WHEN BLACK FRIDAY COMES

A month after Halloween and a month before Christmas comes an event that gets many vinyl record fans more excited than either. It’s Black Friday, which this year is on Friday 28 November. Below you’ll read about a selection of the interesting and intriguing releases on offer, but first we need to inject a sense of urgency into the mix.

The record companies want RSD orders soon. Very soon. Discrepancy Records will try to get everything requested, but only if it is on your Wish List. That’s not a commitment to buy, but it is a clear indication to us of what people are after, and that’s what guides our ordering. The guidelines are HERE. Read 'em and don’t weep… get wish-listing!

Let’s get into some of the tasty offerings announced so far…

CLASSIC ROCK

After Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined FLEETWOOD MAC they released the self-titled Fleetwood Mac album. They also toured, giving fans taste of what the new kids brought to the long-running band. What they got was a tour de force. The band was hot, Buckingham tore into guitar solos from across the band’s history, and crowds were awed. I have a bootleg from the ’75 tour and it is brilliant. The Black Friday release is a 2LP set (first time on vinyl) that captures performances in October 1975 including a storming version of "Green Manalishi, Christine McVie’s "Station Man" and the Stevie Nicks classic "Rhiannon". Essential for Mac fans.

Live albums always figure strongly in RSD catalogues and this year is no exception. INXS Live From Royal Albert Hall (1986) is one to check out, as is a BILLY JOEL concert from the Nylon Curtain tour—Live From Long Island—recorded late 1982. ALICE COOPER’s Welcome To My Nightmare was considered a highpoint in the rocker’s career, so the 1975 live recording announced for this event is a nightmare you’ll want a ticket for!

Remember AMERICA’s hit single "Sister Golden Hair"? The album it came from was Hearts, which gets a 50th anniversary release here. A less-well known album from a legendary band is Jericho, the 1993 LP from THE BAND. Although missing guitarist Robbie Robertson (of whom more later) this is a strong 'reunion' album and definitely worth a listen.

SIXTIES

The headline item is the LOVE boxed set, comprising their first four LPs plus an album of alternate takes. Find out why Arthur Lee’s band are considered '60s legends.

Talking of legends, it doesn’t get more legendary than BOB DYLAN’s The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan album, released in May 1963. The company announcement states that the four 'new' inclusions were songs originally withdrawn, which is partially true. Columbia’s lawyers were certainly insistent that "Talkin’ John Birch Society Blues" be withdrawn due to libel concerns. But the other three were Dylan songs from a year earlier and so much had changed. New interests, shifting relationship dynamics, a trip to England… Dylan was a rolling stone moving at quite a pace. So the three other songs taken out were simply (to quote Dylan biographer Clinton Heylin) "songs he felt he had outgrown" (Behind The Shades, p.116). Still, that does nothing to detract from the thrill of a re-jigged and expanded version of a pivotal album in a storied career.

I’ve always thought that the Rolling Stones rainbow-smeared Their Satanic Majesties Request has been unfairly diminished by rock critics. If you want to check out this klassy kaleidoscopic slice of 60s psychedelia, grab the zoetrope version on offer this Black Friday and take a trip.

ICONIC WOMEN

Joni Mitchell joined Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder tour in late 1975. November 28 sees the first vinyl release of her set, entitled (quite reasonably) Rolling Thunder Review.

Also caught in concert is Nico, visual focus of early Velvet Underground appearances, as she preforms in a German church. Live in Reims Cathedral, December 13th, 1974 appears for the first time on vinyl.

Linda Ronstadt Early Years sees a re-jigged version of a double LP featuring some of her memorable hits, including "Different Drum" and "You’re No Good". What a great voice.

JAZZ & BLUES

Here what saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist YUSEF LATEEF was doing in the year of Sgt Pepper. His double LP set Golden flower Live 1967 was recorded in Sweden and looks like a corker. Still in Europe, there’s a tasty live set from LARRY CORYELL AND THE ELEVENTH HOUSE, recorded for French radio in 1976. Coryell was at his best with hot jazz-rock band The Eleventh House, so Riviera ’76 is high on my list.

RSDs have given us some marvellous BILL EVANS releases, and this upcoming event is no exception. Portraits at the Penthouse sees the exceptional jazz pianist in his favourite setting, a trio, performing in Seattle for a radio broadcast in 1966. Never officially released before, Evans is joined by long-time bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Joe Hunt.

JOHN LEE HOOKER’s Chill Out is, as the name implies and the armchair cover photo suggests, a laid back affair. This smooth album would make a great introduction to the gravel voiced blues legend. Another blues legend is B.B. KING. His Broadcasting the Blues is a two-record set bringing together two 'for TV' concerts, a 1968 German TV broadcast and 1974 performance for Swedish television. B.B. King was a superior live performer, excelling both in his vocals and unique jazz inflected blues guitar playing. One to grab.

MORE!

There are simply too many releases to cover in detail, but here a few more that caught my eye.  [Take your eyes HERE to browse and HERE on how to create your Wishlist]

• Robbie Robertson—Filmworks: Insomnia, a record to accompany his memoir "Insomnia".
• Picture disc of the B 52’s Wild Planet for its 45th anniversary.
• Curtis Mayfield’s stunning 1970 debut.
• Flaming Lips live Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots.
• Punk Goes Acoustic. What a concept!
• Ladytron—Nightlife. A remix collection.

Remember: If you don't put it on your list, it won't go on ours.

Bruce Jenkins−October 2025