Vinyl Hunting In Montreal! Part 3….

Dateline/Friday October 27th/2017/Montreal

So after our morning hangout at Beatnick Records it was back for a vinyl drop-off  at the hotel and off to lunch for myself and Tbone.

After lunch we decided to head back to out hotel for a bit of chill time but it wasn’t long before T looked at the third and last stop of our Vinyl Hunting expedition.

Thanks to Aaron with that email that he sent naming the go to shops to visit in Montreal. Tbone said from our downtown hotel to Aux 33 Tours would be an hour walk which we could have done the next day but T decided  “lets take a cab” and do this!

No twisting  my arm!

Once we entered Aux 33 this place was Huge! I mean Huge! Rows of records everywhere.  Sealed/Used/Bootleg albums. Wherever you turned man it was vinyl galore! So cool and my first thought was “If I had unlimited funds this would get out of hand pretty damn quick!”

Case in point as they post on their website Used Records Dropped In Our Bins. They have three categories that fall under this title. Daily/The Current Year/For The last 365 Days.

So when I wrote this up on November 3rd  the stats were  for Nov 3rd a total of 406 records were dropped off that day alone!!

The total for 2017 is 64,640! The last year’s total was a whopping 76,535 albums that have passed through this record shop alone!

Back in Montreal when Tbone read me the stat’s I couldn’t even fathom it as I had to ask him to repeat it …hahaha…..

This place had a zillion records wrapped and used! I didn’t know where to start but one of the first albums I cam across was the excellent Powerstation* album. It was a great copy and had the sticker price of $1.99! Bam! Sold! The next one I grabbed as a no brainer was Eat Em & Smile** by David Lee Roth.

Tbone was scouring through the daily drop bins and he called me over as he found a copy of Rush’s Signals*** which is my all time fav-o Rush album. (Speaking of Rush they had a couple of Permanent Waves albums recorded in St Louis back in 1980 which again I was tempted…damn temptation!)

Great call T and thanks for spotting RUSH, Also added to my collection was Don’t Look Back**** by Boston that I only had ever owned on cassette back in what? 1980? Haha…Another great score! Nice old throwback Gatefold sleeve with that one as well!

Out of say 70,000 plus records they had one Kim Mitchell album and that was Shakin Like A Human Being***** and I quickly grabbed that one as well as back upon its release in 1986 I also bought this one on cassette but have always been fond of this one as for my money alone opening track Get Lucky Boys and Girls is an absolute classic Akimbo track if there ever was one!

Records Records everywhere… The great thing is we were in no Rush(no pun) to leave….

On this trip I purchased 6 used albums and 4 sealed albums! Considering I had not really thought about buying that much beforehand  I was pretty stoked to get these albums!

This was great adventure and I got Tbone to thank for this trip! The dude took care of everything and I mean everything!  As you all know is he’s been my Rock N Roll Wingman for about 42 years now. There is no one I would rather be in the trenches with that’s for sure!

The 4 days we were in Montreal we just chilled out. The only thing that was planned was the hockey game that took place on the Saturday Night and even though my Rangers lost to the Habs(5-4)  it was still a hoot to be in a hockey crazed market watching an Original 6 matchup with my best pal T who too much his chagrin was sitting amongst a bunch of Ranger Fans!

HAHAHAHA…….

*-Powerstation debut is a classic! Period! The first 20-30 seconds with those drums mashing up with the bass is pure Gold! The album soars sonically after that!

**-Eat Em Smile is Roth still acting like he’s about to committed to the Looney Bin but what a friggin brilliant supporting cast if there was ever one playing behind him! Played my daughter Elephant Gun as I wanted her to hear the Bass rip n roar of Billy Sheehan! Lexie was impressed to say the least!

***-Signals. So good to secure this copy and I like I told my pal Kevin this is worth the purchase just for that pic of Lifesons haircut! Seriously though this is one of those impact albums!

****-For me Boston starts and ends with the late great Brad Delp! Don’t Look Back is a great simple Boston Hard Rock Gem! Love the light colours of a rock record and the gatefold as well!

*****- Akimbo comes through on Shakin Like A Human Being! For me over the past 3 decades this has become the sleeper album for myself in the Mitchell recorded library! Love the laid back feel and smooth production plus love the inside black sleeve that on one side in the bottom corner has a pic of lyricist Pye Dubious! 

WHAT A GREAT FRIGGIN TRIP!

(Thanks for reading along!)