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The Doors "Live at Konserthuset, Stockholm, September 20, 1968" (2024 Record Store Day release)

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For Record Store Day 2024, Rhino Records is issuing a previously unreleased live album from The Doors, in both CD and LP formats. Live at Konserthuset, Stockholm, September 20, 1968 will be limited to 6,000 vinyl 3-LP sets (pressed in light-blue translucent vinyl), and 8,000 double-CD sets. The album documents two live shows performed on that day at that concert hall in Sweden, recorded for a radio broadcast. The documented concerts were performed during the final date of the band's only European Tour. The recordings have been used for bootlegs many times, but this is the first time the concert is receiving an official release. The sound quality on the unofficial releases was often quite good; if it has been cleaned up further for this official release, then it may end up sounding great. Musically, it sometimes sounds as though the Doors were tailoring their act just a bit to adjust their music for the tastes of European audiences. The earlier show of the day is the one featur

Gram Parsons And The Fallen Angels "The Last Roundup: Live from the Bijou Café in Philadelphia, 3/16/73" (2023 Record Store Day Black Friday LP)

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For Record Store Day Black Friday in 2023, Amoeba Records issued a previously unreleased live album by the late country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons, recorded in Philadelphia in 1973. The double-LP titled The Last Roundup: Live from the Bijou Café in Philadelphia, 3/16/73 was limited to 7,500 vinyl copies. The concert documented on this album took place on March 16, 1973, six months before Parsons died at the age of 26. Gram's singing partner was the then-unknown Emmylou Harris. The Fallen Angels also consisted of Neil Flanz (pedal steel guitar), Kyle Tullis (bass), Jock Bartley (lead guitar), and N.D. Smart II (drums). The double-LP was sourced from the soundboard recording made at the intimate Bijou Café venue in Philly, and the sound quality -- though not 100% squeaky clean -- is closer to that of a commercial release than of an unofficial recording. The set list was drawn from Gram's first solo album GP and from his work with the Flying Burrito Brothers and the Byrds, and

Sparks "Live At The Record Plant 1974" (2023 Record Store Day Black Friday LP)

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For Record Store Day Black Friday in 2023, a live LP by Sparks was issued in a limited edition of 3,500 copies, pressed in clear vinyl. Live At The Record Plant 1974 documents a live-in-the-studio eight-song set from a lineup consisting of most of the personnel from that year's Propaganda album. This live album has frequently appeared as a bootleg in the past. This RSDBF LP marks its first official release, on Sony's Sound City imprint. For those not familiar with Sparks, they are an art-pop duo with a long and complicated 50-plus-year history that isn't over yet. (Their 26th studio album, titled The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte , was released last year). The Mael brothers -- the only two constant members -- were born in Los Angeles, but you wouldn't know it from their seemingly Euro-centric sound. In fact, they never achieved much commercial success in America, but they were all the rage in England in the mid-'70's, when they successfully appealed to that co

Pink Floyd 1973 concert streams

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It's that time of year again for Pink Floyd's biggest fans. As they did at the end of 2021 and of 2022, the Floyd have released a large number -- 18, to be exact -- of full-length concert recordings to streaming services. This year's offerings consist of 18 shows recorded in 1973, the year in which their landmark album Dark Side Of The Moon was released. The first of these 18 concerts took place on March 6th of that year, just a few days after the release of the album. The last two of them took place the following November 4th, both performed at London's Rainbow Theatre. Why have they done this? Reportedly, the release of these recordings extends copyright ownership for a longer time, whereas the legal rights to the recordings would expire and fall into public domain if the owners did not make use of them before a certain date. A Sony representative explained it this way to Rolling Stone magazine in 2013: “The copyright law in Europe was recently extended from 50

Third Man Records vinyl exclusives, Part 58: The White Stripes “Live In Las Vegas 2003” (2023)

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The 58th set of exclusive vinyl items offered to members of Third Man Records’ Vault service was mailed out to the members in December of 2023. For those who are unaware, Third Man Records is the label owned by Jack White, who is the leader of the White Stripes, the Raconteurs, and the Dead Weather, and is now a solo artist. The Vault service promises to deliver exclusive vinyl-only records (usually one full-length album and one 7” single) to its members every three months. The 58th Vault package featured a 3-LP live album by the White Stripes recorded in 2003 during the Elephant tour, as well as a 7-inch single containing two additional live performances of "Ball And Biscuit" -- one of them performed as a duet by Bob Dylan and Jack White. As bonus items, the package contained a patch, a bumper sticker, and two art prints by Rob Jones. The 3-LP set Live In Las Vegas 2003 was recorded at a September 2003 White Stripes show at the Joint in the Hard Rock Casino in Vegas,

Olivia Rodrigo "the bels"

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Apparently, the former child actress-turned-contemporary alt-pop singer Olivia Rodrigo was able to write a song before she was quite able to spell. On Christmas Eve in 2021, Rodrigo posted a snippet of an unreleased song titled "the bels" (her spelling) on Instagram. She wrote: "in honor of Christmas Eve may I present to you my very first Christmas song “the bels” written by 5 year old me lol. happy holidays!!!!" View this post on Instagram A post shared by Olivia Rodrigo (@oliviarodrigo) The following year, on December 17, 2022, the full version of the song, running 2 minutes and 18 seconds, was shared by Rodrigo through a link sent by e-mail to members of her fan club. Here is the link to the full downloadable track, which is not commercially available on streaming services: https://digital.umusic.com/livmas-thebels Rodrigo certainly does sound like a small child singing on this track, although the hip-hop beats and bits of instr

Margo Price "Strays Live at Grimey's" (2023 Record Store Day Black Friday LP)

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For Record Store Day Black Friday 2023, country singer-songwriter Margo Price issued a limited edition vinyl LP titled Strays Live at Grimey's , recorded at Grimey’s New and Pre-loved Music store in Nashville on January 23, 2023. The LP was limited to 2,000 copies, and was pressed in sangria marble colored vinyl. This six-song live set was recorded on the release date of Strays , the fourth studio album from Price. The Strays album purveyed an adult-alternative style of country music, written under the influence of psilocybin and distinguished by psychedelic sounds, with lyrics about the difficult healing of wounds from the past. In November of that same year, Price released a limited-edition companion album titled Strays II , containing outtakes from the proper album, recorded during the same sessions at producer Jonathan Wilson's studio in Topanga Canyon, California. Strays II offered a more down-to-earth ennead of alt-country tunes. That album was limited to 1,000 LP cop

Third Man Records vinyl exclusives, Part 57: The Solo Works of Syd Barrett (2023)

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The 57th set of exclusive vinyl items offered to members of Third Man Records’ Vault service was mailed out to the members in November of 2023. For those who are unaware, Third Man Records is the label owned by Jack White, who is the leader of the White Stripes, the Raconteurs, and the Dead Weather, and is now a solo artist. The Vault service promises to deliver exclusive vinyl-only records (usually one full-length album and one 7” single) to its members every three months. The 57th Vault package featured a 3-LP set containing all three of the solo albums of Syd Barrett, the original founding lead singer and guitarist of Pink Floyd, as well as a 7-inch single containing live renditions of two of Barrett's songs by Floyd guitarist David Gilmour. The three 180-gram colored vinyl LP's were packaged in a slipcase with cover art by Greg Ruth. Syd Barrett was born as Roger Keith Barrett in Cambridge, England in 1946. Barrett co-founded Pink Floyd in 1965 with Roger Waters, Ri