Coelacanth Discovered in Edinburgh!!!

Okay, I've used that title joke on numerous occasions here previously, but you'll get the point.

And now the short version. As perceptive readers may have already intuited, a certain Shady Dame and I have (lately) made it a sort of tradition, upon our vacation trips to various European cities, to discover at least one indigenous indie record store per town. As the aforementioned readers should recall, the most recent of these excursions was during our end of April vacay to Amsterdam, where we discovered a a fabulous little shop called Record Mania, chatted with the charming proprietor and came home with a virgin copy of a re-mastered early 70's Shocking Blue LP that I'd wanted forever.

During our just completed sojourn to Edinburgh, however, we found the proverbial horse of a different color. More specifically, a remarkable place called Avalanche Records.

Which turned out (surprisingly) to be located, a few blocks from our rather upscale hotel, in a fashionable/trendy underground shopping mall called the Waverly Market.

We shot the breeze with the store's droll proprietor, the irrepressible Kevin Buckle...

...who's been running the place (in a variety of venues) for nearly 40 years (five in its current digs) and who has an impressibly encyclopedic knowledge of all things pop. And in general we had an absolutely fabulous afternoon at the place.

Here's the aforementioned Shady Dame of my aquaintance looking through the merchandise...

...and here she is (back in the States) with the incredible Yardbirds b-sides comp -- Psycho Daisies -- she scored after scouring the store's LP racks.

I should add that we also bought a vinyl copy of Amy Winehouse's Back to Black, and I grabbed a really cool black hoodie that has the store's logo on the back (which I wore for pretty much the rest of our time in the Scottish capitol). I also gave Kevin a couple of CD copies of The Floor Models' Esprit de Floor (oh right -- you didn't see THAT coming) -- and he has since informed me that it is in heavy rotation on the the Avalanche in-store playlist.

Anyway, just a terrific afternoon; if you find yourself in Edinburgh (which I highly recommend in general -- it's a helluva town) be sure to check it out. And when you do, tell Kevin that PowerPop sent you.

Meanwhile, you can find out more about the place at their informative website over HERE; their physical address is Waverly Market, 3 Waverly Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1BQ.