In Strict Tempo, vol. 83: I've Always Been Spoilt For Choice

In which I make a shocking revelation.

Last week I went for dinner with some old friends I worked with at HMV years ago. The food was good, the company was better, reminiscing about the times we had there (good and bad), the mad colleagues we had, the madder customers, but most importantly the music.

I’ve written briefly about HMV and the issues it faces, as well as it’s relevance in the market today a couple of times before but never on my own personal journey with the shop, which started back in 2007, having left Music & Video Exchange in search of a better wage and more regular hours. I applied to HMV, Virgin and Phonica, the first two requiring a music/film/gaming test (thankfully much less detailed then the one Music & Video Exchange required) and getting interviews at all three. HMV responded first (luckily, as Virgin/Zavvi closed the following year) and I joined the Trocadero store as a Temporary member of staff in the lead-up to Christmas.

The first real big-selling albums I remember that year were Led Zeppelin’s Mothership, and Timbaland’s Shock Value. It seemed like Kashmir and The Way I Are were on non-stop repeat on Radio HMV during that time, which to be honest was a bit of a blur, not to mention eighteen years ago.

After Christmas I was offered a permanent, part-time contract, however it was on the late shift, 7pm until quarter past midnight (the store stayed open until midnight). Working past 12 meant I was eligible for a £15 per day ‘taxi payment’ which was a nice boost to the payslip at the end of the month, especially as I generally cycled to work.

The store at this time had a big section of 12” dance singles and a couple of 1210’s to listen to stuff on, so that was the section I gravitated to, but this steadily got smaller and smaller until they made the decision to stop selling singles (vinyl or CD) altogether. The vinyl LP section was just a few feet of racking, although it increased a little bit towards the end of my time there, probably too late.

The real benefit of the late shift, was that HMV Radio finished at 7pm, so we had unlimited access to the store stereo (the only real rule, nothing with too much swearing in it). It was like having Spotify, before Spotify was a thing. Basically every CD you could imagine, and a crew of proper music heads working that unsocial shift. Not every colleague was a music lover, but those of us that were took control of the stereo, and as a result helped push some really good music on to people. It’s always been a passion of mine, sharing music with people (to the end that it probably bores a lot of my friends), and being able to work with similar people, with great taste was like a dream.

Of course I didn’t like everything that we put on the stereo, and things would often get vetoed during the 7pm walk around to find stuff to listen to (not Screamadelica again!), but I discovered a lot of great music based on my colleagues tastes. One guy who’s knowledge of early shoegaze took meant that for him, British guitar music stopped being good in 1995, another who loved Nine Inch Nails and almost nothing else, the 80’s synth pop fan who’d always draw for the Depeche Mode & Soft Cell CDs… we were never that busy after about 9pm, so the job was mostly standing around and talking about music, waiting for someone to buy something, and counting down the hours until we could go out into Soho to get drunk after work. It wasn’t a particularly healthy lifestyle, not getting home until the early hours most nights, but I was young enough for it to be fun and for hangovers and comedowns to have worn off enough by the time 7pm rolled round again.

Being in the heart of the West End, (our biggest selling CD was the Cast Recording of Mamma Mia, the show that was in the theatre opposite our store) we’d get celebrity customers too - Carlos Santana, Marc Almond, various actors including Richard Ayoade & the bloke that played Martin Fowler, David Trezeguet- who was “100% signing for Man United, why else would he be here?” according to one co-worker, but we also had our fair share of misfit customers too, the people with nowhere to go who’d stand on the listening posts all night, all their worldly possessions at their feet (we never kicked these guys out, they caused us no harm), the people who’d just want to talk about music with you, Dave Elvis; a terrible Elvis impersonator who’d sing if you dared engage him in conversation, and the serial returners who’d treat us like a library, freshly folded receipts in the CD case, always on the 13th day of the 14 day return window. Some of those guys we’d tell to fuck off, but a few of them were alright, and would stay for a chat.

Of course, all good things come to an end, and the writing was on the wall from 2011 or so onwards, changes to the recruitment policy meant the test was dropped, and the store was filled with people who didn’t really know much about music, but could tell you the specs of an iPad with a smile on their faces. We were never arseholes, but we were efficient at serving customers so we could get back to doing what were doing previously.

A large round of store closures took place in early 2011, although we survived. HMV felt like it was a bit lost, having missed the boat on digital music it purchased stakes in Waterstones, live venue owner MAMA Group, and 7digital. During this time the whole vibe around the place started to shift, sales targets were introduced, add-ons at the till that staff were ‘encouraged’ to sell, a misjudged loyalty card scheme, that cost £3 to join and required something like a £1,000 spend to get a £10 voucher, a bigger focus on DVD & Blu-Ray, and then gaming and ‘tech’ meant that music started to take a back seat. Eventually the ground floor was given over to film & technology products, and music was pushed onto the upper floor. Consignment terms were agreed with distributors, which didn’t win anyone any friends, and lead to a reduction in available range. The CEO was ousted and replaced with a new one, a guy called Trevor Moore who fancied himself as a bit of a retail expert, styling himself as “the man who saved [camera retailer] Jessops”, despite it being obvious to everyone that Jessops was even more of a fucked presence on the high street as HMV. One of Moore’s first changes was to replace the security staff’s black uniforms (which his young daughter found ‘intimidating’) for pink, thus proving HMV to be a welcoming environment for shoppers and shoplifters alike. His second? Remove the £15 unsocial hours payment, which caused 90% of the late shift to leave, and the few remaining to ensure the shop was cleared out of customers fifteen minutes earlier so we could get the fuck out of there as close to midnight as possible.

In 2013 HMV went into administration, and our store was closed. If anyone’s ever been through a store closure in any industry, it’s a fucking miserable time, and this wasn’t any better. We had fuck-all stock left, everyone knew they weren’t going to get paid past the end of the month, but management kept pushing harder and harder, like they thought selling Elf DVD’s for £3 in March was going to keep the lights on. The customers were mostly sympathetic, you’d have the odd person kicking off that their gift card was now worthless, but who’d blame them?

It was bought by a firm called HILCO, and after closing a load of shops except for a handful seemed to be making a bit of money again, until it was placed in administration for a second time in 2018, when it was bought out by a Canadian firm, and the bloke that keeps banging on about vinyl in MusicWeek.

Despite being made redundant, I bear no ill will towards HMV. I still pop into my local Fopp now and again, although I don’t really buy stuff there (I do miss the 30% discount we used to receive) anymore. I think HMV has a place on the high street, and I’d be sad to see it go. It’s still really the only place you can scale a release out nationally, and some of their promotional packages aren’t too badly priced, even if most of the stock comes back eight weeks later. I loved my time working there, and learned so much about life, music, and London, as well as making some great friends.

So what were the tunes that kept us going? Loads - some stuff we’d only play once or twice, but regular visitors to the CD player over my six years there included Screamadelica, Endtroducing, Loveless (we sold tonnes of the reissued CDs of the MBV catalogue), Psyence Fiction, Ride’s Nowhere, the first three Underworld albums, the first three Chemical Brothers albums, the first three Prodigy albums… Power, Corruption & Lies, Low-Life or Technique, but mostly That New Order Total compilation, Disintegration, most Cure albums in fact, Untrue, Tiny Reminders, Sabresonic (II), Haunted Dancehall, the Fuck Buttons album… anything Weatherall had touched really, Psychocandy, Heaven or Las Vegas, The Immaculate Collection (we had to sell some pop music, right?), The Pet Shop Boys greatest hits CD, Closer, OK Computer, Kid A, Pablo Honey, basically all of Radiohead… Not for Threes, Frequencies, Diversions, Ultravisitor, drukqs, pretty much anything on Warp… a bit of Hip-Hop if we could get away with it, Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space (always a massive seller whenever we played it), The Downwards Spiral, Daydream Nation… never really much Oasis or Britpop though, even though we all really liked it, it just seemed a bit obvious. We’d also go for those 12” 80’s compilations, the Ministry of Sound Electronic 80’s triple CD’s which were actually pretty well curated and a guaranteed big seller if you had one on, but mixed dance compilations didn’t really work in the six-disc carousel we used, and the wildcard choice, which is full of bangers from start to finish The Sound of Girls Aloud: The Greatest Hits. The best British best pop band of the 00’s? Fight me.

Get Closer

This weeks (and a bit of last weeks as I was too busy) music then. I doubt much of this is available in HMV, but pop down to your local record shop to pick it up!

Richie Culver - Chase Money [Fixed Abode]

A new one from Hull’s artist/DJ/producer Richie Culver, in which he goes drill. Not much out there like this, Culver’s Humberside accent jarring with the inner-city beats co-produced by Rainy Miller. You’ll either love this or hate this, and that’s probably the way he wants it.

rRoxymore -Juggling Dualities [!K7]

French producer Rroxymore first came onto my radar with a run of singles on Don’t Be Afraid nine or so years ago, that followed with an album a few years later. Since then she’s released on the likes of Aus and Smalltown Supersound, and now joins !K7 for this latest album. As dance music goes this is pretty out-there, fusing genres and inspirations like it’s a piece of cake, even though we know that’s not always the case. Equally at home in the headphones or on the dancefloor, there’s still enough tunes on this that will work in the club.

MICROCORPS - Clear Vortex Chamber [Downwards]

Another one not out for a while yet, Alexander Tucker’s MICROCORPS releases a new album on Downwards. I’ve long been a fan of his work, and my love for Downwards is well documented so I’m excited by this. Label boss Regis has contributed to the record along with Karl D’Silva and Godflesh’s Justin K Broaderick. First single FEDBCK is that proper kind of punishing, industrial electronikx that I love, so I’m looking forward to getting my hands on the rest of it.

gyrofield - Suspension of Belief [Kapsela]

When this gets going it’s really motoring. Not quite weird enough to fall into IDM, not quite rigid enough to fall into techno, it’s good, whatever you wanna call it.

Ben Westbeech - All In You (Athens of the North Mix) [Athens of the North]

A collaboration between disco label de jour Athens of the North, and veteran producer/dj/remixer Ben Westbeech, who’s latest album has just come out on Defected’s Glitterbox imprint. A poolside slice of summer soul, get me on the next flight to Ibiza. Vinyl only on this one, but Athens affiliates East Coast Love Affair have also turned in a couple of remixes on the deluxe version of the album.

Joanne Robertson ft. Oliver Coates - Gown [AD93]

After collabs with the likes of Dean Blunt Joanne Robertson strikes out on her own with this solo album, featuring Oliver Coates. It’s not out until September, but first single Gown is streaming now, and it’s stunning, as close to Arthur Russell as it’s possible for someone from Glasgow to get (which is to say, pretty damn close). Really looking forward to hearing more of this one.

Factory Floor - Tell Me [Phantasy Sound]

I used to be bang into Factory Floor, but then a couple of records I didn’t really feel let them drop off my radar a bit, despite me still enjoying Nik Void’s solo work and collaborations. This one feels like a bit of a return to form.

Ploy - The Flirt EP [Faith Beat]

A new EP of functional UK techno from Ploy, does the job nicely this with some nice vocal snippets to keep things interesting. Doesn’t seem to be on Bandcamp, though?

Shinichi Atobe - Whispers into the Void [Plastic & Sounds]

Shinichi is back, on his new Plastic & Sounds imprint this time. This doesn’t drift too much from the usual Atobe sound, so if you’re a fan you’ll enjoy this one.