Cerberus
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Department Store Krautrock?
Mar 09, 2003, 21:10
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Here's another pointless little story.
The other day I was playing Faust IV when I noticed on the inside of the sleeve a stamped message that read - Debenhams, Stockton-On-Tees.
Uh huh! Okay, so back in 74 it seems you could obtain Krautrock albums in Britains favourite department store. Imagine that, an album containing the wonders of Jennifer and Giggy smile in a popular chain store. Alright, it's on Virgin but still pretty bloody obscure. Although I think this origin explains why it was in mint condition when I bought it.
You could just imagine some poor guy stolling through the record dept, after buying some really nice chintsy bedlinnen and pelmets and a china tea set when ......."Oh, what's this? A musical version of Goethes Faust? Never heard of the composer Uwe Nettlebeck but could be interesting....". Get's it home, makes a nice cup of tea and settles back to the first glorious bars of Krautrock. The Sad Skinhead must have finished them off if they survived the first assault .......
YAAAARGHH - ROCK MUSIC, WEIRD ROCK MUSIC!!!!
Off comes the record, back in the sleeve and probably sat on the shelf for years until they sold their collection - after investing in CD technology and a copy of Brothers In Arms - "...funny how nice rock music is these days?"
Doen't explain how it turned up in Manchester though.
Ho Hum
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Serotonin
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Re: Department Store Krautrock?
Mar 10, 2003, 13:48
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any krautrock whatsoever (beyond Monster Movie, Tago Mago, some Faust and the Germanophon Kraftwerks) in high street music shops these days would nice. although I did buy my copy of UFO by GUru Guru in HMV last year; God knows how it ended up there. in Edinburgh there is Coda in the Princes Mall, which does have a little section marked "Krautrock". but it's still all the usual suspects (and it's got so much Virgin-era Tangs that you feel like dropping a line to the Trades' Descriptions people). Thank God for the likes of ULtima Thule, eh...
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Popel Vooje
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Re: Department Store Krautrock?
Mar 10, 2003, 13:56
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As a footnote to your unexpected discovery, i'd like to add that such a find is perhaps not as unique as you might think. Debenhams in Guildford actually used to have quite a good vinyl department - back in the mid-80s I picked up all three of Wire's Harvest albums in there.
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Lord Lucan
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Re: Department Store Krautrock?
Mar 10, 2003, 16:01
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Yeah, I agree. Even though I live in London I'm still sick of looking through Krautrock sections in record shops and basically just wading through loads of bashed up 15th-time-in-a-second-hand-record-shop copies of crappy 80s Tangerene Dream records, the odd Klaus Schulze, and always Edgar Froese looking goooorgeous on the cover of that Ages album, and shop staff often bung in any old New Age tosh they get for good measure. I often feel dirty and sullied after looking through that lot and have to cleanse myself by looking through the Industrial section.
To answer Cerberus's original question, it'll often depend on who staffs these departments. If you've got a total music addict with a wide knowledge then it won't matter that their department is next to a lovely display of candlewick bedspreads, they'll make sure there's some cool music in the racks.
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Andy Strain
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Faust Tapes?
Mar 10, 2003, 19:11
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Debenhams used to do a Faust Tapes print tablecloth, too. They weren't cheap though, but sometimes I wish I bought one for the crack. Woul hurt the eyes and st sconcentraion onyour meal methinks
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Cerberus
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Re: Faust Tapes?
Mar 10, 2003, 19:53
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Is that true about the print - I'll have to keep my eye on E-bay. Some of the comments on my story are reassuring though - it's good to know there are some cool music heads out there possibly working in even the most uninspiring places like department stores. I won't mention where I work but its horrible and out of about 800 people there is only about one other person who likes Julian Cope and another lad who I saw with a Love CD. But the statistics are very poor.
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