Bologna, IT | Popular Discogs seller, Background Music, opens record shop in Bologna. The storefront is part of Gallery16, a new concept music store with a bar and event space. Background Music, a popular Discogs seller for the past seven years, is now part of a brick-and-mortar music concept store called Gallery16, opened last week. Owners Massimo Mandrioli Peccia and Lorenzo Lerry Arabia say the joint venture is “not just a record shop, but above all, a meeting place with a bar and open to DJ sets, live shows, presentations and much more.” The shop specializes in alternative styles, and it stocks new and secondhand vinyl. Check out their Facebook page for upcoming music events and exhibitions this month.
Binghamton, NY | Hundreds of people find musical treasures at annual record fair: The Broome County Farmers Market opened its doors Sunday, but instead of selling food, it was selling music for Binghamton’s annual record fair. Hundreds of people from across the Southern Tier went to check out the selection of more than 100,000 vinyl records, CDs, and DVDs for sale. Vendors came from across the northeast to sell their collections to the public. Event organizer, Jack Skutnik, says he has put the show together for the past 30 years and says it is always a big success. “It’s nostalgia for a lot of people. They relive their youth, old songs, new music. Some people collect baseball cards, some people collect silverware, some people collect records and CD’s so we fill that need.”
Steve Perry Soups Up ‘Traces’ Album for Deluxe Edition: Re-release contains five bonus tracks — “some of my most favorite songs,” singer says. Steve Perry will not let the flame go out on his comeback solo album, Traces. He’s reissuing it this spring with five bonus cuts for a deluxe edition. The record will be available digitally, on CD and on two, 180-gram vinyl slabs; he’s even souping up one of the double-LP versions with a 3-D lenticular cover. The updated versions are available now. “These bonus tracks — ‘October in New York,’ ‘Angel Eyes,’ ‘Call On Me,’ ‘Could We Be Somethin’ Again,’ and ‘Blue Jays Fly’ — are some of my most favorite songs in this 15-song collection,” Perry said in a statement. “I’m so glad they will now be available everywhere.”
Special Doctor Who Releases for Record Store Day: This year’s Doctor Who releases for the eternally popular Record Store Day have been revealed. Leading the way is the classic, and largely lost, William Hartnell adventure from 1965 – Galaxy 4. Peter Purves, who played companion Steven Taylor, provides linking adaptation for the original soundtrack. Two Heavyweight 180g discs of orange vinyl with purple splatter contain the classic adventure. The Doctor and Steven, as well as Maureen O’Brien’s Vicki, encounters the beautiful Drahvins led by Maaga (Stephanie Bidmead). But should they trust them or the gruesome Rills as both groups attempt to escape a dying planet? It’s joined by Destiny of the Daleks – the soundtrack of the 1979 adventure with linking narration by Lalla Ward. Ward, of course, features in the story itself as Romana, alongside Tom Baker’s Doctor and Davros, creator of the Daleks, as played by David Gooderson.
It was 70 years ago this month that the 45 RPM record was introduced, accidentally helping to give birth to rock’n’roll: For the first fifty years of the recorded music industry, everyone had to make do with scratchy, fragile 78 RPM records. These 10-inch discs dating from the late 1800s and generally worked fine. It wasn’t until 1948 when Columbia Records came along with its long-playing albums pressed on a new plastic called polyvinyl chloride that things began to change. Vinyl was much tougher than the shellac-based material used to make 78s, meaning they didn’t wear out after about 100 plays. More importantly, though, vinyl allowed grooves to be cut closer together (about .003 inches), greatly increasing the capacity of a side of a record. Instead topping out at around four minutes, an LP could store more than 20 minutes of music before anyone had to flip it over.
