[Reprinted by kind permission of the Independent Record Stores Commission]
With the festive season quickly approaching, and only twelve release Fridays left before the end of 2018, it’s time to take a look at the key vinyl releases scheduled each week for the rest of the year.
As expected, the continuing strength of soundtracks and rock / pop reissues is set to drive this quarter’s sales.
Oct 12: John Williams – Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi Redux (Walt Disney Records). Take this auditory peek behind the velvet curtain as Star Wars composer John Williams reveals he didn’t like The Last Jedi either. Contains unused cues from the 2017 film, with titles such as ‘Luke Skywalker Alien Creature Milking Montage’, ‘Porg fight!’, ‘Let’s Not Bother With The Casino, Finn’, and ‘Luke’s Alive Goddammit’.
Oct 19: John Carpenter – Halloween [2018] OST (Sacred Bones Records). Get ready for Halloween with this exclusive variant available only at Bed, Bath & Beyond stores, limited to 750 copies. Comes with a free ‘Michael Myers’ coconut-scrub face mask.
Oct 26: Bob Dylan – Live In 2018 (Columbia Records). Dylan’s first contemporary live album since 1995’s MTV Unplugged contains 50 minutes of unintelligible lyrics and general grouchiness. Sit in the comfort of your own home and play Name That Tune as Bob murders another one of your favourite anthems, before you realise he’s just playing a 7-minute calypso version of ‘The Times They Are A-Changing’ in 5/4 time.
Nov 2: Hereditary: The Musical (Milan Records USA). You all screamed at the surprise horror hit of 2018. Advertised as this generation’s The Exorcist, it’s really this generation’s Rosemary’s Baby. Now join Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne and the rest of the cast as they take us through director Ari Aster’s original vision of the film as a Broadway musical. Featuring such timeless classics as ‘Touch The Glass, Charlie’, ‘Who’s That On The Ceiling?’, and ‘This Cake Tastes Weird (reprise)’.
Nov 9: Wes Anderson – Collected Soundtracks 1996 – 2018 (ABKCO Records). Limited Edition 10xLP Box Set in mustard-yellow corduroy packaging. Features the soundtracks to all nine Wes Anderson films, plus a bonus disc of random, wistful sound effects (seagulls cawing, dogs panting, distant locomotive noises, etc). Comes with a complimentary crushing sense of ennui.
Nov 16: Bill Cosby – The Complete Stand-Up Comedy Collection (Warner Bros. Records). Not expected to shift in huge quantities.
Nov 23 : The Beatles – The Beatles (‘The White Album’) 50th Anniversary Reissue (EMI / Apple Records). New 2018 stereo mix available as a 4xLP set which includes the standard 2xLP album and the 2xLP Esher Demos. Limited edition deluxe 6xLP set contains the standard 2xLP album, the 2xLP Esher Demos and a 2xLP experimental sound collage of Ringo playing chess in the studio with Beatles roadie Mal Evans.
Nov 30: Alan Silvestri – Avengers: Infinity War O.S.T. Thanos Edition (Marvel Music). Purple vinyl / infinity stone splatter variant. Disc splits in half after first listen, rendering it useless and pointless to revisit (much like most Marvel films).
Dec 7: Ron Howard – Solo: A Star Wars Story Live Q&A (Walt Disney Records). Listen to Ron Howard try and remain courteous and polite in this 2-hour Q&A session as every question revolves around Darth Maul’s timeline. Sample soundbite: “Erm, Mr. Howard, but if Darth Maul was sliced in half fifty years before the events of your film…why’s he even in your film…I, mean, it makes no fucking sense!” Limited to 1,000 copies in Spider-Legs Bullshit coloured vinyl.
Dec 14: Rupert Gregson-Williams – Aquaman O.S.T. (WaterTower Records). The soundtrack to the film that nobody’s waiting for. Listen as Jason Momoa literally jumps the lifeless shark of the DC Extended Universe. Limited edition ‘plastic sea pollution’ variant, limited to 0 copies (release numbers calibrated to meet audience demand).
Dec 21: Nirvana – The Christmas Album (Sub-Pop / Geffen Records). Long-rumoured festive album recorded in 1990 between the release of Bleach and Nevermind. Features Kurt and band singing holiday classics such as ‘Frosty The Tourettes-Ridden Snowman’, ‘White [Heroin] Christmas’ and ‘Last Christmas (I Gave You My Heart-Shaped Box)’.
Dec 28: Radiohead – Pablo Honey 25th Anniversary Super-Deluxe Box Set (EMI Records). Revisit the album people pretended to like in the mid-90s with this definitive release. Spread across 45xLPs, the collection features every inch of tape recorded for the Pablo Honey sessions, presented in the order it was recorded so it make no sense whatsoever. Limited to 1 copy worldwide, includes legal adoption papers for drummer Phil Selway (now surplus to requirements due to the band’s gradual move to drum machines).
Source: Independent Record Stores Commission (October 2018)