Ocean Colour Scene’s B-Sides, Freerides and Seasides

Ocean Colour Scene certainly burst onto the indie scene with second album Moseley Shoals in 1996, even though their debut was 4 years previous, and while that 3x Platinum beast set them forever in the psyche and music memory with the likes of The Riverboat Song, The Day We Caught the Train, The Circle and You’ve Got It Bad. When we hit March 1997, another side of the upbeat was revealed when all the B-Sides from those singles was gathering into this inventive compilation album: B-Sides, Seasides and Free Rides.

There’s no doubt this is one of my favourites from that era, a largely acoustic back catalogue and alternative selection of songs from the band in their most original form, well worth exploring if you haven’t before. Sure, it’s probably easily enough to source all these tunes digitally, but there’s always time to stop and put a record on, and this is a terrific way to revisit OCS at their most popular.

Limited to 3,450 copies worldwide, you’ll get a wonderfully stripped-down take on The Day We Caught the Train, after opening with the impressively visual storytelling of Huckleberry Grove. Mrs Jones, like a lo-fi alternative to Counting Crows Mr Jones, sits nicely with Top of the World and Here in My Heart, plus the tune that was reportedly turned down by almost every record label in the country, the equally concerning and insightful I Wanna Stay Alive with You.

There’s also a lovely original version of one of the hits with Outside of a Circle, but you can’t forget Rico Rodriquez and Paul Weller on organ during the instrumental Chicken Bones and Stone, as well as the big one with that Noel and Liam Gallagher brother team-up on a stomping live version of The Beatles’ Day Tripper. One of the best things as well is that they’ve kept the original sleeve notes to each song, as the sleeves for the records, and they give you a secret insight into either how the song came together, when it was from or who it might be about – I’m glad that remained! Absolutely well worth picking up Record Store Day from your local independent!

Ocean Colour Scene’s B-Sides Seasides and Freerides comes on 140g blue vinyl in gatefold sleeve with printed inner sleeves exclusively for RSD2023: https://recordstoreday.co.uk/rsd-list

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Doctor Who: The Amazing World of Doctor Who

Not only is this a lovely vinyl release, see the pics for the quality and style, but we’re also delving deep into nostalgia with Demon Records release of The Amazing World of Doctor Who on double vinyl. If you’re a proper completest, and a big Who fan, then the Doctor Who annuals are surely a must but there’s something really smart about this collection of original stories and tales, told by the likes of Dan Starkey (who you’ll know as Strax from the series), Louise Jameson (Leela) and Geoffrey Beevers (the Master), who all lend their vocal talents to these unusual tales from the pages of the famous vintage book.

A proper exclusive for RSD2023 and published in the 60th Anniversary year of Doctor Who no less, you get them presented in a gatefold sleeve with vastly illustrated insides, as Chris Achilléos’ iconic artwork from the original book does its work, and offers an uplifting front and back cover, as well as general design flourishes from the impressive Minty Design. It’s also limited within Europe to 3,000 copies. So it’ll be sought after!

If you didn’t know, The Amazing World of Doctor Who was published back in 1976, even before my time (which is a construct), and it featured short stories and more with Tom Baker’s the Fourth Doctor, plus Sarah and Harry in fresh new adventures. There’s also The Doctor history, giving us that original background to his existence, and a little look at the enemies he’s faced during that time. If you happen to be new to the Who, it’s a genuinely enjoyable venture into the world of the Time Lord, with a healthy hit of nostalgia, which is all the rage right now.

Included here in audio form is: The Sinister Sponge, The Vampires of Crellium, On the Slippery Trail and The Mission, plus A New Life and Avast There, plus Psychic Jungle and Neuronic Nightmare with multi-voice tales, and a bit of Nicholas Briggs, as well as those individual character bios/background from the times gone by…. And while I do think it’s one for the collector, it does look very pleasant indeed!

Doctor Who: The Amazing World of Doctor Who comes as two red and original records, again, all exclusively created for RSD2023: https://recordstoreday.co.uk/rsd-list

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Other Demon Records releases for Record Store Day 2023 are:

22-Apr-23	Pixies	Doolittle – Live In Brussels, 2009 (RSD 2023)	2LP
22-Apr-23	T. Rex	Rockin’ & Rollin’ (RSD 2023)	LP
22-Apr-23	Doctor Who	The Amazing World Of Doctor Who (RSD 2023)	2LP
22-Apr-23	Belinda Carlisle	Remixes (RSD 2023)	2LP
22-Apr-23	Donna Summer	A Hot Summer Night (40th Anniversary Edition) (RSD 2023)	2LP
22-Apr-23	Ian McCulloch	Slideling (20th Anniversary Edition) (RSD 2023)	LP
22-Apr-23	Suede	The ‘Suede’ Demos LP (RSD 2023)	LP
22-Apr-23	Jesus Jones	Live In Chicago 1990 (RSD 2023)	2LP
22-Apr-23	Ocean Colour Scene	B-sides, Seasides and Freerides (RSD 2023)	2LP
22-Apr-23	Juno Reactor	Transmissions (RSD 2023)	2LP
22-Apr-23	Haircut 100	Haircut 100% Live (Hammersmith Odeon 1982) (RSD 2023)	LP
22-Apr-23	Bluey	Bluey Dance Mode! (RSD 2023) (Zoetrope Picture Disc)	Picture disc
22-Apr-23	The London Suede	The London Suede’ Demos LP (RSD 2023)	LP