After the 30th Anniversary Edition of Belly’s King on green vinyl for Record Store Day 2025 flew of the shelves, 4AD are committing the album to the catalogue and finally putting it back in print on black vinyl (Ex-North America). Available from 24 October, the album is remastered by Kevin Vanbergen and features the original sleeve design by Chris Bigg (v23).
Belly found themselves at something of a crossroads when it came to following up their 1993 debut album Star – a wildly successful record that earned the band two GRAMMY nominations including the coveted Best New Artist award. With bassist Gail Greenwood having joined the ranks in between, she plus the trio of Tanya Donelly and brothers Chris and Tom Gorman rented a house in rural Rhode Island to write collaboratively before heading to Nassau in the Bahamas to record in Island Records founder Chris Blackwell’s legendary studio Compass Point (a place famed for where AC/DC, Grace Jones, Tom Tom Club, and countless others recorded major works). Away from industry pressure and guided by veteran producer Glyn Johns (Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, The Who), they made the most of the relaxed surroundings, recording live in the room and minimising overdubs so to capture as much of the band’s chemistry on tape as they could.
Featuring singles ‘Now They’ll Sleep’, ‘Seal My Fate’, and ‘Super-Connected’, the resultant King was a step on, a deceptively complex album where the quartet had chosen artistic growth over commerciality. Their lyrics took more of a political and personal bent, while musically it was heavier, in part due to Gail’s muscular playing style and more deft guitar interplay between Tanya and Tom. SPIN Magazine said at the time that it marked their evolution from “indie darlings to rock contenders”.
Having been out of print on vinyl since its release 30 years ago, 4AD are delighted to put it back on the shelves after a limited-edition release on green vinyl for Record Store Day 2025. Keeping its original sleeve design by Chris Bigg (v23), featuring photography by Christopher Gorman and Stephen DiRado, this long demanded repress is now available on black vinyl with the album having been remastered by Kevin Vanbergen.
Belly
King (2025 Remasters)
4AD0813
Formats: Black Vinyl, CD and Digital
Tracklist
A1 Puberty
A2 Seal My Fate
A3 Red
A4 Silverfish
A5 Super-Connected
A6 The Bees
B1 King
B2 Now They’ll Sleep
B3 Untitled and Unsung
B4 L’il Ennio
B5 Judas My Heart
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