Remembering Russ Solomon: I’ve been thinking a lot about Russ Solomon over the last few days, ever since I heard about the celebrated Tower Records and Video founder’s death Sunday night while watching the Academy Awards. At 92 years old, he was at his home in Sacramento, drinking whisky and complaining about someone’s outfit, his son told the Sacramento Bee. What a way to go. Russ Solomon always did it his way – and while he and I only met sporadically over the last 30 years, once for a lengthy feature in Video Store Magazine and a few times to talk about DVD, the impact he had on me was monumental. Indirectly, he fueled my passion and set me on a path to my career.
Nottingham’s indie record market is back for a second year – this time at the Malt Cross. There’ll be loads of vinyl, rare and otherwise: Nottingham’s music lovers have another opportunity to bag original releases, bargains and collectibles directly from a wide range of independent record labels and collectives at the second Nottingham Label Market. It’s this Saturday (March 10) at the Malt Cross in St James’ Street and follows the debut event at Broadway in 2017. Nottingham Label Market will again bring together stalls run by the people behind record labels including Dead By Mono Records, Gangsta Wraps, Gringo Records, Hello Thor Records, I OWN YOU Records, KIKS/GFR, Louder City Records, Larry Crywater, Popty-Ping Recording Company, Reckless Yes, Thread Recordings, Tiergarten Records and more. Nottingham’s two independent record shops, Forever Records and Plates, will also have special selections of vinyl.
Some Great Reward to open on the South Side and bosses are hiring: Record store bosses are opening up a new shop and cafe on Glasgow’s South Side. Some Great Reward is bringing its record cafe to Victoria Road later this month and the venture needs two staff members. The addition to the record shop and cafe is expected to help boost trade on the Govanhill shopping street. It comes as organic produce store Locavore prepares to open a new supermarket on Victoria Road. Some Great Reward said it is looking for staff who are “motivated and passionate” about music to help in the shop and cafe.
Pink Floyd announce Record Store Day 2018 release: To mark Record Store Day next month, Pink Floyd are releasing a Mono remaster of their debut album ‘The Piper at the Gates of Dawn’. Remastered from the original 1967 mono mix by James Guthrie, Joel Plante and Bernie Grundman, the limited-edition release is available on premium 12” 180-gram black vinyl, and comes paired with an exclusive poster (540 x 388mm on art paper), as well as a foil blocked outer wallet. The card envelope, which features a psychedelic design including a gold embossed version of the graphic by Syd Barrett which also features on the reverse of the original mono LP, was created by Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis with Peter Curzon. Available exclusively for Record Store Day, fans can buy ‘The Piper at the Gates of Dawn’ at select independent outlets on Saturday 21st April. Head to the official website for more info.
U2 are reissuing three classic records on vinyl: U2 have announced the vinyl reissue of three of their classic releases, including their 2000 album ‘All That You Can’t Leave Behind’. The three records in question – 1985’s ‘Wide Awake In America’ EP, 1997’s ‘Pop’, and ‘All That You Can’t Leave Behind’ – will be all be remastered and pressed on 180-gram vinyl for the reissue, with each record set to be packaged in a sleeve which faithfully reproduces the original release’s artwork. Both ‘Pop’ and ‘All That You Can’t Leave Behind’ will come with a lyric booklet, while all three reissues will include a special download card. All three reissues are due on April 13, and pre-order is available now through U2’s official store.
Stone Roses Record Store Day: The Waterfront recordings from John Squire and Mani to get release. The Waterfront were ‘the precursor to the Stone Roses’ – they never gigged but recorded two tracks: Rare recordings from the band who went on to become The Stone Roses will be released to mark Record Store Day. The Waterfront’s original line-up comprised John Squire on guitar and Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield on bass, alongside Andy Couzens, who was also an early member of The Stone Roses, vocalist David ‘Kaiser’ Carty and drummer Chris Goodwin. The band never gigged but recorded two now legendary tracks in a small studio in Dukinfield, Tameside. Just a handful of the demo cassettes were distributed among friends and to music venues and clubs in Manchester in the early 1980s.
Tim Burgess’ new album features The Horrors, Primal Scream and more: The Record Store Day release was recorded back in 2008. ‘As I Was Now’ was recorded back in 2008 and is part of this year’s list of exclusive Record Store Day vinyl. It joins hundreds of releases to be sold in a bid to support and celebrate the UK’s best independent record stores. Following the list announcement, The Charlatans frontman took to Twitter to reveal the album’s impressive backing band. Burgess linked to a seemingly hypothetical Tweet from last year, in which he asked fans who would be in their dream supergroup – while sharing his own. At the time, the singer listed himself and Ladyhawke on vocals, The Horrors’ Josh Heyward on guitar, Primal Scream’s Martin Duffy on keys, My Bloody Valentine’s Debbie Googe on Bass and Klaxons’ Steffan Halperin on drums.
The Flaming Lips are putting out a record filled with pink beer: For Record Store Day (April 21), The Flaming Lips are putting out a limited edition 7″ vinyl titled “The Story of Yum Yum and Dragon.” The two songs on the record are inspired by Dogfish Head Brewery’s new beer Dragons & YumYums. The tart pale ale gets its name because it’s brewed with dragonfruit and yumberries. Those fruits provided Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne with the two characters at the center of the EP, Yum Yum and Dragon. In addition to the two beer-inspired songs, the combination of beer and music gets even stranger. The band will release 100 translucent records filled with the pink Dragons & YumYums beer. Yes, there is actually beer inside the record. This version will be extremely hard to get your hands on. It will only be available at a handful of special events in April.
