Anyone from my part of the world fortunate enough to have lived as long as myself may harbour memories of Virgin's first Newcastle store: a real hovel on Ridley Place smelling of josticks and ganja, with all the empty LP sleeves curled over the front of the racks and a slightly menacing atmosphere. I got my 58p copy of 'Camembert Electrique' there, Free's 'Heartbreaker' (still a fave) and 'Machine Head'.
Much more flash was the bigger store Virgin opened on High Friars in Eldon Square in 1976. God, I loved that shop - especially what I considered an uber-hip little jazz section that was situated in the middle of the shop up half a flight of open stairs. That's where I bought Mal Waldron's krauty 'The Call' album (reviewed by some illiterate bozo somewhere in these very pages) and started my Keith Jarrett obsession. Funny how you always remember where you acquired each one of your records, innit?
Callers (pronounced 'calus') was a big furniture store on Northumberland Street on the site of HMV's current premises. It had a belting record department on its top floor which had amazing sales twice a year. I got my prized Sassafras cassette there for pennies, and J J Burnel's mighty 'Euroman Cometh' for a pound, though I still feel robbed at paying the same price for the Buzzcocks' dire second album. Callers also had a smaller shop at The Nook in South Shields, which being close to my school was the place where I spent most money on records in my teens. I got 'Rotters' Club' there, and the post-pubescent hots for a sales assistant called Mandy. Unfortunately, the only physical action I ever saw from her was the graffiti variety - when she sold me a copy of the album of that name.
Downstairs from that first Newcastle Virgin shop became Listen Ear (great for punk 45's: Nosebleeds, anyone?) and, later, Volume, where I started buying Cope records ('Treason' on Zoo being my first). The still extant Oldhitz had a fine shop next to the long demolished Farmer's Rest pub, where I secured my precious pink labelled 'In The Wake Of Poseidon'. Across Percy Street, along from the much missed Handyside Arcade (home of the Kard Bar, THE place for posters and badges) was Jeavon's, a real old fashioned shop with listening booths, where my old man used to buy brass band and classical records, all of which still reside chez moi. And on Northumberland Street was Alderson & Brentnall, the shop where the family's joanna was purchased (over about six years) and whose record department was the only one in Newcastle stocking Robert Wyatt's 'Rock Bottom' when the man had his first taste of chart success with 'I'm A Believer'. Unfortunately my copy was warped so I had to take it back. (I ended up buying it from Image in South Shields instead - where I also bought 'Faust IV'.)
A few other good north east record shops, which may resonate in some folks' memories, were:
Atkinson's, Atheneum Street, Sunderland (a real Aladdin's cave that still had new copies of Faust's 'So Far' and Kevin Ayers' 'Joy Of A Toy' in stock in early 1976);
Mr Smith, Fawcett Street, Sunderland: ultra-hip mid 70's clothes shop with an even hipper, very personal selection of records. I discovered The Doors and War here;
The New Record Inn, Sunderland (comments as per that first Newcastle Virgin shop apply here too...but it had Iggy's 'Raw Power' when nowhere else in the area did);
Discount Records, Jarrow (great source of rock'n'roll and country records. Can't listen to Johnny Cash or Lefty Frizzell without thinking of Scottish Billy and his marvellous shop);
Fox's, The Galleries, Washington (more of a keyboards shop, but with an eclectic range of LP's. I bought loads of those Fly TOOFA double sets by Tyrannosaurus Rex, The Move and Procol Harum there);
Comet, Sunderland and Jarrow - yes, the electrical dealers - which once upon a time had amazing record departments upstairs. 'Fotheringay', 'Blind Faith', Cat Stevens' 'Mona Bone Jakon' and the first BJH album all found their way into my collection from these shops.
Much as I'd love a Tardis to take me back to those days (and buy all those LPs I couldn't afford at the time), I've still got the records I DID get to take me back there: every one a twelve-inch memory machine.
Int records brilliant?
Thanks for the indulgence, guys!
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