Record Store Day 2011: R.E.M., The Smiths, Sonic Youth, Kate Bush, New Order

There’s less than a week left before that holiest of holy days for vinyl junkies: Record Store Day 2011, which, this year, will see special 12-inch and 7-inch releases in the U.S. and the U.K. by R.E.M., The Smiths, New Order and Joy Division, Kate Bush, Sonic Youth and many more (see list below).

Set for Saturday, the fourth-annual Record Store Day celebrates independent music shops, with stores participating around the United States and Great Britain — and more and more artists and record labels pressing up special (mostly) vinyl releases for the big day, some of which can only be purchased at a participating store on the day itself.

For the college-rock crowd, highlights of this year’s haul, in the U.S., include the first single by The Cars in decades (“Sad Song,” on 7-inch); a box set of three new R.E.M. 45s; a Kate Bush 10-inch EP culled from Hounds of Love; a 3CD compilation of Crowded House live tracks from 2010; and the first-ever U.S. pressings, on 12-inch, of early-’90s tour EPs by Nirvana (Hormoaning) and Sonic Youth (Whore’s Moaning).

Over in the U.K., title include The Smiths’ 1986 classic The Queen is Dead on double 10-inch vinyl; a split Joy Division/New Order 12-inch with both bands playing both “Ceremony” and “In a Lonely Place”; and a repress of the original radio promo 12-inch of Echo & The Bunnymen’s “The Killing Moon” featuring the studio version of “Do It Clean.”

You can find participating stores in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.

See Record Store Day highlights after the jump…

U.S. Record Store Day releases include:

Bad Brains, “Pay to Cum,” 1980 single repressed (7-inch)
Bad Brains, God of Love, album repressed w/ bonus single (12-inch, 7-inch)
The Cars, “Sad Song,” two tracks off upcoming reunion album (7-inch)
Crowded House, North America Travelougue 2010, 3-disc live set (CD)
The dB’s, “Picture Sleeve,” two new songs from forthcoming album (7-inch)
Deftones, Covers, album w/ covers of The Cure, The Smiths, The Cars (12-inch)
Duran Duran, “Girl Panic!,” w/ David Lynch remix (7-inch)
The Flaming Lips, Heady Nuggs: The First 5 Warner Bros. Records 1992-2002 (12-inch)
Foo Fighters, Medium Rare, album w/ covers of Hüsker Dü, Gary Numan, Ramones (12-inch)
Green Day/Hüsker Dü, “I Don’t Want To Know If You Are Lonely,” split single (7-inch)
Grinderman, “Evil,” single with remix and live version (12-inch)
Grinderman, “Palaces of Montezuma,” single with remixes and B-side (12-inch)
Kate Bush, Hounds of Love: Collector’s Edition, EP w/ four tracks off the album (10-inch)
Nirvana, Hormoarning, 1992 Australia/Japan tour EP repressed (12-inch)
R.E.M., Three, box set of first three Collapse Into Now singles (7-inch)
Red Hot Chili Peppers/Ramones, “Havana Affair,” split single (7-inch)
Sonic Youth, Whore’s Moaning, 1993 Australia tour EP repressed (12-inch)
Television, Live At The Old Waldorf, 2LP live album from 1978 (12-inch)

See full U.S. Record Store Day list here.

U.K. Record Store Day releases include:

Art Of Noise, Into Battle with the Art of Noise, 2LP set on blue vinyl (12-inch)
Big Audio Dynamite, TBD, limited-edition numbered single (7-inch)
Blancmange, 21st Century Blanc Remixes Part 1, four-track EP (12-inch)
The Clash, “The Magnificent Seven,” on red vinyl and CD with different B-sides (7-inch, CD)
Echo & The Bunnymen, “The Killing Moon,” repress of promo w/ “Do It Clean” (12-inch)
Edwyn Collins & The Drums, “In Your Eyes”/”To Die For,” single (7-inch)
New Order/Joy Division, “Ceremony”/”In a Lonely Place,” bands play both songs (12-inch)
Primal Scream, Screamadelica, 2LP on red vinyl w/ Dixie Narco EP on black vinyl (12-inch)
Roxy Music, “Virginia Plain”/”Pyjamarama,” two classic singles combined (7-inch)
The Smiths, The Queen Is Dead, classic album on special 2LP set (10-inch)

See full U.K. Record Store Day list here.

PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS

• Record Store Day vinyl from R.E.M., Sonic Youth, Ramones, Factory Records
• Sonic Youth, New Order, The Smiths issuing exclusive vinyl for Record Store Day