Do you go record hunting while you are on a trip?

Absolutely. Whenever I gig in Scandinavia, I am like a kid in a candy store. All those yummy (and very rare) Scandinavian pressings and then some!


The one Beatles 45 I have yet to come across is the Norwegian pressing of "I'll Follow The Sun / I Don't Want To Spoil The Party". I did hold a rough copy at a Beatles festival in Norway but it was ridiculous money.


Someday!!!!

 

In the days before internet, yes, I made it a point to seek out record stores in my travels to stock up on stuff impossible to find in my neck of the woods, and these were usually very fruitful expeditions (places like Tower Records, or Wax & Facts in Atlanta, were treasure troves for me).
Nowadays, I'll make a small detour if I have time, but there's really no urgency to it. Not when nearly everything is but a click away.

 

Always have, always will.

 

Before I leave for trips,
I check to see local record store information.

Darryl

 

Yes, whenever possible. If I have an hour or two free before departure, I'll seek one out.

I have found some really nice ones - Concerto in Amsterdam is wonderful. And although I forget the name of the shop, there's a small one in the old city section of Gamla Stan in Stockholm, near the palace. You can get lost in the beautiful alleys there (and how I found the shop), which date back to the 14th century.

As for domestic trips, I always try to visit Amoeba in LA. A bit like the Vatican of vinyl. And one time I came across a great college record store in Chapel Hill, NC. - spent an hour there before the flight home to San Francisco!

 

Yes, but I don't go to far out of my way unless its a well known "honey-hole".
I look for record stores, thrift shops and flea mkts / second hand shops.

 

I do visit UK once a year, every summer, and I always come back with a ton of discs !

Funny, I was in Brighton three days ago ! Lots of great shops there. I came back with an original 7'' of "Arnold Layne/Candy and a current bun", and an original 1993 UK Parlophone copy of "Pablo Honey" ! (among many other things). I'm VERY happy.

*Pablo Honey found in "The Wax Factor" and the Arnold Layne single found in "Across The Tracks".

 

Yes.

And I ship them to my myself two days before I leave for home.

 

Leiden has a great second hand vinyl/cd/dvd store in the city centre, right around the corner of the medieval stronghold. I got at least half of my vinyl collection there. It's called 'The heart is a Lonely Hunter', and it can be found on discogs and facebook.

 

Fantastic! Thanks so much. Now I know what I'M doing for some of my down-time when I'm over there next month...!

 

Every time I'm in a city. If I'm on the Hawaiian islands? Not so much...

 

yes, of course..

 

During my last trip to Europe I wanted to buy an LP of a local band, was only $10. But the idea of having to carry it inside a baggage for the rest of the trip, and the likelihood that I'd get damaged, warped, mishandled by airline personnel, prevented me from buying it, so I got the CD instead.

But yes, every time I'm abroad it's an opportunity to acquire albums that otherwise would be more expensive to buy online. I try to immerse in the culture of countries I visit so I often end up buying 5-10 CDs of local artists following the recommendations of store personnel or friends.

 

Absolutely ! No place gets spared. Every town/country/city is a potential goldmine.

 

I find LP hunting one of the funnest things about traveling, especially abroad. The record stores are so different everywhere you go, and it's lots of fun. Trying to figure out enough Italian to talk to the shopkeeper who spoke no English, hunting for records in Havana, Cuba (not easy), flipping through tons of 70s European 7" with picture sleeves in Slovenia... I have lots of wonderful souvenirs from many destinations.

People may say you can get the same records on eBay, but you can't find that NM Rush Japanese 2112 LP with OBI for $5 on eBay like you can in Japan, plus the hunt through the shop bins is half the fun.

 

Definitely. Any opportunity to come across music which I wouldn't normally find is a bonus. Many purchases on holidays have been items which I have never seen before or since.

Rant warning... However, most of my travel in the last few years has been with the in-law's, who have quite controlling in the use of my wife's and my time. The last trip I wanted to borrow the hire car when others were occupied for 45mins to check out some opportunity shops in the local area I had researched before hand, and was sabotaged. I was very peeved, as I had fit in with all their control for the previous 8 trips and this was the only thing I had asked - because I thought it would be nice to do something I wanted for a change, and I planned something that would have minimal impact on their plans. I will say that MrsQwerty is tolerant of my music hunting instincts, and felt her family was inconsiderate. Enough of the rant.

 

Record fairs have all the goodies now.
If you have the time, inclination and American Express, or a thick green wad in your hand get there early.

 

I go cd hunting on trips ! many years ago went o HMV Singapore biggest record store I had ever seen and I also went to HMV in Paris another big store in both of these I picked up rare cds I had never knew were around.

 

I tried that once . In 1997 I was in Philladelphia and I wanted to take home some "local" music. So I went to Tower Records (I think) and bought Baduism by Erykah Badu. Someone completely unknown by me at that moment, but her album was in the store Top 10.

I was really happy with it, because the album contained some great music. But boy was I surprised that 2 weeks after I got home, there was a full spread interview with her in my hometown newspaper. Not so "local" at all, in retrospect… But great music anyway.

 

Definitely, yes. I was in Pacific Grove, CA last weekend and went into a record I try to visit when I'm in town.

 

Record hunting whilst tripping can be interesting, not unlike record hunting while drunk (as pointed out upthread)

I tell my wife, "Hey, there's a shoe store- go nuts!"

I always look for the secondhand record stores and secondhand book stores, since those are my thing. A good pub-type restaurant is usually the next thing I search for.

 

So here is my question- what city to plan a vacation around for the best vinyl record shopping- Tokyo? Amsterdam? London? I am actually thinking of planning a few cities based just around record shopping while being here in Dubai( where there is no vinyl shopping whatsoever! ) . Will be back in Tokyo next month for work but wondering which Eurpean city has the best used vinyl?

 

Depends how strong it is, sometimes I just have to lie back and listen to the music.

 

Tokyo has loads of used vinyl shops, Reco Fan is the biggest chain, but there are smaller chains and independents too. Loads in Shinjuku (I lived in Japan for 12 years).

Paris is also amazing, are about 50 little independent second hand and new vinyl shops here, that I have found so far! Here are just a few of them:

Disquaires à Paris - Record Shops in Paris - Rate Your Music »

Other good places in Europe:

The Best Record Stores In Europe »

 

Considering that record stores are almost extinct here, it's the only opportunity to shop available to me now (other than online purchases, which aren't as much fun).