Black Friday Record Store Day Preview – Grateful Dead, Flaming Lips, Miles Davis, Umphrey’s McGee, St. Vincent, Joan Jett, Velvet Underground, Disco Biscuits, Decemberists, Gov’t Mule, J Mascis, more

TheFutureHeart

Revised October 21, 2014

Founded in 2007, Record Store Day rapidly grew to be a much anticipated annual tradition for music fans and vinyl collectors every April. When else are you going to be able to buy a 24 hour song (well, kind of) on vinyl? But it’s first and foremost a celebration of independent record stores, and a crucial day for business. Take this year for instance. With live LPs by The Grateful Dead and Tame Impala and collectible 7’s by Nirvana and Devo/The Flaming Lips leading the way, independent shops reported a 646% total sales spike on Record Store Day compared to the previous Saturday, setting a new high for LPs sold in a single week. This success – which has steadily increased annually – was too great to limit to just one day a year, so a mini-Record Store Day was added the day after Thanksgiving in 2011. Though at first a much smaller event than its April parent, last Black Friday saw a surge in releases, including three just from the day’s unofficial ambassadors, The Flaming Lips (Peace Sword EP, a remake of the Stone Roses entire debut LP titled Come To Shoot You Down…What A Sound and a 12″ split EP with Tame Impala, Peace and Paranoia). 

Which brings us to Black Friday 2014 shaping up to be the largest yet. Although the official release list isn’t scheduled to drop until October 20th (update – it’s here), numerous artists and labels have already announced their 2014 offerings. Yet again The Flaming Lips lead the way with their “secret” holiday album Atlas Eets Christmas making its long awaited vinyl debut. In addition to the eight songs from their nom de plume 2007 myspace stream and extremely rare CD (only a handful of copies were made), the vinyl edition also includes three newer recordings added to the Imagene Peise collection in recent years for the band’s satelliteheartradio.com: 2009’s “Frosteeeeee,” 2010’s “Merry Christmas to You,” and 2012’s “Christmas Kindness Song.” Although it omits both versions of “Santy Claus is Coming” from 2011 and last year’s “Blue Christmas,” it looks like there may be a bit of new music on the album: an outro following the title-track at the end of Side A credited to “Bombay Flights Of Fancy Philharmonic Orchestra.” The Flaming Lips are also featured in Jingle Bell Rocks!, a new documentary about alternative Christmas music that will have its DVD release on Black Friday at select record stores. The Flaming Lips have also recorded a re-make of Plastic Ono Band chestnut “War Is Over” with Linear Downfall and Stardeath and White Dwarfs “for a Christmas Yoko Ono thang.” No info has been announced yet on how or when it will be released, though Black Friday seems a possibility.

Gov’t Mule, Disco Biscuits, Green Day, and The Velvet Underground are among the artists releasing highly anticipated live albums on vinyl this Black Friday. Of particular note is The Grateful Dead’s 11/18/72 Hofheinz Pavilion, Houston TX , a double LP recording of a classic show (known for its “Playing in the Band”) on 180 gram vinyl mastered from the 2-track original analog reel-to-reel tape. Never before released on vinyl, the new package features original artwork by Gary Houston with a gatefold sleeve. View the tracklist here.

Umphrey’s McGee and St. Vincent are both issuing songs only heard previously at their concerts on 7″ (watch the former’s “October Rain” below and download/stream a decent audience recording of the latter’s Pieta here) and a TBA new Decemberists single will be our first taste of their 2015 album. Other highlights include rare Hendrix tracks debuting on vinyl; David Bowie’s latest single “Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)” on 10″; a Joan Jett book with an exclusive live 7″ featuring Pat Smear; Dinosaur Jr’s J Mascis covering Mazzy Star; First Aid Kit covering Simon and Garfunkel; The Beatles’ 1964 UK EP Long Tall Sally on 7” vinyl; reissues of classic albums by They Might Be Giants, The Kinks and others; and Dave Matthews Band’s 1994 Recently EP on 10-inch with a rare promo.

Black Friday 2014 is Friday, November 28th. The Future Heart’s 33 most anticipated releases are below. Our longer list of highlights is here. Find participating stores at recordstoreday.com.

  • Miles Davis — “Blue XMas” – 7″release of 1962 alt Christmas classic featuring Bob Dorough (of Schoolhouse Rock! fame), backed with “Devil May Care” (another Dorough original featuring Davis) on blue vinyl in a picture sleeve

  • Umphrey’s McGee  – “October Rain” – 7″ of new song backed with “Room to Breathe”

  • St. Vincent – “Pieta” – 10″ of unreleased song backed with the new “Sparrow,” on foil-embossed colored vinyl
  • Velvet Underground – LIVE MCMXCIII – 4 LP reissue of rare 1993 CD on blue vinyl, limited to 7000
  • Disco Biscuits – The Classical Set – 2003 live recording from Tennessee’s TranceMission Festival featuring covers of classical compositions (and Biscuit originals with classical arrangements) on vinyl for the first time; includes download card and bonus track
  • Gov’t Mule –  Stoned Side of the Mule Volume 1 –  LP of 7 Rolling Stones covers (“Under My Thumb”, “Monkey Man”, “DooDooDooDooDoo (Heartbreaker)”, “Paint it Black”, “Angie”, “Ventilator Blues”, “Shattered”) with guests Jackie Greene and saxophonist Steve Elson recorded live on Halloween 2009; newly edited and mastered, with the vinyl lacquers cut from the old Stax Records lathe in Memphis on 180 gram vinyl
  • Jimi Hendrix – Hear My Music – re-release of 2004 authorized bootleg by Dagger Records (featuring unreleased studio recordings from 1969) on 200-gram wax double LP, each individually numbered, limited to 5000
  • J Mascis – “Fade Into You” – 7″ single of the Mazzy Star song, previously released with shoes by Keep,  backed with “Outside,” includes free download, limited to 4,000
  • Kinks – Muswell Hillbillies – deluxe double-LP ‘Legacy Edition’ of classic 1971 album with a bonus disc of rarities, outtakes and BBC Peel Sessions
  • Joan Jett – flexi book and 7″ – book designed by Todd Oldham chronicles Joan’s career  from The Runaways to the Blackhearts through many never-before-seen photos and excerpts from thirty years of interviews curated with Joan; exclusive live 7″ vinyl of “Bad Reputation” with Pat Smear, “You Don’t Know What You’ve Got,” “TMI” and “Cherry Bomb”
  • The Beatles – “Long Tall Sally” – 7″ reissue of 1964 UK EP not released in US (with “I Call Your Name,” “Slow Down” and “Matchbox”), limited to 7000 copies
  • Dave Matthews Band – Recently – 1994 EP re-release as individually numbered 10-inch, along with the rare promo EP, Pumpkin Recently and free download of both discs
  • The Decemberists – TBA – New single off forthcoming 2015 album backed with exclusive B side track (possibly “Lake Song” and/or “Philomena,” both debuted live earlier this year)
  • Morrissey Curates The Ramones – double LP “best of” comp with a tracklist selected by the former Smiths frontman, limited to 4,400 copies
  • David Bowie – “Sue (Or In a Season of Crime)” – 10-inch single backed with “’Tis a Pity She Was a Whore” and the radio edit of ‘Sue’
  • Ra Ra Riot – “Two Hearts Beat as One” – 7″ of U2 cover backed with demo of “Wilderness”
  • They Might Be Giants – Flood –  1990 album reissued on green (2,900) and yellow (100) vinyl
  • Husker Du  – Warehouse:  Songs and Stories – Double LP reissue on neon green neon yellow vinyl
  • First Aid Kit – “America” – Simon and Garfunkel cover backed with unreleased original “Brother” and two acoustic tracks from Stay Gold
  • The Dead Milkmen – Big Lizard In My Backyard –  1985 album reissued on red (2,900) and green (100) vinyl
  • Jenny Lewis – “Pax-Am Sessions” 7″ – alternate versions of “Just One of the Guys” and “You Can’t Outrun ‘Em” produced by Ryan Adams and Mike Viola,  limited to 5,000
  • Miles Davis – The Prestige 10 Inch LPs Collection Vol. – 10″ vinyl box set limited to 2000
  • South Park – “James Cameron” – 7″ picture disc backed with “My Bitch Ain’t No Hobbit,” limited to 2,500 copies
  • Mastodon – “The Motherload” – 12″ picture disc backed with an instrumental version of “Halloween,” limited to 5,000
  • Conor Oberst – “Standing On The Outside Looking In” – 7″ single of the unreleased song backed with another Upside Down Mountain out-take, “Sugar Street;” both produced by
  • Jonathan Wilson; 33RPM in single pocket art sleeve, limited to 3,000
  • Genesis – From Genesis To Revelation – reissue of 1969 debut album, limited to 1500
  • Fishbone – Truth and Soul –  1988 album reissued on green (2,900) and yellow (100) vinyl
  • Green Day – Tune In Tokyo – 2001 live recording available worldwide for the first time on transparent blue vinyl, limited to 5,000 (tracklist)
  • Joe Satriani – Joe Satriani EP – 12″ vinyl 30th anniversary edition reissue each individually numbered, remastered on 180 gram vinyl.
  • Joey Ramone – Christmas Spirit…In My House – 10″ vinyl  reissue of 2002 posthumous holiday comp
  • Mother Love Bone – “Hold Your Head Up” – 7″ of unreleased Argent cover backed with “Holy Roller” from the Apple Sessions

Published by TheFutureHeart

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