Record Store Day Black Friday 2017: Seven Exclusive Album Reissues to Watch For

For the last 10 years, Record Store Day has been a great avenue for launching album reissues. The event gives artists and labels the opportunity to celebrate these tremendous works while also giving back to the fans who buy the albums and the independent stores that sell them. This Record Store Day Black Friday will be no different as there are many specially-packaged and long-out-of-print reissues being released this Friday, November 24.

In anticipation of Record Store Day Black Friday, Vinyl Bay777, Long Island’s music outlet, is taking a look at some of the album reissues we can look forward to this coming Friday. Here are seven titles we can’t wait to get our hands on. (Note: Vinyl Bay 777 may not have all of these titles in stock on RSD. Please drop by the store on Friday to see what we will have.)

1.       Tori Amos, ‘Y Kant Tori Read’: Tori Amos has two releases coming out for Record Store Day Black Friday that bookend her career. The first is the ‘Russian EP,’ which features four songs from her 2017 album ‘Native Invader’ on orange vinyl with labels printed in Russian. The other is a reissue of her synth-pop band Y Kant Tori Read’s 1988 self-titled album, which doubles as Amos’ very first recording for Atlantic Records.  Long out-of-print and usually shunned by Amos herself, the album is being remastered and released in original track list order.

2.       Grateful Dead, ‘Grateful Dead Records Collection’: Between 1973 and 1977, the Grateful Dead were releasing music on their own label, Grateful Dead Records. Come this Friday, fans of the jam band will be able to own all four albums released on the label together in one neat package. The ‘Grateful Dead Records Collection’ features ‘Wake of the Flood,’ ‘From the Mars Hotel,’ ‘Blues for Allah’ and the double LP ‘Steal Your Face,’ all “faithfully replicated, housed in rigid slipcases” and coming with books “containing liner notes and iconic photos of the band.”

3.       Richard Hell & the Voidoids, ‘Blank Generation’: Richard Hell & the Voidoids’ iconic debut album ‘Blank Generation’ turned 40 in September. In celebration of the anniversary, the band is issuing a 40^th anniversary edition of the album for Record Store Day Black Friday. This new edition was remastered by Greg Calbi, who originally mastered the album at Sterling Sound, and features a bonus disc/LP with unreleased tracks that include alternate studio versions, out-of-print singles, and bootleg live recordings of the band’s first performance at CBGBs in 1976. The package also contains previously unpublished photos of the band from Roberta Bayley, an essay by Richard Hell and an interview conducted by Hell with guitarist Ivan Julian.

4.       Willie Nelson, ‘Yesterday’s Wine’ and ‘Spirit’: Willie Nelson has not one but two reissues coming out for Record Store Day Black Friday. The first is ‘Yesterday’s Wine,’ which hasn’t been pressed on vinyl in more than three decades. Part of Friday Music’s 180g Audiophile Vinyl Series, the album will be released on burgundy vinyl and packaged in a gatefold sleeve with a poster of the album’s cover art. The second reissue is of Nelson’s 1996 album ‘Spirit,’ which is being pressed on vinyl for the first time. Newly remastered and pressed on colored vinyl, the album will come in a “deluxe gatefold, ‘tip-on’ uncoated jacket.”

5.       Iggy Pop, ‘New Values’: Another addition to Friday Music’s 180g Audiophile Vinyl Series, Iggy Pop will be reissuing his 1979 Arista Records debut ‘New Values,’ his third solo release, for Record Store Day Black Friday. This new edition features the album on blue and black swirled vinyl packaged in a gatefold cover with a 24x24 poster included.

6.       Steve Earle, ‘El Corazon’: Released in 1997, ‘El Corazon’ is one of Steve Earle’s most eclectic albums to date. After twenty years, the album will be seeing its first ever vinyl release for Record Store Day Black Friday. The new edition will come with an exclusive lithograph.

7.       Neil Young, ‘Harvest Moon’: Neil Young’s classic album ‘Harvest Moon’ turned 25 this month. To celebrate, the iconic singer-guitarist is releasing a special 25^th anniversary edition of the album, pressed on vinyl for the first time in North America, for Black Friday. The vinyl will feature two LPs, with the album’s artwork etched on the second side of the second LP.

In true Record Store Day fashion, this year’s Black Friday event will feature some outstanding special-edition reissues. These are just some of the reissue titles coming out this Friday that we feel are worth getting excited over. A mix of landmark anniversary releases, vinyl first-presses and long out-of-print titles, these reissues would be a great addition to any music fans’ collection.

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Vinyl Bay 777, Long Island’s top new independent record shop, is excited to be a part of Record Store Day Black Friday this year. Drop by our Plainview location on November 24 between 9 AM and 10 PM to find exclusive Record Store Day releases and to browse our wide selection of new and used vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, music DVDs and memorabilia. Vinyl Bay 777 has thousands of titles in store and online at vinylbay777.com year-round with new titles being added all the time.