Continued my 2nd hand Record Shop hunting tonight - via Tony's recommendations on the main Pink Fish to suss out Notting Hill.... and basically I have found what is so far my best shop yet. Music & Video Exchange just along from the NH Gate tube station. Its got 3 floors and basically you get the rarities on the top; the £5/£6 'ers in the middle and the £2/£1 'ers in the basement. The stuff can be a bit steep upstairs but if you are in one those "I must have it" moods then they have so much stuff you will be damn near certain of getting it. The middle floor is perhaps the worst in that there's a lot that's a few quid overpriced, some of which you can find in exactly the same condition downstairs!

My haul was:-
Van Morrison - No Guru No Method No Teacher (£1 - it was £6 upstairs!)
The Bluebells - Sisters (£1)
Ry Cooder - Get Rhythm (£2)
The Primitives - Pure (£1)
and from the top deck -
David Sylvian - Gone To Earth (double album which was originally £17 knocked down very gradually to.....£6!)

...so one happy Northern bunny who will have to factor in a trip down there at least twice a month from now on!

Thanks Tony......

Cheers

Rich

Hmmm....only downside is they use some bastard sticky price labels. Poor old Ry Cooder is now looking a tad torn :mad:

Rich

Hmmm....only downside is they use some bastard sticky price labels.

MVE labels are the work of the devil. Horrible things. Use cigarette lighter petrol - soak the label, leave for a couple of minutes, soak again and start peeling gently. They come off cleanly 95% of the time. This works perfectly with laminated or semi gloss sleves, and most of the time with matt ones - it eventually evaporates so even if it looks pretty wrecked while you are doing it the sleeve will look ok in a hour or two.

Great shop though - I've got some astounding bargains out of that 2 quid bin, often stuff they have in the pretentious collectors shop at the top for 20 quid plus!

Tony.

Yep, lighter fuel is what you need. For some reason red MVE labels are harder to get off than green ones, I kid you not.

If you'd headed further into Notting Hill you'd have hit Intoxica - expensive, but fabulous for free jazz and the like. And the Rough Trade shop, of course.

-- Ian

If you'd headed further into Notting Hill you'd have hit Intoxica - expensive, but fabulous for free jazz and the like. And the Rough Trade shop, of course.

And Honest Jon's further down the road - I've landed some superb original Impulse, Verve etc jazz pressings there for under a tenner a pop. I even managed to walk out with a absolutely mint US 1st pressing of MC5's Kick out the jams for about 7 quid IIRC at one stage! Total bargain, it is probably worth ten times that...

Tony.

Originally posted by sideshowbob
If you'd headed further into Notting Hill you'd have hit Intoxica - expensive, but fabulous for free jazz and the like. And the Rough Trade shop, of course.

-- Ian

Ian - so as I ccme out of the main MVE which way do I turn to get to Intoxica etc?

Rich

PS Cheers for the label tip

It's on Portobello Road, so when you come out of Notting Hill Gate tube, turn left instead of right to MVE, there's a website with map etc:

http://www.intoxica.co.uk/

When you reach Intoxica (which is on the left hand side of Portobello Rd), Rough Trade is on the left hand side of a street about one street up on the right (Talbot Rd), and Honest Jon's is further up Portobello Rd, also on the right hand side.

-- Ian

You can try putting the cover against a radiator for a couple of minutes to soften the glue (but take the record out first!).

No No nononononononono!

A gentle blast with a hot air stripper gun on the sleeve (take the record out first)... the kind of gun used for paint stripping. Its far gentler on the sleeve than lighter fluid in that it makes the glue warm and malleable.

Right, I have to get one of those hot air gun things now. I'll go to the local hot air gun shop later today. I’ve wanted one for a while as I always end up applying heat-shrink to cables with a cigarette lighter! It never occured to me that it would be good for shifting sticky labels (which is something I spend a surprising amount of time each week doing!). I’ve got quite a few naff dance white label 12” singles landed years back from the legendary, yet now sadly defunct 20p basement at the Shepherds Bush MVE to practice on too.

I loved that place; a lot of rare records accidentally went straight down into the 20p basement as the staff there were a couple of hung-over Australian’s whose knowledge of records not by The Red Hot Chilli Peppers was hugely lacking. I landed a lot of wide-band SXLs and a few jazz originals along with a lot of scarce 80s indie and a lot of rare dance stuff – I lived round the corner and used to come out with about 20-30 records a week!

Tony.

Have you tried a hairdryer for the same job? Never tried it on a record but it works a treat for removing transfers on a car!

Cheers,

Nic.