This is an advert for Vinyl Exchange from the year it opened - 1988.

The shop was originally a market stall run by Jo Bindley and Mark Jarratt. Their first premises proper was 20 Oldham Street. They later moved to number 18.

Mystical Kenny writes:

This was a short lived record shop that opened in 1987. It was owned by Richard Searling and was managed by Dean Johnson. Dean was a DJ at the Hacienda at the time and Jon Dasilva worked there in 1988 and was also a DJ at the Hacienda at the time.

Dean was a soul boy at heart, I think, and not a fan of House music. I remember Jon being polite and friendly and telling me about a Hacienda night at Gorton Tub swimming baths he did.

Expansion Records was located in an old building close to Victoria train station, and as far as I can tell it is still there and now forms part of Hotel Indigo.
This was a short lived record shop that opened in 1987. It was owned by Richard Searling and was managed by Dean Johnson. Dean was a DJ at the Hacienda at the time and Jon Dasilva worked there in 1988 and was also a DJ at the Hacienda at the time.

Dean was a soul boy at heart, I think, and not a fan of House music. I remember Jon being polite and friendly and telling me about a Hacienda night at Gorton Tub swimming baths he did.

Expansion Records was located in an old building close to Victoria train station, and as far as I can tell it is still there and now forms part of Hotel Indigo.

Graham writes:

Photo of Andrew Barker and Darren Partington arriving in Eastern Bloc's basement obviously after a rainstorm.

The basement on Oldham Street was the mail order section of Eastern Bloc - a rehearsal space and site of a few illegal raves - the one red light bulb and no toilets variety.

Graham writes:

Photo by German photographer Tilman Schuppius of Martin Price (seated) and Mick Kerwin from Eastern Bloc Records, taken in the shop's basement.

DJs that worked at E-Bloc included Justin Robertson and Moonboots.

Pavlovs61 writes:

"Found this with contents inside from 1989. Bernie had the shop on Station Road, then moved to the precinct in Swinton. She would get you anything if she could.When the shop was on Station Road the Letter T from the sign outside went missing so it was called Play Inn RECORDS & APES for a while"

2 of 2

an article about the move to Brown St by Piccadilly Records. The shop moved to it's current location on Oldham Street after the IRA bombing...

Record shop wars in the heart of the city!

from the MEN

Alison Martin's regular round-up of all things Mancunian for Soul Underground Jan/-Feb 1990.

"Eastern Bloc, together with Spin Inn and a number of other record stores in
the North West, were taken to court last
month by good old James Anderton for
selling tickets for warehouse parties.
Despite this, and the somewhat
annoying fact that 100 police and a
helicopter turned up to the Eastern
Bloc "staff Christmas party", the store
still looks optimistic for 1990. A new
specialist dance shop is set to open in
April in addition to their premises in
Afflecks Arcade.

Eastern Bloc's affiliated record label,
Creed, has several releases scheduled
over the next few months - the first since Quadrastate. One of the shop's regulars, DJ Jon Da Silva will also be releasing a track of his own. As yet untitled, this 12" features Vanilla Sound Corps vocalist Rowetta and should be out at the end of next month. Jon is still busy at the Hacienda, Konspiracy, and UFO in Glasqow and will be DJing for A Guy Called Gerald on some of his tour dates, including Manchester International 2 in
February.

It was bad news for Gerald recently
when he had £15,000 worth of music
eguipment stolen from his Rusholrne flat. Fortunately for him, the thieves only
believed the equipment to be worth £300 when they attempted to sell it to a local second-hand music store, so they were soon discovered.

Club news: the Jam MCs are still
doing business as resident DJs down at Konspiracy. Regular MCs include Stu
Allen, Nick Grayson, Justin Robertson and Liverpool DJ Andy C, among others.

Justin is one of a few DJs responsible for the new Spice night on
Sundays at The Cavern in Piccadilly,
Manchester. Spice Is a strictly members only night, membership being available from Eastern Bloc—a year for £2.50 with weekly entry of £1.50.

Other DJs include Greg Fenton from Belfast, with guest London DJ Karl Simmons. Spice is a reaction to hard House, the theme here being more mellow, with a mixture of ambient House, Euro Dance, Balearic Beat and even some Dub.

Liverpool sees the opening of The
Cosmos Club, a new venue on Seel
Street. More details next month.

Another club to recommend in the same city is The Underground. Found on Victoria street on the Pierhead, The
Underground is open every night except
Sundays and Tuesdays, with DJs
including Steve Williams and Harvey
from Brighton's Zap club, along with two
resident DJs.

As mentioned in a previous Soul
Underground, Playhard records release
their Hip Hop compilation album next
month. The LP features First Offence,
MC Buzz B, Dee Lawall, Breaking The
Illusion, Prince Kool, The Queen
Bees, Kick Base and Poetic inc.

Playhards's latest release is "Make It
With You", a "garage/warahouse/disco"
record by DRRB. Written by Danny
Bennett - famous for his flourescent
contact lenses - the track also features
singer Lavorn who featured on backing
vocals for MC Buzz B. Meanwhiloe, Buzz B's single should be out any time. and his first LP is rumoured to be licensed to ffrr...

Sunset has recently restructured its schedule. Some new additions to the station include former Key 103 presenters Terry Christian and
Chris Buckley, who takes over from
Sunset boss Mike Shaft in the mornings. The reggae show on Saturdays is now presented by Larry Bengi.

Another community radio station in the
North West is awarded with the franchise - KFM, based in Stockport should be on the air next month, again, more details in the next issue...

Back to record releases, and The
Bygraves - a brother and sister team,
release their new second single for
Rnam Records, a soulful track produced by Chapter's Colin and Aniff at Out Of The Blue studios. Aniff Is busy working on several projects, including a new track with Gary Buchanan to be entitled "This Is My Night".

That's all for now. Keep sending in
club/record news and demos from all
over the North West to: Unit 139,23 New Mount Street, Manchester M4 4DE

Alison Martin

Murray's Music City turns up regularly as ticket vendor on lots of 80s reggae posters.

MDMArchive user Sean says:

I had the pleasure of meeting (Mr) Murray yesterday and what an incredible character he is. He had some amazing stories about the shop and his trips overseas selling music...he was telling me about his trips to Ireland to sell reggae, which I didn't realise had a big market, but he put me right!

Ian Tatlock writes:

Seen in Vinyl Resting Place: a carrier bag for Soundtracks, in Stalybridge, Cheshire, now technically in Greater Manchester.

Ian Tatlock writes:

Seen in Vinyl Resting Place: a carrier bag for Rare Records on John Dalton Street, Manchester.

Ian Tatlock writes:

Seen in Vinyl Resting Place: a carrier bag for Edwin P. Lees, Manchester.

Ian Tatlock writes:

Seen in Vinyl Resting Place: a carrier bag for Bostock's Record Bargain, Manchester.

Mystical Kenny writes:

I worked in city centre Manchester from '85 to '95 and was a regular record buyer and shopper and visited Virgin, HMV, Spin Inn, Eastern Bloc, Expansion Records and The Vinyl Exchange over that time.

I bought my first house record from Spin Inn when it was on Cross Street, and was an early adopter of CD's, amassing a pile of CD singles [which were limited in '87/'88] before actually buying a Technics CD player.

Lunch times at the Spin Inn were usually attended by Russ, Mike and Kenny, with Stu Allan usually stood to the right of the counter wearing a black nylon MA1 flying jacket, well after they weren't fashionable :)

A selection of Manchester record store bags with store logos and shop addresses ranging from 1989/1990 to early 2000.

This item was sent into MDMArchive, but we don't know the owner of the bags, or who took the photo! Sorrry!

Mike writes:

Advert for Power Cuts Records. Manchester's premiere source 'cut out' and remaindered records. I still have a Devo LP from there. 49p. Bargain.

Found in Andy Bradford's garage. A Power Cuts bag from c.1992.

From City Life 252, April '94.

A bit of footage of Manchester Underground record shop, circa 1995.

A Manchester Underground slipmat. The year is a guess. I was sent this recently, but I can't remember by whom. Do get in touch if this is your shot!

Manchester Underground was opened by Kenny Grogan, Harry Taylor and Russ Marland in 1992 and specialised in US dance imports. It was shut down by the IRA bomb in 1996.

Our recent 'Defining Me' exhibition at The Lowry contained the original neon light from the Manchester Underground shop.

This was the launch party at Dry Bar for the re-opening of Piccadilly Records on Oldham Street (the current location). The shop moved to its current home in 1997, a few months after the IRA bomb caused damage to previous premises on Brown Street.

Vinyl Exchange architectural plans, 2000

Vinyl Exchange opened in Manchester in 1988 and is now the largest buyer and seller of secondhand/rare records in the north west of England.

The refurbishment of Vinyl Exchange in 2001 came at time when Manchester’s Northern Quarter was in its early ascendancy, evolving from a low-rent area favoured by skint creatives to the thriving bar-lined tourist trap it is today. I worked at the shop from 1998-2005. (A pretty long sentence.)The refurb was stressful and dusty, but it gave us a bit more room to move around behind the counter upstairs. I sort of missed the old ramshackle vibe, though.

I like this diagram - the 'existing external elevation' with Fat City next door - now sadly departed.

Design © Raw Fish Design Consultants Ltd

This was how Vinyl Exchange, Oldham Street, looked when I started working there in 1998.

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times, etc.

Advert for Herbie Saccani’s Quadrastate Records in Stockport from eightytwenty magazine January 2004.