Record Store Day Black Friday, like most events in 2020, looks a little different this year with the COVID-19 pandemic severely impacting independent record stores along with many other aspects of the economy. The annual Record Store Day that usually takes place on a Saturday in April, was canceled this year and replaced by three smaller-scale RSD Drops on Saturdays in August, September and October.
Like past years, Record Store Day Black Friday 2020 features many new releases only available through independent record stores. But unlike past years, stores have protocols in place to maintain social distancing often in adherence to government ordered mandates. Check with your local independent record store before heading out today to make sure you have the latest information for staying safe while scoring new vinyl.
Below are 20 Record Store Day Black Friday 2020 picks that are among the highlights of this year’s list of special vinyl releases accompanied by their official RSD descriptions.
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Jerry Garcia Band – GarciaLive Volume Two: August 5th, 1990 Greek Theatre
Garcia Live Volume Two captures the classic latter-era lineup of the Jerry Garcia Band in the very familiar surroundings of the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, CA. Recorded during a fruitful period for the band, which has resulted in two previous releases (Jerry Garcia Band and How Sweet It Is), this show features an appearance by banjoist Béla Fleck to kick off the second set with a fiery rendition of “Midnight Moonlight” and an otherworldly adventure on the Jimmy Cliff classic, “The Harder They Come.”
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David Gilmour – Yes I Have Ghosts
“Yes, I Have Ghosts” is the first new song from David Gilmour in five years and features his daughter Romany on harp and vocals. The inspiration for the track was Polly Samson’s novel A Theatre for Dreamers, a Sunday Times bestseller about an idyllic poet/musician/artist community in 1960s Greece.
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Willie Nelson – Live at Austin City Limits 1976
Willie Nelson has appeared on Austin City Limits more than any other artist, performing on the pilot and seventeen subsequent episodes of the Texas Public Television institution that debuted in 1976 and is still going strong as the longest-running music series in American television history. This performance was captured in 1976 and aired as the premiere episode of the second season the following year. It found Willie and The Family performing his classic album Red Headed Stranger front to back in an amazing performance and this RSD Black Friday edition marks its first audio release.
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Drive-By Truckers – Plan 9 Records July 13, 2006
On July 13, 2006 the Drive-By Truckers set up shop at Plan 9 Records in Richmond, VA. It was the 25th Anniversary of the store. The band performed to a packed house and played a blistering set of fan-favorites featuring the songs, “18 Wheels of Love,” “Let There Be Rock,” “Goddamn Lonely Love” and “Daddy’s Cup.” The performance was also set up to benefit the Bryan and Kathryn Harvey Family Memorial Endowment. The foundation provides, among other things, music scholarships in the Richmond area. Lead vocalist and songwriter, Patterson Hood ended up writing the song “Two Daughters and A Beautiful Wife” about Bryan Harvey and his family.
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Mick Fleetwood & Friends — Green Manalishi (with the Two Pronged Crown)
An all-star-studded one-of-a-kind concert honoring the early years of Fleetwood Mac and its founder Peter Green was held at the London Palladium on 25th February 2020. This split release features three versions of the same track, a previously unreleased Mick Fleetwood & Friends rendition from that night (on which the Friends included Billy Gibbons and Kirk Hammett) and both a studio version and a live Fleetwood Mac recording from 1970. Pressed on green vinyl for RSD Black Friday.
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Norah Jones – Playdate
This RSD Black Friday EP features bonus tracks and B-sides from Norah Jones’ seventh studio album Pick Me Up Off The Floor, and never before all brought together on one release.
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Doyle Bramhall II – Be Here Now (feat. Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks)
A brand new [Doyle Bramhall II] single featuring a cover of George Harrison’s “Be Here Now,” along with friends Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks. This single benefits Eric Clapton’s “Crossroads” Foundation, Turn Up For Recovery (founded by Melia Clapton), which aims to raise awareness of abstinence-based recovery through music.
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Uncle Tupelo – Live at Lounge Ax – March 24, 1994
Recording of the full [Uncle Tupelo] concert from Chicago’s Lounge Ax club, originally broadcast live on WXRT. Pressed on two 33 RPM, 150g vinyl discs for RSD Black Friday.
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The Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed (Collector’s Edition)
The Rolling Stones’ groundbreaking multi-platinum selling album Let It Bleed was released in late 1969, charting at #1 in the UK and #3 in the US. It perfectly captures the ominous spirit of the times with “Gimme Shelter,” the opening track. The 2019 remaster has been engineered by eleven-time Grammy-winning mastering engineer Bob Ludwig. Each copy of this exclusive collector’s edition is handcrafted on the press, using layers of color on top of one another to create a truly unique edition. Due to the nature of the manual process to pour each color onto the press by hand, each piece is unique in design. Hand-numbered Certificate of Authenticity included.
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Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings – Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Rendition Was In)
Throughout their career, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings remained in high demand both publicly and privately to recreate and often re-imagine songs by other artists. More often than not, these covers were recorded by request, commissioned for placement in movies, television programs, tribute albums, or for samples. This album compiles some of their most popular and some never-before-heard renditions Though the band mostly built their career on a prolific catalog of originals, these forays into other artists’ compositions lay bare their gift for arrangement and the unmatched studio prowess that earned them their reputation as The Baddest Band in the Land.
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Beastie Boys – Some Old Bullshit
Some Old Bullshit is a compilation album by the Beastie Boys released in 1994. It compiles several of their early EPs, recorded in the early 1980s. These recordings present a sound radically different from that of the hip-hop sound generally associated with the band. Instead, these songs represent the band’s part in the early New York hardcore scene. The album also features taped segments originally heard on Noise the Show, a popular hardcore radio show on WNYU in New York that played early recordings from the Beastie Boys. These segments feature the hyperbolic introductions of Noise the Show’s host, Tim Sommer, an early supporter of the band.
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Bombino – Live In Amsterdam
Bombino recorded his seventh album live in Amsterdam in late 2019. It features three new songs, seven songs from his incredible catalog and his version of a Tinariwen song. This RSD Black Friday double LP is pressed in a limited edition of 1500 for the world.
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Motörhead – Ace of Spades
Just in time for the holidays comes this RSD Black Friday reissue of Motörhead’s 1980 UK Xmas single of “Ace Of Spades.” The cover features the band in Santa suits! Also includes Holiday Ornament and never before released 2020 Instrumental remix.
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Elliott Smith – Elliott Smith Alternate Versions
While preparing the reissue of Elliott Smith’s 1994 self-titled album, Kill Rock Stars unearthed alternate versions of some of the songs and put them together with some original photography from the same era for a limited edition 45 RPM 12” vinyl companion piece, exclusive to indie record stores on RSD Black Friday.
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Jonathan Wilson – Rare Blur
An EP of rare and unreleased [Jonathan Wilson] recordings, including a cover of Graham Nash’s “And So It Goes,” featuring Dawes.
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Brian Wilson & Van Dyke Parks – Orange Crate Instrumentals
Limited edition colored vinyl pressing of [Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks’] instrumental recordings found on Disc 2 of the 2020 Omnivore Recordings CD reissue of Orange Crate Art, originally released in 1995.
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Jefferson Starship – Blows Against The Empire: 50th Anniversary
With most of the members of Jefferson Airplane missing in action, Paul Kantner and Grace Slick holed up in a San Francisco studio in 1970 alongside a cast of West Coast rock ‘n’ roll legends including Jerry Garcia, David Crosby and Mickey Hart to cut what would become Kantner’s finest solo work, his rock space-opera, Blows Against The Empire. This 180g 50th anniversary edition LP is pressed on green marble vinyl for RSD Black Friday.
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John Hurlbut & Jorma Kaukonen – The River Flows
Brand new recordings from John Hurlbut and Jorma Kaukonen, produced by Jorma and engineered and mixed by Justin Guip, three-time Grammy winner for his work with Levon Helm, make their debut on red splatter translucent vinyl for RSD Black Friday. This release comes in a gatefold package with a twelve page booklet that includes a new interview with Jorma, conducted by Paul Epstein.
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John Prine – The Asylum Albums
John Prine’s three Asylum-era LPs, pressed on audiophile 180gram black vinyl, faithfully replicating the original packaging.
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Lou Reed – Live At Alice Tully Hall – January 27, 1973 – 2nd Show
Live At Alice Tully Hall – January 27, 1973 – 2nd Show captures Lou Reed’s New York City live debut as a solo artist, at the Lincoln Center venue during his Transformer tour. He was backed by The Tots, a tight, funky, twin-guitar combo whose gritty bar-band approach offered an energized accompaniment to Reed’s material, whether that was the Velvets (“Heroin,” “Sweet Jane”) or songs from his first two solo albums, Walk On The Wild Side and Vicious. Mixed from the original multi-track tapes by Matt Ross-Spring, these fourteen live tracks are available for the first time, released first on RSD Black Friday on two LPs pressed on burgundy vinyl and packaged with a new essay by Ed McCormack, rare pictures and memorabilia.
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Luther Dickinson – Rock, Live Concert
In the winter of 2016, Luther Dickinson began touring behind the release of his latest record, Blues & Ballads: A Folksingers Songbook Vols 1 & 2. Normaltown Hall, a now extinct listening room that sat above the New West Records office in Athens, GA, was known for hosting community events and intimate concerts intended for the listener and performer to connect. The venue capacity was permitted for 115 listeners, but on the night of March 9, 2016 there might have been over 200 people stuffed into the venue. Luther Dickinson (guitar, vocals), Sharde Thomas (drums, fife, vocals), Will Sexton (guitar), Amy LaVere (upright bass) and Brandon Chornes (drums) got on stage and brought down the house that night with a very intimate and eclectic set of American music.New West Records is proud to release this once in a lifetime performance on super limited blue sky vinyl.
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Bettye LaVette, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone – Original Grooves: Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Bettye LaVette
Verve Label Group is proud to launch a new vinyl series, Original Grooves, available exclusively on Record Store Day and RSD Black Friday. Original Grooves showcases the vinyl cutting technique known as “parallel grooves,” where grooves are cut side-by-side instead of one after another, allowing for a different aural experience depending on where the needle is dropped. The first of this series comes from five-time Grammy nominee Bettye LaVette, with hidden gems from Verve legends Billie Holiday and Nina Simone. The Blues Hall of Fame legend deftly reinterprets the classics “Strange Fruit” and “I Hold No Grudge” on this 12” EP, with the original timeless versions “hidden” on the neighboring grooves.
View the full list of Record Store Day Black Friday 2020 releases here.
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