No, not the Springsteen song (as such) but the record shop. I have been in Cheltenham where I went to college exactly 50 years ago. A lot is the same – a prosperous town with a shopping centre to match, and now with added food and drink outlets. I found they have an HMV in one of the shopping arcades and investigated to see how they are shaping up these days – this branch had racks of vinyl records on the ground floor with a large selection of CDs also very prominently displayed. I didn’t buy anything, but came away far less depressed than after visits in recent years.
Then…down a side street I came across Badlands. I remember the name from a few years ago and had bought things by mail order, but they had gone off my radar. I never even realised they were in Cheltenham (for 33 years, apparently), and it was a real treat to go into a proper record shop again. I had a lovely time going through the racks and chatting to the young chap behind the counter. They sell a lot through eBay now by all accounts, but only have the one, small, shop. I bought the latest Neil Young archive release and I Want It Darker by Leonard Cohen and unsuccessfully tried to blag a Western Stars poster, but did get given a nice piece of Western Stars related promo. I pledged to use them in future instead of the tax dodgers!
I lived in Cheltenham when they first opened. I must have spent a bloody fortune there back in the day!
Thought for a tiny moment that we had a first ever AW mention for the titular blues/hair metal supergroup of the late 1980s, featuring Jake E Lee, Eric Singer, Greg Chaisson and Ray Gillen.
Great first couple of albums (if you like that kind of thing) saw them once at a half empty Rock City, towards the end of the band, they were magnificent.
But alas, no.
Always used to check their advert in the back of Mojo and actually bought my copy of Costello/Nieve box of live ep’s from them by mail order.
Visited their store for the one and only time about 2years ago and was mildly disappointed as they seemed to have a small choice but still good to know that an independent is still running.