Black Friday isn't all about meaningless consumer noise: Thanks to the fine folks behind Record Store Day, there's actually some meaningful noise in the mix as well.
The full-fledged Record Store Day is an April tradition in which scores of limited-run vinyl albums and singles are made available to independent record stores across the country. The Back to Black Friday version is smaller in scope, but has some of the same thrills for collectors. Those who go hunting on this Friday might just find rare goodies from the likes of the Dave Matthews Band, The Flaming Lips and even John Denver and the Muppets.
More than 70 exclusive items are on offer, in varying quantities. The day can be a bit of a scavenger hunt: No store will have all the selections, and the distribution can be random. Keith Glass, proprietor of Mobile Records and a longtime professional collector, said that can have its pesky side.
"Dave Matthews is incredibly annoying," Glass said. "Why doesn't he put out more copies of these things? The result is that nobody can get them and they immediately go for $500 on eBay." (The Black Friday shopping list includes Dave Matthews Band "Live Trax" box sets of concerts from 2000 and 2004. 950 copies of each will be available.)
Still, Glass said, the Record Store Day promotions have indeed helped improve ties between stores and music fans, and even between owners such as himself and Billy Francis, owner of Bay Sound in Daphne. "It's fun," Glass said. "We've found a little community of nerds we didn't even know were there."
These days, he said, it's not unusual to have out-of-town customers, often members of bands performing in the area, who are guided by specialized smartphone apps that tell them where to find new independent record shops. "That happens every week," he said.
The Record Store Day website lists three participating stores in the Mobile area: Mobile Records, at 140B S. Sage Ave.; Bay Sound, 2001 U.S. 98 in Daphne; and Dr. Music, 9 N. Church St. in Fairhope.
A few personal picks from Friday's offerings follow. For some picks from my fellow Alabama Media Group writer Matt Wake, click here.
Blind Boys of Alabama/Jason Isbell & John Paul White, "Christmas In Dixie"/ "Old Flame", 7" vinyl, 3,000 copies. If I ever had the chance to pick up a slab with this much Alabama goodness on it and passed it by, I'd spend the rest of my life worried that St. Peter would bring it up when I met him at the Pearly Gates.
Cheap Trick, "The Classic Albums, 1977-79," LPs box set, number available not specified. Calling this a conversation piece is an understatement. Some box sets are merely good for making people talk, but I think you could use this one to end just about any conversation imaginable, with a resounding thud. (And yes, "Live at Budokan" is in there.
John Denver and the Muppets, "A Christmas Together," on a 12" picture disc, 2,000 copies. Seriously, how could you not? I'd cherish this and keep it in a place of honor. Or maybe I'd just stick it in with my old "Pac-Man Fever" LP and play it once a decade or so. Either way, instant nostalgia.
Various Artists, "I Am the Resurrection: A Tribute to John Fahey", double LP on tortoise-shell vinyl, 2,000 copies worldwide. John Fahey was an incredible freak of reinvented folk guitar, a relatively little-known titan with a vast influence. (If you don't want to take my word for it, here's an extensive new profile in The Guardian.) This set probably drips with weird goodness.
Townes Van Zandt, "Sunshine Boy: The Unheard Studio Sessions & Demos, 1971-1972," 3 LP box set, number available not specified. I'm including this on the recommendation of Glass, and I think he's on to something. A songwriter with a passionate cult following, deep archival material and a willfully archaic format: It seems like the kind of perfect storm that Record Store Day was created to stir up.
Are you a vinyl nut with a shopping list of your own? Add your picks in the comments section below.
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