Vinyl Reports

Where have you been? It’s all right, we know where you’ve been. Naturally, many of you already know that I’ve just borrowed some key lyrics from “Welcome to the Machine” to segue into the news that Pink Floyd have just announced a 50th anniversary edition of Wish You Were Here — the album from whence that song comes from — will be released in expanded 3LP and deluxe box set editions on December 12, 2025. Read on to see all the details about all the on-vinyl extras, and which edition(s) they will appear on. . .

For a British band with such a potentially foreboding name as The Darkness, their music is anything but grim. Instead, they choose to celebrate what we call a “tongue in chic” (spelling intended) wink/nudge approach to rock conventionalism by meeting all of it head on with layered riffs, clever arrangements, and operatic vocals galore — and their latest smokin’ hot LP, Dreams on Toast, is the living analog proof. Read AP editor Mike Mettler’s interview with Darkness guitarist/producer Dan Hawkins to see what he doesn’t want to hear on test pressings, why “flow” is critical to vinyl sequencing, and what albums he and his older brother, Darkness lead singer Justin Hawkins, bought and shared together when they were growing up. . .

While The Who are currently traversing North America on their (allegedly) “final-final” tour that’s been dubbed (of course) The Song Is Over, they’re also quite keen on continuing with a finely curated catalog reissue series that’s been chock full of remastered originals and unreleased studio and live tracks galore. To that end, The ’Oo have just announced that their Who Are You 180g Deluxe Edition 4LP box set is forthcoming from Polydor/UMe on October 31, 2025. Read on to see what all the bonus material is, and what other versions of the set are also available. . .

Here’s an upcoming multidisc collection that practically whispers one of its song titles as an instruction for potential, pun-intended suitors: Take me home. Or, to be more precise, Phil Collins and his team are suiting up for a proper, imminent 40th anniversary release of the sartorially titled No Jacket Required (Fully Tailored) 180g 4LP box set via Atlantic/Rhino on September 12, 2025. Read on to see how it was done, and what all the cool bonus material is. . .

Could there have been a more perfectly named rock documentary than 1995’s The Beatles Anthology, the eight-episode linear-TV doc series that traced the full arc of The Fabs’ magical musical journey that began in Liverpool and Hamburg and soon enough captivated the world? In celebration of its 30th anniversary, The Beatles Anthology will see a comprehensive 180g 12LP box set released by Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMG on November 21, 2025, and it includes an all-new fourth set naturally dubbed Anthology 4. Read on to see even more Anthology-related details, including the expansion of the original doc series (and when/where you can see it) and an updated book. . .

When it comes to recordings of the blues, there are different pockets of reissue-related activity that remain of interest to many music enthusiasts these days. Three new recent LP upgrades from three different iconic names span several generations of interest — namely, mid-20th-century icons John Lee Hooker and Memphis Slim along with Furry Lewis, who began recording in 1927. Read Mark Smotroff’s combo Short Cuts review to see if BMG’s new reissue of Hooker’s 1992 Pointblank/Charisma album Boom Boom, along with Craft Recordings’ Bluesville Series reissues of both pianist Memphis Slim’s 1959 Vee-Jay debut At The Gate of Horn and acoustic fingerpicking/slide guitarist Furry Lewis’ 1961 Prestige/Bluesville LP Back on My Feet are all worthy of buying and spinning. . .