King (30th Anniversary Edition) (RSD 25)

Belly’s second album, King, celebrates its 30th anniversary with a special vinyl pressing on Record Store Day 2025.

Belly found themselves at something of a crossroads when it came to following up their 1993 debut album Star—a wildly successful record that earned the band two GRAMMY nominations, including the coveted Best New Artist award. With bassist Gail Greenwood having joined the ranks in between, she plus the trio of Tanya Donelly and brothers Chris and Tom Gorman rented a house in rural Rhode Island to write collaboratively before heading to Nassau in the Bahamas to record in Island Records founder Chris Blackwell’s legendary studio, Compass Point—a place famed for where AC/DC, Grace Jones, Tom Tom Club, and countless others recorded major works.

Away from industry pressure and guided by veteran producer Glyn Johns (Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Who), they made the most of the relaxed surroundings, recording live in the room and minimizing overdubs to capture as much of the band’s chemistry on tape as they could. Featuring singles “Now They’ll Sleep,” “Seal My Fate,” and “Super-Connected,” the resultant King was a step on—a deceptively complex album where the quartet had chosen artistic growth over commerciality. Their lyrics took more of a political and personal bent, while musically it was heavier, in part due to Gail’s muscular playing style and more deft guitar interplay between Tanya and Tom. SPIN Magazine said at the time that it marked their evolution from “indie darlings to rock contenders.”

Having been out of print on vinyl since its release 30 years ago, 4AD are delighted to be working with both the band and Rhino in North America to finally put it back on the shelves on Record Store Day 2025. Keeping its original sleeve design by Chris Bigg (v23), this long-demanded repress is coming on limited green vinyl, with the album having been remastered by Kevin Vanbergen.