Record Store Day in Adams Morgan, DC; Blood on the Tracks

I was queuing outside the Songbyrd Music House (Record Store and Cafe) at 7.45am this morning. There were already fifty people standing in line, as it's Record Store Day.  Passers-by and joggers looked very bemused. It was like a queue for fresh fruit (or anything useful that had suddenly become available for a short time only) in Prague in the 1980's. There must have been 100 people in line by the time I reached the entrance.

The members of the staff were very helpful and well-organized once we were inside. I wasn't expecting to get a copy of the special release vinyl LP that I hoped to find, but I was in luck. It is one of 7500 copies pressed.

Bob Dylan: Blood On The Tracks – Original New York Test Pressing (Legacy) 

"Blood On The Tracks is one classic record you should definitely own on vinyl, so what better time than Record Store Day to snag a copy? This particular edition, an exact replication of the test pressings that were printed a few months before the Dylan classic went wide and then later circulated and bootlegged, is hitting store shelves for the first time ever. So fire up your turntable, grab the tissues and give this classic breakup album some love". —Ellen Johnson.

Rare Test Pressing of Bob Dylan’s ‘Blood on the Tracks’ Found, Rolling Stone


Steve Hoffman Music Forums Comments


I also bought a Link Wray vinyl 45 for good luck.

"Easy Eye Sound is proud to release the legendary Link Wray lost tracks “Vernon’s Diamond” recorded between 1958-59 at the Broadway Recording Studio in NYC and “My Brother, My Son” recorded in 1970 at Fred Foster Studios in Nashville, TN.

In late 1958, Link was in New York for a gig. He walked into Broadway Recording Studio and laid down the song, “Vernon’s Diamond,” which was cut live to 45 acetate disc. The disc sat on a shelf for 60 years before being recently discovered. One label had a typewritten title, “A Cook for Mr. General,,” that was crossed out, and the title “Vernon’s Diamond,” had been handwritten in ink across it. Broadway Recording Studio was located at 1697 Broadway. The studio was located in the Ed Sullivan Building, which was the same building where CBS broadcast the Kraft Mystery Theater show in the ‘50s. One of the episode's broadcast was entitled “A Cook for Mr. Generall". Acetate discs were hand-cut and labeled in the studio. Keeping with Link’s practice of re-naming versions of his music throughout the years, “A Cook for Mr. General” transformed into “Vernon’s Diamond.” Then, recorded again later, was renamed one more time and became Link’s “Ace of Spades.”

Said Dan Auerbach of Wray’s importance, “I saw him play in Cleveland at the Grog Shop, and he blew my mind. To get the chance to put out unreleased songs on Easy Eye Sound is amazing and a dream I never thought was possible. It’s time we give Link Wray a statue on the top of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.” “Vernon’s Diamond” is a never-released track from the Link Wray Archives. This song, along with another never heard track, "My Brother, My Son," as the B-side, is releasing as a 7-inch vinyl on Record Store Day".

Most of the other patient record collectors walked out with up to  half a dozen vinyl LPs in brown paper bags.

A good experience! Mission accomplished.