Celebrating female voices: The 10 best vinyl deals available on Amazon this week
Welcome back to Far Out’s weekly vinyl corner feature, where we look to bring you a tempting selection of records from some of our favourite artists, bargain vinyl deals to look out for, and unmissable limited-edition releases. This week, we’re celebrating the vocal vibrations of female artists, both solo and in bands.
Vinyl sales grew for the 15th consecutive year in 2022, rising to 5.5 million units, the highest level since 1990, when …But Seriously by Phil Collins was the year’s biggest-selling studio album. The return to plastic has steadily climbed since the invasion of streaming services in the late 2000s. While the weightless, highly accessible and practical format is great for discovering and consuming swathes of new music while you’re out and about, there’s nothing like coming home to a bit of vinyl.
Fellow collectors will agree that if there’s an artist or album you love, there’s always a good reason to have the turntable at the ready and a 12″ slot reserved on the shelf for inevitable expansion. The sound quality of vinyl brings something more hearty and vibrant with its analogue warmth and crisp definition that there really isn’t a substitute for.
So if, like me, you have a soft spot for these groovy discs of plastic, allow me to walk you through ten hot picks for this week. The list includes modern gems from Wet Leg and Florence + the Machine, alongside some timeless classics from Joni Mitchell and Tracy Chapman.
The following selections have been handpicked by Far Out Magazine, and as a result, we may earn from qualifying purchases.
The 10 best vinyl deals available on Amazon this week:
Joni Mitchell – Blue
After rising to prominence amid the Newport Folk Festival roster of the mid-1960s, Joni Mitchell began to establish a successful studio career. Her early work hit a pinnacle with 1971’s Blue. This fourth album of Mitchell’s is widely considered one of the greatest folk albums of all time.
The album, alongside Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks, is among singer Harry Styles’ favourite albums of all time. “Blue and Astral Weeks, that’s just the ultimate in terms of songwriting,” Styles told Rolling Stone in 2019. “Melody-wise, they’re in their own lane. Joni and Van, their freedom with melodies — it’s never quite what you thought was coming, yet it’s always so great.”
Available for purchase here for £26.93.
Yazoo – Upstairs at Eric’s [Limited Edition – Silver Label]
Yazoo, consisting of Alison Moyet and former Depeche Mode member Vince Clarke, brought a new dimension to 1980s pop music after they formed in 1981. The duo burst onto the musical map with ‘Only You’, one of the greatest debut singles of the decade.
Prior to the release of their influential debut album, Upstairs at Eric’s, they released two further hit singles, ‘Don’t Go’ and ‘Situation’. Both became dancefloor staples of the era and entered the fray among the greatest hits of the synth-pop wave. Other highlight tracks from the album include ‘Goodbye 70’s’, ‘Midnight’ and ‘Bad Connection’.
Available for purchase here for £47.51.
Amy Winehouse – Back to Black
In 2006, British singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse released her second and final studio album, Back to Black. Throughout the album, Winehouse loosely documents some of her life struggles that would ultimately lead to her tragic death in 2011 aged 27.
The album was co-produced by the late singer’s close friend Mark Ronson and features the classic hit singles’ Rehab’, ‘You Know I’m No Good’, ‘Back to Black’, ‘Tears Dry On Their Own’ and ‘Love Is a Losing Game’.
Available for purchase here for £21.99.
Wet Leg – Wet Leg
The girls from the Isle of Wight, Wet Leg, have brought something original to the table with their brand new eponymous debut LP. “I wanted to write fun songs, I didn’t want to indulge sad feelings too much, I wanted to write stuff that’s fun to listen to and fun to play,” Rhian Teasdale said of the debut. “But then, the sad seeps through, as well. Wet Leg was originally just supposed to be funny. As a woman, there’s so much put on you, in that your only value is how pretty or cool you look. But we want to be goofy and a little bit rude. We want to write songs that people can dance to. And we want people to have a good time, even if that might not be possible all of the time.”
This Domino Records release is a must for any indie/post-punk lovers out there looking for something modern and intriguing to their collection. The LP comes with a free MP3 download code and a printed inner with liner notes and lyrics.
Available for purchase here for £22.94.
Florence + the Machine – Dance Fever
Dance Fever was recorded predominately in London over the course of the pandemic in anticipation of the world’s reopening. It conjures up what Florence missed most in the midst of lockdown – clubs, dancing at festivals, being in the whirl of movement and togetherness – and the hope of reunions to come.
In an 8.8/10 review, Far Out said: “Dance Fever is sprinkled with magic. It’s a fairytale. A storybook. More than anything, it’s an album that feels complete. Welch leaves no stone unturned in the realm of musical yearning. She spends time delivering on the highs and the lows. Dance Fever is a record of love and patience, and it’s worth every moment it takes to listen.”
Available for purchase here for £25.99.
Stevie Nicks – Bella Donna [Deluxe Edition]
After helping to transform Fleetwood Mac into a chart-busting pop sensation in the late 1970s with Rumours and Tusk, Stevie Nicks split off for a side project. The first album of her remarkable solo career was the critically and commercially successful Bella Donna. The album, released in 1981, heard a continuation of Nicks’ characteristically mystical lyrics that helped buoy Fleetwood Mac’s latter albums.
Bella Donna boasted four hit singles between 1981 and 1982: the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers-penned duet ‘Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around’, the Don Henley duet’ Leather and Lace’, Nicks’ signature song ‘Edge of Seventeen’ and ‘After the Glitter Fades’.
Available for purchase here for £35.16.
Kate Bush – Hounds of Love
Kate Bush has recently launched back into the charts after her 1985 Hounds of Love hit, ‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)’ was used extensively in the fourth season of the Netflix original series Stranger Things. Today I bring your attention to the rest of that seminal album.
Hounds of Love was something of a pop masterclass. As Fleetwood Mac did in 1977 with their masterpiece Rumours, Bush managed to deftly bridge the gap between commercial accessibility and artistic originality. The album is home to classics like ‘Cloudbusting’, ‘Hounds of Love’, ‘The Big Sky’ and a breathtaking suite of songs on side two.
Available for purchase here for £24.90.
Siouxsie and the Banshees – The Scream
In 1978, Siouxsie and the Banshees made their first discographic diary entry with The Scream. At the time, Siouxsie Sioux brought a new dimension to the burgeoning punk scene as the most prominent female frontwoman. The band’s gothic punk sound informed countless subsequent acts, including Joy Division, Killing Joke, The Cure, Big Black, Sonic Youth and The Jesus and Mary Chain.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, the lead singer of The Cure and future Banshee, Robert Smith, once said of the band’s impact on him as an aspiring musician: “It was so different to what we were doing with The Cure. Before that, I’d wanted us to be like the Buzzcocks or Elvis Costello, the punk Beatles. Being a Banshee really changed my attitude to what I was doing.”
Available for purchase here for £27.96.
Portishead – Dummy
Originally released in 1994, Dummy is the debut studio album by Bristol trip-hop band Portishead. The seminal classic won the 1995 Mercury Music Prize after receiving unprecedented critical acclaim and is often cited among the best albums of the 1990s.
The album is the first of only three over the band’s three-decade existence, and it includes most of their best-known songs, including ‘Sour Times’, ‘Glory Box’, ‘Roads’, ‘Numb’ and ‘Mysterons’.
Available for purchase here for £21.99.
Patti Smith – Horses
The masterwork Horses was released as the debut studio album of New York proto-punk poet Patti Smith. The album arrived in November 1975 and was expertly produced by former Velvet Underground multi-instrumentalist John Cale. The deep emotion carried by Smith’s distinctive vocals gave the imaginative lyrics vivid colour and heavily informed the subsequent new-wave era.
The album is home to many of Smith’s most commercially ad critically lauded hits, including ‘Gloria: In Excelsis Deo’, ‘Redondo Beach’, ‘Kimberly’ and ‘Free Money’. This album is a true milestone of rock history and deserves a spot in any discerning record collection.
Available for purchase here for £21.29.
