RSD 2021 is on its way. You remember Record Store Day? The one day in the year when independent record shops come together to celebrate their unique culture.
It’s like all their Christmases arriving at once as vinyl collectors queue outside stores to bag limited edition releases (many of which soon find their way onto eBay … grrr!).
That was until 2020, when coronavirus made record stores close their doors – some sadly for good – as the world went into lockdown.
Instead of one big rush of releases in April, however, we got a staggered RSD experience, with three ‘drop days’ in September, October and November.
RSD 2021 drop days
With Covid-19 still among us, and on the rise again in Europe, the organisers of RSD 2021 have again gone for a split approach.
This year will see two ‘drop days’, on 12 June (full list here) and 17 July (listed here), with hundreds of exclusive releases up for grabs.
Here’s our pick of the punk, indie and alternative releases for RSD 2021. Better get saving!
This three-track limited edition 7in is the official song for the Wales football team as they head into this summer’s EURO 2020 Tournament, kicking off on RSD 2021 drop day one, 12 June. The title track is a reworking of the classic Alarm track Spirit Of ’76, and it’s joined by original demos of Red Wall Of Cymru and Red Dragon Tattoo.
This new transparent red with black splatter pressing of the Chicago punks’ classic album celebrates its 20th anniversary. Their breakout full-length release, it features the singles Private Eye and Stupid Kid. This fresh pressing is released in conjunction with Vagrant Records to celebrate their 25th anniversary.
US punk legends Anti-Flag released 20/20 Vision, arguably the most important album of their career, last year, and gave it the deluxe treatment with five new songs, dubbing it 20/20 Division. It’s available for the first time on a single 140g coloured LP on RSD 2021 drop date one, 12 June.
A limited edition of 1,000 numbered copies on hot pink vinyl, this RSD exclusive consists of 12 classic Ash tracks and covers specially commissioned for BBC sessions by their good friends and supporters, DJs Steve Lamacq and the late, great John Peel. Several of these tracks are previously unreleased.
All the hits, re-recorded for the new Millennium, and released here for the first time on vinyl. Originally issued in 2011, it’s on pink vinyl, and will include classics like Ever Fallen In Love, Orgasm Addict, What Do I Get and Harmony In My Head.
Originally a 1981 promo album, this 2LP set features interviews with Joe, Mick, Paul and Topper by long-time band associate Kosmo Vinyl, and music from the Sandinista triple album. This is its first full release, and £1 from the retail price of each copy will be donated to War Child.
Recorded in 1982 in Crass’s rehearsal studio at Dial House, this documents the gruelling process behind the making of a song. It shows the band working out the structure to Christ The Album, and weaving Beethoven into the recordings – ‘Crasshoven’ if you like. All profits from this 450-copy pressing will go to UK charity Refuge, which works against domestic violence.
Harley Flanagan’s Cro-Mags were one of the bands behind the birth of ‘crossover thrash’, which melded hardcore punk and thrash metal. Their first full-length, The Age of Quarrel, released in 1986, is re-released in a 2LP red and black splatter set. Due on drop date two.
It’s the first time on picture disc for the 40th anniversary of this classic third album by Robert Smith’s band The Cure. It features the single Primary, comes in a die-cut sleeve, and includes a download card. Their 10th studio album, 1996’s Wild Mood Swings, is also being issued as a 2LP picture disc for its 25th anniversary.
This 10 x 7in box set is to celebrate what would have been Desmond Dekker’s 80th birthday in 2021. Covering the years 1963-1966, it features faithful reproductions of his first 10 singles. Also available on drop day one on 12 June is the 2LP set The King of Ska Live at Dingwalls, marking the 15th anniversary of his death.
The Somewhere With Devo suite was performed live, for one night only, as the encore of the band’s Total Devo concert at The Palace in Hollywood, CA on December 9, 1988. The Devo re-mix set by DJ Kinky from 2010, also included here, is released previously. It’s available on drop day one, 12 June.
This clear 180g heavyweight vinyl is a 2002 live album from Ian McCulloch’s post-punk legends, recorded in 2001 at Paul McCartney Institute of Performing Arts. It features electrifying performances of classics including The Killing Moon, Lips Like Sugar and The Cutter.
On 14 July 2020, post-punk band Fontaines D.C. played a selection of songs from their Dogrel and A Hero’s Death albums live at Dublin’s former Kilmainham Jail on 14 July 2020 as part of the Other Voices Courage Series. It’s being released on vinyl only on 180g heavyweight black LP in a gatefold jacket, with an exclusive poster.
Their 2020 debut album (reviewed here) confirmed post-punks Girls In Synthesis to be one of the most exciting bands in the UK. This is the first fruits of their latest writing and recording, a mini album featuring five new tracks which mark a return to the experimental edge of their highly-sought-after EPs.
Pub rocker-turned new waver Ian Dury and his band The Blockheads had a No 1 hit with this single back in 1978, and it’s being reissued on green vinyl, complete with original B-side There Ain’t Half Been Some Clever Bastards. It’s complete with Barney Buibbles’ original iconic artwork.
This exclusive 10in features two previously unreleased home demos by The Specials’ founder Jerry Dammers, recorded between 1980-1982. It’s a rare glimpse into his working practices, including the ska legends’ most famous song, Ghost Town, which celebrates its 40th anniversary in July. The B-side is Theme From “The Boiler”.
It wouldn’t be Record Store Day without a Joe Strummer release, and this year is no exception. BMG have dusted off an acoustic take by The Clash frontman of Sandinista track Junco Partner, backed with a previously unreleased live version of the same song, as performed by Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros at Brixton Academy in 2001.
This is a pink and black splatter vinyl version of Joey Ramone’s debut solo album, released for what would have been his 70th birthday. Originally released in 2002, less than a year after his death, it includes covers of Louis Armstrong’s What A Wonderful World and The Stooges’ 1969.
This release, which has never been available on vinyl before, commemorates the 30th anniversary of Johnny’s death on 23 April 1991. The ex-New York Dolls and Heartbreakers man tackles familiar songs like Personality Crisis, Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory and Born To Lose.
Madness are a great singles band, but Volume 1 of this compilation, released in 2018, showed their B-sides weren’t bad either. Volume 2 gathers the flip sides of 11 more hit singles, from Animal Farm (from 1982’s Driving In My Car) to Maybe In Another Life (from 1986’s (Waiting For) The Ghost Train).
Motorhead are perennial RSD favourites, and this will be a much-sought-after 40th anniversary reissue of their 1981 EP. The picture disc features two tracks, Please Don’t Touch and Emergency, by Motorhead and all-girl rockers Girlschool, and Girlschool’s take on Bomber.
Translucence is the first solo album by the late Poly Styrene, former lead vocalist with punk legends X-Ray Spex. Released on United Artists Records in 1980, it was a jazzier, more subtle affair than her old band’s material. Critically acclaimed, it’s been unavailable on vinyl for nearly 30 years, and is getting a new lease of life on crystal clear vinyl.
NYC punk legends the Ramones are one of those bands that RSD just couldn’t do without. You’ll have to wait until drop day two for this previously unissued live radio broadcast recorded in Australia during their 1980 End Of The Century tour. It contains 23 tracks, many of which didn’t remain in their set after this tour.
This previously unreleased concert featured in the deluxe edition CD box set of the band’s Too Much Pressure album. This recording makes it’s vinyl debut here, on clear vinyl.The Wildhearts – The Cuts So Deep EP (Round Records)
From deep in the Round Records archives comes a six-track recording of The Wildhearts live at Dudley JBs in 2003. Featuring the line-up of Ginger, CJ, Jon Poole and Stidi, this performance, captured by Jase Edwards, represents the band at their raw, rocking best. This must-have limited edition release is a 12in EP.
Portland, Oregon’s Wipers were much more than just another punk band, and that’s plain with this double coloured vinyl reissue of their second album, from 1981. A much colder, more harrowing experience than their teenage angsty debut, it comes with a bonus LP of rare mixes and tracks from the 1981 sessions.
PF456 Redux was a limited edition vinyl album containing all the material from the CD release of Wire’s 2003 album Send, plus all the other tracks from the Read & Burn 01 & 02 EPs edited down slightly. This new compilation comes as 2 x 10in records, and 1 x 7in, in a hard-bound book.
