Howell, NJ | Music, comic lovers bid farewell to iconic Howell record store: The Record Store, a beloved comic book and music shop, will close on Jan. 31. The Record Store, Route 9 north, Howell, stood out with its giant cassette, a sign that read “Music! Comics and other neat stuff,” a Superman light and painted messages in the window advertising an impressive used CD collection. Recently, owner Jeff Lega announced he would be closing the modest looking mom and pop shop and that meant many locals would be losing their favorite store; a place they have visited for 30 years for music and comics. A message posted on social media states that Lega “has decided to close down The Record Store at this time. He has been involved with the music business now for over 45 years. The Record Store did start out as a record store in Howell over 30 years ago. He has seen many ups as well as many downs, but he has stuck with it all this time. However, in the last few years he has found his enthusiasm waning and more importantly, his heart has just not been in the business anymore.”
Mark, My Words: the real reason I hate the cassette revival: …Psychiatrists are only now beginning to recognise a syndrome that I call my Radio Red Mist. I last had it just yesterday, when I was invited to discuss the sudden increase in sales of cassettes on Radio 4’s consumer and business programme You And Yours, the only forum for visceral, firebrand rock’n’roll polemic that’ll have me since I’m clearly too hot for Steve Lamacq’s Round Table to handle. One minute I was talking, quite coherently, about the revival in a physical connection to musical artefacts and the pros and cons of cassettes. The fiddly fast-forwarding. The clunky mechanics. The cold terror of hearing Black Francis start sounding like Nick Cave drowning that tells you, moments too late, that your tape deck is eating your precious spools like it’s ravenous for more of your tasty, tasty money oh god oh god I can’t take it any more…
Vinyl made a surprise but welcome resurgence at CES: For a show all about the technology of tomorrow, CES sure had a lot of turntables – decidedly the technology of yesterday. If you ask the audiophiles, vinyl never really went away. But it’s certainly seen a resurgence the past few years – growth ironically aided by streaming services. It’s easier than ever to discover new music, and when people find something they really like, they’ll often shell out to own it in physical form (just look at ebooks vs regular books). Higher vinyl sales naturally lead to a greater demand for turntables, and a surprising number of legit manufacturers showed up this year. Although some of the turntables at CES have been demonstrated at audio shows previously, their presence at the conference was particularly notable given the show’s mainstream bent.
2018’s Top-Selling Vinyl Albums & Singles: Amy Winehouse, Prince, A Porg & More: Vinyl music sales in the U.S. continue to make a comeback, as Nielsen Music reports that vinyl album sales rose for the 13th consecutive year in 2018. Vinyl album sales grew 14.6 percent in 2018, as compared to 2017, rising to 16.8 million copies sold — a new one-year Nielsen Era record. (Nielsen began tracking music sales in 1991.) The Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1 soundtrack finished the year as the top-selling LP, with 84,000 copies sold (see top 10 list, below). The year’s top 10 sellers are dominated by older releases and classic titles. The youngest title in the top 10 is Panic! at the Disco’s June 2018 release Pray for the Wicked, which closed out the year as the No. 10 seller, with 59,000 copies sold. The next two youngest releases in the top 10 are the Guardians album (issued in August 2014) and Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black (March 2007).
Auckland, NZ | Auckland Anniversary Day Vinyl Record Sale Red Beach: Huge 2nd hand Pop and Rock vinyl record sale at the Methodist Church Hall with heaps of stock that has arrived since my sales in December 2018!!!! Don’t miss this one!! Bargains galore!! Some LP’s have been discounted to only $2 each! Heaps of free parking! Don’t miss this opportunity to come and browse through thousands of records in order to find that specific album on vinyl that you have always wanted to add to your collection! Come and view the best music on vinyl at unbeatable prices! Anything from Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd to The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix and from Neil Young to Dire Straits plus everything in between, Bob Seger, Bruce Springsteen, Simon and Garfunkel, Steely Dan, Lou Reed, Dolly Parton… the list goes on! Jazz, Blues, Rock, Folk, Country, Metal, Pop, Classical, Comedy, etc.
