Optimism
With time to kill on the weekend, I visited our ever-surprising local record emporium. After amusing myself with their fine selection of ‘documentary’ DVDs (The Joy of Quilting, Great Railways of Yorkshire etc.), I noticed a small ‘sale LPs’ section out of the corner of my eye and, never able to resist a potential bargain, I wandered over.
Now to be honest, I was just expecting to some dance music 12″s from last year and perhaps a flop R&B album at best, but what I got was pretty much the opposite.
Instead, an almighty Proustian rush transported me back to my record shop sales assistant days in the late 80s/early 90s. Unwanted memories of all the big sellers in our country town store instantly flooded back. For they were all there* – all the not-so-classic offerings from the likes of Jason Donovan, Rod Stewart (‘the Motown Song’!), Heart, Foster & Allen, the Rebel MC and Double Trouble, Holly Johnson and the Wee Papa Girl Rappers - most of which leapt off the shelves in our small local shop.
Although I didn’t buy anything, I went home feeling happy. The only confusion was what to find more cheering – the thought that no-one had bought these terrible records in the first place or that the proprietor had been optimistically hanging on to them for 20 years in the hope that someone might.**
* with the exception of Jimmy Barnes thankfully.
** so if you want to buy a mint condition Jason Donovan LP for only three earth pounds you now know where to go.
March 4th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Which outlet was this? Is this Cavern Records? They’re a strange bunch in there… they’ve got “new stock” on their walls which was actually released three years ago.
March 4th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Yes, it was indeed the Cavern. I often wonder how they manage to make a living with their eccentric stock (not just by selling LPs only from 1989 – 1991). They also have a fine selection of cassettes by everyone from Mantovani to Brother Beyond. Who will ever buy these?
Still, they have a better, at least more interesting, selection than the HMV across the road.
March 4th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
I remember when we had local record stores (not we just have chain stores) that there would be albums that set in there for years. Some real cheesy stuff. It would be stuff that was so uncool when it was popular, but that trend had fallen out years ago. I guess they thought somebody might still buy it.
March 4th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
It wouldn’t be good to buy a Jason Donovan lp just because you felt sorry for it, Cocktails. You did right to happily note their existence and then be on your way.
March 4th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Keith, I think that might be precisely what suprised me about seeing those records – you don’t get that kind of thing anymore, not in your standard record store anyway! There are mostly just chain stores in our area too, if any at all now thanks to the internet.
ISBW, How did you know I felt sorry for it?! You must have read my mind. The poor thing will never know what it’s like to be bought by an over-excited teenage girl, rushed home and flung on the turntable, be gazed at adoringly for a few weeks – until the truth of the music becomes apparent and be completely ignored. It must be hard being a Jason Donovan record. There are indeed, ‘Too Many Broken Hearts in the World’.