Vinyl Reports

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Mark Smotroff  |  Dec 05, 2025

A new super deluxe edition box set celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Rolling Stones’ April 1976 LP Black and Blue offers good reason to reconsider an album that often gets overlooked in this legendary, influential British rock band’s rich catalog. Read Mark Smotroff’s review to see why this new 180g 5LP/1BD box set — which includes a new stereo remix of the core album by Steven Wilson, one LP of outtakes and studio jams, and 3LPs live from Earls Court in 1976 — deserves your full attention. . .

Mike Mettler  |  Mar 25, 2026

Wouldn’t it be nice if The Beach Boys were to somehow celebrate the upcoming 60th anniversary of one of the most important album releases of the 20th century, May 1966’s Pet Sounds? Oh, wait — they will be doing just that with a few different analog-oriented, vinyl-centric releases to come via Capitol/UMe on May 15, 2026. Read AP editor Mike Mettler’s report to see which LP version of Pet Sounds 60 you should get (or simply get all of them, just like he will). . .

Mark Smotroff  |  May 21, 2026

It was 60 years ago this week that Brian Wilson taught bands to play a different way with the release of The Beach Boys’ masterwork LP Pet Sounds on May 16, 1966. As part of this celebration, the first-time vinyl release of The Beach Boys’ The Pet Sounds Sessions Highlights 2LP set came out a week ago via Capitol/UMe on May 15, 2026. Read Mark Smotroff’s review to see why the building blocks of one of the most seminal releases in popular music history deserve your undivided vinyl attention. . .

Mike Mettler  |  Aug 21, 2025

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. . .

Mike Mettler, Mark Smotroff  |  Nov 19, 2025

As we noted last week, the month of November traditionally means there will be major Beatles-related releases in the hopper — and this year is no different, as a Holy Grail 180g 12LP Beatles box set is being released by Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMG this Friday, November 21, 2025. It is known as Anthology Collection, and it features upgraded versions of the first three Anthology 3LP editions originally released in 1995-96, in addition to an all-new, 3LP fourth volume consisting of additional rarities and 2025 demixes alike. Read AP editor Mike Mettler and chief vinyl reviewer Mark Smotroff’s deep-dive combo review to see if Anthology Collection is worth its aural weight in Beatles gold (and/or platinum) . . .

Mike Mettler  |  Jun 17, 2026

We be jammin’ now — 50 years on, that is. Fifty years ago this week, Bob Marley & The Wailers headlined a four-night residency at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, England, spanning June 15-18, 1976. The first-ever official release of 18 of the best tracks culled from those shows comprise the Roots, Rock, Reggae: Live at the Hammersmith Odeon 180g 2LP set that’s coming from Tuff Gong/Island/UMe on August 14, 2026. AP editor Mike Mettler sparks, er, shares all the details. . .

Mike Mettler  |  Jan 07, 2026

Welcome to the first installment of New Wax Wednesday for 2026! We already have plenty of great 2026 releases to cover in future columns, but we wanted to kick off the new year by instead diving into something we ran out of time to post about at the tail end of 2025 — namely, Rhino’s 4LP deluxe edition commemorating The Replacements’ final indie release on Twin/Tone, October 1984’s truly seminal Let It Be. Read AP editor Mike Mettler’s inside look at how the expertly expanded Let It Be collection should in no way leave any of its listeners “Unsatisfied”. . .

Mark Smotroff  |  Feb 13, 2026

For many music enthusiasts just getting into jazz, the arguable best way to discover the work of the legendary saxophonist John Coltrane is to, in fact, listen to his seminal recordings made for the Atlantic label in the early 1960s — and listen to them in mono. And thus, that leads us directly to today’s review subject, John Coltrane’s 1960–1964 Mono, a 180g 6LP box set released via Rhino’s most excellent High Fidelity Series back in late November 2025 as the ostensible kickoff celebration for this year’s Coltrane Centennial. (The late, great Trane was born in September 1926.) Read Mark Smotroff’s review to see exactly why you should make the investment to get your hands (and ears) on the 1960–1964 Mono collection. . .

Mike Mettler  |  Feb 18, 2026

Upon the first listen to the opening notes of The Smashing Pumpkins’ debut single “I Am One” in mid-1990, we were immediately hooked on the four-piece Chicagoland band’s conjoined drive hard but also play dreamy dynamic — which was even more in evidence on the next song, “Siva,” which sported not one but two low-volume vocal/noodly guitar breaks before the band chaos returned to take the track back by storm. The ensuing album those tracks appeared on, May 1991’s Gish, further cemented our love of SP’s inventive explosiveness. To celebrate the impending 35th anniversary of Gish, multiple 180g 1LP vinyl variants via Martha’s Music/Virgin/UMe will mark the occasion on May 29, 2026, literally 35 years and a day after the album’s original release. Read AP editor Mike Mettler’s report to see why Gish endures, and why you need to hear it anew on vinyl. . .

Mike Mettler  |  May 20, 2026

In the wake of the impending 10th anniversary of their final tour, The Tragically Hip have just announced that Live July 22 – August 20, 2016, a 3LP set commemorating that historic 15-show run with 29 of their best performances spread across six sides of vinyl, will be released on August 21, 2026. AP editor Mike Mettler has all the Hip details, including some exclusive, previously unpublished bandmember comments about the joys and pitfalls of playing different songs from different albums live, and then capturing it all properly on record. . .

Mark Smotroff, Mike Mettler  |  Jun 05, 2026

Both surviving members of The Beatles — Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney — have just released fine new solo albums that take different approaches toward reflecting on their respective long and winding careers. Ringo released his Long Long Road LP on April 24, 2026, while Sir Paul released The Boys of Dungeon Lane a little more than a month later on May 29, 2026. Read Mark Smotroff’s combo review (and AP editor Mike Mettler’s detailed footnotes) to see if either or both of these Fab Two LPs are worthy of purchase and repeat spins accordingly. . .

Mike Mettler  |  Sep 03, 2025

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. . .

Mike Mettler  |  Jan 14, 2026

Some like it hot and some sweat when the heat it on, as the saying goes — at least that’s how the mid-’80s supergroup dubbed The Power Station put it in their February 1985 hit single of a mostly similar name. The album that housed that incendiary lead single, March 1985’s eponymously dubbed The Power Station, is seeing a well-deserved, expanded 40th anniversary 2LP set that’s duly been subtitled DLX via Parlophone on January 23, 2026. Read AP editor Mike Mettler’s review to see just how fiery this newly upgraded edition of The Power Station is on wax. . .

Mike Mettler  |  Dec 10, 2025

Tori Amos is the type of artist who relishes pushing the creative envelope at practically every turn, and she went all-in by creating 12 separate character identities/personas for how she approached interpreting the dozen, male-penned covers she tackled on her September 2001 release on Atlantic, Strange Little Girls. The album has never been officially released on vinyl, but Rhino plans to rectify that ill by dropping a 2LP Strange Little Girls (Expanded Edition) on February 20, 2026, that will also feature a pair of B-side rarities along with an additional pair of previously unreleased recordings. Read AP editor Mike Mettler’s Strange Little assessment, in addition to some exclusive, vinyl-centric comments he got directly from Amos herself. . .

Mike Mettler  |  Apr 15, 2026

Let’s not beat around the bush: Queen are absolute kings when it comes to putting together historical box sets. Current case in point is what they’ve done for March 1974’s Queen II, which was just released by Hollywood in a legitimately lavish 5CD/2LP Collector’s Edition on March 27, 2026. Read AP editor Mike Mettler’s review to see why the 180g 2LP twist helps put Queen II over the top. . .

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