16 February 13 - 19, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Girl, Get Your Record On We picked our favorite releases featured in Record Store Day 2025. BY SIMON PRUITT T hursday morning, Record Store Day announced its official 2025 release catalog, set to debut in stores around the country on April 12. We sifted through the event’s hundreds of exclusive and limited releases planned for this year and se- lected a few of our personal favorites. The full catalog can be viewed on the Record Store Day website. The Eternal Idol, Black Sabbath On the heels of last week’s shocking news of Black Sabbath’s reunion, RSD will be re-issuing the band’s 1987 release. Most rock bands can be boiled down to one member who is ultimately the primary needle mover. Queens of the Stone Age is Josh Homme. Electric Light Orchestra can’t exist without Jeff Lynne. Billy Corgan is the nucleus that dozens of personnel changes have orbited around in The Smashing Pumpkins. Sabbath, one of the greatest and most influential bands in rock history, aren’t immune to the same theory. The Eternal Idol features an unrecognizable lineup of mu- sicians around lead guitarist and theoretical needle mover Tony Iommi. The album features Tony Martin on vocals, the fifth person to front the band on an official release. It was crit- ically panned, perhaps unfairly due to it being labeled a Sab- bath album instead of an Iommi solo project. Either way, it’s an essential piece of physical media for collectors, and truth- fully, not nearly as bad as anyone says it is. Demon Days Live at the Apollo, Gorillaz We’re most excited for a pressing of Gorillaz’s stop at the Apollo Theater in New York City. The band, Damon Albarn’s 21st century opus, performed their seminal Demon Days al- bum in two residencies. The first came with five dates at the Manchester Opera House in the United Kingdom in Novem- ber 2005, followed by five more dates at the Apollo in April 2006. The performance was broadcast on VH1, featuring two cameos from late artists MF Doom and Dennis Hopper. “Be Here Now,” Beck and George Harrison RSD is labeling this double-sided 12” as the 2025 “song of the year.” One side features Beck’s cover of George Harrison’s song “Be Here Now,” with the other side featuring Harrison’s original version from 1973’s Living in the Material World. Beck’s cover is not yet available on streaming, so we’re cu- rious to see what made it special enough to earn such a dis- tinction. This marks his second “collaboration” with a Beatle, the first coming on Paul McCartney’s 2021 single, “Find My Way,” in which Beck reimagines McCartney’s version to such a degree that the songs don’t even feel related. Beck’s version is better, by the way, so we trust him on this sacred ground. Live in New Haven 1994, Stone Temple Pilots +” I Know It’s Too Late,” Scott Weiland RSD’s 2025 catalog included these two releases, sold sepa- rately, featuring two distinct eras of vocalist Scott Weiland from his time with Stone Temple Pilots to an unreleased solo song that would’ve been released seven years prior to his death. We saw Stone Temple Pilots last summer at Dos Eq- uis Pavilion with new frontman Jeff Gutt. While Gutt did a great job, Weiland’s special blend of flamboyance, aggres- sion and voracious appetite for crowd participation was one of a kind. Pick up one of these releases, or both, to experi- ence it in as good of a form that still exists. Live in Atlanta ’82, Judas Priest We couldn’t believe how well 73-year-old Rob Halford’s voice held up when we saw Judas Priest last October. His ability to sustain those screeching high notes that became his calling card has diminished slightly, but his range and ability to reach them haven’t in the slightest. That being said, Halford in ‘82 is a different animal. This show comes about just after the release of Screaming For Vengeance, the Brit- metal band’s immensely popular eighth album. This is a mu- sical portrait of a band squarely in its prime. You might even be able to hear the leather. Here’s a list of every record store in North Texas that is participating in Record Store Day 2025, according to RSD’s website. Dallas: Good Records Josey Records (including Plano and Garland locations) Spinster Records The Spin Coffee and Vinyl Fort Worth: Saint Marie Records Born Late Records Record Town Chief Records Panther City Vinyl Doc’s Records Arlington: CD Warehouse Records & Tapes Growl Records ZT Records Denton: Recycled Books Record Hound Grand Prairie: Forever Young Records Carrollton: Dead Wax Records McKinney: Red Zeppelin Records | B-SIDES | t Music Simon Pruitt A 1982 Judas Priest concert is among the exclusive pressings for RSD 2025.
