Dissapointment in London... |
Post Reply | Page 123> |
Author | |
AJ Junior
Forum Senior Member Joined: December 11 2021 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 253 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Posted: April 09 2024 at 20:59 |
As a vinyl LP collector and enjoyer I decided it would be a good idea to visit the record stores in London (while on vacation), the motherland of Prog. I went to 5 record stores, all in Soho, and these were the stores I went to:
Sister Ray Reckless Records Sounds of the Universe Phonica Records Fopp Music I thought I would find some good stuff for fair prices, and certainly lots of my favorite genre, prog. Unfortunately this was not the case. First off, the used LP selection in all of the stores I visited was terrible if not non-existent. Now, that being said, I don't mind new records at a reasonable price...but these records were expensive! There was barely anything worth buying under 25 pounds which is about $30 in the USA where I live. At the first three stores, I bought nothing and was immensely disappointed by their collections as I thought there would be lots of rarer prog records. At Phonica, there was a small used rock and pop section. The best I could find was "Chicago VII" for 8 pounds. It is a double album, and they gave me only one of the LPs...It wasn't even the right album (instead they accidentally slipped in a Vinyl from Chicago VI). After this disappointment, I thought I'd hit one last store, being Fopp records. Fopp has absolutely nothing outside the plastic wrap. That being said I was very pleased by their selection of prog bands and records. I ended up opting to buy 5 great CD's instead of 1 or 2 expensive ass records. My CD pickups were Camel's debut, Mirage, Moonmadness, Cant Buy a Thrill (Steely Dan), and Quadrophenia (The Who), which all came out to about 33 pounds. Here's a link to the full haul: Even though I'm a bit surprised by this turnout, I want to hear from you guys what some of the best record stores are in London, so that I can be more prepared next time. Happy listening! |
|
"Together We Stand, Divided We Fall"
|
|
richardh
Prog Reviewer Joined: February 18 2004 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 27729 |
Post Options
Thanks(2)
|
London is just generally disappointing. Not the be all and end all of England my (once?) great country. Anyone visiting the UK should try and get around a bit and visit the some of the best countryside in the whole world. We are a lovely coastal country and this extends then whole length and breadth of the UK inc Scotland and Wales. I live in the only Celtic part of England namely Cornwall. There is a great used vinyl shop (in fact 2!) in the historic town of Wadebridge just 7 miles away from me. These are the places that have the best vinyl stores. Generally London is pricier because a lot of rich people live there!
|
|
Sean Trane
Special Collaborator Prog Folk Joined: April 29 2004 Location: Heart of Europe Status: Offline Points: 20193 |
Post Options
Thanks(1)
|
I'm not surprised. Been a few times in London over the decades (GF's shopping spree and concerts for me) and I never did find much - especially at decent prices, unless it was on one of those super/megastores like the two HMV on Oxford street (the one towards Marble Arch has been closed for quite a while and I'm not sure the one close to Piccadilly is complete in their offer anymore) or Tower Records (which has closed down as well). Always found Sister Ray disappointing for prog as well, despite initial promises when entering the premises. Generally Fopp was where I found the better choices, but last time, I exited with only one CD (it is exceptional that I buy vinyls). I would try out Leicester's Ultima Thule, though it's been 15 years since my last visit there, so I don't know of its evolution in terms of CD/Vinyl ratio. Edinburg's Vinyl Villain (on Leith Road) was a great shop, but probably still holds their anti-prog attitude it had un the late 80's and early 90's when my parents lived there.
That sounds reasonable prices, though I wouldn't have interested in those since I've owned them for decades, though I am looking at buying Quadro in a satisfying edition (like a Mini-Lp cardboard sleeve), but all I can find in B&M stores is the old fatboy jewel case edition - which looks so 90's. . How was yours? .
Edited by Sean Trane - April 10 2024 at 01:44 |
|
let's just stay above the moral melee
prefer the sink to the gutter keep our sand-castle virtues content to be a doer as well as a thinker, prefer lifting our pen rather than un-sheath our sword |
|
Hrychu
Forum Senior Member Joined: November 03 2013 Location: poland? Status: Offline Points: 5218 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Edited by Hrychu - April 10 2024 at 01:46 |
|
On the day of my creation, I fell in love with education. And overcoming all frustration, a teacher I became.
Ernest Vong |
|
MikeEnRegalia
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: April 22 2005 Location: Sweden Status: Offline Points: 21022 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
These days I do most of my listening on Spotify. I track my impressions while I'm listening to everything, and I'm keeping a wishlist (at AP). From that list I occasionally buy releases - mostly as digital downloads from Bandcamp, but also as vinyls from various online sources (preferably the band websites or Bandcamp, but also Amazon).
I have zero interest in going to a physical record store at this point, it's just too frustrating. Used to do that a lot in the 2000s, but times are changing ...
|
|
Manuel
Forum Senior Member Joined: March 09 2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 13179 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
I'm suprised there are still those many record stores. I've never been to London, but it's really hard to find a record store these days of digital music. Heck, hardly anybody buys music these days. It's all Spotify, Pandora, etc.
|
|
Easy Money
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin Joined: August 11 2007 Location: Memphis Status: Offline Points: 10596 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
We have a couple good record stores in Memphis. Trading records is a long time hobby for me. San Francisco had even more when I was living there.
|
|
moshkito
Forum Senior Member Joined: January 04 2007 Location: Grok City Status: Offline Points: 17370 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Hi,
Not surprised. Portland used to have 2 of these, one on Burnside (can't remember the name) and the other also on Burnside, Everyday Records. Everyday is gone. The other one I have not driven by to find out, but likely not there, but it was big on CD's and a lot of music, and once in a while you could find something worth while there. Everyday, was a hit and miss thing. Had a huge rock and jazz sections totally separate, but the jazz section died down quickly and the last time I went there, the jazz section was a row in the back of the store. And in the rock section new and old was mixed together, with the LP section now as big as your hand. In the 70's, specially in the early days of Space Pirate Radio, it was Moby Disk (then in Van Nuys), The Tower on Sunset, and on occasion the Warehouse in Westwood, which had a lot of classical, soundtracks and jazz, and you could find a lot of neat things there, but they were not exactly an "import" store at that time that I can remember. Moby Disk, was, consistently the best of these, and it kept up with the new stuff really well. The Tower was bizarre ... it had a couple of things there, but you could get the "import" version of almost all the big names in England ... for a good reason, ALL OF THEM were better sounding than the American versions that were COPIES of the original, for a long time. If you bought the "import" you got what you hear on many of the remasters, which tells you that the American releases were designed to make big money and the record companies did not care about anything else ... even the White Album was better and cleaner as an import, and it helped understand what Revolution #9 was, you could hear the walking, whereas in the American album it was all muddled up and to make sense of it was ridiculous. When I came north, there was a Tower in Portland, and it started cutting down the imports in 1999, and I told them ... you're store will be dead in a year or two, and it was! They went for the top ten, and you have to be stupid to compete with the big name stores that also had the top ten, a dollar cheaper! They didn't know the difference, I guess, but NY owners were known to be so greedy, they thought less sales with a higher price would average out, and in a low level area it didn't make it ... and the store died. Saw the Tower in Seattle and it was garbage and left overs ... I asked if there were any stores that did imports (1999/2000) and two guys in the stores not only didn't know, they didn't care and one of them made a stupid comment about some of the things in the "imports" ... and I took offense ... it was about Tangerine Dream of all things! Most of it, at that time, was still an import, and their store did not even have the USA release of the albums from the 90's. I stopped buying stuff, and traded out many LP's (over 1500 of them for the corresponding CD) and started cutting down the heavy weight of it all. In the past 10 years, it has been mostly the used purchase of CD's which are much cheaper, and still provide the color and beauty and finally in the last 6 months, my bank stopped having issues with Bandcamp and I was able to purchase a couple of things ... I have no issues with digital, except that I find the quality, that is supposed to be excellent, is actually very low, and sometimes muddy as hell! Record stores, these days, are a joke, and just one acquired taste, that will die in the next 5 years. It looks like some folks are trying to improve it, but in the end, only one LP is not enough ... I can't remember a single music store visit that I only got one album. Best experience? Rasputin's in Berkeley, which used to have the classical store a couple of blocks south with just as many LP's ... I can not say what it looks like today if at all. But it was so huge when I went in at that store on Telegraph, that I got a headache, and now ... you are at the mercy of the used bin gods ... you might find something or other. I did find some neat stuff ... Streetwalkers Live ... a solo album by Chappo (Hyenas ... great album!!!) ... and one or two other things that I can not remember right now ... but it was difficult and more luck finding anything ... I went through the "regular" bands, and did not find anything, and I was hoping to find some German stuff, but nothing came up. But all in all, many of these only highlight how valuable and important Guy Guden's show was on the local rinse and repeat FM station. He found so many new things and played them straight out, and the rest of the folks had no taste whatsoever, which meant they only stuck to the songs marked on the records as hits to play, so they did not have to listen to it. But Guy's impression was maliciously and ridiculously ignored, when the folks at the station went on to play many things ... and Guy should have received a Golden Disk for Golden Earring, Gentle Giant, Supertramp, Average White Band (for which he made an insanely fabulous commercial for the record!!!), Hawkwind, Roxy Music, Man, Nektar ... and many others ... to this day, Guy continues and you can tell by the number of artists that say hello and do a promo, that many of them appreciate what he has done for a long time, and continues to do so ... something a record store, or bandcamp (or equivalent) could never do, and never will!
Edited by moshkito - April 10 2024 at 07:53 |
|
Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
www.pedrosena.com |
|
Floydoid
Forum Senior Member Joined: April 02 2007 Location: Planet Prog Status: Offline Points: 1417 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
If ever you're in Norwich, give Beatniks a look - they stock a ton of quality used vinyl (not to mention movies on DVD and Blu-ray), and the manager is very knowledgable and helpful.
http://beatniksrecords.co.uk/index.html |
|
'We're going to need a bigger swear jar.'
|
|
Catcher10
Forum Senior Member VIP Member Joined: December 23 2009 Location: Emerald City Status: Offline Points: 17817 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
The past couple years the trend has been much opposite of this.......Almost anything physical in media has been on the rise, heck even books have seen an increase away from ebooks. More of the population wants to see, feel, hold what they are spending their money on rather than paying for space on a HDD. |
|
|
|
Catcher10
Forum Senior Member VIP Member Joined: December 23 2009 Location: Emerald City Status: Offline Points: 17817 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Regarding prog in used record stores, that's a tough find......Progressive rock in general on LP is a very sought after genre/media. 10-15yrs ago you could find some of it but really was still tough back then I remember, an now that used LPs and LPs in general are selling like hot cakes, anything from the early 70's is a tough find in the wild.
Your better off looking On Discogs for that 70s prog record.......many of the sellers are brick and morter stores but at least you don't have to drive all over the country visiting stores to find what you want. Back in 2015 we were in Barcelona and I found a few record stores and bought some decent records as well a couple prog records, exchange rate was good back then so I got some deals, and the store owner shipped them to my abode in 'Merica for free too....such a deal.
|
|
|
|
AJ Junior
Forum Senior Member Joined: December 11 2021 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 253 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
This is great to hear! I was actually born in LA, so I have some opinions on the current record stores there. Unfortunately Tower Records has long been eradicated, but there is one saving grace in LA...If you are ever in Tarzana, there is a store called "CD Trader" on Ventura Blvd, and it has the best progressive rock collection I have ever seen. In one trip I picked up every ELP record through Brain Salad Surgery, Nursery Cryme, Tresspass, and Thick as a Brick all for $60!!! Funnily enough, I have actually had the privilege of going to Rasputin records as well in Berkley, as my dad went to college there. We were up on vacation in San Francisco, and we stopped by. I was really young, but I just remember the sheer size of the building and them having all the records I came for. Amoeba records is also really awesome, and I got pretty much my entire Beatles collection from the one in Berkley as well as LA. These days I reside in San Diego, and I have yet to find one record store near where I live. It's a massive hippie town near the coast with a passion for live music and events (heck, we've had some pretty rare RPI bands play here before), but I still can't find anything within 10 miles. As unfortunate as it is, I guess it is a fair trade off because our local music venue (The Belly Up) is a hot spot for great bands.
|
|
"Together We Stand, Divided We Fall"
|
|
mellotronwave
Forum Senior Member Joined: January 30 2021 Location: Belgium Status: Offline Points: 9577 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
I don't spend my bucks on old LPs, EPs, singles ...:-)
|
|
AJ Junior
Forum Senior Member Joined: December 11 2021 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 253 |
Post Options
Thanks(1)
|
As much as I love streaming, there's nothing quite like spinning a vinyl
|
|
"Together We Stand, Divided We Fall"
|
|
MikeEnRegalia
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: April 22 2005 Location: Sweden Status: Offline Points: 21022 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
As much as I like good-looking vinyls, let's not forget that they were invented as marketing devices for the actual music. When I buy a release on Bandcamp as a download, I am getting the music itself. The music is not the plastic/vinyl disc, nor the packaging, nor the cover art, nor the liner notes, nor nothing else that is packaged with. Of course for many bands all of that is more than a marketing device, but it's still that as well. Remember Steven Wilson's release last year? All the hype on social media about the coloured squares?
You do you! I am focusing on the music itself, while appreciating nice cover art that complements/augments it. EDIT: Since I'm receiving attacks left right and center, let me clarify that "were invented" is not a good way to put it. Of course vinyl records were "invented" as a way to record music onto a physical medium (as a successor to shellac discs). It would be more appropriate to say that they were used heavily as a way to market and promote music.
Edited by MikeEnRegalia - April 11 2024 at 06:22 |
|
moshkito
Forum Senior Member Joined: January 04 2007 Location: Grok City Status: Offline Points: 17370 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Hi, Your comment is very sad, and in my book not quite respectful to the history of the art form. In the 1960's there were no DOWNLOADS, and that didn't start until the 1990's with Napster and the like. Thus the ability to get ANY MUSIC was not via any other method that you consider a marketing device, is a gross statement about how music was first distributed to the public 100 years ago. For all your intelligence and whatnot about everything in this world, not having a clue about the history of things is pathetic. The nature of the "albums" did not become a "marketing device" until the late 60's when it was obvious that in America it was all about the commerce, and not exactly the art ... in Europe, a lot of the "art" survived much better, what with "progressive" and "krautrock" able to make a home for themselves ... artistically, which also included many covers. But the commerciality of the arts, started 100 years ago, in a manner that we can relate to, since before then it was just a playground for the rich and the richest and the courts that flaunted their "intelligence" with the arts in Europe. When you start appreciating the art form beyond your numbers, let us all know!
Edited by moshkito - April 11 2024 at 04:33 |
|
Music is not just for listening ... it is for LIVING ... you got to feel it to know what's it about! Not being told!
www.pedrosena.com |
|
MikeEnRegalia
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: April 22 2005 Location: Sweden Status: Offline Points: 21022 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
^ I'll ignore all the insults. What I said is correct, and you're incoherent. When it comes to prog rock and beyond, that's 1968ish and newer. By then of course music was already big business, and of course the cover art was a huge factor in the marketing. I gave a nuanced view, which you ignored because that would have interfered with the insults.
I appreciate music at least as much as you. Probably more, since my primary focus is music, whereas yours seems to be movies and a thousand other things you talk about more than the music itself. Cheers!
|
|
MikeEnRegalia
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: April 22 2005 Location: Sweden Status: Offline Points: 21022 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Incidentally: I really like album covers! I've implemented a very cover-centric view on my chart page because I love to see these "album quilts":
But moving closer to the topic of this thread again, when we purchase music in digital form we do get the cover art as well. All that's missing is the plastic disc and/or the paper booklet (we get it as PDF instead and can look at it on a big TV screen if we want to). Sure, some people can't enjoy it that way and feel like they need something they can touch. But regardless, the essence of the work of art, be it the music, the cover or the booklet, is not in the medium.
|
|
Catcher10
Forum Senior Member VIP Member Joined: December 23 2009 Location: Emerald City Status: Offline Points: 17817 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
^^ What you said is NOT correct, it is YOUR opinion that all can debate and question the reasoning. We are all here about the music that is a fact and correct.
But what is clear in your post is that your not seeing the artistic value of what the cover art conveys as part of the music as well the hours that bands put in to create a complimentary part of the actual music. I am sure that most if not all music lovers would frown upon albums that came in album sleeves with no artwork, no liner notes nor anything else as you mentioned.....That would be boring. It is marketing, but in a way that gives the people a small view into what they can expect when they open up the package and play the music, it provides a canvas to help you dive deeper into what the band/artist was thinking when they created the music in the first place. I ask you to simply stare at the PA banner on the home page, and describe what you see in all that artwork that has been created, it would be extremely sad if all that did not exist due to your kind of thinking.....sad.
Edited by Catcher10 - April 11 2024 at 06:03 |
|
|
|
MikeEnRegalia
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator Joined: April 22 2005 Location: Sweden Status: Offline Points: 21022 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
^ " Of course for many bands all of that is more than a marketing device, but it's still that as well"
Maybe read my post again?
|
|
Post Reply | Page 123> |
Forum Jump | Forum Permissions You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot create polls in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum |