Record Store Day 2025: Five essential Black Friday releases
Like it or not, there is no getting away from the fact that winter is in full swing: the nights have drawn in, there is a perpetual chill in the frostbitten air, and, perhaps most worrying of all, the holiday season is rapidly approaching. Thankfully, though, Record Store Day has arrived to quell our winter despair.
Thanksgiving, while a major event in the American calendar, passes without much of a mention in the United Kingdom; the other distinctly US tradition of Black Friday made the trip across the Atlantic years ago, for better or worse.
A festival of capitalist consumerism, the self-professed day of deals has long since produced videos of stampeding supermarkets and grown men fighting over flat-screen televisions. Now, with the advent of online shopping, the day itself tends to be far less dramatic. Unless, of course, you are a vinyl junkie.
Tiding wax obsessives over until the main event in spring, Record Store Day Black Friday is a tradition stretching back to 2010, and its history of providing exclusive releases to those willing to queue in the cold is certainly more noble than the indigenous genocide that inspired Thanksgiving.
Sure, the exclusive releases aren’t quite as plentiful as the main Record Store Day, but Black Friday gives dedicated collectors and music obsessives a chance to get their hands on a few gems before their pay packet is completely swallowed up by the festive period.
For 2025’s event, Record Store Day has unveiled some truly exciting exclusives, ranging from live albums to long out-of-print reissues and even a few first-timers. Here, we have collected five of the most exciting and notable of those releases, for your reading pleasure while you prepare a flask and break out your finest foldable chair for the day itself. Don’t get caught in the stampede.
Five essential Black Friday 2025 vinyl releases:
Gang Of Four – ‘Shrinkwrapped’
Post-punk devotees rejoice, for Gang Of Four’s 1995 album Shrinkwrapped will, at long last, be available to listen to on glorious wax after Black Friday. Although perhaps not the best-known record ever produced by the legendary Leeds outfit, the funk-slanted Shrinkwrapped nevertheless marked an interesting point in the lineage of the group, far away from their Entertainment beginnings and staying afloat in a rapidly changing musical landscape.
Unlike a few of the more novelty-inclined releases this year, Shrinkwrapped comes pressed on classic black vinyl, with the focus entirely on the music itself rather than some faddy zoetrope which invariably ruins any sound quality. Given that the reissue comes from Andy Gill’s own Gill Music, too, it is fair to say that the release will have been given the full and utmost respect when being put together, so it is sure to be high on the wantlist of any self-respecting post-punk obsessive.
Various Artists – ‘Jazz Dispensary: Green Bullets’
Black Friday or not, the ‘various artists’ section of Record Store Day is consistently filled with some of the most exciting releases, and this Jazz Dispensary LP is among the most intriguing of this year’s releases. A hypothetical soundtrack to a 1970s-style exploitation crime thriller – the kind of thing you might expect to find Richard Roundtree, Pam Grier, or Isaac Hayes appear in.
In fact, Hayes does make an appearance on the tracklisting in the form of ‘St Thomas Square’, one of the stand-outs among efforts by the likes of Mongo Santamaria, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bill Summers; Green Bullets is awash with the cool exuberance of the golden age of jazz and funk soundtracks, and it comes complete with a narrative printed on the inner-sleeve, discussing a mysterious new strain of ganja hitting the streets of Malibu back in 1977. Aside from anything else, it certainly wins the prize for the coolest album cover of the year.
Bratmobile – ‘The Real Janelle & The Peel Session’
A long overdue repress of one of the greatest EPs recorded by riot grrrl heroes Bratmobile back in the 1990s heyday, ‘The Real Janelle’ has been a nightmare to get a hold of for the past 30 years, particularly in the UK. Now, though, it is as easy as queueing outside your local record store at silly o’clock to get your hands on a slice of this riotous and woefully underrated punk classic, thanks to the endless generosity of the folks at Kill Rock Stars.
If that wasn’t impressive enough, the EP is fleshed out with the inclusion of the group’s oft-forgotten Peel sessions, appearing for the first time on glorious maroon vinyl at that. Record Store Day is often lampooned for its over-reliance on reissues and coloured vinyl novelties, but it is releases like ‘The Real Janelle’ which best exemplify its power for reintroducing long-out-of-press albums that fans have been begging to be reissued for years. So, stop moaning and stick some Bratmobile on your turntable.
Various Artists – ‘Flowers In The Afternoon: Late-1960s Sunshine’
Another gem from the ‘various artists’ section of this year’s list comes in the form of Flowers In The Afternoon, a mind-bending collection of 1960s sunshine pop featuring a wealth of impossibly rare and increasingly expensive tracks stretching from Jefferson Lee to Rick McClellan. Compilations like these provide you with the best bang for your buck when it comes to Record Store Day, and this 16-track orange-coloured LP from Craft Recordings is certainly no exception.
Admittedly, its sun-kissed tracklisting doesn’t make for natural winter listening, and it might not make the best soundtrack for sitting round to eat your Christmas dinner, but if you’re after an escape from de-icing your car every morning and looking at your thermostat through tear-filled eyes, then this might be your best bet. Let Its collection of secret gems and obscure cult classics – including two previously unreleased tracks – lull you back into the warm hues of the late 1960s (flares optional).
Jonathan Richman – ‘You Must Ask The Heart’
We have already explored some of this year’s most anticipated reissues and first-time-on-vinyl releases, but this is inarguably among the most exciting. Celebrating the 30th anniversary of You Must Ask the Heart, from everybody’s favourite lesbian ally, Jonathan Richman, the album is finally being pressed onto vinyl (and pretty pink vinyl, at that).
Musically, the 1995 record is among Richman’s most organic, with a definite sense of spontaneity prevailing over the course of the tracklisting as the former Modern Lovers songwriter moves fluidly from a rockabilly cover of Tom Waits to his heartbreak anthem, ‘Let Her Go Into The Darkness’.
At this point in time, the unique songwriting mastery of Richman is no longer the cult secret it once was, but You Must Ask The Heart is an incredible entry point for those who have yet to discover his charm. And now, remastered from the original tapes and released under the banner of Rounder Records, it can finally be listened to in vinyl hi-fidelity. If it’s a choice between this and getting into a fist-fight over a fridge-freezer this Black Friday, I know which route I’m taking.
