Multitasking this morning, doing a 5km park run before turning up at my local independent store dripping in sweat. Probably only about 3 things I was slightly interested in, got The Who A Quick One double LP, mono for original album then additional tracks on the 2nd disc. Nicely coloured vinyl and a decent package. Pressed in Germany which is normally a good sign.
May check another store later for Springsteen live album, but I can live without it
Apparently the busiest year this year at my local shop (a garden shed). Turned up at 2:30pm to a queue! I went straight to the bargain-bin LPs, 12″ singles (stock size reduced by 80% due to water damage) and the massive selection of 7″ singles.
By the time I’d dug through the S/H crates there was no queue left and I picked up the last copy of the Talking Heads demos LP. Apparently the sole copy of The Colourfield 2LP went early this morning, to some nutter who camped out overnight.
25 LPs & 13 twelves for twenty quid, and a massive pile of 7″ singles for a tenner. The Knosti is going to be busy.
In my own neck of the woods (provincial Japan), the RSD shelf at Tower Records was a bit slight (do we need so many George Harrison albums?), but I did get Ryuchi Sakamoto and the Dancieries’ “The End of Asia” (medieval instrumental ensemble playing Sakamoto compositions from 1981).
I got to Dussmann, in Berlin at 7:30am thinking I would maybe find one or two other middle aged gentlemen patiently awaiting the doors to open at 8am. The queue was stretching around the block and a mix of young, old, men, women. Quite a lot of 20somethings. Once doors opened absolute scenes – total and utter mayhem. Crates of records dotted around the ground floor in no particular logical order (it’s a 4 storey department store, books, cds, vinyl on ground floor). Hordes of people shoving, pushing, grabbing and cursing. Quite a few of the things I had hoped for weren’t available in Germany it turned out. The things I did get are all available now online. My friend and I tumbled out onto the pavement half an hour later, battered breathless and bruised. Never again!
https://i.haasie.com/FD7.jpg
RSD Dundee style
Second store I went to in the afternoon had a much better selection but no further purchases for me. The Springsteen live box set is almost $200 online which is a bit too much for me
Whole thing seems to have become a ritual – collectors moaning about scalpers and others saying well just don’t buy from them…
Common sense seems to be at a relative low level throughout. Clearly some items are high premium due to actual demand buy so many can be picked up online from early next week – in fact at least one danish retailer had a lot of the so called “coveted” items available online from 8am today with relatively cheap postage to the UK. (they had Springsteen, Floyd etc). for those that way inclined – their stock of Japanese Jazz was sadly a little less enticing.
Unless you are happy to queue up almost all night best thing to do is wait a few weeks for scalpers to realise they have either over priced or can’t shift stock.
I could wang on about late stage capitalism but I suspect it won’t fix the problem..
Seems very regional, some queue up all night to get that one copy that the store has. Others stroll into another store somewhere else at 3pm and see several copies of same disc still on the shelves . Here some stores have things going on, like free coffee, live bands and discounts on the rest of their inventory. It can be an enjoyable day
Nearly went to Resident today but I don’t need anything and we’re trying to get rid of a load of stuff like books ahead of a possible move next year. I may still be tempted but as far as boos go, I’ve got a load to get through already, without adding to the pile.
There are no record shops in Oxfordshire.
Not for me then.
There are a few in Oxford
e.g. https://truckmusic.store/
Queuing up all night outside a record shop is easy compared to the challenge of actually getting to a shop in Oxford if you don’t live there. Ditto Cambridge, albeit fractionally easier.
The Park & Ride works pretty well
Not quite so handy for the record shops, e.g. Truck on Cowley Road. Ditto Relevant on Mill Road in Cambridge.
Don’t Oxford and Cambridge have train stations? They used to
Yes, ( Cambridge actually has three). In both cases great if you if you live somewhere along the route. Not so great for the large number of people who live in the catchment of either city, but not near a connecting station. From where I live ( not untypical) eight miles out of Cambridge, it’s up to 1.5 hours by public transport to get to Relevant Records. Not worth the bother, to be honest.
I am visiting friends in Witney on Saturday. I can see it would probably take a similar time to get to Truck Records on the Cowley Road in Oxford via a similar two bus option. Can’t say I would be tempted to make either journey for RSD, given there is every likelihood they wouldn’t have what I wanted by the time I got there.
FWIW, the issue isn’t about public transport per se. It’s more that both of these shops aren’t actually in the city centre, and have become relatively inaccessible to people living outside the city as a consequence of council policies to deter car use in the respective localities. That’s the councils’ perogative, of course, and it’s supported by many people in both cities. But there are pros and cons / winners and losers
In the event, I bought 5 of the 6 records I was after in 15 minutes when online sales went live on Monday night. Of course, I had to pay postage, which was more expensive than the cost of the buses, but I saved the 3 to 4 hour round trip.
I imagine the main reason those record stores aren’t in the city centres is because the rents and business rates for a city centre shop would make being there non-viable economically.
Yes they are often in “iffy”parts of town
I managed to get what I wanted and restrained myself from impulse buys, so all in all, it was a success for me. My purchases were:
The Colourfield
Horslips live (thanks for the “heads up” and the enthusiastic and entirely accurate sleeve notes Colin H)
Laura Marlin Patterns live
Steely Dan Alive in America.
I then had to ferry a young hound to a half marathon so listening starts following the post work swim this evening.
I’m in the market for the 3LP Yes live album- it’s a live version of Topo!!!
I picked one up – I’m happy with it…
Unless it has RL in the deadwax, it’s a hard pass from me. Gorts!
I managed to score a copy of the live Topo. I’m waiting for delivery and will report back. I thought it might be useful for clearing the house of unwanted guests.
Arf! Looking forward to the report.
It’s arrived. I am just staring at it for a while, and need to firmly align my chakras before I dive in. Heavy, man…
Disjointed – but with purpose!
…It’s only tunes of a different age.
I was away over the weekend, but wandered down to my local emporium today and got both the items I would happily have queued up for on Saturday – Love and Let Live, Saving Grace EP and also saw the Original Fleetwood Mac compilation, which I have never owned in any format. Nice!
I just managed to get the live LP of Air performing Moon Safari recorded in Athens.
Just got Love & Johnny Echols ‘Love And Let Live’ for £30 Inc shipping, a bargain considering it’s sold out at a lot of shops. I would have happily paid more.
I would have considered the Neil Young live album but have heard lots of negative feedback about the (clear) vinyl quality. That’s unusual for a Shakey vinyl release, everything I’ve bought (all of them) have always been top notch quality. I’ve heard it’s out in another colour* on general release, that’ll do me.
*Black.