It’s been two years since my last visit at the resurrected vinyl market in Athens. The market is an interesting bazaar organized by the union of record store owners in Athens strongly supporting the comeback of vinyl to the market. Besides the romantic character of the bazaar, where one can find records from his own school years, it is a great opportunity for the store owners to clear their warehouses from old stuff.
I have found very interesting records in the huge collection inside the warehouse in Technopolis where the November bazaar is hosted (there is a second one in February). Some of them were insanely expensive, e.g. Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” second hand 2LP was spotted at 80 EUR (!!!), several Bowie’s albums for over 70 EUR each, and a 7″ of a public speech in 1965 by the late Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis selling at 350 EUR (ok, I can see the latter one is for collectors only). However, if one has the time and patience to look through the lower-priced records (cheapest 3 EUR, mostly 7″ singles) there are several good choices for reasonable budgets. Great variety, with all kind of music, old greek records also included in the boxes. e.g. early Theodorakis’ albums were available for 10-15 EUR. Largely available in CD, but not in vinyl any more.
So, after an hour and a half and several nice chats about music, its history, the vinyl as a medium and its prospects of being dominant in the market again, I realized I had a great time and 8 records in my bag for the petty cash of 45 EUR in total. Not so bad, if you see the titles. Highlight, Arlo Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant” which was missing from my collection and The Motels’ “Little Robbers”, which includes the thrilling “Footsteps” on the B side.
The bazaar runs till this evening, you still have time to visit if you read this early. But they are coming back on February. Worth a visit, even just for the old-school atmosphere and the live DJ set (strictly from vinyls).
An Isotopia 