Second Album Syndrome

Is it real, or a media/record company invention to excuse potentially lower sales and lesser public reaction than the debut album?

First off, lets go through the obvious:

Sex Pistols - 'Never Mind The Bollocks' is a must-own record.  Ignore the Punk tag, this is one of the greatest Rock albums ever committed to plastic.  Whilst the second album ('The Great Rock n Roll Swindle') does contain some new material (for what its worth), it was released after the band ceased to properly function, and therefore discounted from my ruminations.

The Jam - It would take something special to top 'In The City', especially given there was only 6 months between the debut and 'This Is The Modern World'.  Sadly, 'Modern World' wasn't that special.  Discounted because, although popular opinion says 'This Is The Modern World' wasn't very good, it really isn't that bad.  It just sounds laboured especially when compared to 'All Mod Cons' which followed it

The Stone Roses - The debut album is held in the highest esteem, regularly appearing in Top10 or Top20 Albums Of All Time Listings.  Personally, I prefer 'Second Coming'  - so their not going on the list either



And now my selection of Follow-Up Failures:
Arctic Monkeys -  'Favourite Worst Nightmare' could never live up to the hype it was given after 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not'.  And it didn't.  "Flourescent Adolescent" excepted, to these ears the rest sounded like out-takes, re-writes or simply re-treads of the debut album

Stereophonics - 'Word Gets Around' was a corking album, 'Performance & Cocktails' continues in the same vein but runs out of steam about half way through

Guns n Roses - 'Appetite For Destruction' is rightly regarded as a Classic.  It's got energy, passion, danger (and several other clichéd descriptions).  'Use Your Illusion' is best described as "the second album".  If it had been a single album, a lot of the vanity and padding would be gone, and you could (almost) forgive the overblown nature of "November Rain".  As it is, a two album release means: too much self-indulgence, not enough substance.

Damned - 'Damned Damned Damned' is one of the holy trinity of punk albums.  A rip-snorting rollercoaster of adrenaline, power and sheer fun.  'Music For Pleasure' is none of these things.  By comparison it is lame, disappointing and a bit of a mess.  However, consider this: if it wasn't for 'Music For Pleasure' we may never have got 'Machine Gun Etiquette'

New York Dolls - the eponymous debut album is perhaps the missing link between Iggy Pop and The Sex Pistols on the Punk Road Map.  Forget about the fake Rolling Stones impersonations, or Bob Harris's "mock rock" put down, this is an album full of attitude, arrogance, sleaze and New York hedonism coupled with raucous, rough-edged, raggedy-arse rock n roll.  The second album has the portentious title 'Too Much Too Soon' and that is probably a fair summary of the content.

Quireboys - Having released their first single ("Mayfair") in 1987 it was to be a three year wait for the debut album.  When the album ('A Bit Of What You Fancy') did arrive the sound was cleaner, but forgiveably so - all the original elements of fun, good time bar room rock n roll were all present and correct.
Releasing a Live album as your second album doesn't really cout, so we move swiftly to 'Bitter Sweet & Twisted'  which (in my opinion) needed more work, and the production was aimed squarely at the American market, losing a lot of UK fans in the process.

Thunder - like the Quireboys above, Thunder can be classified in the little known late 80s/early 90s genre New Wave Of British Heavy Metal Bands Who Sound A Bit Like The Faces Or Bad Company (NWOBHMBWSABLTFOBC) (it is quite a long title, which is probably why Kerrang rarely (ie never) referred to it).
'Back Street Symphony' was a Bluesy-Rock album containing a plethora of corking tunes, raspy vocals, twin guitars and an energetic live act (on the three occassions I swaw them, you really did get the feeling they were putting everything they had into the show). The second album 'Laughing On Judgement Day' is adequate, but to these ears not in the same league as the first.  Add to that the emergence of Nirvana and the whole grunge business, and bands like Thunder found large swathes of their audience gone, and record company support dwindling.
'Laughing On Judgement Day' does however contain vocalists Danny Bowes closest approximation of Paul Rodgers on the track "Low Life In High Places"

The Thrills - songs like "Santa Cruz", "Big Sur" and "One Horse Town" remain superb tracks and make the debut album ('So Much For The City') worthwhile.  However, even nicking the theme tune to Mork and Mindy for the middle eight of "Whatever Happened To Corey Haim" can't redeem the same-iness of 'Lets Borttle Bohemia'

Ordinary Boys - perhaps the biggest fall from grace I can think of.  Their first album 'Over The Counter Culture' was, and is, a superb piece of work.  Since it's release, I never tire of listening to it.  The follow-up 'Brassbound' sounded laboured and un-original.  And then Preston went and showed what a prize prat he was by appearing on Big Brother, marrying a gold digging non-entity, walking of the set of Never Mind The Buzzcocks, and then disappearing up his own backside.
Whatever, the debut album is still a stonking wodge of Mod meets Ska meets Paul Weller meets The Smiths.

Ordinary Boys - Over The Counter Culture Thunder - Low Life In High Places

From Start To Finish

That is how an album should be consumed, not just cherry picked for the best bits.
Although it seems that the un-packaging (is that a word?) of albums is becoming more and more commonplace.  That activity halps explain (at least to me) the following couple of news stories that have appeared in the past fornight.

1. Calvin Harris (who I have nerver knowiungly heard) is now the holder of the record for the most Top 10 Singles released from a single album, with the 8th release going into the Top10 a couple of weeks ago (will the album now be re-promoted as 'Greatest Hits'?)
2. Compilation Albums now account for for 1/5th (20%) of all album sales

Despite my archaic belief that an album should be consumed as a complete entity, it seems the great British public is more than happy with a world of 'Now Thats What I Call Music?'*, 'Stuff You've Heard On The Radio', 'Look At The Hits On That' and other compilation titles some of which aren't actually real.

* Question Mark added on purpose, and purely in a futile attempt to raise a smile from the readers of this tosh

A couple of years ago there was the battle between Pink Floyd and iTunes over the attempt to split up and sell individual tracks from 'Dark Side Of The Moon'.
Roger Waters vehemently fought against this, claiming that these tracks should be heard in context and as sequenced as originally intended.
A stance that I can understand, and wholeheartedly agree with.

Whilst on the surface an album is just a collection of tracks, probably recorded in the space of a couple of months and probably just randomly thrown together to create a 40/50 minute product, the tracks need to be sequenced to provide some sort of "journey" and to ensure that the listener remains engaged.  It's no good just lobbing your 3 best songs at the front of the album, and then padding ouit the remainder with any old rubbish, or sticking all the fast songs together on Side 1 (how old am I?), and filling side two with ballads and instrumentals.
No, all the tracks should be strategically placed in order to provide the listener with troughs and peaks of emotion, energy and (sometimes) enjoyment.  There also comes the point when the sequencing is so perfect that the listener would be unable to imagine any other track following another.
So people like Roger Waters or Pete Townsend will spend time sequencing the tracks to produce a cohesive explanation of their original vision of the concept/story, and then we come along with iTunes or Amazon and download only Tracks 3 and 7.

OK, I admit that everyone does pull single tracks off albums for inclusion on their own compilations, or to show a friend how good a particular band, or their album is.
I also freely admit to plundering an album and posting YouTube links to specific tracks on a website forum that I frequent (The Afterword, to be specific - come on over, have a look, the waters lovely etc etc)).
BUT ...
This is all done with the knowledge of the entire album.  The inbuilt hard-wiring that xxx follows yyy, the background understanding that Track 4 is stronger than the last single, and Track 8 is a bit of a duffer.
So my request to you all is listen to albums all the way through as the artist intended.  Let's not lose the art of the album, it's sequencing from barnstorming opening track to epic finishing track, interspersed with the signles, possibly a ballad, an instrumental track (unless you're listening to The Shadows, when it may well be an unexpected vocal track) and maybe a surprising choice of a cover version.
Otherwise, we'll end up drowning in a sea of Greatest Hits, Very Best Ofs, Essential Collections and generic SimonCowellisthdevilBritainsGotNoXFactorTalent blandness.

When it's good, it is a fantastic way to spend 40 minutes or so.
When it isn't that good, at least you've spent 40 minutes annoying the wife* (or is that just me?)

* common phrases heard in my house:

• "what's this rubbish then?"
• "do we have to listen to this?"
• "does it have to be so loud?"
• or when stuff turns up in the post, or when I return from a shopping trip "more crap!"

To return to a previous statement regarding the importance of sequencing and how taking tracks out of context may effect the overall experience of the album, I am now going to completely contradict myself (and probably annoy Roger Waters into the bargain):
Behold, the final two tracks from 'Dark Side Of The Moon' ("Brain Damage" & "Eclipse")

If you've never heard the above and like it enough to want to purchase it, please, please, PLEASE get the whole album, play it from start to finish and enjoy the experience.

If, however, you just want the individual track(s) - go ahead, but I still don't agree with the un-packaging of albums into single tracks.

It's just WRONG!

And relax ...

Full Up

The title does not refer to my stomach after a particularly hefty meal.  Nor does it speak of my frustration with the Car Park at The Oracle in Reading (is it ever not full?).
The title is a summary of the available space in the audio media storage solution.  In short, my CD shelves are full.  In the words of Sleeper's Louise Wener *: 'What Do I Do Now?'

* is she related to ex-Blue Peter presenter Chris Wenner?  No, his surname has an extra 'n'.  Mystery solved

When we moved house about 6 years ago, we did the thing that everyone who moves into a new home in need of new/replacement furnishings does, namely take a trip to Ikea.
This particular trip involved the usual routine of getting stuck in traffic on the North Circular Road, wandering through the showroom for what feels like a couple of days and losing a touch with reality outside, collecting the boxes of the chosen purchases from the warehouse and wondering how it is all going to fit in the car, paying at the checkout and not truly comprehending how much you've actually spent.
No trip to Ikea is complete unless you have bought a big bag of Tea Lights, a plastic box cheese grater and a cheap hot dog on the way out.
And as often happens, when I leave the Ikea car park I turn in the wrong direction and , to paraphrase Phil Daniels in Quadrophenia, I 'wound up in bloody Neasden'.

The first post-house move trip to Ikea resulted in the purchase of a couple of Billy Bookcases and 6 Benno CD/DVD towers.  All in a dark brown colour to match/compliment the wooden floor in the new house.
So, for the rest of that weekend I was unpacking flat pack furniture and assembling the planks of wood into something upright, solid, usable, functional and scandanavian (not sure that last bit is actually relevant).
After building the units, they were arranged in the room and loaded up with stuff - the next day we went back to Ikea to buy another couple of CD stands.
And now, they're full up.  I've already moved the CD singles and free Magazine CDs out to the cave upstairs, and thbits of the compilation section are encroaching into the DVD storage area, so there is no real free space I can utilise.
The obvious solution is to go back to the Scandanavian Shop Of Wonder and simply buy another couple of shelves.  A simple solution you would think, except that the colour is no longer availble

My wife's stunningly simplistic, yet somewhat drastic solution was: "You'll have to get rid of some, or stop buying them".  Neither of these options will be happening.
Another obvious solution is to go digital - copy everyhting to MP3 and get shot of the CDs - again, this will not be happening.  I've spoken before about my (possibly outdated) commitment to the physical product,  so joining the 21st Century digital revolution is not on the cards either.
Initial research shows me that an alternative storage solution may cost the thich end of £200 (if not more), plus this may also entail replaceing the other furnishings a the colours will no longer match (and the problem is?  women can be so touchy about stuff like that - I know, I've got the bruises to prove it).


Jona Lewie said that at social gatherings, he would invariably be seen where the food is being prepared.  I have a similar status - you will always find my be the CD shelves at parties.  Often muttering to myself, or anyone else in earshot: "I've got that one", "oo - thats intersting", "never heard of them.  Is it any good?", "why did you buy this?".
But it's not just a case of musiocal snobbery or inabilty to invlove myself in small talk with potentially dull people, this activity has a practical application.  Namely, research into how other people have solutionised (is that a word?) the CD and DVD collections.

I have always hoped that music magazines would introduce a correspondence section in their publications where readers can send in pictures of their Record and CD collections for the voyeuristic satisfaction of others.  Similar, I suppose, to those sections in Gentlemans magazines, this particular stream could be entitled 'Reader Shelves'.

<Reminder #1: Insert Photo Here>

<Reminder #2: Buy a Digital Camera>


A later blog post, probably in a couple of months, will be titled "I've Got Piles", meaning I've not sorted out any new storage, and all my recent purchases are now place in a teetering tower on top of the stereo.


Having mentioned Louise Wener and Sleeper earlier, let us consider the "Brit Pop Band Fronted By A Girlie" genre for a second.  Personally, I preferred Echobelly to Sleeper, and in front of Echobelly would be the band fronted by the most heavily Welsh accented person in popular music - Catatonia:

Record Store Day

The 2013 version of this event seems to have been as popular as previous years.
Long queues at many shops, some starting at around 5am.  The special releases shipped to the shops and devoured by those who wanted them.  In short, a veritable success for all those independent record shops who participated.  And if the availability of stuff on e-bay is anything to go by, it seems a roaring trade was done by all.

So what did I get?
Nothing ... and perversely I'm quite pleased I didn't go.
In my inimitable, curmudgeonly way I decided not to go to any of my local shops, at least not on the day anyway.
No, bugger it.  If this is a day for the celebration of all that is unique and welcoming about the local record shop, then I want to go and spend the day doing what you should do in a record shop - idly browsing throught the racks looking for something I might want, and also stumbling across something that I didn't know I wanted.

I watched 'Last Shop Standing' on SkyArts on Friday night and was all keen and geared up to fly out of my front door on Saturday morning and join the throng.
But I think I may have had a dodgy bacon sandwich sometime on Friday, because waking up on Saturday morning wasn't an easy task, and my head felt like two woodpeckers had taken up residence.
So I did the "watching it on Ceefax" thing - logged on to t'internet and read about the goings on, the numbers of people attending, the special releases and the live performances at many of the shops.

I did get the 'guilt pangs' that I should be out there supporting my local shop, but this was offset by my in-built cynicism towards anything seemingly "coporatised".
The intent of Record Store Day is valid - to get as many people to visit their local store as possible, and thereby ensuring it's survival.  But is one day enough?  To ensure that little treausre-trove remains in the high street/side street/wherever it is, people need to go there a bit more regularly than an annual visit.
So this explains my one-man protest aginst Record Store Day, and I'll go visiting next Saturday, when the queues outside the shop will be non-existent, and the majority of visitors the previous week will be strangely absent.
And further to the "roaring trade was done by all" statement above, I can't help feeling there is also a roaring re-sale going on, and that to me is the problem with RSD - most of the special releases have been bought up with the sole intention of being flogged on at a profit.

I did purchase something on Saturday, albeit from the comfort of my own chair.
Hopefully, the new Frank Turner album ('Tape Deck Heart') will be falling through my letterbox any day now.

Frank Turner - Recovery

Steve Mason - Monkey Minds In The Devils Time

Steve Mason was an original member of The Beta Band.  Formed in 1996, they played a mix of rock, folk, elctronica and had a large experimental ethos to their work.  They were often highly rated by the critics and went on to achieve cult status. (does this mean they didn't sell many records?) 
After releasing 3 albums and a compilation album of their 3 EPs (unsurprisingly titled 'The Three EPs'), the band split in 2004.
After the break-up, Steve Mason continued on a solo career releaaing albums under the moniker of King Biscuit Time and Black Affair, before the release of his first solo album under his own name in 2009.

This release is either his second or third album, depending upon your viewpoint.
His first release was 'Boys Outside', and his susequent release was 'Ghosts Outside', which is in effect a dub reworking of the first album.

'Monkey Minds In The Devils Time' is (apparently) a Buddhist term for 'easily distracted mind' and perhaps offers a clue to part of  the conceptual nature of this album.
The press release states that the album is: “shaped by the current global political climate and the lack of dissenting voices in music and popular culture in general”.
What you get is a collection of 9 songs, and 11 interludes/connectors between them.  There is an eclectic mixture of sounds and styles.  Aside from the aforementioned rock, folk and elctronica, we are also served a Gospel chorus, Hip Hop, 1960s/70s four to the floor funk, and a highly effective Motown Soul meets Primal Scream horn section.
On the face of it, these diverse styles may jar against each other, but the inclusion of the interludes between full length tracks make it all work together (and for full effect, it does need to be listened to in one go).

The first full track "Lie Awake" sets the tone for the album, if at first appearing downbeat and melancholic with a comtemplative lyric.  "A Lot of Love" is a piano-based song which is both reflective and melodic.    Special mention also goes to the absolutely joyous and uplifting Gospel Chorus on "Lonely".

High point of the album is undoubtedly "Oh My Lord" - it is one of those songs that you are convinced you've probably heard before, and after a couple of listens takes up permanent residence in a part of your brain.
The second half of the album (I'm defining "Oh My Lord" (the best track here) as the splitting point) continues in the same vein.  Strong songs coupled with musical interludes to ensure the listener doesn't lose interest, "Fight Them Back" being both the best of the bunch, and probably the most confrontational song here.  By contrast, The final track "Come To Me" is laid-back, warm tender and sounds full of optimism.

This is an album that has been thought about, carefully put together, and listening to it in full is a wonderfully immersive experience.  In fact, I thought it was THAT good, when it finished I immediately played it again.

"Oh My Lord"

"Towers Of Power / Come To Me"

It is now April 2013, approximately one third through the year, and I now own 2 albums (this one and David Bowie's "The Next Day") which are likley to be vying for the accolade 'Album Of The Year'

Bolan's Best

Born Mark Feld in 1947, he was expelled from school at the age of 15, and promptly signed up to a modelling agency and was soon featured in a magazine phot-article about the Mod movement.
He changed his stage name to Toby Tyler and made his first studio recordings (Bob Dylan's "Blowin In The Wind" and Betty Everett's "You're No Good").
Toby Tyler didn't set the world on fire, but Mark Feld wasn't beaten yet.
Changing his name to Marc Bolan (belived to be a contraction of BOb dyLAN), he turned up on the doorstep of Simon Napier-Bell in 1965 and declared that he was giong to be a star, he just needed a bit of help with the arrrangements.
Napier-Bell managed both The Yardbirds and John's Children - there were no vacancies in The Yardbirds, so Marc joined Johns Children.  Thier third single, and the first written by Marc Bolan, was "Desdemona" which was promptly banned by the BBC due to the lyric "lift up your skirt and fly" (quite shocking, and obviously a threat to the establishment , in 1967).
Bolan left John's Children to seek success on his own, and formed Tyrannosaurus Rex with drummer/bongo player Steve Pergrine Took.  The music performed was a hippy-dippy coalescence of neo-romantic songs, influences from psychadelic and folk music, wizards, demons and The Lord of The Rings. 


Tyrannosaurus Rex released four albums in 2 years, one of which was listed in the Guiness Book of British Hit Albums as "Longest Title for a Number One album" (albiet when it was re-issued in 1972).  The albums were:
'My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair... But Now They're Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows'
'Prophets, Seers & Sages: The Angels of the Ages'
'Unicorn'
'A Beard of Stars'

Certainly, the first two albums comply with my previous description, but the last two were moving away from the acoustic sound into a more electric based direction (more Chuck Berry, less J R R Tolkien).

The story goes that producer Ton Visconti would abbreviate the band's name in his diary when he was scheduled to work with them, and Marc Bolan adopted the re-naming.
The first fruits of the shoter named band were released in October 1970.  The single "Ride A White Swan" climbing to Number 2 in the charts, followed in December by the album 'T.Rex'.
The next single "Hot Love" was released in February 1971, got to number one and stayed there for 6 weeks.  A performance on Top Of The Pops with glitter on his cheeks is said by many to be the beginnings of Glam Rock.
Marc Bolan was now the star he said he was.  But there was more to come.  A further 3 number 1 singles (it could've been four, but for Benny Hill in 1971) and 6 more Top 10 singles until "Truck (on Tyke)" stalled at number 12 in late 1973.

The next album was released in late 1971. 'Electric Warrior' is generally accepted to be the bands master-work, and I do not disagree with that stance - ranging from the whistfulness of "Cosmic Dancer", the electrictiy of "Monolith", the ambiguity of "Life's A Gas" (a celbratory song done in a minor key (it's the minor key that gives over the ambiguity) to the power, almost proto-punkiness of "Rip Off".  The album also contains the pervious number 1 single "Get It On" and  the soon to be number 2 single "Jeepster".
In late 1971, Marc Bolan moved from Fly Records to EMI,  Fly's response was to release "Jeepster" as a single, and to assemble a compation album 'Bolan Boogie' (a collection of singles, B-Sides and a couple of earlier album tracks) which swiftly went to number 1.

On EMI, T.Rex had their own label (The T.Rex Wax Company - although this label was only truly used on "Telegram Sam", all future singles and albums were released through EMI, but the singles were in a T.Rex branded sleeve).

T.Rex released an album a year from 1972, starting with 'The Slider', which although stopping at number 4 in the UK, was his best selling album in America.
An album containing both "Telgram Sam" and "Metal Guru" can hardly be considered a failure - this is the sound of a band at the absolute peak of their popularity.

'Tanx' in 1973 was probably the last great T.Rex album, but listening to it again recently you can hear that the cracks are beginning to show.  The album picks up where 'The Slider' left off, and for at least half the album could be considered as 'The Slider Part 2'.  Songs like "Shock Rock", "Country Honey" and "Mad Donna" show that 1972-vintage T.Rex is still alive in 1973.  Conversely, songs like "Electric Slim and the Factory Hen", "The Street and Babe Shadow" and "Highway Knees" need a tad more quality control applied.

'Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow' from 1974 is a proper Curates Egg of an album - when it's good it's very good ("Venus Loon", "Interstellar Soul", "Teenage Dream"), but when it was bad ... ("Painless Persuassion vs The Meat Hawk Immaculator", "The Leopards Featuring Gardenia and the Mighty Slug")

'Bolan's Zip Gun' (1975) as sometimes spoken as "the album of lost interest", but to these ears theres some good stuff here, if slighly under-performed ("Think Zinc", "Till Dawn", "I Really Love You Babe")

'Futuristic Dragon' from 1976 is a funny album - it's not an immediate attention grabber, and could easily be discarded after first listening.  But, the production on the album, the little musical instrumental embellishments here and there, and (most importantly) the strenth of the songs make this the best (if not equally as good) T.Rex album since "Tanx".  Sadly, it pretty much sunk without trace when released in early 1976, despite containing "New York City" his first Top 20 single for 18 months.  Shame really, because songs like "Chrome Sitar", Calling All Destroyers" and "Sensation Boulevard" are some of the best contributions to the Marc Bolan songbook

'Futuristic Dragon' appeared to give Marc Bolan the proverbial "kick up the backside" - he'd rediscovered his love of music, the insecurities and cocaine dependency were now banished, and he was out on tour with The Damned in a sort of "Godfather Of Punk" type way.

In the light of this new-found/restored adulation, 1977's 'Dandy in the Underworld' is perhaps his most cohesive work since the high popularity of 1972.  The pre-album single "I Love To Boogie" had once again gone into the Top 20.
Tracks like "Groove a Little",  "Teen Riot Structure", "The Soul of My Suit" and "Dandy in the Underworld" carried a sound of happiness, joy and urgency to work hard and deliver the goods.

One further single "Celebrate Summer" was released in August 1977, and the future looked to be bright for the once fallen star.

On 16 September 1977, two weeks before his 30th birthday, the car driven by his girlfriend Gloria Jones left the road on Barnes Common and struck a tree.  Marc Bolan was killed instantly.
It will never be known if 'Dandy In The Underworld' was an actual re-birth of Marc Bolan, and no-one would ever get to hear what might come next.
In the musical history of the 1970s, Marc Bolan is often forgotten, or added as an afterthought, when up against artists such as Roxy Music, Slade, Gary Glitter (am I allowed to say that name?), Sweet, Elton John and the chameleonic David Bowie (his one time Mod Mate from London, who appeared with him on his last TV appearance (recorded 7 Sptember, shown 28 September).
Considering his recorded legacy and his ongoing his influence (belived to be artists as diverse as Morrissey, Johnny Marr, Goldfrapp, Placebo, Slash, Bauhaus, Billy Idol, The Polecats and SLF guitarist Henry Cluney.

In summary (and to comply with the title of this post) ...
Bolan's Best - A Rigid Digit Top 5 Recommendation List:

1. Electric Warrior
2. Futuristic Dragon
3. The Slider
4. Tanx
5. Bolan Boogie

from 'Electric Warrior' - "Rip Off"

from 'Futuristic Dragon' - "Calling All Destroyers"

A Surprise In The Malvern Hills

Great Malvern is a small town at the foot of the Malvern Hills in Worcestershire.
I have only two reference points for this area:
1. Spa Water
2. Worcestershire Sauce

both of which I am a fairly regular consumer of.

The town itself consists of a couple of streets, a theatre and a statue of Edwrd Elgar (OK, I know there is more to it than that, but this is a condensed short intoduction (or it was until I added that explanatory note)).
The main street boasts the usual small town shops: a butcher, baker (didn't see a candle-stick maker), cafes/restaurants and a couple of pubs.
But also, surprisingly for a town with a total population of about 25,000 (according to Wikipedia), down a small side street was a small area of outstanding natural beauty - Carnival Records.
Yes, an independent Record Shop in a small non-descript town in the shadow of some very big hills.
The shop itself is (as I understand it) about a year old, and it must be doing something right, because on both occassions that I visited it over the weekend it was busy (not full to the rafters with customers, but there were a fair few people in there).
It would have been easy to spend a good few hours and a small mortgage in there rummaging through new releases, second hand CDs and Vinyl - but this being the wife's birthday weekend, spending was somewhat curtailed (I only bought a copy of "Deutsche Elektronische Musik Volume 2").

Carnival Records is listed to participate in Record Store Day on 20th April - a chance to visit and celebrate all the independent Record Shops and purchase the new special releases from artists like Anthrax, Big Country, Billy Bragg and Paul Weller (and others - these are just the ones I've "got my eye on").

Record Store Day - website

There are two stores close to me who will be participating, namely The Sound Machine in Reading and
Henley Records (currently in the process of relocating/renaming as In The Groove).

Will I be visiting either of these on the 20th?
Yes, I will probably visit both.  And then I will find that, like last year, a bunch of opportunists and shysters have got to the front of the queue, bought up all the special releases, and are currently flogging them on e-bay for twice the original purchase price (bastards!).
Besides, why wait for the one day in the year when your reminded that independent record stores exists - make a point of seeking them out and visiting them regularly.  It is (honestly) a great way to spend an afternoon (at least that is what I think, not sure about the Mrs though ("hanging around with a bunch of nerds" is the commonly uttered phrase)).

And now a word from the Official Ambassador - Jack White:

Still not convinced about indepent Record Shops?
Try this ...

I will be planning another weekend away soon, and I will be armed with the usual guidance documents:

• a copy of the book "Never Mind the Bollards: A Road Trip Around Englands Rock & Roll Landmarks"
• The Independent Record Shop Directory in Mojo
• a copy of "Last Shop Standing"

and I will also be practicing that genuine look of surprise when we visit the town and the site of the Record Shop looms into view.

"I didn't expect to see that", I will say.
"You lying git", will probably be the reply from Mrs D.