Welcome to Pomp and Circumstance!

POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE has changed!

No, we haven’t stopped doing what we’ve always done. But we are doing much more. Now you can buy indie, rock and pop on vinyl (45rpm singles and EPs, 10″ and 12″ LPs, picture discs, coloured vinyl etc) and CD in addition to our usual offering (the photo shows just some of the new additions – there are hundreds more). We’ve done this so that we can appeal to a wider range of musical tastes. We’re still a specialist record shop, expert at tracking down rarities and deletions of all kinds. We still order anything and send it anywhere. We sell gift tokens which can be redeemed in the shop or by mail order for any CD, LP or DVD you like. That’s why we have customers all over the world who keep coming back for more.

Record Store Day, 20 April 2013

Thanks to everyone who visited and bought from us! The shop was more crowded than it has ever been and we met many new customers who, now they know us, will come again. We were proud of our efforts in getting a wide range of limited edition items including two copies of the limited edition of 250 Jethro Tull Nothing is easy live 2LP set, which delighted the two gents who bought them. We still have a few items left which I will be listing here soon – watch this space!

Gavin Rutter of Stray FM interviews Pomp and Circumstance owner Peter Robinson on Record Store Day

Shop owner Peter Robinson preparing for Record Store Day with the help of his daughter Laura

Customers queuing outside the shop on the morning  of Record Store Day

Two happy customers….

…and our youngest customer!

Coming soon – Vinyl Day!

Following the success of Record Store Day and the acceptance of vinyl as audiophiles’ format of choice, keep watching this website for the date of our forthcoming ’Vinyl Day’. Another large collection has been added to stock, with more interesting and (we hope!) irresistible discs to tempt you! Don’t forget – we stock music in all genres, so whether you’re looking for indie, rock, pop, jazz, blues, folk, classical, world music, comedy, spoken word or whatever, we stock it. We also have a choice of weird and wonderful discs, any one of which would make a great gift for the collector who thinks s/he has everything!

Help support independent record shops

…. by supporting us. We have an actual shop which is brimful of all kinds of recorded music on CD and vinyl. You can browse with no obligation to purchase. You can get a free cup of coffee. If you want to, you can chat to customers or staff. You will get courteous, personal service. Nowadays our society is about instant gratification – fast food and instant online purchasing. But every time an order is placed with a big online retailer, it’s another nail in the coffin for shops like ours. We don’t run on some sort of mysterious public funding – we need the support of the local community and you out there reading this. You can send us an email with your order or enquiry, but better still, come and see us. If you are near Yorkshire or intend to be, you’ll be sure of a warm welcome!

Pomp and Circumstance owner Peter Robinson interviewed by Classic FM

Following on from the above, visit http://www.classicfm.com/discover/music/record-shop-interview-pomp-circumstance/ to read an interview about the dedicated customer service and personal attention offered by independent record shops. Peter also gives a light-hearted account of daily life at P&C.

What is Pomp and Circumstance?

It’s an independent record shop and family business. Established in 1994 and under new management since May 2010, we pride ourselves on

• making all visitors to the shop or website feel welcome
• our dedicated service – the personal touch
• helping customers find the kind of music they like
• our expert knowledge of  all kinds of recorded music
• making your enthusiasm our enthusiasm
• our success in tracing rarities and deletions
• our expertise in identifying a piece of music a customer has heard (sometimes without knowing the title, performer or composer), and finding a suitable recording of it.

We’ll order anything and send it anywhere!

Whatever your taste in music, and whether you want it on CD, DVD or vinyl, we offer a full mail order service to any UK or overseas address. Give us what information you have and leave the rest to us – we are experienced ‘music detectives’, expert in tracking down rarities, deletions or the just plain obscure. We’ll give you a quote with no obligation to buy (that said, all those who have used us have been delighted with the results and the price we’ve quoted, which often includes airmail delivery). It could be a long-lost LP, which they lent to someone at a party in their youth, or a CD that has eluded every effort they’ve made to find it in twenty years. Either way, it’s immensely satisfying for us to see the happy face of the customer when they gaze at a record they thought they would never hold in their hands. We really can make some wishes come true!

Jazz Special offers
Click here to see what’s available.

Big discounts on new classical releases!

The pick of the new releases are featured in our advertisements in BBC Music Magazine, The Gramophone and International Record Review. We are a member of ICS – the Independent Classical Specialists – a group of independent record shops that have chosen to advertise together. Each is a unique shop with its own character, but we all offer the same generous discount on the new releases we recommend. If you want to know which these are at any given time, email me.

Kid’s stuff

We have a large selection of CDs designed to introduce children to classical music, ballet and world music. New releases include the EMI series Classical Clubhouse, retailing at £7.20 for a hardback booklet with CD. Titles include Big space adventure, Dance along, Journey around the world and Magical music box. These complement our spoken word and song CDs of nursery rhymes for the younger listener. We also stock a CD of soothing music for the mother to be and her baby – or babies! Baby to be is also £7.20. Ballet CDs for young ones are also available – I love ballet, a 2CD set @£10.25 and My first ballet album, a CD+DVD package at just £7.20. Moving on from EMI, Naxos titles include Favourite poems for children (£8.20) and Children’s favourites, an enchanting collection of favourite songs from the past. Tracks such as I’m A Lonely Little Petunia, Sparky’s Music Mix-up, I know an old lady, Popo the Puppet, The King’s New Clothes etc, sung by such unique entertainers as Burl Ives, Danny Kaye and Groucho Marx, are sure to bring back memories for the grown-ups (2CD, £14.35). Also from Naxos are Rhythm 4 Kids, a world music sing-along for children (£6.99) and a series of CDs of popular classics (Peter and the wolf, 1001 Nights, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Carnival of the Animals and others) with narration by much-loved names such as Bernard Cribbins, Brian Cant, Johnny Morris, Dame Edna Everage, June Whitfield, Prunella Scales and Angela Rippon (£6.99 each). And if you want something not listed above, we can probably get that for you too!

To place an order or make an enquiry, click here.

Let’s put on the show right here!

Come and browse through our CDs and DVDs of shows and movie musicals or contact us by phone or email with your enquiry. West Side Story, Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, South Pacific, My Fair Lady etc and other favourites are always in stock, but so are a lot of less well-known ones. Many are ripe for revival – are you listening, musical societies and drama groups?

Music magazines

If you like reading old music magazines, we have a large collection of back issues of the following for sale:

• BBC Music Magazine
• Classic FM Magazine
• The Gramophone
• International Record Review
• Music and Musicians
• Records and Recording.

There are too many to list, so email us giving details of the title and which issue(s) you require. We’ll tell you whether or not we hold it, and give you a quote if we have.

Nostalgia is what it used to be

With recordings dating back to the 1890s there’s so much to choose from at P&C. Whether it’s bawdy music-hall ballads, poetry or songs from the First World War, or ‘Flapper’ music from the 1920s, we stock it. And moving forward in time, we also have CDs with spoken memories of the Blitz, songs that roused the Nation during World War II, to the ‘time of beginning again’ in the post-war years through to the late 1950s. If you remember a song and want us to find it on a CD, just contact us.

To place an order or make an enquiry, click here.

Sheet Music Search Service

Did you know that we have hundreds of pieces of vintage sheet music in all genres? Click here for more information.

You don’t have to be Jewish…

…to like Jewish music. I think any independent record shop must reflect its owner’s tastes to a degree, hence the burgeoning number of Klezmer CDs in-store. But we also have sacred music, Lieder, cabaret, traditional / folk music and comedy. A visit to the shop to browse is best but if you can’t make it, here are some suggestions:

• Tradition, a CD by violinist Itzhak Perlman. Amongst other tunes, he plays A Yiddishe Mamme quite beautifully (£10.25)
• Joshua, an oratorio by Franz Waxman (£15.40)
• Yiddish, Hebrew and Klezmer: an anthology of Jewish Music 1905 – 1952. A 2CD set of music by turns lively, melancholic and life-affirming (£16.40)
• You don’t have to be Jewish / When you’re in love the whole world is Jewish were two great comedy LPs issued on the American Kapp label in the 1960s. The first sold a million in 1965, and its success prompted the follow up a year later. Both albums are full of brilliant sketches e.g. A call from Long Island, The Bar Mitzvah, Divorce – Kosher style but the second also has several clever songs including one based upon Benny Hill’s hit Ernie, the fastest milkman in the west, reborn as Irving – the 142nd fastest gun in the west (although none of the reviews I’ve read make the connection). Produced by Bob Booker and George Foster, the LPs star Lou Jacobi, Nancy Walker, Beatrice Arthur (The Golden Girls), Valerie Harper (Rhoda) and many others. At last, both LPs are available on a single CD for £16.40. I envy anyone who hasn’t heard them.
• Crooner Issy Bonn was a favourite in the thirties and forties and we always stock at least one of his CDs
• Comedy CDs and DVDs by Jackie Mason, Shelly Berman etc. Hebrew Humour features archive British music hall recordings by Max Bacon and Julian Rose. Max Bacon started as the drummer with Ambrose’s Orchestra, but later went on to become a comedian. Here he performs Gershwin Lockshan-Soup Jack, Beigels, Barmitzvah boy, Shmoul – pick up the Kishke, Buy my little Ten-a-Penny Pills, I can get it for you wholesale, Even a Crooner must eat, Pancho’s Widow, Holtz Myer and Cohen. I must see Annie tonight, Little Red Hooding Ride and William T-Hell. Julian Rose is famous for his depiction of Levinsky at the Wedding, the full version of which is included on this CD. As an extra, Sam Levenson gives us a lesson in Basic Yiddish (£12.30)
• Dancing on the edge of a volcano: Jewish Cabaret Popular and Political Songs 1900-1945 is a fascinating survey of this music by the New Budapest Orpheum Society. Composers include Hans Eisler, Kurt Weill, Friedrich Hollaender, Gustav Pick, Darius Milhaud and many others (2CD, £16.40)
• The Milken Archive comprises the largest collection of American Jewish music ever assembled. It covers every aspect of music – classical, sacred, Klezmer, traditional, opera and more. The Archive’s primary goals are to reconstruct and preserve for current and future generations major musical manifestations of the American Jewish experience, and to reveal the intersection of Jewish composers and Jewish subject matter with some of the major genres in Western classical music. At least 50 CDs have been released by Naxos. For further details seehttp://www.naxos.com/series/milken_archive_of_american_jewish_music.htm
  Single CDs in the series are available from us @ £6.99.
• Musicals and shows e.g. Fiddler on the roof, I can get it for you wholesale etc. Finally, we stock CDs by the great Klezmer band Moishe’s Bagel. If you get a chance to see them live, don’t miss it!

To place an order or make an enquiry, click here.

Gift ideas for the music lover who has everything

Click here to view our gift suggestions.

Contact us to contribute your views, make comments and ask questions.