The Rock Shop, Mays Landing, New Jersey

The Rock Shop Outside

Before heading home, I managed to hunt down another record store, The Rock Shop (4403 Black Horse Pike, Mays Landing, New Jersey 08330, 609-383-1014). It's located on the second level of the Hamilton Mall, not far from Atlantic City. Being in a suburban mall and wedged between Sears and Macy's, I figured the selection would be lousy and the prices high. I was only partially right.  The nice selection of new vinyl was decently priced.  I found a bunch of titles that you just don't see at stores very often.  Sadly (and this always pisses me off), because of the way the LP bins are designed, the sides of the new vinyl jackets are getting damaged.  I can sort of tolerate a less-than-perfect jacket on a $1 used piece...but on a $20 sealed album it's unacceptable. Besides LP's, they have a pretty large selection of 7" singles.  Lots of punk rock.  Lots of CD's as well, if you still dig those.

The Rock Shop Inside

What surprised me was the pricing in the quite large used vinyl section. I expected some good deals. Nope. Way too high. The freaking bargain bin was $5. That's nuts. The better used stock was priced not too far below the new vinyl. Too bad, since they had a bunch of great metal titles, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, etc. There was also a large quantity of vintage sealed vinyl. Again, way over-priced. I spotted a nice sealed Towering Inferno OST LP that would have been mine had it been priced south of $10. Not today.

If you're still hunting for Record Store Day releases from this year, check this place out. They still have a bunch of stock.


Their credit card machine was down, so I ended up putting back a few things. I ended up with these fine records:

Man or Astroman - Experiment Zero  $19.99 (New)

(1996) Touch and Go Records TG157

My good buddy Doug turned me on to these guys a long time ago. Excellent space-age, sci-fi, surf rock. This is a band you just don't see very often at the shops.  Sealed vinyl, free MP3 download, great looking jacket.

OM - Conference of the Birds  $19.99 (New)

(2006) Holy Mountain 5QXF3LP

OM isn't for everyone. This LP features two side-long songs. The music is drone/doom rock, with touches of eastern influence played by just a drummer and bassist. Great stuff to listen to while at work. I've been looking for this release for a while, and all I ever seem to see is the picture disc version. I really dislike picture discs because they sound shitty, so I was pleased to finally find this standard version.  Sealed vinyl, free MP3 download.

Tunes, Northfield, New Jersey

Tunes, Northfield, NJ

I've been on vacation since 7/18. I stopped in Hershey, PA and Philadelphia on our way to Cape May and the Jersey shore. Today was the first day I've had to do some record shopping. One of my favorite things to do when traveling is to look for record stores. There's a bunch of great ones left all over the country, but sometimes finding them can be tough. To help out, I use an app on my iPhone from The Vinyl District. It's pretty simple. You open the app and it tells you the nearest record stores.  Sometimes they're a couple miles away...sometimes 250 miles. Just select a store and it gives you reviews and directions. I've found loads of stores with this free app. Back to Cape May. This is an old seaside town on the southern tip of New Jersey. There's a ton of small shops...but not a single record store. I imagine they had a bunch back in the day, but they're all gone now. The closest I found (with the help of TVD and some suggestions from Deadformat.net), was a place near Atlantic City called Tunes (1205 Tilton Road, Northfield, NJ 08225, 609-241-6932). Lots of CD's and a fair amount of vinyl. The new vinyl was fairly priced. The used was in overall decent shape. Plenty of $1 and $2 discs to dig through. Some of the used stuff was a bit spendy. Oddly, there were a bunch of those Judas Priest 180 gram import reissues on the Koch label in the used section. The way they cropped the covers on those always bugged me, so I passed. I like to pick up a store t-shirt from the shops I visit.  Tunes didn't have any.

Here's what I bought... 

Joe Jackson - I'm The Man  $2.00 (Used)

(1979) A&M Records SP 4794

Jacket, inner sleeve and vinyl in nice condition. This is Joe Jackson's second LP. Great cover photo.

Brian May + Friends - Star Fleet Project  $3.00 (Used)

(1983) EMI Canada MLP-15014

Besides a hole punch, the jacket looks fine. The record looks great. These are tough to find. I didn't realize it was a Canadian pressing till I got back to our place. That's cool.

The Cars - Heartbeat City  $5.00 (Used)

(1984) Elektra 60296-1

Very nice promo label, pressed on QUIEX II vinyl. Very sharp gatefold jacket. They had two promo copies of this one. Both looked fine, but this one was better.







The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Axis: Bold As Love (MONO)  $19.99 (New)

(2013) EH/Legacy 88765419711

This is the new mono 200 gram pressing. Gatefold jacket. Classic Hendrix. Brand new, sealed.

Spent the rest of the day at the beach. Beautiful sunshine most of the time. Listened to one of my recent favorites on the iPhone while watching the Atlantic Ocean lap at the shore:

Crippled Black Phoenix - No Sadness or Farewell

(2012) (MP3)

Still love this rather short-ish album. They claim it's a filler record, and a bridge between the old CBP and whatever comes next. Superb post-apocalyptic prog rock with a heavy Pink Floyd vibe and a hint of post rock goodness...

What is this blog all about?

Chicago IV - Live at Carnegie Hall

I intend to discuss my vinyl (and occasional CD) shopping, buying, and listening habits on an infrequent basis. My collection ranges from easy listening to stoner rock.  Really, nothing is off limits.  I have a weak spot for pristine white label promos and just about anything sealed.  I'll overpay once in a while to get what I really want...or when I'm sick of looking for a deal on something.  Everything I buy is for listening.  I don't have the space for a bunch of stuff I don't plan on playing.  I try to buy from independent shops whenever possible, but I do buy a lot online.  I never buy to flip, and never buy as an investment.  Basically, I'll tell you what I've been hunting for, where I've been hunting, what I've found, what I've paid, and what I've listened to.  I'll discuss things new to my collection...and things I've had forever.  Hopefully you'll find some of it interesting...