Happy Hour Again

Like Wah Wah Records in Wakefield, Earworm Records is new. And they sell old records. It was initially hard to find (though that’s probably more to do with me not paying attention to signs), though once you do find it it is a treasure trove. I was a little short of time so only did a cursory flick through (which still took fifteen minutes, my wife tells me). There were so many records that were calling out that familiar refrain, “take me home”.

What I eventually came away with was the Housemartins’s The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death. I was rather chuffed with my purchase, and was quiet proud to show off to my wife, while doing so I noticed that the bench outside the shop offered wifi. Earworm Records was a good shop, there was a collection of hi-fi equipment to buy, a friendly staff and enthusiastic customers. Interestingly of all (to me) the payment method was a Paypal chip and pin reader, something a little different from Visa and Mastercard and their ‘service charges’ (independent coffee shops take note).

The Housemartins, The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death.

Earworm Records, 1 Powell’s Yard, off Goodramgate, York

This is radio freedom

As mentioned in my earlier post about York, I found some out-of-date information. Not all out-of-date information is useless, from one comment on a student guide to record shops in York (not the BBC one, I might add), I was put on the trail of the ‘Man on the Market’. The market is the area between Parliament Square and the Shambles, and is full of market type things (hats, t-shirts printed with (un)humourous slogans, sweets). It also has a record stall.

I had explained to my wife that it might be worth looking around the market on the off chance the record stall was there. There’s an art deco café where you can people watch from, and suitability refreshed with coffee, we followed the music. The stall was great, lots of different things in a vague order that rewards flicking through rather than looking for just one artist. On one side there’s cheaper lps, on the other more expensive ‘collectors’ lps.

Personally, the first record I picked up was collectors to me. KLF’s What Time Is Love? Live From Transcentral is something I’ve been looking for for ages. All of my KLF 12inches and lps were destroyed in a flood, so this was the first purchase to replace something lost. I paid £8 for three records, and would probably have paid more than £2.66 each for KLF, Elton John best of and Emmerson Lake and Palmer’s Tarkus. The Man on the Market explained that they rotate the stock regularly so it was more than worth it coming back.

Emmerson, Lake and Palmer, Tarkus, Elton John, Best of, KLF, What Time Is Love? Live From Transcentral

‘The Man On The Market’, Market Place, York

I have never been more ready to do this write now

One of the reasons I wanted to start writing about book and record shops was the difficulty I have found in finding up-to-date information on them. While researching this trip to York I found one BBC student guide to the record shops from 2004 (including a good write-up for Borders) and a list of booksellers in York the majority of which appeared to be private homes where one had to request a catalogue before arranging a visit. The list of booksellers turned out to be doubly useless when the first entry on it turned out to have closed.

Rather than going through the twenty odd shop names I pulled out, here is where we wandered and shopped. The first bookshop we visited was Fossgate Books, which had lots of books though nothing to tempt us. After that we found some books in an antique centre around the corner (I didn’t check the name, they had about 400 records at £2 each if you fancy finding it). Then it was our first crossing of the city centre, via the Shamble Market to Goodramgate.

On Goodramgate there are a number of decent charity shops with both books and records. There was also a man who checked every hardback copy he could find to see if it was a first edition. Uncharitably we thought he was trying to find something to sell on at profit. From Goodramgate, across the river to Micklegate, where there were a lot of race goers. There is also a very nice Oxfam with a little cubbyhole of records in the back. And then off towards the minster, for Minster Books.

We came away from York with about ten books. Unfortunately I didn’t make a note of which came from where, though all the prices seemed fairly reasonable. Particularly in Fossgate Books, staff were happy to offer advice and see if there was something we were looking for. What I did come away with was a reason to continue exploring the city for its literary treasure.

Fossgate Books, Fossgate

Books for Amnesty, PDSA, British Heart Foundation, Oxfam, Goodramgate

Oxfam, Micklegate