KOREA: in the high tech capital, vinyl is alive and well...

Andrew Everard 30 November 2008 23:06

One facsinatng thing about my day spent in Seoul's Yongsan Electronics market was the huge amount of vinyl on sale. I found this massive store full of secondhand discs, with the staff busy unpacking boxes and pricing up more stock to fill the empty bins in the centre.

And there are bargains to be had if your taste extends to the kitsch. The K-Tel compilation below,  from the glam rock era - 1976, to be precise. Complete with what looks like a period Spirograph attack on the cover, it would probably have the Guilty Pleasures fans foaming at the mouth: It contains hits from the likes of ELO, Elton John, Thin Lizzy and Diana Ross, and it's yours for the princely sum of W500, or about 20p.


 

There are more upmarket used vinyl stores, with a more selective display of prized records. This is the window of 33RPM, with discs including a 1960s Brian Hyland album, Nirvana's Nevermind and Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother alongside the classical discs.


But even in the general music/DVD stores here there's a massive selection of used vinyl for sale


and bargains to be had, whatever your taste in music...


 

Comments

skr1 December 1, 2008 21:45

I no longer have my first K-Tel Record

lost it ? Is it there? Guy Mitchell singing the Blues ? Doris Day , J Cash dont take your Guns to town son leave your guns at home Bill? On that note

Its now time to clear off and say no more, enough said. Should you See one for 20p With the above Wellllll. A 1.00 Ok?

Steve.

Joe Cox December 2, 2008 13:06

But do they sell dubstep?

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About Andrew Everard

Andrew Everard, Audio Editor of Gramophone since November 1999 and What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision's Consulting Editor, read English at Queens' College, Cambridge a very long time ago! He started his journalistic career in 1982 on Haymarket's photographic magazines, and subsequently worked on What Hi-Fi?, High Fidelity, Audiophile and Home Cinema magazines, as well as contributing a monthly column to Japanese title HiVi.