RSD 2026: ALBUMS IN REVIEW pt. 4 THE FINAL RUN
THANK YOU GOODNIGHT!
It has been real…keep it vinyl!
SEE YOU ON BLACK FRIDAY!
Well, we’re at the finish line… or are we? It’s always hard to tell with any RSD. Every time you think you’re out, they pull you back in again with another impulse limited pressing crawls out of the shadows whispering your name. But for now, let’s pretend we’ve crossed the tape and earned a breath.
This is part 4, the home stretch, the N‑to‑Z victory lap; even if there’s no Z, W, X, or Y in the bunch. Alphabetical integrity died somewhere back in part 2 (John Coltrane for me gets listed under C for Coltrane, since that how I refer to him) and honestly, we’re better for it. If you’ve stuck with these blogs this long, I hope you’ve found something worth circling, chasing, or maybe even buying before the flippers get their greasy hands on it. Maybe one or two titles surprised you, perhaps one or two pissed you off. That’s just the RSD ecosystem; joy, regret, and the occasional miracle.
And who knows, maybe this is the spark that kicks off your own RSD journey on November 27, 2026, when the next Black Friday drop rolls in like a vinyl‑scented tidal wave. And that’s just the thing about Record Store Day; even when you swear you’re done, even when your shelves are full and your wallet is empty, there’s always that one release that “pulls you right back in…again.”
If this really is the end of the series, then thanks for riding along. If it’s not… well, you’ll know soon enough. RSD has a way of writing its own sequels.
Let’s do this…..
Neil Young & the Chrome Hearts-”As Time Explodes”
6000 Pressings
2-LP- Clear vinyl w/Poster
$38 VINTAGE MIO RECORD
Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts’ “As Time Explodes” arrives as one of the more intriguing RSD 2026 offerings — a release that feels both archival and strangely present, like Young cracked open a time capsule and found a band still smoldering inside. Limited to 6,000 copies, this pressing leans into the raw, unvarnished energy that defined the Chrome Hearts era: loose, ragged, electric, and unmistakably Neil. The remastering gives the guitars a sharper edge without sanding down the grit, and Young’s voice — weathered but resolute — sits forward in the mix with a clarity that feels earned rather than polished. It’s a record that thrives on immediacy, the kind of performance where you can hear the room, the amps, and the tension between restraint and explosion.
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Standout tracks-“Cortez the Killer”-“Like a Hurricane”-“After the Gold Rush”
4/5 Packaging
4 Star Sweet Lou Review
Collectors have praised the pressing for its warmth and dynamic range, though some noted that the source material’s rough‑and‑ready nature means it never becomes an audiophile showpiece. It shouldn’t either, then it wouldn’t be Neil. The strength of this RSD edition lies in its honesty. This release captures a band in motion, not perfection. The packaging is understated but thoughtful, and the color vinyl adds just enough novelty without drifting into gimmick territory. For longtime fans, “As Time Explodes” feels like a missing puzzle piece finally slotted into place. It feels like a document of Young’s restless creativity that rewards both deep listening and loud volume. This isn’t just ab “RSD First” or a “collectible; it’s a reminder that Neil Young has always been at his best when he’s chasing the moment before it disappears. Put the noise of Neil’s polarizing politics aside, let the music be the only noise!
Pink Floyd-”Live From the Los Angeles Sports Arena, April 26th, 1975
15,400 Pressings
4-LP Box Set- Clear vinyl
$90 VINTAGE MIO RECORDS
Pink Floyd’s “Live From the Los Angeles Sports Arena, April 26th, 1975” (RSD 2026) is one of those rare archival drops that actually earns the hype. Not because it’s Pink Floyd and not because it’s a limited run (HA, limited to 15,400 copies) but because it captures a band in the middle of a creative supernova. Luckily it was documented by the most legendary bootleg taper who ever lived, Mike Millard, and restored by one of the most trusted ears in modern audio, Steven Wilson. That combination alone tells you exactly what this release is. The once underground holy grail elevated into an official, meticulously restored historical document. Millard’s tapes were already famous for sounding impossibly good for bootlegged audience recordings, but Wilson’s restoration pushes them into a new tier. You get a fuller low end, clearer vocal presence, and a stereo image that feels startlingly alive for a 1975 arena show. It’s not a sterile remaster; it’s not “Pulse”, it’s a respectful resurrection.
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Standout tracks-“Raving and Drooling”-“You Gotta Be Crazy”-“Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I–V)”
1/5 Packaging-Flimsy shitty slide in holder.
5 Star Sweet Lou Review
What makes this RSD edition so compelling is how it reframes the 1975 tour as a transitional moment. This has the band debuting the “Wish You Were Here” material while still carrying the weight and fire of “Dark Side of the Moon”. The 16 tracks flow with a sense of purpose, from the sprawling, slow‑burn intensity of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” to the hypnotic pulse of “Raving and Drooling” and “You Gotta Be Crazy,” early versions of songs that would later become canons. Wilson’s touch preserves the grit and atmosphere of the arena while giving the instruments room to breathe. Especially Gilmour’s guitar, which cuts through with a clarity that collectors have been raving about. This isn’t just another Floyd live release it’s one of the most important archival restorations the band has ever sanctioned. For many fans, it instantly becomes essential listening.
Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow-”
Live From Koln 1976”
1500 Pressings
3 LP-”Rainbow colored vinyl of red, yellow, blue
$49.99 Discogs
Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow In Concert 1976: Live in Köln (RSD 2026) is exactly the kind of release that Record Store Day still matters to me. This is a 1,200 copy pressing. A blink‑and‑you‑miss‑it archival drop that captures Rainbow at their most ferocious, theatrical, and musically bulletproof. This isn’t a polite live album; it’s a document of a band in full ascent, with Blackmore playing like he’s got something to prove with the late/great Ronnie James Dio delivering one of those era‑defining vocal performances. A Vocal performance that makes you wonder how a human being ever sounded like that. The mix is surprisingly muscular for a mid‑’70s European broadcast, and the RSD remaster gives the guitars more bite. It gives the drums more presence, and Dio’s voice the cathedral‑sized space it deserves. It’s raw, loud, and gloriously unfiltered… exactly what a 1976 Rainbow show should feel like.
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Standout tracks-”Catch the Rainbow”-”Stargazer”- ”Mistreated”
3.5 Packaging-I’m quite certain that this “boutique” priced release could have done much better.
5 Star Sweet Lou Review
Collectors and fans alike have been buzzing about this one not just because of the scarcity, but because the Köln performance. This show has long circulated in bootleg circles as one of the tightest and most inspired shows of the early Rainbow era. The RSD pressing finally gives it a proper home, and the improvement in clarity over the old tapes is immediately noticeable. Blackmore’s improvisational stretches feel alive and unpredictable, Cozy Powell’s drumming hits with thunderous authority, and the band’s interplay has that dangerous, on‑the‑edge electricity that defined the Rising tour. With only 1,200 copies in existence, this is the kind of release that becomes a collector’s trophy overnight…not because it’s rare, but because it’s worth being rare.
RAMONES-”Summer in the City: Live in San Francisco”
6000 Pressings
1 LP - Pink vinyl
$35 VINTAGE MIO RECORDS
Ramones’ “Live in San Francisco” (RSD 2026) is the annual reminder that no matter how many legacy acts crowd the Record Store Day slate, nobody delivers a shot of pure, uncut adrenaline like these four leather‑jacketed lunatics. Sourced from a late‑’70s West Coast FM Broadcast performance that’s long circulated in fan circles but never received an official vinyl treatment, this release captures the band in their most dangerous. Probably their most disciplined, and most Ramones form. 20‑something songs fired off like a nail gun, zero banter, zero fat, all velocity. The mix is raw but surprisingly balanced. Dee Dee’s bass is a chainsaw, Johnny’s guitar is a buzzsaw, and Joey’s voice cuts through the chaos with that nasal, melodic sneer that defined an entire generation of punk. It’s not polished, and it’s not supposed to be. It’s a document of a band that changed rock by refusing to slow down.
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Standout tracks-”Pinhead”-“Blitzkrieg Bop” (I know it’s obvious, but this version earns the spot)-”Sheena is a Punk Rocker”
5 Packaging-Minimal, anymore it wouldn’t be RAMONES
5 Star Sweet Lou Review
What makes this RSD edition special is how alive it feels. The San Francisco crowd is loud, rowdy, and fully locked in, and the band feeds off that energy like a machine running on gasoline and spite. It’s also their first show following the recording sessions for “End Of The Century”. The remastering doesn’t sanitize anything, it just gives the recording enough clarity that you can hear the precision behind the speed. For fans and collectors, this is one of those “obligatory” Ramones RSD drops that actually earns the title. It a release that feels essential rather than perfunctory, a reminder of why these shows became myth in the first place. It’s the kind of record that makes you want to turn the volume up, flip the jacket over, and start the whole thing again.
Rod Stewart-”Alternate Atlantic Crossing”
3000 Pressings
1 LP-Tidal Wave Vinyl
$19 Discogs
Sir Rod Stewart’s “Alternate Atlantic Crossing” isn’t some dusty vault dump as one would assume. It’s a clean, revealing look at a major pivot point in his career, stripped of the lacquer that made the 1975 album such a polished transatlantic statement. Hearing these alternate takes back‑to‑back; “Three Time Loser” with a little more bite, “Alright for an Hour” with the edges still showing, “All in the Name of Rock ’n’ Roll” played like the band’s warming up the room rather than aiming for radio. What you get is a version of Stewart that’s still in motion, still shaping the material, still carrying a bit of the Faces’ barroom looseness in his bloodstream. Even “Drift Away” feels less like a studio exercise and more like Rod leaning into the song because it simply felt good that day. And “Too Much Noise,” the early form of “Stone Cold Sober,” is the kind of archival inclusion that actually earns its keep. You are getting a glimpse at the wiring before the walls went up.
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Standout tracks-”Too Much Noise”-"Three Time Loser”-”Sailing”
3.5 Packaging-Slightly above average
4 Stars Sweet Lou Review
Side B is where the emotional temperature shifts. “I Don’t Want to Talk About It” and “It’s Not the Spotlight” land with a quieter, more vulnerable tone than the album versions. It’s as if Rod hadn’t yet decided how polished or dramatic he wanted them to be. “This Old Heart of Mine” is looser, more affectionate, less choreographed. “Still Love You” carries a rawness that the final cut smoothed over. And “Sailing,” in this alternate form, feels almost like a rehearsal caught at the perfect moment, not grand, not overblown, just honest. For a 3,000‑copy RSD release, it’s surprisingly substantial. This is a record that doesn’t rewrite history but lets you hear the moment before history was finalized. That moment in time when Rod Stewart was still choosing which version of himself he wanted the world to meet. For an album of “alternates”, this stands tall all these 50 years later.
Scott Weiland “Live”
2000 Pressings
1 LP-Blue Vinyl w/collectible tour laminate
$28 Discogs
Scott Weiland’s “LIVE” (RSD 2026), limited to 2,000 pressings, is one of those releases that hits harder than you expect, at least to me. Not because it’s rare, not because it’s collectible, but because it captures a frontman who lived on the edge performing like he knew the edge was the only place he belonged. This isn’t a glossy, post‑production‑polished live album. It’s raw, loud, emotional, and beautifully imperfect, exactly the way Weiland should sound. They caught Scott on the “good” nights, I’ve seen him all over the board with and without STP and Velvet Revolver, just sayin’. His voice has that late‑era rasp, the kind that carries both damage and defiance. The band behind him plays with a tight, muscular confidence that gives the whole set a sense of urgency. The RSD mastering brings out the grit without flattening the dynamics, and the crowd noise; that’s always a big part of Weiland’s live energy. This whole performance sits in the mix just right.
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Standout tracks -”Interstate Love Song” - “Barbarella”- “Paralysis” - “Barbarella”
4/5 Packaging…nice not perfect
5 Star Sweet Lou Review-I’m a fan of Scott’s solo material.
And the packaging? That’s where this release becomes a little something special. The replica backstage pass, tucked into a clear vinyl sleeve, is one of the coolest RSD extras in years. It’s not a gimmick, but a tactile little time machine that drops you right into the era. It feels personal, almost intimate, like something you’d find in a shoebox of tour memories rather than a retail release. cFor fans of Weiland, STP, or Velvet Revolver, this is the kind of RSD title that becomes a keeper instantly. Not just because it’s limited, but because it feels like a piece of him. A reminder of his fucking charisma, the maddening chaos, and the brilliance that made Scott Weiland one of the last true rock stars.
Stray Cats - “Rumble in Brixton”
2000 Pressings
2 LPs-Red and White vinyl w/poster
$32 Vinatge Mio Records
The Stray Cats’ “Rumble in Brixton Live” (RSD 2026) isn’t just another archival rockabilly souvenir. This is a reminder of how lethal this trio could be when the room was right and the crowd was loud. Recorded during their early‑2000s reunion era, the performance captures a band that had matured without losing the twitchy, high‑octane precision that made them stand out in the first place. Setzer’s guitar tone is razor‑bright but never brittle, Lee Rocker’s slap bass is mixed forward enough to feel like a physical presence, and Slim Jim Phantom’s minimalist stand‑up drumming gives the whole set that signature Stray Cats snap. What makes this pressing interesting is how tight they sound. A few decades from their peak of popularity, it’s not nostalgic, not coasting, but genuinely locked in, playing with the confidence of musicians who know exactly what their sound is and how to weaponize it.
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Standout tracks-“Runaway Boys”- “Double Talkin’ Baby”-“Please Don’t Touch”
4/5 Packaging-well above average package
4.5 Star Sweet Lou Review
This 2,000‑copy RSD pressing gives the show a clarity it never had on bootlegs or fan recordings. The mastering preserves the rawness of the performance while giving each instrument its own space, which is crucial for a trio that relies on separation and attack. “Rock This Town” and “Stray Cat Strut” land with the swagger you expect, but it’s the deeper cuts and extended jams that reveal how much musical muscle the band still had. There’s a looseness to the banter, a sharpness to the solos, and a sense of three players genuinely enjoying the chemistry that made them famous. It’s a live album that doesn’t just document a night. This release captures a band proving they were never a novelty act, but a uniquely disciplined, high‑energy machine built for the stage.
Stone Temple Pilots - “Live at Rolling Rock 2001”
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
This was yet another RSD release I knew I was going to have to snag before the flips. “Live at Rolling Rock 2001” isn’t just another RSD curiosity, it’s an HD snapshot of the night when Scott Weiland walked onstage looking like Rob Halford’s rebellious younger cousin and proceeded to burn the place down. I know, I was there! This was peak‑era Weiland; the swagger dialed all the way up, voice riding that perfect line between velvet and sandpaper, and a band behind him that understood exactly how to weaponize his volatility. The Rolling Rock Town Fair crowd was already half feral by the time he appeared, but once he strutted out in that leather‑and‑metal getup, the whole place snapped into a different voltage. What the RSD 2026 pressing captures better than any bootleg or “official” live STP release ever did is the momentum . Just the way the set never really settles, the way Weiland prowls through each song like he’s testing how far he can push the room before it breaks. One of the better Weiland perfomances with STP I’ve seen and the crowd…insane
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
The mix on this release is surprisingly muscular for a festival recording. The guitars have teeth, the low end hits harder than anyone remembers from the field that day, and Weiland’s vocal — ragged, theatrical, and absolutely locked‑in — sits right where it should. You can hear the crowd as a living organism, not just background noise, and it adds to the sense that this wasn’t a band going through motions but a frontman reclaiming his throne in real time. For the 2,000 people lucky enough to grab this RSD pressing, it’s more than a live album. It’s a time capsule of a night when Scott Weiland didn’t just perform — he commanded, he provoked, he owned the chaos. And for anyone who was actually there, it’s the closest thing to stepping back into that field and feeling the ground shake under your boots all over again.
Talking Heads - “The CBS/Columbia Demos”
7000 Pressings
2-lp gatefold-black vinyl
$36 VINTAGE MIO RECORDS
Talking Heads’ “The CBS/Columbia Demos” lands like a dispatch from the moment before the world caught up to them. this is a raw, wiry snapshot of the original trio of David Byrne, Tina Weymouth, and Chris Frantz. You get the inside of them still shaping the language they’d later reinvent. These 1975 recordings aren’t polished, and that’s exactly why they matter. You hear the band as a tight, nervous, skeletal, and strangely joyful. Byrne’s voice is more tentative but already unmistakable here. While Weymouth’s bass lines are beginning to form the melodic backbone that would define their early work with Frantz’s drumming has that clipped, dance‑adjacent precision that made them feel unlike any other New York band of the era. This release is spread across two LPs of black vinyl, the demos breathe in a way the old bootlegs that have circulated for years never did. The guitars sharper, the spaces between notes more intentional, the rhythmic minimalism suddenly sounding like a choice rather than a limitation.
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Standout tracks - “Stay Hungry”-”Psycho Killer”- “I’m Not in Love”
3.7/5 Packaging-slightly above average, but could have been better.
4.75 Star Sweet Lou Review
What makes this 7,000‑copy RSD pressing special isn’t rarity; it’s clarity. These tracks reveal a band still discovering its own geometry, and the sequencing lets you hear the evolution in real time. You get the jittery funk edges, the clipped guitar patterns, the rhythmic discipline that would soon explode into something wholly new. Fans have been calling out how surprisingly complete these demos feel, not as rough drafts but as alternate angles on a band about to redraw the map of American art‑rock. It’s a release that doesn’t mythologize Talking Heads, it humanizes them. This offers showing the exact moment when three people in a room found a sound that didn’t exist yet and decided to chase it.
Thin Lizzy -”Live in Cleveland 1976”
4000 Pressings
2 LPs-Transparent vinyl
$31 Discogs
Thin Lizzy’s Live in Cleveland 1976 (RSD 2026) isn’t just another archival drop. it’s a living, breathing reminder of what it felt like to stand in the Agora that night, shoulder‑to‑shoulder with a crowd that already knew Thin Lizzy, i.e., me, Bob, and Curt. The band was operating on a different voltage. This is the full WMMS broadcast from May 11, 1976. Finally, this show has been given its own standalone release after years of being buried inside a box set. The remastering here gives it a clarity the old tapes never had. Phil Lynott is in absolute command; playful, dangerous, romantic. The band behind him is locked in with that twin‑guitar precision that made them untouchable onstage. Hearing “Jailbreak” and “The Boys Are Back in Town” delivered with this much swagger, this much Cleveland‑fed adrenaline, you’ll remember exactly why Lizzy were the band musicians worshipped even when critics didn’t know what to do with them.
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Standout tracks- “Baby Drives Me Crazy”-“Suicide”-Romeo and the Lonely Girl”
3.5/5 Packaging-nice, but could and should have been much more
5 Star Sweet Lou Review
What makes this RSD pressing hit even harder is the context. The band Paris, Bob Welch’s post‑Fleetwood Mac band, opened the show. The Agora crowd was already lit up before Lynott ever stepped to the mic. You can hear that energy in the recording; the cheers, the tension, and the sense that everyone in the room knew they were catching a band in their absolute prime. The guitars of Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson slice through the mix, with Brian Downey’s drumming is crisp and relentless. As for Lynott’s voice, again, warm, sly, and unmistakably human; and it all sits right at the center where it belongs. For the fans who were there, this RSD release is the closest thing to stepping back into that smoky, electric room on 5/11/76. For everyone else, it’s a reminder that Thin Lizzy weren’t just a great rock band, they were one of the greatest live bands to ever plug in.
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers-”Live at the Paradise Rock Club 1978”
8000 Pressings
1 LP-pink/green translucent splatter vinyl w/cloth tour pass
$35 Discogs
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ “Live at the Paradise Rock Club 1978” is the rare RSD release that feels less like an archival product and more like a time machine. Long traded as a bootleg, the Paradise show has always been a fan obsession . It’s a sweaty, ferocious club gig from the “You’re Gonna Get It!” tour, recorded before Petty became an arena‑level icon. What the RSD 2026 edition finally delivers is legitimacy with the Tom Petty estate blessing the release. Also, Petty’s producer, Ryan Ulyate has restored the audio from the original tapes. And the packaging leans into the bootleg mythology without feeling cheap. The cardboard sleeve looks like something you would’ve bought from a shop’s “under the table,curtained off section hiding the bootleg pressed. The inclusion of a vintage‑style cloth backstage pass is the kind of tactile detail that makes us fans and collectors grin. But the real magic is the sound. Ulyate’s restoration strips away the murk of the old circulating versions and reveals a band playing with the hunger, looseness, and swagger of a group that knows they’re about to break big.
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Standout tracks-”Breakdown”-”I Fought the Law”-”Too Much Ain’t Enough”
5/5 Packaging-It’s PERFECT for this release
5 Star Sweet Lou Review
On vinyl, the Paradise show is a revelation. Petty’s voice is young, sharp, and defiant; Mike Campbell’s guitar work is molten; while Benmont Tench’s keys cut through the mix with a clarity the bootlegs never had. The rhythm section hits with bar‑room‑brawl intensity that you can hear the room. It’s all there, the sweat, the crowd, the urgency and it transforms the performance from a historical document into a living, breathing rock‑and‑roll moment. This is Petty before superstardom, before polish, before mythmaking. Just a Florida band in a Boston club playing like their lives depend on it. At 9,000 copies, priced at $35–39, and gone by Day 2, it’s no surprise it’s already in excess of $100+ on the resell block. But the value isn’t in scarcity; it’s in the fact that this is the definitive version of a legendary show, finally treated with the respect, sound quality, and authenticity it always deserved.
Van Halen -”Live in New Haven 1986”
5000 Pressings
2 LPs-Clear vinyl
$37 Discogs
Van Halen “Live in New Haven 1986” (RSD 2026) finally puts one of the band’s most iconic performances on vinyl. I tell you that it lands exactly the way fans hoped it would. Recorded at the New Haven Coliseum on the 5150 tour and long trapped only on the “Live Without a Net” VHS. This 2LP clear‑vinyl release gives the show the proper audio treatment it always deserved. It captures Van Halen at a pivot point. This was Hagar’s first tour, Eddie in full post‑Roth reinvention mode, and Alex and Michael driving everything with that huge, airtight rhythm section. The packaging hits the nostalgia button, but it’s the remaster that makes this essential. It’s crisp, loud, and miles beyond the muddy bootlegs that floated around for decades.
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Standout tracks-”Love Walks In”-”Summer Nights”-”Best of Both Worlds”
4 Packaging
5/5 Stars Sweet Lou Review
The performance is Van Halen in full sprint. The 5150 material; “Summer Nights”, “Best of Both Worlds”, “Love Walks In” , comes off sharp and swaggering, the sound of a band proving the new era wasn’t a compromise. The Roth‑era cuts like Panama and Ain’t Talkin’ ’Bout Love hit with a different kind of energy, not imitation but reinterpretation. Eddie’s solo is still the jaw‑drop moment, a reminder of how far ahead of everyone he was, and Hagar keeps the crowd locked in from the first minute to the last. For fans and collectors, this isn’t just another RSD novelty, it’s the definitive audio document of Van Halen’s 1986 rebirth, finally pressed the way it should’ve been 40 years ago.
