Black Friday Finds: Record Store Day Edition
I've actually been sitting on this content for a little bit now. There are a number of reasons, but none of them are really that important. That doesn't mean I still won't share them with you. As many of you know, the day after Thanksgiving is often referred to as "Black Friday". What you may not know is that the third Saturday in April is a day known as Record Store Day. It's a worldwide event that brings special edition and early edition vinyl records to collectors.
In addition to the April date, they also have a special Black Friday drop every year. I've written posts in the past about lining up in the wee hours of the morning waiting for my local record store to open to get my hands on something special.
As I said, there are "RSD First" items and "RSD Exclusive" items. The First items usually become available to the masses after the fact, but the exclusive items are only available on RSD and when they are gone, they are gone.
If you jump up and look at the link I shared above, you might find a list on that website. There, I made it easier for you. It should show all the releases that were available this past Black Friday. If you look to the far right of the list, you will see a number. For some albums it's in the thousands, ten thousands, or hundreds.
Looking at the list, let's take the Phil Collins album "Live From The Board... The Official Bootleg". That is a RSD Exclusive and there were only 3000 copies pressed. Record stores across the globe can request any of these albums, but they may only get a handful of them. They also may not get any copies of a particular record. As you can imagine, this has made the secondary market for RSD albums pretty lucrative.
As part of the rules, record stores also aren't allowed to "hold" any of the albums for you. If the RSD authorities (I don't know if that is a thing) find out you did, they can blacklist your store from getting drops in the future.
When my older nieces were home for Thanksgiving this year, I wanted to do something special for the younger one, since there was some stuff going on with my oldest niece which I can't really talk about here. Anyway, I wanted to do something special for the younger one, and she shares my love of vinyl records so I asked if she wanted to go to record store day with me.
She was so excited, and I think she had a really good time. She picked up a Noah Kahan RSD First and a Billie Eilish RSD First. The Billie one was interesting as it was her recent album with just her vocals extracted. I haven't asked her how it sounds yet, but the idea seems cool and it was a pretty exclusive thing for her to pick up. I would guess none of her friends probably have a copy of it.
As you can see from the photos, I got an RSD Exclusive album from the Jazz Dispensary called The Golden Hour. It's a compilation album they release once a year and there are only 4000 copies pressed. I'm actually on the fence about whether I will even open it or not!
I also picked up my first copy of The Chronic by Dr. Dre. I think it was his first solo album after NWA and it is considered one of the greatest of all time. I've been wanting a copy for a while now and I finally couldn't pass it up.
With that in mind, for #threetunetuesday I am going to share three songs for you off that album. Not a lot of commentary on this one as I already told you quite the story before sharing the songs!
It's actually so crazy to see how young Snoop Dogg was in these videos. I wasn't really into this kind of music back then, but I really appreciate it now. I've said it before, but it's interesting that it's the east coast rappers that are getting in so much trouble these days. Given their association with Suge Knight I would have guessed the west coast rappers would wind up in jail sooner than the east coast ones.
It's also a little bittersweet to see Easy E in some of these videos. He was definitely taken too soon.
"Nuthin' But A "G" Thang" is probably one of the most iconic songs on the album alongside "Bitches Ain't Shit". I've gotta say, if you haven't watched the movie Straight Outta Compton yet, you really need to because it gives you the foundation to really appreciate this album and these songs.
Finally, I decided to close things out with "Let Me Ride". It's a great anthem and continues the vibe that this whole album has. I just can't get over how good of an album this is. My stereo system at home has a set of large speakers with 15" woofers. You better believe I had this album cranked up and shaking the windows when I got it home!
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I too appreciate this kind of music more than I ever did back then. Snoop Dogg looks really young in there, he's sure aged! The Chronic was Dre's best music, probably a nice buy on your part. Now that jazz compilation I probably wouldn't open either. Just so few copies made it could easily appreciate over the next few years.
I'm hoping that is the case. It's a good album though, so I might be tempted to give it a spin. I was able to find it on Spotify and give it a little "pre listen". I'm still trying to find some LL Cool J on vinyl. I really want the album with Loungin on it.
When I saw the Vinyl album cover, It peaked my interest right away and then you proceeded to say you've been sitting on some content for awhile now and I was even more intrigued. As I thought of making posts on my vinyl collection, it is pretty big collection and I have some rare gems, new and old but I never posted it. I have a post done that I did on July 28th, 2023 and its been sitting ever since. I have never been to a Record Store Day but I do own some that I had bought off eBay. Awesome post, maybe I post it one day and start posting more of my collection. Have a blessed one, thanks for some inspiration to might make me post it.
Thanks for stopping by. You should definitely post about it. Record store day is a hoot if you ever get a chance to participate in it. They often have some really good and exclusive stuff. I have a special edition Rolling Stones album I got from there a couple of years ago. I also got a special release album from The Church. I think I have about 200 to 300 records in total. I have never really counted! I need to start loading them into the Discogs app at some point.
Nice, Yeah, so true and nice. I will for sure now that you sparked me to do it. I haven't bought as much as I had last year but I've got six of those black storage boxes from Walmart pretty much full on all them. So probably around 400. I have more rap then anything but I do have many rock, country etc. That post I have saved is a 90s rap from the south, only 220 made and it was one of my favorite albums to drive to because of the bass. haha. I might do Discogs one day too, love that sight, it helps looking for albums that were made and how I found some.
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That Dre album was a pretty massive part of my teenage years. I had an obsession with car stereos at the time and was really good at tuning them and not just making them loud ostentatious horrible noise-pollution machines at that time in my life. However, the Dre album was basically impossible to not blast and get the license plate shaking for. There are very few albums out there by any artist where basically every song is fire but that album is one of them.
It's definitely pretty great! I'm so glad I finally picked a copy up. I need to start building out the rap section of my record collection.
My exact same thoughts. And now he's an Olympic ambassador.
The Chronic sparks so many memories for me! I think the summer that came out was the best summer of my life. I was a young adult, making a decent salary at my first real job but didn't have any major responsibilities yet. My entire life was still ahead of me and it felt like anything was possible. Most weekends were spent down in the Brewery District right on the edge of German Village in Columbus listening to live local bands. It's incredible how music has a way of bringing back the vividness of those memories.
That does sound like a pretty awesome time in your life! It definitely has a lot of the pieces to be a perfect moment in time! It's actually been a while since we have been downtown. Usually when we are down there we are on the softball fields or gymnasiums for basketball!
The Chronic was a great album, so many cool hits. I think many of the tunes are still ok to listen to today, although I generally dont listen to this type of music anymore!
I got in phases. I might have a moth where I only listen to country, then the next month it's all 90's rap.
Well I certainly learned something reading that. I had a ton of old vinyl, lost it all getting divorced.
I'm sorry to hear that. I got a lot of mine from my dad and then things I have picked up here and there. I actually prefer used vinyl because you get more bang for your buck.
The Chronic was a great album. Had it back in the day and always enjoyed Dre and Snoop.
It's been fun to listen to!
Yeah I had no idea there was such a thing as RSD so that was also great to know. We have a cool local record store I’ve done a few photos inside so I’ll have to chat them up about it.
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Never knew RSD was such a big thing!
Quality album, although not his best in my humble opinion. 2001 takes that mantle for me, but The Chronic is still qaulity and sweet to pick it up on Vinyl.
Why do you get Vinyls? Is the sound much better than digital MP3s and such?
There is something warmer about it and more visceral.
Snoop dog has always look this young' he never gets old ever since I listen to his song at childhood' I do wonder the elixir he takes though
Maybe he will sell it eventually!
Lolzz very profitable business man
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Oh yeah! I simply love this kind of music :)
!pimp
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