Generation Records, at 210 Thompson St (between 3rd St & Bleecker) is the sister store to the New York City record store institution, Bleecker Street Records. Like its’ counterpart, Generation Records has a lot of floor space, more titles than you’ll be able to comfortably look through over a lunch hour, and plenty of CDs, tees and other odds and ends to round out the shopping experience.

By this time on the Vinyl Road Rage journey, I was pretty fried out. All the stores start blurring together when you hit the wall, but even though this was the last stop in a very eventful and expensive day, Generation Records managed to stand out and make me wake up long enough to appreciate the collection.

Reviews of the store on Yelp.com make noise about rude, obviously tweaking or barely knowledgeable staff; I didn’t have those experiences because I walked in knowing where I wanted to browse, didn’t have an agenda aside from hoping cool stuff leapt out of the stacks for me, and wasn’t feeling particularly chatty myself. It was nice not to be bothered every five seconds with “Can I help you find anything?” so maybe I’m just anti-social and prefer a non-talkative rudie behind the counter sometimes.

Just as with Bleecker Street Records, Generation Records has a downstairs and it’s chock full of the good stuff. Yes, there is a lot of vinyl upstairs, but I’ve always had better luck in basements. Don’t know why. They–the inscrutable, ever-present they–always stick the soundtracks in the basements (unless it’s a bargain basement setup where the thrashed and buck-a-pop vinyl lives).

I always notice the little quirky things about a record store. One quirk that brought a smile was the way Generation Records chooses to label its overstock. Me personally, I think if you have a problem with people misunderstanding what’s considered “for sale” and what’s not, you should HIDE the not-for-sale items. But I’m just this guy.

New York City is jammed full of great record stores. Generation Records is one of them. You might need some deep pockets if you’re a collcetor–Bleecker Street and Generation Records are shops that have savvy buyers and the rarities are priced accordingly. To quote the junk store shopkeep in that great Swingin’ London classic Blow Up, “You’ll find no cheap bargains here…”

But that doesn’t mean you won’t buy. And sometimes you CAN find some decent bargains—some nice little things do slip through the cracks. Like a sealed, original pressing of the Sheba, Baby soundtrack, or my personal favorite, the sealed version of Petey Wheatstraw, The Devil’s Son-in-Law soundtrack. But maybe I’m just a rabid crate diggin’ fool.

–Joe Wallace