Philadelphia Record Stores: Philadelphia Record Exchange

Philadelphia has its share of record stores, but when it comes to jazz albums, you really should make Philadelphia Record Exchange the very first stop. Located at 618 South 5th Street, this store is a three-story wonder, crammed from top to bottom with jazz, R&B, blues, and yes, there is a rock/modern rock section in the basement.

From the moment you spot the sign on the street, you’ve got stuff to sift through as on good weather days there are crates of dirt cheap vinyl waiting for you outside the store.

Once you get inside, you’ll go down the Philadelphia record store rabbit hole for a long, long time. Since I’m not a jazz collector per se, there was a lot of browsing, but when I hit the soul section the stacks were much harder to resist.

Deco Disco does look pretty cool…regretting that I didn’t pick that one up now. Ahh well, can’t buy them all! The Philadelphia Record Exchange is crammed full of opportunities like these…it all depends on how much cash you can afford to part with on any given day. They really don’t make it easy. One thing I did notice about this shop–there was a constant stream of people coming in and out–the reputation of this store is rock solid in Philly, and with good reason.

It’s your choice. The lady or the tiger? It has to be said, there is a LOT of crap in the basement rock section, but the hidden gems are waiting there for you. I scored the DBs 12 inch single Spy In The House of Love and a lovely copy of the Peter Murphy post-Bauhaus project Dali’s Car with a bit of dilligent digging. Yes, you have to get past Dan Fogelberg first…but it was worth it.

Yes, the Philadelphia Record Exchange is far more slanted towards jazz, soul and non-rock genres…but it’s a refreshing change of pace…and the rock section does have some gold nuggets hidden in there. Don’t miss it.

Philadelphia Record Stores: Repo Records

During my visit to Philadelphia, I was very pleased to shop at Repo Records at 538 South Street. From the moment you spot the store, you know you’re in for a crate-digging safari you should set aside plenty of time for. I realize that most of the reviews from this particular Vinyl Road Rage trip are glowing (I had very good luck most of the way) but Repo Records truly deserves the praise.

South Street is full of touristy places to lure you in, but I get the vibe in Repo Records that locals shop here. Like all the good shops on my trip, the staff were friendly and chatty. No sullen-faced wankers who have seen High Fidelity too many times here.

I was pleased to find a good combination of new material and re-issues. There’s so much good stuff coming back on the market these days that a new record collector will have trouble picking their battles. Behold:

Yes, that’s Here Comes Shuggie Otis on 180-gram vinyl, brand new and ready to be discovered by a whole new generation. But I was happier with this discovery which, in spite of its ruined cover was a very pleasant find indeed as I’m a bit of a nut for anything on vinyl related to the Justified Ancients of Mu.

You couldn’t have made me happier if you had given me a white label pressing of a late night drunken collaboration between William Shatner and Mark E. Smith (with Brian Eno playing a MicroKorg through seven echo boxes).

For some reason, the farther east you drive, the more prevalent record stores with basements become. I don’t know why this is, but I’m very pleased that the phrase “bargain basement” is still more than just a cliche.

The Repo Records bargain basement was fab–not just for the usual crate digging, but as a connoisseur of tasteless, poorly thought out or just plain goofy album covers, I was in heaven.

Look at that HAIR. Now THAT’S a SIN.

You people quit your day jobs, decided make a career in music and the best name you could come up with after pondering it for AGES and AGES was….

But I digress. Basically, Repo Records was fun to shop and I crawled around the old, new, and very used bins for quite some time. If you’re in Philly and are tired of all the other South Street stuff, drop into Repo Records and stay a while. Just make sure you’ve got a nice, cool place to stash all that vinyl when you’re done shopping…the trunk of your car might work in November, but in the dog days of summer you need a better plan.

Vinyl Road Rage 2 Gallery

Here is yet another collection of glorious images from the road trip from Chicago to NYC, vinyl finds, kooky album covers and much more. There are still LOADS of record stores to review and post–we have more from Philly, Toledo Ohio and New York City to come…next week is going to be packed full of record store review goodness.

Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Record Stores: Jerry’s Records

I have been looking forward to this particular post ever since I walked in the door of Jerry’s Records–the Pennsylvania record store that wins hands down for size, selection and overall coolness. And I mean that literally as well as figuratively–Jerry says his air conditioning bills are $1300 a month for this staggering collection of vinyl.

As you can see, when you get to Jerry’s, at 2136 Murray Avenue
in Pittsburgh PA, you’re in for quite a treat. The 78s section advertised on the door is sure to draw out the obsessives in that part of the vinyl junkie kingdom, but I thought the main store was more than plenty to keep me going–no need for me to obsess over a whole new undiscovered country yet.

A newcomer to the store really cannot prepare themselves for the volume of vinyl here. If you’re into post-punk, 80s new wave and related sounds you will spend all of your money and all the money you’re GOING to make in the next year at Jerry’s. No contest.

And the prices are extremely reasonable, I might add.

Soundtracks were a bit frustrating to wade through as there was a filing system at work there that completely escaped me. I was looking for the horror stuff, naturally, but found so much broadway mixed in with the other titles that it made things quite difficult. The soundtracks section was full of the old standbys and in the short time I was able to spend back there (in a labyrinth all its own) I couldn’t locate anything I didn’t already have–the curse of the collector rather than an indictment of Jerry’s, really.

Don’t go into Jerry’s Records in Pittsburgh for the first time if you aren’t able to spend at least 90 minutes. Seriously. You WILL be late for whatever appointment, rendezvous, tryst or meeting you’ve set up for the day. There is too much, too too much here to skim over or simply glance at.

What I loved best about Jerry’s, aside from an excessively fussy classification system that lists MANY bands by name (even obscure ones that might be better in the general alphabet sections) is the attention to one of my favorite genres—weirdness on wax.

Jerry’s breaks down the weirdness into subdivisions I’ve never found in any other record store–I was soooo grateful to find the strange vinyl handled as lovingly as all the other genres—no short shrift given to THESE records just cuz nobody but me wants to buy them. I mean, really–they listed all the weird records with ANIMAL COVERS.

Jerry’s Records was one of my absolute favorite record stores on the entire Vinyl Road Rage 2 trip. I say you’ll be hard-pressed to find another shop that is as large, exhaustively stocked, and fussed over. Jerry himself is on duty at the store, which tells you something about how he likes to run things…and he told us he’s got a whole warehouse of vinyl that hasn’t even made it into the shop yet, so you know this place isn’t running out of the good stuff anytime soon.

I highly recommend Jerry’s, in case you couldn’t tell from all the breathless hype. I will be back there and soon, I hope.

–Joe Wallace

More Random Pics From Vinyl Road Rage 2

Vinyl Road Rage has been a crazy journey but definitely fun. There are TONS of record store reviews from the road yet to come…I have stores in Allentown, Toledo, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New York City and elsewhere to write up yet…the final leg of the trip begins Thursday (Aug 19 2010) with Toledo, and finally the drive back to Chicago where I’ll do my very last vinyl store of Vinyl Road Rage 2 at Laurie’s Planet of Sound.

All in all, I’ve hit 22 record stores on the trip so far and there are three more left. It’s been great and I am already thinking about Vinyl Road Rage Part Three…but I’ll save THAT discussion for another day. Now, enjoy some random images from the Chicago to New York City vinyl spree:

Saucy Silvia? I cannot WAIT to hear this one. Sex is the thing that started it all, indeed! Does she mean her recording career or what?

IndieWax Records had a tiny little dog that falls in love with each and every person that walks in the door. It was cute. But I was more interested in that pile of vinyl. Does that make me heartless? Or just obsessed?

I remember Not My Son from my days in San Antonio, Texas. Carol Steele, one of the members, got me hooked up with a massive interview (as in, there were five or six guys all talking at once) with the members of Voodoo Glow Skulls during a show at Emo’s in Austin back in the 90s. Then she sort of vanished off the face of the earth and I never saw her again. Always wondered what happened to the band and I was taken down memory lane here seeing this single.

Cleveland Ohio Record Stores: Record Revolution

Record Revolution in Cleveland Ohio is in the center of the Cleveland Heights arts-n-culture district. There are music venues, wi-fi coffee shops, art spaces and plenty of other diversion. Located on 1828 Coventry Road, Record Revolution is one of Cleveland’s indie vinyl landmarks if the reviews on Yelp.com and elsewhere mean anything at all.

Those reviews say the store has lost some of its former glory. That’s not for me to say–I’ve never shopped there until this trip, but I can say the shop is a combination of old and new vinyl and if you’re a new vinyl collector looking for soul titles, you could do a hell of a lot worse than starting your journey here.

There are plenty of fun oddball vinyl selections (my favorite finds are the weird ones), plus the ones you know you want if for no other reason than to have bagged another trophy title.

Record Revolution has a pile of grey market DVDs for sale, plus a collection of movie poster reproductions (they seem to be laser or inkjet printed reproductions which I personally stay away from–I can print them myself at home for free, thanks). I have to say, some of the grey market discs are awesome–I purchased one that was a collection of nothing but Turkish action movie excerpts. But some of the others are pretty vile. “Upskirt”? Thanks, but no thanks.

Record Revolution has a downstairs area with a nice collection of bargains on vinyl and CD. A literal “bargain basement”.

The CD piles include a set of ultra-cheapie discs. It’s a trend I’ve been noticing in record stores a lot lately–one that seems to indicated that the shiny disc is going the way of the video tape. I predict that one day compact discs could become actual collector’s items when it comes to releases by bands like Coil and others who might not ever reissue portions of their back catalogs in MP3 form…or will they change their minds later? Still too early to tell.

Record Revolution is a store that could act as a gateway to collecting for the curious–I can see how someone might get a lifelong habit after scooping up some of the vinyl bargains here as an experiment. Diehard collectors should stop in on a just-in-case basis, but if you have a small collection pop in here to fill things out.

And you thought Reader’s Digest was only in the magazine business, right? And look! It’s PLEASURE PROGRAMMED! I feel dirtier already.

Cleveland Ohio Record Stores: The eXchange

Yes, technically speaking, The eXchange (or however you spell the bloody thing) is NOT an indie record store. But I must say that the selection for blues lovers was pretty damn fine–size notwithstanding. Yes, the selection is limited, but the blues/jazz titles IN that limited selection were pretty decent.

The rest of you will have to sit and spin with a few exceptions–this Cleveland Heights branch DID have a copy of REM’s Chronic Town that is NOT a resissue, but aside from that it’s pretty standard fare here–unless you like blues and jazz. This one is very close to the Cleveland Heights indie record store Record Revolution, so it’s not such a bad diversion if you need to fill in some holes in your collection (see below).

You could do worse, I suppose. I’m not a huge fan of this chain but they DO sell used vinyl so I had to stick my head in there for a second. Not the most shining moment of the trip to be sure, but I do love me some Miles.

–Joe Wallace

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Cleveland, Ohio Record Stores: Blue Arrow Records

Cleveland, Ohio used record store Blue Arrow Records is at 16001 Waterloo Road and WELL worth the trip. It’s literally about half a block away from the equally impressive Music Saves record store, and these two shops complement each other so well they really could just combine into one awesome super store…

Where Music Saves has the new releases covered, Blue Arrow is an amazing place to find used vinyl. The first thing you notice when you walk into Blue Arrow?

The FLOOR. Have a look at this amazing work of art–album cover artwork on every square inch of record store floor, safely sealed under a transparent veneer. I wasn’t doing so well with the digital pictures on this one, but you get the idea. Click the photo for a larger version.

The vinyl here runs the gamut, from the fun finds:

Blue Arrow has a nice selection of music books and other ephemera, too. All in all, this is NOT the place you want to rush into 45 minutes before closing time. You’ll devour this stuff, collected here by savvy record buyers who know how to put a shop together. When I strut into a used record shop and find an Easy Tempo vinyl record in the first ten minutes, I know I’ve got a shop worth shouting about. Blue Arrow IS that shop in Cleveland. Well done!

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Mishawaka, Indiana Record Stores: Michiana Used Music and Media

Mishawaka, Indiana is a good place to stop on the way out of Chicago. Just two hours out of the city, you can stretch your legs, top off, buy an Indiana lottery ticket and keep your fingers crossed.

But don’t cross your fingers over finding gigantic piles of rare vinyl at Michiana Used Music and Media. Sadly, the picture below shows the sum total of all the vinyl you can sift through here–two bins with some above and some below.

It wouldn’t be so disappointing for a hardcore vinyl junkie–or even a newbie collector–except there was not much here except for the usual pile of vinyl cast offs from every collection in the world. The requisite AC/DC albums, all the Joe Walsh records you didn’t want alongside the couple you already have. Show tunes nobody listens to. And isn’t there ALWAYS a Fleetwood Mac record in there?

I really wasn’t expecting too much from this first stop on the vinyl road rage trip as the shop doesn’t present itself very well online–an afterthought really, but I WAS amused by a couple of things here. You may not be able to locate that copy of Danny Elfman’s Nightbreed soundtrack here, but if Barry Manilow makes you shriek in ecstasy, you have DEFINITELY found your new home away from home:

And I WAS amused/horrified to find this reissue of the Blind Faith album with one of the most crass and possibly illegal covers in recorded music history. At least tone-deaf Satan Metal bands like Witchfinder General have the decency to put topless women of LEGAL AGE on their covers. Not so with Clapton and company. Those at work should probably NOT click “read more” now. … Continue Reading

Vinyl Road Rage 2: The Journey Begins

The road rage begins! The Turntabling quest to find cool indie record shops, interesting vinyl, and eye-grabbing album covers good and bad.

The trip started out saying ta-ta to Chicago and getting right over to Indiana for a visit to Michiana Used Music and Media–I’ll be posting reviews of each stop along the way so each individual record shop can get its own 15 minutes in the spotlight. The good, the bad and the ugly will all be here…

The first day ends in Cleveland, with Day 2 headed to Akron, Youngstown and Pittsburgh. Stay tuned for record shop reviews on Michiana Used Music and Media, Blue Arrow Records in Cleveland, Music Saves in Cleveland, and points east.