UNKNOWN PLEASURES RARE RECORDS & CDS - EDINBURGH

This came at the end of a day's wondering through the city rain, pushing a pram and discussing the merits of themed scatter cushions and whether they could be utilized to brighten up an other wise drab sitting room with my wife. I pretended to get us lost on the way back in order to take in the joy's of 'Unknown Pleasures Rare Records & CDs'

'We can definitely get back this way... Oh look a record shop!'

I expected a lot from this store, not least because the guys in Avalanche had said it was 'pricey'. I took this to mean it was full to the brim of interesting but expensive stock. Sadly this was not the case.

Despite a name that suggests the store is a haven for Joy Division completists or other similarly serious musical types it's actually very heavily geared towards Edinburgh's passing tourist trade - Lots of band t-shirts of questionable legitimacy, U2 picture disc albums and the like. The punters were exclusively Spanish and almost certainly in search 'a something special by the Depeche a Mode'. There was an experimental section but it was the kind of experimental section where an Osibisa album wouldn't look out of place.

To do the shop justice I need to go back for a rematch. All I can really say is that my first visit was pretty fruitless and despite the ambitious signage the 'Rare Records' part was not as omnipresent as I had imagined it would be. But whatever, it was a record shop on a miserable autumn's day, add a pint and a packet of salt and vinegar crisps to that and I'm happy.