my apologies, then. for what? a number of things, look you see, in regards of what you shall read. but, in the first instance, sorry that an ostensibly vibes related post has not commenced with the greeting "howdy pop pickers". all, should you read on, should make some sense.
i write this on the first of february. this day was, is, the designated day of release for the new Ian Brown solo album, Ripples. in honour of this, i took the day off of verk so that i may have gone to town to purchase it, and listen accordingly. such, despite all the efforts i shall speak of here, was not to be.
the first barrier to success, or if you prefer the first step to failure, was the weather. although much of England - indeed, the United Kingdom - is getting a battering off of snow, our fair and pleasant area was relatively free of it. but we did have some.
making use of what remains of our public transport system here did cross my mind. however, at the best of times (running "normally"), we get one bus an hour, with the trip to HMV taking north of 70 minutes but south of 80 minutes. i thought it best to clear off the windscreen and what have you and take the car, then. worst case, i suppose, was that the snow got heavier, i got trapped and i would have little choice but to do things like drink my own urine and possibly eat one of my feet to survive. a very small sacrifice to make for following my dedication to wishing to purchase the new Ian Brown album.
as it transpired, the roads were quite clear and it was really all smooth driving. sure, yes, briefly i did consider drinking some wee just to be on the safe side, but i elected not to. i was, on my day off, up and about at around 5:30am, such was my excitement and enthusiasm for the day.
everything came together very nicely, then, and i was at HMV for their 9am opening time. this would be where things started to go wrong.
yes, i had some concern at no advertising of Ian Brown in the window. but there were some other releases on display, so off i went inside the store. and inside the store i found no sight and certainly no sound of the new Ian Brown album.
i approached a member of staff to ask where it was. they apologised, and explained that HMV was in administration. yes, i knew that. however, they were up and running as a going concern. the staff then further explained that as a result of being in administration some record labels had declined to send the stores stock. one such label was the one responsible for the distribution of the Ian Brown album. in closing, the staff member offered apologies once more, and said that they would stock it "eventually".
there was a sense of disbelief as i briefly contemplated walking around the store and browsing. however, the instinct was to leave. this i did, with each footstep towards the door bringing with it the thought that is in all probability could be the last time i ever stand inside a branch of HMV. probably of little or no interest or concern to anyone, but all that i have ever known and loved in terms of buying vibes would seem to have drawn to a close.
showing that i do not entirely shun the technology some of you are possibly asking why i didn't make use of, i took to that google thing. i knew there was an independent vibes store nearby, and google gave me the directions to get to Sound It Out Records. as it was all of a ten minute drive from where i was, there seemed to be no reason not to try.
the splendid news was that this store did get stock of the new Ian Brown album. alas, sadly for me, all 25 (twenty five) copies he had were all sold, as it he was sold out. the gent mentioned that i should have emailed to order from him, at which point i confessed that up until some twenty minutes before we met i had absolutely no idea that i would be attempting to do business with him.
why do this? i mean, why do i try to go and buy new vibes releases? i can't imagine a life where i don't physically own the music i love, a time when i cannot touch an album. all this "streaming" an download business is convenient, but it's emotionless. you can't clutch to a download and cherish it the way you do a classic album.
also, there is the inevitable bigger picture. my love of going to HMV and buying a new record on the day of release was but one seed in a massive field. from that field grew people employed in shops to sell them, people employed in pressing and distributing the albums, the record labels and of course the artists themselves. i am not propping up an entire industry myself, but if everyone can now no longer do what i do, there is a whole load of businesses going bust, a whole load of people looking for work and many artists just either giving up or not being able to both live and make music.
in desperation, or as a last throw of the dice, i then turned to the less traditional stockists of vives. supermarkets and similar chain stores were my next stop. pictured above is an Asda, which did not stock it. neither did two other supermarkets. WH Smith had a CD section of sorts, but it was littered with George Michael, Robert Plant and Queen, in no discernible order. i gave up, then, as my only realistic option to buy the Ian Brown album today would have meant a drive of some 40 miles to the Newcastle area on the off chance a shop there had it.
facts and stats? it was some three hours i was away from home, covering some 30 miles (about 50km, metric enthusiasts) and £2.50 in various parking fees. quite likely that yes, this is all very much a "first world problem" bar none, but i genuinely have no idea how to measure not my disappointment but my outright sadness that i now find myself in a world where a new album comes out and i cannot find a shop prepared to sell it to me
oh, i have the record. sort of. the official website for Ian Brown had that "pre-order" thing on the go, so i placed an order for the tape. which arrived in the post mere minutes after i got home from my failed quest.
so yes, then, i shall be able to give it a listen just now. and further so yes, then, i have since gone back online and placed an order for the CD version of it too. undoubtedly it will arrive at some point over the next few days. more convenient and easy, perhaps, but it just does not feel the same.
those tutting and shaking their head at all of this, considering online to be the only way, would be wise to look long term. sadly online is an effective monopoly these days, with amazon sitting in the throne. whereas once online was great for shopping around and getting good deals, the ruthless amazon model has a price. they used to be good, amazon, but now they have no competition their pricing - in particular with regards to delivering stuff - is far from good. remove the "high street" option entire so that your only choice is amazon or not have it and just see how much further they exploit their current position of power.
right, it has been quite a long morning, then. perhaps i shall have a listen to the tape, or maybe i will have a nice snooze on the couch, since i have some of my day off left to me.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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