Record Store Day’s slate of exclusive Black Friday titles has been announced, to the tune of 177 new releases — almost all of them on vinyl only, although a few CDs, cassettes or books figure into the mix. As usual for the post-Thanksgiving LP-fest, the lineup consists of about half the number of releases that come out for the bigger RSD event in April, but few fans of any musical genre could scour the list and not find at least a few titles that’ll make any trips to Macy’s or Wal-Mart seem like an afterthought Nov. 29.
The full list is available here. Tantalizing obscurities abound, of course — and will be previewed in depth by Variety in the run-up to the event — but here are 10 of the releases with the widest appeal:
Paul McCartney’s “Home Tonight”/”In a Hurry.” McCartney has pulled out two Greg Kurstin-produced outtakes from the 2018 “Egypt Station” album that didn’t even make the cut for the recent deluxe edition. The two tracks will get a digital release a week in advance, but for anyone truly not in a hurry, they’ll make their physical-format debut on an RSD picture-disc single. (If this is your sole goal, you can probably wait until after after your Target run on Black Friday — it’s being pressed at 12,000 copies, more than twice as many as even the biggest RSD releases usually get.)
U2, “Three.” Before there was “Boy,” there was a three-song EP the band released in Ireland in 1979 with producer Chas De Whalley, replicated here on vinyl for the first time in 40 years (with a run of 7,000).
Lizzo’s “Coconut Oil.” Although she’s an obvious best new artist Grammy contender this year, Lizzo’s history does stretch back well beyond her 2019 breakthrough. A vinyl premiere for her debut EP of several years back reinforces its title with white vinyl and a coconut-scented insert (on 5500 copies).
Cardi B’s “Gangsta Bitch Music Vol. 1.” Cardi’s first mixtape gets its vinyl premiere, too, in quantities ore limited than Lizzo’s (2000 copies).
Madonna’s “I Rise.” A 12-inch EP includes four remixes of the track from her recent “Madame X” album (set at 4000 copies).
Cheap Trick’s “Are You Ready or Not? — Live 12/31/79.” For classic rock fans, this will be one of the more desirable titles, since this Forum show, recorded 40 years ago just after the release of the “Dream Police” album, when the quartet was at its commercial peak, has never been released in any form before. (The double-LP is being released with 3500 copies.)
The Dave Matthews Band’s “Live at the Hollywood Bowl.” Rarely does one of Record Store Day’s semiannual iterations pass by without a previously-released-on-CD DMB show making its vinyl debut. In this case it’s a five-LP box from the Bowl (4000 copies).
Lewis Capaldi’s “Hold Me While You Wait”/”When the Party’s Over.” The A-side of this single taken from Capaldi’s Spotify session is an original, but the intrigue comes with the B-side, as one of the major breakouts of 2019 covers another: his rendition of one of the best songs off Billie Eilish’s debut (1500 copies).
Patsy Cline’s “Sweet Dreams: The Complete Decca Masters 1960-1963.” Jack White is — surprise! — a big RSD booster, and one of his Third Man label’s more surprising releases is a three-LP set of everything the classic country singer released in her prime, issued in a tri-gatefold sleeve and pressed on pink, purple and yellow vinyl in a very limited quantity (1000 copies).
The National’s “Live at the Greek Theatre, Berkeley, CA, 9/24 + 9/25/2018 (The Mike Millard Method).” This triple-cassette (and, yes, cassette-only) release counts as the most high-concept produced to be coming out for this Record Store Day. For a pair of fall 2018 shows, the National tried an experiment: recording the concerts on the same model of microphones and tape deck used by one of the most legendary bootleggers of the late ’70s. (At a mere 1000 copies, it may go fast even if most RSD patrons no longer have a tape deck to play it on.)
Given the proximity to Christmas, holiday releases are always big at RSD’s Black Friday event, and this one will bring fresh seasonal singles from JD McPherson (“Red Bows for a Blue Girl”), the Peter Holsapple Combo (covering the Band’s “Christmas Must Be Today”), Sammy Hagar, Cheap Trick with Roy Wood, Twiztid and the Regrettes — plus new pressings of previously heard holiday fare from Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, the Monkees, the Squirrel Nut Zippers, Canned Heat, Daryl Hall & John Oates, “Jim Henson’s Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas” and an out-of-print-since-the-late-’50s King Records collection.
Among those joining McCartney with previously unreleased studio tracks are Katy Perry, New Pornographers, Tenacious D (produced by Jack White), Todd Rundgren (with a Squeeze cover), Jenny Lewis, Norah Jones with Mavis Staples, Alex Chilton, Huey Lewis and Willie Nelson (whose new “Sometimes Even I Can Get Too High” is half of a very themed single, with the previously heard Merle Haggard duet “It’s All Going to Pot” as the B-side).
Also on deck are live releases from Louis Armstrong (a 1956 set never before released in any form), Rufus Wainwright (covering Neil Young and Arcade Fire songs), Jeff Buckley, Brothers Osborne, Bad Company, Chuck Berry, Alice Cooper, Devo, Bill Evans, Pearl Jam (a vinyl debut for their “MTV Unplugged”), the Runaways, Barns Courtney, Leon Redbone, Dr. John, Jon Batiste, James Brown, Les Claypool, Miles Davis, Ace Frehley, the Jerry Garcia Band, Gov’t Mule, John Lee Hooker, the Marshall Tucker Band, Tank and the Bangas, the Doors, Kings of Leon, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, Benmont Tench (covering Joy Division and the Grateful Dead), Tony Joe White and a Joni Mitchell tribute concert, among others.
Additionally represented on RSD Black Friday: J. Cole, the Kinks, Willie Nelson, the Hold Steady, Geddy Lee, Elvis Presley, the Pretenders (a singles box set), Lou Reed, Sid Vicious, John Williams, Hank Williams, Tune-Yards (the “Sorry to Bother You” score), Raymond Scott (jingle collections on both CD and LP), Aretha Franklin (a 1968 followup to the previously issued 1967 singles box), Czarface, Liam Gallagher, Nas, Charlie Parker, the Weeknd and many others.