Black Friday may no longer bring the in-store chaos it once did.
With online deals often matching or beating what shops offer, it’s easy to skip the crowds. Still, there’s one reason to step outside the house this Friday: to support your local record store.
RSD Black Friday, the fall counterpart to April’s flagship Record Store Day, brings its own share of excitement for vinyl fans.
About 170 exclusive releases are on offer this year, spanning genres and generations, with many limited-edition or colored pressings, enough to make braving any lingering insanity out in the wild worth your while.
As a bonus, it gets you away from the crazy relatives who may have shipped up from Florida for the holiday.
Last week. Rock Music Menu recommended 10 of the best to look out for, but we’ve split it into two parts, with another 10 here.
This time around sees one of the more divisive Rolling Stones releases, a Led Zeppelin 7-inch promotional single, unearthed demos from Talking Heads, and a pair of releases from jazz great Rahsaan Roland Kirk.
• The Rolling Stones: “Their Satanic Majesties Request”
Released in 1967, “Their Satanic Majesties Request” is often considered the Stones’ answer to “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”
But it was so, so much more. Saturated with studio effects, nontraditional instruments, ambient sounds, string arrangements, and percussive devices, it’s a true work of psychedelic art.
“Citadel” foreshadowed the direction toward straightforward rock the Stones would take, while “2000 Light Years from Home” and “She’s a Rainbow” capture them in all their psych-rock glory.
Then there’s “Sing This All Together,” “Gomper,” and “On with the Show,” which move from traditional song structure to freeform freakout.
Pressed on one-of-a-kind Zoetrope vinyl and limited to 6,000 copies, this release comes with a PVC sleeve to show the Zoetrope through the die-cut jacket with an obi strip.
• Charley Patton: “Father of the Delta Blues: Selections from Paramount Recordings”
The raw, thunderous power of Charley Patton resounds once again in this essential second volume of “Father of the Delta Blues: Selections from Paramount Recordings.”
These tracks capture the blues legend at his most urgent and unfiltered, delivering fierce slide guitar, hollered vocals and lyrics steeped in mystery, defiance and deep Mississippi soul.
This volume continues the excavation of Patton’s singular legacy: part preacher, part trickster, part storyteller.
Lovingly restored and remastered, the LP isn’t just a document of early blues; it’s a glimpse into the roots of American music itself, where rhythm met rebellion and history was etched into shellac.
Pressed on yellow vinyl, it’s limited to 1,500 copies.
• Led Zeppelin: “Trampled Under Foot [Single]”
This one is strictly for the Zepheads out there. To go along with this year’s 50th anniversary of the band’s landmark double album “Physical Graffiti” comes a reproduction of the original UK 7-inch promotional single for “Trampled Under Foot.”
Notable as the sole U.S. single for the LP breaking into the Top 40, the song is backed here by another track from the album, “Black Country Woman.”
It’s limited to 6,100 copies.
• Ladytron: “Nightlife”
This newly compiled release, housed in a deluxe gatefold jacket and featuring iconic band photography, presents reinterpreted fan favorites and unreleased gems, offering a fresh take on Ladytron’s signature synthpop, electro and darkwave sound.
There are pulsating club mixes and moody atmospheric reinterpretations from albums such as “Light & Magic,” “604,” “Velocifero,” and “Witching Hour” that breathe new life into classics by the group.
Limited to 2,500 copies, “Nightlife” is a testament to the band’s lasting impact on electronic music.
• Talking Heads: “Tentative Decisions, Demos & Live”
Talking Heads members Chris Frantz and David Byrne met as students at Rhode Island School of Design and made music in a college band called The Artistics.
In the spring semester of 1974, the group gathered in Frantz’s Benefit Street apartment to record a demo tape. The cassette featured tracks soon to be classics in the Talking Heads discography, in “Warning Sign” and “Psycho Killer.”
This collection, of which 7,500 have been pressed, includes this newly discovered material alongside an additional 11 demos and live tracks recorded by the original trio lineup of the band — bassist Tina Weymouth alongside Frantz and Byrne — in 1975 and 1976.
• Lester Young: “Lester Leaps In: Live at Birdland, 1951-52”
This previously unreleased live set showcases one of the most influential tenor saxophonists of all time at the original location of the iconic New York City jazz club, Birdland.
It features eight tracks recorded on four different dates in 1951 and 1952 for ABC Radio’s “Jumpin’ with Symphony Sid.”
Host Sid Torin introduces several of the selections, one of which, “Neenah,” includes a shoutout to audience member Billie Holiday, who originated the bebop legend’s nickname “Prez,” for “President of the Tenor Sax.”
Pressed on 180gram vinyl, it’s limited to 1,500 copies and features new liner notes by jazz scholar Scott Yanow.
• Various Artists: “Jazz Dispensary: Green Bullets”
Gas, grass or jazz, nobody rides for free. “Jazz Dispensary” presents “Green Bullets,” a fresh compilation of high-octane funk and fusion-soaked heaters, soundtracking an imaginary 1970’s action film about a heist gone very, very wrong.
Featuring tunes from Dizzy Gillespie, Isaac Hayes Movement, Merl Saunders, Bill Summers, and more, it’s pressed on “green thunder” vinyl and limited to 4,100 copies.
• Son Volt: “Trace [30th Anniversary]
Originally released in 1995, Son Volt’s debut album, “Trace,” followed Jay Farrar’s departure from alt-country pioneers Uncle Tupelo.
Critically acclaimed and commercially successful, it featured the hit single “Drown.”
This 30th anniversary two-LP edition marks the album’s first U.S. pressing since 2015 and includes a second disc of bonus tracks making their vinyl debut, limited to 3,000 copies.
• Rahsaan Roland Kirk: “Vibrations in the Village: Live at the Village Gate”
This newly unearthed live 1963 set features jazz multi-instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk alongside bassist Henry Grimes, drummer Sonny Brown, and a battery of pianists in Horace Parlan, Melvin Rhyne and Jane Getz.
The deluxe package includes detailed notes by biographer John Kruth, remembrances from Dorthaan Kirk and Getz, and appreciations of Kirk by saxophonists James Carter and Chico Freeman, trombonist Steve Turre, musician Adam Dorn, son of Kirk’s late producer Joel Dorn, and novelist and avowed fan May Cobb.
The two-LP set is pressed on 180-gram vinyl and limited to 1,200 copies.
• Rahsaan Roland Kirk: “Seek and Listen: Live at the Penthouse”
We couldn’t choose which of the two Kirk releases, so we made the executive decision to go with both RSD Black Friday titles.
This 1967 date captures Kirk at his inventive peak, with his astounding double-blowing playing and circular breathing technique on an arsenal of horns supported by pianist and longtime accompanist Rahn Burton, bassist Steve Novosel, and drummer Jimmy Hopps.
The album includes extensive notes on the date by Kirk biographer John Kruth, recollections from Novosel and trombonist Steve Turre, and reflections on the musician’s career by saxophonists James Carter and Chico Freeman.
Sonically restored and remastered, it’s pressed on 180-gram vinyl and limited to 1,200 copies.
Vinyl of the Week will return in December.
To contact music columnist Michael Christopher, send an email to rockmusicmenu@gmail.com. Also, check out his website at thechroniclesofmc.com.
Source: Berkshire mont
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