It was a 'Jim'll Fix It' reference.

Regular readers of the blog may be aware of my penchant for record shopping on a Bank Holiday Monday. It just seems so right. Not that it ever seems particularly wrong. Hmm, this may just be a thinly veiled excuse for buying more records. Anyhoo, as I had a wander round my nearest music emporiums of choice I noticed that Elvis Costello's 'Momofuku' had indeed crept into the UK shops. Fopp were blasting it out at a quite magnificent volume and had it prominently displayed on their new releases shelf. However, the most disturbing moment of the whole process was the discovery of a copy of the vinyl in their meagre racks. £13! Bargain. Pretty much the price I paid for the US import that's not proved to be particularly speedy. It's moments like this, moments when you think that you've cleverly circumvented the machinations of 'the man' only to have your face - or ears, I guess, as this is music related - very much rubbed in it (whatever the figurative 'it' is), that really piss me off. I shouldn't be annoyed. I'll have the album in no time at all on vinyl, a kind soul shared their bonus download code with me so that I can actually enjoy it already and yet, there I was smarting at its presence in the racks. I have to confess, dear reader, that I did spend a minute or two attempting to conjure a reason why I needed two copies of 'Momofuku' on vinyl thus rendering the purchase of this copy an absolute necessity. Thankfully, common sense kicked in (a new experience in a record shop) and I left without it. That said, if it doesn't turn up soon I may lose the plot.

Fopp are in the middle of a big clearout, with plenty of CDs at £3. Once the price is this low, I find it quite hard to avoid temptation and duly left with six titles from the vast range on offer. I still feel a little dirty shopping in Fopp in the same quantities I used to. It's a bit like when you see celebrities so desperate to appear 'trendy' that they start wearing a Stooges T-shirt for every TV interview they do. Fopp is HMV in a Sex Pistols T-shirt, and it's not quite right.

Oh, and this blog proved how scarily instant the interweb can be yesterday. Mere hours after I'd posted about the new Costello album, a quote of the entire post appeared on the exact forums I referred to, link and everything. Kind of appropriate once you've heard the lyrics to 'No Hiding Place', the opener on 'Momofuku'. Hi all. Be regular readers, won't you?