Black Friday Record Store Day Titles Worth Considering

not the greatest Black Friday ever but still.....a few that are amazing!

Bad Brains "Live at The Bayou" (Time Traveler Records)

Zev Feldman's new Time Traveler label gets off to a hard core punk bang with Bad Brains Live at the Bayou a double record set covering two concerts July 14, 1980 and March 15, 1981. The Black hard core quartet was more than punk, but it was that plus deep rhythmically skilled dives into reggae, and even a cover of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid". If this doesn't get your adrenaline rushing you're tapped out! The sound is spectacular mono, with vocalist H.R. (Paul Hudson) appropriately up front and in your face and the others well behind but well recorded with great drum sound. Excellent dynamics and crystalline high frequencies help create the appropriate sense of "live" and lots of excitement. The group covers their self-released "Pay to Cum", "At the Movies" and other familiar to fans BB classics. As some of you may remember I was involved in a Bad Brains greatest hits album Banned in D.C. Bad Brains Greatest Riffs (Caroline 5830490) where I transferred vinyl on tracks for which no other source existed. Was fun being part of punk/hardcore history and now there's this! Gatefold jacket and archival quality anti-static inners.

Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Seek & Listen Live At The Penthouse (1200)

One of two Resonance RSD Black Friday titles. Kirk is in fine and often humorous form in these Penthouse recordings from September 8, 1967 and September 15, 1967. Kirk is on tenor, flute, stritch, manzello, flex atone, siren, whistle, vocals and etc. according to the gatefold jacket. There's a great full sized booklet with annotation by James Carter, Chico Freeman, Steve Turre, Adam Dorn, and Dorthaan Kirk. Even if you don't have the Kirk essential classics on Atlantic, Mercury and other labels like We Free Kings and Rip, Rig and Panic you can dive in right here and catch the talent and the humor Kirk brought to the stage. He does originals and standards including an "Alfie" unlike Rollins' and "Ode to Billie Joe". Side two ends with a raucous, celebratory and flat out silly "Happy Days Are Here Again". Kirk was a showman, a musical comedian and of course a serious musician. By this time the Penthouse had improved its recording system so that this one mastered by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab in glorious mono sounds very good, with a nice instrumental balance unlike some of the earlier released recorded at the venue. It's a party to which you and 1199 others are invited to attend.

Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Vibrations In the Village Live at The Village Gate (1200)

First what a great story! The engineer was Ivan Berger, who many reading this know from Audio Magazine and maybe on Facebook. Our friend speaker manufacturer Jeff Joseph contacted Zev Feldman about these tapes Ivan had that he'd recorded at The Village Gate November 26th and 27th 1963 a few days after President Kennedy's assassination. I'm writing this on November 26th 62 years later! These are sonically superb Village Vanguard stereo recordings that would get a 10 if I was giving to ratings for these RSD titles. Ivan talked the talk and walked the walk. There's a three dimensional stage and everything plus of course Kirk is in a fine New York state of musical mind backed by Horace Parlan, Melvin Rhyne, Henry Grimes, Sonny Brown and Jane Getz (yes, that one) on various tracks. Matthew Lutthans knocks this one out of the sonic park and even though the annotation is repeated on the other Kirk release this one's a must have. If you're buying one Kirk of the two this is the one for sound and sophistication, the other one for sheer musical fun so....

B.B. King: Broadcasting The Blues: Live From Germany And Sweden (2500)

Another Time Traveler release, this double LP set features live performances from the Reelin' In the Years Productions archives (David Peck's holdings feature 30,000 hours of music performances, every genre). The German concert recorded in a Cologne, Germany television station studio January 19, 1968 was broadcast on WDR television so exists on videotape with superb monophonic audio used here, restored by Matthew Lutthans and cut by Jasper Ward at AIR Studios. B.B.'s band at this time included Lee Gatlin on saxophone, Moses Thompson on trumpet, James Toney, Hammond organ and Sonny Freeman on drums. B.B. does "Every Day I Have the Blues" and other repertoire standards. This was recorded two years before B.B. hit it big and with "The Thrill is Gone" became more of a household name. The mono sound is remarkably transparent and yes no doubt cut from files created off the video tape, which at that point I believe recorded analog audio. Forget the source though,, the sound quality is outstanding.

Five years later, on October 29th 1973 B.B. played at Konserthuset Stockholm home to the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra— a large venue compared to the intimate studio setting for the first LP in this set. Of greater interest than the setting is the musical contrast between the earlier performance and this one, which opens with a more rock than blues influenced "To Know You Is to Love You". B.B.'s band features three saxophonists, trumpet, a rhythm guitarist and piano, bass and drums. Stardom had come and he could afford to travel with a big band. Yet on the second tune called "Instrumental" it's all about his guitar though Eddie Rowe does a bluesy trumpet turn on the track. Of course his by then signature tune a cover of "The Thrill is Gone" is included. The mono sound here is very good but not quite as transparent. Still, it's fascinating to eavesdrop on a "workaday" concert B.B. probably never thought would be released 50+ years later and considered a special event. And maybe it isn't, but it is a time travel, on a label with the same name.

Bill Evans: Portrait At The Penthouse Live In Seattle (4000)

The RSD race between Bill Evans and The Doors is on! But look at the number pressed. 4000 of this. Clearly Bill's audience is large and loyal and he's among if not Zev Feldman's favorite jazz artists so why not another unearthed performance from Seattles The Penthouse, these from May 12 and 19, 1966? This is from Evans' first tour with bassist Eddie Gomez—a musical relationship that would endure through 1977 and probably the first recordings of that association. Joe Hunt on drums was with Evans for but a few months so might be this trio's only recording. There's a fab double truck B&W photo of the trio playing live. But more important are annotator Marc Meyers notes "Mr. In-Between Gets His Due" in which Meyer interviews the still alive Jim Hunt about his short stint with Evans and following that a fascinating very useful "play by play" of the group's musical dynamics.

Later on the annotation is an episode involving Bob Dylan and finally how Hunt was fired from the group not by Evans but by Creed Taylor. If that doesn't wet your whistle to buy this one, there's also a recent Zev interview with Joe Hunt on playing with Evans, notes' from Bob James, and great photo memorabilia of concert posters and the like plus I'll tell you Evans was in superb form here to lighten up your day (and night) and the piano sound is excellent. With 4000 copies available grabbing one should be relatively easy. I suggest it. Matthew Lutthans did an excellent job here with what already were broadcast quality mono recordings. So, yes, while this is Zev Feldman's 14th Evans release with cooperation of the Evans family, it is one of the best ones.

Yusef Lateef: Golden Flower: Live In Sweden (2500 according to sticker, 1750 according to RSD site)

Starting with the mundane, this could be the best recording of all in this string of RSD offerings mixed and restored by Belgium based Marc Doutrepont whose company EQuus has been responsible for many great reissues. But more importantly is the breadth of Lateef's playing on display on these recordings, one from Mosebacke, Sweden September 13th, 1967 and the second live at the Åhus Jazz Festival, August, 1972. It opens with "The Golden Flute", which has a spiritual, otherworldly feel that feels like 1972 if you know what I mean (and that's not a drug reference). Then comes "Blind Willie" a blues that at first had me thinking "who did Lateef bring with him on sax? But of course it's Lateef laying it down and I said to myself, man this guy can honk the blues! Only later to turn to page 9 of the annotation where Chico Freeman, writing about Lateef says "The Man Could Play the Blues"! Amen to that! Again, the annotation and photos in the full color, full sized booklet are almost alone worth the price of admission but then there's the music and sound.

While Lateef was a scholar and seen as a very serious man, "One Little Indian" from the 1967 set is funny and honking, filled with musical references and perhaps a non so subtle musical dig at Coltrane? It's funny as hell. And if it could be said Lateef could play the blues, he could also deliver sheets (and pillow cases) of sound. It ends with a truly hilarious musical quote. "Straighten Up and Fly Right" is next in the sequencing here but i'm not sure if it was played next, but if so, it also makes an appropriate editorial statement—or maybe I'm reading things in that are not there. The side ends with Lateef on flute in a meditative, empathetic mood with "The Poor Fisherman". On the 1967 sessions Lateef is joined by Swedish pianist Lars Sjösten (who also exhibits a fine sense of humor) and bassist Palle Daniensson with Albert "Tootie" Heath on drums.

The second record from the 1972 Åhus Jazz Festival is in excellent spread live concert stereo and also sounds very good but the earlier set has a more supple, immediate and tactile feel. Still, the sound here is very good and features Heath again on drums with the great Kenny Barron on piano and Bob Cunningham on bass. The opener "Inside Atlantis" a Barron composition has Lateef on sax playing in a harder-edged more muscular sound that back in 1967 he kind of made fun of. Heath goes wild on the track. That's as far as I'll go here other than to say that this is another great RSD release.

If you're wondering why this whole list dwells in Feldlandia it's because that's what I was sent by different publicists and I'd rather write about what I can actually tell you about musically and sonically than indulge in speculation. Of course there will be re-issued titles on the Black Friday RSD list but how good those reissues are, I can't tell you!

Of interest on the list but I haven't heard:

For the first time on vinyl, this compilation of hits from the band's first ever studio albums--1970's Eric Burdon Declares "War" and The Black-Man's Burdon--gets a welcome refresh with an army fatigues-inspired color vinyl treatment and the addition of newly discovered bonus tracks from the Avenue Records archives by longtime WAR producer Jerry Goldstein.

In their short time together, Albert Ayler and Don Cherry created a body of music that genuinely exists in the moment. Oblivious to rules and aesthetic boundaries, they played what they felt on their nerve-ends, embracing mistakes and wrong turns as part of the experience of making art in the moment.
Now over sixty years old, these recordings breathe as strongly and sound as vividly as they did when they were made. This 4xLP box set contains four sets of recordings from the fall of 1964, including live sets at Copenhagen's Jazzhus Montmartre and a VARA Radio session in The Netherlands. Albert Ayler's vital free jazz quartet featured Don Cherry on cornet, Gary Peacock on double bass and Sunny Murray on drums. The audio has been remastered and compiled together for the first time on vinyl, and the release includes a fold-out insert with extensive liner notes from Brian Morton. It comes to record stores first on November 28 as part of RSD Black Friday.

Live in Reims Cathedral, 1974 - This former member of THE VELVET UNDERGROUND - Singer/Songwriter, Model/Actress, Solo Artist/Music Icon. NICO seemed to be at the epicentre of all that was cool before sadly dying in 1988. On December 13, 1974,NICO opened for Tangerine Dream's concert at Reims Cathedral in Reims, France. The concert has gone down in rock history as a “Legendary” event as it was the very first time a Catholic Church in Europe was to host a rock concert. It was so controversial at the time, that after the concert the Vatican forbade all rock shows in Europe. (Limited to 2000)

I was promised this one but it never arrived. However since posting a note about the complete Plugged Nickel box set coming soon, that reprises the original Mosaic box, I've since been told it will not be from analog tapes but rather cut at SST in Germany from digital files. (The large image is not an editorial comment: there's a site software issue where if I try to alter the image, much of what's below disappears or the images change so I'm leaving it as is!)

" The first ever release of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan as it was originally conceived, including four tracks that were withdrawn before the album came out: Rocks And Gravel, Let Me Die in My Footsteps, Rambling, Gambling Willie and Talking’ John Birch Paranoid Blues. With the original never-before seen liner notes". Limited to 13,000 copies.

Experience the unreleased demos for one of Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s. Featuring the demo for the anthem “I Love L.A.," which helped define his legacy as a voice in American music, and two unreleased demos. With Warner Bros. hitmakers Russ Titelman and Lenny Waronker producing, and a star-studded cast of guest vocalists including Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt, and Bob Seger, the 1983 collection displays the craftsmanship that would make the singer-songwriter one of the most sought-after composers for film and TV (Limited to 3500 copies).

Celebrate the 55th Anniversary of this instant classic, Curtis Mayfield's 1970 self-titled debut album. Released on the artist's own imprint, Curtom Records, the album spent five consecutive weeks atop Billboard Soul Charts on the strength of soaring anthems like “Move On Up” and sultry ballads like “The Makings Of You”. Newly repackaged for RSD Black Friday, it’s been cut from the original tapes by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering and is pressed locally on 180g premium-quality vinyl at Fidelity Record Pressing's brand new plant in Oxnard, California as part of Rhino's premium audiophile line, Rhino Reserve.

In late 1975, Joni joined Bob Dylan’s legendary Rolling Thunder Revue, hitting the road for several shows and embarking on the long road trip journey that would lead to songs on her classic album Hejira. These recordings were released for the first time as part of Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 4 at the end of 2024, with many tracks making their first vinyl appearance here.

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 Patton 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 by Dave Gardner, Volume Two is not 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 color vinyl exclusively for RSD Black Friday 2025. (Limited to 1500)

Trace, originally released in 1995, is Son Volt's debut album, following Jay Farrar's departure from alt-country pioneers Uncle Tupelo. Critically acclaimed and commercially successful, it featured the hit single “Drown.”
This 30th anniversary 2LP edition marks the album’s first U.S. pressing since 2015 and includes a second disc of bonus tracks making their vinyl debut. Ranked fourth on Paste’s list of the “50 Best Alt-Country Albums of All Time,” Trace remains a landmark release in the genre. (Limited to 3000).

The 15 Year Anniversary Special Edition of Sleigh Bells' Treats, on Blue and White vinyl, the first pressing since 2012. The RSD Black Friday 2025 release includes a 16-page booklet and poster insert. (Limited to 1500)

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 spring semester 1974, the band 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: “Warning Sign” and “Psycho Killer.” This collection for RSD Black Friday includes this newly discovered material alongside an additional eleven demo and live tracks recorded by the original trio lineup of the band (Bassist Tina Weymouth alongside Frantz and Byrne) in 1975 and 1976. (Limited to 7500)

Celebrating 60 years of Elektra’s first rock band, Love. Featuring their first four Elektra albums, starting with their groundbreaking self-titled debut, the experimental jams of Da Capo (which includes a 19 minute song), the classic Forever Changes tunes, and the edge of Four Sail. No info as to sources, who mastered, where pressed etc. You are on your own! (Limited to 2000 copies)