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Black Friday 2012: Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Rolling Stones, Frank Zappa Lead Off Packed Slate of RSD Exclusives

Here in the U. S. of A., Black Friday is almost upon us: that unusual date following the prior day of giving thanks, in which consumers make a mad dash to the local big-box store, mall or shopping center to procure bargains for the holiday season ahead.  Retailers are controversially beginning Black Friday “festivities” even earlier than usual this year, with many sales starting on Thanksgiving Day itself and not even at midnight but in the early part of the evening.  For a number of recent years, music buyers have had our own Black Friday, that day in April known as Record Store Day in which the aisles of our independent retailers are filled with hunters of collectible vinyl and CD releases.  Record Store Day has in the past sponsored a mini-RSD event on Black Friday, but this year, the titles on offer are as enticing and nearly as plentiful as those on the main RSD itself.  For some, this will be a source of frustration, for others, excitement.

This year’s line-up for Record Store Day – Black Friday brings titles from some of the biggest names in rock including The Beach Boys, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones and Nirvana, plus cult favorites like Leonard Cohen, Lee Hazlewood and Frank Zappa, and country-and-western legends such as Wanda Jackson and Buck Owens.

After the jump and without further ado, we’ll fill you in on the crème of the reissued crop come this Black Friday!  Just click for your full list of the catalogue releases to watch!

Release Round-Up: Week of September 4

Freddie Mercury & Montserrat Caballé, Barcelona: Deluxe Edition (Island U.K.)

The Queen frontman’s final solo effort – an ambitious collaboration with a Spanish opera legend – has been given new life on CD, with its original synth instrumentation fully fleshed out by an orchestra. A super deluxe box includes scores of audiovisual extras, and the newly-orchestrated album is also available on vinyl.

Judas Priest, Screaming for Vengeance: Special 30th Anniversary Edition (Columbia/Legacy)

A special CD/DVD edition of this classic metal album includes studio and live bonus tracks (including the original bonus tracks from the 2001 reissue) and the band’s 1983 performance at the US Festival for the first time on video.

Billy Paul, 360 Degrees of Billy Paul: Expanded Edition / Dionne Warwick, Dionne: Expanded Edition (Big Break)

The week’s BBR slate includes an underrated 1972 Philly soul classic (with the fantastic soul smash “Me and Mrs. Jones”) and a hit pop crossover for Dionne Warwick, produced by none other than Barry Manilow. Bonus tracks on each include single edits, and in the case of Billy Paul, one live cut.

Various Artists, Action! The Songs of Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart / The Ramones Heard Them Here First (Ace)

Two new compilations from the venerable U.K. label: one spotlighting the songwriters known for Monkees classics from the TV series theme to “Last Train to Clarksville” (but a disc featuring, naturally, some more esoteric recordings alongside notable tracks like Jay & The Americans’ “Come a Little Bit Closer” and recordings by Del Shannon and The Shangri-La’s); and another generous disc of 24 hits that were notably covered by one of the most influential punk bands ever.

Various Artists, Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Legacy)

Out on CD after a short time as a digital-only title, this soundtrack to a new documentary from rapper Ice-T features classic rap cuts from the 80s and ’90s and some newly recorded freestyles from legends of the genre.

Green Day, The Studio Albums 1990-2009 (Reprise)

Available in the U.S. through Best Buy, this simple box consists all of the band’s proper studio albums in one set.

(Still) Screaming For Vengeance: Judas Priest Has a 30th Anniversary Edition Comin’

It might get loud.

Next Tuesday, September 4, is the date for Legacy Recordings’ 30th anniversary CD/DVD edition of Judas Priest’s 1982 metal classic Screaming for Vengeance.  Though the 1982 album wasn’t the first platinum-selling album from the British rock legends, it remains one of the most beloved, spawning radio hits “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’” and “(Take These) Chains.”

Though the band formed in Birmingham in 1969 and recorded its first album in 1974, its line-up fluctuated throughout the next decade.  By the time of Screaming for Vengeance, the band had settled (for the time being) with the powerhouse line-up of Rob Halford (vocals), Glenn Tipton (guitar), K.K. Downing (guitar), Ian Hill (bass) and Dave Holland (drums).  Vengeance proved that the band could retain the commercial edge it had only recently acquired on albums like 1978’s Killing Machine/Hell Bent for Leather and 1980’s British Steel without turning its back on its serious, and seriously dark, metal roots.  All of its songs were written by the triumvirate of Halford, Tipton and Downing, with Robert Halligan Jr. contributing “Chains.”

Recorded in Ibiza, Spain at Ibiza Sound Studios, Screaming for Vengeance remains the most commercially successful album in the Judas Priest catalogue.  It reached No. 11 in the U.K. and No. 17 in the U.S., and led to a successful tour by the band.  The twin guitar approach of Tipton and Downing has been often imitated but never equaled, and the LP has spawned many cover versions of its songs over the years.  It also continues to inspire a new generation of metal fans; Vengeance was the first full album to be released for the Rock Band and Rock Band 2 interactive video games.

What bonus material has been included this time around?  Hit the jump!

You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’: Judas Priest Reveal New Box Set with Rare Albums

There’s another PopMarket-exclusive box coming your way next week – and it’s a loud one. Legacy is releasing a 19-disc box of Judas Priest’s influential metal discography, with a couple of surprises inside.

Since the late 1970s, Birmingham-based Judas Priest have been pioneers of the genre. With the iconic leather-and-studs look and distinctive voice of frontman Rob Halford and the cutting guitar of K.K. Downing front and center for most of the band’s most recognized years, Priest have served the rock world admirably, and have been well treated by Legacy in the past few years, with a reissue of iconic 1980 album British Steel and a handful of collectible compilations and box sets.

The release of The Complete Albums Collection brings together all studio and live efforts with iconic members Halford, Downing, guitarist Glenn Tipton and bassist Ian Hill – meaning neither of the albums featuring Tim “Ripper” Owens on vocals in the late ’90s and early ’00s are included – but there’s a few surprises. First of all, the bonus tracks that appeared on Legacy’s 2001 reissues of the Priest catalogue are still on the discs – which now appear in mini-LP size wallet cases – with the same masterings by Jon Astley. (Everything after 1990’s Painkiller has not been remastered for this set.)

Better yet, though, is the inclusion of Priest’s first two albums on Gull Records: 1974’s Rocka Rolla and 1976’s Sad Wings of Destiny. While both have appeared on CD before, these albums have been newly remastered for the box by Vic Anesini and mark the first time the band has authorized their release on CD. (It’s worth noting that each disc features the original artwork, and Sad Wings restores the album’s original track order; initial pressings had pressed the second side as the first and vice versa.)

The set is yours to order starting January 24, and you can dive into the track list after the jump.

Judas Priest, The Complete Albums Collection (Columbia/Epic/Legacy 88697 96787-2, 2012)

Note: original catalogue numbers are U.K.-based and reissue catalogue numbers are U.S.-based.

Disc 1: Rocka Rolla (originally released as Gull Records GULP 1005, 1974)

1. One for the Road
2. Rocka Rolla
3. Winter: Winter/Deep Freeze/Winter Retreat/Cheater
4. Never Satisfied
5. Run of the Mill
6. Dying to Meet You
7. Caviar and Meths

Disc 2: Sad Wings of Destiny (originally released as Gull Records GULP 1015, 1976)

1. Prelude
2. Tyrant
3. Genocide
4. Epitaph
5. Island of Domination
6. Victim of Changes
7. The Ripper
8. Dreamer Deceiver
9. Deceiver

Disc 3: Sin After Sin (originally released as CBS 82008, 1977 – reissued Columbia/Legacy CK 86183, 2001)

1. Sinner
2. Diamonds & Rust
3. Starbreaker
4. Last Rose of Summer
5. Let Us Prey/Call for the Priest
6. Raw Deal
7. Here Come the Tears
8. Dissident Aggressor
9. Race with the Devil (Studio Outtake)
10. Jawbreaker (Live @ Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, CA – 5/5/1984)

Disc 4: Stained Class (originally released as CBS 82430, 1978 – reissued Columbia/Legacy CK 85434, 2001)

1. Exciter
2. White Heat, Red Hot
3. Better by You, Better Than Me
4. Stained Class
5. Invader
6. Saints in Hell
7. Savage
8. Beyond the Realms of Death
9. Heroes End
10. Fire Down Below (Studio Outtake)
11. Better by You, Better Than Me (Live @ Foundations Forum, Los Angeles – 9/13/1990)

Disc 5: Killing Machine (originally released as CBS 83135, 1978 – reissued Columbia/Legacy CK 86181, 2001)

1. Delivering the Goods
2. Rock Forever
3. Evening Star
4. Hell Bent for Leather
5. Take on the World
6. Burnin’ Up
7. The Green Manalishi (with the Two-Pronged Crown) (from Hell Bent for Leather – Columbia JC 35706 (U.S.), 1978)
8. Killing Machine
9. Running Wild
10. Before the Dawn
11. Evil Fantasies
12. Fight for Your Life (Studio Outtake)
13. Riding on the Wind (Live @ The US Festival, Devore, CA – 5/29/1983)

Disc 6: Unleashed in the East (originally released as CBS 83852, 1979 – reissued as Columbia/Legacy CK 86182, 2001)

1. Exciter (Live)
2. Running Wild (Live)
3. Sinner (Live)
4. The Ripper (Live)
5. The Green Manalishi (with the Two-Pronged Crown) (Live)
6. Diamonds and Rust (Live)
7. Victim of Changes (Live)
8. Tyrant (Live)
9. Rock Forever (Live Bonus Track)
10. Delivering the Goods (Live Bonus Track)
11. Hell Bent for Leather (Live Bonus Track)
12. Starbreaker (Live Bonus Track)

Disc 7: British Steel (originally released as CBS 84160, 1980 – reissued as Columbia/Legacy CK 85752, 2001)

1. Rapid Fire
2. Metal Gods
3. Breaking the Law
4. Grinder
5. United
6. You Don’t Have to Be Old to Be Wise
7. Living After Midnight
8. The Rage
9. Steeler
10. Red, White & Blue (Studio Outtake)
11. Grinder (Live @ Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, CA – 5/5/1984)

Disc 8: Point of Entry (originally released as CBS 84834, 1981 – reissued as Columbia/Legacy CK 85436, 2001)

1. Heading Out to the Highway
2. Don’t Go
3. Hot Rockin’
4. Turning Circles
5. Desert Plains
6. Solar Angels
7. You Say Yes
8. All the Way
9. Troubleshooter
10. On the Run
11. Thunder Road (Studio Outtake)
12. Desert Plains (Live @ Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis – 5/23/1986)

Disc 9: Screaming for Vengeance (originally released as CBS 85941, 1982 – reissued as Columbia/Legacy CK 85435, 2001)

1. The Hellion
2. Electric Eye
3. Riding on the Wind
4. Bloodstone
5. (Take These) Chains
6. Pain and Pleasure
7. Screaming for Vengeance
8. You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’
9. Fever
10. Devil’s Child
11. Prisoner of Your Eyes (Studio Outtake)
12. Devil’s Child (Live @ Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis – 12/12/1982)

Disc 10: Defenders of the Faith (originally released as CBS 25713, 1984 – reissued as Columbia/Legacy CK 85438, 2001)

1. Freewheel Burning
2. Jawbreaker
3. Rock Hard Ride Free
4. The Sentinel
5. Love Bites
6. Eat Me Alive
7. Some Heads Are Gonna Roll
8. Night Comes Down
9. Heavy Duty
10. Defenders of the Faith
11. Turn on Your Light (Studio Outtake)
12. Heavy Duty/Defenders of the Faith (Live @ Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, CA – 5/5/1984)

Disc 11: Turbo (originally released as CBS 463365, 1986 – reissued as Columbia/Legacy CK 85437, 2001)

1. Turbo Lover
2. Locked In
3. Private Property
4. Parental Guidance
5. Rock You All Around the World
6. Out in the Cold
7. Wild Nights, Hot & Crazy Days
8. Hot for Love
9. Reckless
10. All Fired Up (Studio Outtake)
11. Locked In (Live @ Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis – 5/23/1986)

Discs 12-13: Priest…Live! (originally released as CBS 450639, 1987 – reissued as Columbia/Legacy C2K 86378, 2002)

1. Out in the Cold
2. Heading Out to the Highway
3. Metal Gods
4. Breaking the Law
5. Love Bites
6. Some Heads Are Gonna Roll
7. The Sentinel
8. Private Property

1. Rock You All Over the World
2. Electric Eye
3. Turbo Lover
4. Freewheel Burning
5. Parental Guidance
6. Living After Midnight
7. You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’
8. Screaming for Vengeance (Bonus Track)
9. Rock Hard, Ride Free (Bonus Track)
10. Hell Bent for Leather (Bonus Track)

Disc 14: Ram It Down (originally released as CBS 461108, 1988 – reissued as Columbia/Legacy CK 86381, 2002)

1. Ram It Down
2. Heavy Metal
3. Love Zone
4. Come and Get It
5. Hard as Iron
6. Blood Red Skies
7. I’m a Rocker
8. Johnny B. Goode
9. Love You to Death
10. Monsters of Rock
11. Night Comes Down (Live @ Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, CA – 5/5/1984)
12. Bloodstone (Live @ Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis – 12/12/1982)

Disc 15: Painkiller (originally released as CBS 467290, 1990 – reissued as Columbia/Legacy CK 86382, 2002)

1. Painkiller
2. Hell Patrol
3. All Guns Blazing
4. Leather Rebel
5. Metal Meltdown
6. Night Crawler
7. Between the Hammer and the Anvil
8. A Touch of Evil
9. Battle Hymn
10. One Shot at Glory
11. Living Bad Dreams (Studio Outtake)
12. Leather Rebel (Live @ Foundations Forum, Los Angeles – 9/13/1990)

Disc 16: Angel of Retribution (originally released as Sony Music 519300, 2005)

1. Judas Rising
2. Deal with the Devil
3. Revolution
4. Worth Fighting For
5. Demonizer
6. Wheels of Fire
7. Angel
8. Hellrider
9. Eulogy
10. Lochness

Discs 17-18: Nostradamus (originally released as Sony BMG 88697 31559-2, 2008)

1. Dawn of Creation
2. Prophecy
3. Awakening
4. Revelations
5. The Four Horsemen
6. War
7. Sands of Time
8. Pestilence and Plague
9. Death
10. Peace
11. Conquest
12. Lost Love
13. Persecution

1. Solitude
2. Exiled
3. Alone
4. Shadows in the Flame
5. Visions
6. Hope
7. New Beginnings
8. Calm Before the Storm
9. Nostradamus
10. Future of Mankind

Disc 19: A Touch of Evil…Live (originally released as Columbia 88697 54597-2, 2009)

1. Judas Rising
2. Hellrider
3. Between the Hammer and the Anvil
4. Riding on the Wind
5. Death
6. Beyond the Realms of Death
7. Dissident Aggressor
8. A Touch of Evil
9. Eat Me Alive
10. Prophecy
11. Painkiller

Judas Priest Unfurls “Wings of Destiny” with Repressings of Early Albums

Rock legends Judas Priest have long been known for their killer blend of metal on the Columbia label in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. But two albums predating that contract – both of which are once again about to be independently reissued on CD – were fans’ real first taste of the Priest.

In 1974, Judas Priest, a hungry upstart rock band from Birmingham, had been together for about five years. A year before, the band’s lineup had started to crystallize: lead guitarist K.K. Downing and bassist Ian Hill, in the group since 1970, were joined by drummer John Hinch (their fifth percussionist) and vocalist Rob Halford, a brother of Hill’s girlfriend who’d replaced founding member Al Atkins in 1973. Just as the band was about to enter the studio, the band’s label, Gull Records, suggested another member, second guitarist Glenn Tipton. (Halford, Downing, Tipton and Hill would provide the nucleus of the band for nearly its entire existence; all but Downing, who retired this year, are still members.)

The shifting landscape of the band could have been an early sign of trouble for the group’s debut, 1974’s Rocka Rolla. Plagued by poor recording quality and difficulties with Black Sabbath producer Roger Bain, who the band claims exerted too much control over the song selection on the album, their debut was met with critical and commercial indifference.

Sophomore disc Sad Wings of Destiny fared slightly better: Hinch was replaced by Alan Moore, who’d drummed with the group in 1970, and the group, now co-producing their own work, picked tracks that were or would become live staples, including “Victim of Changes” and “The Ripper.” Of course, it would take a jump to CBS to ensure Priest their greatest successes anywhere.

Both albums were released on CD by Repertoire Records in Europe in the 1990s (Rocka Rolla featured a bonus cover of Joan Baez’s “Diamonds and Rust”) and are being reissued again, this time in digipaks. For those who’ve not let their curiosity get the best of them yet, these releases are highly recommended. (That goes for sound quality, too – Repertoire’s masters are arguably the best representation of the albums on compact disc.)

Both are out November 22 and can be ordered after the jump.

Judas Priest, Rocka Rolla (originally released as Gull GULP 1005 (U.K.)/IMP 7001 (U.S.), 1974 – reissued Repertoire 1052372, 2011)

1. One for the Road
2. Rocka Rolla
3. Winter
4. Deep Freeze
5. Winter Retreat
6. Cheater
7. Never Satisfied
8. Run of the Mill
9. Dying to Meet You/Hero, Hero
10. Caviar and Meths
11. Diamonds and Rust (bonus track)

Judas Priest, Sad Wings of Destiny (originally released as Gull GULP 1015 (U.K.)/Janus JXS 7019 (U.S.), 1976 – reissued Repertoire 1052362, 2011)

1. Victim of Changes
2. The Ripper
3. Dreamer Deceiver
4. Deceiver
5. Prelude
6. Tyrant
7. Genocide
8. Epitaph
9. Island of Domination

Release Round-Up: Week of October 11

Ben Folds, The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective (Epic/Legacy)

Ben Folds-mania – at least around Second Disc HQ – hits a fever pitch with the first compilation from everyone’s favorite piano-playing smartass. You have your single-disc version, the excellent three-disc version and the digital vault, featuring another 55 tracks at 320 kbps MP3s. (Five of those tracks are yours free when you buy the three-disc set.) (Official site)

James Brown, The Singles Vol. 11 (1979-1981) (Hip-o Select/Polydor)

The end of an era: the last Hip-o Select compilation of singles from The Godfather of Soul. (Hip-o Select)

Todd Rundgren, Runt + The Ballad of Todd Rundgren / Something/Anything?…Plus / A Wizard, A True Star + Todd / Initiation + Faithful / Utopia, RA / Oops! Wrong Planet (Edsel)

A host of Rundgren-oriented catalogue action:  a heap of Bearsville two-fers, many with bonus tracks. (Edsel)

Johnny Cash, Bootleg III: Live Around the World (Columbia/Legacy)

Rare and unreleased live tracks from the Man in Black. Aren’t there more full shows that could make an appearance on CD, too? (Official site)

Judas Priest, The Chosen Few (Columbia/Legacy)

The newest Priest compilation includes hits as chosen by famous fans of the band, with liner notes from everyone who picked. (Official site)

Britney Spears, B. in the Mix: The Remixes, Vol. 2 (RCA)

Remixes of tracks from Blackout to Femme Fatale, some of which are on a commercial CD for the first time. (Official site)

They’ve Got Some Other Things Comin’: Two Judas Priest Compilations Coming Next Month

Judas Priest are prepping to end their live career with a bang, taking their final Epitaph tour to the U.S. from October to December. But they’re not done as a band (their next studio effort is slated for 2012), nor are they done with handling their catalogue, putting out a massive singles box in October.

Interestingly, they’re celebrating the catalogue further with not one but two compilations around the world, both of which cover much of the same ground in slightly different ways.

The first one was actually released August 22 in the U.K., and is the simpler of the two. Single Cuts, bearing the same name as the aforementioned box set, simply includes all 19 of the band’s U.K. single A-sides for CBS Records from 1977 to 1992.

Meanwhile, the track list for the upcoming compilation Chosen Few has been picked by some of Priest’s famous fans. Rock legends, including members of Black Sabbath, Def Leppard, Metallica and Slayer; modern rockers from Slipknot, Korn and Lamb of God and even rocker/professional wrestler Chris Jericho have all turned in 17 favorite tunes, complete with track-by-track notes. Either looks to be a good primer for new fans with their own advantages – one covering their greatest hits while the other serving as a nice collectible for those wondering what virtues, say, Ozzy Osbourne and Alice Cooper have to extol about Priest.

Chosen Few is out October 11, and the full track list for both sets are after the jump.

Reissue Theory: Live Aid on CD

Twenty-six years ago today, on two different continents, the music world came together for a worthy cause: to raise awareness of famine in Ethiopia. Live Aid, a pair of concerts organized by Bob Geldof in London and Philadelphia on July 13, 1985 and broadcasted live on the BBC, ABC and MTV, was seen in person by some 172,000 people and on television by nearly 2 billion across the globe.

And, if you can believe it, none of it has ever been released on LP or CD.

Granted, it’s not entirely unsurprising. Geldof promised artists that the performances were very much a one-off, never to be seen past the initial broadcast. (That of course turned out to be untrue, with the release of a four-disc DVD set in 2004.) But you have to wonder, given not only the fiercely charitable nature of the organization as well as the capitalistic nature of the music industry, why a commemorative album was never put out to raise even more money for charities.

But if they did, this is how it might go down.

Judas Priest Prep Singles Box

Judas Priest may be heading toward the finish line, at least as live performances go, with their current Epitaph World Tour (though sadly without founding guitarist K.K. Downing, who elected to retire a bit early), but they still have plenty of irons in the fire – including a neat catalogue set for hardcore collectors.

The band announced the impending release of Single Cuts: The Complete U.K. Singles Collection, a 20-disc set replicating every one of the band’s British singles, right down to the picture sleeves.

Of particular interest to collectors is the inclusion of a large amount of live B-sides, many of which have never been available on CD (some made it onto Legacy’s Setlist entry for the band). While many of the band’s singles had album cuts on the flip sides, about 13 of the tracks on the box are live and as aggressive as ever. (There’s also another interesting B-side in “The Judas Priest Audio File,” a sort of mega-mix of Priest’s best songs at the time of release.)

The collection certainly isn’t complete; some U.S. singles had other live cuts and even a few dance mixes by the end of the ’80s, many of which have yet to surface on CD. And some of the discs in the box follow the 12″ single track lists, while others just stick to the basic 45 lineup. But it’s still a pretty awesome set for the dedicated fan – and fans have seen sets with far less for a higher price tag than the $99 being charged for this set in the States.

Single Cuts can be ordered through Priest’s official website. The full track breakdown is after the jump (note that some tracks were not described as live on the official site, although they were as such on the singles – we shall correct any errors we find out about). (A special thanks to super reader George for staying on top of this one!)