Three is the magic number as Record Store Day moves to a trio of ‘drop’ days

Has anyone else who got the Roxy Music album, found that the download included is just the original version not the Steven Wilson remix? Seems a bit shoddy really! Surely there is a digital version of the remix.

For me the Situation for RSD2020 with the ability to order more Items to normal prices online is perfect since there is no anticipating shop anymore to visit in my home area. The next one is 100 km away. So i am happy to have ordered favorites like the 4AD release of The Wolfgang Press – Unremembered Remembered.

It’s all about the social side for me so i haven’t bothered with it this year. Chatting to other music fans and having a shuffle through the boxes is where it’s at. Covid has put paid to that. Plus I’m never really that thrilled with my RSD albums anyway. Too much hype. Give me a Blue Note release any day as at least i can see where the money has been spent.

There were not a lot of releases I was very excited about. I’m a huge Bowie fan, but not a completist, and I simply didn’t need or want another 70s live release. I already have ’72 Live, David Live from ’74, and Nassau ’76.

The one release I did want was Alphaville’s ‘Sounds Like a Melody,” which is apparently a new remix by Marian Gold and Bernhard Lloyd with Blank & Jones. I’m not aware of Marian and Bernhard doing any work together for several years – so that’s pretty exciting. I was not able to find a copy in the few local stores, but ended up getting one through Discogs – haven’t received it yet.

My local store was opening for queues from 8am, and then for general from 10am. I didnt want to queue so I rocked up at 10am, and only got 3 of the 6 releases I was after (Gene, Pale Saints, Slint)

I tried the other store in town and got two of the others (New Order, Suede) but I was still looking for Galaxie 500.

I spent an hour or so that evening getting frustrated with various websites (I had it in my basket at both Resident and Picadilly) but both of them wouldn’t let me check out.

Eventually, a friend in the US offered to get it for me and guess what – the US list price was $25 vs a UK price of around £34.

Quite a good RSD for me, all things told :)

Got all the items I was after including Bowie’s, Duran Duran, Roxy, Morrissey, Ocean Colour Scene, The Cure PDs, The The, Manics, Sugar Hill Gang, Cinematic Orchestra, Ultravox, Elton, The Who. But then I was second in the queue outside my store at 2:00am. Everyone behaved sensibly in the queue and inside the store. I was all done by 8:10am. And before anyone asks, no I’m not a spammer. It was my 11th RSD – just doing my bit to support my local store, who do their best to look after me on the other 364 days.

Incidentally – all Bowie RSD – vinyl and cd – are currently in stock at Assai for normal price if anybody needs them

Hi Paul
Your newsletter took me back as I am originally from Islington and my grandfather had a sweet stall in Exmouth Market. This is all long before it became the trendy place it apparently is now. I haven’t been there for probably 40 years.

I am now on the Isle of Wight, with sadly not much in the way of record shops.

Thanks for the excellent site.

Pete

I didn’t go to RSD20, I had no intentions of buying anything other than the Bowie cd’s if any were available. Eventually when stuff appeared online. I got plumped for both Bowie RSD vinyl plus the E.L.P. from Assai in Edinburgh, reasonably priced and free postage. I then managed to get the Bowie cd’s from Banquet records, who once again were extremely reasonably priced. The Ron Carter I got yesterday from Concorde in Perth, a shop like Assai always worth a visit.
The one I missed out on was the Sun Ra Egypt 1971 5LP set, reasonably priced in Assai at £54.99 but sold out, now more than three to four times that price on gouger central.

Easiest/best RSD yet here. Decided that online was the best option, and had a handful of trusted vendors ready to try at 18:00. All but Banquet Records worked beautifully, so Bowie x2, Roxy, Cherry Ghost, Mellow Candle, BMX Bandits, Morrissey, New Order and Tull were spread over 4 record shops.

This RSD for fans of late 1960’s to 1970’s classic rock is outstanding. I went online to Townsend Music/Rough Trade 8.30pm on Saturday and picked up eight releases, no website problems, and got another eight the following day from Ebay/Discogs etc. No complaints from me.

Just picked up the Bowie 74 from Banquet Records. Changes Bowie is sold out. But 74 is miles cheaper there to get than on ebay as you can imagine.

Whilst I get the purpose of RSD the disparity in prices between shops was quite shocking to me. I mainly buy CDs but as I have a reasonable amount of vinyl through box sets (!) I decided to buy myself a Rega Planar 1 and consequently will be paying more attention to future RSD ‘drops’. I picked up the Bowie 74 live set on both CD and Vinyl and also the Pale Saints, New Order (completist), the Loop Boxset and the Cure‘s 17 Seconds and was tempted by the Wake, LKJ and Vini Reilly but over £150 for five records and one CD had left me feeling a bit fleeced tbh. Didn’t help that I could find the same items with as much as a 25% price difference if I shopped around (Sister Ray and Banquet Record Stores deserve honourable mentions here for decent pricing). Had I not shopped local I could have added another album for roughly the same overall cost. Seems a little against the grain? The next RSD 2020 drops have little of interest for me, save perhaps getting yet another copy of Songs for Drella!!!

Like you said in your Week in Review update Paul, I was in two minds this year about going at all but then the lure of RSD won me over and off I went to (not so) sunny Bangor (NI) to Bending Sound records who always look after everyone who calls, RSD or otherwise. Glad I went as I got the ChangesnowBowie (sorry to rub it in Paul) and the Meat Loaf double Bat out of Hell 2. They had a pre-owned sale on too so scooped Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells and a Genesis LP for £15 the pair. That’s all I could afford this year (again as I hadn’t been planning for it) and put a whole lot back on to the racks. But happy overall as the Bowie is really good (sorry again Paul – hope you pick up a copy somewhere). I’m not planning to go to drop 2 but…..

I have to say that while on the one hand, I love the excitement of the RSD days, it is becoming more of a money grab with the passing of each event. And we also have National Album Day, Black Friday releases, HMV Exclusives, Target Exclusives (the latter two releasing different shades of blue vinyl Queen’s Greatest Hits II).

And the price difference across stores in-country is only surpassed by the difference between US prices and UK (Judas Priest – British Steel averaging GBP 50 while in US averaging USD30 before sales tax).

So if the intentional is truly to stimulate demand for vinyl, how about an alternative approach? Offer timed releases for releases with final pricing based on the numbers produced. You specify which local store you would collect from and they get their cut. Make a few extras for in-store purchases. That way, the real collectors are not getting stuffed on eBay within minutes of the stores opening. That means they have more money to buy more vinyl.

Labels/artists could run polls for most in-demand releases, offer options on colour vinyls, pic discs, etc. Perhaps even on track listings. If you can make runs of 500-10,000 for RSD without knowing demand, you can defintely make requested runs where demand is known before release.

Just my tuppence.

As a CDist, this was the first time I had a couple of must-gets at RSD, so I joined the longish queue at my local shop Some Great Reward. After an hour and a quarter, I got a copy of Changesnowbowie only, so hoped to pick up the Soul Tour one on line later. I had the same experience as others of crashing sites, but Banquet’s one had settled down later on Saturday evening, and I got one. They were great in updating their dispatching process on Twitter. One said they had taken 6 weeks worth of orders in 6 hours. Next – Metrobilist!

If anyone still wants the bowie live vinyl rarewaves still have it thru amazon. Ordered yesterday I’m Only Dancing (the Soul Tour ’74)(Limited Edt.) (Rsd 2020) [VINYL] https://amzn.to/33905rE

For RSD Tokyo, I went to Tower Vinyl in Shinjuku. I was in the first 10 allowed in the store (only 5 people per elevator). In the past I’ve tried the Disc Union stores, but felt the Tower system much better. Picked up both Bowie, Roxy, Kinks as well as Robyn, Slint, Galaxy 500, Tyler and Wipers. I fell into temptation buying the New Order disc since I have the original. Also visited HMV in both Shinjuku and Shibuya – both had lots of stock and were busy. People digging into the other crates in the store, not just the RSD section, which was good to see.
Went back around that area yesterday (one week later) and most of the items are still there, buckets of Loaded for example. Even both Bowie still available which is unusual, as someone else pointed out.
I had thought the ‘Songs for Drella’ was out but I gather it’s out in October now.

In the U.S. Amoeba’s site constantly crashed so I kept trying periodically And got some of what I wanted probably because everyone else went through what I went through. Nothing was open for in person in California.

As I suggested to Amoeba, they really needed to do a test run to see if this was going to be able to handle the traffic. At least they will be prepared for next time.

And again I didn’t go for fomo day. I wouldn’t have gone as I don’t intend to jump trough hoops as a paying customer and otherwise I wouldn’t have gone for being in the highest risk category. So I didn’t support my local record story although I would have loved too but not, ever, this way.

My first ever record store day. Happened to be in Newburyport, Massachusetts visiting family and realized there was a great little record shop called “Dyno Records”. Parked about two blocks out, got there, waited in line…walked in and grabbed the last copy of Bowie ’74 on cd. Psyched!!!

I was wondering where all the RSD chat was going on until Paul’s Week in Review email directed me here.
There’s been a lot of mentions of the Rough Trade website being down for so long. As I understand it this was due to the sheer volume of people hitting refresh on two items: Tyler the Creator – Cherry Bomb and The Weekend – My Dear Melancholy. I think they had to take those two listings down in order to relaunch the site. The interest in those two releases is understandable and goes way beyond what might be considered normal RSD levels of demand, especially with the new added bonus of being able to order online without having to visit an actual store…
I’m not sure there’s anything that will see the levels of demand for September, maybe Notorious BIG?

My usual RSD haunt Piccadilly Records took the understandable decision to go online only as they didn’t feel they could manage a socially distanced queue and process the sheer numbers of customers expected. Come 6pm inevitably their website crashed, as did Rough Trade and a few others I tried. Most small-ish businesses don’t have the web infrastructure to deal with the sheer number of customers hitting their sites at once, even the likes of Ticketmaster struggle!. I did eventually manage to get 3 of my wants list (Pale Saints, Spacemen3 and The Wake), and was surprised how fast items sold out as Picc usually has big stocks and stuff left over after a normal RSD. I guess loads more people than usual were getting their online orders there – probably shipping far and wide to people who have never set foot in the place!. I do wonder if they might have been able to give regular customers first online dibs somehow maybe for the first hour or so. Anyway RSD seems to have gone as well as it could under the circs and got the tills a-ringing. The next 2 drops seem to have fewer big releases IMHO so they might be a bit more low key – maybe?.

Both Bowie cds still in stock at banquet records

Honestly, between family and Covid and general ‘stuff’, I completely forgot about the Saturday ‘drop’.

Managed to make it in to Rough Trade Bristol instead on the Sunday – they still seemed to have a *lot* of the two Bowie albums available. Is the Bowie bubble bursting, I wonder?

Anyway, picked up two of my five intended titles – namely the Roxy Music and Jethro Tull. They did also have the Philip Glass boxed-set I was originally after, but in the end I couldn’t justify the price.

No sign of the Elton John or, more disappointingly, the Spacehog. If anyone has a copy of the latter….

As much as I had a great RSD, I’ll be unlikely to go to the other drops as Aug seemed to be the main event.
Also, I know that this is about physical products but why no download codes? Last year most (including 7” singles had one included) but nothing in the Czukay/Wobble 10” (they also omitted 2 tracks from the original release!), The High LP, or the FSOL 7”.

Popped into my local Golden Discs here in Ireland around 12 pm and all copies of the U2 12″ were already gone which I thought was a bit odd, but there on the shelf was a single copy of the Duran album which I wasn’t planning on getting, but picked it up as, like Paul, didn’t feel like leaving empty handed.

Pretty glad I did now! And picked up a copy of the U2 12″ cheaply on Discogs later that day. So happy enough for a change.

I bought the two Bowie CDs mid afternoon on the day at Sister Ray and Reckless in Soho. I hope there will be more CDs issued on future RSDs. Paul is this likely?

Where to start? My RSD experience in Covid times was brilliant. Queued at 5am and by 7am it was populated by the usual RSD “gang”. All socially distanced but in general good mood. This year Vinyl Underground (Northampton) held the event outside at the rear of the store. It worked really well and we went along as you would at a buffet! They provided gloves too and if you didn’t want to touch the records, staff were on hand to get the records for you.
Well organised, well stocked and a big WELL DONE to Aidy and his team.
Got everything I wanted. Czukay/Wobble 10”, Bowie Changes Now on CD, Working Men’s Club 12”.
Plenty still in stock too. No need to go to Discogs or eBay!

Several record stores in France put up the list of RSD titles on their web site about a month ago and were accepting pre-orders.
I ordered 11 titles with Balades Sonores who has a store in Paris and Brussels. I received an email last weekend that all titles I pre-0rdered but one were there waiting for me to pick them up which is what I will do tomorrow at the Brussels store (New Order, Hot Rats, Bowie Live, Suede, both Gorillaz compilations, ….). Most efficient way certainly in the current climate.

I managed to get the Bowie 74 vinyl live album on Rough Trade online. I completely forgot about RSD and went online at just after midnight, websites all seemed to be working fine at that point, pretty much everything I wanted was sold out, so lucky and pleased to get the Bowie really.

The store I went to here in Orange County, CA said they were going to open at 5am. They started early so luckily I got there when I did. 5th in line. Walked in by 4:30 and was done within 15 minutes. All RSD titles in the back and an employee handed over what you asked for.

-Ultravox
-U2
-Alphaville (for my brother)

They only received 1 New Order and someone in front snagged it up. When walking out, the line was much longer. Was back home by 5.

I went with a list of two items I wanted, and I luckily got both: Elton John and The Pretenders.

I was very dismayed that the Elton John, which is purported to be purple vinyl with a 2nd disc of rarities & demos + a digital download card did not have the hype sticker on the front stating all of this (which the photos on the RSD site showed). Nor did it have a silver RSD sticker. Nothing to signify this is any type of collectible or special edition. I have no idea if I even have the RSD collectible, as I’ve chosen to keep it sealed. I contacted the RSD site + the Elton John store, but neither have responded. :-p

I didn’t go to my nearest shop for once and waited until 6pm just hoping to get a couple of items online. The guy who runs it seems to get quite a lot of stock in, so I was hopeful. Anyway, come 6pm, I had the page loaded and ready and all the stuff I wanted was still available. Cue frantic clickings and I quickly snagged all the ones I wanted and checked out as fast as I could. I looked a couple of minutes later and they were already going out of stock. Managed to get Motorhead, Madness, New Order, Ultravox and U2. Luckily these were all on the same page which helped. No site going down or any such goings on. Items turned up on Tuesday and were so well packed it was pure pleasure unwrapping them. All in all best RSD experience I’ve had so far :)
Still way over-priced though!

All in all, a pleasant experience.
My son and I joined a queue, which was all of four people including ourselves at about 6.30am both with a “wants” list in mind:
Mine was, Roxy Music, Pink Floyd, Suede and Morrissey.
My sons was, Pink Floyd, Nick Mason and The Who.
Well, we got all of the above, though the prices ranged between £3.00 and £8.00 above what I believe they should have been.
Value wise I think the Roxy and Suede ones are the best. However, the one I really wanted, and I know it is still easy to get, was the Floyd single. This is because I was at the Gig when it was recorded.
So, very happy.

I happened to be in Stockholm that day to do something else. But I had an hour window so I ran The rain to “Bengans” Record store. I wanted to get the half-speed mastered “McCartney” RSD release and the orange colored RSD vinyl of Keane’s “Night train”. They didn’t have them in stock locally but I could place an order on their website and have them sent to me. So I did even if it’s not the same thing this particular day at least. I haven’t heard or seen anything about My order since then so we’ll see if it arrives at all. Fingers crossed!

Due to family commitments I couldn’t get to a shop on the day but a friend picked up the Bowie and The The releases for me from David’s in Letchworth.
I then joined the online scramble at 6pm. I was trying a few sites but Banquet in Kingston’s was the first I actually managed to checkout on about an hour later. I picked up The Cure and Mansun releases from them.
The Duran Duran album was on my list but like many I was unlucky. Originally it was a German-only release of 2,000 but I heard 600 were allocated to the UK – a paltry amount for such a big band. Anyway, super hard to find and a few are now on Discogs for silly money.

I’ve never bothered going in person to RSD (way too early to line up) so I was thrilled there were some online sales this year so I wouldn’t have to overpay on EBay. Went on Newbury Comics at 1PM EST and got the 2 Cure records and U2. Was really going to impulse buy the 2 Bowie records but didn’t like my cart total so decided to pass on those for now. Received everything a week later. Wish they would do this every year.

The timing this year is awful with HMV vinyl week just happened and national album day coming soon. I’m worse off due to covid and all this pre christmas spending doesn’t help. I know nobody forces us to buy but I’m a collector.
Anyway, got everything I wanted bar Duran, both my locals got 1 copy each.
Looked like I got one on line at 6pm but when I chased up on Tuesday, as I feared, there was an online f up and the order was invalid. Bah.
I wish DD would take notice of the huge interest in physical product and put more out.

I grabbed Bowie’s I’mOnlyDancing and the Groundhogs Split.
I did find Lennon’s Instant Karma 45 but could not justify paying $25 for two songs.

A very good haul from the excellent Black Circle Records in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire. I
bought Bowie, The Damned, The Wipers & Motorhead amongst others.

Got there about 1am, but I and others in the queue had to put up with an aggressive drunk who lived nearby (we were between his flat and the pub) which made life unpleasant for an hour or so. And it rained and it was cold! But the owner turned up at 6, gave out raffle tickets for queue places so we were able to go & come back. I went home, showered and had some breakfast before coming back ready for the opening. In & out & home by 8.25! Result!

Paul, did you get the Bowie CDs?

Went online at 6pm with Assai Records in Edinburgh. Website ran like a dream while so called ‘bigger’ names went into meltdown.
Got all I wanted bar Duran Duran (VERY scarce!). They still had plenty stock in the shop on Sunday.
My haul:
Elton John
OCS
Roxy Music
Gary Numan
Meat Loaf
Bowie
Christi XCX
Morrissey
Jansen Barbieri Karn
A good shopping experience under difficult circumstances

I was in Folkestone for the weekend so I went to Vintage Vinyl Saturday morning around 10 and no queue just 1 other person plus shop owner in the shop. Got most of what I wanted.

Online was a joke. At 6pm every website I tried (resident music, rough trade, sister ray) had already crashed.

Rough trade was the worst they didn’t fix it until the next day. Resident music I managed to get onto it, put Suede in my basket. Tried to go to pay, it had gone from my basket.

I did manage though to get Suede and Pretenders and Bob Martley on discogs. Some things are still available from various shops for the price they were in the shops.

Rough Trade and Resident reckon they’ll have fixed the servers for September. Let’s see eh.

I think both Bowie releases are fantastic. Particularly the double live. An amazing record of the end of the 74 tour fully switched from Diamond Dogs to Young Americans. And they were both issued on CD which will please some.
Got the Jansen Barbieri Karn LP too And my still get Philip Glass.

Only wanted the Bowie CD so got it on Discogs for £20 plus p&p on the Saturday evening. Not being a vinyl buyer wasn’t worth a trip to the shop. There are still loads of the Bowie sets CD + Vinyl on Discogs today.

decided against queuing and very little of interest this year.
picked up THE THE 7″ and the Godfather waltz (theme) on white vinyl 7″ to go with my three LPs from the movies. Both bought hassle-free from indies online.

off topic, Coppola is re-editing Godfather III for re-release at Xmas!! Well, it can’t be any worse than his 1990 version ;-) His daughter’s a superb director these days but she was no actress…

I had booked to see Tenet at Imax South Bank, 8am showing that Saturday, so went straight to Sounds Of The Universe after the movie finished. I got there after 11am and there were only three people in the queue. I found the 2 Bowie releases on CD, I think they were the last copies.

The only other release I was after was The Hitchhikers Guide Of The Galaxy triple LP which none of the record shops in Soho had. I went online later in the evening and found a copy on the Piccadilly Records website. Thats all I was after.

Being in quite a unique situation on the Isle of Man, we have no social distancing requirements here, so shopping for Record Store Day was “as usual”. As many record collectors with kids will undoubtedly tell you, getting up and out early wasn’t really possible for me, and after finishing family duties it was about 2pm before I stopped by Sound Records, the only vinyl seller in Douglas (the capital of the Isle of Man). Having seen many people in town with Sound Record tote bags crammed with goodies I wasn’t hopeful, but after rooting through the selection, found the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy 3LP coloured vinyl and the white vinyl LP of the alternative Mansun album/B-sides compilation ‘The Dead Flowers Reject’. Was happy with those, and they also still had the Suede fan club rarities compilation ‘See You in the Neft Life’ which I had thought about, but passed on. I guess we’re spoilt here with less people, and hardly any queuing… albeit there were about ten waiting at opening time when I spoke to Jack, the store owner. I’ve always managed to grab what I want for the past two years, and Sound Records is quite a hidden gem in my eyes! So a good RSD here, and can’t complain!

Well, this was a first in that I did not brave the early mornings of the past April RSD’s and instead ventured into Wokingham and the great Beyond The download at around 2.30. No queue, limited numbers in the shop and after sanitising and gloving up I was browsing in minutes. No Bowie/Roxy/Duran or Suede, but I did snag the Durutti, which was my number one alongside a couple of 7inches plus the Eno Rams soundtrack and the Manics. So part one all good. 18.00 found me with multiple browsers open in search of Suede, LKJ and New Order – plus the 2 Bowies and with a bit of persistence shopping across 3 or 4 different sites I got the lot. Rough Trade seemed to have the biggest issues in terms of managing traffic on the night, with the site repeatedly crashing over the first few hours, but as I had nowhere else to be and a glass in hand, hitting refresh was no hardship and I got everything I was after. Sure postage stiffed me a bit in terms of additional cost but if this is the new normal, I can live with it. All I need to find now is what happened to the Kraftwerk reissues!