The organizers of Record Store Day are bringing a slew of exclusive releases to independent music retail for the upcoming “Back to Black Friday” promotion on November 26. The day after Thanksgiving is traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year and has become something of a pop culture event. Until now, music retail had forgone the attention-grabbing tactics that gets big box retailers a great deal of media attention.
One “Back to Black Friday” item not yet publicized is an EP by Belgian choir Scala and Kolacny Brothers. The event will also have exclusives by U2, Metallica, The Black Keys, Iron and Wine, Gaslight Anthem and Cage the Elephant.
In targeting the busiest shopping day of the year, the stores want to underscore the special nature of music without trying to replicate April’s annual Record Store Day event, explains Michael Kurtz, president of Music Monitor Network. “We limited this to less than 30 pieces because we don’t want this to be seen as ‘Son of Record Store Day.'” He says Record Store Day can have upward of 300 exclusive pieces.
Here are some of the “Back to Black Friday” releases that will be in stores November 26:
— Scala and Kolacny Brothers, signed to Rhino Entertainment imprint ATCO Records, will release a limited-edition EP. The group is perhaps best known for its cover of Radiohead’s “Creep” that is heard in the trailer for the film “The Social Network.”
— The Black Keys will release a limited-edition box set of its latest Nonesuch release, “Brothers.” The set will have double-7″ singles and CD versions of “Brothers” as well as a 10″ vinyl single with six previously unreleased live recordings and a limited-edition poster.
— Iron and Wine will release a three-song single on CD and 12″ vinyl. One song will be available only on this release while the other two will be released on Iron and Wine’s upcoming 2011 release.
— Gaslight Anthem will release a 7″ single with a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Tumbling Dice” and the original song “She Loves You.”
— Jive recording artists Cage the Elephant will release a 7″ single with two tracks from the group’s upcoming album, “Shake Me Down” and “Aberdeen.” The group’s second album, “Thank You, Happy Birthday,” will be released January 11.
— U2 will release a limited edition EP titled “Wide Awake in Europe” with three live tracks – one of them unreleased. The 12″ vinyl single will be limited to 5,000 copies. It features “Mercy” (Brussels, September 2010) “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight” (Dublin, July 2009) and “Moment of Surrender” (Paris, September 2010).
— Metallica will release “Live at Grimey’s” LP as a limited CD and double-10″ vinyl set.
— George Harrison’s 1970 debut “All Things Must Pass” will be released as a limited-edition, numbered three-LP set on 180-gram vinyl.
