About a month ago my good friend Tim over at Flashlights Are Something to Eat and the Neighborhood Archive tipped me off to the special Record Store Day vinyl re-release of Ray Parker Jr.’s titular hit from the 1984 Ghostbusters soundtrack. Not only is it special in that it’s part of the 30th anniversary celebration this year, but the 10″ single would also be issued in a “slimed” edition (aka glow in the dark vinyl.) I’m typically not an avid collector of albums on vinyl since I don’t own a turntable and have pretty much all my favorite music at my fingertips digitally, but the allure of a glow in the dark Ghostbusters album that would look pretty darn rad up on the wall of Branded HQ was a bit too much for me to pass up!
Though I was vaguely aware of the annual Record Store Day events, I’ve never turned out for one and as the weekend of the release approached I was getting a little apprehensive. I’d started hearing horror stories about folks waiting in lines and in some places even camping out over night. “Seriously?!?” I wondered aloud to my empty office last night at work while looking up my local participating stores. I mean it seems like vinyl enthusiasts are a niche group as it is, and I just can’t imagine that there are enough (in the per-store ratio sense) to necessitate forgoing showers and the comfort of sleeping in on a Saturday just to snag some limited edition records. I thought it was weird enough when people were lining up for Episode I all those years ago, let alone copies of the Pink Panther soundtrack on pink vinyl or the Nirvana singles collection. I started wondering if it was even worth trying as the forecast Saturday was calling for rain and temperatures in the 40s. So I called ahead and made sure there was a store near me that actually had this Ghostbusters release in stock, and luckily there was. Except they only had two copies. In fact, I was hearing that the entire release was limited to 1000 copies nationwide. Now my head was filling with images of having to stand out in the cold rain in a tug of war battle with a couple other aging nostalgia nuts fighting over who got to take one of these home.
When I arrived at the store (the CD Warehouse in Duluth, GA) 30 minutes before opening there was a small line of record lovers waiting patiently for the place to open. I didn’t see anyone decked out in full Ghostbusters overalls with proton packs, so I started to feel my chances were pretty decent. All my worries dissipated when one of the employees came out and made a list of everyone’s name and one record that they wanted to call dibs on. I was the only one with a wide smile, proudly stating “Put me down for one Ray Parker Jr. please!”
Three minutes later (and $17 poorer) I had my hands on this beautiful new piece for my Ghostbusters collection. I didn’t have to elbow anyone in the face or threaten to shut down a containment unit either. When I got home, being the nerd I am, I immediately help the record up to my overhead kitchen light and charged the vinyl so that I could see it glow in all its spooktacular glory…
I can’t quite put my finger on why, but there’s something I find amazingly alluring about that pale minty green color of glow in the dark products. I think it might even be giving hot pink a run for its money as my favorite color…
Though billed as a 10″ single, this album actually features four tracks. Side A has the original hit by Parker Jr. as well as an instrumental version, while side B features a DJ remix of Ghostbusters and an extended 6-minute version as well. So it’s almost like an EP I guess. I actually stumbled upon one of this compilation’s producers, Michael Duquette, on instagram yesterday when I posted a picture of the record while announcing my intention to hunt one of them down. I just want to say that he and Jeff James (the other listed producer) did an amazing job on this record. I love the design, especially how the GB logo backing shows through the translucent vinyl, and the simple clean logo center sticker on the album. There’s also a nice version of the original trio from the movie poster on the back of the insert…
Checking online as I left the store I started feeling pretty lucky that I managed to snag a copy of this album. Seems like a lot of folks who were hunting for a copy were leaving stores empty-handed. Again, a lot of the news articles online pegged the pressing at 1k copies, as did Duquette when I asked. The Record Store Day website lists the album as a “RSD First Release” though, which seems to point to the fact that it will possibly be released more widely down the road a bit. My copy was also numbered 5103, while a friend in another state had one stamped 2340, so I’m not sure how accurate the 1000 pressings figure is. Maybe there are only 1000 in glow in the dark vinyl? Either way, I hear they’re going for stupidly high amounts on ebay (man I hate scalpers), so if you’re looking to pick one of these up I’d suggest waiting a bit for a wider release.
So, there were also some other pretty neat albums re-released in limited runs today including the original Muppet Movie soundtrack. Anyone out there brave the crowds and score some fun vinyl?