VIA PRESS RELEASE | The reimagined Capitol Record Club launches with Sparklehorse’s Good Morning Spider Limited-Edition 45 RPM Pressing. Forthcoming titles include Butthole Surfers’ Electric Larryland 30th Anniversary, Crowded House’s Crowded House 40th Anniversary, and Digable Planets’ Blowout Comb.

Capitol Records announces the Capitol Record Club, a premium vinyl series dedicated to celebrating the artistry, history, and enduring cultural impact of some of the most essential and iconic albums in the label’s quintessential catalog.

Inspired by Capitol’s original Record Club, which introduced music fans to landmark albums throughout the late 1950s and ‘60s, the new Capitol Record Club carries that spirit forward with a modern approach, offering thoughtfully curated, newly packaged, individually numbered, limited-edition releases with no subscription required.

Designed to introduce a new generation of collectors and music fans to the timeless recordings that helped shape modern music, the series debuts with Sparklehorse’s acclaimed 1998 album Good Morning Spider, available exclusively through the Capitol Records Store as a deluxe edition of 3,000 individually numbered copies. To commemorate the inaugural release, Capitol Records Store is also offering an exclusive limited-edition Good Morning Spider T-shirt. Now available for pre-order, the album ships July 24.

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Remembering Vince Guaraldi, born on this date in 1928. —Ed.

Originally released in 1962 by the Fantasy label, Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus was the third LP by the Vince Guaraldi Trio and the first by the lineup responsible for the pianist’s highest profile work, which was just around the corner. But the album, recently reissued as a 3LP/2CD set as part of Craft Recordings’ Small Batch series (and disappearing fast), is a considerable achievement that’s distinguished by a true rarity: a bona fide instrumental jazz hit single in “Cast Your Fate to the Wind.” There’s more on this commercial triumph and other aspects of this multifaceted record directly below.

Vince Guaraldi was a solid West Coast guy, having played in bands of Woody Herman (the Third Herd) and Cal Tjader. As vibraphonist Tjader (early on, primarily a drummer-percussionist) was a good fit with pianist Dave Brubeck, the same was true for Guaraldi as a participant in Tjader’s bands, though don’t go thinking that Guaraldi was a specialist in odd time signatures (in fact, neither was Brubeck pre-Time Out). Instead, Guaraldi’s forte (and an eventual nickname) is reflected in the title of an early composition: “Calling Dr. Funk.”

In short, Vince Guaraldi’s playing was as dynamic as it was attractive, possessing a certain energy that could move a crowd (at a party on a record or in performance on the bandstand) but was laced with enough beauty movement to connect with those in a stay-at-home frame of mind. Again, this is all very (but not exclusively) West Coast, as Guaraldi’s musical temperament is well-suited to the “jazz interpretation” subcategory that flourished in the 1950s-’60s and to which Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus belongs.

Jazzing up My Fair Lady (West Coast drummer Shelley Manne), Exodus (saxophonist Eddie Harris), Golden Boy (Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers), Porgy and Bess (Miles Davis), and The Sound of Music (John Coltrane); an impressive and incomplete list, but there can still be a cloud of crass commercialism hovering above these sorts of endeavors, or perhaps better said, there’s a sense of record labels striving to tap into a lucrative crossover market.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Varèse Sarabande celebrates the 40th anniversary of David Lynch’s Blue Velvet with a reissue of its iconic soundtrack. Composed and conducted by Angelo Badalamenti, the atmospheric score not only marked the beginning of the artist’s influential creative partnership with Lynch but also served as his career breakthrough.

Set for release on September 4th and available for pre-order today, this special reissue presents the 14-track album in a rainbow foil jacket, while fans can find the LP in a variety of limited-edition pressings: Yellow vinyl (exclusively at Amoeba Records), Blue (Barnes & Noble), Sandy Pink (Books-A-Million), Blue Sky Blend (Urban Outfitters), Silver & Blue Velvet (Brooklyn Vegan) and Silver at participating indie retailers. The album will also be reissued on CD and a 48-track digital deluxe edition.

GRAMMY-winning composer Angelo Badalamenti (1937–2022) was one of modern cinema’s most celebrated composers, whose six-decade career found him working with many of the industry’s biggest names. A native of Brooklyn, Badalamenti honed his skills as a teenager playing piano for vacationers in the Catskills.

After earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Manhattan School of Music, he taught music before signing with a music publisher, where—under a pseudonym—he penned songs for stars like Nina Simone, Nancy Wilson, and Shirley Bassey, and worked closely with French electronic music pioneer Jean-Jacques Perrey, co-writing the heavily sampled “E.V.A.” (1970), among others.

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The Band’s final concert, The Last Waltz, which was held on Thanksgiving, 1976, featured The Band, an assortment of celebrity guests, a brief reading from Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, a horn section, an estimated 8,000 pounds of cocaine, and exactly 90 gallons of gravy.

It’s odd how few people talk about the 90 gallons of gravy. They’re truly the unheralded stars of The Last Waltz, which was held in Winterland, Bill Graham’s legendary concert hall in San Francisco, and filmed by Martin Scorsese.

Ted Nugent was the headliner the following night. I think the Motor City Madman would have brought The Last Waltz to the next level. Truly, the only thing missing at The Last Waltz was a guy in a loincloth playing “Wang Dang Sweet Poontang.”

Instead of Nugent, we get Neil Diamond, who came on looking like the doppelganger of Jim Jones and sang the forgettable “Dry Your Eyes.” How did he end up at The Last Waltz? That’s what an apoplectic Levon Helm wanted to know. He said to a cowed studio manager, “Go to Robertson to tell Neil Diamond we don’t even know who the fuck he even is!”

The answer was simple. Robertson had recently produced Diamond’s LP Beautiful Noise and wanted to give the album some free publicity. And the song Diamond performed, “Dry Your Eyes,” was co-written by Robertson. It’s a lousy song, but I suspect it gave Robertson’s ego a stroke.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Originally released in February 1986, Talk Talk’s The Colour Of Spring celebrates its 40th anniversary with a brand new vinyl reissue. Taken from the original tapes and cut at half-speed by Matt Colton at Metropolis Studios on 180g vinyl, it has been overseen by drummer Lee Harris and Mark Hollis’ son Charlie. It will be released on September 4 and is available to pre-order.

Before making the record, Mark Hollis decided he wanted to step away from predominantly using synthesizers—a sound that had become synonymous with the band. Instead he used guitars, piano, and organs to give the album a more organic feel whilst pulling influence from jazz and art pop.

Upon the album’s original release, it was met with critical and commercial acclaim. Charting in the top 20 globally including number eight in the UK and staying in the charts for 21 weeks, it also spawned the singles “Life’s What You Make It” and “Living in Another World” which saw similar global chart success.

Despite moving away from their traditional more electronic roots, the music press largely praised them for their musical evolution scoring 4/5 with Mojo and Q Magazine with Uncut giving it 9/10. In the annals of time, The Colour Of Spring has been seen as a bridge between their earlier, synthesized pop sound, and their later, more improvisation-based work and has been their most commercially successful album.

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Suede have announced details of the 30th anniversary release of Coming Up. Due on 25th September via Demon Music, fans can look forward to Suede’s essential third album newly mastered and presented across a range of formats including lovingly restored artwork and bonus tracks from the Coming Up era.

Coming Up was originally released on September 2nd 1996 and received wide critical acclaim as well as the band’s second Mercury Prize nomination. Featuring five UK top 10 singles in “Trash,” “Beautiful Ones,” “Saturday Night,” “Lazy,” and “Filmstar”—all still staples of the band’s live sets today—the album also marked the first time 18 year old Richard Oakes recorded an album with Suede after joining the band on the release of Dog Man Star in 1994.

Written in part during the Dog Man Star tour and produced alongside long term collaborator, Ed Buller, Coming Up is regarded by critics and fans as Suede’s pop album: a brash and glamorous chart-topper, a skinny stack-heeled stomper, packed with anthemic hits that sound as fresh now as they did on their first release.

Coming Up was the sound of a band shredding the past, reinventing their sound and showing the world just how influential and exceptional this new songwriting team would prove to be. Pop songs suffused in Suede’s aesthetic and musicianship, Coming Up invited a new audience to enjoy the brilliance of the band whilst also speaking to the outsiders of UK counter culture. “Melody is a way to burrow into people’s brains. You need an ear worm, and then you can corrupt people,” says Neil Colding. “And that was always part of what Brett was trying to do. He’s trying to poison the mainstream.”

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Remembering Betty Davis, born on this date in 1944. —Ed.

Funk pioneer Betty Davis once summed up her music with one word—raw. That was a mild word for what she was doing. Friends of the sophisticated fashion model—who’d walked away from the glamour biz because she thought it required zero brains—were aghast at her on-stage persona; she was lewd and crude in her silver hot pants, leaning backwards, stance wide, cupping her hands around her crotch. Such outrageous behavior left the people who knew her wondering if the woman strutting her stuff on stage could possibly be their Betty Davis.

Davis was a symbol of Black Power and female empowerment—women weren’t supposed to behave the way she did on stage, or release nasty albums like her masterpiece, 1974’s They Say I’m Different. And she wasn’t playing the subservient woman; on “He Was a Big Freak” she’s the one wielding the turquoise whip.

On the cover of They Say I’m Different, Miles Davis’ second wife—who is credited with changing the course of his career by introducing him to the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone—is all legs topped by a spectacular Afro, and in her futuristic glam attire, different she definitely was. But it’s the music that matters, and the LP’s eight funk jams showcase Davis’ vocals, which range from the sultry to the flat-out salacious. The LP isn’t just a turn-on; it generates enough erotic wattage to light up Harlem.

She’s Black and proud of her roots; on the title track she sings “My Great Grandma didn’t like the foxtrot/Now instead she spitted snuff and boogied to Elmore James,” and he’s just one of her forebears she name checks on the track–she also gives shout outs to just about every blues legend from Big Mama Thornton to Bessie Smith. And when she announces she eats chitlins, it comes off as a dare—that’s her heritage, see, and fuck you if you think it makes her an unsophisticated lady.

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And it’s a giveaway!

Here at The Vinyl District, we’re big on protection—not of the firearm variety, but smart common-sense measures to protect our vinyl investment(s), which is why we’re delighted to introduce you to ClearKeep Premium Collectible Storage Sleeves—quite literally the finest sleeves we’ve ever wrapped around a record.

What struck us first was the thickness of the sleeves—3.5 mil, which may sound like in-the-weeds stuff, but truly makes a difference in protective strength and stability. Second, as the name implies, they’re crystal-clear—no hazy plastic here. Our records literally shine in these gems. Lastly, and they really don’t make mention of this but we will—they ship flat, not folded—so there are no awkward folds or bends when you get down to the last few in the pack. It’s a nuance we really appreciate.

So, we said to the ClearKeep folks, “Let’s put these on readers’ radar!” And as such, we’re happy to sponsor this giveaway to introduce you to something Clearly needed by any serious collector or those just getting the vinyl bug. First up, though, some official background:

ClearKeep has announced the launch of its premium vinyl record outer sleeves, designed to address common frustrations that collectors and record stores face with traditional record protection products.

Many vinyl record sleeves on the market are thin, cloudy, prone to splitting, or diminish the presentation of the albums they are meant to protect. ClearKeep was created to offer a premium alternative focused on clarity, durability, and collector presentation.

Designed for both vinyl collectors and retail environments, ClearKeep outer sleeves are engineered to be crystal clear, thicker, and stronger than standard record sleeves while helping preserve album covers and improve shelf presentation.

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Born in Barcelona, Spain, and based in New York City since 2012, jazz pianist and composer Eva Novoa has excelled in quartets and trios, sometimes explicitly in the leadership role along with other more collectivist combinations. Her latest album, Solo (1), finds her stepping out on her own for the first time with superb results. Wide-ranging on piano and Fender Rhodes while bringing Chinese gongs and percussion into the scheme, Novoa also sings and whistles on what’s decidedly something other than a standard set of ivories tickling. It’s out now on vinyl, compact disc, and digital through 577 Records of Brooklyn, NYC.

Eva Novoa’s recording debut came in 2012 in a trio she led featuring bassist Masatoshi Kamaguchi and drummer Marc Lohr that recorded a CD for Fresh Sound New Talent. Lengthy at 12 tracks, the disc never runs out of creative steam, solidifying that Novoa has a firm handle on swing and is a dynamic improviser and communicator. Furthermore, it was immediately clear she was uninterested in falling back into the oft-predictable piano trio safety zone.

Novoa’s quartet albums for Fresh Sound are even more swinging, but they can wield an appealing inside-outside edge as the bands, like the trio, can turn up the heat, although there are still moments of considerable melodic beauty. To kick off her quartet run, Novoa’s first band with alto saxophonist Ernesto Aurigna, bassist Kamaguchi, and drummer Andre Sumelius cut a sweet CD in 2014.

Then came her Ditmas Quartet with altoist Michaël Attias, bassist Max Johnsion, and drummer Jeff Davis. They recorded a studio CD, Butterflies And Zebras By Ditmas Quartet, in 2016, and then the Live at IBeam CD in 2018. After that, she unveiled the Satellite Quartet with guitarist Rainer Davies, bassist Kenneth Jimenez, and drummer Arturo García. They released one CD in 2020.

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INDIANAPOLIS, IN | Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country isn’t a concert you simply watch—it’s one you become part of.

At the HI-FI Annex in Indianapolis, Donato and his band delivered a genre-bending set that effortlessly blended country, rock, bluegrass, psychedelia, and jam-band improvisation. Donato’s guitar playing was mesmerizing, and the band had the kind of chemistry that lets songs wander into uncharted territory before bringing them right back home.

The crowd was just as entertaining to watch. Dedicated fans danced for nearly the entire show, creating an atmosphere that felt more like a Grateful Dead concert than a typical country show. There was a genuine sense of community, with the audience embracing every jam, every twist, and every unexpected turn.

The HI-FI Annex was the perfect setting for a night like this. Cosmic Country isn’t about sticking to the studio version—it’s about the live experience, and Daniel Donato delivered one that’s equal parts musicianship, spontaneity, and fun. Whether you’re already on the Cosmic Country bus or just curious what the buzz is about, this is a show worth catching.

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