The Reverend's Guide to Record Store Day 2025

That twice-yearly Bacchanalian festival of vinyl consumerism is right around the corner and, like many of my fellow blockheads, I have my own list of “must have” LPs and “maybe if the price is right” albums to shop for on April 12th. Yes, there are some über-cool reissues of obscure or cult-rock albums, gems like the Blasters’ An American Music Story: The Complete Studio Recordings 1979-1985, Camper Van Beethoven’s Telephone Free Landslide Victory, or an expanded version of the Neurotic Outsiders’ self-titled 1996 debut featuring members of the Sex Pistols, Duran Duran, Guns ‘n’ Roses, and the Cult (it’s better than it sounds). But I’ll pass by those flapjacks (mostly ‘cause I already own a lot of that stuff) as I dig deeper into the crates for the vinyl gems that I’ve never heard or, because of their rarity, never owned…here’s the Reverend’s personally-curated list of Record Store Day 2025 releases that I’ll be buying…

The 13th Floor Elevators’ Houston Music Theatre, Live 1967 (LMLR)
    Said to have originally been planned as the Elevators’ sophomore album, Houston Music Theater, Live 1967 is being released for the first time on vinyl with a glorious restored mono mix, printed inner sleeve, OBI strip, and ‘blue and black marble effect’ vinyl, thus quenching the fanboy collector thirst for fancy (and ultimately absurd) colored vinyl. Recorded, of course, from the revolving stage of the Houston Music Theatre on February 18th, 1967 the performance spotlights the band in what was arguably its prime, with singer Roky Erickson, guitarist Stacey Sutherland, and electric jug maestro Tommy Hall laying down a groundbreaking psychedelic sound, assisted by the rhythm section of bassist Ronnie Leatherman and drummer John Ike Walton.
    I don’t know what kind of sound quality they’ll resurrect for this RSD release, or even if it’s sourced from original International Artists master tapes (a possibility!), but the set does feature fave Elevators’ tracks like “Fire Engine,” “Reverberation,” and “Your Gonna Miss Me” as well as an extended jam. The often-bootlegged performance has received previous release under such dodgy titles as Levitation, I’ve Seen Your Face Before, and Live Evolution Lost by various U.K. record labels.   

Skip James’ Hard Time Killin’ Floor (Shanachie Entertainment)
    Mississippi Delta blues legend Skip James was an innovative guitarist and haunting vocalist who is often overlooked when academic types start jawboning about blues music. James recorded a number of sides for Paramount Records in 1931 and the resulting 78rpm shellac sold poorly, so the artist disappeared into obscurity. James was “rediscovered” after 30 years by musicians John Fahey, Bill Barth, and Henry Vestine and pushed into service at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival; James subsequently recorded a handful of fine albums for Vanguard Records before his death in 1969. Hard Time Killin’ Floor reprises the 2005 Yazoo Records CD of the same name, but with only 14 of its 18 original tracks, which represented the total output of his 1931 Paramount sessions. It’s 14 good ‘uns, though, including tracks like “Devil Got My Woman,” “I’m So Glad” (later covered by Cream), and “22-20 Blues.” If you’re looking for an introduction to the singular talent that was Skip James, check this out!  

John Lennon & Yoko Ono’s Power To the People - Live at the One-To-One Concert (Apple Records)
    This ambitious four-track 12” EP, running roughly 20 minutes, revisits John & Yoko’s legendary August 30th, 1972 concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City. This benefit show raised over $1.5 million for schoolchildren with special needs, the Lennons backed by the Plastic Ono Band and Elephant’s Memory. The EP was produced by Sean Ono Lennon, engineered from the original tapes, and pressed on 180gram yellow vinyl. The EP offers three previously-unreleased performances, which is pretty cool considering that the 1972 double-disc set Some Time In New York City featured 16 performances, including four jams with Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention; it’s also been out of print in any format for over a decade. Worth picking up if priced reasonably…this is the sort of classic rock curio that record labels love to overcharge rabid fans to acquire.  

The Meters’ Live At Great American Music Hall, San Francisco (Sing, Inc.)
    Double vinyl set pressed on “Mardi Gras colored vinyl,” whatever that is. But you can’t go wrong with what was arguably New Orleans’ hottest band, this 1975 live set featuring the classic Meters line-up with Art Neville (keyboards), Leo Nocentelli (guitar), George Porter Jr. (bass), and Joseph ‘Zigaboo’ Modeliste (drums) with new guy Cyril Neville adding percussion. Straddling the time period between 1974’s Rejuvenation and late 1975’s Fire On the Bayou, Live At Great American Music Hall offers a strong nine-song set. Part of this performance had been previously released as the bootleg LP The Meters Live At Rozy’s but this RSD set restores the entire performance, properly sequenced and remastered for official release.

Sly & the Family Stone’s The First Family: Live At Winchester Cathedral 1967 (High Moon Records)
    There’s a renewed interest in Sly & the Family Stone – and rightfully so – thanks to Questlove’s recent Hulu network documentary Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius), which places the funk and soul legends in proper context as the groundbreaking outfit they were. The First Family: Live At Winchester Cathedral 1967 captures the original band prior to their signing with Epic Records and nearly a year before “Dance To the Music” delightfully lit up the radio airwaves. I couldn’t find any bootleg LPs covering this particular show (or era), which qualifies this RSD release as a true rarity and a gem for Sly & the Family Stone fans; this High Moon Records exclusive features a gatefold sleeve and 24-page booklet.    

Talking Heads’ Live On Tour 1978 (Rhino Records)
    Recorded at The Agora in Cleveland, Ohio in December 1978 during the More Songs About Buildings and Food tour, this set was originally released as one of ‘The Warner Bros. Music Show’ promotional albums that were sent to FM radio stations worldwide and which were heavily counterfeited back in the ‘80s (legit station promo copies were also available at record shows for around $25 when you could find ‘em; they run $60+ for a copy today on Discogs!). This is the first official release of the entire performance (adding an eleventh track in “Thank You For Sending Me An Angel” to the promo’s original ten) and it’s been fully remastered from the original analog tapes and pressed on two discs at a quality-enhancing 45rpm (or so sez the ‘bloato hype’!). I’d love to have a copy of this one as my original ‘Music Show’ LP was stolen back in ’81, but we’ll see how it shakes out as Live On Tour is another potential landmine of price-gouging.  

Various Artists –  Cavestomp! Vol. 1 [A Torrent of Talent!] (Org Music)
    Organized by promoter Jon Weiss, the Cavestomp! Festival in New York City is the place to be for aspiring garage-rock and psychedelic bands wanting to be seen and heard…anywhere else is ‘squaresville’, man! Over the years, the storied event has hosted much-anticipated appearances by legendary outfits like the Monks and Sky Saxon (of the Seeds), backed by the Mysterians. This is the first time that any of these near-legendary performances have been cut into hot wax, though, Cavestomp! Vol. 1 featuring a veritable “who’s who” of Nuggets-worthy rockers waiting to blister yer brain and tickle your eardrums.
    “Hosted” by Peter Zaremba of the Fleshtones (romper stompers in their own right!) and Lenny Kaye of the Patti Smith Group (also the original Nuggets curator), Cavestomp! Vol. 1 offers the best party mix of RSD 2025, offering up scorching live performances that mix the old (The Chocolate Watchband, The Monks, The Standells, The Sonics) with the newish (The Grave Digger V, The Hentchmen, The Mooney Suzuki, The Lyres, Dead Moon), 17 rad tracks overall providing a liver-quivering trip back to ’66 that’s guaranteed to blow your mind!      

Various Artists – The Westbound Sound: Foundations [Westbound Records Curated by RSD, Vol. 2] (Org Music)
    Legendary record labels are often remembered for their specific contributions to the culture. Chicago’s Chess Records, for instance, is fondly remembered as a trailblazer in blues, R&B, and early rock ‘n’ roll music. Vertigo Records is associated with progressive rock, SST Records with punk, Sub Pop with grunge, Touch & Go with abrasive, noisy rock and so on. Detroit’s Westbound Records, in my estimation, doesn’t get nearly the respect it deserves, if only for the incredible Funkadelic LPs the label released during the 1970s. But the pioneering funk imprint had more than just the P-Funk conglomeration in its toolkit, boasting of hitmaking, innovating acts in soul and disco music as well.
    The Westbound Sound: Foundations is Org Music’s second “Curated By RSD” release and it lives up to the lofty standards set by last year’s volume one. The limited-edition LP includes some of Westbound’s most heavily-sampled tracks, which provided the musical foundation on which hip-hop and rap music was built in the 1980s and ‘90s. Curated by record store employees across the country, the album features red-hot boss tracks by the Counts, the Ohio Players (two delightfully soulful tracks!), Fuzzy Haskins (the sublimely funky “Love’s Now Is Forever”), the Fantastic Four, Junie Morrison (the former Ohio Player’s bluesy fatback funk “Suzie Thundertussy”) and, of course, Funkadelic (the buoyant “Nappy Dugout”). Another collection of fab tunes and deep grooves from the underrated Westbound catalog, worthy of addition to any discerning collection.  

Chrissy Zebby Tembo & The Ngozi Family’s I’m Not Made of Iron (Now-Again Records)
    The “Zamrock” sound was my personal discovery in 2024, beginning with the Ngozi Family’s incredible 45,000 Volts album (released in ’77), digging into the label’s pair of Zamrock CD sets, and carrying through a pair of Paul Ngozi solo albums. The African nation of Zambia in the late 1970s featured a rock scene as vital and creative as any, anywhere on the planet, and albums by the various Ngozi Family members are as full of attitude and rad sounds as anything coming out of England in 1977-78. This RSD release presents the first commercial release of a Zamrock rarity in Ngozi Family member singer and drummer Chrissy Zebby Tembo’s promotional-only sophomore effort I’m Not Made of Iron (following 1977’s debut My Ancestors). Now-Again Records has done admirable work in restoring these obscure rockers, and this reissue includes an eight-page booklet with rare photos and Zamrock history. If I only manage to find copies of I’m Not Made of Iron along with the Sly and Meters sets, I’ll have a very happy Record Store Day, indeed!

Check out the Record Store Day website to find a vinyl vendor near you!

CD Review: The Meters' A Message From The Meters (2016)

New Orleans musical icons, pioneers of funk, superb session players – the “mighty” Meters have worn a lot of hats through the years. Formed in 1965 by singer/keyboardist Art Neville, guitarist Leo Nocentelli, bassist George Porter Jr., and drummer Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste, the Meters were originally known as an instrumental outfit not dissimilar to Booker T. & the MG’s during their early years. During the early ‘70s they were joined by Art’s brother, percussionist and singer Cyril Neville (Royal Southern Brotherhood), and injected more group vocals into their genre-defining funk sound. The individual members of the Meters were instrumental virtuosos and much in demand in the recording studio, where the band served as producer Allen Toussaint’s de facto house band, playing on 1960s-era singles by Lee Dorsey, Chris Kenner, Betty Harris, among others.

The Meters also worked in the studio behind artists as diverse as Dr. John, Robert Palmer, Paul McCartney, and Labelle. It was with their own recordings, created with producers Toussaint and Marshall Sehorn, that the band would make its mark. Signed to Josie Records (which had previous hits with singles by the Cadillacs and Bobby Freeman), and later to Warner Brothers’ label subsidiary Reprise Records, the Meters recorded a string of singles which sold modestly but have outlived their chart positions to become treasured classics of American music. Real Gone’s A Message From The Meters is a two-disc set that collects all of the band’s domestic singles – A-and-B-Sides alike – released by Josie and Reprise/Warner, forty tracks total of red-hot funk. The Josie singles are presented in their original glorious mono mixes while the Reprise/Warner sides are in sizzling stereo.

The Meters’ A Message From The Meters

Truthfully, there were no ‘formative years’ for the Meters, the band’s studio experience and instrumental acumen allowing them to transcend their studio work and leap, fully formed, into a recording career with a sound and style entirely their own. Released by Josie Records, the Meters’ first single was the staggering “Sophisticated Cissy,” a languid, sub-three minute instrumental that, even as early as 1969, was built upon a girder-strength funky backbone atop which guitarist Leo Nocentelli embroidered his soulful rhythm guitar licks. The B-side, “Sehorns Farms,” is a low-key slab of steamy New Orleans-styled soul with jazzy undertones. How do you follow up a Top 30 R&B and pop chart hit like “Sophisticated Cissy”? With more of the same, of course…the Meters’ “Cissy Strut” was bolder and brasher than their debut, with an outstanding George Porter Jr. bass riff and foot-shuffling rhythms that drove the single to #4 on the R&B chart and #23 pop.

Although the Meters would never again score as high a pop chart position as they did with “Cissy Strut,” it wasn’t due to lack of effort, as their music would grow more effervescent and funky with each new single. Tunes like the slow-burning “Ease Back,” the keyboards-driven “Dry Spell,” and the sly, energetic “Look-Ka Py Py” would provide the Meters with a consistent R&B chart presence into the next decade. The raucous “Chicken Strut,” released in 1970, is a loose-limbed party track with lively fretwork, tongue-in-cheek lyrics (“just keep on struttin!”), and an anarchic groove so deep one could get lost in it. Another 1970 single release, “A Message from the Meters,” was one of the band’s first songs to feature harmony vocals riding atop the mesmerizing instrumentation, no doubt influencing the Isley Brothers’ work a few years later. With 1971’s “Good Old Funky Music” the band found its long sought-after formula, a dynamic mix of group vocals and chiming keyboards nestled behind an explosively funky wall o’ sound.

The Complete Josie, Reprise & Warner Bros. Singles 1968-1977

The Meters recorded three albums for Josie circa 1969-70 but when “Good Old Funky Music” became the first of the Meters’ singles that failed to chart, Art Neville left the band for almost a year and Josie Records folded soon thereafter. The band’s management secured a deal with Reprise Records, Neville rejoined the group, and the Meters would soon expand their popularity beyond the R&B charts to a receptive young rock ‘n’ roll audience. Singles were less important than full-length albums in the classic rock era of the ‘70s, and while the band released some red-hot sides throughout the decade, they seldom lit up the charts the way they had in the ‘60s. Part of it was due to the bigger recording budgets they enjoyed under the Reprise umbrella, which led to slicker, more sophisticated production by Toussaint and Sehorn that eliminated a lot of the band’s raw grit while focusing more on the groove. Another factor was the influence of rock ‘n’ roll on the band’s sound and the Meters’ more frequent use of vocals along with their instrumental jamming.

While the band recorded several outstanding albums during the decade – 1972’s Cabbage Alley (their Reprise label debut), 1974’s Rejuvenation, and their classic, 1975’s Fire On The Bayou – their chart fortunes suffered. Reprise kept sending out singles, though, and several of them are righteous efforts, indeed. The title track to Cabbage Alley offers a fluid groove with some funky rhythms, group vocals, and undeniable spirit; the song itself is an update on the legendary Professor Longhair’s “Hey Now Baby.” The infectious groove of “Hey Pocky A-Way” (#32 R&B) would make the song a bona fide New Orleans standard, the spry traditional performance built on barrelhouse-style piano-pounding and blazing horns. “People Say” offers a more deliberate rhythm, soulful vocals, and blasts of horn (skillfully arranged by Toussaint). Sadly, the Meters tried to capitalize on musical trends with the awful “Disco Is the Thing Today,” the less said about the better; listen instead to their cover of Earl King’s “Trick Bag,” which brings the band back to a funky sound they helped define.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Art and Cyril Neville left the Meters in 1977 after the release of the New Directions album to form the Neville Brothers. The band stumbled along for a couple more years, however, even performing on Saturday Night Live with a new singer before finally breaking up altogether in 1980. Modeliste toured with Keith Richards and Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones as part of their New Barbarians crew, while Nocentelli and Porter tooled around in their own bands while also enjoying a second act as studio professionals. Various members would reform the band in the late ‘80s but they’d never again record as the Meters.

Still, the band’s musical legacy has long been etched in stone, their status as pioneers in funk, and their brilliant fusion of R&B, jazz and, later, rock music invaluable in creating the blueprint which bands like Funkadelic and Sly & the Family Stone would build upon. With a reputation as a dynamic, electrifying live outfit, the Meters sadly never broke through to the mainstream. As heard on the singles preserved on A Message From The Meters, however, the band’s influence extended beyond the charts to inspire artists as diverse as the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Fishbone, and hometown favorites Galactic as well as many of the top hip-hop artists of the 1990s. This is where it all began, A Message From The Meters deserving of a place on your music shelf. Grade: B+ (Real Gone Music, released September 2, 2016)

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: The Meters' A Message From The Meters

Real Gone Gets Funky with The Meters!

Our friends at Real Gone Music have released their September 2016 release schedule and let me tell you, brothers and sisters, they’re getting into the funk in a big way! First on the slate is a two-disc compilation covering the Crescent City’s favorite sons, the Meters. Scheduled for release on September 2, 2016 A Message From The Meters – The Complete Josie, Reprise & Warner Brothers Singles 1968-1977 is a forty-track monster that includes the A and B sides of every single released by the legendary band on the aforementioned record labels, providing the listener with a motherlode of great music! The set was re-mastered by Mike Milchner at SonicVision, the studio wizard working from the original master tapes for all but five of the singles…no mean feat considering the age of many of these tracks. Music historian Bill Dahl provides in-depth liner notes for the set that include quotes from Neville, Nocentelli, and Porter.

The Meters formed in 1965 with keyboardist and singer Art Neville up front, guitarist Leo Nocentelli shredding the strings, bassist George Porter Jr. and drummer Joseph “Zigaboo” Modeliste holding down the bottom end. Art’s younger brother Cyril (currently of the Royal Southern Brotherhood) joined the band in 1970. The Meters were musician, songwriter, and producer Allen Toussaint’s house band for his Sansu Records label, backing performers like Lee Dorsey and Dr. John, among many others, on a bunch of hits. The band released its self-titled, Toussaint-produced debut album in 1969, scoring a Top 30 single out of the box with the infectiously funky “Cissy Strut.” Mixing elements of rock ‘n’ roll, R&B, and jazz with deep grooves and fluid rhythms, the Meters defined the sound of New Orleans funk.

An impressive slate of critically-acclaimed albums followed – 1970’s Look-Ka Py Py and Struttin’, 1972’s Cabbage Alley, 1974’s Rejuvenation, and what many consider the Meters’ best, 1975’s Fire On The Bayou. Real Gone’s A Message From The Meters includes classic tracks like the aforementioned “Cissy Strut,” “Sophisticated Cissy,” “Hey Pocky A-Way,” “Look-Ka Py Py,” and more, offered in their original versions. The Josie label singles are represented by the original mono singles mixes, most of which have never made their way onto CD (in fact, the first disc of A Message From The Meters is entirely in mono, with the Reprise/Warner Brothers label singles on disc two in stereo). Art and Cyril Neville left the band in 1977 after the release of the New Directions album to form the Neville Brothers, and the Meters officially broke up in 1980. They would later reunite in 1989, renaming themselves the Funky Meters, but the original band left behind eight albums, a slew of fine single releases, and an enormous musical legacy.

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: The Meters' A Message From The Meters