WOEBOT

Hmmm...having given my Visa a right old battering in Amoeba Records out in Berkeley these past couple of weeks, it does tend to make me even more blase about London record shops. I do think the standard has fallen even from a decade ago but can't really argue with your star ratings. Mr Bongo upstairs is pretty good for Latin music though - I remember we went up there after Ben Borthwick's Tropicalia Primer in the Wire back in '99 (?) and they had nearly every item listed in stock.

Mr Herbert's old Ambient Soho shop in Berwick Street remains sorely missed.

Oh, and you missed out Cheapo Cheapo in Berwick Street, or maybe you didn't ;-)

Still, by way of balance here is my quick guide to record shops in W11:

Music & Video Exchange, NHG (8/10)
The collectors' first floor is about as good as you're going to get in this part of town, I think (better than the overrated Beanos in Croydon). The ground floor is pretty average smelly rawk but the basement is always worth checking out. The soul/dance branch two doors down isn't anything staggering but it'll do if you're not overly fussed.

Rough Trade, Talbot Rothwell Road (7/10)
Once it would have been a straight-in-there ten. But it is still rather snooty about contemporary dance/urban music which does not feature an electric piano and seems to have reverted to a post-C86 status of hibernation. It's falling behind a little.

Intoxica!, Portobello Road (9/10)
"Realistically" priced (i.e. clear it with your bank manager/card issuer first) but an excellent source for dodgy '70s cop show soundtracks, askew psychedelia and (downstairs) lots of lovely Old New Thing jazz and soul, including the best Brit jazz second-hand selection in London, These Records and Mole Jazz on a good day partially excepted.

Honest Jon's, the other seamy side of Portobello Road (upstairs 8/10; downstairs 5/10)
Another shop of two halves. Upstairs is about the best soul/funk/reggae/jazz-lite assemblage to be found in London - definitely Norman Jay country, if (again) wanting on that 8th bar, as well as Ladbroke Grove dinner party soundtracking. Downstairs in the basement is what remains of what used to be London's best jazz shop; and it's now in a sorry state, its once awesome range of new and second-hand stuff reduced to a gratuitous rump - one wonders why they bother with CDs at all; their selection is so scant.

Dub Vendor, Ladbroke Grove (9/10)
Been there for centuries, and I don't believe I've ever bought anything from it, and probably have only set foot in it two or three times. But it looks like as good a reggae shop as anywhere, Alfie's stall in Brixton Market notwithstanding.

Minus Zero/I Can Never Remember What The Other Half Is Called, Blenheim Crescent (10/10)
The Derek Bailey and Evan Parker of music retailers; the two gentlemen fell out some years ago but now beningly deal in their separate shop halves facing each other. And it's my favourite W11 record shop(s) because it achieves exactly what it set out to do; yes it devotes itself entirely to archived rawk, psych, Power Pop and Americana, but its stock is pretty much faultless, including important records (e.g. Linda Perhacs) which you are unlikely to find anywhere else in London (you try and stock up on your Julie Driscoll or Mike Heron back catalogue in the West End and see how far you get).

Oh, and a word for the grievously missed Groove Records in Berwick Street, run by its elderly lady proprietor who never blinked an eyelid when you requested whatever extreme adventure in hip hop had been unleashed on import that particular week.

And finally, an urgent and key question: does any West End record shop stock the DJ Wrongspeed CD-R?

Excellent! In complete agreement here. All we need is a Camden Guide and London is (nearly) covered!

A few notes:

Cheapo Cheapo. Aren't they called Black Dog "Records" Don't they just sell CDs? Excluded for this reason?

Upstairs at Mr. Bongo (7/10) Yes that's a good store. Often think it's slightly scratchy...but lets give it a seven.

Ambient Soho Yeah RIP Rocket's shop. They used to sell my comics there.

Beanos (2/10) Sooooooo over-rated.

Blimey Marcello we're gonna have to stop agreeing like this!

;-)

the word geek springs to mind...

or should that be train-spotter...?

Doobie you cunt! Don't come crying to me for rarities you...(splutters)...you...turncoat!

rewch is not a turncoat, he is merely being mauve

reckless has the best selection of plastic vinil sleeves you can find. 10 grams, 20, 50, 90g; 7 inches, 10 inches, 12...you name it!

YAY! i needed this BADLY since we're going to london and wanted to buy up all of london recordstores. this beats having to go to tower records. heh

no mention of 'in-stores', when 50+ people pack in between the racks and a band performs behind the till. These are usually organised after hours but sometimes a DJ'll be in and they just take over.

Selectadisc - worth checking the window because they sometimes manage to get job lots of stupid cheap stuff - LPs for 2 quid and box sets for a fiver kind of thing. Also alright for Trojan LPs for about 6 quid.

Ditto the comments on Ambient Soho :-(

Quick guide to record shops in Stoke Newington:

1) Wax Unlimited

Possibly one of the best reggae shops in London, run by the legendary Gladdy Wax. You should give this man all your money (I have).

2) Totem

Alright varied 2nd hand stuff which is priced higher than you would find it in more central shops. But they do have some nice bits now and again you won't find anywhere else. Plus they have a ramp so you can get a buggy in easy.

3) That's it apart from the occasional furniture shops which also sell bizarre selections of vinyl.

Damn do I want to go to London now!

Regal Records on Lower Clapton Road, E5 will always have a warm place in my heart. It's a real rare find in as much as it's an incredibly friendly... REGGAE SHOP!!!
Dub Vendor in Ladbroke Grove has a lot more stuff, but it's a hell of a trek from my gates and I have a bit of a phobia of West London anyway.
Despit having the best selection of records in London, I generally tell visitors that it's pretty pointless even going in to Blacker Dread on Coldharbour Lane, Brixton. I've been irritating them for a few years and do generally manage to get served in there now, but quite often new visitors will just be ignored!
Still, Matt, I'm absolutely with you on Daddy Kool. It's not a great shop. The ragga section has gone waaaay downhill over the past couple of years and that bloke is one of the rudest people I have ever met.
Funnily enough I was out for drinks in San Francisco a couple of months ago and a couple of people I'd met began to talk about their horrible experiences in Soho reggae shop a couple of years back. A true world-famous wanker!

any of you's ever make it to the Cheapo cheapo wharehouse? closed now, but it used to be THE place.

also, what about that crazy shop in Victoria that sells only marching band lps and avant garde electroacoustic.. is it still there?

you missed out release the groove in denman street. upstairs = 3/10, downstairs = 7/10. although im sure i saw the amalgamation of soundz guy from RTG in something called "if records" that was somewhere like "In that horribly seamy pedestrian precinct running from the foot of Berwick Street". maybe its the same one.
i give koobla 2/10 because they had 0 understanding of custmoer service there when i went and the guy behind me, on seeing my uptown bag, started making jokes about black ops or something!

These Records is wonderful (112 Brook Drive, Elephant and Castle) - and might not be physically there as a shop much longer (www.theserecords.com) - great source of avant-garde stuff, improv, esoteric prog, henry cow lp's (eek). uk garage selection isn't up to much, though.

re: DJ Wrongspeed - try emailing Resonance FM direct (admin@resonancefm.com)

No mention of Mr CD?! (Or were CD shops purposely excluded?) Its cash-only policy of yore is no more and it's good at getting imports of the big new hip-hop albums in for a tenner each. Also they don't really seem to know about much beyond rock so you can find pre-release stuff which they've not heard of in their fiver section downstairs sometimes. It's a sordid place though. They do vinyl too, Tim Hopkins is the man to ask about that, I can't even work out where they put it.

When I worked on Poland Street last year the cheapo CD shops had a bit of a price war on so you could find silly bargains - Basement Jaxx for £7 on the morning of release, etc.

Also the MVE on Berwick Street is the least friendly in all London BUT it has a good basement, not as good as the sadly missed Shepherds Bush MVE basement though.

oh my god! i still have dreams about the 20p basement in goldhawk road...

(cackles) Out come the Freaks!

i've had counselling since

Gabba Gabba we accept you!

i feel i owe it to my pret-loving reputation to jump in at this point, sharp elbows flailing, and defend eg Our Price (except it hasn't been called Our Price for abt nine years)

Hey, thanks. Very useful. Have printed this out and will study it in detail as I'm making a trip up to london on Saturday.

Do any of you experts know where one would go to find old Italo/disco stuff. Of the more electronic/synth-y variety ...

Also, are there any useful distractions in Soho where you can dump any companions who do have lives, and don't want to trawl round record shops (I don't think she's going to be interested in the cinemas..)

aaaa i kiss you for this!! i am going to london in 2 weeks and am in dire dire need of record store recomendations.. aaaa this is wonderful!!

if you dare venture into south east london, the greenwich branch of music and video exchange is the closest there is to the late, lamented shepherds bush branch (sigh) - has a pretty good turnover of stuff, they're always dead friendly - and, most importantly, have a great 50p basement in which i've found many astonishingly fine items! two doors down from them, hidden at the back of a really scary looking shopping arcade in which my girlfriend had her legs waxed for a fiver and ended up with some pretty horrific bruising (!) is the unlikely setting for a psyche/prog specialist emporium. i can say with absolute confidence that 'vinyl magic' has the best selection of obscure italian prog rock in the whole of south east london. i swear i'm the only customer they ever have and always feel guilty if i leave empty-handed. i'm sure an extra customer would make his day.

if that doesn't sate your appetite, you can always jump on the dlr or get a 199 bus to lewisham and check out independance records for your garridge fix, and then over the road is a pretty neat old-school grimy secondhand record shop where you can find some neat stuff if you don't mind getting your hands dirty and digging deep. (both shops are on lee high road, se13). there's also a dancehall / r&b specialist at lewisham model market, hidden at the back of the big shopping centre, and a decent cheapo cd stall there too. and i found a copy of the super-rare priscilla paris solo lp in the cancer research shop.

lewisham's still a shithole though.

yeah, these records won't be there for much longer (a month or two) then I think its gonna be a mail order operation: they are doing a sale of some items.

sound 323 is the other avant-garde shop, on highgate. google 'em for a webpage.

This is a great list. thanks :-)

I'm so printing this out for my next visit.

Smallfish just past the 333 club on Old Street always has something that I've never heard of but yet can't leave the shop without buying...