Things are looking much better for vinyl releases this week and beyond. It wasn’t a bad month either. Some groups who dropped new vinyl this week like fun. actually swung through town at Easy Street Records to promote it and there’s a general sense that bands and labels are finding value in pressing up LPs. That’s a good sign and hopefully it continues.After the jump, vinyl columnist Jason Ferguson hips readers to all of the new records and reissues that are out this week. Jazz lovers especially should find plenty to smile about. And he’s also got the skinny on some important reissues like Michael Jackson’s One Night in Japan and Wayne Shorter’s

Juju that quietly came out this month without much fanfare. Dig away. It’s that time of the month! No … not that time of the month, it’s the time of the month when Fresh Wax does a little bit of housecleaning. As I’ve said before, vinyl – despite its recent upsurge in popularity – is still far from the main medium that people get their music on. Accordingly, release dates (especially for more involved remasters/reissues) can vary somewhat. So, once a month, I try to chase down the titles that got left off our weekly lists. Here are some of August’s more interesting releases that have slipped into bins without us knowing. The Breeders: Last Splash, Pod (4AD, 180g) John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman:

John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman (Impulse/Original Recordings, 180g 45rpm 2LP) Eric Dolphy:

Out To Lunch (Blue Note/Music Matters, 180g 45rpm 2LP) Duke Ellington:

Afro-Bossa (The Best Vinyl Shop, 180g)Ella Fitzgerald:

Mack the Knife, Rodgers and Hart Songbook 1, Ella Swings Lightly (Verve/Original Recordings, 180g 45rpm 2LP, mastered by Bernie Grundman) Johnny Hartman:

I Just Dropped By To Say Hello (Impulse/Original Recordings, 180g 45rpm 2LP) PJ Harvey: To Bring You My Love, Rid of Me (180g) Michael Jackson: One Night In Japan (Vinyl Passion UK, 180g 2LP) Diana Krall: When I Look In Your Eyes (Impulse/Original Recordings Group, 180g 2LP) Julie London:

Julie Is Her Name (Liberty/Music Matters, 180g 45rpm 2LP) Lee Morgan: Candy (Blue Note/Music Matters, 180g 45rpm 2LP) Gerry Mulligan:

Mulligan Meets Ben Webster (Verve/Original Recordings, 180g 45rpm 2LP) Primus: Pork Soda (180g 2LP) Carlos Santana & John McLaughlin:

Love Devotion Surrender (The Best Vinyl Shop, 180g) Wayne Shorter:

Juju (Blue Note/Music Matters, 180g 45rpm 2LP) Otis Spann: The Blues Is Where It’s At (The Best Vinyl Shop, 180g) New Releases:Arctic Monkeys:

Humbug

Asobi Seksu: Transparence EP

Black Crowes: Before the Frost … Until the Freeze

Harry Connick Jr:

Your Songs (180g, 2LP) Cross Canadian Ragweed:

Happiness and All the Other Things

John Fogerty:

The Blue Ridge Rangers Ride Again (Verve, 180g) fun.:

Aim and Ignite

Will Hoge: The Wreckage

Willie Nelson:

American Classic (Blue Note)

Smokey Robinson:

Time Flies When You’re Having Fun

16 Horsepower:

Secret South

Luke Vibert:

We Hear You

Hank Williams:

The Unreleased Recordings (Time Life, 180g) Yacht:

See Mystery Lights

Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson:

Break Up (Warner Bros)

Reissues:

America:

Homecoming (Warner Bros/Friday Music, half-speed mastered 180g) Beastie Boys:

Hello Nasty

Jeff Beck:

Beck-Ola, Truth (Sundazed, 150g) Black Crowes:

Southern Harmony & Musical Companion (Plain, 180g) Cat Power:

What Would The Community Think (Matador, 180g)Chocolate Watch Band:

No Way Out, Inner Mystique (Sundazed, 150g) Serge Gainsbourg & Brigitte Bardot: Bonnie & Clyde (Four Men With Beards, 180) Woody Guthrie:

Woody, Cisco & Sonny, Woody’s Greatest Hits, Woody’s Roots, Woody the Agitator (Rounder, limited to 500 copies each)Hapshash & the Coloured Coat:

Featuring the Human Host and the Heavy Metal Kids (Sundazed, 150g) Norah Jones:

Come Away With Me (Classic Records/Blue Note, 200g 45 rpm 4LP) Wilco:

Being There, Summerteeth, A.M. (180g 2LP + CD) Neil Young: Neil Young (Reprise/Rhino, 180g and standard 2LP)