Local Current Blog

What were the hottest albums at Twin Cities record stores in 2017?

by Colleen Cowie ·
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The Electric Fetus in June 2017. (Jackie Renzetti/MPR)

You’ve told us your favorite tracks of 2017 for The Current’s Top 89, but which albums did you pick up at your local record stores last year? Electric Fetus, Mill City Sound, Down in the Valley, and Flashlight Vinyl told us what albums were their best-sellers of 2017 — both in vinyl and CD.

Electric Fetus

It’s no surprise that Prince was popular at the Electric Fetus, the icon’s own favorite record store, in 2017. Earlier in the year, fans flocked to the Fetus to grab copies of the Purple Rain reissue, which came in deluxe and expanded packages. Other local artists popular at Electric Fetus include the Replacements, Hippo Campus, Lizzo, and Chastity Brown.

Vinyl

  1. Landmark – Hippo Campus
  2. For Sale: Live at Maxwell’s 1986 – The Replacements
  3. Purple Rain – Prince and the Revolution
  4. Little Red Corvette – Prince
  5. Purple Rain: Remastered – Prince and the Revolution
  6. Sign O’ The Times – Prince
  7. 22 A Million – Bon Iver
  8. Furnace – Dead Man Winter
  9. Purple Rain (Limited Edition Picture Disk) – Prince and the Revolution
  10. For Emma, Forever Ago – Bon Iver

CD

  1. Purple Rain – Prince and the Revolution
  2. DAMN. – Kendrick Lamar
  3. For Sale: Live at Maxwell’s 1986 – The Replacements
  4. Coconut Oil – Lizzo
  5. 4Ever – Prince
  6. Silhouette of Sirens – Chastity Brown
  7. Furnace – Dead Man Winter
  8. Landmark – Hippo Campus
  9. Back In Time – Judith Hill
  10. Deeper Understanding – The War on Drugs

Mill City Sound

At Mill City Sound, the Replacements took the top spots in both vinyl and CD with the album, For Sale: Live at Maxwell’s 1986. The LP, released in October, is the band’s first release in over 30 years, and quickly topped the vinyl Billboard chart. Father John Misty, who will be headlining Rock the Garden 2018, came in at #8 in CD sales with the album Pure Comedy.

Vinyl

  1. For Sale: Live at Maxwell’s 1986 – The Replacements
  2. Harvest Moon – Neil Young
  3. Purple Rain – Prince and the Revolution
  4. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (50th Anniversary Edition) – The Beatles
  5. Landmark – Hippo Campus
  6. DAMN. – Kendrick Lamar
  7. Hitchhiker – Neil Young
  8. Greatest Hits – Tom Petty
  9. The Nashville Sound – Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit
  10. Furnace – Dead Man Winter

CD

  1. For Sale: Live at Maxwell’s 1986 – The Replacements
  2. Blue & Lonesome – The Rolling Stones
  3. A Deeper Understanding – The War on Drugs
  4. The Nashville Sound – Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit
  5. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (50th Anniversary Edition) – The Beatles
  6. DAMN. – Kendrick Lamar
  7. 50 Years of Blonde on Blonde – Old Crow Medicine Show
  8. Pure Comedy – Father John Misty
  9. Hot Thoughts – Spoon
  10. Notes of Blue – Son Volt

Down in the Valley

Kendrick Lamar scored the top spot in CD sales at Down in the Valley with DAMN. Another favorite at the Golden Valley record store was Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago, which will receive a vinyl reissue and concert in 2018 to mark its tenth anniversary.

Vinyl

  1. For Sale: Live at Maxwell’s 1986 – The Replacements
  2. Science Fiction – Brand New
  3. Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd
  4. Harvest Moon – Neil Young
  5. Purple Rain: Remastered – Prince and the Revolution
  6. OK Computer OKNOTOK 1997 2017 – Radiohead
  7. Elephant – The White Stripes
  8. Landmark – Hippo Campus
  9. For Emma, Forever Ago – Bon Iver
  10. Greatest Hits – Tom Petty

CD

  1. DAMN. – Kendrick Lamar
  2. For Sale: Live at Maxwell’s 1986 – The Replacements
  3. Purple Rain (Deluxe & Expanded Version) – Prince and the Revolution
  4. Villains – Queens of the Stone Age
  5. Landmark – Hippo Campus
  6. Emperor of Sand – Mastodon
  7. Concrete and Gold – Foo Fighters
  8. Chill, Dummy – P.O.S.
  9. A Deeper Understanding – The War on Drugs
  10. Prisoner – Ryan Adams

Flashlight Vinyl

Local punks Hüsker Dü came in at #1 at Flashlight Vinyl with the three-disc boxset Savage Young Dü. Other popular picks at Flashlight included Jamila Woods’s Afrofuturistic debut album HEAVN; and Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile’s collaborative album Lotta Sea Lice.

Vinyl

  1. Savage Young Dü (box set) – Hüsker Dü
  2. Hitchhiker – Neil Young
  3. DAMN. – Kendrick Lamar
  4. HEAVN – Jamila Woods
  5. A Deeper Understanding – The War on Drugs
  6. Reworked by Detroiters – Funkadelic
  7. Drunk – Thundercat
  8. Lotta Sea Lice – Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile
  9. Awaken, My Love – Childish Gambino
  10. Dirty Projectors – Dirty Projectors

Colleen Cowie is a student at Macalester College. She hosts the show Locally Sourced on WMCN.

  • The Flaming Giraffe

    A dream.

    I finally made it,
    The featured band,
    Current sponsored,
    New shit jam,

    To crowds I hail,
    Whitish, pale
    Hipsters, for the sale,

    Lined crossed hardwood floors to see,
    The room they made to be,
    The special record store day merchandise
    But something takes their eyes from me,

    They rush to the window, phones stretching higher,
    A poorly ventilated animal trailer on fire
    In her last breath, the giraffe looks at me,
    I step off of the stage quietly

    Then a “ballad of a Dying man” plays,
    I feel the buzz upon my left left

    50/50 chances will be
    Angry emojis to my post condemning all the US parties,
    Or else it’s family drama back home,
    But now a days what is home?

    I wanna know, I wanna know… tell me what’s the reality?

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