Three Tune Tuesday: Record Store Day

Over the past five years or so there has been a sudden resurgence in the popularity of vinyl records. Personally, I have been collecting them for decades, but I am more than a little happy to see them back in the limelight.

In fact, over the past couple of years, records have outsold every other physical format annually. That's pretty impressive if you ask me. The fact that so many people are being drawn back to such an analog thing is a testament to the quality and aesthetic you get when you buy a vinyl record.

It seems like there is a special day for pretty much everything these days. Records are no exception. With the recent hype around vinyl, the marketers have taken advantage of that and created Record Store Day. The most recent one was last Saturday on the 22nd of April.

Despite my disdain for marketing in general, I do love the idea of Record Store Day. It gets many people into these local small businesses to purchase the special releases and re-issues these days. Make no mistake, the days of the big record stores are gone. When I say small businesses, I mean really small businesses. Mom and pop shops in little towns here and there across the globe.

People even stand in line the night before outside the store so they can be sure to get their hands on one of the special releases.

If you are a fan of buying local, then record store day should be right up your alley!

In honor of this past record store day, I am going to use this weeks #threetunetuesday sponsored by @ablaze to highlight some of the bands/songs that were released a couple of days ago as part of the special day.

I hope you enjoy!

I'm trying to remember where I first heard about The Donna's. I think it might have been from a magazine. I am one of those fellows who used to subscribe to Maxim Magazine in my younger years. I remember they had a small section that usually covered things like music and movies.

If I had to guess, I think I probably heard about them there. That leads me to my next question. Did I buy the CD in a record store or through one of those BMG buy one CD get 11 for free things?

Either way, I had a Donna's CD back in the day.

This year for RSD (Record Store Day), there was a special release LP of The Donna's "Early Singles 1995 to 1999". There were only 1500 units created, so that means those albums got spread across all the stores in the world. There is a good chance your local store only got their hands on one or didn't get that album at all.

Hence the reason people stand in line.

Usually stores have to request the albums that they hope to get. Since there are hundreds of individual albums each year, they have to pick and choose which ones they request. Even then, they aren't always guaranteed to be shipped one or two of said album.

Those marketing folks sure know how to create demand don't they?

Anyway, The Donna's are awesome. It's a mainstream punk group made up of ladies and they absolutely rock... Need I say more?

I'm going to throw you a little bit here. Instead of just giving you a single song, I am going to give you an entire three hour concert from the Grateful Dead. Don't click the Youtube link above unless you have some spare time on your hands.

That video is the complete show from Boston, MA back in 1977. That show was released this year on vinyl for RSD. I love jam bands like Phish and the Dead for making bootlegs cool. Jam bands that let people make recordings right from the sound board is pretty awesome.

Counting Crows does the same thing which is part of the reason they are one of my favorite bands. If you ever get the chance, check out the NUGS.net app. It's a subscriptions service that lets you stream soundboard recordings from some of the best jam bands out there!

Finally, just for @slobberchops, and @slobberchops, I am going to share this recording of the recent RSD drop by Porcupine Tree. It was a RSD limited run that had a regional focus and they only made 800 copies of it. There is a good chance very few of them even made their way to the US.

I'd never heard of Porcupine Tree until I joined Hive and I started to hear the two folks above mention them. I started digging into their stuff and I have to admit there are some songs that I really enjoy.

There are others I can't quite wrap my head around, but I think a lot of music is that way.

In any event. I think you should check them out if you haven't before. They have a large catalog of music that span several decades and those different decades can be heard in the variety of their music.

Even if you aren't into vinyl music, Record Store Day is a pretty cool event to participate in. I've woken up quite early a couple of times to stand in line and get my hands on some of the treasures that they offer each year.

Music is one of those things that always leaves me feeling like it was time well spent!