Vinyl or CDs Down Under?

Charlie Jefferson

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Sep 2, 2007
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I'm sat in a bookshop on the Capricorn Coast, Australia, on the third week of a two month holiday here and what I want to know is, where are all the old vinyl or even new cd shops? I mean a bloke and his family can only have so much gorgeous Pacific coastline and wonderful natural landscapes before the old yearning returns.

Amyone familiar with this neck of the Down Under Woods? Currently betwixt Brisabane and Cairns at a sleepy seaside spot called Yeppoon. Sunblessed and tropical but little sign of music consumption opportunities.

Did hear Steely Dan's Aja playing in Woolworths supermaket the other day though, which was kind of cool.
 
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Anonymous

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Don't know which way you're heading, but your best bet outside the capitals for CDs is going to be k-mart or similar. Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth - no problem, you'll find several specialist shops. Don't know Cairns that well, but it didn't seem that big to me and therefore unlikely to have specialist cd shops. If you're heading towards Darwin, then it's k-mart.

Vinyl you'll find in the capital cities, but I'd live without - most lps were pressed in Australia, and the quality is a bit down compared to those made in Europe.
 

Charlie Jefferson

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Thanks Mr Hughes 123, but I'm on holiday and not in my current UK abode. So Amazon is not really an option.Unless they'll do direct delivery to a beach hut overlooking the sunny Pacific.

Thanks Mr Ridgeback, we're heading towards Cairns. I'll take yoru vinyl tip on board. So far I've only come across a small hoarde of antipodean Val Doonican LP's. So despite my devotion to the vinyl format, I think I'll pass for now.
 
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Anonymous

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Hi Charlie

Cairns is a reasonable size city (town?) by Aust standards. So
you will have your K-marts and Sanity stores but they wouldn't have
much in the way of vinyl, if any. And their cd range would be fairly
mainstream - you'd have a better selection wherever you're from, I
would guess. (but, then, it might depend on the indovdual store
owner/manager)

Your best bet for vinyl would be to track down second hand shops/antique
shops or even op shops like St Vinnies or the Salvos - they usually
have a boxes of records somewhere. Quality can be extremely variable as
can range but you never know: someone may have just got rid of their
collection of records and it jsut happens to match your tastes. Last
time I went into a 2nd hand shop where I live (which is smaller than
Cairns) I got a copy of "Blue Monday" by New Order (12") and "Reggatta de
Blanc" by the Police for a couple of dollars each (which is worth about
23p in your money
emotion-5.gif


Good luck in your quest
 

Charlie Jefferson

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Thanks Franklin, I'll keep a lookout for the charity shops en route to Cairns.

On a slightly different note, can you recommend any good Australian music beyond the well-known stuff popular in Europe(Nick Cave, The Saints, Midnight Oil,The Vines et al)? We've been tuning into various radio stations whilst on the long drives between Brisbane & Cairns, and other than TripleJ(?), haven't found too much decent stuff. One or two okay country and reggae stations but nothing playing predominantly homegrown music.

TripleJ is quite good but plays a fairly familiar blend of UK and American acts with the occasional Oz band thrown in. What's good out there that might be worth investigating? I'm potentially open to all genres.

N.B.
The weather here is currently lousy. Howling wind and torrential rain for the last 72 hours. Like a month of Manchester Mondays.
 
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Anonymous

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Hi,

In TripleJ you've found the best national station for what you want, but I'd go into a pub or cafe and ask a local.

Cloudless skies and a maximum around the 30 mark here to-day....
 
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Anonymous

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Not many bookshops

Mainly because we tear the pages out for toilet paper so second hand books are far between.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
So Penguin isn't a brand of toilet paper? Well (insert word in common aussie usage, but much to rude for delicate English ears) me!
 

Charlie Jefferson

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Finally made it to very sunny Cairns, and found a fantastic second hand shop with all sorts of vintage/knackered clothes, paintings, furniture and yes, vinyl in it.

Crackerbox Palace on Captain Cook Highway is the place to be! I tracked down a couple of Paul Kelly LPs in the "homegrown vinyl section". Not quite sure if it'll make it back to West Yorkshire in one playable piece but it's certainly cheaper than my girlfriend's opal haul.

On another tack, for anyone interested,I happened across a hi-fi store, Stereo World in town, and I've got to say what a terrible experience it was. The guy wasn't at all interested in my browsing or making enquiries about price comparisons with the UK. I saw for myself though that the Cyrus 6SE CD player was 1700 pounds!!

So if we do emigrate here at some stage in the future I'll have to get my gear shipped out too.
 

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