Hello again and welcome back to the blog. Today was one of those days where you realise that what you ‘own’ and who you know and the worries you have can all be taken away by the feeling of being alive and feeling the sun on your face. Today was the embodiment of perfect weather and I set off out with little on the agenda and found myself savouring some quiet alone time, stopping for a while to watch a game of lads playing football in the park and later a dad showing his kid the capability of remote control on a pond near the house. Such toys are so obviously bought for the adult and not the child – I wonder how they sell that idea to the youth. Anyway, old habits die hard and when given free time apart from observing things I tend to dwell in the same two places that have eaten up probably a good fifth of my solitary time since I turned twelve – record shops and book shops.

Today I set off because the weather was so perfect and although I wanted to feel the warmth of the sun my usual inner voice said ‘get to a record shop’. Every time I’ve entered a record shop in the last 30 years I feel my mission is subtle but complex, see what is being played, look for items on my never ending list of ‘records I need’ and scour the overall inventory. Entering a shop that you’ve never been in before is the best of all, although often times it can be an anti-climax the potential outweighs the risk of disappointment. I’m not sure how old you are and whether you still visit record shops, if you do you’ll know things aren’t what they used to be. We’ve all been spoilt a bit though haven’t we? From my desk I can research essentially every album ever made in addition to hearing songs from most of them, when you can’t find the song you are looking to hear you can always look for a file to download for a small cost or grab a pirated file. Add to that you can see a great many songs with video either from a TV appearance, a music video or live concert footage from the smallest of pubs to the main stage at Glastonbury. The internet has made consuming music both instant, frivolous and a little sterile. Its no wonder record shops are struggling, with the best intentions how can they possibly satisfy everyone’s taste and budget?

So back to my travels, I visited three shops today – one for the first time (all used stuff – just opened – limited selection) another that I don’t like much but they tend to have a broad selection and a third that is mostly vinyl but at least is interesting, set in an old house. I guess I’ve become a music snob over the years, I’ve certainly been accused of it and where once I used to get offended now I take it as a compliment. If you don’t own the entire catalogue of certain artists I either feel sorry for you, or if I like you I gradually buy them for you as gifts. The Clash always are top of that list for me but there are probably 50 artists that I’d fail to understand someone not appreciating fully. When a record shop doesn’t stock most (or at least some) CDs by Blur, The Boo Radleys, The Velvet Underground, The Bunnymen, Suede, Doves, Elbow, The Wedding Present, James, The Delgados and many others I quietly gasp and wonder why. When I see (I saw this a lot today) an album misfiled I wonder why they didn’t just open a cheese shop instead. Probably most cruelly I ask myself

Amoeba Music, Hollywood (the holy grail)

if I would swap the shops inventory for my own collection if forced to make the decision – and today I would have said no deal in all three cases. Not that shopping today was awful but that would take a special shop indeed.

As for what was playing today went like this – shop one – Gil Scott Heron, wow…not something you hear often and someone I’ve neglected a lot since the 1980′s when I was first exposed to him. His unmistakable urban poems were so obviously the precursor to much of hip hop and rap and yet he’s barely even mentioned these days. I had read he had a new album out so that sort of explained that. Shop two was entered to the sounds of Just Like Honey by Jesus and Mary Chain, big points for me and made me want to browse. Satisfaction gave way to cynicism shortly after when I realised they were playing a greatest hits album and not the debut. The last shop were playing Jonathan Richman when I walked in and then (I’m guessing) Queensryche. It may not have been them but was a good guess. I also checked for albums I’ve been seeking for years (no luck) some imports I didn’t expect to see (Pete and The Pirates and Hot Club De Paris) again no joy and scoured my mental check list of new releases. I had a few situations where I picked some things up; Pulp special reissues with bonus tracks and an old Brian Eno CD, but put them back down. As ever I looked for the Clash and related, shop one had one title – would you believe Cut The Crap – plus a used copy of Megatop Phoenix for $2.00. The second shop had all the studio albums, two of the Strummer albums, and the Revolution Rock DVD used. The last shop had London Calling plus Shea Stadium and on vinyl has the debut US release, I almost bought that but the vinyl looked knackered. As for my bounty, I got the new Hot Rats (Supergrass) CD of cover versions, Vampire Weekend plus used copies of The Dears most recent disc (only $4.99) and Interpol. The girl at the 2nd shop wore a Bad Brains T-shirt though I’m sure she was told to…..

I’ll save the bookshops story for another time, the sun stayed out all day and I have some new stuff to listen to.