Various Artists - Music From The Motion Picture Judgment Night - Red Vinyl (/3150 - Record Store Day 2023)

Legacy / Epic Soundtrax (2023, Reissue)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for twenty-five plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years. 

A few years back I wrote a lengthy missive about the Judgment Night Soundtrack as I had picked up the Music On Vinyl version that had come out in 2020.  One of the key things of that release, and also of the original vinyl release in 1993, is that the track listing is different from the CD version.  The vinyl starts of with the Sonic Youth/Cypress Hill collaboration "I Love You Mary Jane," while the CD begins with "Just Another Victim" from House of Pain and Helmet.  I just couldn't stand the variance in track order because the CD version is what I had in 1993 and was what I was most familiar with, so I didn't listen to the LP much.

In 2023, the Judgment Night Soundtrack was released on vinyl for Record Store Day in honor of its 30th anniversary.  Truthfully, I didn't pay much attention to it as I already had the Music On Vinyl version.  Little did I know that the Record Store Day version corrected my biggest issue with the vinyl and used the original track order from the CD version.  I figured that out a couple of weeks ago and almost immediately grabbed the newer RSD version.

And it is an absolute delight to have this on vinyl in a way that I can listen to without being grumpy.  Aside from when the Slayer and Ice T collab comes on, that's never a song that puts anyone in a good mood.  I still stand by what I wrote the last time about the music on this album and you can check that out here:  https://www.ibuywaytoomanyrecords.com/2021/03/various-artists-music-from-motion.html so I won't rehash too much of that.  But I will reiterate that this was a really important record to me back in 1993.  So many hip hop groups that I liked were on it and to this day the Dinosaur Jr./Del The Funky Homosapien track "Missing Link" ranks pretty high among my favorite Del songs.  If you want this record on vinyl, this is the version to get.