Category Archives: Record Shops

Vinyl Road Rage Day 3

Record Shops, vinyl road rage

vinyl road trip 2009 joe wallace

by Joe Wallace

I’ve lived in Chicago for four years now, and I’ve gotten used to walking almost everywhere and taking the car only when there’s gear to be hauled or groceries and vinyl to be stowed. So hitting OKC and Texas was a blast of ugly–in spite of my having lived in San Antonio for seven years. Too much highway, too many cars. Every trip takes half an hour even if you’re just crossing the street!

But I digress. Today I wound up in Dallas where I encountered the single largest facility for selling vinyl records–and every other form of recorded music including cassettes–I have ever seen. Look for a review of Grand Prairie, Texas’s own Forever Young coming soonish (maybe tomorrow). For now I’ll just use the cliche and say it’s Texas-sized. For real. For completists and hard-core collectors, this is the place to fill the gaps in your collection–but I’ll save the rest for later.

RANDOM NOTES ON THE JOURNEY SO FAR

Vinyl Isn’t Always Fun Department–Most Pointlessly Crass, Ladies-Hatin’ Album Cover So Far:

tacky and offensive album covers

Dumbass Department

I was desperate need of a hotel on Tuesday night and could find nothing in OKC, but I knew where there were plenty of cheap hotels to drop my bags and score some snore time. So I pulled over and asked a local yokel: Continue reading Vinyl Road Rage Day 3 →

Vintage Vinyl, St. Louis Missouri

Record Shops, vinyl road rage, , ,

vintage vinyl st louis missouri

by Joe Wallace

Where the mighty St. Louis-based Record Exchange wins hands-down for sheer staggering size and collector-friendly deep stacks, Vintage Vinyl gets top marks for diversity of styles and a selection that’s more squarely in the present and recent past (though the classic vinyl doesn’t get neglected, no siree.)

In short, it’s the sort of place an OCD vinyl junkie can bring a less-interested significant other and have a reasonable chance of both walking away with new tunes. I am particularly impressed with the soul/R&B vinyl, and there’s plenty of new, shink-wrapped releases to look at, too.

Once again, the “rock” category proves to be a real bummer since most of the stuff I look for there is more along the Athens jangle-pop sound or obscure new wave titles…but you’ll be forced to sift through those godawful Krokus albums and 15 million copies of Journey and Manfred Mann. The prerequisite Aimee Mann/Til Tuesday records (ever present!) are there, but there’s an awful lot of good 80s/90s indie vinyl represented. And if you’re a jazz freak, you won’t ever leave, since that section is equally well-stocked. Continue reading Vintage Vinyl, St. Louis Missouri →

Cross Country Vinyl Chase Day Two part two

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What a long strange vinyl bughunt it has been…From Chicago to San Antonio, I am now halfway through the driving insanity. Tuesday is OKC and Dallas…maybe even Denton if I feel REALLY sexy. I might just, after the stuff I was hearing all around me today at the record emporiums.

The following was overheard in one of the record shops I hit today–people with cell phones talking very loudly never know when they’re going to get their 15 minutes of fame. But when people are practically shouting this crap in your ear, it deserves a second go.

“Yaww, yew jist pour it in yore pee. Maik shore thu kristles are all, you know, like, dissolved and all or you’ll fail the teyust.” It was a 50-something woman who looked like an office drone. She sounded like a backwoods Tim Leary.

Then, ten minutes later, a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PERSON on the phone. “Yah, yah, you just pour the little envelope of crystals into your pee. Look to see if it changes color. You only go about three ounces of pee anyway, don’t worry about it!”

In Springfield, Missouri, we now know people like to put additives in their pee. Should I ever go back there?

And then…

shari lewis vinyl LP

Oh, but she looks far too INTO having that puppet so near…where is her OTHER hand?

But wait, there’s more. Just in case you hadn’t quite finished playing a game of canasta with the Moosehead Lodge brothers, here come Herb Alpert to trumpet you TO DEATH. That sticker boldly proclaims that this is the very very FIRSTEST TIME IN THE WHOLE OF FOREVER that A Taste of Honey has been released as a picture disc. I’m touching myself even as I write this, I am so excited about the idea of this picture disc EVEN EXISTING. A bargain at twice the price, eh Eugene? Yeah, daddy-o. Let’s take the Galaxy 500 for a spin to the malt shop. No, wait, wrong culture. Martinis, everybody?

a taste of honey reissue picture disc

Just when you thought it was safe to fire up the record player, another face from the past comes back at you like a spoiled cinema hotdog. I’m so tired from driving that I can only hope that last line made as much sense to you as it currently does to me.

Taco Puttin On The Ritz

I still owe record shop reviews a plenty. Vinyl Exchange, CD Warehouse in Springfield, MO and tomorrow’s Guest Room Records invasion. Brace yourself.

The Mad Vinyl Roadtrip Continues

Record Shops, , , , ,

stick it in your ear springfield missouri vinyl record store

By Joe Wallace

I am hiding out in the rec center at Central Bible College in Springfield, Missouri–blogging incognito and trying to get a full charge on the laptop before the born-again security staff sic the wolverines on me.

Today has been a day of disappointments and joy. Photos to come plus a full report but suffice it to say that large chunks of Springfield, Missouri are some of the ugliest stretches of endless strip malls you’ve ever had the misfortune to view. I stopped in three music shops—one had no vinyl whatsoever in spite of having the word “Vintage” in its name, another had a pathetic two bins worth of all-new releases from bands I really don’t care about (except the Misfits, perhaps, who were always fun in their heyday). However I struck paydirt with the ultra-friendly Stick It In Your Ear.

tuxedomoon ship of fools LP

Wes Nichols is the gent behind this VERY friendly store, and I highly recommend this place to anyone who wants to spend a couple of hours rifling through the stacks. There’s a large quantity of material here–hardcore collectors won’t be surprised by 75% of the titles, but I did manage to locate Tuxedomoon’s Ship Of Fools, which I hadn’t seen previously anywhere else.

I also scored Devo’s Greatest Misses on CD for the road, I needed a break from Big Youth, Morricone, Beck, and Big Black. What can I say, it’s been a long strange trip.

Tonight I plan to post some updates with more images including the uber-scary Shari Lewis LP I found and a picture disc I never, ever expected to be created for an album reissue that, well, makes me wonder who is BUYING this stuff. Besides weirdos like me, I mean.

The vinyl buying road trip continues. Vinyl Road Rage 2009 hits Joplin, MO next…I think. I didn’t hear good things about the shop I looked up so I might take a pass in favor of hitting Oklahoma next.

As I look around the room here, blogging away furiously, freshly scrubbed, 20-something faces stare at me. They know I’m not one of THEM, I’m not like the others. The girlies look slightly intrigued by my presence, the guys pretend to be indifferent while muttering “Praise the Lord”. I don’t know how much longer I can stay here before my cover is blown as an unrepentant libertine and non-trumpet player. More later.


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