Rarebird's Rock and Roll Nest

For Record Store Day Black Friday in 2020, jazz-pop singer/pianist Norah Jones issued a 7-song, 12-inch vinyl EP titled Playdate , containing songs recorded in 2019 and 2020 which were otherwise unavailable on vinyl. The EP was limited to 2,000 copies. According to the Record Store Day website, Playdate collected B-sides and bonus tracks from Jones’ 2020 studio album Pick Me Up Off The Floor . In truth, only three of the tracks actually seem to fit this description: “Tryin’ To Keep It Together” and “Street Stranger” were bonus tracks on Target stores’ exclusive CD version of the album (as well as some European and Japanese editions), while the former track and “I’ll Be Gone” (the latter a smooth soul duet with r&b veteran Mavis Staples) were both bonus tracks on the digital Deluxe Edition of the album. The other four tracks were issued on non-album digital singles the previous year, those tracks being two collaborations with Brazilian folk-rocker Rodrigo Amarante and two other t...

For Record Store Day Black Friday in 2020, Juliana Hatfield issued an exclusive 7-inch single titled “Christmas Cactus”. The single was limited to 1,500 copies, and was pressed in magenta-colored vinyl. The single’s two sides had more of a flower-related theme than one related to the holidays. The B-side track was titled “Red Poinsettia”, and the disc’s center sticker denotes the sides with plant graphics instead of song titles. Hatfield is a ‘90’s alternative-rock veteran who has been making girlish-voiced, guitar-fuzzed alt-pop since before Beabadoobee was born. Hatfield’s lyrics have often described disappointment and failed romances, and these two tracks certainly uphold those lyrical traditions. The A-side, “Christmas Cactus”, is a melancholy ballad which seemingly uses dissatisfaction with the growth of a plant as a metaphor for a discontented life. The equally downcast B-side, “Red Poinsettia”, only suggests the holiday season by its title flower imagery; otherwise, the song d...