Pete Green mentioned something in a previous post's comments about Andy's Records in Victoria Street, Grimsby. I thought a little post about this mecca of music was apt.
Pete used to work in Andy's - not that I ever remember seeing him in there, mind - and I think he'll agree it was the sort of place that, for a callow 15 year old, could be quite intimidating.
I'm not one for fetishising record shops, really. I mean - they're only shops, after all, but Andy's had more vinyl in it than I've seen in a record shop before or since. The middle of the shop was packed with two aisles of vinyl that seemed to stretch for about thirty feet either side. Or maybe I was just smaller then. Either way, I used to spend at least two hours in this place every Saturday morning, completely on my own, before making my choices, paying, getting some fish and chips and walking round to my Dad's second hand car garage in Eleanor Street to clean some cars (50p a car: slave labour) and sneak a look at the nuddy calendar in his office.
Anyway, because I knew even less about music then than I know I used to take a chance of buying records more. One of these records that really sticks in the mind is Love is Hell by Kitchens of Distinction, which I thought had a nice cover. I'd also seen them mentioned in Melody Maker the previous week, or something like that. And their name was suitably krraaaayzee.
I took Love is Hell home when I'd finished washing the stupid cars and played and instantly fell in love with it. And I still am. Their second album, Strange Free World, is even better. And then they went a bit rubbish, but never mind.
Andy's has now long gone, and, the last time I went down Victoria Street, was empty and its windows full of posters for a long gone depressing circus in Cleethorpes. That sort of sums up walking around my home town these days. But, for some of us, there'll always be Andy's.
How melodramatic!
Right, here is the frankly immense The 3rd time we opened the capsule from Love is Hell.
7 comments:
I was just there one Christmas, not for life (£3 an hour: slave labour). They were a great bunch to work with - Critch, Julian Lloyd and all them. Any time I hear A Different Class it reminds me of Andy's that year, cos we played it to death in the shop.
But yeah, it was a good shop. They'd stock stuff you'd never see in HMV and Virgin and what have you. Which is probably why they went out of business...
A-ha! That's after I'd left for Nottingham, then. Which explains things.
Who was that lad in there (Stu?) who all the girls fancied? And most of the boys, too?
Stu Houchin or something, I think his name was (I've probably misspelt it). The guitarist in Gentle Tuesday. Moved to Leeds. Good hair!
If you ever see a group of people going bonkers on the dancefloor at Gullies to 'Going Underground', they probably used to work at Andy's. It was a long-standing tradition.
We also had the best work Christmas do ever, which involved getting twatted on booze, having a curry at Abdul's and then going bonkers on the dancefloor at Gullies to 'Going Underground'.
Aww.
I got my copy of Shadow Factory from Andy's. For FREE! I ordered it and it didn't arrive, so I cancelled the order and got my money back. But then they phoned me up to tell me it had arrived anyway, and forgot to charge me when I collected it. That's probably why they went out of business.
Grimmo is probably the only place in the world that still has curry houses called Abdul's.
I'll stop now.
That's him, yeah.
Julian Lloyd was my nemesis for a while, but then I think we got on okay. Magical story.
That's a great song. I bought 'Strange Free World' because of you and I listen to it often! I still need to get 'Love is Hell.' Excellent AX work there.
It's been a long, long time since I've had a crush on a record store employee. I think in the internet age now I only get crushes on record label employees.
Sam, why did we never talk about KOD all those years ago?
And I never saw you OR Pete in Andy's Records!
I remember seeing Stu Houtchin though *ahem*
I've no idea! I was listening to them yesterday all day.
I used to go to Andy's VERY EARLY in the morning, before all the cool, scary kids got there, that's probably why.
Bloody Stu Houchin...
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