English Record Stores

Eng-Rock forever! Electro-rock...¡que viva! Vinyl, you will be all mine'l!

This is what my molecules were screaming as my plane's wheels left the tarmac and I began my journey to London.

Many people plan trips to cities around seeing famous sites, but Ryan and I plan our visits around records stores. In my carry-on, I had a carefully researched list Ryan had compiled. He'd spent hours on that thing, researching and compiling a list of British vinyl, and because Ryan was holding down the fort stateside I felt a burden to deliver the goods.

My London hosts are kind, and though I was determined to avoid obsessing over records stores on their time, they made some special trips for me to Soho and the Notting Hill 'hood.

I was hoping against hope that my love of English bands would finally work in my favor...surely there must be an abundance of (affordable) Mancunian rock and Banshees records in London? Surely! And you know, maybe some Pulp...and...and...ok, probably not affordable for the early 90s goods.

The original Rough Trade- in the Basement! Notting Hill 'hood.

The first shot at record shopping I got was on a visit to the Notting Hill neighborhood (newsflash: there is no way that Hugh Grant's character in Notting Hill  could afford to live in this neighborhood!!). We visited Portobello Market, had a bit of English style breakfast (eggs on toast! veg!) and meandered about. There's an awesome art display of vinyl records called the Portobello ReCollection there. It's quite a neat thing that no matter where you are going in London, you will accidentally discover something really interesting, unique, famous, or infamous. For example, I walked past houses of famous folk on many of our jaunts; places where Orwell, Hardy, and Ghandi had lived.

Wearing a weird facial expression: I pretend it's my punk face.

Like good music stores everywhere, Rough Trade opened at 10 AM (believe it or not, we were there early enough to have to wait around a bit). The BASEMENT was amazing. Right away I found Boomerang, by The Creatures. I spent about $12 getting a record that usually goes for upwards of $30. There was a massive Prince singles collection, a New Order "True Faith" remix lp I'd never seen but was immediately identifiable because of the leaf image.

The Original Single

12" Remix Single

Whilst there, Mark (one of my very patient hosts) took the opportunity to explain music categories I'd never seen before (Pub Rock and one I've forgotten the name of that was rock music for sport fans!), and to be shocked by all the bands I'd never heard about. It was neat to be shopping abroad and see categories for US New Wave, US Punk, US Rock, Surf Music, etc., a million categories for dance music, as well as the ever so un-PC category of Kraut Rock.

Music & Goods Exchange- Soho

Later in the week, on a Friday night as all the natural-born entertainers came out in Soho, Rae and Mark took me to a few more record shops. Music & Goods Exchange reminded me of CD/Game Exchange a bit, except things were reversed: this place had tons of cool records, and CDs were available in lesser quantity. These are neat stores because each branch specializes in something besides the music they sell. The branch in Soho specializes in comics (in the basement), which wasn't super interesting to me, but given the chance I would definitely visit other branches to check out their collections (one store has vintage clothes, another books, and one has films). My visit there was quite invigorating as I felt I was finally getting a true, English record fix with my purchases.

Upon approaching the counter to purchase the records at this store, I had a couple of realizations. This was the second store I had purchased records from, and I had noticed that they stored the vinyl behind the counter so shoppers would have to bring the sleeves up for what they wanted to buy. I thought that it might perhaps be a space issue-- the shops are pretty small-- or a thievery issue. But, like the first time I had purchased records, the clerk asked me to look at the quality of the vinyl before buying-- he didn't ask me if I wanted to, he expected me to do it. I adore this practice! How cool is it that record store folks in England are concerned about this on a customary basis? It would be considered odd NOT to look at the condition of vinyl before buying.

Sister Ray in Soho- you should visit!

The same thing happened when I purchased records at Sister Ray, just down the street. This was especially exciting because the shop had multiple copies of the Siouxsie & the Banshees singles I was purchasing, and I got to select the best copies. Even cooler, I
got to select from multiple gatefold, limited, clear vinyl editions of one of "The Killing Jar"; I ended up with pressing #13. I loved this store...they had so many records I wanted that I had to put things back. This is highly unusual for me!

Overall, I did pretty well for only purchasing records from a few stores, and I felt very satisfied. I did see quite a few awesome records I couldn't afford to buy, but I also got a fair price on Cure, Banshees, New Order, Prince, U2, James, and Kate Bush records (I got those last couple at an Oxfam in Shaftesbury, but that is a different story).

The weight of my carry-on as I lugged it around Heathrow, JFK, and PDX on my way home was extremely satisfying. The look on Ryan's face as he pulled out all his treats was even better.

Record Store Day

In honor of Record Store Day, a post about two of the first record stores I frequented as a newbie record buyer. In memoriam...

The first record store I wandered into in P-Town.

I had the coolest RA in college. Besides being kind, silly, and oozing Big Island cool in his year-round flip-flops, Michael was the kind of guy who made sure that all us bright-eyed frosh were ready to get around on our own in Portland. One weekend early on, Michael gathered up the freshman crew in Stewart, showed us how to hop the bus downtown (including how to get transfer passes!), and took us on a walking tour of major sites. We were backpack-wearing ducklings following our mama.

The first place we stopped was this store with lots of windows and red trim on the corner of Stark and 11th. D-Jangos? I think it took me a while to figure out how to say the name properly...and learn its history. We all walked inside and gawked at the merchandise. The gears in my mind were turning like a lamborghini's odometer on the Autobahn. I knew I was coming back to this place.

When I think of Django's, the vinyl fairy sprinkles love dust into my heart. I found so many cool things there: Jeff Buckley's singles, lps like Mystery White Boy, Low, Astral Weeks, Technique, Music for the Masses, Beach Boys 7" singles from Pet Sounds (mono!), a Mahalia Jackson postcard, and lots of cds, too. The prices were always reasonable. Best of all, every time I was there, I was with friends and fellow music junkies.

I miss Djangos.

I dyed my hair "Pimpin' Purple" with a bottle of Special Effects bought at Ozone.

Right across the street, on Burnside and 11th, was Ozone (now a Buffalo Exchange). While Django's was a welcoming, open store, Ozone felt like the traditional cool record store gauntlet. You had to walk through a long entry to get to the goods, past employees with many-a-piercing and/or tattoo and awesome, high-maintenance hair. They were cool. At the end of the entry there was a counter dedicated to patches, stickers, hair dye, chains, and studded everything. After having a dream about purpling my hair, I purchased my first bottle of hair dye at that counter. Rock on Pimpin' Purple, rock on.

Benicio del Toro was rumored to have been seen at Ozone that year, and I can't deny that my prolonged gazing at the poster covered ceiling may have devolved into daydreaming about the man.

My vinyl-pickin' fingers found some gems at Ozone as well, most notably Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me and Passengers.



I'm glad that I live in a city that has several fantastic, independent record stores still around. I am one lucky vinyl junky. Let's keep our record stores open...and celebrate a great day, the big R-S-D!