In January 2020 I wrote a post listing all the places I'd bought a new Pet Shop Boys album. It started with me buying Please on cassette from Our Price in Watford High Street on 24th March 1986, and ended as follows.
Hotspot(24th January 2020) Bought from: Sister Ray, Berwick Street, Soho. London has a dearth of record shops these days - my closest HMV is in Bromley, for heaven's sake. But having traipsed around some survivors, hurrah, Soho's long-standing independent had the new CD at the cheapest price (and were super-friendly with it). Fopp and HMV were a penny dearer at £10, while Rough Trade East wanted one pound more. Next time the Pet Shop Boys release an album, I wonder how many options will be left. Favourite non-single:Wedding in Berlin [We're getting married because the time feels right, We're doing it without delay]
A new PSB album has just been released, amid a flood of extremely well-targeted publicity, with the actually very super title of nonetheless. I thus faced the problem I mentioned four years ago, i.e. where to buy it from, given that I still wanted a physical format rather than the ability to stream the individual tracks. I also intended to buy it in a shop, partly because I'm old school but mainly because I had no intention of paying postage and packing for something I could pick up for myself.
On the day of release I went to Rough Trade East in Shoreditch, the excellent record shop which still takes new music seriously. I'd checked online that they were selling it (yup, CD £11.99) so was confident of purchasing success. The shop looked much the same as last time I was there, except that I couldn't actually find a CD section, only racks and racks and racks of vinyl. A few of the best-selling best-promoted albums had CDs on sale below the vinyl version, including dozens of copies of the new Taylor Swift smasheroo, but nonetheless was nowhere to be seen. I could have bought the LP but I haven't had a record deck since the 1980s plus no way was I forking out £30.99 for a vinyl disc even if I had. I walked round three times, gave up and went home.
The next day I tried again, picking HMV for my purchase. I could have gone to Oxford Street, even Uxbridge, Watford, Staines or Bexleyheath, such is the marginal renaissance of this once dead business. But instead I targeted Bromley, specifically upstairs in The Glades where a proper Aladdin's cave of legacy formats lingers on. I skipped the DVD half, the vinyl bit, the book shelf, the cuddly toy wall and the t-shirt bazaar, and was reassured to find a lengthy double-sided aisle devoted to CDs. But almost all of these were back catalogue stuff, i.e. seminal classics and former favourites, many at bargain friendly prices. The 'New releases' section wasn't even a full rack, merely the very first column of a display unit, with the PSBs tucked away in the third stack down amid the M-Ps. But they did at least have a copy and it was only £10.99, so the physical purchase CD horizon hasn't yet been crossed.
UK music sales 2023 Streaming: £1,866m (↑10% on 2022) Vinyl: £177m (↑18%) CD: £126m (↑2%) Cassette: 136,000 units (↓30%)
I wanted a CD in a plastic cover, mainly so it sits better with the rest of my collection, but the new album only seems to come in a minimalist card sleeve - a proper compact disc. Hurrah for not wasting environmental resources and all that, but I'll have to stack it more carefully on my shelf so it doesn't get lost. I now have almost four decadesworth of PSB albums, indeed their first release of West End Girls came out 40 years ago this month (and promptly flopped). To think that when Please came out I bought it on cassette with my very first withdrawal from a cashpoint, and now even buying a CD by tapping a card is desperately behind the times. I'm very pleased that owning music remains an option, nonetheless.
nonetheless(27th April 2024) Bought from: HMV Bromley. A bit of a treasure hunt this year, ending in the outer suburbs, but at least it was £3 cheaper than I was paying 25 years ago. A very traditional PSB album, all melodies and clever lyrics rather than ballads or bangers, and sufficiently crafted to merit multiple plays. Neil'll be 70 in a few months time and Chris somehow 65, so I wonder how many more albums they have in them. Favourite non-single:A new bohemia [I wish I lived my life freer and easier, I need to find a new bohemia]
