The 'old' West End

[Rich]

'Allbang & Strummit', anyone
Eee, them were the days... bunk off college, £4.80 return from Reading to Paddington, and then a whole day spent drooling over [i]stuff[/i].
And there was Tempo Soundhouse in Hanwell, I don't think it's still there... back in the mid/late 80s it was run by a lovely fella called Laurie Keys... he sold me my old Laney Pro-bass combo (21st b/day prez from mum & dad, love 'em) and my fretless Jaydee. Fast forward about 10 years, I had a CD-launch gig in West London and my faithful JD let me down at the last minute... galloped over to Tempo and Laurie was still in charge, bless him he remembered me and lent me a fretless Status for the night. Top banana.

[Stingray5]

[quote name='leschirons' post='355858' date='Dec 16 2008, 12:26 PM']Burns, as you said, under Centre Point was where I saw my first "star" in the flesh. I was in there with my brother who was our guitarist, and, out of the Rolls Royce stepped Bruce Welch and Olivier Newton John, with a guitar case. He was dropping it off for Hank Marvin for some repair work. I wasn't in awe of stars but couldn't take my eyes off Olivier Newton John. She was seriously fit. That was 40 years ago when I was 16.[/quote]
Ah, I remember when she was a trio: Olivia, Newt & John!!!!
Actually, I well remember her too. Cliff Richard had a TV show in the 70's and it seemed she was guesting on their almost every week.
She hooked up with a fellow Aussie (or Kiwi?) named John Farrar who in turn helped form Marvin, Welch & Farrar. They had a great sound for the time with some very tasty vocal harmonies too.

[Stingray5]

[quote name='Earbrass' post='355726' date='Dec 16 2008, 10:36 AM']Of course, when I was a lad it was all just fields. But try telling that to the young people of today....[/quote]
...aye, and we used to live in a hole in t' ground and lick road clean wi' our tongue...!!

[Musky]

[quote name='Rich' post='355890' date='Dec 16 2008, 01:06 PM']'Allbang & Strummit', anyone
Eee, them were the days... bunk off college, £4.80 return from Reading to Paddington, and then a whole day spent drooling over [i]stuff[/i].
And there was Tempo Soundhouse in Hanwell, I don't think it's still there... back in the mid/late 80s it was run by a lovely fella called Laurie Keys... he sold me my old Laney Pro-bass combo (21st b/day prez from mum & dad, love 'em) and my fretless Jaydee. Fast forward about 10 years, I had a CD-launch gig in West London and my faithful JD let me down at the last minute... galloped over to Tempo and Laurie was still in charge, bless him he remembered me and lent me a fretless Status for the night. Top banana.[/quote]

I remember Allbang & Strummit in Earlham St - I've still got a Morley Delay/Volume pedal I bought for £15 from there.

[WalMan]

It was an occasional day out for me from the south coast with two particular memories for me.

I was working in NW London and got a call from the vocalist in the band I had been in previously asking if I could go into the studio to help out with bass on some demos for Innervision. I didn't have a bass with me but they were going to arrange for one to be available. Got to the studio and it was a completely unplayable plank so we jumped into a car drove down to Tottenham Court Road / Denmark Street area, walked into one of the shops on TCR plucked a Precision from the wall and walked out with a cry of "just borrowing this for the afternoon" (not from me I hasten to add!!) and it was no problem.

Second was of a long day in a studio in a basement in Denmark Street learning the songs and coming up with basslines prior to recording the second lot of demos, which had Wham's brass section on - or o I was led to believe anyway.

Happy days

[bassace]

We used to get the train from Reading up to London to window shop. I can't remember too much, but can recall quite a few shops up Shaftsbury Avenue including one that sold Trixon drums. Saw Adam Faith in there; he was very tall. There, I told you my memory wasn't too good.

At the Picadilly end of CCR was Denman Street that had Foote's where you could go down to their basement and see rows and rows of double basses. I bought my first one there, carved not laminated for £35. It wasn't too good but that's all I could afford. I chatted to a nice black guy and when he left the shop the assistant said 'that's Ray Brown'.

[Stingray5]

[quote name='bassace' post='356098' date='Dec 16 2008, 04:01 PM']We used to get the train from Reading up to London to window shop. I can't remember too much, but can recall quite a few shops up Shaftsbury Avenue including one that sold Trixon drums. Saw Adam Faith in there; he was very tall. There, I told you my memory wasn't too good.

At the Picadilly end of CCR was Denman Street that had Foote's where you could go down to their basement and see rows and rows of double basses. I bought my first one there, carved not laminated for £35. It wasn't too good but that's all I could afford. I chatted to a nice black guy and when he left the shop the assistant said 'that's Ray Brown'.[/quote]
I also got my double bass (now long gone) from Foote's. As I remember they were in Golden Square at the time (1977). In fact, I had lessons with the manager of the bass department, Ron Berkshire. I lived in Brixton back then and used to go to The Plough pub on Stockwell Road where drummer John Steven's used to run the Jazz nights. Walked in one evening to the delight of finding John with Jeff Berlin and Alan Holdsworth getting ready to go on. Great night. And all for free! Also used to see Soft Machine bassist Roy Babbington there and chatted with him about a few lessons. Sadly, I had no car at the time and he lived too far away.
I envy you, bassace, for having met Ray Brown. Nice one!

Edited December 16, 2008 by Stingray5

[bassace]

Footes moved to Golden Square after Denman Street. I bought a nasty cheap laminated bass there when I resumed playing. It got me started again, though.

[quote name='Stingray5' post='356121' date='Dec 16 2008, 04:23 PM']I envy you, bassace, for having met Ray Brown. Nice one![/quote]

Yes, but how many times have we let the moment go by only to regret it later?

[chris_b]

[quote name='Rich' post='355890' date='Dec 16 2008, 01:06 PM']....'Allbang & Strummit', anyone....
....there was Tempo Soundhouse in Hanwell, I don't think it's still there....[/quote]
Allbang's was a great shop. Good quality gear and friendly staff. If it's the one I'm thinking of, Tempo changed into the Flying Pig music shop. I don't get up that way much these days but it was still there a few years ago.

Did anyone make the trek up to Charing Cross Road on a Wednesday for the early edition of Melody Maker, to get first dibs on the Musicians Wanted adverts?

Edited December 16, 2008 by chris_b

[Stingray5]

[quote name='chris_b' post='356402' date='Dec 16 2008, 09:32 PM']Allbang's was a great shop. Good quality gear and friendly staff. If it's the one I'm thinking of, Tempo changed into the Flying Pig music shop. I don't get up that way much these days but it was still there a few years ago.

Did anyone make the trek up to Charing Cross Road on a Wednesday for the early edition of Melody Maker, to get first dibs on the Musicians Wanted adverts?[/quote]
Ah, of course.... I knew Tempo rang a bell for some reason. You reminded me that it did indeed become Flying Pig, which is where I bought my TE combo 10 years ago. I remember the ads for Allbang & Strummit but I don't think I ever made it to the store itself.

[NancyJohnson]

[quote name='Stingray5' post='356413' date='Dec 16 2008, 09:44 PM']Ah, of course.... I knew Tempo rang a bell for some reason. You reminded me that it did indeed become Flying Pig, which is where I bought my TE combo 10 years ago. I remember the ads for Allbang & Strummit but I don't think I ever made it to the store itself.[/quote]

The Pig was over near Ealing as I remember. Hanwell W7. I bought some Trace stuff there about ten years ago...they had some nice used gear (a six string Yamaha was great). I remember peering through a door at the back of the shop to see the contents of a store room - that appeared to be the size of the warehouse at the end of Raiders - just loaded with gear. They're closed now I think.

P

[Balcro]

[quote name='Stingray5' post='355229' date='Dec 15 2008, 06:01 PM']I'm wondering how many BCers used to frequent the various music stores around Shaftesbury Avenue, Charing Cross Road and Denmark Street, etc.
For myself, I used to get the bus or tube and go 'up West' to check out as many music and guitar stores as I could in one day.
Shaftesbury Avenue had the two-floor [i]Rose-Morris[/i] 'superstore'; [i]Guitar Village[/i] was opposite; down the street was [i]Take Five[/i] plus the dynamic duo of [i]Music City[/i] and [i]Sound City[/i] - not to mention their little brother [i]Drum City[/i] on Charing Cross Road where [i]Maccari's[/i] also still are today. Right around the corner on New Compton[/quote]


Ah. happy days.

I still remember the most beautiful stack I ever saw. Does anybody remember Gibson Amplification. This is circa 1970. I think it was in the Rose-Morris shop, Going north up Shaftesbury Avenue & about 250 yards before Centre Point, on the right. A thick pillared building where the bottom of the showroom window was about 4' above the pavement. There it was, in spangly metallic green (like a Ford Capri), including the grille. £2000 worth of guitar amplification. Gulp! Gasp! Pure showbiz. A HUGE cabinet with a valve amp on top. The green was not unlike the shiny cross on the bottle of "Day Nurse" in front of me now. Never seen one anywhere else or since.

Keep walking straight on up Tottenham Court Road. Yes, I rememer Lasky's and many other "hi-fi" shops. but what you could also buy along there were chassis speaker units. I bought a Celestion G18C from one of them. Carried it home on the Tube. These days they'd charge me an extra ticket for it, it was (is) so big.

Balcro.

[MacDaddy]

Apparently from what I've heard from friends who work at other music shops, [i]Andy's Guitars[/i] always had a reputation for been a bit dodgy. I tried taking [i]Andy Preston[/i] to court when he stole off me, but he declared bankruptcy. He got to keep his Rolls Royce though.

[BigBeefChief]

[quote name='lonestar' post='355264' date='Dec 15 2008, 06:44 PM']Awayday ticket to Charing Cross for 25p. burger from Wimpy and cruise up and down Shaftesbury Avenue[/quote]


Can we keep this clean and on-topic please?

[ARGH]

Its not Polari...At least not in my vocab.

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='MacDaddy' post='356998' date='Dec 17 2008, 02:33 PM']I tried taking [i]Andy Preston[/i] to court when he stole off me, but he declared bankruptcy.[/quote]

Cripes! Was that you?

I was on the top floor with my tame amp-tekkie when the bailliffs arrived. Andy kept them talking by the main entrance (through the alleyway) while the staff smuggled the paying customers out through the back door (i.e. the one on Denmark Street - confused yet?) so the bailliffs wouldn't know anyone was spending money.

Then the staff went round taking the tickets/price-tags off the guitars so that they could claim they were all being sold for customers on commission.

I had a rather nice vintage valve amp on the bench upstairs, and I was seriously concerned that the bailliffs would seize the damned thing. They ended up going away empty-handed.

You may be amused/irritated to know that Andy is now back, haunting his old shop (which is now part of Music Ground) and still wearing the same scarf! I have no idea what official capacity he holds, if any, but he's always there these days.

[skankdelvar]

About 1982 I got asked by a 'mate' to take a 3 bolt Jazz into Macari's (I think) and flog it while he waited in the car. Got a couple of hundred for it and gave him the cash, which 10 mins later went straight up his nose.

Turned out later, it wasn't his to sell, and he'd conned me into being the 'face' in the deal.

Apropos of nothing, the left-overs of the snotty, two-handed tapping 'assistants' of 20 yrs ago are now greying, obnoxious old managers. Think of that with pleasure, next time you're being patronised up Denmark St...

[planethead]

[quote name='skankdelvar' post='357182' date='Dec 17 2008, 05:37 PM']About 1982 I got asked by a 'mate' to take a 3 bolt Jazz into Macari's (I think) and flog it while he waited in the car. Got a couple of hundred for it and gave him the cash, which 10 mins later went straight up his nose.

Turned out later, it wasn't his to sell, and he'd conned me into being the 'face' in the deal.

Apropos of nothing, the left-overs of the snotty, two-handed tapping 'assistants' of 20 yrs ago are now greying, obnoxious old managers. Think of that with pleasure, next time you're being patronised up Denmark St...[/quote]

interesting ... I see now why the Maccari's assistant demonstrated my very first bass guitar with the 'line' from 'shaft!'

ttfn

[lonestar]

[quote name='BigBeefChief' post='357002' date='Dec 17 2008, 02:37 PM']Can we keep this clean and on-topic please?[/quote]

That's not what I meant that kind of thing was at the other end of Regent St, down the 'dilly.

[OldGit]

[quote name='NancyJohnson' post='355424' date='Dec 15 2008, 10:10 PM']Also in a musical bent, does anyone remember a basement record store a couple of hundred years from Centrepoint called Simons? They were on the Wardour Street side of Oxford Street. I always remember everything was hideously cheap in there...usually European imports.

The shop always smelt fragrant (not in the dope way)...something they pumped through the air-conditioning. Fruity. I got in someone's car the other day and they had a smelly thing in there and I was transported back to 1980 again. I just kind of blurted out 'your car smells just like a record store I used to go in in my teens'.

P[/quote]


yeah i do, as my name is Simon

[OldGit]

[quote name='Stingray5' post='355540' date='Dec 16 2008, 12:29 AM']Wow, yeh, the Burns shop. that's one I did forget about. Probably because I didn't really go in there much. We used to regard it as 'outside the zone' or 'a bit posh and not one of the lads'. Chappels of Bond St was another (later on though, my classical guitar came from there). Ah, the naivete of youth! [/quote]

When my (musical) partner died in the late 80's he left all his sheet music and books to me. They were all from Chappels with prices like £1.50 for a Gordon Lightfoot song book ..

[MacDaddy]

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='357162' date='Dec 17 2008, 05:16 PM']Cripes! Was that you?

I was on the top floor with my tame amp-tekkie when the bailliffs arrived. Andy kept them talking by the main entrance (through the alleyway) while the staff smuggled the paying customers out through the back door (i.e. the one on Denmark Street - confused yet?) so the bailliffs wouldn't know anyone was spending money.

Then the staff went round taking the tickets/price-tags off the guitars so that they could claim they were all being sold for customers on commission.

I had a rather nice vintage valve amp on the bench upstairs, and I was seriously concerned that the bailliffs would seize the damned thing. They ended up going away empty-handed.

You may be amused/irritated to know that Andy is now back, haunting his old shop (which is now part of Music Ground) and still wearing the same scarf! I have no idea what official capacity he holds, if any, but he's always there these days.[/quote]

no not me, but all the business's he ran from 27 Demark Street had CCJ's against them. He knows how to play the system, had a few celeb clients to appear legit, and ripped off everyone else. He is a liar, cheat, thief, and scum. I think some of the Mods have my details but I am perfectly happy to give my address to Ped & Kiwi and take personal responsibility for these comments.

[tauzero]

I went to the Fender Soundhouse a few times in my two and a half terms at the Royal Veterinary College in Caaaaaamden Tahn (75-76). That was just around the time they had the fire and Hayman went out of business, hence me picking up all the necessary parts for a Hayman 40/40 (I did want to build a twin-neck but something I picked from the stack of parts didn't fit properly and I had to take it back).

[planethead]

[quote name='tauzero' post='358935' date='Dec 19 2008, 04:25 PM']I went to the Fender Soundhouse a few times in my two and a half terms at the Royal Veterinary College in Caaaaaamden Tahn (75-76). That was just around the time they had the fire and Hayman went out of business, hence me picking up all the necessary parts for a Hayman 40/40 (I did want to build a twin-neck but something I picked from the stack of parts didn't fit properly and I had to take it back).[/quote]

..if you kept any of those Hayman 40/40 parts and want to get rid of em... I'm interested!

ttfn

[tauzero]

[quote name='planethead' post='358993' date='Dec 19 2008, 05:30 PM']..if you kept any of those Hayman 40/40 parts and want to get rid of em... I'm interested![/quote]
I sold the bass nearly 30 years ago...