and psychedelia, with loads of terrific beats, laden grooves and top breakbeats simply to die for." If you're still on the fence, you can stream all four releases here to see that the folks of SONOR are indeed putting money where their mouth is. (Brock Thiessen)

1. Tegan and Sara
Under Feet Like Ours
(Warner Bros.)



This reissue makes perfect sense. When Canadian twin troubadours Tegan and Sara issued their 1999 debut Under Feet Like Ours, they were still known as "Sara and Tegan," and the album was only available in limited quantities. It's since been reissued on CD and digitally — now under the name Tegan and Sara — but its never been available on vinyl until now. Given that the Quin sisters are full-blown pop stars with a following that straddles indie and mainstream spheres, it's perfectly natural that this album should be available on wax. One of the great things about Record Store Day is that it gives veteran artists an excuse to press back catalogue favourites on vinyl for the first time, and this is an excellent example. (Alex Hudson)

Continue to the next page for the worst releases of Record Store Day.


The Worst Releases of Record Store Day 2017:

5. Run the Jewels
RTJ RSD Record Tote Bag
(Run the Jewels INC)



Okay, we thought it was kind of neat when two-man rap wrecking crew Run the Jewels released a virtual reality headset last Record Store Day. It was a unique reprieve from all of the lame picture discs and throwaway reissues. But they dropped the ball on this decidedly uninspired tote bag (which comes with the band's "first and gun" logo in enamel pin form). Sure, the artwork is kind of neat, but this seems less like an RSD release and more like the kind of thing you'd expect to get as a free giveaway from participating stores. Maybe next year, Run the Jewels should get into the true spirit of Record Store Day and release some actual music instead of giving us another product better suited to a merch table. (Alex Hudson)

4. Cocteau Twins
Milk and Kisses / Four-Calendar Cafe
(UMC/Universal UK)



If you were surprised to see some Cocteau Twins reissues among the RSD offerings this year, so too were the band themselves. Rather amazingly, the band's Simon Raymonde emerged online to say that no one at Universal bothered to let the group know their Milk and Kisses and Four-Calendar Cafe would be getting vinyl reissues for RSD. As such, we're pretty damn sure the band had zero input on these releases, making them feel like a major-label cash grab, to say the least. But hey, if you run across these, maybe pick up an extra copy for the band. We're sure they would appreciate one. (Brock Thiessen)

3. This Pile of Prince Singles
(Warner Bros.)



Even before Prince's passing last year, much was made about the rights to his vast back catalogue and which streaming service would lay claim to hosting it. With the icon's music back in the hands of digital providers around the globe, Warner Bros. wouldn't dare forget about Prince fanatics in search of a tangible product, opting to release five standalone singles and a two-sided 7-inch. The Purple One's "I Wish U Heaven," "Batdance," "Sign 'O' The Times," "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man," "Partyman" and "Pop Life" will each arrive on a single 140-gram slab of black wax, while "Little Red Corvette" and "1999" will arrive on a 7-inch picture disc (which is a reissue of an old '80s picture disc, to boot). There are plenty of other ways to discover the massive catalogue that the Purple One left behind. A blatant cash-grab series of singles shouldn't be it. (Calum Slingerland)

2. Corey Feldman
"Go 4 It" (ft. Snoop Dogg) b/w "Everybody" (ft. Doc Ice)
(Jett Plastic Recordings)



Corey Feldman is known better for his filmography (The Goonies, Stand By Me) than he is for his music career, but that didn't stop Internet denizens from skewering his Snoop Dogg-assisted "Go 4 It" last year. Against all odds, Feldman's single now finds itself on a 7-inch this Record Store Day, backed with the Doctor Ice-featuring "Everybody." Vinyl sadists or fans of abhorrent cover art will likely make this piece of wax a priority to pick up for its photo of Feldman and two scantily-clad angels flying above a burning city skyline, proving that capitalism and questionable RSD releases will surely be the death of us all. (Calum Slingerland)

1. Toto
"Africa"/"Rosanna"
(Sony Legacy)



There are plenty of gimmicky picture discs coming out this Record Store Day — Prince's "Little Red Corvette," U2's "Red Hill Mining Town" — but none of them are tackier than this ghastly pressing of Toto's "Africa." This is the epitome of a lame cash-grab reissue: we've all heard the song a million times, and copies are available for just a couple of bucks on Discogs. So in an attempt to wring a few more dollars out of this played-out song, Sony Legacy has had the bright idea to reissue it on a record shaped like the continent of Africa. That kind of shit might have flown back in 1982, back when worldbeat music was new and people didn't known what "cultural appropriation" meant, but these days it seems in poor taste. Original copies of this picture disc are relatively easy to find, and they're kind of piece of '80s kitsch. As a brand new reissue, however, this seems like the kind of thing that RSD shoppers will buy on impulse and then immediately regret as soon as the glow of consumerism fades. (Alex Hudson)
 

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