RECORD STORE DAY

I was truly looking forward to Record Store Day 2010. There was to be limited edition releases from The Beatles, Rolling stones and The Editors (and many others). Knowing that there would only be a few discs of each pressing sent to independent stores, I got up early so that I could be at my local store at opening time. I made it, only to be met by a fevered melee normally associated with jumble sale doors opening.

Great, I thought, true collectors doing their best to get their hands on such rare items available for one day only. I was also pleased to see that the record store had limited buyers to one copy per person of each item. But still I was disappointed, as I couldn’t get The Editors disc that I wanted. No Rolling Stones or Beatles left, either. Still, I was quite content, thinking how the fans would be at home later listening to their new acquisitions.

Then, of course, reality stepped in and later, when browsing eBay I found The Beatles and Rolling Stones discs going for £50-plus and a Blur single reaching over £100. I know that there’s nothing that can be done to prevent this kind of thing happening, but it kind of ruins the concept of having a Record Store Day.

But I whole-heartedly back the RSD concept, and it was good to see genuine music fans and collectors taking piles of vinyl and CDs to the pay desk. I just hope the people buying their £100- plus Blur single get the same pleasure but, my guess is, the discs will stay unplayed, gathering dust. What a shame.

I only bought two singles in the end, a 10” single by The Paddingtons with a signed sleeve and a 12” featuring Paul Weller remixed by Amorphous Androgynous. The Paul Weller single is on eBay for £21 at the moment!

by Phil Cossey
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