This week, a flurry of exciting Record Store Day (RSD) preview announcements started appearing in our email in boxes from labels around the world. Craft Recordings announced seven titles coming to participating independent music retailers on April 12, spanning jazz, salsa, rock and soul. Here are the preview highlights. We’ll get to more in-depth reviews once we (hopefully!) get our hands on physical copies for ourselves to hear.
Jazz Dispensary: Night Lights
This 1LP collection of late night Prestige/Moodsville tracks includes artists like Yusef Lateef, Kenny Burrell, Coleman Hawkins, Clark Terry, Gene Ammon and Red Garland. Pressed on smoke-hued “midnight blue” vinyl, Night Lights is sure to be another well-curated Jazz Dispensary listening experience — a great way to explore Craft’s remarkable archive of groovy 1960s and ‘70 soul-jazz explorations.
Gerry Mulligan and Thelonious Monk: Mulligan Meets Monk
The one near mint copy of Mulligan Meets Monkon Discogs at the time of this writing is going for about $200. Clearly, a quality affordable reissue of this mono mix is warranted. Many Monk classics are here including: “’Round Midnight,” “Straight, No Chaser” and “Rhythm-a-Ning.” Pressed on 180-gram black vinyl at RTI and limited to 3,400 copies, this is an essential RSD title (for me at least!).
Celia Cruz and Willie Colón: Only They Could Have Made This Album
Pairing American Puerto Rican salsa pioneer Willie Colón with Cuban “Queen of Salsa” Celia Cruz for this 1977 album of duets was a wise alliance: it was so successful that they made two more albums together in 1981 and 1987! With only two “near mint” copies on Discogs at this moment, a nice 180-gram black vinyl reissue made from original master tapes in an all analog (AAA) process is overdue. Limited run of 1200.
Vince Guaraldi Trio: Jazz Impressions of a Boy Named Charlie Brown (Alternate Takes)
The original Jazz Impressions of a Boy Named Charlie Brown was the soundtrack for a TV documentary that never aired. Effectively introducing the world to Vince Guaraldi’s then-new Peanuts music, that album set the stage for the smash holiday hit A Charlie Brown Christmas a year later. This new album features unreleased session alternate takes pressed on sky-blue vinyl and limited to 3,400 copies mixed and mastered from the original analog sources.
Carla Thomas: Sweet Sweetheart
Often called the Queen of Memphis Soul, Carla Thomas’ albums are generally wonderful. Given Beyonce’s Grammy winning country crossover album Cowboy Carter, unearthing Thomas’ unreleased 1970 session — a country-soul hybrid — makes some sense in 2025. First released on CD in 2013, Sweet Sweetheart’s vinyl debut is a limited-edition translucent light blue run of 1,200.
A Day to Remember: Attack of the Killer B-Sides
Fan-categorized as “pop mosh,” mixing multiple genres from emo to metal, this band (which I have admittedly never heard of before this announcement) has Platinum and Gold selling albums & singles! Celebrating the 15th anniversary of A Day to Remember’s Attack of the Killer B-Sides EP, Craft is reissuing their 2010 10-inch 45 RPM four-song mini album which includes covers of Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone” and The Fray’s “Over My Head (Cable Car).” Pressed on neon orange vinyl in a limited run of 2000.
Collective Soul: Blender
Collective Soul celebrates the 25th anniversary of its 2000 release, Blender. While the wiki says it was their least successful, the album did reach #20 on the Billboard charts and #3 in Canada! This translucent cobalt vinyl pressing is a limited run of 3,000 copies.
Mark Smotroff is a deep music enthusiast / collector who has also worked in entertainment oriented marketing communications for decades supporting the likes of DTS, Sega and many others. He reviews vinyl for Analog Planet and has written for Audiophile Review, Sound+Vision, Mix, EQ, etc. You can learn more about him at LinkedIn.
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