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Actually buying the music you've heard played in record shops

Started by 23 Daves, April 05, 2012, 01:56:10 PM

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23 Daves

We all know the cringeworthy scene in "High Fidelity" where the main character decides he will sell several copies of The Beta Band's album purely by playing it over the store's sound system - as if life is ever really that simple.

Well, I got thinking yesterday, and wondering about the number of times in my life I've bought an album purely through wandering into a record shop and hearing it being played.  I make the total three.  The first was when I was fourteen years old and wandered into Southend's branch of HMV to hear The Wonder Stuff's "Eight Legged Groove Machine" being played.  I was fairly ignorant of the band's output apart from "It's Yer Money I'm After, Baby", which hadn't impressed me.  For some reason though, the album sounded so staggering to me that I had to rush up to the counter and ask who it was by, then immediately bought it despite it not being the record I'd walked in for.  It stayed with me for many years afterwards as a firm favourite, and whilst I now think the album sounds a bit weeny and adolescent, it was a perfect piece of vinyl for me at that time (I still have my copy, and it's so battered you can tell it was well loved).

The other two stories are less positive, unfortunately. I overheard Clinic's "Internal Wrangler" and Belle and Sebastian's "Tigermilk" under similar circumstances.  Both albums were on my radar as possible to-buys anyway, and whilst both sounded amazing to me as I browsed through the racks, they didn't make the same impression at home and were filed back on the shelf after a month or so, very rarely to be played again.  Perfectly good LPs, but they never really had the same effect on me as they did the first time I heard them whilst I was browsing the racks. 

So, anyway... are there albums you've bought purely because you heard them in a branch of your local shop?  And if you've worked in a store, have you actually ever caused a flurry of attention towards a certain record by putting it on the shop sound system?

mrfridge

It Takes a Nation of Millions by Public Enemy hammering out of the soundsystem at the Vinyl Exchange in Manchester blew my tiny mind as an impressionable youth back in the mid 90s. I bought it on the spot and still listen to it upwards of once a year.

I used to work in Fopp and loads of decent stuff was played that I bought...  if you spend all day in a record shop and get massive discounts then you'd be mad not to buy buy buy. I did did did.

rudi

We used to sell a fair few records by playing them when I worked at HMV, to be honest.

And I've bought many a 12" from them being spun in an indy.

CaledonianGonzo

I think the only time I've ever done this was with 2manydjs Vol.2 or whatever that Soulwax mash-up record was.  In a FOPP, funnily enough.

It happened a few times when I worked in HMV, but only a few times and even then mostly in the singles department and for rubbishy trance remixes of things like The Cranberries' Zombie and the Theme from Braveheart.

Famous Mortimer

I heard a Biosphere album being played at Rare & Racy in Sheffield, many years ago, and bought it on the spot. And two other albums at different times, in the same shop, but I forget about their names. The guy who ran / runs that shop was a filthy old perv, as well, but he had good taste in music.

QtheRaider

I have bought many thousands  of albums over the years but only remember buying one that i heard playing in a shop. I think it was the virgin mega store in marble arch and the album was Master of the Game by George Duke it still gets a play once in a while.
I have bought many singles and twelves after hearing them played in a shop though

NoSleep

I only remember one. Must have been 1977 in Bonaparte Records in Bromley I heard this track that sounded like a guitar-laden Weather Report and it turned out to be the track Heartstrings by Mallard (the original Magic Band that had left Captain Beefheart to forge a career minus their leader) from their album In A Different Climate. Basically, the album is pure brilliance whenever Bill Harkleroad (Zoot Horn Rollo) steps up to play guitar. Likewise, their eponymous debut.

Mallard - Heartstrings

Nobody Soup

I've done this a couple of times, off the top of my head I got a compilation of french artists called dirty french pyschadelics which is really good, however I also bought the mekons greatest hits which is pretty iffy.

I briefly worked in a franchise in debehams, so we had terrible stock and it was mostly boring, however, I did flog 2 copies of deserters songs by mercury rev (I think these are the easiest types of bands to sell, everyone likes REM and there are loads of bands that take them as an influence that don't get anything like the same amount of exposure.) however this backfired as it was one of only about 5 albums we had in the shop that I liked and was allowed to play and we never re-stocked it after the second one went because it was a shit shop.

Subtle Mocking

Happened to me with Sunflower by The Beach Boys playing in a 'vintage' shop in Manchester. My god, that was a glorious day. The most gorgeous 20-or-so degree heat with a light breeze blowing by, trying to kill time before I met a lovely girl that I really dropped the ball with. If only I wasn't such an idiot in that relationship, that might have been the best day of my life.

Incidentally, the track was 'Our Sweet Love'.

Serge

The legendary 'High Fidelity' scene has always annoyed me, because he says he's going to sell 5 copies by putting the record on, and then it starts halfway through the fucking track! Oi mate, get yer CD player sorted out.

There are too many records to list that have gone down a treat thanks to being played in the shop. Weekends are largely devoted to playing stuff that we think will sell if we play it rather than personal favourites (although there is a lot of crossover between the two). It's always nice when you do play something you like and people ask about it, though my happiest moment in this regard is when I sold a copy of Tangerine Dream's 'Phaedra' to Geoff Travis himself when he came in one quiet midweek evening when I was playing it after grabbing control of the shop system.

chocky909


Serge

In the film? Probably, it's a long time since I saw it. It still starts halfway through the track, whatever format it's on.

chocky909

I just checked and it's the CD of The 3 EPs. Fuckin' weak.

Serge

Thinking about it, him having 5 copies of any of the EPs on vinyl to sell would be unlikely, I suppose. Apparently the Beta Band took the piss out of the scene on their DVD, with a clip of someone putting a track of theirs on and clearing a shop.

holyzombiejesus

When Belle & Sebastian's If You're Feeling Sinister came out, we would rarely get to listen to the whole album before a customer asked who it was and bought it.

I've often asked what's being played in shops and bought it, the most latest being a James Blackshaw EP I heard in Honest Jon's. I was a bit pissed off really because it has one of those covers that has no tracklisting and I presumed it was an LP as it cost over £15. When I got back to the hotel and found out that it was just a 2 track 12", I was well fed up. Don't mind now though because it's really great.

alan nagsworth

I'm much more inclined to being swept off my feet by filler music at gigs than I am by stuff overheard in record shops. Mind you, we only have one HMV as the sole musical outlet for about ten miles around where I live, and they were all cunts in there so it's hardly surprising.

I remember when me and a friend went to see Liars, and the filler CD was Apple O by Deerhoof. We'd never heard them before but I remember us both standing there gobsmacked at how incredible it sounded and how unphased the rest of the crowd were. Why weren't they all completely losing their shit to this music?! A couple of months passed with us never knowing what that music was until he gets in touch one day all excited, telling me he's found the band from the Liars gig and they're called Deerhoof and they're one of the best bands he's ever heard. It was like Hunter Thompson walking into the hotel room to find that crazy Samoan in the bath, losing his mind over a blotter of acid and Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit. I got hold of the record, played it and the whole night came flooding back to me. The album's only short so it's highly likely that the whole thing played in between the support act and Liars, and I recognised every track and got chills up my spine every time. I fucking love that album so much.

I really love hearing something and having to properly dig hard to find out what it was, that's probably my favourite challenging thing to do in life: hunting for lost artifacts of my hazy memory. This forum is really good for that sort of thing, I've found, but that Deerhoof incident was probably the one with the best payoff to my recollection.

Brundle-Fly

Long defunct West End, record shop, Vinyl Experience in 1996,

The sales assistant was playing Mo'Wax DJ Andrea Parker's The Rocking Chair CD in the store but when I asked him what the track was, the twat wouldn't tell me. He claimed that I'd only go over the road to Virgin Megastore and buy it for cheaper there.  Eventually, he yielded and showed me the CD sleeve and I subsequently purchased it for £4:99, knowing full well it would be £2:99 in Virgin.

What a pussy, I am.

Flouncer

Quote from: Famous Mortimer on April 05, 2012, 03:06:24 PM
I heard a Biosphere album being played at Rare & Racy in Sheffield, many years ago, and bought it on the spot. And two other albums at different times, in the same shop, but I forget about their names. The guy who ran / runs that shop was a filthy old perv, as well, but he had good taste in music.

When I was younger I bought two albums from Rare and Racy after hearing them played in the shop. One was 'Moment Returns' by an Australian band called Triosk, they were a jazzy band that used tape loops and odd noises. The other was 'Take Refuge in Clean Living' by a trippy/proggy band called Grails. I really enjoyed both of them, though I haven't listened to either for a long time (my record player got nicked and I haven't got round to buying a new one). I ought to download them and see if I still enjoy them as much.

They don't have as many records in there these days, well, to be honest I haven't gone there for a couple of years. I used to enjoy going in there when I was a teenager, I spent quite a while there over the years, happily stoned and flicking through the albums. I don't know if it's the same person you're referring to, but I can remember a bloke who worked there quite openly smoking joints in the shop. I got a lot of good vinyl from there, and plenty of great £5 CDs from the FOPP down the road.

Famous Mortimer

Sort of a wiry fella, and I've smelled weed in there a few times too. I say "filthy old perv", my girlfriend at the time was browsing the books near the counter while I was off in the vinyl bit, and he told her how flexible and discreet he was (among other things). On reflection, I rather wish she'd gone off with him.

alan nagsworth

Quote from: Brundle-Fly on April 09, 2012, 08:29:58 PM
Long defunct West End, record shop, Vinyl Experience in 1996,

The sales assistant was playing Mo'Wax DJ Andrea Parker's The Rocking Chair CD in the store but when I asked him what the track was, the twat wouldn't tell me. He claimed that I'd only go over the road to Virgin Megastore and buy it for cheaper there.  Eventually, he yielded and showed me the CD sleeve and I subsequently purchased it for £4:99, knowing full well it would be £2:99 in Virgin.

What a pussy, I am.

Haha, that story is great. The bloke sounds like a right prick, I can imagine him just teasing bits of the sleeve like on Catchphrase, or on 15 Storeys High when Errol is in the paint shop asking for a specific colour, and the only sample he has is the page from Vince's grumble mag, so he's desperately trying to show the colour without revealing the full image.

The most striking example of this which I can recall is strolling into HMV in Cardiff and hearing Stereolab's 'Cybele's Reverie' from Emperor Tomato Ketchup.  I'd barely heard of this band previously but the string arrangement on that song hit me hard and I simply had to own the record (CD) immediately.

Don_Preston

Again, I was in the Fopp in Manchester when I heard some intriguing synthy post-rock playing. I found out it was Errors. I snapped up the album in an instant, but haven't once played it.

Crabwalk

Quote from: Rev Arthur Belling on April 12, 2012, 12:25:47 PM
I'd barely heard of this band previously but the string arrangement on that song hit me hard and I simply had to own the record (CD) immediately.

Sean O'Hagen's exemplary work. Did that spin you off toward The High Llamas or did you know of him before?

momatt

Quote from: 23 Daves on April 05, 2012, 01:56:10 PM
We all know the cringeworthy scene in "High Fidelity" where the main character decides he will sell several copies of The Beta Band's album purely by playing it over the store's sound system - as if life is ever really that simple.

I LOVE THAT SCENE (and film).

I think I've only done this a couple of times though.
Last one was this about a year ago for about £2:
M.A.N.D.Y. mix Body Language 10
http://www.residentadvisor.net/news.aspx?id=13696

"Sean O'Hagen's exemplary work. Did that spin you off toward The High Llamas or did you know of him before?"

The latter actually.  I'd been buying Sean's records with enthusiasm after first seeing Microdisney performing 'Loftholdingswood' on TV and I was (and remain) a massive High Llamas fan right from the start.  But I had no prior knowledge of his extra-curricular activities so it was a delightful surprise to be ear-smacked by a Stereolab track (I had to ask who it was at the record counter) and then take it home to discover that Sean had played such a major part in creating the song which had grabbed my attention so forcefully. 

momatt

I just remembered, may mate used to do the exact opposite of this.  He worked in Nottingham's Selectadisc (RIP).  Whenever a group of youth customers became particularly irritating, he'd whack on something like Slayer or some other extreme metal stuff and they'd instantly scarper.
Doubt they sold much that way.

Lee Van Cleef

I was tempted to do this recently.  I was in Nevermind the Record Store in Boston, a small Rock/Punk/Metal indie.  The guy put the latest Meshuggah album on which I've not heard anything from and actually I've not bought the last couple of albums by them.  It sounded really good as I was most tempted to purchase it there on the spot, until I checked out the copy they had on the rack, which I'd best describe as in 'used' condition, the digipak being worn.  In fact this was true of a lot of new releases they had.  The perils of keeping Digipaks on shit shelves and having to take the CDs out of the packaging lest things get stolen.

El Unicornio, mang

Never, although I did once hear some amazing music in Forbidden Planet years ago and wish I had asked who it was as I never found out.