PITTSBURGH — For its 2022 ambassador, Record Store Day turned to one of the industry's brightest stars, Taylor Swift, who has said she tours with a turntable in hand and who, last year, released a vinyl version of "Red" that had fans thinking theirs was broken: You had to play the LP at 45, not 33 1/3.
In her RSD statement, Swift said, in part, "Record stores are so important because they help to perpetuate and foster music-loving as a passion. They create settings for live events. They employ people who adore music thoroughly and purely."
One Pittsburgh store specializing in such live events is The Government Center, the North Side location run by Josh Cozby, who came here from Portland, Oregon, with his family in 2019 to open the store.
"We had the bands booked and posters printed for the Record Store Day event in 2020, and we were all ready. It was super exciting and then, you know, obviously that got canceled," he says.
There ended up being four scattered Record Store Day drops in 2020 and then three in 2021. Saturday is the first time since 2019 that it's truly back in April.
Among the hot commodities on record store shelves on April 23 will be demo/outtake collections by Joni Mitchell and Lou Reed; a promo-only EP from Alice in Chains; the vinyl release of Childish Gambino's "Kauai"; and live albums from The Replacements, Pixies, Nick Cave, Jefferson Airplane and more.
Scrolling through the list of major-label releases, Cozby notes that "it's all trips down memory lane," geared to the typical RSD buyer.
"They've found a certain consumer," he says, "who is some middle-aged dude who's got some disposable income and is more interested in the music that he liked 25 years ago than what's coming out now. But, also, they've created that customer by telling him, 'Come to Record Store Day once a year and buy these deluxe recordings of the stuff that you liked 20 or 30 years ago.' That's not to say that they don't get me every once in a while, because, you know, there's a Jonathan Richman & Modern Lovers coming out that's never been released on vinyl, so I'm pretty excited about that."
Not all record stores take part in Record Store Day because of the cost of the RSD releases and the risks involved.
"When you're managing a successful record store," Cozby says, "one of the most important things you do is wisely manage your relationship to Record Store Day, because if you go into a failing record store, one that's close to going out of business, you will most definitely find a ton of leftover Record Store Day stock that that they didn't sell.
"So, what I've tried to focus on are records that I or people who work in the shop are going to personally recommend to people. So, if I see a Super Furry Animals reissue or a soul-jazz comp — something where the music is exciting — I'm going to order a lot of those. And I don't care if we don't sell all 20 of that Jonathan Richman because I know it's a good album, I can have a conversation about it, I'm happy to see it here when things are over."
He also emphasizes the kind of records that you can't find in used bins.
"I'll never understand why they're pressing the Rolling Stones' 'More Hot Rocks.' This is going to cost $55 for somebody to buy, and that's not a hard used record to find."
Ideally, Cozby says, there would also be more titles coming from artists prominent in this century.
"That Childish Gambino will sell out. We'll get like 20 copies of that, and we'll sell all of them. When they put out a Charli XCX EP a couple Record Store Days ago that had not been widely available, people were calling about it all day, and they were almost all young people. It would be nice to see them balanced out with more new music made by active artists, and not treat this like relics that they're sort of preserving."
The majors, though, love these vault recordings because they already exist and just need to be remastered, repackaged and marked up. They take up valuable time in the pressing plants, of which there is a shortage, with only about 25 in the United States. That's why there is a second RSD drop day on June 18.
"If you caught that recent video of Jack White telling the major labels that they need to invest in pressing-plant capacity, he's a thousand percent right," Cozby says. "And the major labels are overloading the pressing plants with a lot of stuff that there's not actually demand for."
Those are the titles you see filling those shops that are in danger of closing. On the other hand, there are too many titles that the stores can't keep in stock.
"We can't order the full Radiohead back catalog. We couldn't get enough Phoebe Bridgers records at one point. We haven't been able to get Mac Miller for months now.
"For this to be sustainable, economically," Cozby says, "the major labels have to spend money on the physical plants to manufacture more records, and they're not doing it."
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RSD HIGHLIGHTS
Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers, "In My Prime": Two-LP reissue contains the complete sessions recorded by the Pittsburgh-born drummer and his band at CI Recording Studios in New York on Dec. 29, 1977.
Alice In Chains, "We Die Young": The first EP from the band, originally released in 1990 as a promo-only, features two songs that ended up on its debut album, along with an exclusive called "Killing Yourself."
Black Pumas, Collector's Edition Box Set: Includes six 7" singles with deluxe artwork and two bonus tracks.
Chicago, "Chicago at Carnegie Hall, April 10, 1971": Three LP set of the last concert of the band's historic eight-show run.
Childish Gambino, "Kauai": The hip-hop star's 2014 EP for the first time on vinyl.
The Cranberries, "Remembering Dolores": The two-LP edition of the compilation, which was released digitally in September to mark the late vocalist Dolores O'Riordan's 50th birthday, features three bonus tracks.
David Bowie, "Brilliant Adventure" and "Toy" EPs: "Brilliant Adventures" includes four unheard songs from the "Outside" era plus two tracks performed with pianist Mike Garson in 1995. The "Toy" EP includes an unreleased, stripped-down version of "Shadow Man," two previously unreleased live tracks from 2000, and three other songs previously available only as streams.
The Doors, "L.A.Woman Sessions": Four-LP set with more than two-and-a-half hours of outtakes from the bonus content from the 50th anniversary set.
Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, "Acoustics": Eight-song collection is made up of five newly recorded acoustic tracks and three previously unreleased acoustic versions.
Joni Mitchell, "Blue 50: Demos, Outtakes And Live Tracks From Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 2": A single LP of rarities from her "Blue" period "created with Joni's insight, cooperation and creative input."
Prince, "The Gold Experience": The 1995 album reissued as a two-LP set on gold vinyl with a fourth side of bonus alternate versions of "Eye Hate U."
Lou Reed, "I'm So Free: The 1971 RCA Demos": Physical release of a dozen tracks from his first post-Velvet Underground solo sessions that was streamed in late 2021 and then pulled.
The Replacements, "Unsuitable for Airplay: The Lost KFAI Concert (Live)": Concert that was released as part of the "Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash" boxed set captures the Minneapolis band in the punk days before its debut album. They covered Slade, Kinks, Heartbreakers and Dave Edmunds.
Also, live albums from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Jefferson Airplane, Bad Company, Miles Davis, the Grateful Dead, Gojira, Slash, Stiff Little Fingers, Pixies (Coachella 2004), Pearl Jam, Iggy Pop and more.
