Worcester Records, The Good and The Bad

The Rise Vinyl Racks

Well the bad news from Worcester is that Mann Audio and Phoenix are no more, or as far as my experience goes , never were. However the good news is that the Rise Records go from strength to strength , with a lot on offer in a small shop, and I ended up buying some books (well it is World Book Day today, though as far schools are concerned it's Dressing Up Day) , was talking to the guy in the shop who was very knowledgeable and let me take pictures and told about the record shops that had gone , but there was a great second hand shop called Market Hall Records.

While I was in there, there was something playing that made me think of The Cure and Joy Division , and turned out to be the Eagulls , so that went onto the purchase list as well, whuch can be seen on my Instagram Feed.

Market Hall Records

Market Hall Records has a big selection of stuff and the guy is really good to talk to, if you go to their website you can find out where they are, and they are sensible enough to use the web as just an advertising hoarding, which is a fine low maintenance approach. I also picked up a Julian Cope disc called Ambulance.

So all in all a successful day, Worcester has two excellent record shops (HMV doesnt count although they have one), so it's a good place if you want to improve your music collection and expand your horizons. I'd never heard The Eagulls before today but thatnks to the visit to Rise I now have their album and thingk that you might like them too.

I could post a video, but there are pictures and links so I will leave you to find the stuff. That's part of the fun of the internet , you can lose yourself for hours looking for stuff you didn't know that you wanted.

Worcester Records

A short post. Today i will be visiting Worcester which according to The Vinyl District has three record shops. I know the excellent Rise which has a few shops in the South West, but there are two more Phoenix and Mann Audio but the web searches don't look too hopeful for these two.

Anyway no doubt I will have something to report later

Cheltenham - Good And Bad

Last week I had my first visit to Cheltenham . One of the recurring themes of this week has been my inability to find a William Hills to cash in a winning bet !! Cheltenham was no exception , despite haveing four William Hills Shops I couldnt find a single one. Ladbrokes , Coral , Betfred , no problem , but William Hills seemed well hidden. I Eventually got my money on returning home!!

Royal Crescent Cheltenham - Pity about The Busses

Anyway Cheltenham has some magnificient buildings and wide streets although the beautiful Royal Crescent is marred by the fact they have put a bus station in front of it , very fitting!! It is amazing how some city planners have no sense of propriety , but the Royal Crescent is an impressive sight.

Clock Scupture in A Cheltenham Shooping Centre

One of the shopping centers has an amazing Clock Sculpture which also tells the time.!! Not a fan of shopping centres as such but they serve a purpose and Cheltenham's were not too bad. Also in the Beechwood center came across another Rise Records which caused me to aprt with more money. In an interesting flash of synchronicity the had a display of Frank Turner Cds and my friend Carol was seeing him in Cairns , Australia that very night at The Jack - Time differences allowing , so England Keep My Bones was among my purchases!

Seated Creature Comforts

On the Promenade which featured lots of expensive shops and street stalls selling exotic food I came across this weird sculpture , and I'm all for for interesting street scuptures. Although my favourite was the alarmed lion atop a hotel frontage in the same town.

Alarmed Lion

I definitely didnt have time to do the place justice , but will be visiting again . It vaguely reminded me of a big Southport but without the beach, although they are probably about the same distance from the sea!!




To finish an excellent Frank Turner video:

Record Shops On The Rise In Worcester

I've just spent a rainy day in Worcester , despite a laborious trek to the wrong Park and Ride (but which took me where I wanted) . Amazed to see that HMV were selling umbrellas , yes I know it's raining but a record shop should not be selling umbrellas (as well as iPod docs , Mars bars etc etc).


Anyway wandering further I did a double take when I saw this place:

Rise Records In Worcester

Todays Purchases from Rise

Rise Records has been going for about a year and has a great stock of music on CD and vinyl as well as memorabillia and printed stuff such as books and magazines. The staff are friendly and knowledgeable , and they had obviously been involved in National Record Store Day jusging by the posters and vinyl artifacts.

My own purchase are on the right, the new Santigold album plus a Phil Manzanera disc as well as a Chess collection.

Absolutely excellent to see a thriving record shop free of X-Factor dross , and doing well as places like HMV lose their way in a desperate attempt to gain a few pennies to sell anything that might make anther penny or two.