Strange looking vinyl you have there.
Charity shops around me are a waste of time, even for C.D.’s , unless you like des O’Connor, val doonican et al.
Yes you can listen to music many times but hearing the same interview over and over , not.
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Exactly that!
@BillyBudapest
Some of my favourite albums right there.
Had a bit of a splurge in HMV yesterday…
To be fair to HMV I ended up with 6 albums, two of which were doubles for £137 which I really didn’t feel was too bad at all. People always say they are expensive, but my experience has been the reverse on many occasions. If I had tried to buy all these at a record fair secondhand I doubt it would have been much cheaper for some tired old battered copies of unknown provenance…
I already own the Fleetwood Mac on CD but had the urge to own it on vinyl - I must say they sound excellent and the pressings seem very quiet. The Stones disc surprised me with its recording quality as I have never considered their output to be very well recorded and while this isn’t audiophile demo level, it’s actually a surprisingly good recording with some great songs.
The Trevor Horn is a great sounding record, but sadly I find the music rather uninspiring!
JonathanG
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I may have missed the boat for the vinyl at £30. Could you maybe let us know where you got it from? Thank you.
Update: amazon.de has it for €34 on preorder. Close enough, albeit with delivery to UK.
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Got mine pre order on Amazon UK
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Art Pepper|An Afternoon in Norway: The Kongsberg Concert (Live)
Bill Evans|In Norway: The Kongsberg Concert
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The problem I have with Amazon is that they are a tax evading souless american mega corp, so frankly when buying records I always prioritise physical stores whether that is a small independent like my local “Planet of Sounds” in Haslemere, “Pie and Vinyl” in Southsea or a national retailer like HMV.
My view is that browsing the shelves in a record store is an experience I value and enjoy and if I don’t support them, one day I might wake up and they will be gone. A world without physical record stores is one I don’t want to live in. We nearly lost HMV once before, and we already lost Tower records, so it can happen…
There’s something uniquely special about walking into a record or indeed blu-ray store that I cannot get from online retail, so to me online retailers are the very last place I will look unless pressed for time and unable to make the journey in.
I feel differently about most other high-street retailers (with the exception of John Lewis) - I don’t for example enjoy clothes or shoe shopping and I certainly have no loyalty to supermarkets who make the shopping experience such a misery with their “check out yourself” approach, but record stores are different. On Saturday I was struggling to find Fleetwood Mac Tusk in the Guildford branch of HMV until a charming young assistant checked stock and rooted out a copy for me - £24.99 for a double album on vinyl (Amazon UK price £30.99). As I was in there the manager recognised me and had a chat, the sales assistant who rang my purchases through the till discussed the albums I had bought. They care about music, they care about customers - unlike the American mega-corp who don’t even know who I am despite my Prime membership…
Just my take, but as Bryan Ferry said “You never miss your water till your well runs dry” and so I will always prioritise the local store, even if it costs me a quid or two more - they’re that special to me…
For those of similar mind I strongly advise watching this movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-cyAbhOJII It’s an incredible movie on the rise and fall of Tower, made with passion and love…
I was in Birmingham the other week doing a University offer holders visit with my daughter and managed to visit the HMV Vault store there - reputedly the biggest record store in Europe. There’s something utterly thrilling about walking into a record store that huge. Sure it’s got nothing on Amoeba in Haight Ashbury but it’s still deeply impressive and awe inspiring - I love that!
PS - the photo shows about half of it!!!
Here’s Amoeba in Haight Ashbury which must be the biggest record store in the world - surely?
JonathanG
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Thanks for sharing that @JonathanG - terrific post.
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Concerning ‘Pie and Vinyl’ in Southsea - their physical stock in store doesn’t match with their website claims. When pointed out, their staff couldn’t care less. Not impressed.
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While I have sympathy with what you’re saying, I use Amazon a lot because their returns process is so simple.
Unfortunately, personal circumstances mean I seldom have chance to visit a physical shop, and on the occasions when I have I generally find I can’t get what I want.
I’ve also had some bad experiences with independents via mail order.
On one occasion I requested a return as the disc was badly warped - they insisted I send a video showing the warp. In a different instance, the same company asked me to send a video with sound to illustrate a noisy copy.
Another retailer asked me to return the vinyl and advised they wouldn’t issue a refund if the shrink wrap was removed.
A third took the money for a pre-order and it took 18 months to get the money back.
Amazon are a company I dislike ethically but I’m sorry to say my priciples aren’t strong enough to ignore the simplicity of their order/return process.
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Yes, unfortunately you’re bang on about returns @SteveO , many independent shops refuse a refund if the shrink wrap has been removed, how are you supposed to tell if a record isn’t up to scratch without removing it ffs 
I do order some from amazon but over half my orders go to Juno. For me they’re the best record shop there is, albeit you can’t ‘browse’ the shelves, and that @JonathanG is spot on about that being the best experience 
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Steve,
I’m genuinely appalled at the approach taken by so many record shops if they’re refusing to exchange faulty product - illegal surely?
I’ve certainly had no problems exchanging vinyl in HMV, but if that’s the line independent stores are taking I can’t blame people for using Amazon who I agree are exemplerary at dealing with returns and refunds…
JonathanG
Just a thought but perhaps that makes HMV the optimum place to buy classic vinyl? The biggest selection to browse anywhere, easy returns and often (e.g. their 3x for £66) the best prices…
They can be expensive for new releases though compared to Juno I agree.
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Not wanting to turn the knife, but it was Juno that wanted the video “evidence”. They did replace the items in due course, and I have dealt with them since, but I did feel I was being called out as a liar.
Another retailer wouldn’t accept a return unless I paid return postage, until I pointed out it was defective and therefore their responsibility.
Amazon being so easy makes you lazy.
Indeed, I returned a noisy album to Amazon yesterday. Selected a drop off point, dropped it off and the refund was confirmed before I got home.
HMV is one retailer I’ve never had a problem with, either online or instore.
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Don’t buy vinyl much nowadays due to the cost (especially considering how cheap used CD’s can be). However, could not resist this AAA issue of Black Sabbath’s Paranoid in the Rhino High Fidelity series. Annoying it ships out from the USA when pressed in Germany but ordered direct from Rhino at around £42 inc. shipping seemed competitive with buying elsewhere. Have to say it was worth every penny - the band seems to just leap out of the speakers into the room! Especially the drumming of Bill Ward during Iron Man.
Never got round to buying this when I could have during the '70’s so I guess this is the cost of passing up the opportunity back then (oh.. the number of future desirable LP’s I flicked through without realising it at the time).
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I’ve a NZ first pressing of this, I must give it a spin.
Is that one of your recent 1st press purchases ?
You’d need fairly deep pockets to get a first press here in the UK these days! I normally prefer to buy original issues second hand rather than reissues myself. Sometimes reissues make sense though and this was one of those occasions.
Miles Davis Sextet - Someday My Prince Will Come, Columbia Mono (1961)
This is a Canadian 1st press Columbia 6 eye mono release from 1961 Miles fans will know the line up John Coltrane, Hank Mobley, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb
It does require a good clean which I will do but it still sounds excellent my 1980’s ‘sunburst’ copy is close but doesn’t have the depth of this mono copy and for the £17 plus postage I paid for it I’m a very happy camper.
The seller has loosely covered it in shrink wrap but the tip on cover is in very good condition apart from some yellowing.
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