While the sales of vinyl may be slowing a bit, that’s a relative statement considering in 2023 those sales were up 14 percent over the previous year.

When compare that number to a 55 percent increase in 2020 and a 68 percent boost the following year, that’s surely a slowdown. But you’d hardly know it from the plethora of great releases that continue to pour into the market, which is a boon to PVC-loving music fans like me.

Here are a few recent releases that have landed on my desk – and turntable.

Bad Brains – “I Against I” (Org Music)

I always loved Bad Brains for their concise high-intensity, high-speed tunes and for their wanderings into roots reggae, too, which is why it might be surprising that I played the heck out of this one when I bought it – on cassette! – in 1986.

There are no reggae tracks, the songs are longer and at times they veered in what sounded to me like metal territory. But the playing was as fierce as ever and the vocal track reportedly recorded over the telephone from jail only added to the cache.

This new edition is on red vinyl and sounds great.

Beastie Boys – “Ill Communication” (Grand Royal/Capitol)

I kinda love that this one comes right after the Bad Brains because the Beasties and the Brains was always a killer NYC hardcore concert bill back in the day. Who could’ve guessed when the Beastie Boys first started out, learning their instruments as they went, that they’d morph into not only a huge rap phenomenon, but then evolve back to a live band playing some of the funkiest music around.

Building on 1992’s “Check Your Head,” this 1994 set was an infectious blend of funk, punk, soul and more and was a crowd pleaser, topping the charts and going triple platinum, thanks to singles like “Sabotage,” “Get It Together” and “Sure Shot.”

This triple-LP box celebrates the 30th anniversary of this gem. It starts with the original U.S. version of the album, which was limited to just 1,500 copies, and adds a nice stack of bonus material, including B-sides, remixes and rarities in a cool double-gatefold sleeve packaged in a slipcase with an eye-popping lenticular cover.

Lightnin’ Hopkins with Sonny Terry – “Last Night Blues” & Albert King – “Live Wire/Blues Power” (Bluesville/Craft)

A couple more Bluesville reissues have landed recently and these feature two of my favorite bluesmen. Though he also played electric, Lightnin’ Hopkins really shines on acoustic, if you ask me, and Albert King ... well, he’s one of the legends of electric blues.

Hopkins’ set, with no less than Sonny Terry on harmonica (and lead vocal on one track) dates to 1961 and is some stellar front porch rockin’ chair blues: informal, gritty, unadorned. Heck, there’s even a cough in one of the tracks.

King’s 1968 set – produced by Stax drummer Al Jackson – was recorded live at the Fillmore in San Francisco and is intense and down and dirty and on it you can hear some of the inspiration for the heavy British blues explosion that was getting underway at the time with bands like Led Zeppelin and Ten Years After.

These are top-notch pressings in sturdy cardboard tip-on sleeves.

Michael Hutchence – “One’Way” & “Save My Life” (Boss Sonics/Deko Entertainment)

When a pair of “lost” vocal tracks by the late INXS frontman was found in London nearly 20 years ago, producer Danny Saber was tapped to finish the incomplete tunes, which are now available on 10-inch vinyl, including a picture disc version.

The tracks are slick and contemporary with the inimitable vocals that fueled one of the biggest bands of the 1980s and ‘90s. Fans will rejoice.

The Jackson 5ive – “Get It Together” & Smokey Robinson & the Miracles – “Make In Happen” (Motown/Elemental)

Elemental’s program for reissuing classic Motown LPs continues with these favorites, starting with the Miracles’ 1967 “Make It Happen,” which was cut from the original mono master. “The Tears of a Clown” is the big hit here, but the record is great from start to finish, having been recorded after Motown began to value long-players as more than just a collection of singles and filler.

Interestingly, because “The Tears of a Clown” took three years to become a hit, this record was reissued in 1970 under that title.

Meanwhile, 1973’s “G.I.T.” was the eighth album by the Jackson Five, but it was the first since young Michael’s voice had begun to mature, giving the group a somewhat different sound. The Hal Davis-produced sessions also gave the brothers a big hit in “Dancing Machine.”

This reissue brings back the original die-cut cover and inner sleeve combo and is pressed on bright red vinyl for a little extra visual oomph.

Also issued in this batch was “More Hits by the Supremes” in mono, but I didn’t get a chance to see and hear that one.

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Prince Lasha Quintet featuring Sonny Simmons – “The Cry!” & Clark Terry with Thelonious Monk – “In Orbit” (Original Jazz Classics/Craft)

With apologies to Yusef Lateef, Eric Dolphy, Frank Wess and the other flutists out there, I have to admit I’m not a huge fan of the jazz flute. But there are exceptions (including the guys mentioned above) and Prince Lasha’s 1963 outing with alto saxophonist Sonny Simmons is one of them.

From the inspired “Congo Call” to the exploratory “A.Y.,” this set is fairy traditional but always feels like it’s on the edge of going farther out. Packers fans will note that there’s also a track called “Green and Gold.” Just sayin’.

These days it seems hard to believe there were records that were credited to Clark Terry, with the name Thelonious Monk appearing almost as an afterthought. But this is flugelhornist Terry’s outing for sure, though Monk’s support adds extra depth to what is pretty straightforward, but rewarding session.

Like the Bluesville reissues, these latest Original Jazz Classics reissues (of reissues, it should be noted; OJC was a 1980s reissue project) are excellent pressings on 180-gram vinyl that sound great and also look great in their retro heavy duty tip-on sleeves.

Dee C. Lee – “Just Something” (Acid Jazz)

The fourth solo LP by British soul singer Dee C. Lee – fifth, if you count the Slam/Slam record as hers – arrives 26 years after its most recent predecessor, 1998’s “Smiles.” It’s a retro soul record that could’ve come out during the heyday of 1980s Soul Jazz and Talkin’ Loud labels. Breezy, bright, melodic and addictive, this is great summer music.

Lee’s former bandmate in The Style Council Mick Talbot guests and her daughter Leah Weller contributes a song, too. Let’s hope the next one doesn’t take quite so long.

Charlie Parker – “Ornithology: The Best of Bird” (Savoy/Craft)

Every generation ought to appreciate the brilliance of musicians who have come before and blazed a path and Charlie “Bird” Parker is surely deserving of an re-introduction every few years. Thus, here are 10 tracks from the Savoy Records vaults recorded between 1945 and 1953, showing how Parker helped reinvent jazz and definite much of what would follow when he and his fellow cats created bebop.

New liner notes from Ashley Kahn puts it all into perspective, but listing to “Salt Peanuts” live at Massey Hall or “Ornithology” live at the Royal Roost really tells us all we need to know.

Dedicated fans will already have all these tracks, but this is a great intro for newbies or an enjoyable set for casual listeners, too.

Patrice Rushen – “Prelusion” (Prestige/Jazz Dispensary)

Over time, Patrice Rushen would blossom into a radio-ready R&B singer in the disco era and beyond but in 1974, when this, her debut album, was released, she was a 20-year-old jazz piano phenom playing a mix of straight ahead jazz with funk and fusion elements.

That’s what you’ll hear on this set, cut by Kevin Gray and pressed into 180-gram vinyl. If you’re looking for “Forget Me Nots”-style Patrice, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

Chalino Sanchez – “Nieves De Enero” (Musart/Craft)

The 1992 album by “The Godfather of the Corrido” is back on vinyl for the first time in three decades, thanks to Craft Recordings, which has been releasing an impressive selection of latin records lately.

Known for his narco-corrido – or drug ballad – tunes, Sanchez was shot while performing in Coachella, but survived. Returning fire, however, Sanchez accidentally killed a bystander. That May, however, he was murdered after a show in Mexico, helping to make him an immediate legend.

The 15 story songs here, built atop tracks that are part polka, part waltz, offer a good idea of Sanchez’s music and the style that made him a star.

Paul Weller – “66” (Polydor)

Guilty as charged – I’m a longstanding member of the Paul Weller fan club. For nearly all my life at this point, I’ve been a fan of The Jam, The Style Council and Weller’s solo records, the latest of which is “66,” a reference to his age (though he was 65 when the record was released the day before his birthday this past May).

If the angry young man – of whom so many seem unable to let go – is long gone, Weller hasn’t exactly lost his edge either, even if his music isn’t always as raucous as it once was (even The Jam’s second and third albums had acoustic moments, remember). But that music no less searching, no less open to new blends of sounds and styles than it was during Weller’s days in The Style Council.

Unafraid of technology but never a slave to it, Weller’s music – listen to “Flying Fish” – feels at once modern and timeless.

Best of all, it’s melodic, it’s often beautiful (“Ship of Fools”), it’s often rockin’ (“Jumble Queen”) and, for me, his is a voice I’ve known since my teenage years dawned. I’m not ready to let it go.

Weller tapped the acclaimed artist Peter Blake for the sleeve, which in addition to the LP hides a fold-out poster and a 12x12 booklet with photos and lyrics.