5 Record Store Day Alternative/Indie Titles to Check Out
Hidden in with the bigger titles for Record Store Day, there are some other great titles that might be worth checking out. This is a great year for fans of Alternative/Indie music, with some pretty great releases hitting the shelves on April 19. Here’s just a short list of some of those titles.
The Cure - Bloodflowers
Bloodflowers is considered part of a Trilogy consisting of 1982’s Pornography and 1989’s Disintegration and definitely fits in perfectly with those albums. It’s another moody masterpiece from Robert Smith and is probably the last truly great album from The Cure. This release is a 20th anniversary reissue on two picture discs. The original issue of this from 2000 runs around $300 online, so it will be nice to finally be able to get an affordable copy of this great album.
The Ramones - It’s Alive II
Ramones live albums have become a pretty regular visitor to Record Store Day and this year we get a show from one of the greatest tours the Ramones ever put on. The original It’s Alive is an all time classic live album recorded at The Roundhouse in London on December 31, 1977 and released in April 1979. It's Alive II includes a live show recorded in the UK - Live at Victoria Hall, Stoke-On-Trent, Staffordshire, Dec, 29, 1977, just two days before the original It’s Alive show. I’m a sucker for anything Ramones, so this is one I will definitely be picking up. These shows are peak Ramones and worth grabbing. (The original It’s Alive was also recently reissued on a Red/Blue colored vinyl and is available now)
David Bowie - ChangesNowBowie
I have almost 70 different Bowie releases, so to say I’m a fan may be an understatement. He’s another artist that has become a Record Store Day staple and he has two releases for RSD 2020, the Live album from the ‘74 Soul Tour and this release. CHANGESNOWBOWIE is a 9-track session recorded for radio and broadcast by the BBC on David’s 50th birthday on 8th January, 1997. This one was lost until recently and features mostly acoustic renderings of some incredible Bowie tracks including Aladdin Sane & The Man Who Sold The World.
Sweet Relief - A Benefit For Victoria Williams
The 90’s saw some great compilation albums and this may be one of the best.
In 1992, Victoria Williams was a talented singer-songwriter with a big problem: diagnosed with multiple sclerosis as she started gaining widespread exposure, she had no health insurance to cover her treatment costs. Within a year, an army of fans and friends, including Pearl Jam, Soul Asylum, Lou Reed, The Jayhawks, Matthew Sweet and Giant Sand, recorded favorites from her songbook for Sweet Relief.
There are some incredible tracks on here including Pearl Jam’s amazing cover of “Crazy Mary” that still features in their live shows and was included on the 2017 live album, Let’s Play Two.
The Replacements - The Complete Inconcerated Live
One of my all time favorite bands, The Replacements, see their complete 1989 concert from The University of Boston finally released on Vinyl. The Replacements were capable of either completely falling apart live or delivering a face melting set and this is definitely the latter. Originally, only 5 songs for this were available on a 5 song CD promo in 1989, with the entire concert finally seeing the light of day in the absolutely amazing Dead Man’s Pop box set that came out last year. This is on 3LP’s and is about as good of a set list as you could hope for from The Replacements in 1989.