艾比路唱片行 Abbey Road Record Store

Very to the heart record store / chillout spot. A must if you buy records Carry variety of music styles. Top

Very nice small record store with friendly english speaking owner. Good collections in all areas, not very large but good quality. Reasonable pricing and good conversation. A pleasure to visit.

Nice place in Kaohsiung if you would like to listen the music.

It's rather complicated for me to share how I feel about and what I've experienced in the Abbey Road Record Store. You ever treasure something too much, that you feel like you want more people to know, but then you don't want too many people to know so that it doesn't get ruined for whatever reason? That's how I feel about Abbey Road. As a foodie and a music lover, this place soon turned into my favorite spot in Kaohsiung, and a perfect hideout. *** The MUSIC. I'm not certain if Abbey owns the largest collection of vinyl records in Kaohsiung, but it certainly has a highly diversified, library-style collection with awesome quantity, to be played on demand through two fine sets of audio equipments. I walked in, immediately grasped by the piano interpretation of Martha Argerich; and right after I ordered my pour-over coffee, the master switched to Brubeck ("The Kurhaus") for me, and then Evans/Hall ("Undercurrent"), and the journey went on. Well, if you get lucky and the master's in a great mood and you're behaving as good as a well-educated and civilized guest who genuinely loves music, you might even get invited for a special treat, up in the second floor for some outstanding audio experience. I had my Jarret/Peacock/DeJohnette ("Standards, Vol. 1") there, and I was happy. *** The FOOD. I had my lunch there, Pan-fried Zucchini with Shrimps, and Stirred-fried Udon with XO Sauce Marinated Chicken. Had a glass of Shiraz to go with it, couldn't describe how satisfactory the combination was: the quality of the materials was magnificent (and that's nothing unusual), by the time the dishes were brought to me my somm. nose was shouting spices out loud. Bravo, the seasoning. Later I learned that the chef used to work for 5-star dining services and, getting tired of a busy life and over same enthusiasm for vinyl records, he cultivated a partnership with the master of the store. And together they decided to offer seasonal menu. A cup of pour-over Geisha followed the meal. By then, the voice of Itsuki Hiroshi (五木ひろし) was already in the air. The whole experience was eerily comforting. So I easily spent 3 hours here. *** The weakness of ARRS, for me, is clearly its wine/whisky selection (and the glassware, too). But considering this is not really a wine/whisky place, said weakness was not really significant. And I've made an arrangement with the master, James Chen, to perhaps hold an event about the dialogue between music and wine, someday, after I recovered from Aoi Toshiba's voice ("The Rose") and told the master I thought this song should totally be listened to along with a bottle of Cote de Nuits Villages (Louis Latour would do the trick). I will be back for more.

I'm so glad that this is how I ended my first trip to Taipei. I promised James I'll be back again eventually, and I intend to keep that promise!