News

While Legacy Recordings’ regular release schedule has been feast or famine in recent months, Sony Music’s catalogue label has got some great picks for Record Store Day Black Friday. Its seven titles include five rare or unreleased concert presentations from some of the roster’s biggest legends (three of which will be available on CD as well as vinyl), a strong showing in jazz and R&B, and a key connection to Legacy’s biggest-ticket item this box set season. Here’s a closer look at all the titles that’ll be available at participating retailers on Friday, November 27.

Miles Davis, Copenhagen Live 1969 (2LP; RSD Exclusive; 4400 copies)

Before Bitches Brew galvanized jazz audiences in 1970 and set Miles firmly on a new, electrified path, it was a well-kept secret but to audiences like this one at the Tivoli Koncertsal in Denmark on November 4, 1969, several months after the album had been recorded. An ensemble featuring Davis, Wayne Shorter on saxophone, Chick Corea on electric piano, bassist Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette on drums – all key members of the Brew sessions – here preview about half the record with other material from the period in a crackling performance. This set, recorded by a film crew, debuted on DVD in the 2010 Legacy Edition of Bitches Brew and had an extremely limited vinyl release two years later alongside an book devoted to artist Mati Klarwein, who designed the original album cover and the surreal art herein.

Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off (60th Anniversary Edition) (2LP Blue Marble vinyl; RSD Exclusive; 2200 copies)

Perhaps unfairly less regarded now than other bands of similar vintage, Jefferson Airplane helped launch the Bay Area of San Francisco as a hotbed of rock innovation in the mid-to-late ’60s, the precursor to an entire movement across young, psychedelic audiences. 1966’s Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, their debut, featured an almost-cemented version of the group line-up (save for drummer Skip Spence, who left to co-found Moby Grape, and singer Signe Toly Anderson, who’d be replaced by Grace Slick). Early tracks like “It’s No Secret” and “Come Up the Years” would offer the first glimpse of how high this Airplane could fly. This double vinyl edition includes a bonus disc of nine bonus cuts, all original B-sides and rarities that appeared as extra tracks when Takes Off and the rest of the group’s early RCA Victor catalogue was remastered in 2003.

Billy Joel, Billy Joel Tonight (2LP with 12″ x 12″ print; RSD First; 4600 copies)

Alongside the exciting 50th anniversary box set of Billy Joel’s Turnstiles comes a proper vinyl version of the live concert Billy Joel Tonight. Utilizing the cover design from the promotional album Souvenir, which featured a few of these performances, this double album offers the same repertoire on the fourth CD of the box: 17 performances from two nights at Connecticut College, almost entirely sourced from newly-remixed multi-track recordings and featuring enduring favorites like “Piano Man,” “New York State of Mind” and “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway).” Unlike previous Joel pieces for Record Store Day, this one is a confirmed “RSD First” title, meaning it’ll likely have a life beyond this special event.

Charlie Parker & The All-Stars, Summit Meeting At Birdland (LP; RSD Exclusive; 3000 copies)

Recorded over three dates in 1953 at the legendary jazz club that shared his nickname, saxophonist Charlie Parker was in fine form on this posthumous release (first issued in 1977), boasting sidemen including Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quintet and the Milt Buckner Trio. A much-appreciated selection of great bebop in the mix for this Black Friday.

Prince, 3121 Las Vegas Live (3LP; RSD Exclusive; 9400 copies) (2CD; RSD Exclusive; 2700 copies)

Ostensibly looking for distance from the ill-received outtakes collection Timeless, the Prince estate turns toward a more fertile period: a promised 20th anniversary commemoration of The Artist’s chart-topping 3121. This unreleased live album, available on three LPs or two CDs, is taken from Prince’s Per4ming Live 3121 residency at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas in the wee hours of January 20, 2007 (incidentally weeks before his earth-shattering Super Bowl halftime set). Seemingly in a playful mood with The New Power Generation at his call, the set featured key tracks from his then-new album (including “Black Sweat,” “Lolita” and “Satisfied”) and a host of eclectic covers, including Aretha Franklin (“I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)”), The J.B.’s (“Pass the Peas”), Katie Melua (“Nine Million Bicycles”), Mother’s Finest (“Love Changes”) and Gnarls Barkley (“Crazy”) – often with Shelby J. on lead vocals. He also makes room for some great hits and classics from his boundless catalogue: “Purple Rain,” “Kiss,” “U Got the Look,” “Cream,” “If I Was Your Girlfriend” and more. While it’s unclear if any of this material (which was also filmed and exhibited at the most recent Celebration at Paisley Park) will have a life in a previously suggested 3121 anniversary edition – some RSD solicitations note a straight reissue of the album to be available concurrently with this – it’s certainly the best Prince title fans have gotten in awhile.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Tower Theater 1975 (4LP; RSD Exclusive; 14500 copies) (2CD; RSD Exclusive; 3700 copies)

The third addition to Springsteen’s live archive series on Nugs.net back in 2015 gets properly canonized on this 4LP or 2CD set. It’s not the first live album drawn from a Born to Run-era show (that would be 2006’s Hammersmith Odeon, London ’75), but it’s a barn-burner by the tour’s American vantage point, taking place at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania on the last night of a four-show run capping off 1975 – a banner year for The Boss if ever there was one, and one of his most treasured performances of the period.

Bill Withers, In Concert – Live At The BBC, 1974 (LP; RSD Exclusive; 2600 copies) (CD; RSD Exclusive; 1300 copies)

The much-missed Bill Withers (whose last catalogue release at Legacy was a Grammy winner!) gets a well-deserved vault release for Record Store Day on multiple formats. Though this set for the BBC series In Concert is only seven songs, it plays like a mini-greatest hits set, with versions of “Lean on Me,” “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Use Me,” “Grandma’s Hands” and “Let Me in Your Life” – all featuring a full backing band augmenting that singular voice.