Medium Rare Music

Gone but not forgotten. Thanx 4 the music! See u @
All the best to you all, and Thanks!

Came in for Record Store Day and was very disappointed compared to Streetlight down the street. They were listed as a participating store, but you couldn’t have guessed that by the activity in the store. No freebies, like the other stores. No greeting of «Happy Record Store Day» like the other stores. No nothing. Sadly, I won’t be back here.

A real, non-​chain record store, with a knowledgeable staff, a great selection and a great vibe. If you have never had the experience of going into a music store and flipping thru the sections, actually looking at the CD covers, savoring the music that plays, try it.

What’s cool about this place is that it doesn’t pretend or try to be some huge place like Amoeba or Tower (RIP), or even a more generalist store such as Streetlight. (No, this isn’t to complain about the other stores, but placing this store where it lays in the scheme of things.) When a CD store has a diva category, there’s gotta be something fabulous going on. Though it tends to be a bit on the pricey side, Medium Rare does offer some things that are, well, medium, rare, such as The Grace Jones Story double-​CD compilation I picked up here last night, an apparent UK release that had a few tunes and mixes I had never heard before. And if you need to get the latest dance mixes, they’ll more than likely have some of those around as well. Yes, it’s a dangerous place for some of us. But when you’ve been looking for some tunes you’ve never seen in the digital domain (i.e., online) nor in tangible form à la CDs, Medium Rare may come to the rescue.

It’s a great little store. I have a leaning tower of cd’s on top of and beside and sometimes on the floor beside my cd player and almost all of them came from Medium Rare Music. The set up inside is great, and you can listen to your selections before you purchase. The staff is usually more interested in talking to friends or just ignoring you than helping, but the place is so well layed out that you don’t really need much help. They have a great selection of dance, trance and other types of ance music that I can’t get enough of as well as some cool old stuff, world music and musicals cds.
I did have one bad experience here where I paid for a cd in advance that I had ordered and when I came back to collect it they said they had no record of me having paid for anything.
I was mad for a long time but I got over it and have come back and purchased on several occassions (but I don’t give them my money in advance anymore).

great, small independent CD store… always very helpful staff and good selection of the best CDs.
so darn friendly and helpful… they actually had dog treats for me too.

My friend once told me that there weren’t enough gay artists in a «gay CD store» he shopped at in the Castro. I asked «what the hell is a gay CD store!?» Well, today I learned.
The limited selection includes only what they play in clubs and includes a «circut» section. A picked up a few CDs here and there and most were priced $ 16.99-$ 18.99.
There are no records in Medium Rare «Records,» so if you’re looking for anything interesting, head down the street to Streetlight Records.

Shout out to Medium Rare… love this store. yes it’s small but they have all of the current stuff and will ask questions to find what you are looking for. the owner is very, very nice… I really enjoy this place!

I don’t know how I feel about my records being medium rare.
I like my records well done… or just rare in itself.
Anyway, bad jokes aside…
This place is a piece of gold for me only because it harks back to the days of what records store used to be. I miss being able to spend an hour or two browsing at CD’s and being able to find some new, some old and some rare. It reminds me of when I used to go to this little Vietnamese shop downtown that carried the import singles from the UK.
Granted this store is small, it has a bit of everything. I remember when I first scouted out Leona Lewis on the internet and heard her CD is out. This place had it on import before any other place.
The place is honed in on the neighborhood (they have sections for 80’s, pop vocals and divas are prominent — Kylie + Beyonce + Madonna + Mariah = gay) but so most likely if you are looking for hard metal you will have to stomp down the street to Streetlight.
I do love this place, it’s a great stop to make on a Sunday afternoon in the Castro.

In the age of digital music, a lot of the retail music stores are closing their doors and going into digital downloading scene. Although, it’s quite convenient to just buy and download music off of the internet but having the satisfaction of going into a music store and buying the cd is such a treat nowadays. Plus, you get to that interaction with the store owners which is both informative and satisfying. Thanks.

For a small record shop, this place is pretty sweet. Obviously, the location has more to do with the reason why Medium Rare records is a decent place to get some music. I was able to get the Hotel Costes 6 and 10, which is some pretty sweet music from and named after the famous Paris hotel. The 80s section is very skimpy. It would be fabulous if they carried hard-​to-​finds (i.e., Wedding Present) but they carry more well known stuff (i.e., Blondie, Echo and the Bunnymen). The best section would be the dance and the lounge compilations. Definitely worth a look around. The pricing is not that great but since Hotel Costes falls under lounge music, I figured I would go ahead and pick them up. Nice place overall but watch the smelly folks because the aisles are small.

It was here that RuPaul placed her hand on my shoulder, batted her lethal eyelashes and said «I appreciate you, honey!». At that moment, I knew the whole reason she came to Medium Rare for a meet-​and-​greet was to specifically tell me that.
Even before attending the RuPaul event, Medium Rare has had a warm place in my heart. Classic Soul music is the absolute best genre of music to come about in the last 100 years – I can’t get enough – which really sucks because there’s a limited quantity of it out there.
Your standard music store (Virgin, Borders) carries the typical James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Aretha assortment, and that’s all awesome stuff. But if you want to go deeper and pick up some really awesome soul music, go to Medium Rare. The entire left wall of the shop is dedicated to soul, and I’ve gotten some hard to find stuff by Freda Payne and Honey Cone among others.
They also carry the entire lineup of divas that gay men just love to love… I don’t go for them as much, but Eartha Kitt has always been my fantasy grandmother. And luckily, they’ve got her too.

Great place for browsing, but whenever I am looking for a specific new cast album, or new release on CD of an old one, they don’t have it, haven’t heard of it, and don’t offer to order it.
You would think when something right up their alley has received a good review in the Chronicle Sunday Pink Section they would at least have heard of it if not made the effort to carry a copy or two. Pay attention to your market, people!
I have repeatedly tried to buy from them rather than ordering online, but they seem more interested in dance remixes and disco music than the show tunes that they focused on when they first opened.
There is a very handsome man who works there named Ron, but he isn’t very friendly.
I have frequently had to wait to pay while employees are visiting with (non-​shopping) friends.

Neat little record store in the Castro. They didn’t have what I was looking for, but I did see a lot of neat rarities. Lots of bootlegged rare live DVD’s too.

Great if you’re looking for show tunes, vocalists, torch singers, motown, dance, disco, 80s pop, or especially holiday music. Think: Ella, Kylie, Liza, Madonna, Cher, Judy, the Divine Miss M.
That said, times have changed. Staff does their best, but often have no clue about recent, mainstream cast recordings that are due out in the coming months. I’m not sure if anyone has a clue about that sort of stuff anymore, but Medium Rare should be the place, dammit.

This is a GREAT store! Like a diamond, it may seem small but it has many facets! I like off the charts music, particularly 1970s Soul, Rare soundtracks and once beautiful song stylists from the forties and fifties working their tricks on whatever great songs they could find in the 1960s or 1970s. A strange mix, I know, but I always find something here that I don’t just want but really NEED! Plus, it’s great to have a store in the neighborhood of my salon where my freshly coifed customers can be sure to get Millie Jackson CAUGHT UP/​Still Caught UP that they loved hearing while getting their hair cut.
I try to go here and spend some money once a week, FANTASTIC!

Dear God, (or Buddha, Brahman, Ra, Sheila Na Gig or whomever)
When I am reincarnated, can I please come back as any of the ladies on the cover of the albums sold at this store?
Like her
or her
or her
This store sells the soundtrack to the life I wish I had.
Even if a CD is 5 dollars more expensive here than anywhere else, I fully support this business. AND they’ve got a little room to listen to vinyl before you buy.

Every fantastic CD that makes my friends say «This music is FAB where did you get it?» came from here. Specializing in the offbeat and often underground hits, this place still doesn’t fall into the weird and useless zone that many «unique» music purveyors often do. Great dance music, lounge music, really any kind of mood you can imagine music. Feel like you are on the musical edge and buy your stuff for entertaining here. Your guests will be continually amazed and impressed by your musical range and style. I’ve never gone wrong with any of the staff’s recommendations either. A gift certificate from here would be on my list of top most thoughtful gifts for me.

If you’re looking for dancey remixes (and I often am), the «Bad to the Bone» CD compilations are pretty rad, provided you don’t mind the pictures of nekkid men on the covers and discs — or the fact that they cost a small fortune.
Be careful of the tiny shelves though; the wire sometimes isn’t very sufficient to hold the discs as you flip through them and you may and up like me, all red-​faced and hastily picking up CDs off the floor.

I’m not so much for show tunes, but I am one to welcome the shattering of misconceptions-​especially my own. Working in the music industry for the first half of the 90s has me somewhat jaded. And highly eclectic.
Walking down Market, I glanced into the window to see what torch-​singer/​showtune/​limited-​edition colored vinyl display was in the window and I froze in my tracks.
«Is that what I think it is? WTF is this record with the Alpine A110 (my favorite sports/​rally car of all time) on the cover? And who’s the helmeted, late-​60s hottie in the color-​coordinated outfit?»
This record would be mine, no matter what it sounds like, and it’s going on my wall.
«OMG, is that what I think it is? Whooah! Pay dirt! Original mix reissue of ‘The Shaggs’ Philosophy of the World’? Suh-​weet!
Not only did they have this musical masterpiece of God-​awfully executed yet heartachingly sincere teen expression, but the salesman dished on the Wiggins sisters and laid to rest my concerns about one or more of them being mentally challenged (They were just inexperienced, with heavy New England accents-​no offense, NorEasters).
I rushed home and put both into heavy rotation with great elation. ‘What about the car record?’ you ask? It’s a clutch concoction of swingin’ psychedelic euro-​jazz (heavy on flutes, horns and the mighty B-​3), Spaghetti Western and ultra-​cool ambient lounge decades before the term was coined.
If my life was as cool as this soundtrack, I sure as hell wouldn’t be sitting in front of the computer. Thanks Med-​Rare!