Vinyl Reports

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Album ReviewsVinyl Reports
Wider Release of Elton John’s Live From the Rainbow Theatre With Ray Cooper 180g 1LP RSD Offering Highlights a Most Worthwhile, Stripped-Down, Album-Cut-Oriented Performance
Mark Smotroff  |  Aug 01, 2025

On Record Store Day earlier this year on April 12, 2025, one of those blink-and-you-missed-it releases was the first-time official vinyl pressing of Elton John’s 1977 performance for BBC Radio, Live From the Rainbow Theatre With Ray Cooper — but now, Rocket/Mercury/UMR has deigned to make it available to one and all via a much wider release. Read Mark Smotroff’s review of this fine 180g LP — with an album-cut-oriented tracklist personally selected by Sir Elton himself — to see why Live From the Rainbow Theatre is indeed quite worthy of being on your turntable. . .

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FeaturesVinyl Reports
Under Dark Cover: Remembering Ozzy Osbourne Through 15 Choice Cover Versions on Vinyl
Mike Mettler, Mark Smotroff  |  Jul 27, 2025

It’s been a mere 5 days since Ozzy Osbourne passed away at age 76 on July 22, 2025. On that day, we posted an abbreviated tribute to the man and his music on AP, with the added kicker that we’d be posting more about him a little bit later. After AP editor Mike Mettler conferred with main LP reviewer Mark Smotroff, we decided to take a different approach with our tribute. Read on to see our collective choices of 15 great tracks on wax that best honor the legacy of Ozzy and Black Sabbath. . .

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Album ReviewsVinyl Reports
Talking Heads’ 1978 Sophomore Album More Songs About Buildings and Food Basks in Its Expanded 4LP Super Deluxe Edition Serving
Mark Smotroff  |  Jul 25, 2025

Talking Heads’ 1978 sophomore album More Songs About Buildings and Food — which was released 47 years ago this month on July 14, 1978 — marked the beginning of the burgeoning NYC band’s fertile association with visionary producer/artist Brian Eno. Sire/Rhino’s 4LP super deluxe edition of More Songs About Buildings and Food — which just dropped today, July 25, 2025 — is the latest entry in a much-anticipated series of remastered vinyl and expanded offerings that are being released in conjunction with the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Talking Heads’ formation. Read Mark Smotroff’s review to see why this most excellent Food box set belongs on your table — turntable, that is. . .

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New Wax WednesdayVinyl Reports
Holy Grail 180g 1LP Reissue of Buckingham Nicks Is Set for September 19
Mike Mettler  |  Jul 23, 2025

Direct from the WWNC files (as in, “Will Wonders Never Cease”) comes an LP reissue that so many of us have been hoping and praying to get back onto our turntables for literal decades — and now, it’s finally come unfrozen. I’m talking about September 1973’s Buckingham Nicks, perhaps one of the last true Holy Grails of coveted 1970s vinyl, and it is finally set to be reissued under the auspices of the oft-excellent Rhino High Fidelity series on September 19, 2025. Read on to see the source materials and how you can pre-order your copy (or copies!) of Buckingham Nicks today. . .

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Album ReviewsVinyl Reports
David Bowie’s Young Americans Deserves Reassessment, Thanks to Its Fascinating New Half-Speed Mastered 180g 1LP Edition
Mark Smotroff  |  Jul 18, 2025

David Bowie’s March 1975 LP release on RCA, Young Americans, was an album that in some ways divided fans and his career, having come out in the aftermath of shedding his Ziggy Stardust persona and not long before the full-flowered emergence of his suave and sophisticated Thin White Duke phase. Read Mark Smotroff’s review to see if Parlophone’s new half-speed-mastered 180g 1LP reissue of this transitional and transformational Bowie release gives you good reason to reconsider the music and sound of Young Americans, one of the more underappreciated classics in the mid-’70s Bowie catalog. . .

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FeaturesVinyl Reports
Vinyl Reports: Susumu Hirasawa & Fishmans
Malachi Lui  |  Dec 19, 2021
(Vinyl Reports is an AnalogPlanet feature aiming to create a definitive guide to vinyl LPs. Here, we talk about sound quality, LP packaging, music, and the overarching vinyl experience, this time in a shorter format than usual.)

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Vinyl Reports: Tales From The Used Bin!
Malachi Lui  |  Nov 28, 2021
(Vinyl Reports is an AnalogPlanet feature aiming to create a definitive guide to vinyl LPs. Here, we talk about sound quality, LP packaging, music, and the overarching vinyl experience.)

Real-life used record shopping is as joyful as it is potentially frustrating. These days, I mostly find used record bins of previous decades’ detritus; however, a recent browse through Asheville’s Harvest Records yielded luck. Following are reviews of three of those finds, plus one used LP ordered on Discogs.

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FeaturesVinyl Reports
Vinyl Reports: Burial + Four Tet + Thom Yorke, James Ferraro, Yung Lean, & Actress
Malachi Lui  |  Aug 24, 2021
(Vinyl Reports is an AnalogPlanet feature aiming to create a definitive vinyl LP guide. Here, we talk about sound quality, LP packaging, music, and the overarching vinyl experience.)

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FeaturesVinyl Reports
Vinyl Reports: Yung Lean and Charli XCX
Malachi Lui  |  Sep 30, 2020
(Vinyl Reports is an AnalogPlanet feature aiming to create a definitive guide to vinyl LPs. Here, we talk about sound quality, LP packaging, music, and the overarching vinyl experience.)

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FeaturesVinyl Reports
Vinyl Reports: Real Life Record Shopping Returns!
Malachi Lui  |  Jun 28, 2020
(Vinyl Reports is an AnalogPlanet feature aiming to create a definitive guide to vinyl LPs. Here, we talk about sound quality, LP packaging, music, and the overarching vinyl experience.)

As the world moves to reopen, record stores are slowly allowing customers back in. Here in Portland, OR, Music Millennium recently held a week of appointment-only personal shopping experiences (charitable donation necessary), then subsequently reopened with a 10 person limit and new safety measures. I shopped during the “be the only customer inside!” period and reviewed below are four recent acquisitions.

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Vinyl Reports: Don't Believe the Hype
Malachi Lui  |  Apr 09, 2020
(“Hype: to promote or publicize something intensively, often exaggerating its importance or benefits.” We all succumb to hype, either from others’ high recommendations or our own excitement and anticipation. Once something falls short of those expectations, we rush to denounce it as “overhyped;” not necessarily bad, but underwhelming for however much we expect. Today’s Vinyl Reports feature centers around such overhyped records.)

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