From: krj@netsun.cl.msu.edu (Ken Josenhans)
Newsgroups: rec.music.folk
Subject: Re: Where could I find (Re: Celtic Music)
Date: 4 Jan 93 19:15:46 GMT
Reply-To: 13020KRJ@msu.edu
Organization: Michigan State University
NNTP-Posting-Host: netsun.cl.msu.edu

Jimmy Shaw was looking for some mail order sources for folk music.
Here's the latest update on the sources I use. 

I present this file with two caveats:

1)  I have had good experiences dealing with all the firms listed
    here, but obviously I cannot be responsible if you find otherwise.
    (In particular, both Tower Records (London) and Projection Records
    have given me no problem with returning defective or mis-shipped
    items.)

2)  There's no getting around it:  imports from the British Isles are
    *expensive* by US standards.  Irish discs seem to be sometimes
    available at a discount -- Elderly only wants $15 for some new Tara
    items, for example -- but $20 is usually a good price and $22-25,
    including shipping, is common.  The rebound of the US dollar,
    relative to the UK pound, has eased prices somewhat, but the prices
    I see for UK imports don't seem to reflect the current exchange
    rates, which would put a UK CD in the bins for about $18 in an
    ideal world.
    Cassette tapes are, of course, cheaper; LPs are now entering the
    final closeout stage in the British Isles.

At the end of the listing of vendors I've added some magazine listings.

----------


Ken Josenhans' favorite places to spend too much money on folk and
folk-rock music.

(Last updated 01/04/93.)

   Elderly Instruments
   1100 N. Washington
   Lansing, MI  48906
   (517) 372-7880

Virtues:  They are probably the leading folk music discounters in
the USA, and they have a fairly comprehensive selection of US
domestic folk-ish releases; they have a nice computer catalog
system, so they can tell you immediately what's in stock.
Drawback:  they are weak in imports, though they have been getting
better with the labels Topic, Tara and Round Tower.  The catalog is
annual and contains few reviews.  This is a local store for me, but
I've heard others say mail order service is good.  Elderly is my
first stop for all domestic folk albums.  Tell them I sent you!

   Andy's Front Hall
   P.O. Box 307, Wormer Road
   Voorheesville, NY  12186
   (518) 765-4193

Andy's selection isn't the broadest in the field, but it is decent,
and it includes a few import goodies which I haven't seen offered
elsewhere.  Domestic prices are average, import prices are good.
On my one order, delivery service was exceptionally fast; an order
placed Friday was delivered Tuesday, and that was during the
Christmas crush.   Andy's catalog includes detailed reviews of
selected favorite albums which could be very useful to buyers who
are new to the folk field.

   Roots & Rhythm
   6921 Stockton Ave.
   El Cerrito, CA  94530
   (510) 525-1494
   (510) 525-2904 (fax)

     (formerly Down Home Music Mailorder)

In the LP era, under their old name of Down Home Music, this was
THE place to find hard-to-get folk items, especially imports. In
the early years of CDs, their coverage of the folk field slipped
badly, but they have been bouncing back nicely, and in their most
recent newsletters they are moving aggressively to reclaim their
leadership.  Folk is a bit of a sideline - their focus is in
country, blues & gospel, R&B, early rock and world music.   Their
almost-bimonthly newsletters with lots of reviews still make great
reading.  I've ordered from them many times and never had problems.
Be sure you understand their back-order procedure and specify if
you want unavailable items backordered.  This can mean an
unpredictable wait, and sometimes I would prefer to proceed with a
foreign order.  (Backorders are much more common in the CD era!!)

   Dirty Linen
   P.O. Box 66600
   Baltimore, Maryland  21329-6600

Dirty Linen's primary business is publishing a magazine (see
below), but in recent months they have begun importing a small
number of UK discs which they think will be of interest to their
readers.  For example, they have recently offered items by Ron Kavana,
Ashley Hutchings, a pickup band of Richard Thompson's from 1981,
and the Home Service.  The selection is miniscule, but the prices
and delivery service are excellent.

   House of Musical Traditions
   7040 Carroll Ave.
   Takoma Park, Maryland  20912
   (301) 270-9090

I have to confess that I have never mail-ordered anything from this
firm: I shop there twice a year when visiting my parents.   Their
catalog appears irregularly and includes no reviews; basically, you
would have to know what you wanted when you called.  Their catalog can
also be very frustrating, as it includes lots of discs which they
*might* have in stock at any time.  For me, their strength s their
iimport section; they have furnished several discs I couldn't get
through Down Home, and their British Isles import prices are very
attractive.  Also a good source for US East Coast local artists.

   Alcazar Music
   Box 429
   South Main Street
   Waterbury, VT 05676
   (802) 244-8657

Nice source for domestic small-label folk music.   Prices are about
average.  They publish a big annual catalog; last time I was on their
mailing list, they also offered a newsletter with listings and reviews
of new releases.  (I've relegated Alcazar to the back of the US Domestic
listings because I haven't ordered from them in several years.)

   Black Swan Records
   2936 W. 4th Ave.
   Vancouver, BC  v6k 1r2
   CANADA
   (604) 734-2828

A store specializing in jazz, folk, blues and world music.
Co-owned by Usenet contributor Nou Dadoun.  A good mail-order
source for Canadian folk artists such as Figgy Duff or Garnet &
Stan Rogers.  (Caution: Canadian prices are high too.)

   Tower Records (in London)
   1 Piccadilly Circus
   London W1
   UK
   011-44-71-439-2500   ($$$ phone)
             734-3919   (alleged fax number, I never tried it)
Tower was my first adventure in becoming my own importer.  Check with
your long distance phone company for the cheapest time to call; for me,
it's around 6 or 7 in the morning.  London's about five hours ahead of
us, and Tower is open from nine a.m. to midnight local time.  Ask for
the mail order desk.  Delivery takes between six and 11 days.  Most CDs
are 12 pounds, and shipping is 5 pounds for every two CDs.  (The way
currency exchange rates have been fluctuating this year, I'm not going
to convert that to dollars here!) Goodies I've gotten this way include:
RIDE by the Oysters, months ahead of the US release; pipes CDs by
Kathryn Tickell and Davy Spillane, Michelle Shocked CD singles, and a
Rogue Records sampler.  The phone call will cost between $5 and $10,
depending on how efficiently you and the order taker interact.
(Unfortunately, Tower is a giant all-genre retailer, and so there's 
no guarantee that the order takers are going to know anything about
folk music.  That, and Tower's erratic stocking of really tiny labels, 
has led me to often pass over Tower in favor of Projection Records.)

   Projection Records Mail Order
   19, Mount Pleasant
   Crewkerne,
   Somerset  TA18 7AH
   UK
   011-44-0460-74551

I first turned to this small folk specialist firm in 1991 when
Tower let me down on an order from small UK folk labels.
Projection's phone is connected to an answering machine 24 hours a
day, so I can just call and dictate my order: artist, title, label,
stock number if I have it, Visa number & expiration.
Talking to the machine is faster & cheaper than talking to people
at Tower Records in London.  (My last few orders I've skipped the
telephone and just written a letter.)  CDs are 11 pounds and
unfortunately Projection does not refund the VAT like Tower does.
I use pricey air shipping at about 2.5 pounds per disc, but cheaper
surface rates are available.  Delivery seems to take a bit longer,
10-21 days.  Projection has become my best UK source.

----------

Three magazines to help encourage your spendthrift ways:

   Dirty Linen, address above

The major American journal for folk-rock and urban folk music.
Bimonthly, $3.50 per issue.  Reviews tend to be a bit too
enthusiastic about everything, and in many ways it still feels like
a fanzine, but nothing else in the US really covers the field as a
popular music.

   Folk Roots, PO Box 337, London N4 1TW, England

I know there are some readers in the UK who don't like this
magazine much, but for the residents of the Atlantic colonies it's
a wonderful way to keep in touch with folk & folk-pop of the
British Isles.  The magazine has also branched extensively into
coverage of world music in the last few years.  FR has been my
shopping list for the last seven years.  Available in the US
through Roots & Rhythm (see above), and also stocked at some Tower
Records outlets and better independent stores.  I've only had
to order issues from England twice.  Monthly, 2 pounds, sold in the
US for around $6.

   Rock 'N' Reel, 8 Dent Place, Cleator Moor, Cumbria, CA25 5EE, England

This hopefully-quarterly fanzine hasn't been published in a while, but
back issues are worth obtaining.  Most of the six issues I've seen have
introduced me to some really fine folk-rock music, most leaning a bit
more to the rock side than the bands covered in FOLK ROOTS.  The
magazine is filled with the editor's youthful enthusiasm and all sorts
of interesting tidbits: the title alone should tell you if you'd be
interested.


-- 
--Ken Josenhans
    Internet: 13020KRJ@msu.edu      Bitnet: 13020KRJ@msu
Newsgroups: rec.music.folk