Saturday 21 April 2012

Record Store Day 2012 pt 2




I now have had time to listen to all my purchases, reflect on the day over a meal out with the family and can still say that the Fall single is pish and best avoided if you have any love for this gruppe whatsoever.

Max and I left the house at 06:40 this morning, yes that bloody early and we arrived outside Monorail at 07:15 to be confronted with 14 people in front of us in the queue, the best placing in the last three years and funnily enough the two guys who joined behind us were the guys who were in front of us last year. I also spotted a guy I'm sure was at Aberdeen at the same time as me twenty five years ago about five or six behind us with his daughter. If that was you Spence then I apologise for not speaking but I wasn't sure.

I had my list of wants which wasn't too large, top of the list was the afore mentioned Fall single, closely followed by the Sweet Jane 7",  also the Raveonettes double pack and Rosebud by the Jezabels and I said to myself if I got those then I would be happy. I did have other things like The Slow Club lp but at twenty quid, it was a bit steep and a few other 7" which would have been nice to have.

When I actually got into Monorail I realised that it was going to be a far costlier day than I had budgeted for, as I saw the Fame singles box set and decided that it had to be purchased. So when I got to the front of the queue this was the second thing asked for after Sweet Jane and I was also successful with the Raveonettes and Fall, as you will be aware, I also forked out for a copy of the MC5/Africa Bambaataa 7" of Kick out the Jams and the Big Deal vs S.C.U.M. single which is excellent.

I was wanting to hang about for a while but I had promised Max a visit to Forbidden Planet which also ended up costing me a small fortune.

Now, everywhere I look on the Internet I see less than favourable comments about Record Shop Day but my feelings are that anything that gets people into record shops is a good thing. I have seen tweets saying "record shop day is everyday for me" and good, so it is for a lot of people me included, if I were lucky enough to be able to get to a record shop every day. But to a lot more people they just aren't that important and anything that can get people into the mindset of visiting their local record shop while out shopping for other things has to be beneficial not just to the record shop but also the individual who will hopefully hear or see and buy something which they would have other wise been oblivious too. Days such as today must contribute to this as the atmosphere in the queue and also inside of Monorail which greeted my son was so completely different to the elitist, unfriendly atmosphere which greeted me when I started buying record  being only a a few years olderthan he is now.

As for the arguement that the real fans don't get the records and most end up in the hands of dealers who then put the items on ebay for sale at exorbitant fees. Well fuck them, don't buy the stuff from these leeches leave them with their "product".

I know, that's rich coming from somebody who got everything they wanted today, but last year I thought twice about the St Etienne box set and decided not to buy it, as it was too expensive at thirty quid; for months it was on ebay for fifty/sixty quid. Three months ago I got a copy from a seller on ebay for £13 including postage.

Here is a track that has naff all to do with RSD but comes from the best album I have bought this year and that is including the Spiritualized one. I do urge everyone to go get this.

Alabama Shakes - Boys & Girls

Aw fuck, I forgot the Hangover Lounge Vol 3, shit!

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