The state of affairs in London

[JussiK]

The best place to buy vinyl in London has got to be the Camden music fair, at The Electric Ballroom, next to the Camden tube station. Is this thing there on each and every Saturday? Impressive amounts of disco vinyl in any case. House of Choonz rules but there are several other sellers nearly as good. You can listen to the vinyls before purchase too and that does not happen a lot in the Soho stores. Cellophane's amazing "Super Queen/Dance With Me" Gibbons mixes sounded as perfect as you'd expect so I got that. Thanks for the info on Soul Brother Records you Jazzy One, the place was indeed worth the ride even if the prices were nearly as high there as at the Electric Ballroom. A typical 12" costs around 10 pounds which equals somewhere around 17 euros. Not cheap! Got "Love Is On The Way" by Sweet Inspirations there, plus others. Flashback on Essex Road, Angel tube, was very good as well, I even picked up the hard to find 1977 Brazilian eurosound album by the Vamps there, 2 pounds only. Further down the street there were other junky vinyl emporiums as well, with mountains of dusty grooves everywhere. One such place had the Biddu Orch "Journey in the Rain" 7" which isn't on any of the albums, and I never thought I'd find the missing Brigade Mondaine soundtrack albums by Cerrone in London, either, as they were reportedly impossible to buy in all of France.

Clubwise, Loft II as hosted by Paul Trouble Anderson at Madame Jo-Jo's was excellent and some of the dancers out of this world. G.A.Y. at The Astoria, the largest venue in town, was packed to the maximum and incredibly jumping as it has been all these years but what was shocking was the choice of tracks we got. I'll testify they just keep on spinning the exact same tunes year after year after year: Young Hearts Run Free, Ghostbusters, It's Raining Men, Black Is Black, Tainted Love, the best of Kylie, Harajuku...really, the absolutely most obvious stuff imaginable. Yet the what, 600 or so? punters scream with joy and strike poses on the podiums with wild abandon all night long so I quess it's okay. Car Wash was fun as it always was but Starsky&Hutch was no longer on. Bar Rhumba was classy as ever, and the fashionistas outside Bar Italia stylish as usual. Bebel Gilberto gave a stunning live performance. The restaurants are fabulous but the quality of public transportation terrible.
But what was it with the weather - not one drop of rain for 10 days!

[jazz_pilgrim]

Glad you had a good trip to London town!! And weren't you lucky with the weather!!

As you said, Central London is expensive for 2nd hand records. I have spent many a happy day, travelling around London - doing the rounds of the 2nd hand vinyl shops ...
Brighton (50-ish miles away on the South Coast) is cheaper and very good. Something for next time, maybe??

I haven't been clubbing now for 12 years or more!! :sad: But I try to follow the club scene and what is going on. Sad to see that Starsky and Hutch is no more...But I think one of the legendary Seventies clubs, The Lacey Lady, has been resurrected in East London....

And are you SURE it didn't rain?? :???:

[JussiK]

Aha, Brighton! I actually thought of going down to check the place out a couple of years ago. They told me the town is really tacky, a place to spend a "Dirty Weekend" in, as seen in the great Michael Winner film of the same name( beware of the severely cut GB video version. The tapes do however contain the priceless dialoque bits such as " Aw..I stuck my fingers up the granny and I swear there was a wart in there"). I have not been to Brighton since I was a early teen and an exchange student but I sure loved it then. I recall being taken to a horrendous faux-Indian pavillion with boring teapot exhibits. We later went to the huge Top Rank club on a street leading to the waterfront to dance and also hang around the piers of course. There was also a shady club called The Montpelier Rooms somewhere in the Hove region that let us underage boozers in. This place was painted with day-glo psychedelia motifs and one could smell the joints even before getting to the front door. - So, in November it'll be Brighton.

[jazz_pilgrim]

I used to go to the Top Rank on a regular basis for the soul all-dayers in the late 70's. It is now the Brighton Centre...

Brighton is definetely not tacky any more - it has improved beyond all recognition over the past 15 years or so. Brighton has always been known as "London-by-the-sea" and these days it is absolutely buzzing. University students, foreign students, Londoners, everybody goes there!! Loads of cafes, bistros, new shopping centre. etc

And as for 2nd hand record hunting, it is simply the BEST. (also fantastic for 2nd hand books). Go down by train from London Victoria and take the TRAFALGAR STREET EXIT (down the stairs) - not the MAIN EXIT. There is a knot of little streets around Trafalgar Street, Gloucester Road and North Road where there are many excellent second-hand records shops. Also go in the antique shops as they will always have a pile of records to browse through...Much cheaper prices than London, and a great variety... Probably better than London, IMHO. This has always been my most rewarding hunting ground ...

And whilst you're in Trafalgar Street, I would recommend a pint of Harvey's Sussex Ale in "The Nelson"! You can't beat it! :grin:

And Kelvy - I reckon you should get the train from London Victoria for a day out in Brighton record hunting - you won't be disappointed, either!!

Recent finds I have made in Brighton:
El Coco - Let's Get It Together LP £6
Booby Caldwell - LP with What You Won't Do For Love/Down For The Third Time £10
Jaclie Wilson Ddouble LP best of (new) £2




_________________
It's got to be about the music !!

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: jazz_pilgrim on 2002-08-07 10:04 ]</font>

[JussiK]

Okay - but still, I'm a bit disappointed if ALL the saucy postcard-type tackiness is gone from Brighton! What's going on, even the legendary old whore that is the Kings Cross area in London is reportedly going to recieve a facelift. Look what happened to New York when they cleaned up Times Square, much of the alluring character of the city is gone for good. Well, it'll be south of the river for us scumbags then or what.