By Lisa Hix — Vinyl record geeks and turntable enthusiasts all over the blogosphere have been digging in their couches for coins all month to save up for tomorrow. Why? Well, it's Record Store Day. Musical artists of every stripe—rock, hip-hop, soul, country, jazz, punk, and metal—are releasing special limited-edition albums, mostly vinyl LPs and 45s, for this event, now in its fourth year. Here are just a few of this year's most anticipated releases: Nirvana's "Hormoaning" EP, only offered on the...

Elvis Presley, Sun Records, and Push Marks

By Ben Marks — In the course of writing about Elvis Presley memorabilia the other day, I found myself spending a lot of time looking at Elvis Presley records, particularly the 45s and 78s he cut at Sun Records for Sam Phillips. One of the terms that kept popping up in the descriptions written about the King’s 45 rpm singles was "push marks." I could see them beneath the label (look for the circular indentations to the left of the word "That's" in the photo above-left, and to the right of the word...

Jack White foils eBay flippers, angers fans

By Lisa Hix — Jack White's Third Man Records produces a large number of standard all-black vinyl records for every album it releases—but those LPs and 45s aren't the ones that drive fans wild. No, what the fans go crazy for are the limited-edition versions, made in two- and three-colored vinyl. The trouble is, scalpers or "flippers" have been profiteering off of the fans' insatiable appetite for these rare multicolored records, snatching them up and selling them on eBay for hundreds of dollars....

Secrets of the Blue Note Vault: Rediscovering Monk, Blakey, and Hancock

By Dean Schaffer — When I was a jazz DJ in Philadelphia, Blue Note was always my favorite label. Naturally I had a lot of jazz-musician friends, and many of them told me that they’d played in a lot of Blue Note sessions that were never released. I started to keep a list of these sessions in a little notebook, and in 1973 I started banging on the door of Blue Note to find someone to show it to. My inquiries fell on deaf ears until 1975, when I met a guy named Charlie Lourie, who had just joined Blue Note. He...

Your Turntable Is Not Dead: Inside Jack White’s Vinyl Record Empire

By Dean Schaffer — When the White Stripes got signed, Jack White created Third Man Records as an insurance policy. With the White Stripes and, later on, Whirlwind Heat and the Raconteurs, the bands only licensed their music to record companies—the labels didn’t really own it. So in case things went sour, Third Man was a way for Jack and the bands to be able to maintain ownership of their masters and their records. You hear so many stories about that damning phrase, “in perpetuity,” on contracts. Jack was...

Stephen M. H. Braitman on the British Invasion, from the Beatles to the Sex Pistols

By Dean Schaffer — I was a Hollywood kid. My father was a TV and radio editor in the San Fernando Valley, and he allowed me to do my first writing to review concerts and shows for the newspaper. But as a younger kid, I really hated rock ’n’ roll music and pop music, and I disliked the Beatles and all that. I have a younger sister who was a total Beatlemaniac. She started getting into the ’60s scene, but I was more influenced at that time by my father’s interest in classical music. I was, however,...

Beatles 45s To Make You Twist and Shout

By Maribeth Keane — About 12 years ago a coworker told me that they saw a picture sleeve on eBay from The Beatles selling for 500 dollars. My sister had given me a Beatles 45 picture sleeve when I was quite young. I went to make sure I still had it, and it was similar and still in excellent condition. So that started up my interest again. I had a couple of more Beatles 45s and albums, and I did a little research on the internet and found out they were worth some money. Then I realized I was missing some Beatles...