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.