Where Have all the Record Stores Gone?

I've just read a short blog on The Guardian's website from January that suggested that HMV had closed 40 stores in the UK, about 10%. Virgin and Tower Records closed years ago and HMV appears to be the only large record store left.

The question is, do I care?

When I first started buying records myself, at about the age of 11 or 12, I bought 7" vinyl singles from Alan's Records store in Edinburgh, opposite the Kings Theatre. The owner, Alan I presume, had the top 40 printed on his counter and I would pour over it until I found a record worth buying. Always 7" until I discovered 12" singles. I went to buy AC/DC's For Those About to Rock and Alan only had the 12" for a little more money. I thought he'd made a mistake and given me an album-length record for the price of a single but apparently not.

As I grew older and was allowed to venture further afield with my friends on a Saturday afternoon (aged about 12 to 13 now) I discovered The Other Record Shop on the Royal Mile. This was a 2 storey store with records on the ground floor and posters and T-shirts upstairs. It had rough wooden floors, always smelled damp and was slightly intimidating. Round the corner we had GI Records on Cockburn Street, a much smaller independent store that sold records for slightly less than the other stores. It just had a smaller selection. And then we had Virgin on Princes Street. This was initially a dark shop with T-shirts hanging from the ceiling with cassettes up on the right hand side, later to be replaced by a small selection of CDs.

The Other Record Shop and GI Records eventually closed, leaving Virgin and later HMV to rule the roost. Virgin gradually developed into a larger spot along the street and I think HMV bought the original shop and grew that, but for years these were the two stores where I bought most of my records.

When I moved to Liverpool for university I continued to shop at HMV (I don't remember there being a Virgin) but occasionally ventured into Probe Records, round the corner from our favourite pub, Flannigans. This shop was a return to the independents in Edinburgh, rough wooden floors, rough surroundings and that damp smell again.

When I moved back home I discovered Vinyl Villains on Leith Walk where you could buy new and second hand vinyl and Fopp which opened a store on Cockburn Street opposite where GI Records used to be. In Aberdeen there were a couple of independents one up Drummond Street and in Glasgow we had the original Fopp on Union Street and, of course, Virgin and HMV.

My record buying practises have changed over the years and even included ASDA, Tesco, motorway services, bookstores and record fairs but the big stores, most recently HMV, have always been there with the largest selection.

As I mentioned above, we have one in downtown Vancouver and a couple of smaller ones in Metrotown but their selection of CDs has reduced recently. It used to be that you would go to HMV for the range and selection but this is perceptively getting much smaller.

My favourite record store now is Zulu Records on 4th in Kits. but it's a fair drive from either the apartment or the office so I'm rarely there, but it has a great selection of new and used CDs on one side and vinyl on the other. They have the largest selection of The Fall CDs I've seen on this side of the Atlantic and, more importantly, smells a little damp.

But the "record store" I frequent the most is the Salvation Army's charity stores on the North Shore here. I've bought around 600 cds in the past 4 years from these stores, mainly because they cost $1 - $2 each.

So with this in mind, do I care about the demise of HMV?

With the advent of iTunes, Beatport and illegal downloading will this mean that artists and the record companies will quickly stop producing CDs? Some bands have released recent albums on vinyl but this may be a short term marketing ploy.

While I have embraced digital books, something I never thought I'd ever do, I can never see myself embracing digital music. It's just not the same. You get no physical product to hold, no cover art other than a tiny square on your iPod and no cover notes or lyrics. These still matter to me.

I accept that the range of music that is available on-line far outweighs the choice in even the biggest record store. You can find copies of every Fall record ever released and more that their record companies churned out but it's not the same looking at them on a screen. It's not the same experience as walking into a record store and picking the CD boxes up, wondering if they will have the one you went in for or if you'll find something you've never seen before. No matter how obscure the record is, you'll always find it online. But where's the fun in that?

So this is where I start to fear the likes of HMV closing it's doors forever. If this happens there's a risk that all record shopping, apart from the second hand stores, will have to be done online, an experience where you search for your CD, pay your money and then wait days (or weeks in Canada) for your little silver disc to arrive. The feeling of anticipation is heightened in charity stores, not in terms of "do they have my record" but in terms of "do they have any records at all today" but if my favourite band releases a new record I really don't want to have to wait for it to be posted to me. And I certainly don't want to download it to be listened to on my iPod. In fact, the only reason I have an iPod is to play my music in the car. I have, as of today, 687 CDs and numerous Playlists on my iPod, a selection that would fill the trunk if I was to carry it round with me.

Or even worse, will the slowing sales of physical CDs mean that record companies will eventually stop producing CDs altogether?

And how will we get to hear new bands? This is already a difficult process, unless you know Mr Brian Black, of course. We can't rely on radio stations over here because they are hopeless, typically playing the same records over and over again, day after day. There's little in the way of new bands from around the world played over here and virtually nothing...no actually nothing... worth listening to in comparison to John Peel. No one is doing what Peel did for 30 years or so ago so we have to rely on friends (Brian Black) or the internet. And the internet is a poor choice because it's difficult to find a site that helps you focus your attention like BBC radio used to do.

There are a huge number of new artists on the internet, uploading their own home made music into the likes of MySpace but where can you go to find the best of them, the ones worth listening to? This is where record stores like Zulu can help so if they disappear we're in trouble.

So, while I don't particularly like HMV, if they fail or close it could have a huge impact n how and where I buy records in the future.

So, I need to find a website that fills the huge space that John Peel left when he died.

Any ideas?????????

My "Weird" Taste in Music

The Incredible Mr Ford "tagged" me on Facebook this week asking for the first 25 songs that appear on my iPod when I hit the "shuffle songs" option. This is what came up:

1. Schottkey 7th Path - Aphex Twin
2. Rene - The Small Faces
3. Knight on the Town - Kula Shaker
4. Spying Glass - Massive Attack
5. Born to Kill - The Damned
6. Back in the USSR - The Beatles
7. Seal My Fate - Belly
8. Candylion - Gruff Rhys
9. Def Con 2.01 - Saga & Mei Lwun
10. Rachel's Flat - Badly Drawn Boy
11. The Rolling People - The Verve
12. Bitches Ain't Shit - Ben Folds
13. Hold On - Lou Reed
14. Starting Over - The Crystal Method
15. Watermelon Man - Mongo Santamaria
16. (Get off your) High Horse Lady - Oasis
17. Get Lost - Patrick Wolf
18. Das Boot - The Fall
19. Black Diamonds and Blue Pearls - Angie Stone
20. Someday Soon - Doves
21. I Don't Owe You Anything - The Smiths
22. Electroliners - Loose Caboose
23. A Conspiracy - Black Crowes
24. 2 Parcels - John Martyn
25. Mr Grieves - The Pixies.

A good cross section of the type of music that I listen to on a daily basis, tunes that get me through the day depending on my mood and my activities.

My taste in music has been commented on since childhood, formed largely from a very small select few friends and my own investigations through radio, music press and, more recently, the world wide interweb:

Alan Clark at school (The Fall, Pink Floyd, The Stranglers, Bauhaus, The Damned, New Order/Joy Division);

The Incredible Mr Ford at university (The Pixies, The Pogues, Tom Waites, The band) and

Brian Black (Ben Folds, Badly Drawn Boy, Fleet Foxes)

and many more that I can't remember off the top of my head.

The comments have rarely been hugely complimentary and usually include such gems as "what's this crap we're listening to?", "who the hell is this?" and the most recent "this is head banging music, get it off".

Bands like the wonderful Fall attract universal derision from all but the most dedicated followers (erm, pretty much just The Incredible Mr Ford) but more recently Tom Waits's almost unique production, gravel-induced voice and irregular song structure has lead one special person in my life to pull a face. And then there is my new passion for all types of electronic music; house, progressive house, deep house, techno (not so much) and all the other styles of dance music.

Electronic music is the new punk, music that you can produce yourself in your own home with nothing more that a computer and some software.

But nowhere in my collection will you find the "stars" of Pop Idol, Fame Academy or any other "music" television show where ordinary people who look pretty and can sing, can become the next big thing in the music business. People who are molded, shaped, dressed, produced and pushed by people like Simon Cowel who are incredibly talented at making huge fortunes for themselves and their stars.

This is not music but the music business. These guys make money from making music. It is not music for the sake of making music. It's not art. It's a business and nothing else and and these people are very good at what they do. And their acts are very popular as the viewers of these shows spend their money downloading there product from iTunes and occasionally through record stores.

But I can't bring myself to call it "music". They represent a bland, middle of the road dirge that appeals to the masses in the same way that McDonalds does. Burgers for the music industry. Music that's bad for you. Not bad for you in a physical sense but bad for your wallet, your emotions and your satisfaction.

It has no lasting impact on your life because it represents instant gratification based on our warped sense of fame. These stars are stars because they are stars. TV personalities that sing...on TV.

The bands and artists that I like are, in my opinion, just that; artists. They produce music for the sake of the music. Their success is measured on the quality of the art they produce not the number of units they sell or the number of times they appear in TV.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel. The music industry is being taken back by the artists. Due to the likes of Napster and other elements of the internet, music producers, in the true sense of the word, are able to create and distribute their art widely and very inexpensively. The only challenge they face is the marketing of their work, getting the music out to a large number of people who would appreciate it. This is the only service that the record companies can provide these people now, but their contracts cripple the artists that they need to make their money. Hence the reason for these artificial musicians. That's where these companies are making their money and flooding the traditional airwaves with their bland product.

But those of us who love music will always find the art. We don't care if Mark E. Smith is a millionaire or not, we just want The Fall to continue making their records. Once we hook onto a band we will find their work whether we visit a record store or not.

I have resisted downloading music more many years but now that we can find music that is exclusively produced for the internet, who cares.

Beatport is a perfect example. This an electronic record store that specialises in dance music and includes music that is available on CD and vinyl (my preferred medium) or exclusively on the site. It's easier to search for and easier to buy. It's still a difficult transition to make but if you can't find this brilliant music anywhere else what else can you do.

I don't care what other people think of my music taste and never have. It's my music taste not anyone else's. If I share the passion for a band with someone else then fine and if I can motivate someone else to enjoy a band as much as I do, even better. My taste in music is not "weird" it's wide and varied.

And why does music tend to define us in other people's minds. My taste in literature doesn't attract the same response. Why not. It's as varied as my taste in music. My taste of film is varied too, but not commented on.

I think this is because music is seen as a kid's past time by many. I remember my parents making comments as I got older along the lines of "you're not still listening to this are you". I think they thought it would be a phase that I grew out of but it hasn't worked for me in that way.

At the end of the day, it all boils down to opinions. My opinion is different to others', even the one of those that love music. Some people like music and some people like wine.

Who cares.

Suits and Ties

I have just read an article from the BBC website that a friend on Facebook highlighted that explores the decline in the wearing suits and ties and formal dress at work.

There has definitely been a more casual approach to the dress code at Honeywell in recent years and that was even before moving to the ultra casual British Columbia. The senior leadership team in the UK started turning up to work in Chinos and golf shirts and only wore shirts a ties to visit clients.

Now that we live in Vancouver the casual attitude to dress in the west coast of North America is less formal and Chinos and golf shirts are the norm, even when visiting some clients, clients who also wear Chinos and golf shirts.

Those of us who continue to dress up rather than down, are in the minority. We have "dress down Friday", a routine that I take part in from time to time, but this practise has crept into Tuesday, Thursday, most Mondays and, occasionally, Wednesdays for everyone else. The best we get from some is a blazer with dress pants but no tie.

But this is entirely acceptable here and give those of us who dress more formally the opportunity to stand out particularly when meeting with senior executives in the clients' teams.

Fashion, like many elements of our culture, is cyclical so we may expect to see a rise in the sale of suits in the future. Even here dude!!

A Town Like Alice

I have just finished this novel on the Kobo having borrowed it electronically from the local library. The fact that I could do this with the Kobo was a great surprise to me when I found out a couple of weeks ago and now gives me access to many more books than the nearly 200 free ebooks that you can down-load.

The novel is set in and around the Second World War and is narrated by an ageing solicitor called Noel Strachan who is contacted by a dying man in Ayr who wants to change his will in favour of his only living relative, a young woman in England called Jean Paget. He leaves here 350k (pounds) but insists it be kept in a trust until she is 35.

The first half of the book retraces Jean's earlier life as a prisoner of war in Malaya where she lead a group of women around the country from one Japanese military camp to another, in each case finding their presence resented by the local officer who promptly sent them off again to another station.

On the way they meet 2 Australian prisoners who help them find food on their journey and end up being caught stealing chickens. One of the Australians is nailed to a tree and beaten to death.

The group of women eventually settle in small village after their Japanese guard dies and learn to live like the locals, working in the paddy fields for around 3 years. After the war they are repatriated.

The second half of the story is about what she does with her money, but I won't spoil it for anyone who may want to read this one.

I think this novel was written with children in mind and while is introduces some of the harrowing experiences of war, they are not dwelt on and the story moves quickly to more encouraging experiences for Jean as she learns to put her newly found fortune to god use.

This book was voted in at 37 on the BBC's Big Read list, I suspect, due to people reading it at school and remembering it with fondness rather than it being the 37th best novel ever written.

Madchester

I was surfing on YouTube the other day and came across some film of The Charlatans playing live last year. They were playing a lot of their old stuff from when I was at university and were supported by Shaun Ryder who is now performing his old hits on his own.

Is it me or does this smack of desperation? It was slightly sad to see these, once great performers going through the motions of performing their old hits to make a bit of money.

The Charlatans have been one of the best preserved band from the Manchester days and had developed into a great band while others of their generation had given up. But this recent film looked like they were going through the motions and didn't care.

Shaun Ryder looks like he's doing the same. No Mondays to back him and not even Bez to freaky dance his way through the set.

The Inspiral Carpets reformed in the past few years but I can't see anything on YouTube except the odd piece filmed from someone's cell phone so it's hard to see how they were. James are still going and have continued pumping out great stuff, but even they split a few years ago and reformed in order to make some money.

The only band from that era that have stayed apart is The Stone Roses. I'd love to see them live having missed out the first time around, but I'd wonder what it would be like. Firstly they wouldn't come over here but I'd hate to see them as some tribute band. That's exactly what The Charlatans looked like on that video. A Madchester circus act or a Butlins Saturday night special.

In recent years the fabulous Dodgy reformed and our Brian went to see them in a wee club in Aberdeen. One of the greatest song writing groups in the past 20 years and they were playing to a handful of people in a pub. A little sad.

Is this recent collection of reformations a good thing or not. The bands rarely seem to have the same energy they used to have and most of them are clearly not on the same medication that made their music so inspiring the first time round.....but it would be great to see The Stone Roses again.

Any thoughts?

KOBO

It's happened. Despite saying that I prefer real books to eReaders I now have a Kobo (thanks wife) and I have to say, I love it.

It is Chapters bookstore's version of the Kindle and comes with 100 free classics. This allowed me to finish the last half of Middlemarch, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Treasure Island over the Christmas holidays and I am now working my way through Persuasion by Jane Austen, all without having to lug a pile of books around.

The screen takes a little getting used to as it has no backlight. This means that you need an external light to read the books but this gives the screen a "paper" quality. The screen never shuts down, however. While the Kobo is technically "off" the cover of the book that you are reading remains on the screen.

I see a huge advantage to having this over real books. You can store up to 1000 books on the unit and probably more in your online account so it's useful when travelling, particularly on planes. It's small, around the same size as a book but very thin, making it easy to carry in a bag or briefcase.

You can also download newspapers, magazines and read pdf files. I'm a convert.

Jim Jefferies, Our New Hero

Another great victory for the mighty Jambos this afternoon (Hearts 5 - 0 Aberdeen) and, even more importantly, another great performance. Jim Jefferies seems to have brought the team together in a way not seen since the start of the season in which we won the first eight games and promptly sacked our manager, George Burley, as a result. That's Lithuanian bankers for you.

In that season we had Rudi Skacel or whoever it's spelled, scoring goals for fun and he seems to be doing the same this season now that he is back at Tynecastle.

If this performance continues and the Old Firm continue to drop points we could close the gap even further. Rangers drew with Inverness this morning when Kenny Miller failed to convert a penalty so you never know.

If that happens, however, the Scottish press and radio pundits will start to discuss when "the bubble will burst" for Hearts. We have a well known habit of bottling it towards the end of the season. We did this in the 60's when we were beaten to the league by, I think, Kilmarnock on goal difference and once again in 1986 when all we had to do was draw with Dundee and lift the title for the first time in lots of years. In fact, even if we lost by a single goal, Celtic would have had to have won at Love Street by 4 goals for them to lift the league trophy. Guess what happened.

I missed that game having been to most of the others that season with my first and, I think, only season ticket. My friends and I (including Don) travelled to many away games that season including one towards the end of the season at Tannadice to see Hearts beat Dundee United 3-0 (or was it 2-0?). The Hearts end was packed that day and we stood at the top of the shed part of the terracing. I remember the steps were incredibly steep so we diced with death every time Hearts scored that afternoon. The crowd would erupt and sway straight down and you had no choice but to be carried down with it.

The journey back on the bus was great as the a huge convoy of hearts buses snaked it's way up to the Kingsway and back home. There were probably more Hearts fans there that day that the arabs but that wasn't unusual in those days. Hearts would take thousands of fans away from home and fill the away end, usually making far more noise that the "shitey home support".

Not any more. Stadiums are all seater, family orientated and with less atmosphere. Having said all that, there is far less sectarian abuse at Tynecastle and the songs are more in support of Hearts than deeply against catholics as they used to be. I'm not sure the same can be said for the team from Govan.

So Jim Jefferies can become a real hero at Tynecastle again, especially if he brings silverware in. With our history over the last 20 years the most likely candidate for silverware will be the Scottish Cup but just imagine what would happen if we won the league.......