The only artist I still pre-order. Hasn't let me down yet.

form an orderly queue to buy the latest from Mr Randy Newman

Today sees the release of the new Nat Birchall album, "Guiding Spirit". Basically, any release from Manchester's Gondwana Records can be bought with confidence. Admittedly, they've only released four albums so far, but the three I've heard have been solid gold winners. I can only imagine that the fourth will be, too:

Funnily enough I was thinking about that this morning as I was giving 'Uncle Dysfunktional' by the Happy Mondays (well, Shaun Ryder and Gary Whelan) another spin. I ran out to buy that on the day it came out.

Others whose records I cannot wait for are: Radiohead, Super Furry Animals, Oasis, Jenny Lewis, Half Man Half Biscuit (although I've only been a fan long enough to do this once), The Coral, Arctic Monkeys, anything Stooges related....

I'm a big fan of being there on Day One - I always used to do it as a teenager in Exeter and its a habit I'm glad to say I have kept up.

I get so excited about any of the above artists releasing anything that I will be at fever pitch for weeks and unable to sleep on the Sunday before the record 'drops'. I would never download it illegally before then as that would ruin one of my favourite past-times.

Having said that, I once bought 'Don't Believe The Truth', the 6th Oasis album, on iTunes so that I could listen to it while I was travelling to the shop to buy the physical version.

Admittedly it doesn't happen often.

I took a day off work and then stood for an hour in a branch of Our Price waiting for the delivery man to open the box so that I could buy the first copy of 'Anthology 1'. This seemed overwhelmingly important at the time.

i was straight into town on my bike to get the LCD Soundsystem album and previous to that for the John Grant album. I like the anticipation, the getting it home, setting aside a couple of hours to sit down and listen properly. You don't get that with the internet.

No there isn't. The main reason for that is not lack of enthusiasm though. These days if you preorder an album you stand a fighting chance of beating the release and getting it on the Saturday which is an unexpected pleasure, it will probably be cheaper. Other reasons are that I don't expect our small HMV will stock what I want and if I walk to town on Monday lunchtime and they don't have what I want I have to wait another few days before it arrives through the post in the way it should have done in the first place.
If The Web didn't exist I'm sure I would still be there on day one for Sparks and Elvis Costello but there are others that I look forward to such as The New Pornographers that I may never have heard without The Web so it's a double edged sword.

Often cheaper and arrive in timely fashion, sometimes early. The best for speed I have found is Play.com. HMV can be delayed, though they are my favourite cos I feel a sense of loyalty to them cos of their history.

I always find that with pre-order I end up getting it on the Wed/ Thu after release which defeats the whole point. That's always with Amazon though...

as the chance of any record shop near me stocking anything that isn't the most MOR pop is negligable. Plus as people have said, often get it before release date. Which is nice.

Its a hell of a long wait between albums, but when they eventually do come, I'm there on the first day.

without fail are Elvis Costello,Richard Thompson, Jackie Leven (thats 2 of us then!!), Alabama 3 and until his last album Ian McNabb - couldnt pre-order this as it was only available as a download and even now Amazon are saying it is not available so I had to download it which is definitely not the same.
I check the Elvis Costello site almost everyday just to see if I can get the track listing for his september release although why that would make any difference heaven only knows. He also has another compilation coming out in June and I check for track details on that too even though it is odds on certain I will already have every track.

If his album comes out in 2010, I will be there first or I will download it, also Crowded House and Divine Comedys albums will have to be downloaded on the day of release.Oh and the Nines new album Polaroids too.

But I will buy anything the Fleshtones release. They act as kryptonite on my critical faculties / are great

My record shopping trips are normally on a Saturday (when I can get to the 'indies' in London) so I've learnt to wait.

If my local HMV is firing on all cylinders, though, I've been there on a Monday to get Handsome Family releases - the single copy they're likely to have. And Keith Jarrett CDs as well (leave it a week or two and you might fall behind).