Hard To Find Records - Birmingham (England)

I finally made the long *ss train ride from Cambridge to Birmingham just to check out Hard to Find Records shop.
Here is my "The Good and The Bad" of the store:

THE GOOD

- Stacks and rows (8 feet high) of delicious vinyl!
- Every type of music genre you can think of they had. (House, Hip-hop, Jazz, Dnb... etc)
- The people working there were very knowledgable. Either they knew exactly where to find the record I was looking for, or they had to look it up on their computer database.
- Music is broken down by genre, year and label.
- There had to have been 20 listening stations with Vestax turntables and I never had to wait for one to use.
- The sales department where their dj equipment was on the second floor, was all hooked up and ready to test out.
- They had a dj spinning everything from 60 to 187 BPM's. He was very good mind you.
- If you spend over 100 pounds ($200), you get a loyalty card for 5% off. Which came in handy since I spent 300 pounds there. You do the math.

THE BAD

- The records aren't priced. They just have a sticker with a bar code and information it. The average LP/12" will cost you about 10 pounds ($20). 15 pounds ($30) for an Import record (there is no emoticon for heartattack).
- Some of the older jazz and disco 12" that I did find, they slapped their bar code sticker right on the label of the record. You might say "So what?", but I'm also a record collector. I like my records in MINT condition.
- They have security guards there. They walk around and peek around corners. I guess, making sure no one is switching high priced records into low priced sleeves.
- The record listening area was cramped. You are allowed 10 records to listen to at a time. Some knuckleheads were bringing stacks of 20 or more records up to the decks to listen to.
- It would have been nice to have access to their record database while in the store. But its "STAFF ONLY".


THE RECORDS FOUND

LP's - Super Disco Breaks Vol's 1-5
LP - The Soul Searchers - "We The People" - 1972
LP - The Billy Cobham - George Duke Band - "Live On Tour In Europe" - 1976
LP - Archie Bell and The Drells - "Dance Your Troubles Away" - 1975
12" - Teena Marie - "Behind The Groove b/w You're All The Boogie I Need" (Promo) - 1980
12"- Laid Back - "White Horse" - 1984
12" - The New York Rubber Rock Band - "Peanuts b/w Put Your Love In My Hands" - 1977
12" - Donna McGhee - "It Aint No Big Thing" - 1977
12" - Eddie Kendricks - "Girl You Need A Change Of Mind" - 1978
LP - Masters At Work - "In The House (Part 1)" - Defected Rec's
LP - Todd Edwards - "Full On (Vol 2)" - I Rec's
LP - Alicia Keys - "House Mixes 1" - KYS Rec's
12" - Lil Louis - "French Kiss (Drum n Bass Remix)" - White Label (HOT!)
LP - DJ Premier - "Unreleased Instrumentals Vol 7" - Promo
LP - Swing City Accapellas - Swing City Rec's

... and there is a bunch more,but these were the ones that I thought stood out from the rest.



one...

JUKE 179r wrote: They have security guards there. They walk around and peek around corners. I guess, making sure no one is switching high priced records into low priced sleeves.

i hate that shiiit....... specially in regular stores, worse in record shops but all the way from cambridge to b'ham huh? after all the good and bad was it worth it??

THANX 4 THE ONE UPZ on HTFR......................

I'm In The States But Use The Website on A Regular !!!!!!!!!!!!


I Mostly Check The Ex-tras and The Supplies Etc.

What is this like?

12" - The New York Rubber Rock Band - "Peanuts b/w Put Your Love In My Hands" - 1977

I figure as you've got Laid Back & Donna McGhee on either side of it on your list this would be something I'd like.

aiightthen:
It was worth the trip just to check out B'ham. There are lotsa pubs, clubs and... ahem... gentlemans clubs there.


featherboy:
The New York Rubber Rock Band - I've never heard of this group before i picked this up.
It's got some good disco breaks that I want to sample for a house track that I'm doing.

I hope I get to hear your track, & I'll keep an eye out for that old record.

http://excess.gemm.com

pisses all over htfr or should i say easy-to-advertise-stock-they-dont-actually-have-records

greg

Dubmonkey said it HTFR have been living off a declining reputation for some time now. They have been around a while now but what you said Dub bout claiming they have certain tunes in when they dont is spot on, myself & friends have experienced it also! Theres far better places to cop ya vinyl nowadays in the UK.
Gemm r cool but alot the stuff worldwide so you gotta wait 2 months for delivery! Netsounds is good for uk mailorder. Juno is, I reckon the 1 for internet mail order, all tuned mp3'd (even b sides) and always delivered next day. or theres always Ebay, you can find some bargains there for sure.
Glad to hear you enjoyed Birmingham though Juke, my advise would be head south from Cambridge though, London's def the place for digging in the UK if ya know where ya goin.
See Ya

Dubmonkey said it HTFR have been living off a declining reputation for some time now. They have been around a while now but what you said Dub bout claiming they have certain tunes in when they dont is spot on, myself & friends have experienced it also! Theres far better places to cop ya vinyl nowadays in the UK.
Gemm r cool but alot the stuff worldwide so you gotta wait 2 months for delivery! Netsounds is good for uk mailorder. Juno is, I reckon the 1 for internet mail order, all tuned mp3'd (even b sides) and always delivered next day. or theres always Ebay, you can find some bargains there for sure.
Glad to hear you enjoyed Birmingham though Juke, my advise would be head south from Cambridge though, London's def the place for digging in the UK if ya know where ya goin.
See Ya

I still haven't found an internet seller as good as the now defunct Groovetech.

The few times I tried to use HTFR's site I found it painfully slow, & the only time I ordered anything it never turned up. They didn't charge me so it wan't like I lost anything but it was another case of them saying they had things which they didn't. However, if I was in Birmingham I'd definately give them a visit.

I heard another bad thing about HTFR. This is a few years ago, but there was this other record dealer in the Birmingham area. HTFR bought domain names which were this other company's name before that other company had a website of their own......... I had better add ALLEGEDLY...... Has anyone else heard this story?

dubmunkey wrote:http://excess.gemm.com

pisses all over htfr or should i say easy-to-advertise-stock-they-dont-actually-have-records

greg :D

DAMN!!! Thanks bruh! I found all kind of old Disco records I've been looking for on there.

splinter- you know it!! juno is the bomb...gemm is good but excels at the rare and for the more standard go juno everytime!!

im glad juke- even though im not a dj i was practically a god to my dj mates cos i could get them practically any tune they named!! real rare stuff like world cup by kiku and gonna make you jujitsu by dj bang...loads of classic lil loius type stuff an great for bootlegs too!!

that is a back door essentially has more stuff on the the official gemm site- why....?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

greg

I dont know why people shop there, its waaaay too expensive end of story. There are better places to shop in Birmingham for old records, hit me up if your thinking of coming here to dig again, I'll let you know some better places!

I'll definitely head back up to B'ham to hit up some of the nightlife let alone some of those record stores. I'll keep you in mind Captain Stro when I make my journey.

HAHAHA!
Its really true about the expsensive record stores overhere!! DAMN!
But i tell you one thing dont give up!
I found a really nice record store out of London last year and all the records u mentioned I bought for £2 each in MINT condition.
so it all cant be that bad...keep looking and asking ya friends in different areas around england if they have record shops in their area that sells recs cheap...