jbaent, exactly the chain of events you describe! Some day of release, but for me it was the 13th. (because in Greece the Greek edition vinyl was issued in the 13th...) The store's name was either "Trust" or the parent company "Happening" unfortunately both of them shut over 15 years ago.
I didn't like the singles or videos (OK HF was fun!) but I was thrilled because it was happening the same time for me!
The record had flaws (as I said I could do without the three international singles, that tried hard to catch the younger audience or the fans that had a fixation with the BiA hits), but it was the longest studio record ever! Over 60 minutes. But it has at least 6 tracks that are fantastic, and that's one more than the (really better) LoG. It is still one of the weaker moments in the DS catalog, but 9/10 is not bad is it?
A question from one who wasn't around at that time; How was your expectations, and did the album live up to them at that very moment?
Bare in mind that we were growing older and the world of music showed me its vastness, around the same time. Listening to the new wave of Brit pop from MTV UK, was a huge revelation for me, and having more money (selling books and my cassette tapes) I could buy older second hand records that were fantastic. (Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, Bob Dylan, Steve Miller, J.J. Cale, Cream etc) Therefore the record got considerable less spins than the ones before them.
And a side note. My first pay check was 90000 drachmas and the OES vinyl cost 2070 Drachmas. I thought it was expensive, since most records use to cost 1100-1700 Drachmas. Only the imported reached 2000. And 2000 Drachmas was 6 Euros.