ILX lists the best record stores in PARIS!?#$%!

Go to http://www.novaplanet.com, click "Entrée" -
it'll launch a huge window.

From the top of that window, there's a Musique link. Click that, and a new list shows up; at the far left is "Disquaires de Paris."
And there you go. They also have a monthly magazine sold at the kiosks, w/lots of show/event listings.

I recommend Bimbo Tower (not a lot but wow is it something..), Wave Records on the Rue Keller. There is also - not listed in the Nova guide 'cause they are huge, but the selection is good! - the Gibert Joseph on the Boulevard Saint-Michel right across from the Cluny La Sorbonne metro stop. Gibert Joseph has about three stores right there, only one of them is music, but it's great. Also FNAC, the huge chain, has a record shop in the 9th on a major boulevard; there's also a FNAC record shop at the Bastille metro.

PS FNAC ain't half bad

i went to a jazz store (it said "jazz and blues" on the awning but there were no blues cds to speak of) near jussieu and it mostly sucked. i am quite snobby about the parisian fetishizing of certain american musics here. the only advantage so far is that the compilations on the fremeaux label are cheaper here (sometimes) than in the states.

p.s. s1utsky i met a guy from montreal here. he is nice.

they did have special sections for free jazz labels like PSF and so forth. unfortunately i'm not too interested in that sort of thing.

i found it quite by accident, wandering around jussieu while waiting for a movie theater to open.

"*Rock Paradise, Patrick Renassia, 10 Rue Bailleul 75001 Paris, Nearest Metro Station - LOUVRE, Phone No. 47 03 36 35. Fax No. 47 03 34 79. Opening Hours: Mon. 2pm - 7pm - Tues - Sat 11am - 7pm. Highly Recommended. Very smart and well laid out shop with wide selection of Vinyl records. Also large selection of professional drawings of R & R stars."

L'EVASION: Collector's 60's. 70's. Punk. New Wave.
145 Rue de Vaugirard 75015 Paris. tel.566.74.38

i'm proud that i've only gone record shopping twice since i've been here.

It's a great name for a store! Doesn't it sound like 'Virgin Megastore' run through inaccurate web translation software?

As for where it is, find the Pause Cafe

41, rue de Charonne Paris 75011

Have a pastis on the terrace. Then cross the street. You will see a dead-end street called Passage Saint Antoine. Bimbo Tower is down towards the (dead) end, on the left. Number 5.

Stopped into a couple of FNAC's, which were pretty respectable, in a mega-store sorta way. Also stopped into "Lucky Records", just a block or two behind the Pompidou. It really wasn't my scene, but if you're at all a Madonna fan, this is the place for you, as the place is packed from floor to ceiling with Madge rareities.

Saw John "Duran" Taylor at Les Deux Magot with some pissy woman with two-tone hair. Got him to sign my coffee receipt, which he happily did. A hecka-swell fella, him.

Have a pastis on the terrace. Then cross the street. You will see a dead-end street called Passage Saint Antoine. Bimbo Tower is down towards the (dead) end, on the left. Number 5.

thank you thank you thank you

two women this morning completely misdirected me and i got hopelessly lost, now i think i can find it

i had thought it was closer to st ambroise etc, no wonder i was confused

Going to Paris in March, any new stores, or updates to this thread?

I understand there are some nonpareil African music specialty shops in Paris. Any tips?

I didn't realize those last posts were from today as I just did a search for the thread, etc. Strange. Anyway.

i liked the idea of the place, and i guess in theory id like supporting it, but (a) it is too small to shop comfortably when there are more than 4 people in the place; and (b) i sort of felt when i was there, as though i had fallen down some rabbit hole of contemporary culture, where people hide for fear of the sunlight. everything in the store--its aesthetic i guess, when taken all together--seemed to have only in common its incredible and (usually wilfull) estrangement from the mainstream. that estrangement in itself isnt problematic but when it becomes the glue that binds your taste together it begins to strike me as.... well, i'll keep this personal, i find it boring and exhausting.

whats funniest about this is the only thing i found to buy was in the used bin and was ridiculously cheap, so obviously the bimbo tower clientele had not taken a shine to it

Anywhere particularly good for cheap second-hand French pop CDs / vinyl these days?