Record Store Day takes a turn for the better this year - Kevin Buckle

A limited edition Sam Fender vinyl record will be available this Record Store Day.

When I was asked what the biggest possible release could be I had said a seven-inch single of Taylor Swift covering Chappell Roan’s Good Luck, Babe! Unsurprisingly that hasn’t happened, but Taylor will issue an exclusive seven-inch white vinyl of her Post Malone collaboration Fortnight, which is the first time that the Fortnight [BLOND:ISH Remix] will appear on vinyl.

This year’s Record Store Day ambassador is Sam Fender and he releases a six-track twelve-inch EP which includes two brand new songs alongside fan favourite Me And The Dog, never before pressed on vinyl, and People Watching live from the O2 Arena recorded in December. Charli XCX has two limited editions on this year’s list with a seven-inch version of Guess, her team-up with Billie Eilish, and a reissue of her 2017 mixtape Number 1 Angel on silver vinyl.

Another big selling female artist for Avalanche is Laufey who has a double album out A Night At The Symphony: Hollywood Bowl the soundtrack to her debut concert film and the album also includes a poster. Gracie Abrams releases Live from Radio City Music Hall on double vinyl recorded specifically for Record Store Day and if we had just had releases from Mitski, Fiona Apple, Sabrina Carpenter and of course Chappell Roan we would have had a full house of our most popular female singers.

Oasis have a very dedicated fan base and I actually suspect they might outnumber the Swifties on Record Store Day. Released ahead of the start of the Oasis tour this year Time Flies is made available for the first time on vinyl since it was first pressed in 2010. Numbered and limited to 15,000 copies worldwide, the set includes 4 coloured LPs and features the bands’ entire singles collection from 1994 – 2009. I suspect the majority of those fans will also be looking for Liam Gallagher’s eight track Acoustic Sessions on silver and blue vinyl.

Otherwise there are, of course, the obligatory releases from the Cure and David Bowie and as with all our previous Record Store Days, I try to encourage fans to just turn up as we open rather than queue overnight, as we have always had large numbers of the big releases and even the Swifties have had no trouble getting copies of her previous releases.

As a founder member of Record Store Day in the UK I’ve not been a big fan of the way things have developed over the years and certainly record companies have been scraping the barrel looking for things to release for some years now, but this year’s list is a big improvement on previous years, though I’m afraid the cynic in me sees the involvement of many of the current artists as more to do with their career choices than supporting independent record shops.

There are some genuinely interesting big name releases such as The Killers/Bruce Springsteen twelve-inch and at Avalanche we are particularly looking forward to the Life Without Buildings red vinyl Live at the Annandale Hotel, with new artwork from the singer Sue Tompkins.