We are bursting with excitement and pride to announce that we have moved to our own storefront! YES! We have moved just around the corner from where we were to 9 S. Spring St in Elgin, Illinois. We're still in downtown Elgin, we're still just a few minute walk from both the Metra Elgin stop and the Pace Bus station. Plenty of street parking and parking deck parking. Oh, and still a pretty great record selection to choose from on any given day. Our first official day at the new location was on March 18th, 2014.

Yeah, the arrow pretty much tells you where we are. We'll have our sign on the facade by March 17th. Our first official day at the new location will be March 18th, 2014

If you have trouble remembering the address, just think Beatles "White Album". Number 9 Number 9 Number 9, Number 9 S. Spring Street!

A very simple map of where we were, and where we are at 9 S. Spring Street. Nice!

We built a couple more bins for the new space. Here is a photoset of one of the bins we built.
Think Spring. Think Spring Street!

Rediscover Records Record Store Day List 2012

Here is our modest Record Store Day list. As with the nature of Limited Releases, we did not get everything we ordered. We hope you find something here you like. We will open promptly at 9am. Please enter in an orderly fashion (Remember, "Love & tolerance of others is our code"), we will expedite the line and the check-outs as quickly as possible. Certain items we ordered or received just (1) copy.

We will also have complimentary fresh fruit, pastries and coffee. Plenty of *FREE* Record Store Day Promotional items will be given away with your purchase, but be advised, supplies are limited. Also, with the nature of limited pressings on certain records, the number we ordered, and the number of items we actually received, we're going to run out of certain things. We can only hope you find things to your liking as you spend time at Rediscover Records.

We'll also have our special Rediscover Records T-Shirts on special for $10.00.

RECORD STORE DAY LIST 2012

Arcade Fire - Sprawl II

Brendan Benson - What Kind of World

Black Keys - El Camino

Blitzen Trapper - Hey Joe

Bloos Magoos - So I'm Wrong & You're Right

Blue Project - Punchman Farm

David Bowie - Mick Rock Tin

Richard Buckner - Willow/Lost

Breakfast Club Soundtrack -Various

James Brown - Live at the Appollo

Dave Bruback - Fantasy 3-3

Bruno Mars - Grenade Sessions

The Byrds - I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Wand - Diddy Wah Diddy

The Clash - London Calling

Common - Dreamer the Believer

The Cult - For the Animals

The Cure - Entreat Plus

Cursive - Burst & Bloom

Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr - We Almost Lost Detroit

Miles Davis - Forever Miles

Deerhoof/Of Montreal -Stygian Bisection

Lana Del Rey - Born to Die

Dry the River - New Ceremony

Justin Townes Earle - Nothings Gonna Change. . .

Empire Records - Soundtrack

Farrar, Johnson, Parker, Yames - Let's Multiply

Flaming Lips/Mastodon - Spoonful Weighs A Ton

Flogging Molly - Drunken Lullabies

Florence & the Machine - Shake It Out

Futurebirds - Seney Stoval

Garbage - Blood For Poppies

Lee Hazelwood - The LHI Years

Patterson Hood - After It's Gone

Mastodon / Feist - Feistodon "A Commotion" with "Black Tongue"

MC5/Afrika Bambaataa - Kick Out the Jams

Metallica - Beyond Magic

Misfits - Walk Among Us

The Neanderthals - Teen Dance Time

Of Monsters & Men - Into... 10"

Ozzy Osborne - Believer

Phish - Junta Deluxe Pollock Edition

Iggy Pop - Raw Power

Pussy Galore - Feel Good Abour Your Body EP

Otis Redding/Aretha Franklin - Respect

Paul Revere & the Raiders - Ride Your Pony

Paul Simon - Graceland 25 Anniv. LP

Small Faces - Itchycoo Park

Small Faces - Tin Soldier

Regina Spektor - Sings Two Bulat Okudzhava

Bruce Springsteen - Rocky Ground with The Promise (Live)

Starf***** - Heaven's Use

Stax Box Set - 1968-1974 "Never To Be Forgotten: The Flip Side of Stax"

Peter Tosh - Legalize It

Pete Townsend - Quadrophenia Demos

Uncle Tupelo - No Depression

Uncle Tupelo - Still Feel Gone

Uncle Tupleo - March 16-20

M Ward - Primitive Girl

Mike Watt - Sweet Honey Pie

White Stripes - Hand Springs

Widespread Panic - Live Wood

Record Store Day 2012

Record Store Day is fast approaching! As of now, it is less than one week away! What's on your list? We will be posting our list to this blog, our Facebook page, and of course, our website as soon as we know our full Record Store Day inventory. We don't even know what we will have until we have it in our grubby little mitts. We're excited, are you excited?

See you on Record Store Day!

On Saturday April 14th we posted several quotes about independent record stores that were culled from the Record Store Day quotes page to our Rediscover-Record Facebook Page. Ahem, like this page if you have not already, please. Here are a few of them.

‎"One of my most vivid record store memories was being in Belmont Records in Springfield, Massachusetts when the first shipment of Bruce Springsteen's "Darkness on the Edge of Town" arrived. I helped the manager, John Dougan, unpack the boxes. We pulled out the first two copies, looked at the great cover shot, then flipped it over to the list of songs on the back, imagining their greatness solely by their titles: "Badlands", "Candy's Room", "Racing In The Streets", "Prove It All Night", "Promised Land"... How could they not be great songs with titles like these?! We put the album on the store's turntable, blasted it, and we were right - it was incredible. I must confess that I use iTunes and buy CD's online when I'm not near a record store, but I'll never have a moment like that sitting at my computer." -Mike Scully (writer for "The Simpsons")

“The idea of, ‘The journey is the destination’ is put into action by browsing in an indie record store. Besides, a human being is a much better guide than a ‘More Like This’ link on the internet.”

--Patton Oswalt

“It’s important to keep indie record stores alive because their unique environments introduce music lovers to things in a very personal way.” --Norah Jones

I don't know what I would do without indie record stores. Having grown up in a town without them, I can tell you that it's no fun to shop for indie records at chain box stores. Independent record stores like Sonic Boom in Seattle, Rockin Rudys in Missoula and 2nd Avenue in Portland were holy golden shrines to me growing up. Actually, they still are.

--Colin Meloy (The Decemberists)

"Yes, yes, I know. It's easier to download music, and probably cheaper. But what's playing on your favourite download store when you walk into it? Nothing, that's what. Who are you going to meet in there? Nobody. Where are the notice boards offering flatshares and vacant slots in bands destined for superstardom? Who's going to tell you to stop listening to that and start listening to this? Go ahead and save yourself a couple of quid. The saving will cost you a career, a set of cool friends, musical taste and, eventually, your soul. Record stores can't save your life. But they can give you a better one.. " --Nick Hornby

"C'mon and take your best shot

Let me see what you got

Bring on your wrecking ball"

-Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen's new release, "Wrecking Ball" (Columbia Records) has been hailed in many circles as one of the better new releases of 2012. The song "Wrecking Ball" is about the demolition of Giants_Stadium in the Meadowlands of New Jersey, or as one might say, "somewhere in the swamps Jersey".

As with most of the gentrification of these United States, the City of Elgin is no stranger to the destruction of the wrecking ball. Take a look at any older picture of downtown Elgin and you will see the landscape of this urban city dramatically different than what you see today.

The most significant building in Elgin to suffer the wrath of the wrecking ball was the Elgin National Watch Factory. The Elgin National Watch Factory (on National Street) was in operation from 1867 to the early 1960's. It was the premier watch manufacturer in the world. Over 1 million watches were produced at the factory. Over half of the pocket watches produced in the United States were manufactured at the Watch Factory. To tie some music into this, the Robert_Johnson recording "Walkin Blues" mentions an Elgin Watch, "She's got Elgin movements from her head down to her toes." We can count foreign competition, like the themes of some Springsteen songs, as the main culprit for the Watch Factory's demise.

The photo above is an actual Elgin pocket watch (placed on the Springsteen album cover "Wrecking Ball") from around 1948. It is a "Railroad" watch. Railroad watches had to be calibrated to such precise times that trains and their conductors could run their train schedules around these watches.

Here is the Elgin Watch Factory in it's hey day. Today, if you are familiar with the Elgin Grand Victoria Casino, the GVC is just to the left of this picture on Grove St.

The wrecking ball came to the watch factory beginning in the summer of 1966. These photos here are from the E.C. Alft's book, "Old Elgin: A Pictorial History". The Watch Factory clock tower had a face and hands that rivaled the size of London's "Big Ben". Its almost criminal the powers that be of Elgin didn't at least have the foresight to at least preserve the Tower. They did not.

"All of our victories and glories have turned to parking lots" -Bruce Springsteen "Wrecking Ball"

The Watch Factory land, more or less, stood vacant until a shopping center was built in the mid-1980's. Much of the soil under the factory had to be eradicated because of radium. In fact, the layout of the parking lot is in such a way to encapsulate whatever radium that may have remained. Today a Butera Grocery store and several other strip mall type stores occupy the Watch Factory grounds.

To see a fantastic exhibit on the Elgin Watch Factory visit the Elgin Historical Society at 360 Park St. in Elgin. In it is an actual hour hand from the Tower.

Find Bruce Springsteen's new record "Wrecking Ball" at Rediscover Records. Here is Springsteen performing "Wrecking Ball"

2011 Faves and other News

Welcome back to the Rediscover Records music blog (Why do we feel the need to chuckle at the words "music blog"?) where you can find news and updates to all things Rediscover Records.

We are always looking to stock the best in new releases and we found that 2011 had no shortage of great releases. Here were a just a few of our favorite records of 2011!

-Lydia Loveless - Indestructible Machine

-Wild Flag - Wild Flag

-The Decemberists - The King Is Dead (Yes, the title is an homage to The Smiths)

-Frank Turner - England Keep My Bones

-Okkervil River - I Am Very Far

-Centro-matic - Candidates Waltz

-Richard Buckner - Our Blood

-Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit - Hear We Rest

Here is Jason Isbell with "Alabama Pines"

We were really struck by the Wheedles Groove Box Set, which is a wonderful selection of 45's from Seattle's funk and soul scene from the 1965 to the late 1970's. (Read more about it in the different colored font above). You can order from our website as well with our secure "Buy Now" pay pal buttons. They bring you directly to your own pay pal account.

Other news, the Louvin Brothers reissues are fantastic. Get your really old school country on with the Louvins! Inspirations to generations of singers and songwriters.

We are also particularly fond of the recent reissue of Morphine's "Cure For Pain". Find the classic reissue on vinyl at Rediscover Records.

Now, of course, our blog entries are time sensitive, so if you are reading this weeks or months from the date, shoot us an email (records@rediscoverrecords.com), a phone call (847.961.8445) or check our website to make sure some of these releases are still in stock. Thanks for reading and as always, Keep 'Em Spinnin'!

The Reverends at Penny Road Pub

The Reverends, who hail from right here in Elgin, Illinois, spit in the face any genre that you may try to categorize them in. Their Facebook page says, "Whatever You Think We Are" to describe their genre. They are a 5 piece band, sometimes augmented by a horns, play their music with a conviction you'd hard pressed to find it bands two or three times their age. By my last count, none of them are old enough to *even* buy a drink at Penny Road Pub. One of the members "other band" is a Marching Band at Elgin High School

They play their own original material from their 2010 self-titled CD release "The Reverends" (Find it by going to Rediscover Records and picking up a copy. It's also available on iTunes & their own website. Please buy your music). These songs capture the essence of the songs that they do cover. Excellent originals like "That Song" and "Red Dress" are driving R&B sounding songs. The songs they cover are done with such reverence that if Otis Redding was to hear them play "Shake", he wouldn't be rolling in his grave, he'd be rocking and rolling in it.

It doesn't matter that 70's rock guitarist Ronnie Montrose was at the Penny Road Pub only the night before. The crowd at PRP was there to see The Reverends. I had seen them a handful of times before and while they've always impressed me by playing music beyond their years, they've continued dazzle. Now, they switch instruments, lead vocalists, and incorporate other instruments. One moment their sound is so authentic you'll think you are on Bourbon Street in New Orleans and within a few songs, you are transported north up the Mississippi to the heart of Stax/Volt country in Memphis. There is little banter between songs, so after a little shuffling the next songs in the set may include original material like "Let Nothing Be Put to Rest", the bluesy harmonica of "Loose Hips", indie rock like Old Crow Medicine Show or the best cover of The Decemberists "O Valencia" you may ever hear. I think Colin Meloy himself would stand and applaud.

Due to band commitments, vacations, school, their dates are limited for the rest of 2011. Do yourself a favor and catch The Reverends at their next show. Throw away the genre tags. It's just great music. The Reverends are: Tanner Bednar, Wyeth Bednar, Brandon Couture, George Rapidis, and Chas Sirridge.

Rest In Peace, Big Man

"You want to be like him, but you know you can't"

--Bruce Springsteen

You never want to think of days like this, when people who influenced your life (even if you never knew them, let alone, met them) have passed on. Today is one of those days as we found out late last night the passing of Clarence Clemons. "The King of the World, Master of the Universe, Do I have to speak his name? Clarence 'The Big Man' Clemons!"

I didn't experience the wonder, the majesty, the fist pumpin' experience of a Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band show until Alpine Valley, Wisconsin 1984. While that is now 25 years further on down the road, I've always felt a little late to the Springsteen party. I'm so glad I got to the party and it's been a continuous party of memories ever since as I have seen Springsteen (a modest count relatively speaking to some Springsteen fanatics) 20+ times since that affirming show in 1984.

It's one thing that Springsteen himself is one of the more dynamic performers of any era, the fact that Clarence was his main foil, his rock n roll partner, and one of the best rock sidemen of all time, just added to the experience. To sit behind the stage and see the joy and exuberance of total strangers after Clarence plays the solo to "The Promised Land" are memories I will never forget. To see an entire section of an arena erupt as he kicks into solo of "Badlands" is something that has to be experienced, and sadly, experienced no more. He was just cool. I mean, *cool*. Look at this picture. It's cool. Period.

It's giving a total stranger at a Springsteen show a knowing look after the "Prove it All Night" solo that you both saw the *same* thing and have this same bond. It's Clarence going to one wing of the stage and Bruce going to the other wing as we pulled outta here to win during sax solo and coda of "Thunder Road" and meeting in the center in a joyous celebration with 20,000 of your friends are things I will never forget. I can't tell you how many times I just opened the gatefold of the "Born to Run" record and just stared at it. How many times did I go to a Springsteen show and see Clarence's saxophone's on the stage before the show and just countdown the moments til the house lights went down and we'd hear Clemon's first solo. On the "Tracks" tour of 1999, it was the song I have on now, "The Ties That Bind" from 1980's "The River". I saw the 1992 Human Touch/Lucky Town tour, just one show, with Springsteen and some other musicians not the E Street Band. This band, while good, was not the E Street Band. Imagine the aforementioned "Badlands" with no sax solo. Yeah, you get the idea. The show was just a shadow of itself. The main ingredient missing, the X factor missing: Clarence.

Rediscover Records may not exist as we know it without the impact of a Bruce Springsteen concert. That's the power and the passion of rock n roll. That's the impact of a Springsteen show and it's influence of wide smiles, tears of joy, and wonderful memories. R.I.P. Big Man. Your work is done here, you're in a better place, and you made our world a better place.

"If I could take one moment into my hands"