Long departed Record and Music shops in Liverpool
- Thread starter kennyh
- Start date
Graham H
pfm Member
I remember Virgin records being above a boutique on Bold Street in the early/mid 70s. Had an excellent import section, esp Krautrock. Interesting ambiance.
Also Probe beneath Silly Billy’s on Whitechapel, opposite Rushworths (?). Found Faust Transparent there in about 76, as well as many other gems. Norman with the thick glasses - who is now something of a local celeb and was the DJ at Eric’s - must have hated us. The ceiling was very low and I remember buying Kew Rhône and hitting my head on a low beam nearly knocking myself out.
In fact we used to go to Rushworths especially to look at the deletions section, which was quite substantial. The Caroline stuff was always reduced to £1, and I got Faust So Far for not much more, and Braxton’s Five Pieces on spec. Brilliant. Nobody seemed to want this stuff then. This would be between 74 and 78.
I also remember Circle, jazz specialists. Can’t remember the street, but we used to pass it on the way to The Stadium. That would be a shop I’d love to return to in my time machine, all that classic British Jazz that was beyond my budget as a teenager.
Liverpool was a great place to buy records in the 70s. Never a dull moment, and all the stuff I must have missed.....
Also Probe beneath Silly Billy’s on Whitechapel, opposite Rushworths (?). Found Faust Transparent there in about 76, as well as many other gems. Norman with the thick glasses - who is now something of a local celeb and was the DJ at Eric’s - must have hated us. The ceiling was very low and I remember buying Kew Rhône and hitting my head on a low beam nearly knocking myself out.
In fact we used to go to Rushworths especially to look at the deletions section, which was quite substantial. The Caroline stuff was always reduced to £1, and I got Faust So Far for not much more, and Braxton’s Five Pieces on spec. Brilliant. Nobody seemed to want this stuff then. This would be between 74 and 78.
I also remember Circle, jazz specialists. Can’t remember the street, but we used to pass it on the way to The Stadium. That would be a shop I’d love to return to in my time machine, all that classic British Jazz that was beyond my budget as a teenager.
Liverpool was a great place to buy records in the 70s. Never a dull moment, and all the stuff I must have missed.....
Tony L
Administrator
Circle was a great shop with a really good second hand selection of classical and jazz. I used to trade-in a load of classical I’d found cheaply on car boots etc for the jazz or more avant garde/minimalist stuff I was starting to explore at the time (mid-80s).
I can’t remember Probe pre-Button St, so I don’t think I ever got there, though I was a regular customer from the late-70s. I’m trying to remember where Virgin was back in the late ‘70s as I certainly went there quite regularly, but the images are no longer in my head.
I lived on the Wirral so Skeleton Records Birkenhead, Reaction Records New Brighton and the various Rox Records scattered about the place were regular haunts. Reaction in particular, that was a wonderful shop. I used to save up my school dinner money and go buy a second hand LP there at the weekend!
PS I used to work the odd day in Pink Moon Records in Newington Buildings in the mid to late 80s.
I can’t remember Probe pre-Button St, so I don’t think I ever got there, though I was a regular customer from the late-70s. I’m trying to remember where Virgin was back in the late ‘70s as I certainly went there quite regularly, but the images are no longer in my head.
I lived on the Wirral so Skeleton Records Birkenhead, Reaction Records New Brighton and the various Rox Records scattered about the place were regular haunts. Reaction in particular, that was a wonderful shop. I used to save up my school dinner money and go buy a second hand LP there at the weekend!
PS I used to work the odd day in Pink Moon Records in Newington Buildings in the mid to late 80s.
Tony L
Administrator
Ah yes, that’s where I remember it.
digestive
pfm Member
Ha. This made me laugh.
I remember the look of disgust I used to get when I was checking the condition of my potential purchases.
Probe is still about, but now next to blue coat on School Lane.
Virgin had moved to clayton square near St Johns when I shopped there.
I also used to shop in now closed HMV on church street.
Graham H
pfm Member
Short history of Probe:
http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/...sonline/newsounds/selling/meeting_places.aspx
http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/...sonline/newsounds/selling/meeting_places.aspx
cooky1257
pfm Member
I remember selling my Supex 901 to the bloke behind the counter in Virgin Bold street around 1976.Downstairs in Nems was where I used to buy all my Funk n Soul singles when I was a Funkateer dj in the late 70's/80's, Lin the assistant there was an expert-great for imports too-she showed me the closed off part of the store that still had all the pop posters and stickers all over the walls from back in the 60's.
Music box West Derby rd
Music box West Derby rd
cooky1257
pfm Member
Oh yeah fully paid up member. DJ'd in Kirkland's, the Beachy, Macmillans and Rockfords before I went over to DJ on the indy side at The State. Big mistake when BBC let Terry and his "keep on trucking" show go.
cooky1257
pfm Member
Kirklands was more hard core in the tradition of the Timepiece or the Pun, the Beachy featured a bit more soul, plenty of imports action though as the crowd were up for it. We 3 dj's from Kirks/Hollywood and Macs(me ,Mike Davidson and Gary Allen) put on Soul/Funk-all-layers at the Warehouse in the summers of '79/80-great days;-)
kennyh
pfm Member
Yes, some good funk venues around for sure at that time cooky. I agree about the Beachy, a lot of import/white label stuff played in amongst the main stream stuff. A shame the Captains Cabin was only a boozer and not a night club as that place was like a live version of keep on trucking lol. What was the place in Wolstenholme square where the beautiful people went hahaha?.....they played some great stuff too.
Used to love going over to the Wirral too and visiting the Chelsea Reach in New Brighton who played some great funk and the club Lennaine DJ'd in at Willaston........jeez just forget its name now.
Used to love going over to the Wirral too and visiting the Chelsea Reach in New Brighton who played some great funk and the club Lennaine DJ'd in at Willaston........jeez just forget its name now.
cooky1257
pfm Member
WOLstenholm sq was Snobs & Tuxedo's-laterly became Cream. Greg Wilson dj'd at the Chelsea around that time before moving to Wigan Pier-went too tame Jazz Funk(Light of the World/Freeze kinda stuff) for my liking. If you managed to get on Fred Dove or Les Spane's mailing lists you pretty much knew what Terry was gonna play in his show before it went on air! Trouble with working the clubs is you didn't get to go to those 'over the water'.
kennyh
pfm Member
Cooky, in case you didn't know I spoke with Terry L last week as we will be going to one of his gigs before he retires, he also gave me some great info. on the old haunts in Liverpool..........he has his own stream going called "KOT Radio" and said to give it a try. I searched for it on my PI/LMS set up and sure enough its there. Sounds ok through system even at a measley 96kbps. You can also get it from his website. Worth a listen mate if you didn't know about it.
cooky1257
pfm Member
Oh great I'll check that out, thanks Kenny.
As I recall the original was a small shop half way down Penny Lane. I think it was run by a couple, the bloke was quite tall or seemed to be all the years ago!
I do recall Virgin on Bold Street also but only vaguely now........Silly Billy's on Whitechapel as well, only had a small collection but used to visit from time to time (usually after Probe).
ex brickie
pfm Member
Great stories guys.... I'd never been to Liverpool or manchester in the 80s when I was a big record buyer. I was a London boy (central London) and have some great record store memories there.....
Maybe it needs another thread.....
Maybe it needs another thread.....