Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Spanish boots?

I asked: “But what’s going on? Are Dylan grey market/bootleg CDs still widely available in Spanish retail outlets?"

Thanks to Jan Zoltowski, in Seville, for his reply:

“In response to your question, the answer is that, while it is still relatively easy to find bootlegs in some of the smaller, specialist record shops in Madrid and Barcelona, it is unfortunately now not so common to find 'unofficial recordings' in the Corte Inglés, though I still have a look in the racks under 'D' whenever I go in, just in case.

“Over the years I've picked up a number of boots in the Corte Inglés (Madrid and Seville) but the supply seems to have dried up in the last couple of years. I remember when Virgin opened in Seville (around 92/93) they had very prominent displays of boots right by the main entrance, though that only lasted for the first couple of years of its existence (the store eventually closed down a few years ago).

“One 'grey area' disc (it may not be dubious at all, as a friend also got it from amazon.com) that I saw in the Corte Inglés recently was Bob Dylan & The Band: Midnight Train (Traditional Lines TL 1325 (Germany):

http://www.los40.com/artistas/disco.html?grp_id=11981&alb_id=88167

“I'm glad you enjoyed your trip to Seville, in spite of the road works all over the place.”