So the big [BIG] record show saw me spending a measly €80.00. I think the time for record shows, especially in the current [infuriating] music selling environment, are over. I will go to shows in town, perhaps, but I’ll never expend the energy, time and money to go out of town [there was a 90 minute train ride] for one.

While shows are to be discounted, what about the humble record store? I have to say that any visits to store in my town in the last few years actually make me angry, but I like to think that there are still good record stores out there. As we were visiting with ace commenter and electronic musician Gavin Brick in Wales following the time spent in Amsterdam, Gavin said that we would be making a trip to the only store within a 100 km radius. His “local store” if you will, in nearby Porthmadog. Since we had wanted to buy some groceries, the trip was going to happen any way. Right at the edge of town, just at the beginnings of its High Street we stopped at Cob Records.

COB RECORDS | PORTHMADOG, WALES

Our partners took the opportunity to move to a book store while Gavin and I commenced to bin-dive at Cob. I entered to find that the store was deceptively large, and stocked with a just right selection of CDs [plentiful] as well as 12″ and 7″ records. In addition to the thousands of DVDs also for sale. For filling your home with entertainment in the northwest Wales coast, this store would do a fine job of it. It reminded me of the local store like Mr. K’s only smaller and without the books. But the stock [and prices] were miles better, as we shall see!

As we entered were wall racks with a mixture of new and used CDs that called out to me. The first thing I spotted was one that was on my want list! The ultimate album from Robert Fripp’s “Drive To 1981!” The DLX RM of “Let The Power Fall.” Better still, the new CD was generously priced at £6.99 [$8.50] If I saw it at the one store in town that might have it, I doubt that I could get out of there with it for less than $13.00. I kept looking at all of the neatly organized CDs and managed to find more things from the want list. The last of the first three Gang of Four albums in DLX RM was also a delight. Especially since it was the EMI pressing from the late 90s instead of the Infinite Zero US pressing, which are mastered too loudly for my tastes.

With Fripp in evidence, could Eno be far away? A DSD remastering of “Music For Films” from 2009 was snapped up. Also at an excellent £6.99 price. If that was the going rate for new CDs, a man could get used to this since that was pricey Asheville’s going rate for second-hand goods. Diving further I was thrilled to see one of the two Robert Palmer studio albums I still needed, and in its desirable original Island UK pressing! “Some People Can Do What They Want” was one of the early albums with no hits on it, but I’m very happy to go all-in with Robert Palmer. Now I only need “Double Fun.” Then the two live albums and I can happily listen to his entire oeuvre.

Other delights were a Can CD. I scarcely see these out in the wilds and tend to buy them indiscriminately as part of my Krautrock schooling. Krautrock is somewhat like Dub in that both were experimental styles that manifested in the 70s and each were somewhat faceless in their own way, yet are always compelling to me whenever I hear examples of each. Then I picked up a Moloko CD [“Things To Make And Do”] as I have boundless esteem for the works of Róisín Murphy, and her partner Mark Brydon was certainly not chopped liver, but I had yet to hear the successful band through which she was able to launch a solo career.

Gavin pointed out the Foxx Boxx of “The Virgin years 1980-1985] on the shelf near the checkout, but I’ve had that one since issue, thanks to chasinvictoria gifting me with one. For those who don’t know, it is a clamshell box that contains every note of Foxx while signed to Virgin Records and then some in discs jam-packed with rarities. If I had to pay £24.95 for a copy I’d be thrilled, but even seeing one was thrill enough.

Finally, popped into the wall racks, I found a sacred holy grail DVD. And there aren’t too many of those but Sparks 2007 “Dee Vee Dee” has been on my want list for ages, and without a trip to the UK, I doubt I’d ever have gotten a copy! It’s the second Sparks live DVD, following the 2001 “Live In London” I bought on issue. There’s also a “L’il Beethoven” live DVD from 2004 that’s a must-have, but one day at a time. This was a live DVD where the band played their whole [amazing] “Hello Young Lovers” album and followed with a 2nd set of Sparks classics. And with a full “rock band” staging so it was quite a treat! This was given a collector value of £19.99 for the used DVD, which is a fair price for this, but I’d have paid more [ssshhhh!]

Gavin had found good stock in the 7″ bins, so I turned my attention to those next. He had found a copy of Tot Taylor’s early GTO [Pre-Compact] 7″ of “The Chocolate Song” and I was over it like white on rice. I will buy anything this man ever recorded. I saw lots of great things that were already in the Record Cell, but that’s always a pleasure, even if it doesn’t lead to a purchase. Every time I see it, I can only shake my head that it took me over a decade to find a 7″ of Midge Ure’s fabbo “No Regrets” single [I have three copies] and I have so many copies of Mari Wilson’s “Beware Boyfriend” [one with each of the three postcards!] that it was easy to pass these two up, even with the beyond generous £0.90 price tags!

Actually, I found another 7″ that was a £0.90 special that I could not resist. It was an early Huang Chung UK 7″ when the band were signed to Arista records. “Hold Back The Tears” was one I’d never see in the wilds before and I was excited to see that the two color cover was thermographically printed to give the black printing a thick texture. Touches like this thrill me as a graphic designer who collects records.

I had just started to begin to peruse the 12″ “New Arrival” records since I could imagine Cob Records having some great 12″ singles in their stock, but at roughly 45 minutes, the rest of our party had returned and it was time to move on. I was more than content to do so since I had in less than a hour, found nearly as much as I had in the hyperthyroid record show that was already a regret in the rear view mirror of life. And unlike the stores I visit in town, this was an exemplary business. Having been established almost 60 years ago, with assiduously organized stock, great lighting [you cannot buy what you cannot see], and surprising cleanliness for its age. And the best thing of all were its reasonable prices with none of the egregious examples of price gouging these days that make me livid with rage.

For those of you who would like to visit Cob in spirit, they maintain a listing of their full stock on their website. Sure, sure, the shipping might set you back, but the goods are priced to move, unlike the modern clip joint record stores that infuriate me. In North Wales, it’s still possible to enjoy collecting music as an inexpensive hobby for all at Cob Records. If you ever find yourself in Porthmadog, you have no excuse not to stop in!

Next: …The ‘Pudlian Excursion