John Mayer, Buena Vista Social Club And Spiritualized All Coming To VMP Essentials

As we announced today, in July, VMP Essentials members will receive an exclusive edition of the Grammy-winning, 4x platinum Continuum from John Mayer. Appearing on exclusive 2LP turquoise vinyl with alternate album art, the lacquers for the album were cut by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound and plated at Quality Record Pressing in Salinas, Kansas. This was the album that established John Mayer as a modern guitar slinger vs. the pop king he’d been before, thanks to its Soulquarian-featuring band, and songs like “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room,” that showed a depth of songwriting Mayer hadn’t shown before. Let’s watch him play that song below:

In August, VMP Essentials members will travel to Cuba via the first U.S. vinyl reissue of the landmark self-titled debut from Buena Vista Social Club. Pressed on exclusive 2LP 180g Brick Red vinyl, this album had new lacquers cut by the album’s original mastering engineer Bernie Grundman. Produced by the legendary Ry Cooder, the album and group was an assemblage of Cuban musicians gathering together to play traditional Cuban music from before the Cuban Revolution, featuring many performers who were stars of the genre in their youth, and joined the group as older performers. It sold more than a million copies, and won a Grammy, and a Wim Wenders-directed documentary about the album was nominated for an Oscar. The album, which you can stream below, set off a revitalized interest in traditional Latin music, which led to a boom in reissues and reunions.

And finally, in September, VMP Essentials members will get the first-ever artist-approved vinyl reissue of Spiritualized’s 1997 album, Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space. Coming on exclusive 2LP 180g Deep Space Blue vinyl, the lacquers were cut from original masters by Barry Grint at Alchemy Mastering. The third album from former Spacemen 3 member Jason Pierce, Ladies and Gentlemen is one of the best rock albums of the ’90s, a widescreen masterpiece that beat out albums like Radiohead’s OK Computer and the Verve’s Urban Hymns in the NME Awards as Best British Album of the Year. If you haven’t listened to it in a while, give it another listen. If you’ve never heard it: Welcome. Happy to guide you on this journey into the world of Spiritualized.

So, now you’re wondering how you can get these three slabs of wax, right? Well, that’s easy: Head over here and sign up for Vinyl Me, Please Essentials. If you sign up now, you’ll get the three albums we mentioned here, and you’re also welcome to swap any of these titles for select titles in our archive as part of your membership. Learn more about how VMP works here.