Usual nonsense.
‘We’re planning to open at 8am, though expect large queue to have formed well before 6am. We’ll only have at most a few copies of most but not all RSD releases. We’ll invite people in groups of 5 maximum to give the flippers an easier time picking out the choice cuts to fleece you with on Saturday evening. Good luck losers.’
I paraphrase but ffs.
I’ve reviewed the release list for this RSD and I’m definitely underwhelmed this year.
I’d be much happier if they just released rare records that haven’t been issued in a long time instead of all these special releases of outtakes and demos🤦🏻♂️
I’m also somewhat underwhelmed. Yes, there’s the Catherine wheel, one or two interesting Psychedelic LPs and also the an extended 5LP version of Nuggets in there, but that’s about all that even raised half an eyebrow here.
Hardly anything to get the pulse racing. More like “fire up the defibrillator”.
I think I might be the only person that went to a RSD and queued for a CD.
Queuing what is all that about.
There is a Big Moon Album I would like and a Hawkwind one to take me back to my happily misspent youth. But the thought of queueing outside a shop at 6 am doesn’t appeal. I will head into my local independents on Monday and see what is left.
The shop I work in part-time has taken part in RSD since we opened in 2014, but this year the boss decided to give it a miss: despite it being good business he, as both a collector & a shop owner, thought it was becoming more hassle than it was worth. Plus, all the usual other reasons most of us mention: overpriced and underwhelming titles, mostly.
Since January we’ve been filtering & stashing a horde of collectible used vinyl, as and when it’s come into the shop. We’ve just this evening put out 500 plus titles across many genres, mainstream and otherwise. A smattering of £100-300 titles, but mostly £10-40, nestling alongside the usual used stock.
Fingers crossed it’ll be a good day for buyers and business alike.
(As I’ll be working all day, and as we are not doing RSD, I’ll have to bag a copy of the half speed Red Rose Speedway via another shop or channel! Oh, the irony of non-participation!).
I don’t actually get this RSD thing.
Presumably it’s there to promote vinyl but having limited edition releases just because they’re RSD ‘branded’ isn’t going to make me buy something I don’t actually want.
Did it a few years ago and woke up at some h for you prize got all my titles but they were all on sale about 6-months later !!!
Reviewed the list this morning and nothing spectacular, think I’ll be waiting until the sale.
I did RSD twice and didn’t get what I wanted on either occasion.
The first time I put it down to me underestimating how long people were prepared to queue. The second time I arrived four hours before opening and was still 14th in the queue. Now
I just do an internet search on the following Monday and in about 70% of cases find the title available in one of the larger independent shops. Never going to reward a flipper, I’d rather go without.
There were only a few that piqued my interest this year and I managed to get all three that I was after from Music’s Not Dead in Bexhill
The Delines - The Night Always Comes. Only previously available as a CD accompanying Willie Vlautin’s novel of the same name when purchased from Rough Trade and limited to 1250 copies worldwide
Simple Minds - Neapolis. First time ever on vinyl for this one
Altered Images - Clara Libre EP. Reworkings of a few of their hits.
I would have had The Cure - Show but alas on picture disk and as we all know picture disks just sound rubbish
Went to square records in Wimborne. I don’t know about other shops but they have rsd day down to a T. You queue (I was 67 joining at about 9am). They give you a sheet with everything on it. You tick what you want. They take the sheet. By the time you get to the till, they have your records (or rather, they have what’s available from your tick list), and you pay. Easy, all done in 30 mins. One for me and one for a friend who was busy with something else. And then he texted me to say his brother had bought the Stevie Nicks lp that I had literally just queued and bought for him!
Raves from grave in Frome for me. There at 0720, store opened at 0800 and in at 0850.
Got Bill Nelson’s Red Noise and Elton Don’t Shoot Me.
One chap had wait since 1600 Friday.
Nothing like a freezing queue to start the day 
Went to Sound Knowledge in Marlborough at 1530. Forgot it was RSD, not that it means anything to me as a stalwart CD adherent. Had a good rummage through their CDs.
Lovely to see the shop nicely busy, even long after (I presume) the queuers had long since scuttled home with their bounty.
RSD is obviously the industry’s way of trying to encourage people to use bricks-&-mortar outlets, and it’s laudable for this reason alone. Grumbling about the special editions not having enough new material to get you ragingly tumescent is, I think, to miss the point completely. Support small businesses and try to enjoy the experience, otherwise we’ll end up living in a virtual-only world. It’ll feel like lockdown all over again.
Mark
Believe it or not there are music lovers out in the world who enjoy buying coloured or limited edition vinyl because it makes them feel they’ve bought something special or different and good luck to them I presume unlike me they don’t spend too many hours on forums to feel they haven’t and perhaps a quick look on ebay adds to the illusion.
If that helps the Industry along and encourages Blue Note, Acoustic Sounds and ECM to produce excellent sounding vinyl for us in the minority then that’s great too.
I’ve not had a look on the list but I did pay £69 for the Chet Baker - Blue Room which was about £10 less if you cued up and I’m also very interested in the Chet - Chet Mono KG cut on Craft but I’ve just read there will be 10,000 of these 6 of which are in the US so I’ll have to way up on wether to wait that one out a month or so when all the fuss has died down and the flippers get twitchy.
Just a quick add on regarding the Chet mono Riverside release the promotional material states that this will be the first mono reissue ever but The Electric Recording Company released a mono version in 2021 I don’t know very much about ERC except that they use a 1950’s Lyrec SV8 valve cutting lathe and Ortofon DS522 stereo cutter head.
Not sure if they remaster what’s on the tapes or just cut straight from them I have read reviews though that say that in this instance at least the stereo is better.
I did as I intended and headed to Resident Music and got what I wanted, I now have a bright green copy of Love in the 4th dimension. Resisted the urge to buy more as I have bought loads so far this month, well for today at least.
I know what you mean.
I have spent £££’s this month, when we were supposed to be having a lay off the spending month…
I bought Gong - Angels Egg & an impulse purchase of Scott Weiland - 12 Bar Blues from shops on Saturday.
I managed to get Bevis Frond - Hit Squad, David Byrne - Catherine Wheel & Art Blakey online today.
