After taking part in this event for the last five years, this year’s Record Store Day was slightly different. Since I want upcoming album releases a lot more than any of the RSD exclusives, I decided that the day was just going to be business as usual for me. It would have been nice to pick up a copy of the Paul Weller single, but due to having to do my day job in the morning, I was unable to queue up outside the shop at the crack of dawn even if I wanted to. So instead I popped over to Raves From The Grave in Frome, the same place where I first took part in the event back in 2010, when Blur‘s ‘Fool’s Day’ 7″ attracted me there.
The shop has been known to host some special instore shows over the last few years, but this one was VERY special. The legendary Billy Bragg performed outside of the shop to a massive crowd, who packed out the narrow streetway of shops and sang along to a short set of Bragg classics. Afterwards Billy signed records and greeted fans inside the shop, as buyers continued to browse through the shelves. After getting my copies of ‘Brewing Up’ and ‘Talking Poetry With The Taxman’ signed, it was time for me to do some shopping. None of the Record Store Day releases they had left really took my fancy, except for a 7″ copy of Levellers frontman Mark Chadwick‘s new single ‘Red Sky’. But I’m buying the album when it comes out, so didn’t really feel the need to splash out £7.99 on the one song.
Instead I ventured into the shop’s small back room of second hand vinyl, and as well as finding a cheap Russian copy of ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ by The Beatles, I also found two 7″ singles from one of my favourite bands of all time… Mansun. So for the first time ever, I now own the ‘One’ EP, the band’s first release on Parlophone Records from 1996. I also couldn’t resist buying a clear vinyl copy of the classic 1997 single ‘Closed For Business’, and at £4 each I got myself some bargains. Music that I really needed too, rather than some fancy reissues of records that I already own.
So here’s to Raves From The Grave in Frome, an excellent place to shop for music and a great place to browse the crammed shelves of.
