They still do, and 'kids' of all ages should be pleasantly surprised at just how many places in this city they can still buy records from. So this is our one-stop guide to the fantastic record shops of Greater Manchester, from the 'Vinyl Valley' that is Oldham Street in the Northern Quarter, to the windswept streets of Bolton, Lancashire. Browse the menu on the right hand side and go shopping! Contact Us and tell us what you think.
Please enjoy the site and Support your local record shops. Or if you haven't got any local record shops, come to Manchester and support ours.
Tony Wilson quote & image used with kind permission of the Wilson family. Support Oliver Wilson raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support. Visit www.justgiving.com/OliverWilson
You may have already noticed that Cassette Tapes are back, in a small but beautiful way.
Before you Vinyl disciples start getting all upset about hiss, wow and flutter that’s exactly why tapes are making a comeback. A lot of experimental soundmakers and bands are using the medium specifically to capture the unique, fuzzy, lo-fi sound of tape and use the limitations of the format as part and parcel of the music. Others are using them as a nod to Mixtape culture and the early days of Hip Hop. They also make quirky little collectors items for the merchandise stall and are a great, cheap way for bands to distribute some home-made music without just sending out an mp3 or a blank CD-R.
Among collectors, tapes have generally been considered charity shop fodder at best, landfill at worst but there are some collectable ones and there is a relatively untapped world of rarities out there. The lovely Factory Records A5 book-style boxed tapes remain highly desirable for example. Check out this recently uncovered, unreleased version of Fac24c.
Rumour has it that the tape version of My Bloody Valentine’s ‘Loveless’ is a different mix to the CD version and have a look at this amazing page about the peculiar tape variations on The Beatles albums, again some with different running orders and alternate mixes.
So, grab yourself a cheap Walkman or Boombox on Ebay and get busy with the hissy.
(and hang on to those Mini Discs and DAT tapes, they’re bound to have a revival one day….)
Record Store Day was, by all accounts, a triumph. I popped out early on to distribute some Record Shop City leaflets to the queue outside Piccadilly just before opening time. Amazingly, the queue was snaking around the block as far as Beatin’ Rhythm records and I soon ran out of the 100 or so leaflets I had with me and cursed myself for not printing 100 more but I’d been DJ-ing the previous night so I had a suitably rock and roll excuse. If you were in the queue and you’d like one it’s available here. Note the preponderance of young people, and even some women in the queue…not quite the stereotypical ‘Hi Fidelity’ image of your average record shop punter is it? The kids at the front of the queue had been there since 4.30am.
Our man Carl visited King Bee and found Les doing brisk trade as ever. King Bee wasn’t a participating store although to be fair, every saturday is Record Store Day in that part of the world!
In terms of raising awareness about the ongoing resilience of independent music retailers the day was definitely a success with lots of press features (some Manchester related ones are reproduced here..and here), and much discussion and debate about Record Shops. For one day it restored something that the internet has taken away from music retailers, exclusivity and scarcity of the product they are selling. For a brief moment record shops had ‘stuff ‘that nobody could download for free, or buy cheaper on Amazon. Of course the bubble was burst within hours as certain mercenary folk put their Blur or Beatles singles on Ebay, hardly in the spirit of the event but somewhat inevitable.
Still, the fact that such an event occurs at all says a lot about the determination of people who love record shops to keep them alive. While it is great to have record shop exclusives available for one day it does beg the question why record labels can’t do this every saturday? Surely more releases could be made available to record shops ahead of their online or download release date, and more could be done to provide interesting and exclusive items for record shops to sell. The shops have shown that they’re capable of moving with the times and adapting to the seismic shifting of the music industry goalposts, its time record labels did their bit to help too, and not just once a year.
Just a quick reminder about Record Store Day, as if you didn’t know, which takes place this Saturday April 17th.
The list of exclusive items that will be available from participating stores on the day is a huge, ever growing thing indeed. You’ll have read much ado in the press about Blur’s brand new single for example, a limited edition of 1,000 on 7″, Sonic Youth, Elvis Costello, Crystal Castles, White Lies, LCD Soundsystem and even some band called The Beatles have got in on the act.
Piccadilly Records, Vibes Records and now X-Records will be stocking some of the special one-off releases but remember they won’t have all of it, and what they have got will be super limited and first come, first served.
Piccadilly have posted full details on their website here, and will also have guest DJs, Cakes, free promo CDs, badges and other goodies. They also promise to give some lessons in how to use a turntable properly! I shall be putting forward our man Carl for that one given the amount of styli he gets through!
Some of the other local shops are also promising special offers and so forth too, so it’ll be worth getting around as many as you can to find out what’s going on.
We’ve prepared a handy, portable version of the website with a list of all the other shops too so you can plan a days crate-digging. Click here to get it. Have a great day!
This just in from Stockport. Wah Wah Records have a special Spring sale, and are offering all their Vinyl at half price. Sale ends on Saturday April 10th so if you’re at a loose end over the rainy Easter hols then head down there and grab yourself some bargains.
We often get asked whether we’ll cover shops outside the Manchester region. Well, for now we’re keeping it local because that means we can cover the area in depth and we visit all the shops in person in order to review them properly for you. However, if you’re looking further afield then try www.indierecordshop.org which is building up into a pretty comprehensive directory of Independent Record Stores all over the country. Its an industry sponsored affair and as far as I can see they only focus on shops that sell new releases, so we’re not out of an (unpaid) job yet!
In other news, don’t forget that Record Store Day is just two weeks away on Saturday April 14th. Locally, Vibes Records in Bury and Piccadilly Records in the Northern Quarter will be participating and selling some of the mega-rare limited items that will only be available over the counter on the day. There is an enormous list of stuff including mega-limited singles by the likes of The Fall, Pavement, Pet Shop Boys, Midlake, Mogwai, Grace Jones, Hot Chip, Gorillaz, Neu!, Rolling Stones, an exclusive Goldfrapp tape (told you tapes were back!) to name just a few. To avoid disappointment do check with the shops to find out what they’ll be getting copies of though, and remember you can’t order this stuff online..you gotta stand in a line. The full list of participating stores is here: www.recordstoreday.com/UnitedKingdom.
Of course it’s not just about picking up a few exclusives, it’s about supporting and celebrating all the record retailers so while you’re at it, why not pick a shop from our list that you’ve not visited before, or get someone who hasn’t been digging for a while to get back into it.
I am, perhaps like yourself, a little tired of hearing stories of how record shops are dying and the only people buying tunes are middle aged male obsessives (perish the thought! -ed). It’s another great big shining lie and so, with camera in tow, RecordShopCity decided to hit a couple of our local stores and capture some cool customers, in flagrante so to speak, and give you a flavour of a typical Saturday afternoon out record shopping in the city. A big thank you to the lovely people who allowed me to capture their souls!
While I was out I also came across a great new stall in Afflecks Palace called ‘Good Grief!’ which stocks an interesting selection of limited run and esoteric records, so thats another one for our list. Check out the review here->
The Piccadilly Records newsletter is always worth a read every Monday morning as Philippa and the team tell you not only what has arrived in the stock room, but the ongoing fortunes of The Manchester Stingers WFC and suggestions for a top night out in Manchester and so forth. Given the rate at which certain limited issues sell out these days, you’d be advised to read it as soon as it comes out, and by popular demand you’ll now see a handy summary of ‘staff picks’ and find out what’s new in each department.
I hope Philippa won’t mind us reproducing her introduction to todays newsletter which makes a rather salient point about owning a large collection of ‘Physical Product’ as opposed to a hard drive full of mp3s of dubious origin. As she points out, the difference is that the latter has some value, and given that most releases are now in fairly limited quantities now is the time to start looking for the collectables of the future.
“As a vinyl junkie who has been buying wax since the late 70s, I now have a whole room given over to flooor-to-ceiling shelves of records. I sleep in the smaller back bedroom while my records get the comfort of the master bedroom up front. Meanwhile my friends have 20,000 tracks on something smaller than a fag packet. I spent years hauling boxes of records up and down nightclub stairs, while today’s DJs skip along with tiny shoulder bags of downloaded tracks on burnt CDs.
Sometimes I’ve felt like the person who went with Betamax while everyone else chose VHS. But not anymore, because I have now discovered Discogs. Working here for 24 years has meant that sometimes I’ve got a bit over enthusiastic in my purchases, ending up with a mix of cherished gems on the one hand and un-opened, still sealed, mint condition shelf fillers on the other. I might have a a whole room full of records, but it’s a room full of records that’s now making me money. So here’s two fingers to the downloaders – your collection of tracks is worth zilch. And it doesn’t look as good. And it doesn’t sound as good. And it doesn’t exist outside your iPod. Record collections (on vinyl or CD) rule!
So fellow record collectors, check out this week’s list of new music – there’s some really special releases on it, from the Soft Pack 45 to the new Gil Scott-Heron LP, from the latest batch of rhythm & blues sevens to the bang up to date UK garage-dubstep-techno crossover CD compilation from Fabric Records. Add to those future gems right now.”
Last week I made a quick trip over to Stockport for an update and dig around in Wah Wah Records. The shop opened in June and with warm heart I can say that Chris has moulded Wah Wah into a funky and friendly Vinyl and CD emporium.
Not only has the shop got a new purple exterior, the stock has expanded and he offers a wide range of genres although the emphasis is placed mainly on Rock, New Wave and Punk. In keeping with the location there’s also a nice little Northern section and of course a magic box full of Manchester classics and oddities. There is plenty Smiths, Mondays, Roses, Factory and more unusual like the unsung heroes of the late 80s The Man from Delmonte. There are also a few crates of bargain LPs and singles for a root around…I didn’t have time to go through them all so there might be a few beauties lurking in there.
So if you haven’t already paid a visit gather up your coinage and make that trip to Wah Wah.
I did a double take walking down Church Street this lunchtime. There now stands a pile of rubble where the bookstall and ramshackle old Church Street Records once ‘stood’ in its own lopsided, weatherbeaten way.
In its place will be some new market stalls which, to be fair, is infinitely preferable to more flats or an extension for T**co. Apparently all the existing stall holders have been offered a new spot too. It sounds like the bookstall will be back, but there is no mention of whether Church St Records’ owner has taken them up on the offer or decided to call it quits. If I were a betting man I would say they probably won’t be racking up the Clive Dunn LPs and shop soiled copies of Candy Flip’s second single in a shiny new stall in a few months time, but if anyone knows different let us know!
You can still read our notes on the strange little place, and Graham Jones recalls the unique sales technique of Church Street Records ‘staff’ in the article he kindly wrote for us which is here:
But lets not get all dewy eyed and nostalgic. As I passed the site I was actually carrying some new tunes purchased up the road in the Northern Quarter where trade in recorded sound (to people of all ages!) was brisk. It wasn’t free downloading, Amazon, Ebay, the general meltdown of the music industry or even T**co that finished Church Street Records off..they survived all that. It was a Bulldozer wot done it.
This week our man Carl paid a long overdue visit to Eastern Bloc, up in the Nothern Quarter. The place is a bit of a Manchester institution and amazingly this year sees its 25th Anniversary. We’re pleased to report that Eastern Bloc is still enthusiastically feeding the dancefloors and bedrooms of the North West with as much Techno, Drum N Bass, Dubstep and House as it can eat and, despite the age of CDJs and MP3 mixing, almost exclusively on 12″ Vinyl . It would seem that there is still a large and lively community of DJs and Tune affocianados for whom only a pair of Technics and a box of black plastic will do.
Sounds like the guys are doing a great job keeping the buzz going and Carl came back all twitchy and with an insatiable urge to mount a club podium, crack open a can of Breaker and throw some Techno ‘shapes’. So, we salute you Eastern Bloc and we’ve updated our E-Bloc page (click here) with an updated review and cool new pictures.
They still do, and 'kids' of all ages should be pleasantly surprised at just how many places in this city they can still buy records from. So this is our one-stop guide to the fantastic record shops of Greater Manchester, from the 'Vinyl Valley' that is Oldham Street in the Northern Quarter, to the windswept streets of Bolton, Lancashire. Browse the menu on the right hand side and go shopping! 
Visit Manchester
Among collectors, tapes have generally been considered charity shop fodder at best, landfill at worst but there are some collectable ones and there is a relatively untapped world of rarities out there. The lovely Factory Records A5 book-style boxed tapes remain highly desirable for example. Check out this recently uncovered, unreleased version of Fac24c.
Recent Comments