AS TIME GOES BY availability

[Harry]

Over on another Carpenters board, the question of availability of AS TIME GOES BY has come up. I, as I'm sure many here do, will often take a few minutes of browsing time in a record store to check the racks for what may be in the sections of my favorite artists. As a rule, I'll check "Mendes", "Alpert", "Carpenters", "Bacharach", etc. in virtually every store I frequent.

To date, I've not yet encountered a store copy of AS TIME GOES BY by Carpenters in the racks, which is counter-intuitive to the way I would have expected. Typically, if there's an import title that offers something not available in US editions, stores that carry imports will continue to keep them stocked. AS TIME GOES BY is a case of a whole album of non-US-issued stuff, and I thought surely it would be common to see in the racks.

Over on the other board, someone's mentioned seeing it and buying it at a store that specializes in imports. I'm just wondering if anyone else out there has run into AS TIME GOES BY in the racks, or has there perhaps been some kind of behind-the-scenes maneuvering to keep it hard-to-get?

I know it's easy to find at online sources, but I really thought that the brick-and-mortar stores would carry it.

Perhaps Mike or Mac can shed some light on this subject.

Harry
...wondering, online...

 

[Rudy]

As "boneheaded" as Best Buy can be, I'd often seen a lot of good imports in their rack. And quite possibly, I may have seen ATGB there many months ago (around the holidays). But I haven't been back to Best Buy since February, when my CPU's power fan went out.

Last I checked, CDNow still had the "Asian" import at a price only a dollar or two more than U.S. new product, which was a really good deal. (Even better when they had an import sale running.)

I would expect our better local shops to have it (possibly Harmony House, Dearborn Music, Repeat The Beat, Car City, etc.), but doubt the mall stores would know anything other than Yesterday Once More.

-= N =-

 

[Rick]

As I stated on the other board, I purchased "As Time Goes By" at a privately owned music store named "Pepperland" in Orange, California. "Pepperland" specializes in imports- specifically the Beatles. The owner generally stocks Carpenters imports as the Carpenters do have a connection (ever so slight) to the Beatles.
I'm wondering if "ATGB" can possibly be obtained by special ordering it through your local music store. In the old days that's what I did whenever there was something I wanted that wasn't in stock.

 

[jimac51]

Perennial problems with stocking import CDs-1-Most,if not all,are non-returnable so if a store or chain decides to stock a title they better be thinking of an potential sale. The on-line stores can buy on demand,as long as stock actually exists from their distributor(s). 2-Fluctuating prices can devalue the $$$ of an item overnight.The domestic release of an import title can do the same. 3-Something that the regular customer would not have been aware of was that a number of one-stop distributors have gone out of business in the last year,especially a giant-Valley Media,at one time the biggest one-stop in the business. These wholesalers took a bigger risk in stocking non-returnable import product than a store. UMVD stopped selling to many smaller one stops(MCM,Northeast,etc) by citing too little buying and sometimes selling product early to stores that would continually break street dates. If you are a wholesaler and you can't offer 25% of the business to your customers,you are dead. Our discussion about Tower's troubles last year left that chain gun shy to get back into deeper misery. They are stocking less and less classical,jazz and deep catalog and pretty much buying just what they know will sell. This is not the time for a bricks and mortar operations to take chances. Mac

 

[Rudy]

It probably depends if the store has access to a distributor willing to get it for them. One store I used to patronize for many years, Sam's Jams, would routinely stock imports w/o special ordering. They were the only one around town to have Sting's Bring On The Night on CD immediately after it was released, instead of a few years later when A&M released it domestically. They had a European release by Wham! called The Final, which was a mid-80's compilation put together shortly before George Michael released his first album under his own name. A few of my Genesis CDs were purchased there on their original Charisma label issues, not the inferior Atlantic versions. Unfortunately the store exists no longer. (The owner apparently gave it up to be a theater impresario...ran the record store out of business, and the theater flopped also.)

For awhile (when I worked on the east side), Car City Records had a lot of imports, but I never special ordered anything there. Especially after I asked about some TJB LPs, and was told to go look through the dumpster out in their back parking log.

I've ended up buying most CDs online now. Less hassle, far greater selections, and I can find what I want w/o having to deal with indifferent clerks who wouldn't know a Carpenters CD if it fell on them. Some of us here have found good sources for A&M imports, or Brazilian CDs (like at Dusty Groove). Online, too, you can see what price you're paying right up front. With special-orders, you're more or less at the mercy of the individual store, who often didn't know what the CD would cost until they were billed for it.

I just checked CDNow--the Asian import of ATGB is listed for $17.99; the Japanese import is nearly double.

-= N =-