Rhino Records – Kingston NY – 6 North Front St, Kingston, NY 12401 – Open
On our annual trip to New Paltz to hike amid the fall foilage that is upstate New York, we decided to visit Kaaterskill Falls. Low and behold, right on the way was Kingston New York, home of Rhino Records current flagship store. I have long visited Rhino’s store in New Paltz, both at their old Church Street location, and at their present location in the Water Street Market, but never made the drive north to their Kingston outpost.
The store is owned by Rick Lange, who opened Rhino Records Kingston in 2014. Rick first started working at Rhino’s New Paltz store in the 1990s, and became its owner in 2004.
As you will see from the photos below, Rhino Records Kingston is more than just a record store. It also offers a diverse and well curated collection of books, comics, DVDs, posters, cds and cassettes for sale. Its vinyl offerings, both used and new, span a wide array of genres, and include some higher end collectors items. They also sell on Discogs. Alas, no try before you buy is offered. The Kingston shop is subtantially larger than the store in New Paltz, which allows it to offer more of all it purveys. One of the best record stores in upstate New York.
Wanna go? You can find Rhino Records – Kingston NY on our Record Stores map.
Or perhaps you want to visit their New Paltz location?
What The Press Is Saying
Here’s a great article Uptown beats: Rhino Records store owner Rick Lange tells much, if not all that appeared in Hudson Valley One. Published April 10, 2018, it interviews Rick Lange about his stores, their history, and the title to his fictional biography “Loitering With Intent.”
Cool Vinyl Bought There
Nick Drake – Bryter Layter (1971)
Originally released in the UK in 1971, this is an early 1978 US pressing on Antilles, a US subsidiary of Island Records. You can tell its a repressing as its has extensive liner notes (from 1976) not on the original UK pressing.
The second of his three early 1970s albums, this was the only one I hadn’t yet owned. Apart from Nick Drake, Bryter Layter has backing from Fairport Convention regulars, including bassist Dave Pegg, drummer Dave Mattacks, and guitarist extrodinaire Richard Thompson, as well as John Cale and others. A bit of sax, flute, strings and piano also fill out his sound here, in sharp contrast to Pink Moon, which is only Nick Drake accompanying himself on guitar and piano. As on all his releases, the songs are excellent, with only Drake singing, without harmonies.
This album has received numerous acolades – number 245 on Rolling Stone’s 2003 list of the Best 500 albums of all time, number 23 on Q’s 2000 list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever and number 14 in NME’s list of the Greatest Albums of the ’70s. Venerable Pitchfork gave it a 9.7/10 rating, and AllMusic a 5 star. Heady praise.
Here’s Nick Drake doing One of These Things First from Bryter Layter.
Want to learn about or hear more Nick Drake? Read our article on Nick Drake – Pink Moon.
Kaaterskill Falls
Katterskill Falls is only 27.5 miles or approximately 40 minutes from Kingston. Rhino Records Kingston is on the way if you’re coming from New Paltz.
The falls are spectacular at the right time of year, when the water volume is at its peak. Katterskill has two separate tiers, and is approximately 260 feet long. There’s a pool at the base of the upper falls if you are adventerous or hot and want to cool off. Its a short hike – less than 1 mile to the upper falls – from the main parking area. Climbing down a steep 130 or so step walkway will take you to the pool at the base of the upper falls, and on to the base of the lower falls. Remember, this is a round tripper, so what goes down must come back up.
You can’t park at the bottom of the falls anymore on 23A and walk up, as they closed off the small parking area on 23A. You’ll have to park in the lot at the trail head to the upper falls, at the end of Laurel Mountain road.
But don’t expect to be alone. This is a very popular site, and the trail head parking lot fills up.
