Record store day 2022 essentials the black friday edition 1
Photo by Y. Peyankov via Unsplash.
The Black Friday installment of Record Store Day 2022 is upon us, featuring exclusive pressings of classic, new and obscure albums from elite producers, top-shelf jazz pioneers, and boundary-breaking bluesmen.
For many of us, Black Friday may signal big deals and big hauls at the big box stores. But for others, it marks one final mad-dash down their local record store's aisles to scoop some of the limited edition pressings of wax that tend to grace the release list for Record Store Day. For the third and final RSD installment of the year, the pool of exclusives is vast as ever. With nearly 200 total entries, time management will be key. And luckily, we've already combed through the full slate to find the most essential pick-ups
From crucial reissues of long out-of-print projects to priceless live shows breaking out of their bootleg phase to revived pressings of jazz rock grail, there's something for every shape and shade of vinyl collector looking to expand or update their respective portfolios. Given the relative rarity of many of these titles (with no more than 5,000 copies of any title,) you might want to put in a call to your local shops just to make sure the inventory is on point or check the official Record Store Day site for participating vendors in your region.
Scroll through for hand-picked selections of exclusive drops for the Black Friday installment of Record Store Day 2022 below. Stay safe in the trenches. And, as always, happy hunting to you all.
Source: Candid Records
Thelonious Monk - The Classic Quartet
Quantity: 3,000
Format: LP
If there's anything jazz collectors covet more than live sets from short stints in Japan, we've yet to spot it. And this show from Thelonious Monk's 1963 run in the country checks all the boxes. Supported by Charlie Rouse on sax, Frank Dunlop on drums, and Butch Warren on bass, is a stout 40-ish minute set originally broadcasted on Japanese television. But what the show lacks in runtime, it makes up for in intimacy, holding a gorgeously lonesome take of "Just a Gigolo," performed by an unaccompanied Monk. Though the performance has gone by a number of names over the years (and is likely best suited for the most ravenous of Monk fan,) it returns to wax for the first time in nearly four decades as The Classic Quartet on a cloudy blue wax treatment.
Source: Rhino Records
Todd Rundgren - Something/Anything
Quantity: 3,500
Format: Quadruple LP
Arguably the seminal piece of Todd Rundgren's catalog, Something/Anything is getting a colossal 4xLP package in honor of its 50th-anniversary for the closing installation of Record Store Day 2022. Restored from the original tapes, each disc of the reissue is pressed to a different color of wax and the double-gatefold comes equipped with new liners from Rundgren scholar, Paul Myers. Pick your copy via Rough Trade today.
Source: Tru Soul Records
Pete Rock - Return of the SP1200 Vol. 2
Quantity: 3,500
Format: LP
Back in 2019, Pete Rock dove deep into his bag of floppy discs to retrieve some of the earliest glimpses at his interactions with sampling on the fabled E-mu SP1200. Released as the 15-track vinyl-exclusive compilation, Return of The SP1200, the project was the first and only collection of Pete's instrumentals from the 1990s. Until now. For the Black Friday editior of Record Store Day 2022, the producer jumped back into the archive and came up with an additional dozen of his SP1200 beats. You can hear them only on opaque red wax via Return of The SP1200 Vol. 2, which will once again be a very limited vinyl-exclusive affair.
Source: Now-Again Records
The Stark Reality - Discovers Hoagy Carmichael's Music Shop
Quantity: 3,000
Format: Double LP
North of 50 years since its original release under Ahmad Jamal's AJP Records banner, The Stark Reality Discovers Hoagy Carmichael's Music Shop is no closer to clear categorization. A crucial and unexpected interfacing between proto-jazz-rock and children's television, the album has become an invaluable and highly-coveted piece for any well-rounded psyche, prog, or spiritual jazz collector. And for those who don't want to shell out the three to four figures it will likely take to grab a grail, Now-Again is reviving their reissue of the album for a limited run, featuring a 12" booklet with a full exposition of the album's history and rare photos from the sessions. A few copies may be available via Rappcats, but you'll have to hit to shelves of your local stores to find a proper stock of this gem.
Source: Resonance Records
Jaco Pastorius - Truth, Liberty & Soul: Live in NYC - The Complete 1982 NPR Jazz Alive! Recording
Quantity: 2,000
Format: Triple LP
Another bootleg finally getting an official stamp from the estate, this legendary Jaco Pastorius set is about to hit its second life for a very limited run of vinyl. Widely-circulated in digital and physical back alleys, Jaco's 1982 concert at Avery Fisher Hall for an NPR broadcast is a gleaming example of the virtuosic low-end theorist's ability to both write for and lead a big band, which featured a 22-member configuration of prestige players from across New York City's jazz and fusion circles. For the first time ever, the full show will be released as a heavyweight 3xLP set restored from the original 24-track tapes, featuring 40 minutes of the show that never made it to air, expansive liner notes, new essays, and rare photos of the show.
Source: Madlib Invazion
Madlib - Medicine Show No. 11: Low Budget High-Fi Music
Quantity: 5,000
Format: LP
Out of print since its original release in 2011, the 11th installment of Madlib's Medicine Show series is a roll call of the producer's powers. The beats, the seamless mind-melt collaging, the preternatural collaborative spirit of a skilled musician pushing hip-hop forward and out. It's all accounted for and pristinely presented on this wax reissue, which is pressed to colorful acetate and features appearances from Guilty Simpson, Karriem Riggins, AG, Oh No, Frank Nitt, and a morsel of a Jaylib track that was initially intended for the duo's scrapped follow-up to Champion Sound.
Source: Craft Recordings
Various Artists - Jazz Dispensary: Haunted High
Quantity: 3,600
Format: LP
For years now, the Jazz Dispensary compilation series has pressed up beautifully curated sequences of obscure and deceptively essential sounds from all corners of the cosmic stash. In its latest installment, the series explores some of the farthest reaching segments of prestige players like McCoy Tyner, Cannonball Adderly, Cal Tjader, and Gene Ammons. There's also some very tasty sample fodder for producers with an itchy finger (hear Barbara Lewis' simmering country funk take on "Windmills of Your Mind.") Aptly titled, Haunted High, the collection is issued on a pink splatter-cast acetate. Pick up your copy via Rough Trade today.
Source: Legacy Recordings
Jimi Hendrix - Burning Desire
Quantity: 5,000
Format: Double LP
One of the few "authorized" bootlegs worth its weight in truly priceless moments of pure and potent exploration, Burning Desire was originally released as a mail order CD in 2006. It contains the criminally few documents of Jimi Hendrix's "Band of Gypsies" ensemble (with Buddy Miles on drums and Billy Cox on bass,) in the studio, collecting the rough takes and demos recorded at the now-defunct original location of The Record Plant between November 1969 and February 1970, the months leading to and from their iconic and brain-searing set at The Filllmore East on New Years Eve. The album has only been pressed once as a part of a previous RSD event in 2015 since its initial release. And it's back by popular demand as a 2xLP on translucent red and orange wax.
