Owner of Southend’s Carmel Records, Paul Despy. Image copyright Dean Chalkley 2008
You know when you have a particular place, a place that acts as a meeting point for you and your mates, a special place that defines your character? Well, for me, Carmel Records in Southend is just that place – writes photographer and DJ Dean Chalkley.
Paul Despy took over this long thin store from Peter Eden (one time manager of Donovan) back in 1983 – which, as it goes, was the year I first walked through the door of this special shop.
1983 was a year that Northern Soul, Mod, 2-Tone and Jazz were all vying for the coolest status on the street – yes, I am referring to the mean streets of Southend, where I grew up. This was before the loved-up, tolerant days that came after house and techno. And this was a tribal town: the chances of getting your head kicked in was high. And in this tempestuous time Paul’s shop was our harbour and sanctuary. My mates and I were staunch mods at the time and we, in our youthful arrogance I suppose, considered ourselves as ‘the faces’. We probably deserved a good kicking!
There was a lot of local record dealing going on back then, trades in clubs and round people’s houses. You might hear a track in a club spun by local DJs Chad and Del and then the next week you might see their copy of said tune in Paul’s shop as they like to shift stuff in and out. Never standing still, their collections became liquid gold. Chad and Del were Mod royalty, chaps that we all really aspired to be, the absolute ace faces in town.
People came from far and wide and the reputation of the shop grew and grew – not least because of Paul’s knowledge and ability to suggest just the right stuff that you had never heard before but drooled over instantly.
I used to save my dinner money by living off 50p bowls of custard in order to have enough money to buy a 45 at the end of the week. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve gone into the shop and tried to sing a track to Paul: “Yeah, you know it goes ‘derderder der da derderder der’…”.
By 85/86 the Rare Groove DJs became regular features in the shop on a Saturday. Gary Dennis, one of the main fellows of this scene, always seemed to be there and that protagonist of the Acid Jazz movement, Snow Boy would often pop in, on the look out for crazy Latin obscurities….
The little shop’s décor has never changed over the years though. Loads of cuttings depicting bands like the Kinks and the Who, playlists from northern DJs and pictures – like the one of Jim Morrison with a dog – still hang where they were stuck whenever they arrived: Carmel Records is an authentic time capsule. Of course today the internet allows Paul to sell stuff on eBay and other market sites but the shop remains a long galley of exotic pleasure. To me the smell, the visual excitement of the cuttings and albums on thin shelves running down either side of the store, the pure visceral thrill of walking into the shop makes visiting a real treat – and that’s before you get to listening to your favourite new tune that Paul is about to suggest to you, or the album or 45 you’ve just seen and realized you must have in your collection…
Specialities here are, as always, great Soul tunes, R&B, R’n'R 60’s and Psyche and a whole array of other good stuff, from Willie Mitchell to John’s Children, from Bo Diddley to Mongo Santamaria.
Paul tends to open in the afternoons now, Monday to Saturday but its worth calling ahead to avoid any disappointment. You’ll bloody love it!
Carmel Records (01702 338593)
281a London Road,
Westcliff-on-Sea,
Essex,
SS0 7BX
All images and text in the above blogpost are the property of Dean Chalkley 2008. Dean has just started a brand new monthly musical shindig called SHAKE! at The Boogaloo in Highgate which takes place the 1st Saturday of each month. His first guest DJ to join him behind the decks was Paul Despy of Carmel Records. If you like Get Involved or Gerry’s Joint, you’re gonna love Dean’s SHAKE!
