From all of us here at Second Disc HQ to all of you, we hope you've enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving in the company of beloved family and friends. (And with plenty of delicious food, too!)  Now, Record Store Day's annual Black Friday event is upon us, so we're spotlighting a dozen of the most eagerly anticipated releases arriving to your local independent brick-and-mortar record shop! Here are our personal picks for RSD BF must-haves; visit Record Store Day's official website for a list of participating retailers.  Happy Listening, and have a great and safe weekend!  Watch this space for the launch of our annual Holiday Gift Guide on Monday! - Joe, Mike, and Randy

We'll start things off with Mike's picks...​

Sugar, Copper Blue: The Singles Collection (Granary/BMG)

Of all the musical surprises 2026 will bring, one of the most pleasant tidbits to know ahead of time is the reunion of Sugar, Bob Mould's post-Hüsker Dü rock trio. Their 1992 debut Copper Blue is one of my favorite rock records of the '90s, and I can't believe I'm going to hear them play songs from their discography next spring at one of their three sold-out shows at Webster Hall in New York. Copper Blue's four singles ("Changes," "Helpless," "A Good Idea" and the jangle-masterpiece "If I Can't Change Your Mind") will be converted from CD to 12" in a new RSD Black Friday-exclusive box set, packed with original studio B-sides and live cuts from a 1992 show at Chicago's Cabaret Metro. A collection of killer work by a killer band.

Chappell Roan, "The Subway"/"The Giver" (Amusement/Island)

It's not all catalogue music at Second Disc HQ, of course! Like many upright, upstanding music lovers, the rise of Chappell Roan from cult popsmith to Grammy-winning hitmaker has tickled my fancy ever since that NPR Tiny Desk Concert turned my head all the way around. I patiently await however long the midwestern princess takes to formulate a second album; in the meantime, I celebrate the first back-to-back release of her new singles from this year. "The Giver," premiered on Saturday Night Live, is a hard-to-resist country-pop confection whose Lauper-esque lyrics will make you giggle; the real winner, though, might be live favorite "The Subway," an aching breakup ballad featuring some of her most impassioned vocals to date.

Alan Silvestri/John Debney & The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Back to the Future Trilogy (Varese Sarabande)

Back to the Future is a movie miracle: it could've gone south in multiple ways, had that script not been tightened to perfection or if they'd been unable to cast the actor they really wanted to play Marty McFly. That spark of inspiration also applies to Alan Silvestri's rousing score, which had the luxury of being retooled during post-production. A selection of the cues' original arrangements and recordings were issued when the score made its CD premiere from Intrada in 2009 - and only then did fans realize that those orchestrations inspired how John Debney and The Royal Scottish National Orchestra tackled select cues on a Varese Sarabande re-recording one decade prior. (Debney and the RSNO performed selections from the first two films and even an arrangement for the Universal Studios theme park thrill ride, with the Varese-distributed Part III represented by Silvestri's original album selections.) That underrated album makes its vinyl debut for Record Store Day Black Friday with an extra special addition: one of many unused poster concepts by the late, great Drew Struzan graces the album's new cover.

a-ha, Take on Me (40th Anniversary EP) (Warner/Rhino)

Man, I never get sick of "Take on Me." When I was getting into the music of classic MTV in the summer of 2001 - the network was turning 20, and sister station MTV2, which played nothing but videos like the original broadcasts, were going year by year on classic clips - a-ha's chart-topper was a standout. In turn, I'd become one of those American a-ha fans, seeing the band at shows in New York in 2010 and 2022. 40 years later, though, it's "Take on Me" that has an incredible hold on audiences of all stripes, and I'm stoked for this EP, featuring seven commercially released versions (even that symphonic version!) and - most tantalizingly - a new extended mix.

Billy Joel, Live from Long Island (Columbia/Legacy)

Here at Second Disc HQ, the hype over the killer documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes has hardly died down. (Due credit to its super-sized, if digital-only, soundtrack and the work of archivist John Jackson to upload scores of additional vintage live clips to Joel's YouTube channel!) If I had my way, every studio album of the Piano Man's would have an accompanying full live set to go with it, and this 3LP 1982 recording from Nassau Coliseum nearly completes the chain. (By our count, all that's missing is full audio from Turnstiles, 52nd Street, Glass Houses, An Innocent Man and River of Dreams-era shows.) It's a real treat to have it separate from the last mega-vinyl box of Joel's discography; here's hoping it gets a digital or CD release imminently, as well.

Prince and The Revolution, Around the World in a Day (Singles Box Set) (NPG/Paisley Park/Legacy)

However you feel about the new expanded reissue of Prince's 1985 album - and you'll read our thoughts in a review quite soon - it's exciting to see a Record Store Day companion play with the form a little bit. This package of four replicated ATWIAD 45s ("Raspberry Beret," the U.K.-exclusive "Paisley Park," "Pop Life" and "America"), plus a newly-designed 7" offering album and video versions of "4 the Tears in Your Eyes," is a handsome, succinct product offering the cream of the 2CD set...none of which have any lingering audio issues...!

Joe's picks encompass the cream of the crop from Rhino and Craft Recordings...

Love, The Complete Elektra Albums (Elektra/Rhino)

Though Love's time at Elektra Records was short-lived - just four albums, originally released between 1966 and 1969 - the Los Angeles band's bold sound reverberated far beyond the Sunset Strip.  The Complete Elektra Albums brings together those four seminal records (Love, Da Capo, Forever Changes, and Four Sail) in a beautifully presented box set, along with a fifth LP of 13 rarities (non-LP singles plus bonus tracks originally issued on various expanded editions).  Forever Changes, of course, was the high watermark of Love's art.  Bandleader/singer/songwriter Arthur Lee saw beyond sunshine and flowers during the Summer of Love.  Love traded in the punchy electric guitar-based rock and roll sound of the group's first two albums (and successful singles like "7 and 7 Is" and a simplified but rip-roaring cover of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "My Little Red Book") for a denser, more orchestrated style that incorporated strings and horns alongside acoustic guitars.  Despite the often-beautiful sound, though, Forever Changes referenced war, violence, drug abuse, failed romance, and racial tension in songs like "A House is Not a Motel" (playing off another Bacharach/David song, "A House is Not a Home"), "The Red Telephone" and "Live and Let Live."  Bryan MacLean contributed the album's single "Alone Again Or" which kicked off the album in a collision of AM-meets-FM styles. The full breadth of Love's gifts are reflected on this striking collection on which each album is beautifully replicated.  Side Two of Da Capo consisted of one experimental track, "Revelation," and while that title was hardly appropriate for the jam, it's more than apropos for this box set.  Happily, The Complete Elektra Albums is also available today on CD.

Randy Newman, Trouble in Paradise Demos (Warner/Rhino)

Anyone who's seen Randy Newman in concert knows how special it is just to hear the man at his piano. Trouble in Paradise Demos, released on CD earlier this year as part of the expanded edition of Newman's 1983 album, brings together his original, unadorned demo recordings for every one of Trouble's songs (save "Mikey's") in sequence plus two previously unreleased (and altogether worthy) tunes: "Big Fat Country Song (Something to Sing About)" and "Rainbow."  These demos are Newman at his purest, presenting the album's songs in direct and unfussy manner.  And what songs they are: alternately clever, touching, shocking, and always keenly observed.  Though Trouble in Paradise is hardly marred by overproduction - Russ Titelman and Lenny Waronker were always in service of Newman's songs - there's something nonetheless thrilling about hearing these basic, unvarnished performances.  It's a master class in songwriting.

Todd Rundgren, A Cappella: 40th Anniversary Edition (Warner/Rhino)

Todd Rundgren's eleventh studio album and first for Warner Bros. Records following the bankruptcy of the Bearsville label found the singer-songwriter in typically adventurous mode.  Utilizing his knack for overdubbing and an early sampler, Rundgren recorded every sound on the LP with his own voice.  But the album was no mere gimmick; with songs such as "Pretending to Care," "Lost Horizon," and "Honest Work," the songwriting was up to the high level of the musical innovation.  Throw in a nod to Todd's Philly roots with a joyful cover of The Spinners' "Mighty Love," and A Cappella remains one of the most beloved albums in Rundgren's lengthy discography.  The latest in Rhino's ongoing Todd series of vinyl reissues is pressed on orange vinyl from lacquers cut directly from the analog masters by Joe Nino-Hernes at Sterling Sound.  All that's missing from this stellar release is a new essay; the inner sleeve instead replicates the original, with lyrics.

Talking Heads, Tentative Decisions: Demos & Live (Sire/Rhino)

In the wake of the 40th anniversary presentation of Talking Heads' revolutionary concert film Stop Making Sense in 2024, the band has recently loosened the vault doors for a number of archival projects including expanded box set editions of Talking Heads '77 and More Songs About Buildings and Food.  Now, this RSD-exclusive vinyl package presents 13 songs on a 12" clear vinyl LP and 7" single; the LP has newly discovered demos from 1975 and 1976 from the trio line-up of David Byrne, Chris Frantz, and Tina Weymouth, while the single offers two 1974 demos from Byrne and Frantz, then known as The Artistics ("Psycho Killer" and "Tentative Decisions").  These early recordings reveal that the band wasn't so tentative at all, with Byrne's songwriting in full flower and the bandmates already in lockstep with one another as the pushed the boundaries of punk and art-rock.  Many of the songs ("Happy Day," "Psycho Killer," "Tentative Decisions," "The Book I Read") ended up on their debut, Talking Heads '77, in more polished form.  Here, the hunger of a young band eager to make their mark in art and music is palpable.  This is the ground floor of the Talking Heads' story, and it's a fascinating place to be.

Various Artists, Flowers in the Afternoon: Late 1960s Sunshine (Craft)

Craft Recordings spotlights a small group of independent labels now under the Concord umbrella (Ranwood, Original Sound, Vanguard, Double Shot) for this collection of all-but-unknown sunshine pop.  Though some of the behind-the-scenes names will be familiar to crate-diggers (Danny Janssen, Trade Martin, Bert Sommer, Gene DiNovi, Tony Velona), the most recognizable artist is Mimi Farina, folk-singing sister of Joan Baez - and not someone associated with sunshine pop!  Then again, neither was Lawrence Welk, co-founder of the Ranwood label!  Yet the out-of-the-mainstream delights on Flowers in the Afternoon are plentiful, whether the ethereal "Pretty Sunshine Girl" from The NJ Orange (not from New Jersey, but from Washington, DC), The Honey Jug's soulful "Warm City Baby" (from Stax offshoot Hip Records) with its "Cherry Hill Park" vibe, or the offbeat yet hauntingly-sung "Yesterday the Dog" from The Inner Dialogue.  Compiler-annotator Alec Palao provides liner notes in a four-page, full-color insert beautifully designed by Steve Stanley of Now Sounds, and Joe Tarantino has mastered.  It's pressed on orange translucent vinyl.

Various Artists, Jazz Dispensary: Green Bullets (Craft)

The long-running Jazz Dispensary series continues with this new volume of trippy tunes from the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Isaac Hayes, The Blackbyrds, Merl Saunders, and Mongo Santamaria.  The package was compiled to approximate the soundtrack of "an imaginary 1970s action film about a heist gone very, very wrong," and right down to the cover artwork and movie-style credits, this set nails it.  Though the artists represented are disparate, the compilers have selected some of their funkiest deep cuts, encompassing jazz, soul, blues, and psychedelia.  (Two top highlights: Gillespie doing Lalo Schifrin's "Fire Dance," with Ray Parker, Jr., Lee Ritenour, and Wah-Wah Watson on guitar; and Santamaria bringing a Latin spin to "Lady Marmalade" with Bernard "Pretty" Purdie on drums supporting Mongo's percussion).  It's all pressed on "green thunder" vinyl and makes for an enjoyable trip with or without the aid of pharmaceuticals.  Paul Blakemore and Jeff Powell at Take Out Vinyl are credited with the (fine) mastering and mastering for vinyl, respectively.

And last but not least, here are Randy's picks!

Bob Dylan, "Masters of War (Live in Alan Lomax's Apartment)" and The Original Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (Legacy)

On October 31, Legacy released the 18th volume of the long-running Bob Dylan Bootleg series: Through the Open Window 1956-1963.  The 8 CDs of the set travel through the earliest days of Dylan's long career and for this RSD Black Friday, Legacy is releasing two exciting tie-ins to the box.

The "Masters of War" single is the first known recording of the anti-war song which Dylan wrote in England in 1962.  He played it for ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax in January 1963 and then spoke briefly about the tune.  The song and conversation run just under 9 minutes and make up the A and B sides of the single.  This material has circulated for several years now and is available digitally in the Lomax archive, but this will be its first official, physical release.

"Masters of War" would also, of course, appear on Dylan's second album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, which hit stores in May 1963.  But it and three other songs were not on the original tracklisting.  Early pressings of the LP contained "Rocks and Gravel," "Let Me Die In My Footsteps," "Rambling, Gambling Willie," and "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues" instead.  Debate has raged for years around the exact reasoning for Columbia mandating the changes and the timing of those changes (before or after Dylan walked out on The Ed Sullivan Show for not being allowed to perform "John Birch"?).  A few copies of the original pressing showed up in new, altered album sleeves and have been coveted collectibles for years.  For this release, Legacy is finally presenting the original version of the album in its originally intended packaging featuring the intended sleeve notes which have never been seen before.

"Masters of War" is limited to 3,900 copies and The Original Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is limited to 13,000 copies.

Elton John & Brandi Carlile, Who Believes in Angels? Live at the London Palladium (Interscope)

Elton John and Brandi Carlile teamed up this year to release the collaborative Who Believes in Angels? on April 4.  The enjoyable album hit the Top 10 in the U.S. and topped the charts in the U.K., too.  To promote the release, John and Carlile performed a 10-song set at the London Palladium (more recently home to the Evita revival) on March 26.  The setlist contained songs from Angels (the title track, "Little Richard's Bible," "Swing For the Fences," and "You Without Me"), a Carlile solo tune ("The Joke"), and four John classics ("Tiny Dancer," "Your Song," "I'm Still Standing," and "Don't Let The Sun Go Down on Me").  The performance was aired as a special on CBS on April 6.  This RSD release will mark the first physical release of the material.  It is limited to 4,000 copies.

Various Artists, Rent: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Rhino)

Wicked: For Good topped the box office charts last weekend, breaking the record for the highest gross for a Broadway film adaptation in its opening weekend.  This RSD, Rhino is celebrating the 20th anniversary of another Broadway adaptation: Rent

Written by Jonathan Larson (who tragically passed away before the show opened), Rent took Broadway by storm in 1996 and became a cultural phenomenon.  A modern version of the opera La Boheme, it centered around bohemian culture in New York City in the shadow of the AIDS crisis of the era.  Earning the Best Musical Tony as well as a Pulitzer, a film adaptation was released in 2005 featuring most of the original cast (Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Jesse L. Martin, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Idina Menzel, and Taye Diggs - Rosario Dawson and Tracie Thoms were new to the movie, replacing Daphne Rubin-Vega and Fredi Walker from Broadway).

Directed by Chris Columbus (Home Alone), the film debuted in November, 2005.  It was not a hit at the box office, earning only a little over $31 million.  For the soundtrack, Columbus collaborated with Green Day's producer Rob Cavallo to try and give the score a more "rock" feel.  Another Larson song, "Love Heals," which was not in the original Broadway production was added for the movie and the soundtrack.  The complete album hit the Billboard Top 40 while both it and the highlights disc hit the top 10 of the soundtrack chart.  While not as highly thought of as the original cast album among fans of the show, the soundtrack album does have its own strengths and if nothing else is a different take on the material by most of the original cast reprising some of their most famous roles.

This release marks the first time the soundtrack has appeared on vinyl.  The gatefold package contains the 2 LPs of the album, one on milky clear vinyl and the other on translucent red vinyl. It is limited to 4,500 copies.

Dwight Yoakam, ...And Then I Wrote: The First Three Albums of the '90s (Rhino)

For 2024's RSD, Rhino released a box featuring the first three albums singer-songwriter Dwight Yoakam released for Reprise, all from the 1980s.  Now, the label is continuing their exploration of his catalog with a box containing his first three albums of the 1990s, once again including a bonus disc of rarities.

Yoakam's first three albums found him in a more traditional honky-tonk and Bakersfield sound.  For the 1990s, he began to expand the influences evident on his albums even as he expanded his career into acting.  The first LP in the set, 1990's If There Was A Way, brought some rock and soul into the mix.  Several singles hit the country charts, with "You're The One" earning the highest chart position at No. 5.  1993's This Time even more fully embraced the rock and soul inspirations and gave Yoakam the best-selling album of his career.  Three of the singles hit No. 2 on the Country chart: "Ain't That Lonely Yet," "A Thousand Miles from Nowhere," and "Fast As You."  Gone, from 1995, finds Yoakam experimenting with sounds even further away from his initial 1980s albums.  Unfortunately, audiences didn't follow, as Gone only sold a fraction of This Time and none of its singles hit the Country top 10, a first for Yoakam's career.  But commercial success, as we all know, has little to do with artistic success and taken together, these three albums showcase an artist stretching his wings musically to satisfying results.

The final LP housed in the slipcase of the set gathers up twelve rarities from the decade.  The tracks are taken from various soundtracks, guest appearances, foreign albums and tracks that originally appeared on 1999's greatest hits set Last Chance For a Thousand Years and the 2002 box Reprise Please Baby (The Warner Bros. Years).  These include a number of fun covers such as "Suspicious Minds," "Truckin'," "Things We Said Today," "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," and a collaboration with Flaco Jimenez on "Carmelita," a song by the subject of our next pick!  This new box is limited to 2,745 copies.  A CD edition, available at general retail, is also being released today.

Warren Zevon, Epilogue: Live At the Edmonton Folk Music Festival (Omnivore)

No one present in the audience for this Warren Zevon concert on August 9, 2002 knew that they were witnessing the singer-songwriter's final performance.  He would pass away in September 2003, never taking the concert stage again.  Luckily for us, the concert was recorded so that everyone can now share in the experience.

For the roughly 50-minute set, Zevon is joined by only one other person on stage: longtime band-member Matt Cartsonis.  The sound is spare as Zevon works through selections from the whole length of his catalog from earlier songs like 1976's "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" to "Hit Somebody! (The Hockey Song)," released just three months before on My Ride's Here.  Zevon also acknowledges the country he is performing in by covering Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You" and the traditional "Candadee-I-O."

The 2-LP set features three sides of audio and an etching on the fourth side.  Cartsonis has penned new liner notes for the release.  The RSD vinyl is limited to 2,200 copies.  Omnivore is doing a general release on December 5 on CD and digital formats.