Record Store Day

As it does every year, Record Store Day returns worldwide in late April – this year the exact date is the 21st (here is the full list of Italian releases): the event celebrating the record shops that keep "resisting" digital music by continuing to sell it in physical formats – CDs, vinyl, picture discs, even cassette tapes. A maze of hundreds of new releases, reissues, special editions, singles and limited runs to suit every musical taste. As we've done for the past four editions, we offer a particular way of approaching the event, dedicated to the history of the albums and, above all, of their artwork, once again in collaboration with Stampaprint. A key to exploring this global event and perhaps uncovering some trivia about titles we already know well, and others whose very existence we never even suspected.

ANTONELLO VENDITTI – "Under the Sign of Pisces/Sara" For the fortieth anniversary of the release of the album "Under the Sign of Pisces" (recently made an OndaRock Milestone), Universal Music is reissuing on 7" 45rpm vinyl the eponymous single (with "Sara" on the B-side) that Antonello Venditti released forty years ago. The iconic cover is the work of Mario Convertino (1948-1986), a major graphic designer and illustrator who put his signature on an enormous number of covers for Italian and international artists. A few titles among many: "Street Fighting Man" by the Rolling Stones, "Kraftwerk 2" by Kraftwerk, "Je t'aime… moi non plus" by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin. Through his work, Convertino revolutionised the field of graphic design between the Sixties and the Eighties, not only through his many album covers but also by "exporting" music to television with the show "Mister Fantasy", hosted by Carlo Massarini. The cover of "Under the Sign of Pisces" remains one of the most iconic images associated with the Italian artist, who also worked with Venditti on "Buona domenica", again with the same refined minimalism. Limited edition!

ARCADE FIRE – "Arcade Fire" One of this year's most eagerly awaited reissues is the very first, self-titled record Arcade Fire released back in 2003, just before they hit it big with "Funeral". The record hides a number of curiosities within its grooves. For instance, one of the seven tracks on the listing is the first version of "No Cars Go", later included on "Neon Bible". Another peculiarity lies in the songwriting credits for "Headlights Look Like Diamonds", which include Josh Deu, a founding member of the band alongside Win Butler in 1999, active in Arcade Fire until 2003. Régine Chassagne would soon join the band, and, to close the circle, Deu would later be Butler's best man at his wedding. Josh was already out of the group by the time "EP" came out, but it's still him, a graphic-design enthusiast, who signed the record's inner artwork. The striking cover art, meanwhile, was entrusted to Seripop, the duo of Chloe Lum and Yannick Desranleau, who "specialise" in cover art for the North American indie scene. Available for the first time on transparent blue vinyl, in a numbered run of three thousand copies.

COURTEENERS – "St. Jude" The Courteeners also have an anniversary to celebrate: specifically, ten years since the release of "St. Jude", their gold-certified debut album – the one with "Not Nineteen Forever" and "What Took You So Long?" on it, to give you an idea. UMC/Polydor's reissue of the double LP is being pressed for the occasion on red vinyl. The artwork bears the signature of Johnny Lighthands, a world-renowned illustrator and graphic designer who has worked with brands like Google, Vodafone and Shell. His forays into the world of music have so far been quite limited, having lent his art to only a handful of albums. Two in particular perfectly capture Lighthands' style: "Local Boy" by The Rifles, with an urban scene rendered in yellow tones, and, of course, "St. Jude" by the Courteeners, with its iconic female face emerging from the right-hand side of the cover. A must-have for fans of 21st-century British rock.

C.S.I. – "Celluloide/Del mondo" It was 1994 when the Consorzio Suonatori Indipendenti, born from the ashes of CCCP – Fedeli alla linea, released the album "Ko de mondo" on their own label, I dischi del Mulo — one of the cornerstones of the Emilian outfit's catalogue — as a promotional item. The single "Celluloide", backed with the B-side "Del mondo" (the two tracks also follow one another on the album's tracklist, sitting at third and fourth position respectively), now arrives in an official version for Record Store Day 2018 on seven-inch 45rpm vinyl, in a limited run, this time released by Universal. We don't know who took the photograph on the cover, or what exactly it depicts, but it's possible to work it out — or at least imagine it — from what C.S.I. were up to at the time. The album, whose title is a corruption of the name of Codemondo, a locality near Reggio Emilia, was in fact recorded at the manoir Le Prajou in Finistère, the wildest, westernmost tip of Brittany. A magical place that truly resembles the end of a world, and of an entire civilisation — a geographical fringe still pure in certain ways, one that must have been a considerable source of inspiration for Ferretti, Zamboni, Canali, Maroccolo and their fellow travellers. Tracks like "Finistère" and "La lune de Prajou" leave little room for doubt. In the same way, the perhaps abandoned house on the cover seems to come from that very same landscape: a dirt path, a low stone wall, the half-open gate (as are some of the windows), the façade overrun with ivy, and a threatening sky in the background. Who took the shot? Perhaps the vinyl's packaging will tell us more…

IGGY POP – "Live at the Ritz, NYC 1986" A special release also awaits good old Iggy Pop: his 1986 live show at the Ritz in New York will be pressed by Culture Factory in a run of just 1,500 copies on colored double vinyl. The show's setlist includes many classics from the Iguana's vast repertoire, sixteen tracks in total spread across two LPs. The cover shot deserves a mention of its own, captured through the lens of Claude Gassian. The French photographer is a genuine institution when it comes to portraits of rock legends. Among the many artists Gassian has photographed are Joe Strummer, Frank Zappa, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Jimi Hendrix, Patti Smith, Bruce Springsteen. On the cover, Iggy Pop stares straight into the lens in a moment that condenses all the tension and intensity of the live show. On the back, our man is pictured at another point in the concert, fists raised to the sky and head tilted back. A pretty fine addition to any collection, provided you're among the lucky few who manage to find a copy.

KEVIN MORBY & WAXAHATCHEE – "Farewell Transmission/Dark Don't Hide It" For many, just seeing the cover — or reading the titles — will be enough to understand what Kevin Morby and Katie Crutchfield, aka Waxahatchee, are up to here; both were protagonists of a 2017 marked by strong releases, with their respective albums "City Music" and "Out In The Storm". For everyone else, it's worth knowing that this featuring is a tribute to Jason Molina, "to his life and his memory, thank you for your music", to use the words of the two artists behind this LP, released specifically for Record Store Day 2018 on 7-inch vinyl. The collaboration takes the shape of covers of two classics from Molina's catalogue: "Farewell Transmission" from the album "Magnolia Electric Co.", released under the moniker Songs: Ohia, and "The Dark Don't Hide It" from "What Comes After The Blues", released under the pseudonym The Magnolia Electric Co. The unmistakable artwork is entrusted to William Schaff, a friend and collaborator of Molina's, who unmistakably reworks the cover he himself created for the masterpiece "Magnolia Electric Co.". Five years after the American artist's passing, a chilling double tribute.

MACCABEES – "Wall Of Arms" Let's be honest, we miss the Maccabees a little. The British band's split was announced last year, but they left behind a fair haul of records worth revisiting from time to time. RSD 2018 offers up the picture disc of "Wall Of Arms", the London band's second album, released in 2009. The cover is a work of art in the true sense, bearing the signature — unmistakable to anyone familiar with her work — of Boo Ritson, a British artist who literally paints people, turning them into works of art. The pursuit, so to speak, had actually begun two years earlier, when the Maccabees came across one of her pieces on the cover of Art Worls and decided they wanted to work with her. It took quite a while, and no small effort, to win her over to the idea, and in the end it seems the decisive move was sending her some new songs. Only then did Ritson give her fateful yes, and shortly after, the band's five members received the artistic treatment they'd been after… which, rightly, ended up on the cover.

TIM BURGESS – "As I Was Now" The frontman of the Charlatans is a Record Store Day regular: he's put out something from his vast back catalogue every year without fail since 2012. For the 2018 edition, that "something" is a genuinely significant release, as it's the previously unreleased album "As I Was Now", which Burgess recorded with what he himself called "my dream band": Josh Heyward of the Horrors, Martin Duffy of Primal Scream, Debbie Googe of My Bloody Valentine and Steffan Halperin of the Klaxons. The recordings date back to December 2008, but the results had never been released until now. Not bad, right? The chosen format is a transparent blue LP with two sides, for a total of nine songs recorded by Tim Burgess with his own personal supergroup. The cover, however, features only Burgess, gazing off-camera, sporting his trademark bleach-blond mop. Among the hundreds of releases lined up for this Record Store Day, this is probably one of the most notable.

UNDERTONES – “Singles Box” To mark the fortieth anniversary of “Teenage Kicks“, the era-defining punk track the Northern Irish band released in 1978 that became nothing less than John Peel's favourite song ever, as well as one of the most covered songs of all time, USM is putting out a new box set containing thirteen 7″s of the Undertones' singles. From “Smarter Than U” to “Here Comes the Summer”, from “Jimmy Jimmy” to “My Perfect Cousin” (the only track to crack the British top ten, in 1980), this is a golden chance to rediscover the catalogue of a band mostly known, outside these shores, only for that one legendary song. The box brings together the artwork of all thirteen singles included, effectively reworking the cover of the “Best Of” released back in 1993. The graphic novelty compared to that release lies in the torn section revealing the iconic arrow-shaped logo that recurs across numerous releases by the Derry band, including another singles box set put out in 2000 by Essential and Castle Music under the direction of art director Hugh Gilmour, the man “responsible” for hundreds of rock album artworks.

WIRE – “Nine Sevens” Out now on the band's own label Pinkflag is the box set gathering the nine 7″s the English band released between 1977 and 1980 on the Harvest and Rough Trade labels, plus a 1980 track never before issued on 7-inch. And that's not all: it also includes a rare Ep originally released alongside early copies of “154“. Sounds good enough? If there's bad news, it's that only 1,500 copies will be pressed and distributed to shops, with little chance of finding them online, since only leftover copies, if any, will be sold on the internet. Nor are further repressings planned: so if you can, hurry up. Gorgeous, as ever, is the cover designed for the occasion by Bruce Gilbert, featuring an X-rayed piranha set against a black uniform background. Sheer class both in the packaging and in the music itself – what more could post-punk lovers around the world ask for?

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