Photograph
808 State, The Post Natals
1978

“Colin was the only other person I knew who had even heard of Chrome at that time ( he was working in Virgin records at the time) I had Half Machine Lip Moves on Import and we used to enthuse about the Residents, especially 3rd Reich and Roll......God , I will be talking about my bowels next.............”

“naa keep it up, more stuff!
people must forget how music motivated Virgin shops started out,All the staff had their specialist subjects and orderd imports accordingly..Remember the Sun Ra section ,they had loads of the hand painted one offs,you would never get that now .The staff had power..Picadilly Records is the modern equivalent i guess.
Virgins 1st shop on Lever St was Punk epicenter in MCR.
they had listening seats at the back of the shop but little space to hang out ,but people did, This sort of carried on when the Megastore opened on Market St (1978/9?) exept all the punks hung outside .”

“Rare Records on John Dalton Street took all my spends as a kid, I remember listening booths lined with pegboard and huge fully enclosed headphones.. I bought Let it Bleed by the Stones which I gave to a girl at school and still regret to this day, I got the Backtrack re-issues of Hendrix's Are you Experienced? and Axis Bold as Love for 99p Each with the brown and green (respectively) covers from there ( or it could have been from the record shop that used to be opposite where the Antique Hypermarket is in Levenshulme whose name escapes me). Do you remember Levenshulmes House of Music record Shop and the Po faced owner who looked like a Satanic Casey Kasem and his equally disturbing missus?”

“That will be the Top 10 Record Bar in Leve.
Yes! House of Music .only recently demised.Pure Little Britain.
The Man and Wife team would talk to each other through the beaded curtains which led to the living room ,"Margaret!"
If you went to buy a new Stylus ,he d check your old one under his microscope and tell you if you did need a new one yet.
He was also keen to sell you BASF cassettes over TDK,he would start his lecture on how the Germans invented tape
and they know best ,Im not shure but I heard a story about him in a Japanese Prisoner of war camp which would explains his anti japanese stance (TDK).You had to stand firm if you wanted TDK or wait for his wife with the Edna Everidge glasses to be behind the counter(even then he would butt in)
Think Paddy took some photoes before it went..He wanted to do a video in there as it was the same in 1999 as it was in 66 more or less, whats that kind of acoustic hardboard with the holes in called? it was all that with tons of easy listening albums plastered on the walls,and he even kept the top 10 chart
going in those stick on plastic letters on a black hole board.
He wasnt overly convinced by the new compact disc system if I remember. He was quite a sweety once you started buying Nelson Riddle and Yma Sumac LPs and his sound system was chunky..He d always play you a bit and he d drift off with the strings behind his speks .
Think they used to sell Radiograms and dansette record players..though Rumbellos (spelt wrong ) was the gaff for that a few shops up.”

“Did you ever go in the record shop in the same block as Johnny Roadhouse but up a narrow staircase above. Pandemonium (the name just came to me then). You had to squeeze through piles of albums and tapes from floor to ceiling formed into a kind of vinyl maze., the floors sagged with the weight of it all . I bought a Beefheart live bootleg tape which he copied "while u wait style" and he produced a cup of tea and a Kit Kat for me and told me stories of how he had managed to dodge eviction. a real character who looked like Noddy Holder dunno what became of him or the place...”

“Yes he was possably George Davis ,he had a big shop opposite the odean on oxford rd ,called George Davis s country music store (but it was nt just country).Pandemonium was also a rec0rd shop on Lapwing lane in east Didsbury(not shure if its related) .Well yes the shop on oxford rd next to Roadhouse
it was like his private collection or something..a record shop you could browse but not buy,He would insist on using metal tapes and charge a bomb as you say. Before he had that shop it was the origenal Black Seddan Records,(v cheap)
then Black Seddan moved to the University Precinct (near the Pheonix) near to another record shop (Paperchase?orange bag) which then m oved to st anne square (or cross st?) or was it Marshalls that started out in the uni precinct and moved to the back of Piccadilly Plaza ,which then turned
eventualy into the 1st Piccadilly Records? once it had moved to the front of the Plaza.
Robinsons Records just over the Irwell at the bottom of Market Street was an awesum shop full of weird and wonderfull stuff ,they had a Belly Dancing section and loads of soundtracks and spoken word stuff as well as your usual prog and pop.all with a colour coded price system of just stickers.also a large ginger cat that always seemed to sit on the section you wanted.
you see this should be in the record shop section and not in the Post Natals. I had forgotten that Tony Creswell (shortlived Post Natals Drummer) was also in Sad Cafe (noticed in oxfam yesterday)”

“Robinsons records was amazing,loads of deleted stuff....and Yanks near the public toilet that the actor who played Brian Tilsleys dad in Coronation Street was caught doing a George Michael or something in causing them to write an explosion in his garage into the script to see him off sharpish. It was at the backTootals on Oxford rd. The toilet is now The Temple of convenience bar. Yanks had loads of obscure imported stuff and all the sleeves had the corner chopped off which I assumed ment they were some kind of reject pressings. I know a few I bought over the years jumped or were a bit warped but they were sooo cheap you didn,t like to go back and complain.....”

“Pandemonium was run by a Certain George Davenport, he moved to Newton Heath and was recently threatened with eviction: www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/...
/174885_its_the_vinyl_countdown.html”

“yes Yanks ,ive got tons of flotsum & jetsom from there,it always survives the purges i have.as no one wants it,new age rubbish and rod mc kuen poetry albums about the sea.
Now then, Sifters in Burnage ,is he still going?almost on parr with King Bee for hidden treasures”

“Im running out of shops in this record collectors jousting match but I bought Hot Rats when it first came out from Quarmbys on Wilbraham road which was a bit like W.H Smiths...Sifters gets a mention in an Oasis tune I think... I never bought anything from there.....”

“sifters used to be excellent when i used to go ther. it was always worth asking if he had something (as opposed to looking for it) cos he would disappear in the back and come out with it- even if it was super-rare. i know a few record collectors that have made a lot of money by going to sifters and paying £3.95 for £50 records!”

“I went to George Davenport's aladins cave a couple of years ago. its a huge underground basement, about the size of a supermarket full of records, tapes and bags and bags of old music badges (one of my weaknesses, i was sweating like hot donkey) - hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of stuff. Lots of rare stuff of course (and a ton of crap too!). i also saw the old pandemonium sign. i had a quick look in a box of 7"s and instantly saw some very rare punk singles all randomly thrown in and getting creased. The Lps and 12"s are safer, racked up inj shelves, some very rare soundtrack stuff in there. he had recently employed a couple of scally lads to help him and had just found out that they'd been selling his stock at Bury and Salford markets. he found out because a friend went to the market and was looking thorugh a box of stuff labelled 'All £1' and in there, amongst the rubbish were the odd £100 pink floyd rarerity etc. Very sad. The thing is tho that he will never sell anything. many years ago in pandemonium, above Babylon pizza next to the poly he would have records that were freely available in HMV and if you asked him how much he'd always say £30, or he'd record it on tape for you for £1 a side! he used to charge 50p just to go in at one stage. very odd.”

“Just found this thread. I was a big fan of Yanks - mentioned in other threads -despite getting mugged at knife point down that back alley when I was about 13. Bought all the TRex albums there for 49p, dozens of Motown albums for 99p. Great shop! They used to have these massive carrier bags with all the USA state flags on - miles too big for Vinyl. I remember Robinsons - going through the cafe and DIY shop to get to it - very strange! Also remember the place on the back of Piccadilly Plaza - now a butty shop. At one time Lewis's had a big record shop on the corner of Market St. I was a fan of Bostocks upstairs in the Arndale - some bargains amongst the crap. What about the stalls in the Underground market - now Tescos basement. There was a punk one at the back and a corner one with loads of Northern Soul 7s in racks with metal bars over them. Is Kingbee still going?”

“kingbee still going strong!”

“I was fascinated by this thread about long-forgotten Manchester Record Shops. It's great to learn that I'm not the only one who still remembers George Davenports Country Music Centre near the former New Oxford Cinema on Oxford Road.
As others have said, George Davenport later had a shop in All Saints called Pandemonium. I could never work out whether there was any connection between the Pandemonium in All Saints and the two other Pandemonium record shops which existed in South Manchester in the late 70s: one was on Lapwing Lane in West Didsbury (now a resaurant) and the other was on Wilmslow Road in Fallowfield (opposite Owens Park). The Pandemonium All Saints was previously the home of Black Sedan Records and Black Sedan later moved to a unit in the University Precinct for a while.

The shop in York Street (round the back of Piccadilly Plaza) was Marshalls Records. They also briefly had a branch in Rusholme. The Marshalls on York Street was connected to a HiFi shop elsewhere in Piccadilly Plaza, occupying the space which later became the original site of Piccadilly Records.”

“I posted some reciepts here and there
www.mdmarchive.co.uk/artefact/2368/80...
www.mdmarchive.co.uk/artefact/2367/To...
Thanks for reminding me about the other pandemoniums ,Think Ive got a sticker for the lapwing lane one on an old amp. Any one got any of the old bags ? Paperchse in St Annes square had a fine orange one.”

“Just read the stuff about Yanks, couldnt remember the name of it, thanks for the jolt to my brain. I used to frequent the underground market to sift through the punk singles and avoid the nowty Teds that sometimes stumbled in,Paperchase in St Annes square-with i think Andy who was in the Roses working in there, Picc records- great for fanzines and gig tickets, the outdoor stall by Afflex with its dubious aroma and the one near M and S up on the walkway-Beat Route? I used to buy the great Fifth Column t-shirts in the top of the market down Market st until me and a mate got mugged for our money!”

“The Underground Market (aka Market Centre) was a weird place. In some ways, it was as a precursor to Afflecks Palace, though not as self-consciously "alternative". You would descend via a grubby staircase (the escalator was usually out -of-order) outside what is now the Tescos on Market Street. Until about 1981, you would find a mixture of clothing stores, record shops, tatooists, palm-readers and heaven knows what else. At its peak around 1979/80, there were 4 record stalls. One was run by a curly-haired bloke called Derek who dealt mainly in singles and had a good selection of punk and new wave. Latterly, he spent more time on his market stall in Blackpool while a peroxide blonde woman (who I assumed to be Derek's wife) ran the Manchester stall. There was another stall run by a guy called Tony who seemed to specialise in Northern Soul though I remember him having a good selection of bootleg LPs at one point. Then there was Discount Records, notable for the impressive display of punk singles which covered one wall. Behind the counter was a guy with a pony-tail called Nick, later of Decoy and more recently of Big Pink on Thomas Street. There was also a woman working there who I think was called Sian. Finally, there was Yanks which was a much smaller and less impressive outpost of the main store on Chepstow Street. Up at ground level, there was a subsection of the market called Oasis, which was mainly hippy-type stalls selling drug paraphanelia and overpriced tie-dye T-shirts. Not sure what year the Underground Market finally closed down (probably about 1986?) but by then 80% of the stalls were unoccupied only one record stall remained.”

“I worked at Rare Records 1980-81 up to the time they closed & moved to Wilmslow. I loved working there. I worked with Malcolm and Maggie.. wish I could remember their surnames. They were great and used to speak about Ian Curtis a lot, as both had worked there with him, it was only a few months after he'd died so the memories were all brought back. The basement had closed then which was a shame, but all the listening booths were still there.. it was like a ghostly 1960's record shop.
There was a assistant manager called Mr Scrivens, who's 1940's suit my dad reckoned had been his demob one.. he was always on at me to polish the wooden record browsers... it was nicely old fashioned and there were lots of regular customers. Some US imports, but loads of people came in disappointed that we didn't really sell anything that was rare and as we were told to always take the record out of the sleeve to show the customer, I remember a lot of people assuming the records were 2nd hand which they weren't. I remember getting into trouble playing Monty Python's Contractual Obligation to a full shop.
Another big memory is ordering on the phone one morning in December John Lennon's Just like Starting over one morning in December and the managers son in the Wilmslow branch phoned me to tell me John Lennon was dead, I didn't think his 'joke' was funny and said but of course it was no joke. Everyone wanted to buy Imagine then, but it wasn't available on a single at that time.

Some great comments here bringing back memories of Manc record shops, I loved Robinsons on Blackfriars Street & Yanks on Chepstow Street. Does anyone remember Bradleys that was in the Arndale. Malc from Rare Recs went onto work here, there was nothing he didn't know about music.. he was like a walking 'Music Master' which was the big reference book on hand to research record titles. I learnt a lot from him.
I've started a facebook page to try and make contact with staff & regulars I knew there and to get more info on... please like if you're interested: www.facebook.com/RareRecords36JohnDal...”

“I used to frequent the Wilmslow branch of Rare Records, the guy who ran it[Rob?] would pre order me the new punk vinyl releases and tell me tales of the old days and meeting the Drones lead singer.”

“What a brilliant thread; I've read most of it and now I'm going to add my pennyw'th. I grew up near Altrincham and so a trip to Manchester invariably involved touring all the record shops, and what I am referring to encompasses 1978 - 92 (roughly)
HMV - originally upstairs in Market street until they took over the big shop at the bottom opposite Virgin. I did buy a lot from these two when prices were fairly consistent.
Piccadilly - Piccadilly records of course which I originally visited when it was next to the bus station with the old guy who ran an interesting Jazz selection downstairs; I bought a lot of my jazz records from him. E P Lees who had a good classical collection. I mainly collected jazz and classical so I did buy a few from Lees. Marshall's, at the back off York Street. Again, I bought classical records from them, but looking back trade was so slow it is a wonder they survived at all. I also seem to recall another big record shop at the end of the PP, but the details are very hazy. The early 90s saw Ourprice...I can't muster any comment about that!
Arndale - Bostocks the original bargain shop with generally unpleasant staff and sometimes some genuine bargains; Bradleys, which alway felt a bit old fashioned but informed. However, I didnt' buy many from them.
Oxford road - Yanks / Power cuts. Once a school friend took me there I must have visited it literally hundreds of times and I probably still have some of their cheap bags. I believe the cuts or holes were due to import restrictions to prevent them being sold at full price. The original American guy seemed like a nice chap and there were some genuine bargains, not least Best of Isaac Hayes I still own for 29p! I didn't like the later incarnation as Powercuts (from about 1988 I guess) since it was no longer about cheap imports and the staff were a bit unpleasant. I remember buying Best of George Harrison shrink wrapped as a new record only to find it was clearly second hand.
University precinct had a few and originally Gordon's (with Laurel and Hardy on the bags) and they had a shortlived outlet in Altrincham.
Deansgate, etc - Forsyths the music shop was good for classical and were good for ordering too. Decoy records, brilliant shop for folk and world (but pricey) but I did get quite a few folk records from them; Robinson's (Blackfriars) great for bargains and a nice shop, but in later years they cut the records and went over to household stuff.
Second hand - Pandemonium. Oh yes, I remember George. But when I first visited in about 81 it was run by a young goth guy who sold to George. All I will say is that he got stranger as the years went by. Paramount on Shude Hill. Still there if googlemaps are up to date (sorry, haven't been back since 2010). Chiefly books but they did have a good secondhand record business in the basement where I offloaded a number of albums in the early 80s; not to mention the market stalls off Shudehill.
I don't suppose many will mention Gibbs bookshop (originally Albert square) but for classical collectors like me I must have bought at least 100 records from them over the years.
Others - well, the guy who seemed to be the public face of HMV was a tall skinny white guy with an afro - he looked like he was a slightly unfriendly member of the hairbear bunch. He was never that friendly to me despite spending most of my money in his shop. He opened a shop in Shambles square - Goldmine. I don't think I bought much from him.
Underground Market - well, I did visit it but I don't recall the stalls all that well other than I used to buy blank tapes from a stall who were the cheapest in town.
Anything else? I think Lewis's had a dedicated record shop on the corner of Piccadilly and Market street when I first visited Manchester in the early/mid 70s, and let's not forget Debenham's had a good basement record department as had Boots and Smiths. I toured these as well, particularly in the January sales.
These are my recollections, and it is important to remember there were jazz and classical fans like me buying records by the shedload (although I still have several hundred rock lps)
Final thought - check out this link:
www.britishrecordshoparchive.org/grea...”

“Of course - Rare Records on John Dalton. In the late 70s I did visit it but found it strange in that nothing seemed that rare and it was like stepping back in time. But there is a weird coda to this story in that in 86 I was looking for a job and I applied for their new store in Wilmslow. I was supposed to have a telephone interview and waited all day but no one rang, so I didn't get the job. Are they still going?”