The last Record Store Day that I attended was in 2013. That’s well over a decade ago. Twelve years to be precise. At the time, I was living in the Boston area, and a very good friend of mine asked me if I wanted to get up early and go stand in line at a record store. As I recall, I was off work that day and didn’t have anything better to do. That morning, we made our way over to Newbury Comics on the North Shore and got in line. It was probably a little less than a half hour before opening, and there were around 25 people waiting, give or take. I don’t recall looking at a list to see what, if anything I wanted to buy, but we were just checking it out. I ended up getting two 45’s of Pink Floyd’s See Emily Play (I guess there were no “one copy only” restrictions back then), and a copy of The Smiths Hatful Of Hollow, which was not an RSD release. That was it. Then we went home. Pretty uneventful.
Fast forward to 2025, and things have changed quite a bit. I did look at the Record Store Day list this year and saw quite a few things on it I wanted. I knew they would all be for sale online afterwards (even if they were priced at a crazy markup), but I figured why wait for something in the mail when I could maybe just go down to the shop and grab what I wanted. When I arrived at one of the larger record stores in Las Vegas, I was shocked to see people camped out all around the shopping plaza. People had lined up hours in advance. I had arrived an hour early myself, but I didn’t anticipate nearly this many people. I took one look at the line and turned right around, not even getting out of the car. Whatever the upcharge was online, I figured, it was worth it to not have to wait in this line.
Normally, I wouldn’t go to a large chain record store like that one for much of anything. They never have anything I want, and it’s always packed with people. The smaller shop I go to was sort of doing Record Store Day, but they put up a video of everything they received the day before. When I saw they had literally only one copy of one of the titles I wanted, and two of another title, I decided it wasn’t even worth attempting to go there. The only thing worse than standing in line for hours and hours is standing in line for hours and hours and then finding out the store is sold out of, or never even had what you are looking for.
Looking through all the posts about RSD 2025, I was reminded as to why this “event” that is supposed to be good for record shops actually kind of sucks. From the exorbitant costs that stores have to pay to participate (making it difficult or impossible for small independent places to get more than one copy of anything) and artificially scarce “limited editions” catering to resellers/scalpers all the way to disappointed customers who waited in line for hours for nothing or just to receive poor quality and defective records, complaints were everywhere. Whatever the supposed “good intentions” the people who started this may have had, it’s kind of all turned into a shit show. If you have never considered that RSD might actually be bad for records stores and collectors, I encourage you to Google the topic and prepare to be enlightened.
My favorite Record Store Day 2025 story is certainly the saga of Wicked #001. If you aren’t familiar with this title, people really, really want this record. I think it retailed for around 50 USD, but scalpers have been reselling it online since minutes after the release for 400 USD and up. And people are buying it. So long story short, some store owner received this record in his order and announced to the world that he would be breaking the cardinal rule of RSD and keeping that one for himself. Anyway, people are outraged, the guy is doxed, he receives a bunch of threats and ultimately decides to auction the album off. For charity or something, I think. There is also a rumor that his shop is forever banned from participating in any further Record Store Day festivities, which seems reasonable. Just another example of how this “community event” somehow continues to get worse every year.
With all that bullshit aside, I did end up picking up some RSD titles online, and most of them have arrived and I’ve listened to them. Since readers of this site will probably have similar tastes to my own, I decided to give a brief overview of the records I got and what I thought of them. If you are on the fence about picking any of these up at “resale” prices, maybe this will help you decide. So far, I have purchased and received The Dark Side of the Moon Redux Live by Roger Waters, The Eternal Idol by Black Sabbath, Echoes (Live) by Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets, and The Serpent and the Rainbow soundtrack by Brad Fiedel. I also ordered David Gilmour’s Between Two Points but haven’t received it yet. I am interested in, but haven’t yet purchased, Johnny Marr’s Lookout Live! and Peter Gabriel’s OVO.
The Dark Side of the Moon Redux Live – Roger Waters
I reviewed an unofficial version of this quite some time ago that was put out by the Andy Capp label. I also received the new box set for this album and may post a review for that soon. I know I sort of made light of this record in my original review, but I really do like it. Enough to have bought quite a few copies, including the gold cassette tape and this fancy new transparent pink vinyl edition. If you hate the album, which most people seem to, then this is certainly not for you. Out of all the records I bought or am interested in, this one sells for the most money on the secondary market and is showing no signs of coming down. I guess the people who were lucky enough to get a copy at retail want to keep it, for the most part. This was my “most wanted” record out of the five I bought.
The packaging on this version of Redux is excellent. The jacket is a high-quality print job, and there’s a nice printed inner sleeve with matching artwork. I really like the triangle hype sticker, which is similar to the one found on the official box set that was released a few weeks ago. That box set contains this same live copy of Redux (on fancy gold wax), so if you wanted that but didn’t want to spend big dollars on the box set, this is probably going to be a better option for you. The pressing quality on my copy is excellent, and I haven’t read or heard anyone complaining about their copies so far. The pink vinyl looks great, and there is just a tiny bit of standard surface noise on side one. Nothing serious to complain about, honestly.
The mix sounds great, and I think most fans will be quite happy with it. The only thing that stuck out as being a bit weird to me is that fact that even though this is a “live” album, we barely hear the audience at all. Before getting some applause after “Breathe”, I actually checked the sleeve again to make sure this was indeed a live recording. The musicianship is excellent and up to the level of quality you would expect from Roger Waters. The more I hear this version of DSOTM, the more it grows on me. I will say that even though I really like this RSD pressing, I actually prefer the unofficial copy. It’s a bit more raw and sounds quite a bit more honest and authentic to me. You can check out my review for that here, but as far as this copy goes, I give it a solid 9/10. Is it worth the 75 USD that resellers are charging for it? I think so. Also, prefer the transparent pink vinyl to the gold version in the box set.
The Serpent and the Rainbow (Wes Craven Soundtrack) – Brad Fiedel
This one might seem kind of strange to include here, but the truth is, I originally started collecting records with a focus on soundtracks. Searching out the source material for films like Dawn of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead and Witchfinder General kept me going for a number of years and introduced me to the wonders of the De Wolfe and Capitol music libraries. From there, things kept snowballing out of control, and I started replacing my collection of tapes and CDs with the vinyl versions. A couple of decades later, and here we are, for better or worse. I don’t buy nearly as many soundtracks these days, but occasionally, something I can’t resist comes along. Since I have always wanted a copy of the original The Serpent and the Rainbow on the Varèse Sarabande label, this cool RSD version was an easy choice.
If you aren’t familiar, The Serpent and the Rainbow is a 1988 Wes Craven horror film that deals with zombies in their truest sense. These are voodoo style zombies, which may or may not have a firm basis in reality. It’s an excellent, and truly scary movie that I would encourage anyone to check out, even if you can’t picture yourself recreationally listening to the soundtrack. The original release was a single LP, but this 2025 version is a double LP. The cool hype sticker promises that these are the “original film mixes” of the tracks, and that this is a limited edition of 2,000 copies pressed on “Vodou Blue” wax. In reality, the color is actually a blue/pink marble mix and looks incredible.
I don’t have the original pressing, so I can’t really compare this to anything. There is a little bit of surface noise here and there, but overall, it sounds great. The labels are cool and seem to be very similar to the original version. The hype sticker also talks about liner notes, but I opted to keep my copy sealed in the plastic in order to keep the hype sticker in place, so I guess I’ll never know about those. Will I ever listen to this again? Maybe, but not very often. It’s not listenable in the way a Goblin soundtrack for Dawn of the Dead or Suspiria is, but it does certainly invoke the spirit of the movie. Resale prices seem to be below the original retail price I’ve been seeing on several sites, so if this is a title that interests you, make sure to pick it up on Discogs rather than anywhere else. I’d give this re-pressing a solid 8.5/10 all around.
Echoes (Live) – Nick Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets
For a while, this one was at the top of the Discogs best selling records list. I watched with great intrigue as copies were listed in Europe, which then sold out very quickly. As RSD hit in North America and the US, flippers started to list their copies as well. I thought the 50 USD (plus shipping) sales were really pushing it, but was even more alarmed when I saw prices on eBay had reached as much as 200 dollars. Presumably from bidders who have no idea that Discogs exists or just have money to burn. I ended up getting my copy for around the retail price of 20 USD from some independent record store I found while doing a Google search. I also purchased a second copy from a record store in Canada (that I am happy to support in these weird, weird times) just in case the first one didn’t show up. Let the record show that this is the RSD release that I am happiest with.
Echoes (Live) is a single 12” LP that has one track on it… “Echoes”. This single is limited to 3,000 copies worldwide, and I was thrilled to finally get my first copy in the mail. The second copy has yet to ship, but I have my fingers crossed. Why would I want more than one copy? Well, other than for obvious “collector purposes”, Nick and the gang signed 100 of the inner sleeves which were then distributed at random. My first copy was sans-signature, but maybe I’ll get luckier with my second one? The B-Side of the record is etched, and features the famous woodblock print The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Japanese artist Hokusai. Fans will also recognize it from the art design on Nick Mason’s very own drum kit that he uses with his Saucerful of Secrets.
Sound wise, I am more than happy with the copy I got. On Discogs, this release has a ton of reviews. Some people say their copy is scratched or that it skips, which others say that theirs plays wonderfully and sounds great. Thankfully, I am for once in the more positive camp, and mine sounds excellent. In addition to being a great recording and a great pressing, this is just a fantastic version of Echoes. I dare say that it’s even one of my favorites… whole Pink Floyd lineup or not. While this one has been fetching high resale prices in some instances, I don’t imagine it will go up too much from here. If you’ve been holding out, I would say to pick this one up now though, just in case. 10/10 all around.
The Eternal Idol – Black Sabbath
Limited to 6,000 copies pressed on ruby red vinyl, The Eternal Idol might seem like an odd Black Sabbath title to release for the masses on Record Store Day. The album was the first one to feature vocalist Tony Martin, but it never did very well commercially. Despite that fact, it does seem like fans are re-discovering it lately, and that people are realizing it’s not really so bad. In fact, I enjoy it quite a bit myself, and this is the third pressing of it I’ve added to my collection. The other two are an original Japanese pressing and a bootleg that was released earlier this year on red wax.
As far as this specific RSD pressing, the color looks great. It’s a very cool shade of transparent red, and the labels match the artwork on the sleeve. The hype sticker says that this version has been “remastered from the analog tapes”, but the back of the jacket states that it’s a digital recording. Along with a nice-looking reproduction of the original sleeve, we also have a lyrics sheet included, which is a nice touch. My copy was totally flat and free of any defects. This was one of the titles I was most excited about getting, so I was thrilled when it finally arrived in the mail. After giving it a spin, I am delighted to report that this new master sounds fantastic, and that my copy is free from any and all surface noise.
The original Japanese version I have sounds great, but I would say this version is just as good. I guess it’s not “better”, but it does sound different to me. The sound is a bit more “cleaned up” so to speak (beyond the lack of surface noise) with some noticeable added compression. There’s also a bit more low end compared to the Japanese version, which I think is a good change. Will I start listening to this copy instead? Honestly, I think I will listen to both. I only have two official versions of this album, and I am happy with both of them. Maybe over time I’ll pick a definite favorite, but I think that will require some further listening.
If you have never heard this album before or don’t own a physical copy, I really think this is the version to pick up. It’s available for a great price on sites like Discogs, sitting pretty comfortably below 30 USD before shipping. While I don’t think this version of the Black Sabbath lineup actually sounds anything like Black Sabbath, I still think it’s a great band and that every song on this album is very good. Tony Martin is a fine singer, with a range and style much more similar to Ronnie James Dio than to Ozzy. As I have mentioned before, on the whole, I actually prefer Martin as a singer in Sabbath to Dio. No one will ever surpass Ozzy, though, and when I hear the later versions of the earlier songs, it makes me wish they hadn’t tried to cover those. I would rate this pressing a solid 10/10, and if you are on the fence about it, I would highly recommend you pick up a copy.
Conclusions and Some Advice
There is no doubt that there were some good Record Store Day titles available in 2025. Do I regret not standing in line for hours to get them? Absolutely not. Do I think it was worth the extra little bit of money to buy from a flipper online, rather than stand around outside all night? Absolutely. That being said, I didn’t want a copy of the Wicked soundtrack, which I guess proved to be the most highly sought after (and overpriced) prize of the day. Truth be told, I have been at this record thing for years, and if you are reading this, I have a little bit of advice for you.
If you like getting into the spirit of Record Store Day, and you have a really cool local shop you want to support, by all means, you should do that. A lot of shops, even the ones that have been in business for years, don’t necessarily make a lot of money. In fact, I would bet that most of them are barely staying in business, and that if they didn’t love what they were doing and didn’t feel that it benefited the vinyl community in their area, they wouldn’t still be doing it. But, if all you have in your area are chain stores, or you just can’t stand in line for hours to get what you want, here’s what I recommend.
Resale sites like Discogs and eBay are obviously going to be your best bet to score titles quickly, unless you want to wait till the Monday after RSD when rules say that shops can put the “leftovers” online. If you wait for the leftovers, it goes without saying that all the good stuff is going to be gone. If you jump the gun and end up buying too quickly, however, you will end up paying an outrageous amount of money and be kicking yourself later when you see how low some of these records drop in price. So, what do you do?
Well, RSD starts in Europe first. This means that European flippers are going to be the ones to make the listings, and post first on Discogs. They know this, and many of them will try to get the maximum amount of money they can, while they are still the only game in town. The customer logs on, sees one or two copies in Italy, panics, and pays whatever the price (along with the crazy shipping fee) is. If they would have waited a little longer, they would eventually see American sellers start to list their items. At first, these prices will also be high, but eventually, the sellers enter competition mode as the listings pour in from desperate sellers. They realize that there are going to be a ton of listings, and if they don’t price theirs competitively, they are going to get stuck with something they only purchased in the hopes of selling it for a profit. Nine times out of ten, if you just wait it out, the market will get flooded, and you can end up paying retail (or even under!) in certain cases.
So, that’s my great tip for Record Store Day. If you don’t believe in contributing to the flipper culture or the hype of artificial scarcity… or maybe you are disabled and can’t stand in line all night long or don’t even have a record store in your area, then this is how I would go about it. If you panic and jump the gun, it’ll end up costing you. So, try and have some patience. Wait for the market to get flooded and take advantage of it. This year was an outlier for me, since so many years have gone by where I didn’t even want a single RSD release. With the titles I picked up though, I have to say I am happy overall. If you are looking for any of the stuff I reviewed here, I am happy to report that at the time of this writing, each release is still available on sites like Discogs for very reasonable prices. Good luck!