tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075393268513251879.post8662877046671532746..comments2024-03-27T11:18:59.924+00:00Comments on Sun Dried Sparrows: Record shop memoirs, part three (Roll up! Roll up! CDs are here!)Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02423624920558505937noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075393268513251879.post-2876713417709995262012-07-18T15:58:15.470+01:002012-07-18T15:58:15.470+01:00Your shop in Tallahassee sounds good. Vinyl and ha...Your shop in Tallahassee sounds good. Vinyl and hardbacks making a comeback? Isn't it weird how things go round in circles. Someone said to me the other day, "just because it's an old design doesn't mean it can always be improved" - and went on to remind me of the wheel :-)Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02423624920558505937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075393268513251879.post-86135236523635527012012-07-18T11:15:56.463+01:002012-07-18T11:15:56.463+01:00Me and that record shop in Tallahassee grew up tog...Me and that record shop in Tallahassee grew up together. The first time I ever went there it was a tiny spot in a ratty strip mall. The next year it was a tiny spot in a smaller but better strip mall...then it was two spots, then three before it took hope the whole strip. A few years later they built their own building.<br /><br />The place owed its success to CDs...people were dumping their record collections. It was a flood of vinyl. It was a collectors market for a while. Then everybody figured out what a horrid mistake they'd made and it became the record shops market.<br /><br />Records are coming back (same with hardback books) mark it down. After all these years the only medium worth owning is a vinyl record. There's no need for cds anymore and there's nothing to love about those cheap peices of plastic but, many people sitll love objects.<br /><br />Remember those long boxes they used to sell cd's in to make them fit the bins?e.f. bartlamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05940814285264472785noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075393268513251879.post-65093135672553049612012-07-17T10:18:55.235+01:002012-07-17T10:18:55.235+01:00That, I can understand, and I admire and envy it. ...That, I can understand, and I admire and envy it. Part of me wishes I could be like that - no (or few) possessions, a life uncluttered by material things, unburdened. The other part of me likes to surround itself with 'stuff'! Not status stuff or valuable stuff but just stuff that makes me smile. The ongoing internal battle results in this compromise I suppose!Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02423624920558505937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075393268513251879.post-88828223557853409512012-07-17T09:48:34.487+01:002012-07-17T09:48:34.487+01:00maybe to further clarify....I call it my 'Ghan...maybe to further clarify....I call it my 'Ghandi thang'....no possessions...I could get up, take my staff and move on to anywhere....and in my pocket my trusty portable hard drive. What more does one need.Old Pa's Cornerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14367815328789444775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075393268513251879.post-12201820075740151962012-07-16T16:26:13.475+01:002012-07-16T16:26:13.475+01:00Yes, like you, getting the CDs themselves was one ...Yes, like you, getting the CDs themselves was one thing, getting something to play them on another. It seemed such a big commitment at the time!<br />Agree v much about the mix CD / tape: something special to create, to give, or to receive, I'm a big fan.<br />(Imagine the fun people like us could've had if we could've burned our own choices to 12" vinyl platters! I'd have loved doing the artwork for those...)Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02423624920558505937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075393268513251879.post-62670536161942575232012-07-16T16:01:53.407+01:002012-07-16T16:01:53.407+01:00I think vinyl is making a bit of a comeback. Is it...I think vinyl is making a bit of a comeback. Is it just because it's got retro status I wonder?<br />I think you're right, you don't feel like you've bought it if it hasn't got some more physical presence. But I think you're also right to make your own available in any way you can - keep the options open... Lots of luck with it!Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02423624920558505937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075393268513251879.post-43127253054273076812012-07-16T15:52:32.511+01:002012-07-16T15:52:32.511+01:00So quite a latecomer to CD then, but as you say re...So quite a latecomer to CD then, but as you say re. the Fall album not being on vinyl, there came a time when the choice was made for us all... <br /><br />I don't think we could have waited that long but mainly because we were running out of room for album storage. Always a bit of a downside of living in small places, especially when eventually the only places left to stack them were in front of radiators :-(<br /><br />Love the Dali's Car scene, very arty!Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02423624920558505937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075393268513251879.post-68303871458343831262012-07-16T15:45:35.245+01:002012-07-16T15:45:35.245+01:00Convenient, but just not the same! I think maybe b...Convenient, but just not the same! I think maybe best solution is to have both in tandem? A nice rack full of records/CDs/tapes (whichever format tickles your fancy) for something to pore over, touch/hold, be sentimental about and commit yourself to! Downloads for convenience, boring train journeys, songs you might like for five mins then change your mind about, etc.<br />What d'you reckon??!!Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02423624920558505937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075393268513251879.post-70196710844813132222012-07-16T13:17:01.149+01:002012-07-16T13:17:01.149+01:00But I went into local store in central London rece...But I went into local store in central London recently - lined with vinyl! Some of which I have the originals still at home ! <br /><br />Downloading I think is popular amongst the young folk... I still feel I've not bought anything! But my CD is now available via download you have to roll with the times don't you :-)Furtheronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11903753972242964410noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075393268513251879.post-84910647616185232562012-07-16T06:40:23.099+01:002012-07-16T06:40:23.099+01:00I also resisted CDs for what seemed like forever,a...I also resisted CDs for what seemed like forever,a friend (who worked in a record shop....) gave me some of the early promos they got in on CD, (Style Council I think.....), but I still had nothing to play them on until many years later. When I did I wondered what the fuss was about and still do. But, the one bonusn of them is that there's something quite nice about burning a mix cd that just edges it ahead iof the mix tape - probably heresy around these parts I know. <br />Funnily enough those early promo cds still play perfectly whilst anything newer hardly ever does - I always wondered if we were suckered in with superior product and later ones came with built in obselescense....I've even had some that despite being pristine just seemed to allow the sound to decay until they sounded like old reel to reel that had been left in the sun....<br />Just sign me up as another vinyl junkie (and I'm so pleased to hear that I'm not the only one who treats vinyl badly and still loves it !)Bel Mondohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06614801876100974056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075393268513251879.post-88410161982639343932012-07-15T21:33:23.456+01:002012-07-15T21:33:23.456+01:00We held out desperately against CDs until 1997, wh...We held out desperately against CDs until 1997, when we were beaten into submission by a particular Fall album which didn't come in vinyl. The best we could do was buy a relatively groovy CD player where instead of a drawer, the top flips up like a small Starship Enterprise, for you to pop your horrid little disc beneath it. It felt like cold comfort, frankly.<br /><br />The first time I remember registering the CD was when Pete Murphy and Mick Karn used one as a symbol of the future, in a Dali's Car video. Mick Karn used it to reflect the light into Pete Murphy's eyes. It was almost certainly a metaphor for the inherent weakness of the capitalist system, or something.Kolley Kibberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07055145770836351738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075393268513251879.post-316585229736690322012-07-15T12:20:32.282+01:002012-07-15T12:20:32.282+01:00First CD Best of Van Morrison....and now adays I o...First CD Best of Van Morrison....and now adays I only listen to MP3/4 format.....thousands of LPs/Cds/tapes all in boxes in garage hundreds of miles away....MP3 is just so convenient. You got to move on folks!!!Old Pa's Cornerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14367815328789444775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075393268513251879.post-27998065846904121802012-07-15T10:44:07.234+01:002012-07-15T10:44:07.234+01:00Yve, yes it's weird to think of all the differ...Yve, yes it's weird to think of all the different formats we've lived through (and that's just so far...) I get what you say about the equipment and that attachment you can get to things. I guess none of it would make much sense to anyone much younger reading this, and that doesn't make it right or wrong, just different! I'm glad things no longer get scratched or chewed up...that was so frustrating. But I still liked their tangibility...<br /><br />Btw - we're having a similar problem with a CD drawer of doom! It's started doing an impersonation of the cash till in 'Open All Hours', opening up and then shutting immediately before you've put the CD in or got it out and threatening to crush the disc halfway in its uncontrollable jaws...Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02423624920558505937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075393268513251879.post-52258901265201392192012-07-15T10:33:07.621+01:002012-07-15T10:33:07.621+01:00PS - Well everything changes apart from where you ...PS - Well everything changes apart from where you say nothing changes!! I also think I have that 'lack of of any notion of the need to make money'... unfortunately it doesn't make life easy!Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02423624920558505937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075393268513251879.post-3316678935277607432012-07-15T10:29:13.827+01:002012-07-15T10:29:13.827+01:00I feel the same way about moving on any further th...I feel the same way about moving on any further than CDs, SB! Mainly because I like the tangibility of them somehow. The most obvious thing I miss about vinyl LPs - which I know is shared by a lot of people of similar vintage - is the sleeve artwork. It was the whole package, not just the music, that was part of their appeal, the whole feel of an album as an item you'd probably saved up for and deliberated over adding to your collection, each one had its own character. But I know everything changes...Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02423624920558505937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075393268513251879.post-71221774071322721072012-07-15T10:22:21.508+01:002012-07-15T10:22:21.508+01:00You know, I'd forgotten about those long boxes...You know, I'd forgotten about those long boxes Dr MVM (that I only recall seeing later when we got some US imports). I'd also completely forgotten about the dilemma - and the innovative temporary solutions - we had over here with how to display those first CD covers, as you say, The Swede. And yes, of course you're right, I'm sure Dire Straits must have been in that first box, probably Brothers In Arms?Chttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02423624920558505937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075393268513251879.post-42469395946889934302012-07-15T08:13:13.764+01:002012-07-15T08:13:13.764+01:00The long box was a US only innovation and from a s...The long box was a US only innovation and from a store display perspective it made a lot of sense. You could display two rows of CDs in one old LP bin with no shop re-fitting necessary. In the UK we just got the 5½"x5" CD from the record companies, not even shrink-wrapped. I remember the discussions about how we were going to market this new format within the company for which I worked, and the initial solution wasn't great - a 12"x12" sheet of card with the CD booklet inserted into four slits in the middle, like a very primitive photo frame, housed in a PVC sleeve and standing (read, flopping about) in an LP bin. We had a long way to go!<br /><br />Excellent post C. You have a great memory for the interesting characters you've encountered on your travels and Mr Sexton is no exception.<br /><br />(Surely there would've been a Dire Straits CD in that first box? I seem to recall the whole format launch revolving around one of their album releases, or vice versa!)The Swedehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13237251779370596904noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075393268513251879.post-62072812919513461942012-07-15T08:09:18.012+01:002012-07-15T08:09:18.012+01:00Memories. As a music obsessive who had spent a lif...Memories. As a music obsessive who had spent a life-time collecting vinyl, I was ultra resistant to CDs for many years. I didn't get my first one until 1991 because they just seemed to lack the excitement of the old LP. Of course, my house is now full of the little things and I'm clinging on to THEM and resisting the iPod revolution instead. Luddite, I know. I have never ever been an audio snob, though. I have idiotically mistreated my vinyl over all the years that I have lugged it through my life and have never owned any top of the range audio equipment (due to lack of funds more than anything else). For me, it's just about the visceral excitement of music itself and you can throw it to me in a brown paper bag if you want. I love your record shop recollections as I always wanted to work in one myself. The one time I came close to getting a job the manager told me I was utterly unsuited to retail work as I seemed to lack any notion of the need to make money. Nothing changes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6075393268513251879.post-45900330694529010162012-07-15T05:24:35.096+01:002012-07-15T05:24:35.096+01:00I remember those long boxes CDs first came in, the...I remember those long boxes CDs first came in, they were insane.Dr. Monkey Von Monkersteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14370062692837972451noreply@blogger.com