Tuesday Reflections on Record Store Day

Joel Boyles (Twist & Shout Staff)

1) Where did you buy your first record? What was it?
I cannot remember my 1st cassette or vinyl, although my Electric Breakdance cassette (which I still have!) may be my first. My first cd was Porno For Pyros Pets cd single. I got it at a wonderful indie music store in Tulsa, OK called Mohawk Music. Run by a 40-something super nice guy and his wife, this store wasn't all punk and no funk, they carried a great variety including imports and vinyl!

2) What record have you wanted more than any other in your collecting career? Did you ever get it?

I think the LP I wanted more than anything was Psi Com's self titled 12". Psi Com was Perry Farrell's 1st band (pre-Jane's Addiction) and as soon as I heard about it I was on the hunt. Finally a record convention veteran if you will, delivered the 12" to my house! $100 and I am still happy to have it!

3) What is it about records, or record stores that are different from downloading?
Records were my first real love for music format! The artwork was the biggest, the lyrics inside were easier to read, and the sound is richer if you have a decent system. Even the smell of opening a new LP was cool. You can download almost anything these days, but sometimes the quality is awful, you get NO art and occasionally it's the wrong song! You lose the heart of the music with the quick-and-sleazy download, and I will ALWAYS prefer a physical disc over an invisible MP3.

4) Any of the products for Record Store Day that you are particularly excited about? Why?
I am excited about the Flaming Lips split 7"! They give us yet another exclusive song and it's Madonna's "Borderline" no less! I love this band, and also they live in my home state of Oklahoma! One of VERY FEW quality entities coming out of that wretched state.

Robert Rutherford (former Twist & Shout Manager)

1) Where did you buy your first record? What was it?
I have no great recollection of where I bought my first record, but I do remember what it was. Synchronicity by The Police. I had records purchased for me before that (most memorably John Williams' Star Wars score), and my mom listened to most of her music on vinyl, but my purchase of Synchronicity was the first time I took money from my own pocket (crumpled bills and an excess of coins, I'm sure) and handed it to somebody standing at an open register in exchange for this giant, shiny, delicately wrapped piece of rock and roll magic.
2 )What record have you wanted more than any other in your collecting career? Did you ever get it?
That list is always changing, but there are a few big ones. I have been lucky enough to find some of James Chance's original records, and plenty of original Impulse releases by Coltrane and Oliver Nelson, old records by Gang of Four and Pere Ubu. I looked for years for a copy of Ketty Lester's amazing album Love Letters, and finally had my mitts on it when it found its way to Twist and Shout. Unfortunately, my friend Caleb also wanted it, so in the spirit of fairness, we flipped a coin and I lost. I'm always keeping my eyes peeled for a copy of the soundtrack to a Swedish porn film called Sweden: Heaven and Hell, composed by Piero Umiliani. That soundtrack has a song on it called "Mah Na Mah Na" which The Muppets later made famous. My friend Caleb has that one as well, which is why I ultimately think he is an incorrigable prick.

3) What is it about records, or record stores that are different from downloading?
These things cannot be replaced online:

A) The smell of years of incense permeating from the walls of a record store, coupled with the dusty cardboard, the slight hint of mildew and moisture, the gathering scent of destination that record sleeves give off, slowly giving up their molecules to shake loose from mylar sleeves to fill your nose with a true and storied sense of history. These records that have been turned over and over by the hands of previous owners as their artwork was disseminated, as lyrics were memorized, as loves were imagined and lusts were actualized.

B) The glimmer of a new record as it is pulled from its sleeve, the grooves catching the light like some miniature model showing the trajectory of stars.

C) Listening to record store clerks argue the relative merits of Kurosawa and Futurama or who would win in a fight between Lemmy and Mingus or between King Diamond and Ronnie James Dio and the odd development of Scritti Politti's musical aesthetic and about the time that they met Roger Miller in Nashville and he was too drunk to look anybody directly in the eyes.

D) Likewise, proclaiming your love for Afrobeat and being led around by someone who places ten other records in your hands that might also tickle your fancy.

E) The truly palpable triumph of patience and fortitude when you step up to the new used arrivals bin, and flipping past the Zappa collection somebody sold off after finding it in their father's closet, past the French import of an Albert Ayler concert, past the Megadeth picture discs and the George Harrison solo records, past the Mandrill records and the Fleetwood Mac records, past the collection of mid-90's Dischord Records sold off by by someone who feels that they have moved on from that time in their life, past the nostalgia-stirring output of Loggins when he and Messina were still together, past the New Order 12", past the Cannibal Corpse record with the lovely cover art, past the Culture records and the Edith Piaf records, to find a record that you've wanted for years. To find a record that you've looked for for years, a record that you played til it wore out years ago, something that touches off feelings of joy and of sorrow and catharsis and longing.

4) What is one of the products for Record Store Day that you are excited about and why?

Well, I've been saving my nickels for awhile, because there's plenty that I want. But one of the releases that I am most looking forward to is The Jesus Lizard 7" box. The Jesus Lizard are one of the most amazing live spectacles I have ever seen. They are able to channel some strange sort of psychosexual energy into their shows, all writhing and spit and release. Somehow, amazingly, Steve Albini was able to capture that energy on record. Their songs are something to behold, evoking the cinematic scope of David Lynch and all the fury of a punch to the larynx, all with a healthy sense of humor and a rumbling low end that you can feel in your deep in your body, like all the way down in your duodenum. I have most of the 7" records being released, but the completist in me is really excited about this re-issue. I am also excited about the Magnolia Elec.Co. 7" and the Springsteen 7". The b-side on the Springsteen single is amazing!

David Weingarden (Director of Concerts/Talent Buyer, Swallow Hill Music)

1) Where did you buy your first record? What was it?
-The Record Outlet, Farmington Hill, Michigan
-Kiss - Destroyer

2 ) What record have you wanted more than any other in your collecting career? Did you ever get it?
-When I was about 10 years old, my mom took me to the store and I picked out 2 albums:
Ozzy Osbourne-Diary of a Madman; and Frank Zappa-Baby Snakes.
Have you seen the cover of Diary?! She then asked why I wanted Baby Snakes and I said “Titties and Beer.”
Still don’t have either of these albums (I did acquire CDs later in life…not the same though)…My mom still looks at me strange.

3) What is it about records, or record stores that are different from downloading?
-The record packaging is the best…actually being able to read about what you’re listening to in a normal font size is refreshing. The sound is far superior to the CD or digital in my humble opinion. So rich and creamy…While I understand downloading for the ease of use, albums are much more sexy and just…well…sound better.

4) Any of the products for Record Store Day that you are particularly excited about? Why?
-Jenny Lewis/Elvis Costello 7” is intriguing;
-Light in the Attic series (anything with Serge is always terrific);
-MC5 (‘cause I’m from Detroit, motherf**cker);
-the new Wilco DVD (‘cause they are the bees knees)
-My Morning Jacket (after Red Rocks ’08, they may be the new bees knees)

-Most excited to support local independent record stores and meet and support other local businesses.

Erik Troe (Twist & Shout Staff, Host of 'Sunday Evening Jazz' on KUVO 89.3 FM, and Co-Host of 'Vinyl Mondays' at Dazzle Restaurant & Lounge)

1) Where did you buy your first record? What was it?
We’ve begun with an embarrassing question – the first records I purchased for myself were Milli Vanilli’s Girl You Know It’s True and MC Hammer’s Please Hammer Don’t Hurt Them, probably from a Target store in 1990. I needed only to pick up some 2 Live Crew to complete the disposable pop detritus of ‘89/90 hat trick! If you’d like to rephrase the question as the first LPs I bought, that would be Miles Davis’ Sketches of Spain from Wax Trax II in 1997.

2 )What record have you wanted more than any other in your collecting career? Did you ever get it?
The album I’ve probably coveted most – even though I’ve never actually heard it; the elements are just that damned promising – is a 1958 collaboration on Metrojazz between two of my favorite Mingus sidemen: baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams and trombonist Jimmy Knepper, titled The Pepper-Knepper Quintet. My two favorite instruments played by two of my heroes on the front line, Wynton Kelly on piano… How could this not be amazing? No, I’ve yet to find this record – haven’t even seen it in a shop. It’s available on CD now, but I DON’T CARE. I likes my mine on vinyl.

3) What is it about records, or record stores that are different from downloading?
For me, record stores are all about the thrill of the hunt, the joy of discovery. Sure, I keep a list of albums I really want to find, but I prefer to walk into a place unsuspecting of what I’ll leave with. A lot of my favorite records – and a lot of sorely disappointing ones – were picked up just on a hunch: because of a tune I like being covered, a sideman I’m curious in, whatever… I suppose I don’t much enjoy making all the decisions in life, but if you give me 10,000 record options from which to choose, I can pick ten from those and feel happy.

4) Any of the products for Record Store Day that you are particularly excited about? Why?
Paul Epstein and Ben UK have been amassing a big cache of jazz vinyl (like, ten big boxes worth) and setting it aside specifically for Record Store Day, and I can’t wait to see what all is in there! That’s what I’m looking forward to most on Saturday the 18th.