4AD on Record Store Day: Kristin Hersh, Gene Clark, Spoonfed Hybrid

In celebration of Record Store Day 2024, 4AD presents a trifecta of special editions, available in limited qualities on 20 April 2024.

Find more information on these releases below and via the
Record Store Day website

KRISTIN HERSH
Hips & Makers
30th Anniversary Edition 2 LP + 2CDExpanded 30th Anniversary Edition of Kristin Hersh’s Stunning Debut Album
Double green vinyl, the album plus b-sides and string versions;
Includes lyrics and sleevenotes by Kristin

HAVING JUST TURNED 30, KRISTIN HERSH’S DEBUT SOLO ALBUM, HIPS AND MAKERS, IS BEING REISSUED FOR RECORD STORE DAY 2024. A MUST BUY, THIS NEW EDITION SEES THE ALBUM EXPANDED TO 24 TRACKS (25 ON CD) TO INCLUDE THE ORIGINAL RECORD PLUS ASSOCIATED RARITIES AND B-SIDES.

A confessional masterpiece, Hips and Makers is the exemplary debut solo album by Kristin Hersh. Released in 1994, this largely acoustic record saw Kristin pivot from the trailblazing alt-rock of her band Throwing Muses to instead turn her focus inward, showing a fragility a decade plus into her musical career; then a young mother tied down by a restrictive major label contract in a largely sexist industry.

“Acoustic songs were not Throwing Muses’ bread or butter,” she says, “so I let them pile up, bone by bone, until I had what could have been a working body, if it hadn’t lacked muscles and viscera.” Demos she hadn’t intended on releasing but thankfully for the listener she did, they came in to being after she used them as a bargaining chip to complete her American recording contract. “I wanted to be a working musician for the rest of my life. Even if it had to be outside of the industry entirely. So, Warners were off ered the exchange – my solo record in trade for my freedom.”

This intensely personal album was recorded over a two week period, being recorded and produced with ex-Patti Smith Group guitarist Lenny Kaye (who as well as producing records by Suzanne Vega, Allen Ginsberg, and Soul Asylum, also compiled the iconic psychedelic and garage rock compendium, Nuggets). Keeping the demo’s raw simplicity intact, outside of flourishes of cello and piano (and Michael Stipe’s backing vocals on opening track ‘Your Ghost’), it’s just Kristin and her guitar. With room to breathe, Kristin’s voice is allowed to be heard – brittle yet powerful, she delivers a record of true humanity, unvarnished and real. As critic Shawn Stewart said, “like a family, it’s happy on the surface, intriguing when explored.”

Deemed one of the best records of the 90s by SPIN Magazine, this 30th anniversary edition sees the album now being spread over two discs; the original record being joined by its two accompanying EP’s and two Easter eggs in hard-to-find track ‘Hysterical Bending’ and the string version of ‘The Key’, which was last seen on a covermount cassette of long-defunct UK music magazine, Select. This edition comes in a beautiful gatefold sleeve which has been designed by Timothy O’Donnell, who keeps Shinro Ohtake’s paintings pride of place whilst also adding compelling liner notes from Kristin that explore the album’s genesis.

GENE CLARK
No Other Sessions
1974-2024: 50 Years of No OtherExclusive to Record Store Day 2024.
50th Anniversary celebration of Gene Clark’s classic 1974 album.

Double black vinyl edition of studio outtakes
that shine a light on the making of a timeless album.

Beautiful mirrorboard sleeve ft. rare in the studio photographs
& track-by-track notes by Sid Griffin

TO TOAST GENE CLARK’S LANDMARK 1974 RECORD, NO OTHER, TURNING 50 YEARS-OLD, THE ALBUM’S OUTTAKES ARE BEING PRESSED ON VINYL FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME.

Originally released on Asylum Records and produced by Thomas Jefferson Kaye, No Other is one of the late-American singer-songwriter and Byrds founding member Gene Clark’s finest works.

A visionary record of psychedelic rock, folk, country and soul, Gene called upon a who’s who of LA talent to play on the record including The Section (Danny Korchmar, Craig Doerge, Leland Sklar and Russ Kunkel), Butch Trucks (Allman Brothers Band), Joe Lala (Stephen Stills), Michael Utley (Jimmy Buffett), Ben Keith (Neil Young), Chris Hillman (Byrds), and backing vocalists Clydie King and Timothy B. Schmit (Eagles).

Famously costing a small fortune to make and warmly received by critics, No Other wasn’t a commercial success and was quietly deleted shortly after its release. The very definition of a “lost classic”, the decades since has seen the album only grow in prowess and is now seen as one of the finest of its era.

First heard 5 years ago as part of an all-encompassing boxset, the studio outtakes are finally getting the vinyl pressing fans have been asking for. Working from the original multi-track tapes from the recording sessions at LA’s infamous Village Recorder studio, Sid Griffin (Long Ryders) and John Wood (Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny, Nick Drake) forensically mixed 18 alternative versions without editing or compositing in any way so things are heard as they went down in the studio, before any overdubbing took place.

Housed in a beautiful mirror board sleeve and containing photos from the 1974 recording sessions as well as comprehensive song notes by Sid Griffin, this special edition is being pressed on double black vinyl — the first disc containing the best / most interesting take of each track, the second being every first full take the pair attempted. As well as featuring each album track twice, also included are two different takes of ‘Train Leaves Here This Morning’, a 1972 Eagles hit written by Gene and Eagles founding member Bernie Leadon.

“After hundreds of spins of the original, it feels odd to hear these lavish songs stripped down, like glimpsing the Sistine Chapel through scaffolding or seeing Prince in a pair of sweatpants. The cumulative effect both demystifies No Other while exalting it.” – Pitchfork

SPOONFED HYBRID
Spoonfed Hybrid (30th Anniversary Special Edition)
Record Store Day ExclusiveOriginal Album plus Bonus Disc of Outtakes and Demos
Double Black Vinyl, One-Time Pressing
Comprehensive Sleevenotes

TRACKLISTING (2LP)

Spoonfed Hybrid

A1. Heaven’s Knot
A2. Naturally Occurring Anchors
A3. Tiny Planes
A4. Stolen Clothes
A5. Lynched
A6. 1936
B1. Getting Not to Know
B2. Somehow Some Other Life
B3. A Pocketful of Dust
B4. Ecnalubma
B5. Boys in Zine

Demos & Outtakes

C1. Scary Verlaine
C2. Bullets and Bees
C3. The Sun Always Changes My Mind
C4. Messrs. Hyde (Demo)
C5. Naturally Occurring Anchors (Demo)
D1. Token She Van (Truncated)
D2. Tiny Planes (Demo)
D3. Violence of Violins
D4. Make a Fist
D5. Lynched (Demo)

ALSO TURNING 30, SPOONFED HYBRID’S DEBUT ALBUM IS A HIDDEN GEM ON THE 4AD CATALOGUE THAT FANS HAVE LONG BEEN ASKING FOR, THIS ONE-TIME DOUBLE VINYL PRESS SEES THE ALBUM BEING EXPANDED TO ALSO INCLUDE DEMOS AND OUTTAKES.

The duo of Ian Masters (Pale Saints, Isolated Gate) and Chris Trout (A.C. Temple, Bear) – Spoonfed Hybrid was Ian’s first move after departing Pale Saints. Meeting initially through a fanzine interview and realising they had a lot in common, the pair formed a band and toyed with samplers in Ian’s flat in Leeds, before moving on to the Duncan Wheat’s central Sheffield studio, Neptune. A central cog, Duncan sadly passed away in 2012 and this reissue is dedicated to his memory. To finish the album, the three of them headed to Palladium just outside Edinburgh, a studio a lot of 4AD acts at that time passed through.

Released on 4AD imprint Guernica, Spoonfed Hybrid is a brilliant record that landed in November 1993, 20 months after the Pale Saints album In Ribbons, Ian’s last hurrah with his former band. As playful and enigmatic as its creators, Spoonfed Hybrid is a fascinating listen that artfully intertwines indie pop and electronics with post-rock sounds. Tellingly, Chris admits to wanting to be in the Pet Shop Boys at the time and it’s this pop ambition plus Ian’s skilled hand that helps the record cut through and stand out as one of the most interesting records of its time.

For its 30th anniversary, 4AD are giving Spoonfed Hybrid the expanded edition treatment. This limited, double black vinyl edition is a one-time press that includes the album and a bonus disc of demos and outtakes. The sleeve has been beautifully redesigned by 4AD stalwart Timothy O’Donnell who’s incorporated Simon Cleave’s original paintings with comprehensive song notes and stills from the band’s ‘Boys in Zinc’ video to neatly wrap the story of this short-lived and brilliant band.