Today we are celebrating National Album Day and this year will focus on a 1980s theme, so to celebrate the occasion some of the decade's most well-known artists are set to reissue one or more of their classic albums from the decade as limited edition vinyl in a whole range of coloured vinyl.

There are more than 30 new reissues coming to stores this weekend on vinyl, and we were delighted to play a role in cutting several of them. With releases from The Specials and Sade, to Tears for Fears and Sigue Sigue Sputnik, we take a look at a few of the cuts our engineers have worked on for this weekend’s National Album Day.

If the ambitious vision of duo Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith were only hinted at on their second album Songs From the Big Chair, then that vision was surely realised in full on its 1989 follow-up Seeds of Love. Four years in the making, the album is still considered by some fans as their masterpiece and scored Tears for Fears some huge hits with its title track and others such as Woman in Chains and Advice For The Young At Heart. The super deluxe box set consists of four CDs and one Blu-Ray, which fully tells the story of how this extraordinary album came to be. The box set includes 22 unreleased tracks from demo sessions, live jams, studio sessions along with a definitive set of b-sides and rare mixes.

The album has been cut at Abbey Road by Andrew Walter and will be in stores this weekend for National Album Day with a limited edition repress on black vinyl.

Up next for National Album Day, we have a reissue from The Specials. One of the defining bands of the late '70s/early '80s along with Jerry Dammers iconic label, Two Tone Records, The Specials combined Jamaican ska and Rocksteady mixed with the energy of punk to launch a whole Ska Revival.

Following last year’s celebrated UK Number One album, Encore, The Specials are marking the 40th anniversary of their sophomore album, More Specials, with an anniversary edition. By the time they came to release their second album More Specials in October 1980, the band had already reached number one in the UK charts with their live single Too Much Too Young and had finished a sold out UK tour and trips to Europe, North America, Japan and Australia. The reissue has been half-speed mastered by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios using the original production tapes. Available as a special edition for this year's National Album Day.

Sade captured hearts with her band’s debut 1984 record Diamond Life, and has since released five more soulful records, which have collectively been certified platinum 24 times over. To celebrate their success, Sade have released a six-LP retrospective box set. Titled This Far, it features remastered version of all the British band’s studio albums to date: Diamond Life (1984), Promise (1985), Stronger than Pride (1988), Love Deluxe (1992), Lovers Rock (2000), and Soldier of Love (2010). The music has been half-speed remastered at Abbey Road by mastering engineer Miles Showell and pressed onto 180-gram heavyweight black vinyl.

All four members of the group: singer Sade Adu, saxophonist/guitarist Stuart Matthewman, keyboardist Andrew Hale, and bassist Paul Spencer Denman, were involved in the remastering process at Abbey Road, alongside the band’s longtime co-producer, Mike Pela.

Revisiting the audio, the band and mastering engineer Miles Showell worked from high-resolution digital transfers of the stereo master mixes, from the original studio recordings, remastered at half-speed using Miles’ own unique restored Neumann VMS80 cutting lathe, to perform the 12 sides of vinyl lacquer cuts. The half-speed mastering process produces exceptionally clean and detailed audio whilst remaining faithful to the band’s intended sound. No additional digital limiting was used in the mastering process, so the six albums benefit from the advantage of extra clarity and pure fidelity.

Flaunt It, the group’s 1986 debut after several years of hype and several Top 20 hits in the U.K., has been expanded to feature two discs of B-sides and remixes and a previously unreleased live-in-studio set at Abbey Road Studios. All the material is remastered from the original tapes and assembled with input by original group bassist Tony James and guitarist Neal X.

Following the end of his punk band Generation X (which featured Billy Idol as lead singer), Tony James assembled Sigue Sigue Sputnik with Neal X and singer/designer Martin Degville. Their stylish New Wave sound made them instant favourites of the British music press before they’d even issued a single, and when their first work, the Giorgio Moroder-produced Love Missile F1-11, was released in 1986, it soared to No. 3 in the UK.

Paul Simon - Graceland

Tears for Fears - The Seeds of Love

The Stone Roses - Stone Roses

Smash Hits 80s - Smash Hits 80s

Duran Duran - Duran Duran

Talk Talk - It's My Life

Dexys Midnight Runners - Searching for the Young Soul Rebels

Blues Brothers - Blues Brothers

Simply Red - Picture Book

Ice T - Rhyme Pays

The Lost Boys - The Lost Boys Soundtrack

ZZ Top - Eliminator

Rod Stewart - Greatest Hits Vol 1

Sade - This Far

Alphaville - Forever Young

Roxette - Look Sharp!

Howard Jones - Cross That Line

Sigue Sigue Sputnik - Flaunt It

Various - Rocky IV

Psychedelic Furs - Made of Rain

The Specials - More Specials

Find out more about National Album Day here.