lockdown : vinyl find #25.

For a few years, I was coming to Paris regularly ; I wasn't living far from it, but I needed to take the train. Gare du Nord was a regular location. Although it might be difficult to find quality food around it for when you need to wait for your train, you might find a few good record stores around providing that you walk a bit. That's what I did one day. I walked a bit away from the train station and found this record store that I guessed was kind of old, I mean not from the new generation of record stores. The owner was talking to an old customer when I entered. I didn't have any specific goal, so I started browsing through the crates, mostly the funk and soul ones. 

My eyes caught the special green of a spine.

In 2010, Gil Scott-Heron released "I'm new here", his ultimate true album. I've been very intrigued by the man for several years, both the musician and the writer. That's why I bought the CD when it came out. His label, XL Recordings, soon licensed hip electro wizkid Jamie xx to release his own versions of Scott-Heron's songs from the "I'm new here" album. The single-sided 12" "New York is killing me" was one of the first vinyl record I ever bought. I purchased it while on a short stay in Baltimore, USA, and I didn't even owned a turntable at the time... 

A few months later, I was a proud owner of a crappy turntable when Jamie xx released a whole album of remixes, titled "We're new here" (another one, by Makaya McCraven has just been released in 2020, ten years after the original release). Sadly, I missed the first wave of arrivals in the bins. All I knew was that the cover was green. It became a personal quest.

For three years, I searched in vain. Prices on internet were too high, and regular record stores, even online, were out of stock. 

Until I got into this store in Paris. I recognized the spine, smiled and immediately told the store owner that a special quest had just ended for me ; I asked how he got his hands on this record. He answered with a smile : "I bought the whole remaining stock". I was shocked. This, ladies and gentlemen, is basic economics : if something is valuable, by drying out the market, the value just increases... I just didn't know record stores would apply this basic law in the vinyl business. Yes, I was naive. I didn't check the reality of his assertion. Maybe he meant the stock for France. In any case, he did owned several copies, while it was damn near impossible to find this record at this time. So, of course, the price was a bit higher than it would have been when the record first came around, but it was cheaper than on the internet and I was too happy to have it. 

Quality electro music, UK garage to be accurate. "New York is killing me" had a distinctive beat and bassline, which made it an irresistible track to me. The album contains another essential track, which most know through the sampling that was done later by Drake and Rihanna, "I'll take care of you". Overall, it's a comforting album that places the listener in a different zone... 

Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie xx - We're new here.   

Here's the album, as a YouTube playlist.