UKFF Vinyl and Records

[Keith Houchen]

Bang-In Tunes was the hottest Coventry independent record shop in the early 90s, possibly late 80s as well. The Eclipse was a leading rave and house venue and this was essentially the promoters shop where they sold mixtapes. You’d often have DJs do impromptu sets in there in the daytime for an hour if they were playing at the venue that night. Grooverider was often in there. 
 

My band mate took over the premises with two lads in the late 90s and opened Freakbeat which was a healthy mix of dance, obscure indie labels and a brilliant second hand section. It all went to pot though as one of the guys had a breakdown as the realities of running a business got the better of him and my mate was the only business minded one. It was quite sad as my mate got ostracised by a lot of people in the Cov music scene because of all the bullshit said about him by the other guy and it really affected him. 

[Loki]

Fat Trax in Bournemouth was my local record shop for years - and I'm still in a WhatsApp group with the owner 25 years later!  One of the chaps who worked there was a top weed dealer too, so it was a one-stop shop.

The great second-hand place was called Avid Records and was the place to go loop-digging, lots of old soul records there.

Honourable mention to Derek's, which was your Dad's shop and had the same grumpy bloke you seem to get in so many record shops.

Here in Guildford there's a couple of places, the most famous of which is Ben's Collectors.  The owner, Ben I presume, is a mainstay of the local music scene, supporting local venues and putting on events.  The shop is utter, utter madness - 

That's the saner end, the back is like Aladdin's Cave.  Who's buying second-hand CDs in this day and age??  

One thing I really miss from the old days is being able to listen to records before buying them - places used to have a deck and headphones set up, that seems not to happen any more, so you're taking pot luck.

[Accident Prone]

3 hours ago, Keith Houchen said:

What a shop that was!

Warms my cockles to see a Tempest love-in crop up here. Loved that place, I remember buying the first couple of Cursive records there and the guy serving me threw in a Crank Records sampler CD for free. I'll have to pop into Oasis sometime soon, but I'm never in the City center these days.

As an aside, my cheapo suitcase record player has bit the dust, and I'm gutted because now it means looking at a proper one that I cannot possibly afford.

Edited January 7 by Accident Prone

[Keith Houchen]

31 minutes ago, Accident Prone said:

Warms my cockles to see a Tempest love-in crop up here. Loved that place, I remember buying the first couple of Cursive records there and the guy serving me threw in a Crank Records sampler CD for free. I'll have to pop into Oasis sometime soon, but I'm never in the City center these days.

As an aside, my cheapo suitcase record player has bit the dust, and I'm gutted because now it means looking at a proper one that I cannot possibly afford.

Another great place was Reddingtons Rare Records. No visit to Brum was complete without a visit to that treasure trove, for pure nostalgia, check out the website!!

http://www.reddingtonsrarerecords.co.uk/dannyshop.htm

[SuperBacon]

@Loki Have you been to the one in Godalming, Record Corner? That looks a belter.

Edit: oh and I buy second hand CDs for the car.

Edited January 7 by SuperBacon

[Harry Wiseau]

2 hours ago, Keith Houchen said:

Another great place was Reddingtons Rare Records. No visit to Brum was complete without a visit to that treasure trove, for pure nostalgia, check out the website!!

http://www.reddingtonsrarerecords.co.uk/dannyshop.htm

A few (I just looked it up and it's almost ten!) years ago he announced that he was closing up shop and for one day only would be selling everything from the lockup he'd been running his online shop from for £1 per item, it made the local news and everything, he made a big thing about how nothing had been sorted through and that there was a rare Elvis record somewhere amongst the many thousands of records.  On the Saturday morning I got down there at 8amm and queue was ridiculous, some people had actually queued overnight.  As I was queuing I saw people leading with suitcases full of treasure, the TV news came and filmed the queue. I waited for four hours for my turn but unfortunately I'd had to take my four year old son with me as Mrs W was at work. By this point his patience had been stretched more than a four year olds should. I tried to get him interested by telling him he could buy any five records he wanted but it was horrible in there, they were letting people in on a one in one out basis but there were so many people in there that you were queuing to get a chance to look. Nothing was in alphabetical order (which later made me question his claim that nothing had been sorted through as if he was running his online shop from there how did he ever find anything?) It was horrible. I ended up managing to get 25 records in my hand before my anxiety levels made me get out of there (the best being the Julie Andrews and Andre Previn Christmas album that I still listen to every Christmas)  

 

Anyway it then turned out that as he somehow hadn't emptied the lockup that day he would be opening every day so with everything £1 until it was all gone, this place was a five minute drive from my work so for the next couple of months I went back at least once a week to buy records of an ever decreasing quality from a dwindling selection, I'd take great delight in showing my workmates The Noel Coward Album still with its £25 price tag on and declaring "he's starting down the barrel of a £24 gun with this one!"  Eventually it got to the point where he was selling boxes of seven inch singles (not sorted through just random boxes!) For a fiver. The box my mate at work got contained five copies of I Love You Love and a lot of Spandau Ballet, he managed to sell the box to someone else at work for £4 after taking the only three records he wanted from it. Good times

 

Oh yeah, most the records I got from him in this one pound extravaganza played like digshit, as if he'd kept them in sand. Good times. Luckily Julie, Noel and a few others were ok but most - especially the 7" singles - were terrible and if I'd paid anything like the price on the sticker on the front I wouldn't have been happy. 

 

[Keith Houchen]

@Harry Wiseau That’s an absolute belter of a story! Brilliant stuff!

[Magnum Milano]

On 1/7/2024 at 11:26 AM, Harry Wiseau said:

The guy who runs Polar Bear in Kings Heath is a total bellend and I won't go there even though it's been my closest record shop for the last fifteen years. In contrast if ever I get to Birmingham city centre in the daytime I make a point of going to see Rich in Ignite at the Oasis market as he's such a bloody lovely bloke. He used to work in Tempest which closed down 15 years ago, I rarely get to Birmingham these days but when I do he still remembers my name and is just lovely so I feel I have to buy a record even if there's nothing I know I want, but that's usually how you find the best stuff. 

I was another regular patron of Tempest back in the early 2000s.  At the time I was a big listener to John Peel and was heavily influenced by what he played, and would then pick up any 7s that I liked from Tempest (with the exception of the popular new releases, they were located at the rear of the shop).  I'd not thought about Rich for years until reading this post, so glad to hear he's doing well.  He always used to chat and make recommendations of things that he thought I might like (he knew me as someone who liked the White Stripes, the Dirtbombs, the Detroit Cobras, Fierce Panda stuff etc.).  I don't know how, but they would have new albums for sale on the Saturday before they were hitting the shelves in the likes of HMV and Virgin on the Monday, and picked up The Strokes debut that way.  There was another young lad who used to work there, bit of a floppy fringe, but I forget his name.

If I'm honest, I probably preferred Swordfish.  There used to be an amazing second hand section locked away at the back that I would spend far too long rifling through and which was only open when they had cover for someone to go and work there. I once dropped about £50 on this Fonotone Records Bluegrass Boxset there (purely because Peel had been playing it), which blows my mind that I spent that much money on something back then.

 

I think I only ever went in Reddingtons the once, there also used to be a second-hand CD and vinyl shop on Smallbrook Queensway that you could find some decently priced bargains in.  But yeah, my Saturdays used to consist of getting the bus into the city centre, I'd then hit the Rag Market to check out the second hand clothes stalls, up to Tempest (possibly stopping in at Virgin over the road), then down to Swordfish.  Grab a full English, usually in what is now Grand Central, or a McDonalds, then back home for the football in the afternoon.  Good days!

[Frankie Crisp]

Yeah, I’m a vinyl weirdo. It started with a few hand-me-downs from the family, but it’s now an active part of my life.

I used the inherited Beatles records as a starting point for my collection, and I’m now insanely lucky to have an original press of every Beatles and Springsteen album. It’s worth a few bob and as a very anxious person, I love it when the cats start sniffing around it.

Aside from the two favourites, I’ve built my collection up with loads of post-punk vinyl (Cure, Bunnymen, Joy Division), my youth era favourites (Las, Blur, Space, Cast) and more recent content (Murkage Dave, Kate Nash, Alexi Murdoch). It only dawned on me how much I was spending on vinyl when I ran out of storage space and had to buy that cabinet. There are three more units full to the brim, not in shot.

To help my inability to not buy new records, the Jacaranda (locally famous boozer who opened a record store a few years ago), has opened another record store directly below my office. I might as well liquidate the business now.

Of all my collection, I think some of my most treasured are Nebraska, Revolver and 13. They’re my go-to albums regardless of my mood, but hearing them crackle on the record player just makes them hit harder.

That said, my absolute most valued vinyl is A Hard Day’s Night.

A few years ago, my Dad came round for the footy, boxing and a few beers and we ended up listening to records into the early hours. This was in late 2020 when the world was on fire and my old man was riddled with cancer, which we were told was going to take him. Anyway. We played loads of Beatles and when I stuck A Hard Day’s Night on, he told me he vividly remembered buying it as a teenager because of something that happened as a result.

The girl he was courting went round to his to listen to it and drew hearts around McCartney’s name because she was in love with him. He was furious at the time and dumped her because of the unjustified vandalism, but wishes he still had it for the memory.

I handed the sleeve over. Turns out what I thought had been passed down from my Nan was actually Dad’s original copy from 56 years earlier. Couldn’t describe the smile on his face when he clocked it.

I love vinyl for so many reasons, but because of that moment I’ll cherish it - and A Hard Day’s Night - forever.

Edited January 21 by Frankie Crisp

[Loki]

Fucking hell that’s a belting moment of serendipity, Frankie.

 And what a great example of why vinyl is the best and most enduring music format.  I know some people like buying new records (and I do too) but I usually prefer a slightly beaten up 2nd hand copy of something.  All those years and hands they pass through gives that sleeve and record its own character, and sound.

 

 

[wordsfromlee]

I haven't participated in RSD for a few years now as it's gone to shit. The rare time theres actually anything worth getting they end up not being exclusive to RSD and getting repressed a couple of months later - which never used to happen. But saying that, I've wanted this album for so long. Do I pay the ~£40 it'll no doubt be, or wait and hope it's one of the ones that get repressed at a more reasonable price?

 

[Merzbow]

42 minutes ago, wordsfromlee said:

not being exclusive to RSD and getting repressed a couple of months later

Yeah I'm pretty sure the last RSD "exclusive" I bought had that happen, even down to the supposed limited purple and white swirled variant getting another press the same year. I'm still happy I bought it though, it has one of my favourite covers for a metal album ever.

[WyattSheepMask]

Random bump of this as today, as despite never being really into vinyl and only having a small handful of records by certain artists, I’ve decided I’d quite like a player and build a small collection.

The main issue is that I’ve got no idea where to even start with what I’m looking for, what sort of budget to set myself or anything. I’m fairly sure I want to stay away from one of those £50 players that have the speakers build in as I imagine they sound like shite, but if I can get something that sounds decent for OK money I’ll be happy.

Any help is greatly appreciated 

Edited April 3 by WyattSheepMask

[wordsfromlee]

I’d say look for anything really that has a counterweight on the tone arm and a replaceable cartridge. The ones that don’t (like the cheap £50 suitcase players) have the weight set ridiculously heavy which will fuck your records up in no time. Anything with a built-in phono preamp is a bonus too. 
 

Have a look on Facebook marketplace or stuff on ebay that’s close to you for some second hand bargains. 
 

I say see people saying a lot of good stuff about the Audio Technica LP60. 

[Loki]

For just listening to music (as opposed to mixing/scratching) the most important factors are the stylus and the weighted tone arm as @wordsfromlee said.  If you have a multimedia amp for your tv that might have a phono in (and therefore a preamp).  

Otherwise a trip to a second hand electrical store might find you a cheap hifi amp and speakers, and possibly a cheap record deck that you can just buy a new stylus for!