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UK Digging?

mpchooliganmpchooligan 11 Posts
edited July 2007 in Strut Central
hi n please don't flame me. i'm young n quite new to this digging shit (ain't been doing it for very long) I've been spending a lot on Polish jazz and funk lately on ebay but off the internet all i find is wack charity shop shit! (u kno the names James Last, Sound of Music, etc). I mean i'm currently in Doncaster with not much ???? to spend and i'm wondering where UK heads find their records.Could somebody drop some knowledge on the best places in the UK to dig (with not too much ????)or am i best of digging in some other country with the wackness of the UK?
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  • JuniorJunior 4,853 Posts
    hi n please don't flame me. i'm young n quite new to this digging shit (ain't been doing it for very long) and all i find is wack charity shop shit! (u kno the names James Last, Sound of Music, etc). I mean i'm currently in Doncaster with not much ???? to spend and i'm wondering where UK heads find their records.

    Could somebody drop some knowledge on the best places in the UK to dig (with not too much ????)or am i best of digging in some other country with the wackness of the UK?

    This is your best bet for digging rare finds in the UK:

    http://www.ebay.co.uk

    Seriously though, Don't really know many good digging spots round Yorkshire as I don't tend to stray north of the Watford gap very often. I believe Doc McCoy and Jimster may be from closer to your neck of the woods though your best bet may be to ask around at Vinyl Vulture forums where a lot of the UK diggers hang out.
  • FlomotionFlomotion 2,391 Posts
    Yeah, head over to the Vinyl Vulture site and have a poke around the forum too. I think that's your best bet.
  • bennyboybennyboy 538 Posts
    The best place to start is to realise that you aren't going to find rare US funk and soul, or euro jazz, out there, even stuff thats common in the US is scarce over here; but what you will find is lots of British funk and jazz hidden on those 'wack' lp's; you have to get familiar with whats out there, and then you'll start to find stuff you might be overlooking (even funky James Last lps for instance). If you keep looking, you will pick up some amazing lps for next to nothing, you just have to know what you are looking for. I'm sure Doncaster has great secondhand / charity shops, probably lots of boots too.

    Best start over at VV, have a look thru' their (excellent) guides to British music & musicians, and then you can start picking up BRITFUNKJAZZRAERGOLD.
  • OkemOkem 4,617 Posts
    Charity shops and car boots turn up good stuff every now and then, you just have to be patient. Although if your expecting to find polish jazz or funk 45s you'll be in for a long wait.

    Try and find a decent record shop near by that you can take you trades to, and build a friendly relationship with the owner. He can hopefully help you out with other local spots, dealers etc.

    I met a dude at the carboot the other weekend, and he gives out a business card to all the dealers / collectros he meets, which worked for him.
  • pencilfacepencilface 674 Posts
    Charity shops and car boots turn up good stuff every now and then


    yep -- and travel as much as you can .... there must be loads of little townsd with old record/ junk shops round your way. outside of London, Bristol has a pretty decent range of shops and cheap stuff can definately be found. in genereal it seems to me that if you check out the weekend finds threads on places like soulstrut from a UK perspective it'll pretty much make you sick. the UK is generally loads more expensive than the US for records and that. bugger. having said that ive come acros loads fo great stuff cheap over the years -- as im sure all the UK heads on here have.
  • el_sparkoel_sparko 884 Posts
    The UK isn't great for digging, you have to pay ??15 for things that regular go for about $5 in the US, in a lot of shops. Charity shops get very frustrating as seeing the same crappy records every week can get annoying but it's worth speaking to the guys who run or work there. Doing this means they may keep new records back for you or let you know when new stuff has arrived that they haven't priced up yet etc... Through this i got a bunch of classic mid 90's hip hop as well as some cool Yugoslavian and Polish stuff. Same applies for record stores, often things are really competitive to get the good records and so knowing the guys who work there can help a lot.
    Bristol is an ok city for records, should you ever come here, go to Gloucester Road, there are three stores of varying quality plus a bunch of charity shops. Let me know if you need more info...
  • the_average_manthe_average_man 675 Posts

    Bristol is an ok city for records, should you ever come here, go to Gloucester Road, there are three stores[/b] of varying quality plus a bunch of charity shops. Let me know if you need more info...

    Don't you mean "shops?" Anyway whats the Ox like for digging? I keep meaning to get over there....
  • the_average_manthe_average_man 675 Posts
    hi n please don't flame me. i'm young n quite new to this digging shit (ain't been doing it for very long)....all i find is wack charity shop shit! (u kno the names James Last, Sound of Music, etc).

    Well that figures if you only been doing it 5 minutes and you can't find heat in a charity shop or car boot. I think theres some truth in what Sneers is saying about getting to know shop staff (including charity shops) My one mate is practically bumming the fella that works in our local Oxfam and he's getting stuff reserved for him etc.....

    I'll be hitting the car boots with a vengeance this summer

    anyway surely Doncaster must have that uberraerprogeurodadrockheat if foo's like this rep that area:

  • el_sparkoel_sparko 884 Posts
    Don't you mean "shops?" Anyway whats the Ox like for digging? I keep meaning to get over there....

    Haha, yes, i mean shops, bloody yanks got me speaking their language, i'll be saying "Aloominum" next...
    Ox is truely wank for digging, no..no records in Ox... There are two record shops left, one NEVER gets in new stock and i bought all the good stuff, the other has cool things in and is shutting for good in December so you might find some bargains. They have unsorted stuff for a quid upstairs too but it's ALL shit. Usual rip off charity shops but you find gems if you're patient...

    I forgot to mentin carboot sales...if you're in Bristol check out the one in Whitchurch, when i used to go there was a guy selling everything for ??1-??3 and he had some great soul/jazz/prog etc... haven't seen him for a while though so he might have stopped...
  • mpchooliganmpchooligan 11 Posts
    Nah Doncaster's shit. The charity shops are garbage and theres only really a HMV. Just checked out the charity shops now and nothing The markets are filled full of miserable old man types selling shit 4 ??65. One old man was patronizing me like hell (i am 19 years old but look younger :S) and when i wanted to have a look at the other crate he said trying to poke fun at me "you can't afford the stuff in there. It's Mowtown, nothern soul, etc you make money with those"

    I've searched the whole of Yorkshire and it's shit. The Wall of the Sound is ok but it's gone up ever since it moved to Huddersfield.
  • el_sparkoel_sparko 884 Posts
    One old man was patronizing me like hell (i am 19 years old but look younger :S)

    Same, i look young for my age and some joker in a shop in Milton Keynes said "you can't afford that" in a very patronising way when i asked about some Cannonball Adderley record. Eventually i got him to tell me, expecting big bucks and he said...??15
    Pricks...
  • inVrsinVrs 687 Posts
    i remember that shops in london were crazy expensive when it came to anyhting soul/funk/jazz/heat related. on the other hand there was a basment sale (secondhandrecords.. recordexchange.. cant remember the name? next to vinyl junkies)
    where you could find some more or less nice records for 50 pence.
    but you will definatly not find any polishjazz lp (what the f*** about those anyway? there are only a couple worth hunting down, at least imho) or any other rare jazzrecords there.
  • the_average_manthe_average_man 675 Posts
    haha I've never really had the patronising thing although John Manship me over the phone once... and I had an argument/intense discussion with another nothern dealer (read: a dealer up north, although he does sell northern as well) but he's my mate so it don't matter... and Jazzman Gerald was a bit short on the phone with me once "Sorry the other phone is going and I really need to answer it." I said "Who is it Arthur fucking Monday" and hung up. That 45 was blowing up at the time y'see. London has made him a miserable sod

    Have you tried going to Manchester MPCperson? Thats up north and is therefore near Doncaster....

    Otherwise you really need to start at the bottom and work your way up:

    www.the-breaks.com
  • the_average_manthe_average_man 675 Posts
    i remember that shops in london were crazy expensive when it came to anyhting soul/funk/jazz/heat related[/b]. on the other hand there was a basment sale (secondhandrecords.. recordexchange.. cant remember the name? next to vinyl junkies)
    where you could find some more or less nice records for 50 pence.
    but you will definatly not find any polishjazz lp (what the f*** about those anyway? there are only a couple worth hunting down, at least imho) or any other rare jazzrecords there.

    I'd love to go into a record shop and see a rack divider that said "Heat"

  • OkemOkem 4,617 Posts
    One thing you'll learn pretty quick, is that a large % of rekid people, are total dicks. But if you wana play, you gota learn how to deal.

    I've searched the whole of Yorkshire and it's shit.

    But if this is your attitude, I suggest you give up now, and stick to e-diggin.
  • mpchooliganmpchooligan 11 Posts
    One thing you'll learn pretty quick, is that a large % of rekid people, are total dicks. But if you wana play, you gota learn how to deal.

    I've searched the whole of Yorkshire and it's shit.

    But if this is your attitude, I suggest you give up now, and stick to e-diggin.

    well let me change that to getting bored of Yorkshire. Sheffield had some dope stores back in the day but they all closed. Soul Alley in Leeds was good n friendly but that went

    I dunno i prefer greater Manchester and Nottingham. I mean it's just annoying when you travel 20 miles to find absolutely nothing. Plus i don't drive yet.

  • fishmongerfunkfishmongerfunk 4,154 Posts
    ultima thule in leicester has an interesting selection of psych. the only place i have really scored in the uk have been at the two sound exchanges in london (camden and nottingham). as someone mentioned, you are probably better off just buying things off ebay and saving up to come to utrecht in november.
  • mpchooliganmpchooligan 11 Posts
    The best place to start is to realise that you aren't going to find rare US funk and soul, or euro jazz, out there, even stuff thats common in the US is scarce over here; but what you will find is lots of British funk and jazz hidden on those 'wack' lp's; you have to get familiar with whats out there, and then you'll start to find stuff you might be overlooking (even funky James Last lps for instance). If you keep looking, you will pick up some amazing lps for next to nothing, you just have to know what you are looking for. I'm sure Doncaster has great secondhand / charity shops, probably lots of boots too.

    Best start over at VV, have a look thru' their (excellent) guides to British music & musicians, and then you can start picking up BRITFUNKJAZZRAERGOLD.

    Thanks that helped! I think that was my problem not realising that i ain't gonna find the US stuff over here. I need to school myself more on UK artists! Could somebody school me on some names?
  • MoogManMoogMan Sao Paulo, Brazil 1,173 Posts
    Here's the link to the Vinyl Vulture "Diggers' Guide To London".
    Maybe it can help you.


    Guide



    Peace
  • mpchooliganmpchooligan 11 Posts
    Here's the link to the Vinyl Vulture "Diggers' Guide To London".
    Maybe it can help you.


    Guide



    Peace

    Thanks that vinyl Vulture site is nice. Reading through it now reading about British easy listening artists. Def a big help.
  • MoogManMoogMan Sao Paulo, Brazil 1,173 Posts
    Here's the link to the Vinyl Vulture "Diggers' Guide To London".
    Maybe it can help you.


    Guide



    Peace

    Thanks that vinyl Vulture site is nice. Reading through it now reading about British easy listening artists. Def a big help.

    Cool!

    Vinyl Vulture is a very good and reliable source for
    information about music.
    Peep the forum, too; loads of knowledge dropped there.


    Peace
  • bennyboybennyboy 538 Posts
    There's lots of names, lots of great records! There was a hardcore of session men from the 60s/70s who played on a lot of the records that people are after now. They played everything everywhere, so Herbie Flowers played bass on Lou Reeds 'Walk On The Wild Side', Gainsbourgs 'Histoire de Melody Nelson', but then also countless studio sessions that end up in those charity shops.

    Names like Alan Hawkshaw, Alan Moorhouse, Johnny Harris, Geoff Love, Tony Hatch, Nick Ingman and musicians such as Herbie Flowers, Vic Flick, Big Jim Sullivan and many more. Check out vinyl vultures, have a wander through the articles on lounge, big band, and all the cheapo record labels and the next time you pop into Oxfam, you'll know not to leave those three copies of The Gentle Rain.
  • djsheepdjsheep 3,620 Posts
    my tuppence worth: the records are here but you have to put a fuck of a lot of work in to find them. you will have to go to the same charity shops 2 twice a week for a year, but then you will find something amazing. you will have to look through millions of crap records at boot fair after boot fair and village fete after village fete, but then you find a stash of mint original brazilian heaters for a ??1 each and a perfect soundburger. you will have to pay over the odds to get people onside, you will have to know what is worth money in genres that you have no interest in, and you will have to learn about what is here rather than lamenting what isn't. And fuck james last, and fuck all those charity shop shitters, top of the pops LPs, i hate all that stuff, i can't stand all that sub-funky-sub-jazzy tv themes, its always felt like making the best of a bad job, trying to like that stuff. I hate tv themes. you just have to work and be prepared to be disappointed 9 times out of 10. But don't let anyone say the records aren't here, or theres no jazz or anything.

    But also: ebay.

    couldn't have said it better...

    overall, if you don't put the work in, you don't get much back. I've already given up trying to go shopping or diggin' here. Too much work, bus tickets are expensive, I'll just buy on eBay and trade with the locals...

    peace.
  • mpchooliganmpchooligan 11 Posts
    my tuppence worth: the records are here but you have to put a fuck of a lot of work in to find them. you will have to go to the same charity shops 2 twice a week for a year, but then you will find something amazing. you will have to look through millions of crap records at boot fair after boot fair and village fete after village fete, but then you find a stash of mint original brazilian heaters for a ??1 each and a perfect soundburger. you will have to pay over the odds to get people onside, you will have to know what is worth money in genres that you have no interest in, and you will have to learn about what is here rather than lamenting what isn't. And fuck james last, and fuck all those charity shop shitters, top of the pops LPs, i hate all that stuff, i can't stand all that sub-funky-sub-jazzy tv themes, its always felt like making the best of a bad job, trying to like that stuff. I hate tv themes. you just have to work and be prepared to be disappointed 9 times out of 10. But don't let anyone say the records aren't here, or theres no jazz or anything.

    But also: ebay.

    Ye thats definetly how i feel. I feel as though i'm forced to like those charity shop shitters. Top of the Pops records just aren't my thing. And it can get depressing checking out what the US heads on here are getting for $3.

    All this just makes me wanna save up a plane ticket to go to the US and bring sum good records home! I mean i'm not after rare records. Just stuff i like the sound of and records that are worth the money.

    Whats London prices like? Never been which is shocking lol
  • djsheepdjsheep 3,620 Posts
    Ye thats definetly how i feel. I feel as though i'm forced to like those charity shop shitters. Top of the Pops records just aren't my thing. And it can get depressing checking out what the US heads on here are getting for $3.

    All this just makes me wanna save up a plane ticket to go to the US and bring sum good records home! I mean i'm not after rare records. Just stuff i like the sound of and records that are worth the money.

    Whats London prices like? Never been which is shocking lol

    London is more expensive than any other place in the UK really.

    I mean, I went to Paris and France to dig, I thought that was expensive, but it's nothing compared to out here. Common ass soul records like Barry White in VG- condition for $30 US, get the fuck outta here! Then again, those are in actual record stores, as with anywhere in the world, do the research do the hard yards, you'll turn stuff up.

    Fuck the charity shop turds too. A lot of people fool themselves out here to think some of that stuff is cool, then their tastes change and end up finding funky things in the weirdest and shittest of places... The amount of times I've heard "check this funky track out" and I'm like "uhhhhhh huhhhhh"... hahah. I mean I've met people who said they don't listen to hip-hop, wouldn't even know who Chuck D or Flav are tell me "check out this drum break", the shittest drums you've ever heard, and I'm like "do you make beats"... "no, not really"... do you DJ... "no"... then why the fuck you collect breaks for son!!! I mean it's all cool to collect drum breaks if you make beats or are a DJ that does doubles or have an appreciation for the asthetics of hip-hop I guess.. but???...

    About 10% of the stuff people turd on about from the budget UK labels is cool... so many people feel the necessity to spend a pound on a shit for the fuck of getting a record. That's $2! 10 turds is $20. An instant CTI record right there!! hahaha

    I mean, like you said, save up and go on a trip to dig if you want, I'm going to Spain soon, then the US, Amsterdam, Europe. The UK is a great jumping point to Europe. You can get tickets for 7 pounds on some airlines around Europe...

    Good luck man, if you're ever in Edinburgh, feel free to hit me up, I got actual GOOD records at the crib I can trade you or play you...

    peace.
  • the_average_manthe_average_man 675 Posts

    About 10% of the stuff people turd on about from the budget UK labels is cool... so many people feel the necessity to spend a pound on a shit for the fuck of getting a record. That's $2! 10 turds is $20. An instant CTI record right there!! hahaha

    Good luck man, if you're ever in Edinburgh, feel free to hit me up, I got actual GOOD records at the crib I can trade you or play you...

    peace.

    fuck that! Hit with me some turds Sheep!

    Theres some not bad shops in London but you are going to pay premium prices for the priveledge of it... Its all shit you can get cheaper elsewhere anyway....

    the other thing is, what do you want these records for? DJing? Beat making? Wanking? If its DJing I'd say forget it (for the most part), but I think digging for samples depends on how good you can flip your source material so puts more onus on your producing skills rather than digging skills.... if that makes sense.
  • OkemOkem 4,617 Posts
    my tuppence worth: the records are here but you have to put a fuck of a lot of work in to find them. you will have to go to the same charity shops 2 twice a week for a year, but then you will find something amazing. you will have to look through millions of crap records at boot fair after boot fair and village fete after village fete, but then you find a stash of mint original brazilian heaters for a ??1 each and a perfect soundburger. you will have to pay over the odds to get people onside, you will have to know what is worth money in genres that you have no interest in, and you will have to learn about what is here rather than lamenting what isn't. And fuck james last, and fuck all those charity shop shitters, top of the pops LPs, i hate all that stuff, i can't stand all that sub-funky-sub-jazzy tv themes, its always felt like making the best of a bad job, trying to like that stuff. I hate tv themes. you just have to work and be prepared to be disappointed 9 times out of 10. But don't let anyone say the records aren't here, or theres no jazz or anything.

    But also: ebay.

    Ye thats definetly how i feel. I feel as though i'm forced to like those charity shop shitters. Top of the Pops records just aren't my thing.

    All this just makes me wanna save up a plane ticket to go to the US and bring sum good records home! I mean i'm not after rare records. Just stuff i like the sound of and records that are worth the money.

    Whats London prices like? Never been which is shocking lol




    You just don't get it do you.

    Noone is forcing you to like anything. You came on here wining about how there's no records in the Uk. Someone kindly offers you the advice that you should learn a little about the records that are (somewhat) more readily available. Some of which IMHO are very good. And they're ALL worth knowing about, because there are plenty of people out there who dig it you can trade with. Which francis already told you. Although it didn't seen to register, because you start with the 'grass is greener' bullshit again.
  • OkemOkem 4,617 Posts
    Fuck the charity shop turds too. A lot of people fool themselves out here to think some of that stuff is cool, then their tastes change and end up finding funky things in the weirdest and shittest of places...

    What like Aussie Jazz and Japanese manga turds.
  • mpchooliganmpchooligan 11 Posts
    well ok. I'll start researching on those names and see if i can track em down.
  • djsheepdjsheep 3,620 Posts
    fuck that! Hit with me some turds Sheep!

    I just squeeze a nice green one out for you, I'll send it C.O.D.

    Theres some not bad shops in London but you are going to pay premium prices for the priveledge of it... Its all shit you can get cheaper elsewhere anyway....

    Actually, the hip-hop prices in London were really good compared to some places, I saw some real bargains in there...

    Another thing is, everyone thinks that The UK will be full of library records in everywhere, that's far from the case, I've seen 'em at fairs and in shops, but at a premium price... I guess unless you're hittin' up the sticks or radio stations, you're not gunna see bulk of that for cheap!

    peace.
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