Going to the record store with anticipation was a journey of excitement. Here in Toronto, we had a few big ones, but the two big players were Sam The Record Man and A&A Records. Massive buildings about a block from each other. Where were your finds?
Early to Mid 90s when I was buying armfuls of 7"s regularly it would have been either Don Christie or Summit Records in Birmingham or Dub Vendor in London. After that I'd pick them up as and when on my travels but relied heavily on the riddim albums or various compilations albums that were coming out then.
Yeah Summit Records knew how to clean me out of every last penny. Plus they helped steer me to Soca also. Don Christies was bigger but was the kind of place you could be in for hours before you got served and they really struggled to understand my Welsh accent over the huge counter. I had to get good at learning the lyrics to all the dancehall tunes I heard on pirate radio just to get the records I wanted.
When I was about 15, we had a local shop called S&W, where one brother would travel to Jamaica monthly and return with the latest releases. They were expensive for me, so a buddy and I pooled our resources and bought an album with the same riddim on every cut for $24, which we would switch out every two weeks.
I always knew to check the latest Digital B 7"s when they dropped. One of my all time favourite reggae producers.
Going to the record store with anticipation was a journey of excitement. Here in Toronto, we had a few big ones, but the two big players were Sam The Record Man and A&A Records. Massive buildings about a block from each other. Where were your finds?
Early to Mid 90s when I was buying armfuls of 7"s regularly it would have been either Don Christie or Summit Records in Birmingham or Dub Vendor in London. After that I'd pick them up as and when on my travels but relied heavily on the riddim albums or various compilations albums that were coming out then.
Local shops and The mighty Dub Vendor. Right on.
Yeah Summit Records knew how to clean me out of every last penny. Plus they helped steer me to Soca also. Don Christies was bigger but was the kind of place you could be in for hours before you got served and they really struggled to understand my Welsh accent over the huge counter. I had to get good at learning the lyrics to all the dancehall tunes I heard on pirate radio just to get the records I wanted.
funny - the treasure chest of tunes eh?
When I was about 15, we had a local shop called S&W, where one brother would travel to Jamaica monthly and return with the latest releases. They were expensive for me, so a buddy and I pooled our resources and bought an album with the same riddim on every cut for $24, which we would switch out every two weeks.