The first Record Store Day of 2020 is coming up next month. Here’s what to expect.
Record Store Day has always been on the third Saturday of April, but that was killed this year by the coronavirus. Instead, there will be three RSDs, one each in August, September, and October. The good news is that the delay has given labels and artists to come up with even more special limited edition releases.
The official list for the August 28 edition of RSD is coming up and some of the lists are enormous. These links will give you spreadsheets of what’s coming.
Here are a few things that caught my eye:
- Black Keys, “Let’s Rock” (45 RPM edition)
- The Cure, Seventeen Secods
- The Cure, Bloodflowers
- Judas Priest, British Steel (40th anniversary edition)
- Bob Marley, “Redemption Song” 12-inch
- Motorhead, “Ace of Spaces” 12-inch
- Pogues, BBC Sessions 1984-85
- Iggy Pop, Kiss My Blood (Live in Paris 1991)
- Lou Reed and John Cale, Songs for Drella
- U2, “11 O’Clock Tick Tock” (40th anniversary edition) 12-inch
- Roger Waters, The Wall Live in Berlin (2 x LP)
- The Who, Odds and Sods (Deluxe) (2 x LP)
To find a participating store near you, go here.
I hate to be cynical about this, but I don’t get the reasoning behind having 3 days spread over 3 months. The RSD die-hards and flippers are going to go to all 3, so it won’t minimize the volume of shoppers in stores. It’ll make it worse in some ways, since (I hope) stores will be following health protocols and limiting shoppers, so rather than 50 people jammed into a store fighting over available stock, they’ll let 5 in, and those 5 will be able to cherry-pick as much as they want. Yes, some stores have limited shoppers before (one of the Calgary stores does), but in most, the free-for-all at least gave some people a shot at getting something good. Sure, you have to be ‘first in line’ to get a chance, but this new format has the opposite effect of leveling the playing field. The only plus I see is that delaying the whole event by 4-6 months will hopefully mean that all of the designated records will actually be in stock in Cdn stores, instead of showing up only to discover half of what a store ordered didn’t arrive in time for RSD.