For music hounds, every day is Record Store Day, especially at the end of the week after you get your paycheck.
And while those who live that milkcrate life likely akin the official RSD to going out drinking on St. Patrick’s Day, the fact there are two dates attached to this shopper’s holiday proves how much the resurgence of physical media continues to charge ahead mid-decade.
And this season’s RSD Black Friday is no exception, jam packed with over 175 different titles from the hidden chambers of such esteemed imprints as Craft Recordings, Sony Music, Rhino Entertainment, Interscope Records and more.
Here are 10 RSD Black Friday exclusives that we are anticipating this time around.
Albert Ayler and Don Cherry
Europe 1964 (ORG Music)
The short, sharp partnership between saxophonist Albert Ayler and multi-instrumentalist Don Cherry tore through Europe in the fall of 1964 with a passion and spiritual ferocity that surely sent bolts of sonic lightning through audience members alongside a fiery rhythm section featuring Gary Peacock on bass and Sunny Murray on drums. This RSD exclusive from ORG Music brings together four complete sets from this lineup, including concerts at Copenhagen’s Jazzhaus Montmartre and a radio session in the Netherlands for VARA, all of which have been remastered by Dave Gardner and released on vinyl for the very first time. The box set, limited to only 1,500 copies worldwide, also includes a fold-out insert containing liner notes by writer Brian Morton.
Warren Zevon
Epilogue: Live At The Edmonton Folk Music Festival (Omnivore Recordings)
Coming off the emotional euphoria of Warren Zevon’s long overdue entry into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Omnivore Recordings presents us with a beautiful recording of the Los Angeles legend’s final concert at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival on Aug. 9, 2002. Accompanied by longtime band member Matt Cartsonis, the duo deliver stripped-down renditions of such Zevon essentials as “Werewolves of London,” “Poor Poor Pitiful Me,” “Lawyers, Guns and Money” and “Dirty Life and Times” from his final album, 2003’s The Wind, which was only ever played twice before. The guys also paid homage to their Canadian hosts with renditions of Joni Mitchell’s “A Case Of You” and the traditional English folk ballad “Canadee-i-o.” This special vinyl release three-sided vinyl release (with a fourth-side etching) was mastered by Grammy-winning engineer Michael Graves and Jordan McLeod of Osirus Studios with input from Cartsonis, who also penned the set’s deeply personal liner notes about the performance and his friendship with Warren.
The Stranglers
Rattus Norvegicus (Rhino)
Originally released on United Artists Records in April of 1977, the first album by The Stranglers created a bridge of sorts connecting the UK’s pub rock scene with the punk movement, as the band’s 1977 debut LP Rattus Norvegicus helped them stand apart from the likes of The Clash, The Damned and The Sex Pistols by delivering a set of songs that balanced fury with finesse, allowing the pop sensibilities of songwriters Hugh Cornwell and Jean-Jacques Burel to come into vision in collusion with the visionary keyboard work of Dave Greenfield. In 1985, Robert Smith of The Cure declared Rattus in his all-time Top 5, while the LP itself rose to No. 4 on the UK album charts upon its release, leading the way for it to become the first UK punk album to go platinum. This new remaster of Rattus is pressed on translucent green vinyl with a run of 2400 copies.
Talking Heads
Tentative Decisions: Demos & Live (Rhino)
It was in their spring semester at Rhode Island School of Design in 1974 when David Byrne and Chris Frantz first got together to create music as The Artistics, cutting a demo tape featuring early sketches of Talking Heads faves “Psycho Killer” and “Warning Sign.” This special Black Friday LP pairs these recently unearthed demos with 11 more demos and live cuts from the original TH trio lineup with Tina Weymouth on bass that stem from 1975-76, including embryonic takes of “Thank You For Sending Me An Angel,” “Love Goes to a Building on Fire” and “Artists Only.” And with 7500 units pressed up, fans should have no problem grabbing this.
Big Top Pee-wee
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Legacy Recordings)
The telltale through line that connects Danny Elfman’s scores is that circus-like element that seems to float across his film music like that ghost dog from The Nightmare Before Christmas. With the death defying sequel to Tim Burton’s Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, the late, great Paul Reubens discovers a full-blown traveling circus blew into his backyard after a storm, and hilarity ensues. And since Elfman was restricted from using the same music from its predecessor, he composed all new music for Big Top Pee-wee, which is presented on RSD: Black Friday in the form of this charming picture disc that will be available in a run of 4500 copies.
Rahsaan Roland-Kirk
Seek & Listen: Live at the Penthouse (Resonance Records)
Vibrations in the Village: Live at the Village Gate (Resonance Records)
“The Jazz Detective” Zev Feldman continues to uncover lost recordings captured at two venerated American jazz clubs of the past: The Penthouse in Seattle, Washington, and New York City’s The Village Gate. For this year’s RSD Black Friday, Feldman produced a pair of transcendental gigs from multi-reedist Rahsaan Roland Kirk, including a 1963 Gate set with three pianists — Horace Parlan, Melvin Rhyne and Jane Getz — along with a money rhythm section featuring Henry Grimes on bass and drummer Sonny Brown. The Penthouse shows, meanwhile, stem from 1967 and, according to Feldman, have been kicking around for about 15 years in the background. “For years, whenever I’ve wanted to listen to some Rahsaan Roland Kirk, I’ve put on these recordings,” he says. “They are full of so much energy, passion and charisma that Rahsaan magically creates. It is playing at a monumentally high level.” Working with a band featuring pianist Rahn Burton, bassist Steve Novosel and drummer Jimmy Hopps, Kirk dazzles his audience with otherworldly originals like “Now Please Don’t You Cry Beautiful Edith” to an imaginative run through Bobbie Gentry’s then-recent hit “Ode to Billie Joe.” Both titles will be available on double vinyl for Black Friday and will be available on CD the following week on Dec. 5.
Bratmobile
The Real Janelle & The Peel Session (Kill Rock Stars)
One of the truly unsung acts of the OG riot grrl movement, Olympia’s Bratmobile stood apart from their peers on the scene by incorporating elements of surf and garage rock into their scrappy style of Pacific Northwest aggression. This new set combines the trio’s 1994 EP The Real Janelle — named after their roadie and featuring a cover of the Misfits’ “Where Eagles Dare” with Kill Rock Stars label boss Slim Moon on vocals — and their 1993 Peel Session, which makes its long awaited debut on lime green vinyl. Only 1100 units were made, so get in line early for this one.
Grateful Dead
The Warfield, San Francisco, CA Oct 4 & 6, 1980 (Rhino)
The Grateful Dead’s run of shows at San Francisco’s Warfield Theatre in October 1980 yielded enough material for two live albums at the time: Reckoning and Dead Set, both released the following year on Arista Records. These two acoustic sets, however, were not previously released as part of the band’s 15-year anniversary. That is, of course, until now. And for longtime fans of this period of the Dead, this double LP/double CD set — produced by the band’s longtime archivist David Lemieux — is packed with unplugged renditions of such GD gems as “Bird Song,” “Monkey and the Engineer,” “Dire Wolf” and “Dark Hollow,” amongst many others, with each set ending with the American Beauty closer “Ripple.” And with 6000 vinyl units and 4500 CDs being printed up, you should have no problem finding a copy this Friday.
Deltron 3030
Deltron 3030: 25th Anniversary (Deltron Partners)
Hip-hop supergroups have come and gone, but only Deltron 3030 has enjoyed the staying power of a rock counterpart like Blind Faith or the Traveling Wilburys. Comprised of rap legend Del the Funky Homosapien, super producer Dan the Automator and master DJ Kid Koala, the trio look ahead a millennia only to discover a future that looks like what we are seeing in the present day, rife with new viruses, a fascist government and corporate oppression, aided by cameos from the likes of Damon Albarn (in the infancy of Gorillaz), Sean Ono Lennon, Prince Paul and Money Mark from the Beastie Boys. For its 25th Anniversary, the trio unleashes this special RSD edition of the album on double splatter vinyl in two different color schemes and a commemorative OBI strip marking the occasion.
Various Artists
Jazz Dispensary: Green Bullets (Craft Recordings)
As the proprietor of such esteemed imprints as Prestige, Fantasy, Stax, Milestone, Fania and Riverside among others, Craft Recordings has no shortage of jazz from which to compile albums such as Green Bullets, the latest dispatch from the company’s Jazz Dispensary series. What the producers here did was create the soundtrack to an imaginary Peter Yates-style crime film by utilizing such ridiculously funky gems like “Fire Dance,” a workout from Dizzy Gillespie’s 1977 collaboration with composer Lalo Schifrin Free Ride, The Isaac Hayes Movement’s instrumental jam “St. Thomas Square” from the 1975 LP Disco Connection and Mongo Santamaria’s Afro-Cuban spin on LaBelle’s “Lady Marmalade” along with deeper cuts from the likes of Jerry Garcia compatriot Merl Saunders, Catalyst, Blue Aquarius and The Blackbyrds. This unique collection is pressed on “Green Thunder” wax with a run of 4100 copies.
