Record store day is that one day of the year vinyl enthusiasts crave for. It’s the day they gaze into the deep abyss of their wallet and fight the inhabiting goblins for any – and all money they can find. The important role or Record store day is to give out a heap of quite cheap vinyl releases in order to generate more demand. Plus it gives an excuse to give some awesome deals for awesome one off vinyl.
Black Friday however, is described as follows (via the website) -
In the past Black Friday was an American event celebrated by large corporate retailers as a shopping day that promoted mass produced items at super low prices in hopes of driving customers into their stores. RSD’s Black Friday subverts the model and creates pieces of art in the form of limited special editions, often numbered, from some of the most revered artists of our time. RSD’s version of Black Friday is an excuse to celebrate the specialness of music in our lives by putting out these unique releases. In other words, cheapness is not a main goal. Celebrating art is.
In essence – Large companies used black friday for crazy cheap sales. Whereas RSD Black Friday is for celebrating art and selling some ridiculously rare vinyl.
Now firstly I should add that by the looks – the official in store “black friday” will only happen in a few select countries – the vinyl themselves will end up on ebay and a billion other websites very shortly after I’m sure. All up, the places selling these records are (around) “900 independently owned record stores/shops in the USA, Canada, France, Germany, Holland and the UK.” So sorry Australia. 
But I’m sure if we kick up enough of a fuss if this continues to next year then we might just get the exclusive vinyl here as well.
In regards to the actual exclusive releases – there will only be about 35 releases as compared to the 300 or so for Record store day this year.
Now I know you’re itching to know what the releases are. Or you might have just googled it because you got bored of waiting. Either way. Now since there is QUITE a few releases I will just list all the bands then highlight a few. Ok? Got it? Good.
The Beatles, Pink Floyd, John Lennon, Beastie Boys, Syd Barrett, Ryan Adams, Jimmy Cliff, Fear, Matisyahu, Dream Theater, Bob Dylan, Kings Of Leon, Janis Joplin (x2), Miles Davis, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pete Townshend, Warren Haynes, Iron & Wine, The Black Keys, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Tom Pretty And the Heartbreakers, The Doors, The Grateful Dead, The Civil Wars, Pinback, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings (x2), Wilco, Justin Townes Earle, Phish (x2), John Cale, Crowded House, Cory Chisel, Brendan Benson, Various Artists, Chris Cornell, Dr. Dog, Mr Gasser and the Weirdos (x 6!), the Back-wash Rhythm Band, The Yardbirds (x2), The Byrds (x2), The Lovin’ Spoonful, The Misfits, Rainbow, Elf< All that remains/Jasta Jamey AND finally Type O Negative.
Now to highlight.
The BEATLES
Box-set of four 7″ picture sleeve singles in metal tin, includes RSD branded adapter and poster, all tracks are newly remastered and are appearing on vinyl for the first time
1. “Ticket To Ride” / “Yes It Is”
2. “Hey Jude” / “Revolution”
3. “Something” / “Come Together”
4. “Yellow Submarine” / “Eleanor Rigby”
The price is estimated at around $50 and is a reasonably snazzy pack for someone who’s been itching to own some Beatles vinyl. Or for the collector. I do quite like how it’s in the metal tin and newly remastered is sort of a given. There will be 10,000 copies for the US and 5700 international.
PINK FLOYD
Box set of three 7” singles, the first vinyl remasters from The Wall
1. “Another Brick in the Wall”/”One of My Turns”
2. “Comfortably Numb”/”Hey You”
3. “Run Like Hell”/”Don’t Leave Me Now”
Now there’s no more information given about what this “box” entails, however I do hope it’s reasonably sturdy. At least not as bad as the yellowcard collection “box”. Then again we don’t want it to be too strong, *insert ‘wall’ sturdy joke here*. Numbers will be – 7500 US and 4000 internationally. SLP – $50
John Lennon
2010 Remastered LP. Includes 6 track White vinyl 12″ and a poster
SLP is $60 and there will be 5000 US and 1700 internationally.
Beastie Boys
Although not a vinyl release I feel like I should put this here.
FORMAT: Book/Blu Ray/DVD/CD
The latest Beastie Boys album in a deluxe edition, packaged with 60 page hardbound book (featuring photos from the FFYR–Revisited video shoot, “chalk full of more stars than a Judd Apatow film”, with 5.1 version of album, videos and more on both DVD and Blu-ray
Estimated at $64 and there will only be 5000 available – only in the US.
KINGS OF LEON
A box set bringing together the band’s early albums Youth & Young Manhood, Aha Shake Heartbreak, Because of The Times, and a 4th LP made up of unreleased studio and live tracks picked by the band themselves. Also includes a 20 page booklet and a collectible poster.
The Kings of Leon have blown up after their album “with that sexy fire song” (intended mistake), however many new fans didn’t even know about previous albums (from personal experience). Now there is finally a box set to mush all their hard to find previous LP’s together along with another LP on exclusive ‘THINGS AND STUFF’! I would very much love to get my hands on this as soon as it’s available to me. However at $140 (possible price), you might want to start not eating now to afford it. Just a word of warning – there is only 3250 available in the US, and 1200 elsewhere so GET IN QUICK or ebay will be your only chance (at double the price).
NIRVANA
All the 10″ official singles from Nevermind collected together for the first time, housed in an individually numbered slipcase.
TRACK LISTING:
SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT single: “Smells Like Teen Spirit”/”Drain You”/”Even in His Youth”/”Aneurysm”
COME AS YOU ARE SINGLE: “Come As You Are”/”Endless, Nameless”/”School (live)”/”Drain You (live)”
LITHIUM SINGLE: “Lithium”/”Been A Son (live)”/”Curmudgeon”/”D-7″ (taken from a John Peel Session)
IN BLOOM SINGLE: “In Bloom”/”Silver (live)”/”Polly (live)”
At around $60, this pack is pretty freaking great. And actually really good value. The box set looks great (via pics from the site), and has some great tracks and b-sides. If you’d like to get a hold of it I’d line up at your local store and pick it up before the 5000 (US only) are snatched up.
Soundgarden
Live on the I-5 – Before the Doors Sound check E 10″ Colored Vinyl
Rare soundcheck performances from Soundgarden’s 1996 tour, available for the first time on numbered 10″ colored vinyl. Includes a freaked out version of The Doors’ “Waiting For The Sun”
TRACK LISTING:
“No Attention” live in Oakland 12/5/1996
“Never The Machine Forever” live in Oakland 12/5/1996
“Waiting For The Sun” live in Oakland 12/5/1996
“Room A Thousand Years Wide” live in Vancouver 12/7/1996
“Somewhere” live in Sacramento 12/4/1996
Again – a really good buy. This one is should be only about $20 but is only available in the US. 4000 copies.
IRON AND WINE
Morning Becomes Eclectic
An LP and bonus CD of tracks recorded at KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic show
Unfortunately there isn’t a heap of information on this one other than the fact it’s a 12″ of said show, and that it only has 3000 copies only available in the US.
The Black Keys
Lonely Boy - A 12” single with new music from The Black Keys
TRACK LISTING:
“Lonely Boy” b/w “Run Right Now”
Much like the Iron & wine LP I don’t have much info on this one other than this is a 2 track 12 inch. No numbers or possible price has been released yet as far as I know.
WILCO
Speak Into The Rose – A 4 track 10″ vinyl, with two previously unreleased tracks
TRACK LISTING: “Art Of Almost (ALT Version)”,
“I Might (demo)”
“Speak Into The Rose”
“Message From Mid-Bar”
Although I don’t have any numbers yet I can say that it looks to be around $14, which is quite a bargain for such a (possibly) quite limited 10″.
THE MISFITS
The Devil’s Rain
The latest album from the Misfits with a special lenticular cover.
Only the VERY small number of 1500 will be release ONLY in the US for about $40. Get in extremely quick.
Although I want to keep blabbing and list all the exclusive vinyl’s and amazing “art” that is being released for this occasion I’ll leave it to you guys to look up anything I’ve missed.
Link to the
Recordstoreday website here - http://www.recordstoreday.com/
Black Friday list of releases and Numbers http://download.recordstoreday.com/free/2011_BLACK_FRIDAY_RELEASES_PUB.pdf
Possible pricing here - http://www.bullmoose.com/rel/v2_home.php?storenr=258&deptnr=171
who he is, then The Downward Spiral is showing us his inner sanctum. It’s a dark and atmospheric (two biggest words used EVER, I know), and I believe it to be just about my favorite album of all time. Where his next album expands and tries different themes and sounds, this album is really coherent, down to the point and a freaking INCREDIBLE ride from front to back. There isn’t one song I could skip – and this is the first album I bought on vinyl (at the same time as Lifted – Bright eyes).
The red flag art is probably my favorite of Billy Talent’s art works thus far. Billy Talent are renowned for ridiculous live gigs and even crazier mosh pits. Red Flag – ever since being released onto Billy Talent II has been a crowd favorite. This vinyl has the ‘album version’ of Red Flag, followed by a live version recorded at the Horseshoe Tavern.
