Record Store Day 2021 releases: The Groundhogs, Tales Of Terror, Bert Jansch and many more

By Lucia Weinrichter Roncero - April 7, 2021

Revealing this year’s list… Record Store Day 2021 sees Fire Records, Earth Recordings, Call Of The Void and AFAR putting some of the finest records back on the shelf.

This year’s releases includes a deluxe edition of The Groundhogs‘ ‘Who Will Save The World’ featuring the iconic artwork and interview with Neal Adams, Tales Of Terror‘s debut gets it’s first ever reissue, Maria McKee‘s ‘High Dive’ and ‘Live In Hamburg’ will be available for the first time along with two Bert Jansch special reissues. The Dream Syndicate’s ‘Out Of The Grey’ is reissued the first time in 24 years along with Pere Ubu‘s long lost ‘390 Of Simulated Stereo V.21C’, a first pressing from Kristin Hersh, classic reissues from Howe Gelb, Josephine Foster‘s highly collectable ‘Graphic As A Star’, some super rare Bardo Pond, unissued and unreleased songs from Half Japanese‘s ‘Charmed Life’ and unreleased music from Television Personalities.

Please see below for full details on our 2021 releases and check Record Store Day’s website for more info.

Record Store Day Website

12th JUNE

The Groundhogs ‘Who Will Save The World (Deluxe Edition)’ – Fire Records
Pere Ubu ‘390 Degrees of Simulated Stereo V.21C’ – Fire Records
Kristin Hersh ‘Wyatt At The Coyote Palace’ – Fire Records
Howe Gelb ‘Hisser’ – Fire Records
Half Japanese ‘I Guess I’m Living: The Charmed Life Tapes’ – Fire Records
Bardo Pond ‘Volume 1’ – Fire Records
Bardo Pond ‘Volume 2’ – Fire Records
Josephine Foster ‘Graphic As A Star’ – Fire Records
Tales Of Terror  ‘Tales Of Terror’ – Call Of The Void
Maria McKee ’High Dive’ – Afar
Maria McKee ‘Live In Hamburg’ – Afar
Bert Jansch ‘The Black Swan’ – Earth Recordings
Bert Jansch ‘Edge Of A Dream’ – Earth Recordings

17th JULY

Arizona Amp & Alternator ‘Arizona Amp and Alternator’ – Fire Records
Television Personalities ‘Another Kind Of Trip’ – Fire Records
The Dream Syndicate ‘Out of The Grey (Deluxe Edition)’ – Fire Records

 

The Groundhogs ‘Who Will Save The World’

A definitive collector’s item as part of the ongoing Fire Records catalogue campaign. This special reissue features the iconic artwork accompanied by a deluxe comic book insert, a bumper sticker and postcard, along with sleeve notes and an interview with the original Marvel artist Neal Adams. Also includes a bonus download of an unreleased live recording from their final live show in Pocono, USA.

Having scaled such heights, it’s perhaps no wonder that ‘Who Will Save The World’ saw them assuming mythical powers.

Uncut

 

Tales Of Terror ‘Tales Of Terror’

Often cited as a major influence on the key bands of the grunge era (Nirvana, Melvins, Mudhoney etc.) Tales Of Terror’s one & only LP is an overlooked classic of 80s NorCal punk rock. Available for the first time in more than 30 years, Kurt Cobain’s 32nd-favourite-album-of-all-time is chaotic and charismatic in equal parts; the band’s story is tinged with tragedy, but the music they played was life-affirming.

 

Straight out of The Dead Boys/ Stooges school of intense, f**k-it-all, snarl and self-destruct. Recommended.

Maximumrocknroll

 

Bert Jansch ‘The Black Swan’

15thAnniversary reissue ‘The Black Swan’ on silver vinyl. Originally released in 2006, ‘The Black Swan’ was Jansch’s last studio album bookending his tremendous contribution to music. An important release that sees Jansch’s revered style boosted by musical admirers Beth Orton, Devendra Banhart, Otto Hauser, Helena Espvall and Noah Georgeson.

A terrific success.. beautiful, elegant

★★★★ Pitchfork

 

Bert Jansch ‘Edge Of A Dream’

Originally released in 2002 ‘Edge Of A Dream’ will be reissued on gold vinyl and available for the first time as a standalone vinyl. Following ‘Crimson Moon’, ‘Edge Of A Dream’ is one of Jansch’s last studio records featuring original and traditional songs that are modal with his trademark bluesy and folk sound. It features some traditional reworkings including the lesser-known instrumental ‘Gypsy Dave’ with fiddler Dave Swarbrick and the stunning ghostly track ‘All That Remains’ with Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval.

Edge Of A Dream remains that period's most overlooked beauty, featuring some beautiful playing and some great collaborations

The Quietus

 

Maria McKee ‘High Dive’

First time on double vinyl for this buried treasure from the legendary singer/songwriter. The post-Geffen string-driven classic including a re-imagining of the gorgeous ‘Life Is Sweet’ set in a glorious baroque pop setting that elevates her songs into a Sondheim-esque gravity. An overlooked masterpiece from the heady days of 2003 that remains timeless and just as poignant today. A brave and challenging recording that set the tone for her most recent success. Remastered from the original sound source.

Exceptional!

Record Collector

 

Maria McKee ‘Live In Hamburg’

First time on vinyl for this classic follow up to 2003’s buried treasure ‘High Dive’. An intimate and soulful soiree with McKee and band extending the envelope from baroque pop to symphonic glories. Remastered for maximum audio clarity; elevating McKee’s ‘High Dive’ originals -plus the classics ‘Life Is Sweet’ and ‘This Perfect Dress’ -to new dramatic highs. A sublime live opus from one of the world’s great songwriters and most captivating voices.

McKee has always possessed two gifts as a lyricist, her ability to make all images completely vivid and her naked compassion and empathy.

Allmusic

 

Kristin Hersh ‘Wyatt At The Coyote Palace’

Pressed on double gold vinyl. This sonically rich and fragmented record references to Hersh’s past material and sees her perform on guitar, bass, drums, piano, horns and cello. There’s a mysticism and sense of life wonderment throughout ‘Wyatt At The Coyote Palace’ that also has death as a central theme rather than the contemplation of death itself it’s reaching the end of something and beginning a new life.

As memoirs, her albums are so intensely personal... as art, they’re arguments for the value of unapologetic individuality

Pitchfork

 

Pere Ubu ‘390 Degrees of Simulated Stereo V.21C’

A long lost and simply breath taking live Ubu collection culled from 1981 recordings in Cleveland, London and Brussels featuring the band’s original line up with Peter Laughner and Tim Wright. The sound of a band at their anarchistic and experimental best, twisting the mainstream for their own ends. A white-knuckle cascade through their formative inventiveness, a unique document, now fully remastered it includes songs from the ‘Datapanik’ EP and ‘The Modern Dance’ LP.

The lo-fi recordings almost always sounded better to us than the hi-fi recordings.

David Thomas

 

Arizona Amp & Alternator ‘Arizona Amp & Alternator’

The debut from Howe Gelb’s one-off project featuring members of Arcade Fire, Grandaddy, Scout Niblett and M Ward is released for the first time on transparent violet double vinyl, and includes extensive notes and interviews with the collaborators. This debut sees Grandaddy backing Traffic’s ‘Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys’ whilst Scout Niblett makes a cameo on ‘Recital’ and Frank Loesser’s ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ gets a new rendition featuring Danish singer Marie Lorette Friis. Other stand-out duets include ‘Loretta and the Insect World’ and ‘Where The Wind Turns The Skin To Leather’ that has a distinctly Lee Hazelwood feel.

A crumpled brilliant letter from Americana's unofficial poet laureate.

★★★★½ AllMusic

 

Howe Gelb ‘Hisser’

Classic solo album from Giant Sand’s main man Howe Gelb circa 1998, re-issued with new liner notes and remastered on cream vinyl. A catch-all collection from the much-travelled troubadour that brings together a wealth of personal recordings edited into an intriguing ponder wander through the man’s thinking. A truly intoxicating set of songs buoyed by Howe Gelb’s prosaic prose and effortless use of the mind-bending one-liner

'Hisser' is the vision of a truly unique and engaging talent, and in its pure heart and soul lies a masterpiece.

College Music Journal

 

Half Japanese ‘I Guess I’m Living: The Charmed Life Tapes’

All-enveloping superbly alternative third take of 1988’s ‘Charmed Life’ featuring previously unissued versions and a half dozen previously unreleased songs, reissued on yellow vinyl. Released for the first time on vinyl with a homage to Madonna and a host of punky-grunge anthems. The original ‘Charmed Life’ album was hailed by both AllMusic and Quietus as their most commercial album to date. Featuring the band’s unique versions of Dylan’s ‘Please Crawl Out Your Window’, two Jimmy Reed gems and the country standard ‘T For Texas’. Including extensive liner notes and interviews with Jad and David Fair and Mark Jickling.

It might sound silly to call any shambling rock band a "machine", especially one that practically invented shambling. But in the late 1980s, Half Japanese were a song machine.

Pitchfork

 

Bardo Pond ‘Volume 1’

Super rare self-released recordings from 2000, from the Philadelphia psych rockers; a must-have insight into their long, strange trips. Collated from a limited run original CDr, remastered and double-dosed for maximum sound. A viral jam session remastered onto vinyl for the very first time. The missing link between John Cage’s 4’33” and Merzbow’s ultimate noise; a grinding cacophony tempered with motorik precision. A deconstructed masterclass that concludes with the mystical rampage of ‘Into Something Else’, a ten-minute slice of sludge blues at its gnarliest.

Immerse yourself in the gloopily transcendental pleasures of the world’s finest purveyors of psych-rock magnificence.

The Quietus

 

Bardo Pond ‘Volume 2’

A second super rare volume of trippy meandering from the Philadelphia psych rockers; a must-have insight into their long, strange trips from 2001. A viral jam session remastered for the very first time on Translucent Smoke vinyl. Guitars wail, Isobel Sollenberger intones, magic occurs.

Their slowpoke psychonaut scuzz has floated into all sorts of strange places.

Pitchfork

 

Television Personalities ‘Another Kind Of Trip’

Double vinyl album capturing the Television Personalities live, with the classic line up of Daniel Treacy, Jowe Head and Jeff Bloom.21 tracks featuring unreleased versions and a song that never made it to the studio. A side apiece from the Thames Poly in 1985, East Berlin in ’89, New York in ’92 and Bremen in ‘93. Includes stellar versions of ‘How I Learned To Love The Bomb’, ‘Salvador Dali’s Garden Party’, ‘My Very First Nervous Breakdown’ and ‘Hard Luck Story #39’.

TVPs were as mythical to a younger generation as Syd Barrett had been to Treacy

Uncut

 

Josephine Foster ‘Graphic As A Star’

Originally released in 2009, this highly collectable record is now back on vinyl for the first time in over a decade. ‘Graphic As A Star’ joins the poems of iconic 19th century American writer Emily Dickinson with the crafted esoteric sounds of Josephine Foster. Laying melodies with a burnished soulfulness like the purple sunsets often described in Dickinson’s literature, it has an effortless and intricate acoustic sound that provides a delicate backdrop for the lyrics. ‘Graphic As A Star’ is a beautiful traditional song cycle featuring 26 poems accompanied by guitar and blues harmonica of early 20thcentury American Folk.

Exquisite

★★★★ AllMusic

 

The Dream Syndicate ‘Out Of The Grey (Deluxe Edition)’

The Dream Syndicate’s 1986 album ‘Out of the Grey’ is back on vinyl for the first time in 24 years. Deliciously remastered with new liner notes that feature interviews with Steve Wynn, Mark Walton, Paul Cutler and Dennis Duck along with rare photos and eight rarities from the era. Hidden inside of ‘Out of the Grey’ are some of Wynn’s strongest songs -“Slide Away” is delightful pop, “Now I Ride Alone” is moody and intense “like the hardboiled typewriting of novelists Jim Thompson, Ross MacDonald, and James Cain” that Steve dug back in July ‘85.

The Dream Syndicate has proven to be a massively influential force in the world of alternative rock

NPR

More Fire Records News