For all the years
I've been working at and or haunting Records Stores I've come to realize that there
are three types of people who dwell in these stores day after day. The first is
the guy (or girl) that's on a mission, they want to be left alone, they don't
want to engage in any form of small talk, don't tell them about the time you
saw Dylan and you couldn't understand a word he said…they don't care, they are
there to scan the bins flipping one piece of vinyl at a time and don't need
their concentration broken…I get like that sometimes.
The second type are
the casual diggers, they scan the A's then wander a bit, talk to whomever is
working (or trying to get work done) or try to talk to the guy beside them
about the 10CC album that they may or may not purchase, then they move onto the
C's (they went through the B's yesterday), they might ask you to spin something
(cut them off at 2 pieces because you'll never get them out of there)…..I'm
also like that somedays.
Number Three, well
their the customer that knows their music, they can go on and on and on about
any number of subjects relating to music, they will spend hours upon hours in
the store and after they leave you realize that they didn't buy anything…they
never do. This is the person that will eventually work in the store….that was
me.
I made two trips to
Alleycats Music & Art this week, both in the same day. A mid-morning scan
of the bins to just see what was around then back in the afternoon for a full
on assault. The owner Mike was there so in-between looking at records we'd chat,
that's the one thing I miss about working in a small indie store is the casual
chat. I was pulling out all kinds of jazzy gems this week; he has a couple of
Nina Hagen albums there right now…Nina Hagen in Orillia, now that brings the
stores "Cool Factor" up a bit more than where it already was….and it
was already pretty high. I also came across Ringo Starr's fourth solo record 'Goodnight Vienna'; I just love the
cover of Ringo in a scene from the classic sci-fi film The Day the Earth Stood Still, I also found a commercial for the
album on YouTube, I posted it HERE on Sonic More Music. A band I was always a
fan of was INXS especially their early work, so you can imagine how cool it was to find a copy of 'Shabooh Shoobah' in the
bins, the track "Don't Change" is possibly my utmost beloved INXS
track.
I could then hear
a voice calling out for me from the various "T" section…it was Matt
Johnson of The The and the record
was 'Infected'. My first encounter
with The The was through this album and like many kids at the time this album
was released (1986) it was the video for the title track "Infected"
that hooked me. If my memory serves me correct I bought it on cassette first
then picked up the vinyl. Like many records I bought in those days I would play
them from front to back, side A to B but sometimes I'd drop the stylus down on side
B first and that would create a totally different vibe, I did that this week
when I brought 'Infected' home and
heard the track "Sweet Bird of Truth" for the first time in over 20
years…hearing Matt's voice again sounding like it's coming through the bowels
of the earth slapped me back into why I first loved music.
See you next Wednesday in the Vinyl Bins
Joe Cornelisse-SMM
Please visit Sonic More Music on Facebook HERE and please
LIKE it.
You can also find Alleycats Music & Art on Facebook
Alleycats Music & Art
95 Mississauga
St. E, Orillia, Ontario
Hours
Tue - Sat:
11:00 - 5:00 PM
Sun: 12:00 -
4:00 PM
My son wanted to take home G N' R Lies but I talked him out of
it.
