RSD Black Friday, November 24, 2017

In Store Acquisitions:

• Neil Young - Harvest Moon (1992) 2xLP, LEx5000
• Steve Earle - El Corazon (1997) LP w/ Lithograph, LEx2500
• Sun Ra - Exotica (2017) Colored 3xLP, LEx1000
• The Sundays - Static & Silence (1997) Clear LP, LEx2000
• Toto - Hold the Line/Alone (2017) 10" Picture Disc, LEx3000

Aquired After RSDBF

• The Free Design - Kites are Fun (1967) "Golden Sky" Colored LP, LEx900
• Ravi Shankar - Portrait of Genius (1964) Purple LP, LEx1200
• Ziggy Marley - Love is My Religion (2006) LEx6000

Of Potential Interest:

• Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit - Live From Welcome to 1979 (2017, LEx4000)
• Los Straightjackets - Sing Along With Los Straightjackets (2001), LEx1500
• Muddy Waters - The Best of Muddy Waters (1958) Colored LP, LEx1500
• Otis Redding - Live in Europe (1967) Red Mono LP, LEx3250
• Rush - Closer to the Heart/Madrigal (1977) 45rpm 7", LEx5000
• Son Volt - Straightaways (1997) LP, LEx2500
• Son Volt - Ballymena (2017) 10" 45rpm EP, LEx1500
• The United States of America - Self Titled (1968) Mono LP, LEx2000

My first record store day event that I missed. :-( Well, thanks to my wife and son, who were at Skip's Records in Eugene, Oregon for the event, I did successfully acquire a few titles this year. Fortunately, they grabbed one of only two available copies of Sun Ra's "Exotica" in the store. I think everything else was easily available. Only about 30 people showed up at Skip's when the door's opened at 7am, which is far below normal according to several customers. One attributed it to the "somewhat poor set of releases this year."

I may consider visiting my local Rhino store at some point to check out the leftovers, but there's no rush. Like the Oregon customers, I found it to be a mostly lackluster Black Friday event. MOST of the releases are either foreign to me or otherwise uninteresting, and I have 40 years of experience listening to records. Yeah, eventually I may explore some of the lesser known artists offered, which is always a part of the fun of course, but I do wish the RSD folks would consider putting more mainstream releases and reissues into the event. Having a few obscure artists/titles isn't necessarily bad, but I don't see the point in releasing so many relatively unknown albums. The average vinyl enthusiast could care less. Also, there are just way too many "Various Artists" and soundtrack compilations. Yawn. Please stop.

I am pleased with the few items I did get this Black Friday. I spent about a third of what I usually do, which was a nice relief to the wallet. Thing is, good ole Amazon had sweeping vinyl price reductions throughout November, including a buy one, get one 50% off promotion on Black Friday weekend, and I took advantage of it. That resulted in a lighter wallet despite this year's Record Store Day Black Friday savings/disappointment.