The music of Twin Peaks has played an important part of my experience with this place both wonderful and strange. So imagine my excitement when a co-worker (and fellow vinyl record enthusiast) informed me about two Twin Peaks releases for Record Store Day on April 21, 2018. Here’s a recap of my afternoon adventure in central Florida to acquire both albums.
First introduced on April 19, 2008, Record Store Day celebrates thousands of independently owned record stores throughout the world with a number new vinyl album releases.
After my co-worker mentioned there would be new Twin Peaks releases, I visited the official Record Store Day website. The releases were new picture discs of the the two soundtracks from the limited release Showtime series in 2017.
Twin Peaks (Limited Event Series Soundtrack) (Score) – Double LP Limited Edition Picture Disc featuring eighteen tracks from the Twin Peaks Limited Event Series score, including the six new Angelo Badalamenti compositions. Picture Disc artwork features stills from the new Twin Peaks series. Worldwide run of 10,000.
Twin Peaks (Music from the Limited Event Series) – Double LP Limited Edition Picture Disc featuring twenty tracks from prominent music moments in the new Twin Peaks series. Including Roadhouse band performances and more. Worldwide run of 11,000.
Granted, I already owned three vinyl copies of these releases (including one with an autograph by composer Angelo Badalamenti), yet the picture discs looked cool so I was hopeful I could find them.
LAKELAND, FLORIDA
The first part of my Twin Peaks Record Store Day journey began in Lakeland, Florida. I had scheduled a regular service appointment for my truck before knowing about the new vinyl releases. After dropping off the truck, I saw there was a record store located about two miles away in downtown Lakeland. Since it was a nice afternoon in Florida, I set off for a walk.
Despite living in Florida for more than 20 years, I forgot how warm the afternoons can get (I should have brought water and wore shorts, not jeans). My two-mile trek was an easy direct route to downtown Lakeland, except the path took me past Lincoln (luckily, Frank Booth was no where to be found).
JESSE CARL VINYL
About 37-minutes later, I arrived at Jesse Carl Vinyl. The small corner shop was advertising Record Store Day 2018 with a poster in the window. I had called the shop along my walk to confirm they had the Twin Peaks albums. The helpful staff confirmed they only had one of them. Rather than turn back, I figured I better grab it in case I couldn’t find it at another record store (plus the purchase helped the independent shop owner).
First album acquired! While sitting outside taking photos, I was delighted to find the black and white chevron floor pattern on the back of the 2-LP set.
I even got a special tote bag with my purchase along with a copy of the shop’s Record Store Day poster. By the time I finished my two-mile return walk to the service center, the truck was finished.
PARK AVE COMPACT DISCS
My next stop was downtown Orlando. I checked a shop on Orange Avenue but learned they had sold out of their allotment of Twin Peaks albums within the past hour. Undeterred, I found Park Avenue Compact Discs in Winter Park was participating in Record Store Day. The shop was busy with fellow vinyl collectors perusing the endless stacks of wax.
At first, I had difficulties locating the albums in the rows of new releases. Then I saw a section labeled “ST” which stood for “Soundtracks.” It didn’t take long to find BOTH albums. I snapped two photos of their placement in the shop because it may be another 25 years before I see “Twin Peaks” on a handwritten label for Record Store Day.
I picked up the second album I needed and checked out. My journey to find the albums was complete, yet more surprises awaited for me at home.
RED ROOM PICTURE DISC
While I knew the Score album contained images of the red curtains and chevron floor, I didn’t know about the additional images on the backsides of those albums – Laura Palmer’s face and an image of the first detonation of an atomic bomb as seen in Twin Peaks Part 8 on Showtime.
BANG BANG BAR PICTURE DISC
The “Bang Bang Bar” album also contained some surprise images.
TWIN PEAKS FACEBOOK
One more surprise was revealed on the official Twin Peaks on Facebook where the Showtime team posted a video about the Record Store Day release. I took screen caps of the video as, once again, I never thought I would ever hear (or see) new music from this show that I adore.
