Pretenders, Elbow and Sade join the Icons vinyl run

Get Close is issued on limited white vinyl for its 40th anniversary and Asleep In The Back on marbled blue for its 25th; the Icons editions arrive in UK shops on 17 October.

National Album Day’s Icons programme has taken shape, placing The Pretenders’ Get Close, Elbow’s Asleep In The Back and Sade’s Lovers Rock among limited-edition reissues and new pressings set for Saturday 17 October 2026.

Get Close arrives as a 40th?anniversary edition on limited white vinyl with a new remaster. The Pretenders formed in March 1978. The original line?up was built around founder and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde with James Honeyman?Scott, Pete Farndon and Martin Chambers. After the deaths of Honeyman?Scott in 1982 and Farndon in 1983 the band went through numerous line?up changes. Hynde has remained the sole constant. Their recorded run stretches from the 1979 debut Pretenders through Pretenders II (1981) and Learning to Crawl (1984), on to Hate for Sale (2020), Relentless (2023) and the 2025 live album Pretenders Live - Kick 'Em Where It Hurts!.

Elbow’s contribution is the 25th?anniversary edition of Asleep In The Back, pressed as a 2LP on marbled blue vinyl. The English group, from Bury in Greater Manchester, began playing together in 1990 and adopted the name Elbow in 1997. Guy Garvey, Craig Potter, Mark Potter and Pete Turner have been the core. Alex Reeves, who joined on drums for touring and session work after Richard Jupp in 2016, became a full member in 2024. Asleep In The Back, released in 2002, opened their studio catalogue, followed by Cast of Thousands (2003), Leaders of the Free World (2005) and The Seldom Seen Kid. That path has continued through AUDIO VERTIGO in 2024 and further releases into 2025.

Sade’s Lovers Rock is also on the Icons list. Helen Folasade Adu, known professionally as Sade Adu, fronts the band that bears her name. The catalogue began with Diamond Life in 1984 and Promise in 1985, then Stronger Than Pride (1988) and Love Deluxe (1992), before Lovers Rock in 2000. Soldier of Love followed in 2010; more recent work includes the 2024 single Young Lion. Her standing was marked by an OBE in 2002 and a CBE in the 2017 Birthday Honours.

Across the Icons shelf

The same day brings further limited and coloured vinyl editions: Kirsty MacColl’s Desperate Character, Pink Floyd’s Meddle, Phil Collins’ Dance Into The Light in a 30th?anniversary pressing, New Order’s Brotherhood, Bryan Ferry’s Boys and Girls, Annie Lennox’s Bare, Dire Straits’ On Every Street and George Michael’s Listen Without Prejudice. Physical and online retailers across the UK are due to stock many of these titles on coloured or limited vinyl.

Kirsty MacColl died in 2000; George Michael died in 2016. Their albums appear here as catalogue, not as new work from the artists. A spokesperson for National Album Day called the overall selection the strongest line?up yet, drawn from across eras and genres in celebration of the album format. Album Champions for the event include PinkPantheress, Max Richter CBE and Melanie C.

The announcement came on or around 18 September 2026. Exact pressing runs, full packaging specifications and pricing were not set out in those initial notices. What is fixed is the date: Saturday 17 October, when the Icons editions are due to appear in the racks.

For listeners who already live with these records — Pretenders, Elbow, Sade, Ferry, New Order, Dire Straits, Lennox and the rest of the Icons spread — the day is a chance to find familiar albums in fresh limited form. Further detail on individual editions may still surface before they reach shops; until then the published line?up is the measure of the day.