someone who's doing some things
It’s great to have a physical object for music.
This is a great track from Simple Minds and another ‘must have’ on my Record Store Day list. So I was really happy to get hold of it.
Generally speaking I preferred their earlier stuff, but actually this was a really good song and a lovely picture disc too in this version.
This is one of the things I really wanted to get this year at RSD. I have the tracks already, in fact, I think I have multiple versions in multiple formats too, but that’s not what this is about.
The two songs are really important to me. They bring back special memories, and any opportunity to have a new version or iteration, even in just the packaging, well, I’ll take it. This edition, for Record Store Day, is rather lovely. I’ve played it once, just once. That’s enough. It’s a thing of beauty, and I’m glad to have it.
This is the third year I’ve been along to Record Store Day, and personally I think it’s a great idea and I’m a big fan of it. This year I thought I’d put down a few thoughts about the event and what I think could be better for next year.
I started off the day at Rough Trade East. I expected to queue up there and that is exactly what I had to do. Queuing from 8 am until gone 10 am is rough though, and it was cold and windy. But, finally I got in and was able to have a look for the Record Store Day exclusives I wanted to buy. Sadly only 2 of them were available. Rough Trade was a bun fight to be honest. It’s the same as it has been in previous years, but I just don’t think it’s very well organised, and I don’t like it.
After that disappointment I headed over to Berwick Street. It was approaching midday and they had a lot going on over there, so I thought I’d try out Sister Ray and see if there was any chance of getting any of the other items I’d hoped for.
Of course, the queue there was pretty long too. Not as long, but long enough. However, this was a much better managed queue. Sister Ray staff came out and handed out stock lists so people could see what the store had. They were also available to people in the queue to tell them if a given item had gone out of stock or not, which was very useful. As you got closer to the store itself we were asked to write down the items we wanted and given a ticket number. These were collected so that the items you wanted could be prepared for you by the time you got into the store.
Overall my experience at Sister Ray was far more positive than Rough Trade. Sister Ray were organised and prepared and helpful. I really appreciated that. I think that next year I’ll start there and not at Rough Trade.
Whatever you’re doing I hope you find what it is your looking for (record-wise that is). I’m hoping to get my hands on a bunch of releases, and, depending on what I end up with, I’ll post details later, or tomorrow, or something.
Anyway, enjoy Record Store Day!
I’m really looking forward to RSD2015 and there are good reasons too, in fact, quite a number of good reasons, all of which I’m hoping to get hold of. Here’s my list of stuff I’m after:
It’s a big list this year. The last couple of years I haven’t been looking for nearly as many items, but this year there are just too many good things.
Well, I’ve searched and searched and can’t find a digital version of this anywhere. I really wish I could as their version is better than the original in my view.
Beautiful to look at, beautiful to listen to.
Well, to be honest, it is Soul Mining at 31, but who’s counting right?
Last night I went along to Rough Trade East to listen to Matt Johnson from The The talk about Soul Mining, The The and what he’s been doing. I went with a certain sense of trepidation as I always worry that I’ll listen to someone who’s music I’ve enjoyed for many years and then I’ll listen to their opinions about other stuff and I won’t be able to listen to their music anymore.
Not so with Mr Johnson. No, we was excellent. Funny, insightful and full of interesting stories about the album and the music. I really enjoyed listening to him talk about each song as well, it gave interesting background, without breaking the spell of what has long been one of my all time favourite albums.
Of course, the evening was even better as I walked away with the 30th (31st to be precise) anniversary box set of Soul Mining, and it is a thing of beauty I have to say.
So now it deserves a proper listen. Well that won’t be a chore will it.
I posted yesterday about getting this 12″ single of The The’s Giant. So far so good. But, sadly, the nice sticker on the front of the disc is on the cellophane and not on the sleeve itself, meaning that the minute I open it, the sticker is gone!
Disaster!
This was the other record store day release I really wanted, but couldn’t get on the day. At the time I thought I’d done pretty well to get 2 out of three of the special releases I wanted, but I’d really wanted this too and ended up looking on eBay for it.
Well the one I got wasn’t a bad price at all, and was in perfect condition too.
I am Ashley Elsdon 