Red House Painters Vinyl Boxset
4AD today announced a (very) limited edition but lovely looking Red House Painters vinyl boxset, reissuing the four albums from their time on the label. This is great news, as anybody that's ever looked will know that those albums sell for some serious dollar and haven't been on vinyl since their initial release 20+ years ago.
I'd imagine those who own original copies (like our postman Steve, who always asks about their value) will be a little peaved that their records are slightly less hard to get hold of/ expensive.
Reminds me of when I bought Pacific Ocean Blue by Dennis Wilson about 10 years ago, which was the most expensive record I'd ever bought (it was only available on vinyl and a 1991 CD reissue which went out of print almost immediately), a few years later it was reissued. Suddenly my expensive album was considerably less expensive. But I buy records to listen to, so whateves.
There's also a reissue of Beale Street Saturday Night coming soon too. Less known than those Red House Painters albums, but certainly no less important. The album was produced by James Luther Dickinson (a Memphis legend who played piano on Wild Horses and produced Big Star, amongst many other things), it was to showcase the blues, folk and R&B music of the aforementioned Beale Street and funded by the Memphis tourist board. It came out in 1979 and was only sold in supermarkets there. So pretty rare then. Last year I lucked out and picked up a copy from Shangri-La Records on a trip to the city, also an expensive purchase, but more than worth it. Look out for that one, it's released on 13th April on Omnivore (they did some great Sid Selvidge LPs which are well worth tracking down too)
Hopefully other labels will be taking 4AD and Omnivore's lead come Record Store Day and reissue some more desirable records and not another reissue of The Human League's Dare.
Brian Cuthbertson
Hi, how many of the Red House Painters have you ordered? How many do you expect to receive and what are the chances of snaffling one on RSD 2015?
Thanks,
Brian