Get Involved blog

The bay area, writes Derek See of dereksdaily45, is a virtual mecca of record stores; spread out over many miles from San Francisco south to San Jose, over the mountains to Santa Cruz then across the bay from Fremont north to Berkeley, one could easily spend an entire week digging. Be warned; there are MANY people digging records in the bay area, but as we all know, it’s a combination of timing, luck and stamina which determines finds.

In San Francisco itself, my top choice is Rooky Ricardo’s (448 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA 94117-3506), run by the legendary Dick Vivian. Not only does Dick have an encyclopedic knowledge of girl group and soul, but he will also show you some authentic 60’s dances. Dick has also put together a series of compilations (from his personal collection) of ace sounds. The stock is excellent, and the vibe is top notch. There are half a dozen turntable stations to sample whatever you want to hear.

OK, from Rooky’s head towards Golden Gate Park along Haight Street and right on the edge of the park is the massive Amoeba Music at 1855 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA 94117; this is a world class record store and their stock of LP’s (vintage used and reissue) is truly awe inspiring. There are dozens of boxes of 45’s which are unfortunately not in very good order. One may have to sift through a dozen copies of the same reissue record, but oftentimes it is well worth it (I have found my copies of northern soul gems such as The Vibrations’ Cause You’re Mine and Eddie Holman’s I Surrender here for 50 cents each!).

Also worth mentioning is Groove Merchant, a mecca of funk and soul.

Heading south to San Jose (well, actually nearby Campbell), my mate Jeff Jagged has a great little shop called ON THE CORNER. I sell many of my doubles here through Jeff, and he always has a great selection of LP’s and 45’s with excellent prices attached. Plus, Jeff is one of the friendliest fellas (not to mention best DJ’s) I have ever known. Here’s an interior shot:

Within five minutes of On The Corner is Streetlight, which is hit or miss but worth a trip (the employees at this store have excellent taste and tend to pick over lots of the best stuff!)

The Krate is a new store in Santa Cruz that caters to the DJ crowd with an impressive collection of funk, soul, and some rock. Down the street from the Krate is Streetlight Santa Cruz.

In the east bay, there is a great shop in Fremont called Needle 2 Groove (150 H Street
Fremont, CA 94536-2903); tons and tons of great records and many bargain gems.

In Berkeley, Amoeba has a smaller branch at 2455 Telegraph Ave that is very impressive as well. 

Add in the Oakland/ Alameda flea market antique show (a massive outdoor swap meet that is held the first Sunday of every month), one can certainly get lost buying records in the bay area.. 

Derek See writes the ever-inspiring Derek’s Daily 45s blog, DJs all over the Bay Area and, in short, is a record-collecting legend.

Yes, it’s upon us once more: Independent Record Store Day and to help celebrate it I thought I’d post up info about my top three independent record shops in London - if you can get to your local record shop this weekend - DO IT! It’s important to keep these hubs of musical culture alive and kicking!

JB’s
36 Hanway Street
London W1T 1UP
Nearest Tube: Tottenham Court Road
+44 (0)20 7436 4063

JB’s is hidden away just off busy Oxford Street – only a few minutes stroll from where I work, making it one of my top record-finding spots. The shop is run by the ever-friendly, hugely knowledgeable Rob and Bill who work tirelessly to ensure it’s stocked with classic and rare blues, rock’n'roll, country, soul, disco, funk, country and rock records (and CDs). I’ve bagged some great 45s and compilation LPs in here.

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Intoxica! Records
231 Portobello Road
London W11 1LT
Nearest Tube: Ladbroke Grove
+44 (0)20 7229 8010
http://www.intoxica.co.uk

This is a really well stocked little shop on the ever-busy Portobello Road. Ground floor has ska, reggae, latin, 60s beat, psyche and rock and pop and downstairs in the basement is a wonderful selection of blues, 60s soul, r’n'b and jazz LPs. Spotted a lovely copy of The Sue Story compilation LP for £50 downstairs. But, as ever, I focused on 45s - and there are boxes and boxes of them behind the counter… An absolute gem of a shop.

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Sounds That Swing
88 Parkway
Camden
London NW1 7AN
Nearest Tube: Camden Town
+44 (0)207 267 4682
http://www.nohitrecords.co.uk

Sounds That Swing used to be a stones-throw from Camden market, hidden away at the far end of Inverness Street in a tiny, cave-like shop choc-full of music from the 50’s and 60’s with loads of vinyl action to be had. However, it has moved to new premises on Parkway just down the road. The new place is smaller and tidier – and still the best place to go in London if you want to shop for 50s and 60s rockabilly and rhythm’n'blues sounds. To see how the old shop used to look - check out Dean Chalkley’s photos taken just before the move in the Record Shop Love section of this site.

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There are more records shops listed in the Record Shop section of the Get Involved site. Happy shopping!

PS - I noticed The Guardian did a piece on Independent Record Store Day - you can read it here: guardian.co.uk/music/2010/apr/16/independent-music-stores-musicians-favourites

Holy shit-balls this post should have gone up about 8 months ago! Where, in the name of glorious vinyl, has this year gone!? OK, so back in January this year I heard that Camden’s specialist 50s and 60s rhythm’n'blues and rockabilly record shop, Sounds That Swing, was going to move premises. So I called up Get Involved collaborator and chum, not to mention ace photographer, Dean Chalkley to tell him… We agreed straight away that taking some shots of Sounds That Swing’s incredible, cave-like shop on Inverness street for posterity was a must as, well, we don’t know any shop quite like it.

Dean took these shots in er, February this year I think. Massive thanks to Dean for taking them and for allowing me to show them here (and apologies for taking so long to actually stick them online!). Thanks also to the staff at Sounds That Swing for walking the walk and for letting us hang out and take shots that afternoon!

Oh, nearly forgot to add that the shop has now moved to new premises (er, they’re not that new anymore - they moved months ago!) on Parkway in Camden round the corner - to which I have yet to visit. But anyway, here’s what the old place used to look like…

Sounds That Swing is now at the following address:

Sounds That Swing
88 Parkway
Camden
London NW1 7AN
Nearest Tube: Camden Town
+44 (0)207 267 4682
http://www.nohitrecords.co.uk

All photography in this post copyright Dean Chalkley

Taking a stroll in Stoke Newington at the weekend I got to have a look round the shop that used to be Ocean Books at 127 Stoke Newington Church Street – which is now under new management and called Lucky Seven. Encouragingly, the back room is still full of second hand records, although it has been tidied up considerably and the central record bins have been moved out of the back and into the front of the shop. This means more room for browsing records but means less room for books. Which is fine by me: there are plenty of bookshops in Stokey, both new and second hand, but no other record shops. Hooray for Lucky Seven!

The other great news is that the place is run by two super-friendly guys, one of which is a dab hand at fixing audio equipment - which he’s happy to do in the shop. Nice!

OK - so I didn’t spend longer than about ten minutes in the place - but I still managed to buy one record - a best-of Louis Jordan LP from 1975 on MCA - for £3. It’s mint so I thought I’d share it with y’all as, well… if you don’t got no Louis Jordan, you’ve been missing out!

Highlights include Choo Choo Ch’Boogie, Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens, Barnyard Boogie, Saturday Night Fish Fry and the calypso ditty called Run Joe which, for me, totally justifies buying this old LP (I’d never heard it before). The 20 tracks collected here were all recorded for Decca between 1938 and 1955.

You can grab side one and side two by clicking on the links below. I’ve ripped the LP at 320kps, separated the tracks, and included photos the sleeve artwork - the front of which, as you can see, isn’t particularly interesting - BUT the shot of the back cover is at a suitable resolution so you can read the sleeve notes by Mike Head. Enjoy!

The Best of Louis Jordan
MCA LP: MCFM 2715 (1975)

Side one DOWNLOAD IT(70.4Mb)

1. Choo Choo Ch’Boogie
2. Let The Good Times Roll
3. Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens
4. Saturday Night Fish Fry
5. Beware Brother Beware
6. Caldonia
7. Knock Me A Kiss
8. Run Joe (with The Calypso Boys)
9. School Days
10. Blue Light Boogie (with Trio)

Side two DOWNLOAD IT(65.7Mb)

1. Five Guys Named Moe
2. What’s The Use Of Getting Sober
(When You Gonna Get Drunk Again)
3. Buzz Me
4. Beans and Corn Bread
5. Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Cryin’
6. Somebody Done Changed The Lock On My Door
7. Barnyard Boogie
8. Early In The Mornin’
9. I Want You To Be My Baby
10. Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out

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Check out Lucky Seven’s second hand vinyl wares next time you’re in Stokey. All tastes catered for - they’ve got techno, drum’n'bass, hip hop, trip hop, flip flop, and - if you’re very lucky - greasy doo wop!

Lucky Seven
127 Stoke Newington Church Street
Stoke Newington
London
N16 0UH
+44 (0)20 7502 6319 (not sure if this still works - it used to be Ocean Books number
Jason: 07990 558 062
Kane: 07592 878 199

Open 7 days a week, 10am-7pm

Well, yesterday’s World Record Store Day came and went in London, rather like any other day - although I did see that the BBC picked up on it. Next year I hope to get it in the diary in advance so I can at least get some bunting and some beers, and take my mini celebration to some of my favourite independent record shops in London. Or something…

To mark this year’s WRSD, admittedly belatedly, I’ve FINALLY got round to making a selection of some photographs taken late last summer in my all time favourite London record store; JB’s. I’ve been going in to this little shop, tucked away in a side street just off bustling Oxford Street, for a number of years and anyone that has followed this blog will know that I often reference the shop when talking about records I’ve picked up that are blowing my little mind… Needless to say, I would be absolutely gutted if JB’s disappeared.

So when Rob and Bill who run the shop told me last year that rent was going up and they thought they were going to have to leave the premises, I called up my buddy, Dean Chalkley, and asked if he would be interested taking some shots of the shop, for posterity and as part of the ongoing Record Shop Love series of images and stories archived on this very site. All the shots you see on this post (and the one on the site’s homepage) were taken by Dean one Friday evening last August.

Since then, I’m delighted to report that the shop hasn’t disappeared or moved – you can still find Rob and Bill dishing out top tips for sounds that you might like in JB’s on Hanway Street next to Bradley’s Spanish Bar. If you’re around in London, pop in and have a rummage!

This post contains a selection of Dean’s shots, taken in August last year. Long live JBs!

Rob and Bill. Doing a great job!

JB’s Record Shop
36 Hanway Street
London W1T 1UP
Nearest Tube: Tottenham Court Road
+44 (0)20 7436 4063

All photography in this post copyright Dean Chalkley