State of Georgia, Public Records Division

Intending to dive into the Record Store Day shenanigans on April 13 in hopes of getting your paws on one of those Sheena Easton “Sugar Walls” picture discs? Well, while you’re feverishly digging through the crates, you might wanna also keep an eye out for these special releases from some Georgia old-timers.

Bingo Hand Job sounds like it should be a quickie discount rate at the Wa Wa Asian Spa, but it was actually a pseudonym used by R.E.M. to play a couple of acoustic shows in London back in 1991 to warm up for their MTV Unplugged taping. Joined by Peter Holsapple, Robyn Hitchcock and Billy Bragg, the oft-bootlegged gigs get an official audio release on the 2-LP Live at the Borderline 1991. Also of note: Stroke Manor by The Minus 5 – longtime R.E.M. associate Scott McCaughey’s first recordings since his devastating 2017 stroke, recorded while recovering at his Portland home, with Peter Buck among the contributors.

Mastodon’s Stairway to Nick John 10” vinyl consists of two versions of Zeppelin’s warhorse “Stairway to Heaven” (studio on one side, live on the other), dedicated to Mastodon’s late manager (and major Zep fanatic) Nick John, who passed away last year.

Goodie Mob’s 1998 album Still Standing is getting a 21st anniversary double-LP picture disc package, while the possibly-retiring-soon/definitely-overdue-for-retirement B-52’s 1982 David Byrne-produced EP Mesopotamia, probably the band’s most underrated recording, will be released on blue vinyl.

After coming out on CD last year, The Allman Brothers Band live document Bear’s Sonic Journals: Fillmore East, February 1970 is getting a vinyl issue. Wanna hear the original “Statesboro Blues” by Blind Willie McTell? Paired with his “Three Women Blues,” it’s coming out on a replica of a 1928 78 RPM 10”.

James Brown’s 1971 instrumental album Sho Is Funky Down Here is getting a RSD release, along with psych-funk obscurity The Grodeck Whipperjenny, spearheaded by Brown’s bandleader at the time, David Matthews. Soul fans should also take note of Otis Redding’s Do It Just One More Time!, recorded live at the Monterey Pop Festival with Booker T & the MG’s and The Mar-Keys.

And if you have enough reefer to render yourself incapable of rational decisions, there’s the Chris Robinson Brotherhood and brother Rich’s current band The Magpie Salute, feuding as always with competing 10” discs. The Magpies win by a nose, if only for the choice of covering “The Killing Moon” on theirs.