Record Store Day 2021: 12 Great Exclusive Releases From the August Drop

From Billie Eilish to Bone Thugs-N-Concord, listed below are our favourite exclusives from the first RSD launch date of 2021

Since its inception in 2008, Record Store Day has occurred yearly on a single Saturday in April. However resulting from the ongoing pandemic, issues are going to look a bit totally different this yr. The occasion that celebrates unbiased file outlets round the world can be unfold out in “drops” over the subsequent few months. The three separate launch dates — August 29th, September 26th, and October 24th — are meant to supply revenues to shops which have struggled throughout the pandemic whereas permitting the largest variety of them to partake. Forward of the first drop on Saturday, we’ve combed by means of the checklist and pulled out our 12 favourite exclusives.

Billie Eilish, Reside at Third Man Data

Final fall, Billie Eilish carried out a secret present at Jack White’s Third Man Data. Huddled inside the intimate, 250-capacity Blue Room, the famous person sang a number of tracks off her smash debut, When We Fall Asleep The place Do We Go?, which might later earn her 5 Grammys. Third Man launched the set on vinyl a month later, and it’s now fairly expensive on Discogs. The RSD version is pressed on opaque blue vinyl and accompanied by a poster. You is likely to be caught at house, however the social gathering’s by no means over. —Angie Martoccio 

The Who, Odds and Sods
Who bassist John Entwistle personally curated this assortment of Who rarities in 1974. As the title suggests, it’s a mish-mash of fabric, starting from debut single “Zoot Go well with” (recorded once they had been known as the Excessive Numbers Band) to their cowl of Marvin Gaye’s “Child Don’t You Do It,” the Who’s Subsequent outtake “Who Are You,” and non-album singles like “Lengthy Reside Rock.” This was largely carried out to discourage followers from shopping for bootlegs, however it inadvertently invented the rarities assortment in the course of. —Andy Greene

The Weeknd, My Expensive Melancholy
Launched in 2018 as a stopgap between his two most up-to-date pop blockbusters, this six-track EP is a darkish, potent dose of the Weeknd’s core sound of emotionally messed-up membership jams. (Take heed to “Wasted Occasions” and really feel a pang of sympathy for certainly one of the largest stars in the world.) It’s out for RSD as a particular 12″ version, with all six tracks on one aspect and an etching on the different — good for anybody whose Weeknd appreciation goes deeper than the singles. —Simon Vozick-Levinson

The Black Keys, Let’s Rock (45 rpm Version)
Final yr, the Black Keys launched their first album in 5 years, Let’s Rock, the place they returned to the explosive garage-rock sounds of their classics Brothers and El Camino. The band is releasing a limited-edition 45-rpm model of Let’s Rock for Record Store Day, a 180-gram, two-LP set in a “deluxe holographic gatefold jacket,” with all 7,500 copies individually numbered. “It’s this magic that occurs with Pat and I,” Auerbach instructed Rolling Stone when the album got here out. “It was the identical factor that occurred once we had been 16 and began taking part in, and magically, it simply feels like music.”  —Patrick Doyle

John Lennon, “On the spot Karma!”Forward of the launch of the large field set Gimme Some Fact. The Final Mixes, rejoice the late Beatle’s solo profession with this 1970 single — which he famously wrote, recorded, and launched in simply 10 days. Newly blended with art work precisely like the unique 50 years in the past, “On the spot Karma! (We All Shine On)” options Yoko Ono, former bandmate George Harrison, bassist Klaus Voormann, keyboardist Billy Preston, and drummer Alan White. It additionally marks the first time Lennon labored with producer Phil Spector, which actually ought to have been the solely time. —A.M.

Charli XCX, Vroom Vroom EP
When Charli XCX launched this EP in 2016 with maverick Scottish producer Sophie behind the boards, it was an early indicator of the flip she was about to make towards being the most fearless pop innovator of the late 2010s. Dancing deftly round Sophie’s fabulously twisted beats, Charli gave the impression of the future — and as 2017’s No 1 Angel and Pop 2 would quickly present, that’s what she was. —S.V.L.

Galaxie 500, Copenhagen 
Galaxie 500 made three good albums of twilight-toned indie pop between 1988 and 1990, refining a sound first advised by the Velvet Underground’s quieter moments into a brand new kind that may encourage generations of DIY dreamers. Then they broke up. This stay album, recorded at the very finish of what turned the trio’s remaining European tour, is a necessary doc for anybody who’s left wanting a bit extra of that Galaxie 500 magic. First launched on CD in 1997, however by no means out there on vinyl till now, Copenhagen hits the spot with its full-hearted performances of favorites together with “Decomposing Bushes,” “Fourth of July,” and “Don’t Let Our Youth Go to Waste,” plus their psychedelically prolonged cowl of Yoko Ono’s “Pay attention, the Snow Is Falling.” —S.V.L.

Elton John, Elton John
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Elton John’s self-titled LP, which broke him throughout the world because of hits like “Your Track” and “Border Track,” he’s re-releasing the album on vinyl with remastered sound and bonus tracks from the 2008 deluxe version of the album, like piano demos of “Sixty Years On” and “Take Me to the Pilot.” For Elton completists, it’s additionally the first official launch of the “Border Track” and “Unhealthy Facet of the Moon” demos. —A.G.

Wipers, Is This Actual?
The moody, catchy punk rock of the Wipers’ debut LP has influenced Nirvana, Melvins, Crimson Sizzling Chili Peppers, Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus, Spoon’s Britt Daniel, and numerous others. So to mark its 40th anniversary, the retail-store–cum-label Jackpot Data has created a limited-edition memento reissue. The quilt is shiny and reflective, and the LP comes on clear, audiophile-quality vinyl. However better of all, it features a 45 of a few of frontman Greg Sage’s unique 4-track recordings of the songs and a gig poster that the reclusive Sage has autographed. Why did Sage give his blessing to a reissue by Jackpot? “They’re from Portland the place we recorded it,” Sage tells Rolling Stone. —Kory Develop 

Bone Thugs-N-Concord, Creepin’ on ah Come Up
Centered on the basic hit single “Thuggish Ruggish Bone,” the 1994 debut EP from Cleveland’s most interesting is a refreshing blast of funk-laced manufacturing, cooled-out harmonies, and double-time slick speak. Bone Thugs went on to see large success after this, and greater than 25 years later, Creepin’ on ah Come Up nonetheless has certainly one of the most distinctive and unique sounds of any Nineties rap launch. —S.V.L.

Yusuf/Cat Stevens, “However I Would possibly Die Tonight”
Cat Stevens’ Tea for the Tillerman turns 50 this yr, and the singer-songwriter (who now writes and performs as Yusuf) is celebrating the anniversary in model, with a newly re-recorded model of the beloved album due out subsequent month. In the meantime, followers can try this RSD 7” single, that includes a spiritually looking out spotlight from the unique Tillerman on light-blue vinyl, plus an alternate mixture of the music that initially appeared in the 1970 drama Deep Finish on the B aspect. —S.V.L.

Gorillaz, G Sides/D-Sides
Gorillaz’s 2005 album Demon Days was a uncommon discover on wax earlier than subscription service Vinyl Me, Please put out a brand new urgent a number of years in the past. In the event you’re a completist who’s nonetheless seeking to fill out your assortment of information made by Damon Albarn and his rotating forged of pop eccentrics, you would possibly like the B sides and outtakes on these two triple-LP units — one to accompany their 2001 debut (G Sides), the different from the Demon Days period (D-Sides), and each out there on vinyl for the first time ever. —S.V.L.