Sunday, April 19, 2009

Record Store Day


Given that:
a. Yesterday was Record Store Day; and,
b. I have not been record shopping for a long time,

it made perfect sense that I should head out and support some record stores here in Melbourne by partaking in one of my favourite activities in the world! With Knock Yr Socks Off Scott as my guide and Belle & Sebastian playing on the iPhone stereo, I was introduced to some new record stores and hauled quite the bounty!

Albums!
The Modern Lovers - The Modern Lovers (80s Beserkley reissue)
The Steinbecks - The Steinbecks (Drive-In Records)
The Waitresses - Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful?
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Once Upon A Time/The Singles
The Triffids - Love In Bright Landscapes (an excellent compilation of Triffids tracks from 83-85, and includes a couple of my personal favourites, including "Red Pony" and "Property Is Condemned".)
Bruce Springsteen - Born In The USA (OK, this one was $5, then with 20% off at Record Paradise, I figured I could buy it for all of four smackers.)

Singles!
Amelia Fletcher - "Can You Keep A Secret?" (Fierce, 1991) - I was exceptionally excited to find this!! In all honesty, I quite like the A-side, but, um, it's quite hard to tolerate hearing a dance version of "Wrap My Arms Around Him". Argh!
Hurrah! - "Hip-Hip Flowers" (Kitchenware)
Orange Juice - "I Can't Help Myself" (On "Holden Caulfield Universal")
Meat Whiplash - "Don't Slip Up"/"Here It Comes" (Creation, 1985) - I have never seen this single anywhere before, and Licorice Pie had two copies there.
Saint Etienne - "Hobart Paving"/"Who Do You Think You Are" double A-side (Heavenly, 1993) - two of my favourite Saint Etienne songs, together on the one single.
Honeybunch - "Hey Blue Sky!" (Bus Stop, 1989) - Melbourne seems to be the place to find Honeybunch singles. I'm certainly not complaining!
Shockheaded Peters - "I, Bloodbrother Be" (El, 1984)
Bill Wyman - "(Si Si) Je Suis Un Rock Star" (A&M Records, 1981)
Patti Smith Group - "Because The Night" (Arista, 1978)

Licorice Pie in Prahran is one of the best record stores around, and my visit there was long overdue. Almost all these records came from there, and even then I had to leave some behind - most notably, a copy of the Television Personalities' The Painted Word. Since I already have the Vinyl Japan CD re-issue of it, I couldn't really justify it. Also, might I note that they had a copy of Bad Dream Fancy Dress's Choirboys Gas on LP, which I promptly made Scott buy, as it is one of the best El records releases. I'd have snapped it up myself!

4 comments:

martijn said...

I have not been record shopping in a long, long time. And I don't expect myself making up for that any time soon, but you found some true gems there. Is that Steinbekcs album the one with "Which Part Of No..."?

Alexis said...

Oh man Licorice Pie is amazing! I think that is the record store with the amazing cat in it. Chris and I went there in 2006. They had lots of seven inch boxes behind the counter as I recall.

Darragh said...

Woah that is some shop. You're not kidding when you say you're going to shop.

Wally said...

Great finds and a cool shop indeed - wish I was close by.