It seems like just a few months ago I was breaking the news that the infamous, much-sought-after Hendrickson Road House album was being reissued on CD by Wooden Hill. That was eighteen months ago. The liner notes of the CD included a lots of quotes from the interview I conducted with Sue Randall (aka Sue Akins) as well as many of the photographs she lent me for use with my interview. Needless to say, when the CD arrived I was incredibly happy to hear the songs and know that I might have had a little something to do with Sue’s music reaching a wider audience.
Alas, the reissue campaign did not end with the CD release in June of 2011. Now there’s a vinyl reissue via Tenth Planet/Wooden Hill for those of you who prefer the analog format. That’s right: for the first time since the venerable Ojai, CA record label Two:Dot issued the record (40+ years ago!?), it is available again in the vinyl format.
That’s right! My copy arrived in the mail today from Sue herself, signed and inscribed to me, along with a brief note beneath a photograph of Sue and the Hendrickson Rd. road sign. It was a lovely and thoughtful gift, and once again I couldn’t be more excited that her music is going to continue to find new fans across the globe.
According to Sue, the vinyl is in an edition of 500 copies, pressed on audiophile-quality 180-gram wax. A few copies have leaked into the marketplace via Discogs but as of yet Tenth Planet/Wooden Hill has not locked up a US distribution deal to get a large number copies over here for fans. For those of you in the UK, at least one eBay seller has four copies available for £15.99. Also, Sue says that if anyone in the US is free to contact David Wells — he’s the guy responsible for the reissues — via e-mail. You can find out international shipping rates and buy your copy of the album from him directly.
And, of course, for those of you who prefer your crummy CDs to the superior vinyl format, you can still order CDs directly from Wooden Hill or Amazon.com in the US. One good thing about the CD reissue is that it includes six bonus tracks, including different mixes of “Tomorrow Your Sorrow” and “Forget About You.”
