Over the past few years, “doorbusters” have become a thing of the particular past on Black Friday, as America has shifted back toward staggered online shopping and marked the day after Thanksgiving as a day to sleep in, again. Unless, that is, you are a fan of music upon vinyl, in which case: no sleep till Brooklyn. There may or might not be tent cities popping up outside your nearest independent record shop, but rest (or don’t rest) assured that lines have formed nearly everywhere new records plus cassettes and, God forbid, CDs are sold, queuing for the Black Friday adjunct of Record Store Day .
The lines may not be half as long as they were for the main edition of RSD back inside April, not just because it’s colder, but because… no Taylor Swift. In fact, the lineup of about 170 exclusive vinyl releases will be nearly free of current pop superstars, which will no doubt be fine with some of the particular usual semiannual RSD customers who have armloads of relative obscurities they want to pick up plus don’t care for single-minded newbies blocking their path. Still, even without marquee stars, there is usually something for just about every taste on the full list, which you can find in handy, printable PDF form here or in more expansive, clickable web format here . (A search type for participating stores and locations may be found here . )
As always, Variety has perused the list and reviewed some advance copies plus come up with a shortlist of desirable titles, which usually by no means exhausts all the good stuff. We haven’t included here, for instance, any associated with the usual titles from RSD mainstays David Bowie and the Grateful Dead. We also have mostly left you to fend for yourself in lookin the many straightforward repressings of individual albums, whether they be straight reissues of classic titles by Mingus, Monk, the Monkees and some Motown classics or recent albums simply by Billie Eilish, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Weeknd that differ from the standard editions only in cover art or even packaging. (That’s not to say that will the rainbow-foil-embossed new cover of Eilish’s “Happier Than Ever” wouldn’t add the nice shine to anyone’s shelf. )
Here’s a selection of titles we’ve picked out from the ’22 crop, with notes on the particular number of copies available, what color the vinyl is definitely (actual black being very outre for Black Friday), and regardless of whether the releases are being classified as true RSD exclusives (i. e., not really destined in order to be repressed for general release in this form) or “RSD First” (meaning likely to get a wider release, if probably not in the same color variant). On your marks… get set… door-bust.
Fleetwood Mac pc , “The Alternate Collection”
(9, 000 duplicates on vinyl fabric; 10, 000 on CD – exclusive – clear vinyl)
Most of the time, when RSD releases are usually gone, they’re really gone (or at least relegated to the realm associated with Discogs plus eBay). But sometimes, there is a form of amnesty with regard to those who missed the bet previously. That’s the particular case with this catch-up collection that boxes up all six of the “alternate” Fleetwood Mac discs that Rhino/Warner previously put out, creating separate but equal versions from the albums through “Fleetwood Mac” through “Tango in the Night” using demos or even different versions that first appeared in other boxed sets from the particular group. I know I’d picked up an “Alternate Rumours” and then wondered why the hell I’d passed on “Alternate Tusk, ” so I’m grateful for the second chance. Also, there’s a CD edition associated with this set, which will give consumers who don’t care therefore much about the vinyl revolution a reason to step in. (It’s still short-sighted of the particular record companies not to do more CD editions for RSD, which is not supposed to become just about LPs. )
The Doors, “Paris Blues”
(10, 500 copies – exclusive – blue vinyl)
Hard as it is to believe there could be any remaining previously unreleased original compositions by the Doors in order to put out, amid one of the world’s most aggressive ongoing archival campaigns, there was one, plus it’s the title track of this seven-track EP. Why hadn’t the particular track “Paris Blues” come out before? Because, the liner information tell us, Ray Manzarek’s kid had accidentally taped over part of the particular cassette that had the only surviving copy in the tune. Now the Doors’ camp has come up with a suitable edit that skirts around that will child’s play — and supplemented it with some other bluesy studio outtakes and a live mini-set that experienced the band joined on stage by guitar great Albert King. Is the particular “new” song essential. Not at almost all. Does the EP do a nice job associated with framing the rescued obscurity, for hardcore fans, in a subgenre-specific package? For sure.
Duran , “Live at Hammersmith ’82”
(4, 500 copies – exclusive – gold vinyl)
Rhino most likely didn’t even know that Duran was going to end up being inducted into the Rock plus Roll Hall of Fame in November 2022 when this double-LP release was first planned and put on the particular docket (it’s tagged while a 45th anniversary piece). If that’s the case, the timing couldn’t have worked out more serendipitously, with double-D fever back at a modern-era peak. This ’82 show has been released in various ways in the particular past — including like a DVD/CD combo — yet never upon vinyl. The gatefold jacket includes the full run-down with the band’s tour itinerary from that year, plus a fan-club-style questionnaire that was filled out by members of the nascent Britpop outfit, along with Andy Taylor boldly declaring: “I’m the particular balls of the group. ” Check out Duran’s cover associated with Cockney Rebel’s “Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)” to see if he was right.
Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga, “Cheek To Cheek: Live! ”
(unknown number of copies – RSD First – black vinyl)
Nothing too unfamiliar right here; this rendering of the odd couple’s 2014 Lincoln Center joint performance has been seen a lot, on PBS and then being a DVD plus Blu-Ray. But it hasn’t been heard a great deal, in isolation; this apparently marks the set’s 1st appearance as being a purely audio product (aside from, maybe, a rare import CD). The “RSD First” label would seem to indicate that this may become available in multiple formats later, so if someone ahead of you grabs the particular last copy, you can probably afford to turn the other cheek.
Todd Rundgren, “Something/Anything? ”
(3, 500 copies – exclusive – ruby, grape, cobalt and light-blue vinyl)
Wait — didn’t Rundgren’s traditional breakout album just come out for Report Store Day time, already? Let the record show that this indeed did, for Dark Friday 2018. But if you possess good enough taste in order to be a Todd-head, you’re probably going to want to add this towards the collection associated with “Something/Anything? s” you already own, even if the particular four-LP format does render it pricier. The reason it comes to be a quadruple-album is because the fresh remaster has been cut in 45 rpm, by one of the bigger names in that profession, Chris Bellman, “from the particular original tapes. ” Not really ideal if you have an aversion to side-flipping, but really idyllic if you want this material in possibly best-ever sonic form. Gilding the lily are a flip-top box, twin gatefold jackets within that box that will portray the original ’72 reel-to-reel containers, and multiple inserts that include educational liner notes simply by Rundgren exert Paul Myers — plus four shades of vinyl regarding four LPs, making this both indulgent and necessary. Those liners remind us all that Todd himself actually doesn’t love this recording as much as everyone else, because he considered writing classic pop songs to be picking low-hanging fruit. We can still esteem its brilliance even in case it seemed too easy for him.
Korla Pandit, “Genie Of The particular Keys: The Best Of Korla Pandit”
(2, 500 duplicates – RSD First – blue vinyl)
Pandit has already been so godlike for the exotica/tiki cult crowd, it’s hard to believe the organist never got anything close to a complete anthology until this RSD LP launch from Fantasy. He recorded a few albums prior to he obtained to the label, but create 13 albums once he got there, from the particular mid-’50s through mid-’60s, making up the bulk of his documented output, so “Genie on the Keys” is pretty close in order to being a complete representation. If you do not know Pandit’s story, like explained within the liner records, prepare intended for your jaw to drop. Unbeknown on the public that adored him inside his prime, or really much of anyone till the 21st century, he has been a Black man who was light-skinned enough to bypass certain segregation plus racism by creating the faux persona for himself as an Indian immigrant, becoming a TV star with a mystical personas enticing as his Hammond organ instrumentals. There’s a kitsch aspect, obviously, but this best-of is still a terrific lesson — it lulls you into believing he was that he said he had been, or that we may all turn out to be who we want to be, as we pour another mai tai.
Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, “Clear Spot (50th Anniversary)”
(4, 500 copies – unique – clear vinyl)
Captain Beefheart was 1 of the particular great rock avant-gardists, whenever he came out with albums that will fell as much into the “acquired taste” mode as 1969’s great “Trout Mask Replica. ” So what was he doing working with future Van Halen producer Ted Templeton upon 1972’s “Clear Spot”? Only making a few of the most accessible music associated with his career. Here, this individual and the particular Magic Music group sound mainly like a kinda-weird but not altogether outlying bluesy-roots-rock outfit; when you’ve currently had an introduction to Beefheart by way of “Trout, ” this is practically easy listening by comparison. But it’s still actually good stuff, even in the event that it is a little less challenging. This 50th anniversary package is exemplary, from your embossed front protect to a second LP’s worth of outtakes and instrumental versions, the majority of previously unreleased.
Ahmad Jamal, “Emerald City Nights: Live At The Penthouse (1963-1964)”
Ahmad Jamal, “Emerald City Evenings: Live At The Penthouse (1965-1966)”
(3, 000 duplicates each – exclusive – black vinyl)
You can read much a lot more about these twin Jamal live albums within Range ‘s story about producer Zev Feldman and his brand new Jazz Detective label, for which these are the two premiere releases. (There’s one more volume of Jamal recorded from Seattle’s Penthouse in the ’60s yet to come next year. ) Rest assured that anyone who has loved Feldman’s series of archival jazz cds for that Resonance label will love what they find if they follow your pet here. Leading various trios over the particular course of a couple of years seeing that he stops in at the titular club for shows that were recorded in top-quality mono to go out because radio broadcasts, Jamal can be in peak form. And you can see why Jon Batiste takes in order to the highly extensive lining notes to extol the pianist as someone whose influence informed every fiber of his being. COMPACT DISC and digital editions will follow the LPs by one week, but while usual with these products, the numbered vinyl versions will become highly collectible.
Jaco Pastorius, “Truth, Liberty & Soul – Live In NYC: The Complete 1982 NPR Jazz Alive! Recording”
(2, 000 copies – special – black color vinyl)
Speaking of Feldman and Vibration, here’s the rare instance of that jazz brand reissuing something that was promised as an exclusive, when it first came out for RSD six years back. Yet similar in order to when Resonance reissued a particularly hot Bill Evans title after a number associated with years, there are some differences that will allow the particular first version to maintain its collectibility… plus that’ll make some who else already own the previous version to want this, as well. The packaging and a little bit of the artwork are usually different; this one comes within a tri-fold jacket instead of the flip-top box. More significantly for serious audiophiles, it is an all-new remastering, simply by Kevin Gray instead of the earlier issue’s Bernie Grundman. But in any event you are coming from the Jaco, historically accompanied by a big music group that makes this unlike anything else the particular late virtuoso ever do in establishing his mega-cult.
Marshall Crenshaw, “Marshall Crenshaw 40th Anniversary Edition”
(1, 200 duplicates – distinctive – dark vinyl)
Crenshaw’s 1982 debut is one of the signature albums associated with power pop nicely. This exceptional LP release augments it with a bonus disc of seven tracks of live materials and demos, including an early edition of “(You’re My) Favorite Waste associated with Time, ” a song that would have to wait till their next record to see release, due to the fact he already had so much for the debut. This particular will turn out in CD and electronic form in February, but if you need the particular vinyl, it’s been pressed in a low enough quantity that you shouldn’t wait for “Someday, Someway” to pick it up.
Fountains of Wayne, “Traffic plus Weather”
(3, five hundred copies – RSD Initial – gold with black swirl vinyl)
It’s kind of crazy that a catalog as great as Fountains of Wayne’s has not been out in its entirety on plastic before — but such was the era that will FoW came up in, when the LP format has been considered dead, CDs were here in order to stay and streaming had been something a person did in a raft. Real Gone scored with the previous RSD vinyl premiere of the classic “Welcome Interstate Managers, ” plus while the particular 2007 “Traffic” is possibly the least mandatory of all the band’s collections, it’s still essential, if that makes any sense. As is often noted, Chris Collingwood was a bit checked out there on this a single, making it particularly a showcase for your late Adam Schlesinger’s whimsy within character-driven numbers like “Michael and Heather in the Baggage Claim. ” It will surely get a subsequent release on black vinyl, but if you act like you would like the swirl, now’s the chance. (More good news: “Traffic” will be succeeded on vinyl fabric by the particular Jan. 13 general discharge of this odds-and-sods collection “Out-of-State Plates. ”)
Willie Nelson, “Live at Budokan”
(9, 100 copies – exclusive – dark vinyl)
This 1974 show was recorded to get release but , until now, only ever came out via 1984 Japanese laserdisc. Back before this individual was on the road again and again plus again, Nelson’s family-style shows were nevertheless in their formative era, even though numerous of the songs that remain the particular set to this day had been already in place 48 years ago. So, with this particular (un-previewed by us) performance, it’ll end up being interesting to verify if we can detect any kind of then-versus now points of departure with this two-LP set.
Oscar Peterson Trio, “On A Clear Time – Live in Zurich, 1971”
(1, 800 duplicates – RSD First – clear vinyl)
It is the second release in this roundup with “clear” in the title and “clear” since the plastic color(lessness) of choice. And, really, there’s a certain transparency to why this would be one associated with the many coveted jazz titles of this particular Record Store Day, after other Peterson Trio releases have sold through thus quickly with past RSD events, through “Tenderly” within 2016 plus “Night Train” in 2017 to “A Time for Love” last year on this period. The eight previously unheard tracks that will make upward “Clear Day” represent the particular only time the version of the great pianist’s trio that included bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and drummer Louis Hayes have got been put on record.
Gary Saracho, “En Medio”
(3, 500 copies – RSD First – black vinyl)
Universal has mostly sat out this RSD constituent event this year, but the particular one release they do have for Black Friday is a real cred item — the reissue of a crate digger’s delight that will hasn’t been in print since its initial commercially underwhelming 1973 release. Saracho’s sole studio album won praise from pal Herbie Hancock plus raves through Downbeat and the New York Times, yet as a press launch says, the Chicano musician’s debut did not “gain the traction it so deserved at the time, ” therefore Saracho just quit the business. He recently returned, at long last, with “Garrett Saracho JID015, ” representing one associated with the longer freshman-to-sophomore project gaps in music history.
Various Artists, “Jazz Dispensary: Haunted High”
(3, 600 duplicates – unique – pink splatter vinyl)
You don’t have to be high in order to enjoy the particular Jazz Dispensary compilation number of soul-and-jazz tracks; this quantity includes the track simply by Woody Herman, not exactly known as the all-time greatest stoner in this world. But the reason why ask high, when the dispensers in question are giving us a collection so heady it encompasses artists ranging from that clarinetist to Flora Purim along with Carlos Santana to McCoy Tyner and vibraphonist Cal Tjader to soul singer Barbara Lewis covering pop hit “The Windmills of Your Mind. ” For as long as the Dispensary blows this particular eccentric a brand of smoke in our ears, we’d follow them anywhere.
Townes Van Zandt, “At My Window (35th Anniversary Edition)”
(4, 000 copies – RSD First – blue vinyl)
“Window” currently came away once pertaining to Record Shop Day, 10 years ago; the main difference may be the shift from black in order to blue vinyl. But that previous model consisted associated with a scant 1, 500 copies, plus it’s not like the original 1987 pressing would possess had any great quantities, so fans of the influential Americana singer-songwriter will welcome the chance to have got a clean and affordable copy of this in any hue. “Window, ” his penultimate studio room album (and the just one he or she released within the ’80s, before making their exit inside the past due ’90s), is certainly probably not really the cd to start with in case you’re new to Van Zandt — there is a kind of muted feel to it, despite the particular strong songwriting — but it’s wholly worthy of filling out a collection of his still influential work.
John Williams, “The Cowboys (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) [50th Anniversary]”
(3, 000 copies – special – precious metal vinyl)
Before Steve Williams has been JOHN WILLIAMS — which is to say, pre-Lucas, and mainly pre-Spielberg — he was renowned more meant for his delicate touch in rueful ’70s movies such as “The Cowboys” than the martial masterpieces in order to come. This neo-Western score was overdue to have its day again, and the market for this among fans was barely sated by a COMPACT DISC that went out of print almost as soon as it went in 2018. This vinyl fabric followup promises to take advantage of the same restorative care that will made the particular compact disk of a few many years back such an instant collectible.
Some other Holiday limited editions to look out there for:
David Bowie, “The Next Day Extra EP” (11, 850 copies)
Eric Burdon & War, “The Complete Vinyl Collection” (2, 500 copies)
Jim Carroll Band, “Catholic Boy (Deluxe)” (1, five hundred copies)
The Cure, “Wish (30th Anniversary Edition” (picture disc) (11, 150 copies)
Grateful Lifeless, “Wembley Empire Pool, London, England 4/7/1972 (Live)” (7, 500 copies)
Janis Joplin & Jorma Kaukonen, “The Legendary Typewriter Tape: 6/25/64 Jorma’s House” (3, 500 copies)
Madlib, “Medicine Show No . 11: Low Budget High-Fi Music” (5, 000 copies)
Charles MIngus, “MIngus” (3, 500 copies)
Thelonious Monk, “The Classic Quartet” (3, 500 copies)
Pete Rock, “Return Of The SP-1200 V. 2” (3, five hundred copies)
Marthand the Vandellas, “Dance Party” (2, 500 copies)
The particular Weeknd, “Dawn FM” (6, 000 copies)