Many years ago I had a large record collection but as time moved on I spent more time listening to CDs and then MP3s and we needed the space at home and so they went. Now vinyl is cool again and each year independent record shops in the UK take part in Record Store Day one of the few imports from the US I approve of.
As part of this artists and record labels release albums just for the day. These are limited pressings, sometimes original works, some with special covers or coloured vinyl and so on.
I had never been before but this year it just happened to fall on a day when we were free and so I decided to make a visit to The Sound Machine in Reading who were taking part.
Not having been before I had no idea of what to expect but from what I had read elsewhere I knew that there would be a queue at opening time. While I was keen to go I wasn’t going to get there at 5am! I had found out that the opening time was to be 8am and so I aim for then but due to me forgetting that the bus times were different on weekends I was slightly later and, as expected, there was a queue.
It took a hour for me to reach the shop door by which time I had made a new friend! Given the number of people there wasn’t any opportunity to browse and all those around me seemed to have a list of requirements anyway.
And this is what it was all about. I went with two things from the list that I wanted to get if I could: a Genesis boxed set and a copy of original Genesis guitarist Anthony Phillips Geese and the Ghost with a signed insert. I had sort of convinced myself that with only 1,000 copies of each spread over all the independent record shops taking part that each shop would only have a small number of copies and, given the queue in front of me, long gone.
As you can see they had both and then came the biggest shock – the price. I paid £108 for the boxed set and the single LP. Ouch! However, by the time I had queued for an hour and they had what I was looking for I wasn’t going to walk out with nothing.
Now all I need to do is buy a turntable…!