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Record shop favourites in birmingham

Well ... I've still got the audio ... in digital form ... If I remember right I gave the T.Rex albums away years ago (along with all the other vinyl) when I got divorced and sold the cd's about 5 years back.
 
My mum worked in the record department in Rackhams and before that in Walker Brothers, she then went to London to work in a record store in Kings Roaf
I reckon they would be my two favorite places to work especially in a HiFi or record shop
 
I remember Clark and Piercey on the Lozells Road. I did a lot of window shopping there as a nipper. It was run by a miserable grump who "didn't suffer fools gladly" as she put it. She threatened to throw me out of her shop because I objected to a styrene record she handed to me and couldn't be bothered to see if she had any vinyl copies in stock.

For those that don't remember, styrene was a poor relation to vinyl, pressed exclusively in the US. They wore out very quickly and wouldn't even play on some record players. A lot of US pressed styrene found its way to the UK in the 70s when there was a strike in a large number of the vinyl pressing plants and demand outstripped supply.
 
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I remember once going to one of the record shops, I think on New Street, just after a meal and trying to chat up the clerk there. she said, "OH you just had Sausage and chips didn't you!" I have never been so embarrassed in my life I blushed and left!!!
 
The rag market had some good little record stalls over the year's, I remember one guy selling all sorts of items on his pitch and in the corner had a pile of American 7" singles, most of those were styrene an were already pretty poor condition. I don't know where this chap got some of his stock but in later year's he had some cracking stuff
 
The record stall I remember was in the bull ring rather than the market. They had an exhibition there for a week or two called "The daily necessities fair of the People's Republic of China" and the stall was selling 5 LP's for £1. Some had little holes in the top right corner like they'd been hung on a string somewhere. Most of the material and the acts were ones that I didn't think anyone would have heard of (although there's an LP in the Diskery at £20 that I paid 20p for) and even the ones you had heard of weren't necessarily going to make it to the local record shops.
 
The record stall I remember was in the bull ring rather than the market. They had an exhibition there for a week or two called "The daily necessities fair of the People's Republic of China" and the stall was selling 5 LP's for £1. Some had little holes in the top right corner like they'd been hung on a string somewhere. Most of the material and the acts were ones that I didn't think anyone would have heard of (although there's an LP in the Diskery at £20 that I paid 20p for) and even the ones you had heard of weren't necessarily going to make it to the local record shops.
The guy in the rag market was called Stan, he sold absolutely anything he could get his hands on, I reckon he used to maybe do house clearance work etc, never knew where he got his records from, some week's he had nothing then the next week a box full. I used to have a jukebox and had all my 7" singles off him to fill it up. You can normally find record's at car boots now, but half the time they've been sitting in the sun all day or the sleeves are ruined due to getting caught in a downpour.
 
I thought there was a Revolver record shop in Birmingham but I can't find anything on the net.
I have, however, found this about the founder of the record label who is from Birmingham...


Edit to add: the bag was possibly a promotion for the label.
 
I thought there was a Revolver record shop in Birmingham but I can't find anything on the net.
I have, however, found this about the founder of the record label who is from Birmingham...


Edit to add: the bag was possibly a promotion for the label.
I thought there was to, Dalton street sprung to mind but thats where swordfish record's are
 
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Some had little holes in the top right corner like they'd been hung on a string somewhere. .
That, and the clipping of a corner was a standard practice to show that an album was discontinued and sold off by the label at a discount. It prevented unsold copies being returned to the label.
 
That, and the clipping of a corner was a standard practice to show that an album was discontinued and sold off by the label at a discount. It prevented unsold copies being returned to the label.
I've also heard that in some places the sleeve was punched and hung up by a piece of string on market stalls. These were holed by some sharp pointed instrument which always seemed to make that more likely.
 
If I remember correctly, Revolver records at one time had a bag with a gun on it and half a dozen bullet holes each of which had the address of one of their shops but, strangely, none of the addresses were in Birmingham. I think they had a small shop in the Pallasades on the centre block opposite the ramp exit.
 
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