The vinyl yield available to Philly locals on Record Store Day.
As the sale of vinyl now accounts for more recorded music sales than CDs (and more than likely, harder cash than streams and DLs, as they are but a pittance), you can, in part, blame the revivalism of Record Store Day.
Baltimore-born in 2007 and commenced to celebrate independent record stores worldwide, RSD April (one Saturday in that month), and the post-Thanksgiving shopping spree that is Black Friday means the issuing of special vinyl products not available elsewhere. That includes 7-inchers, 12-inchers, LPs, EPs, picture discs, vinyl-only box sets, and for good, weird measure, the occasional cassette, is for sale, for one day only, and then – poof – you’re eBay bound for the freshly minted, newly manufactured rarities.
Record Store’s Black Friday is, of course, November 29, and Philadelphia record stores such as Rittenhouse Square’s Long in the Tooth, South Street’s Repo Records, Positively 4th Street’s Noise Pollution and Digital Underground, Fishtown’s Brewerytown Beats, East Passyunk Avenue’s Beautiful World Syndicate, Lambert Street’s Sit & Spin Records, The Piazza’s Creep Records, and other fine local retailers are holding treasure doves of new, limited-edition releases in the hot pockets. And, for the most part, even though each record store might’ve made it orders, no store owner knows what he is getting for sale until they open their cartons for sale.
While there are hundreds of releases to pore over, I’m highlighting a small selection for you to track down:
J. Cole
2014 Forest Hills Drive EP
The Dreamville label boss looks backward in a picture disc filled with music from his third album.
Miles Davis
Early Minor: Rare Miles From The Complete In A Silent Way Sessions
Miles in Tokyo
Rarities from the man who the horn focus on these two releases, recorded between 1964 (early live recordings from the trumpeter’s first dynamic outfit of the 1960s with Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on double bass, Tony Williams on drums and Sam Rivers then Wayne Shorter on saxophone) and the crew that made the somnolent beautiful “In a Silent Way” at decade’s end.
Precision 2 Pocket 12″ Gatefold Jacket
Alice Cooper
Billion Dollar Babies Live
Dragontown
While the muscular live album captures the best-ever Cooper band during their peak fame in 1973, “Dragontown,” is an often looked-over, glam heavy metal gem from 2001.
Aretha Franklin
The Atlantic Singles Collection 1968
The 7-inch vinyl-filled box not only features some of the best soul music on this, or any planet. It includes Franklin’s coolest picture sleeves, beehives and all.
Rufus Wainwright
Come a Little Bit Closer EP
Before Wainwright releases his return-to-baroque-pop new studio album in 2020, the warbly vocalist drops a red vinyl 7-inch featuring quickly recorded live performances of Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” and Arcade Fire’s “Crown of Love.”
Lizzo
Coconut Oil EP
Now that she’s a Grammy-nominated superstar, the powerhouse R&B vocalist is going back to the well of “Truth Hurts,” 2016, and her early “Coconut Oil” barnstormer, released here in creamy coconut white vinyl.
Blind Willie Johnson
Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground/It’s Nobody’s Fault But Mine
This special 10-inch vinyl reproduction of an original Columbia label record finds the evangelical preacher, blues guitar guru and gruffly emotive vocalist at his peak post 20s furriest.
The Matrix Reloaded (Music From And Inspired By The Motion Picture)
The Matrix Revolutions (Music From The Motion Picture)
One 3 x 12-inch transparent green vinyl album set and one 2 x 12-inch Coke Bottle Green vinyl set – both limited to 1,500 copies, and featuring aptly industrial songs by Linkin Park, Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie – make you forget which is the red one and which is the blue one.
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