Asylum

13 Home Street, Tollcross

 
From the 1979 Edinburgh telephone directory

 

Avalanche

 
33 West Nicolson Street (1st and original shop)
17 West Nicolson Street
63 Cockburn Street
5 Grassmarket (current location)
Avalanche 63 Cockburn Street.
 
Avalanche 17 West Nicolson Street.  This shop was used in the record shop scenes of Richard Jobson's 2003 film Sixteen Years Of Alcohol.  The scene in question can be seen at 02:08 in this You Tube clip here.

 Back Beat Records

26 Raeburn Place, Stockbridge 


From the 1984 Edinburgh telephone directory.

 Backtracks

Backtracks opened in November 1989 and is now called Backtracks Music And Games.  At the opening of the shop it was in the Tollcross Times that two bands would perform a set, Realm Of The Shopping Trolley and Shee.  How we managed to fit them in I'll never know, but now we have so much stock it would be impossible.  We sell Vinyl LP's, and singles, tapes, record players, hi-fi's, CD's, sound equipment, computer games, and dvd and TV accessories.  Thank you to Tommy Robertson for the shop info.

17 Brougham Street, Tollcross

 

 

Bandparts

9 Union Place 


From the 1965 Edinburgh telephone directory.

 Bruce's

45 Shandwick Place 
134a Princess Street
79 Rose Street


From the 1981 Edinburgh telephone directory.

Bruces 7" single paper bag.
 
Bruce's bag showing other branches.  Thank you to Andy Mitchell for this scan.


Thank you to Oddfellow for the two Bruce's badge scans above.


79 Rose Street.   © S.S. 2009.

Bruces 79 Rose Street from a 1979 piece in Sounds.  Thank you to Graham for this scan.
 

School kids outside Bruce's, Princess Street.  Thank you to Simon Clegg for the picture.  Simon Clegg writes: The shop was Bruce's Record Shop at 134a Princes Street in Edinburgh, judging by the albums in the window, it's June 1980. Sandy McLean and Alan McBlane were working there at the time. Sandy now runs 'Love Music' record shop in Glasgow.

 

An invitation to the launch of Bruce Findlays Zoom record label, the envelope is postmarked 26th July 1978, and it was sent to a certain Bert Muirhead (see Ezy Ryder below).  Thank you to Clive Johnson for this rare item.
 
T-Shirt for the Bruces Promotions Edinburgh Pop Festival 1973.
 
Don Huggan designed advert from City Lynx.
 
Thank you to Vinylshrine for this scan.

 Deja Vu

128 Lauriston Place (demolished)

Thank you to Alan Fergus for this scan.

 

 

Fopp

42-44 Cockburn Street (the original Edinburgh Fopp)


42-44 Cockburn Street 2009.    © S.S. 2009.

 

 

 GI Records

37-39 Cockburn Street

 

 

 Greyfriars Market

14 Forrest Road in Oddfellows Hall- Ezy Ryder was owned by Willie Taylor and Bert Muirhead, who incidentally wrote this indispensable book.

 
Keith Mitchell recalls one of his visits to Ezy Ryder in the mid seventies:  "I loved Ezy Rider Records stall in Greyfriars Market, which I remember from the mid 70s.  It was a delight to browse, superbly stocked and great for rarities which were stashed out of harms reach.  I was a schoolkid from Fife and loved making trips to town on vinyl hunts, however, the main guy at Ezy Rider was a diminutive, volatile dark haired chap with a Glasgow type accent, the crabbiest record salesperson, or any kind of salesperson I ever encountered anywhere in the World!  He'd've been early to mid 20s, intimidating to a 13- 15 yr old.
In the early 90's, living in Aberdeen, I attended a record fair, casually asking a stallholder if they had anything by Krautrock band 'Faust', I was stunned to silence by a mighty roar of abuse "WE SELL MUSIC NO F****** NOISE!!!" in that Glaswegian accent, I was certain, with such a random outburst of record rage, it could be none other than, CRABBY RECORD STALL GUY FROM EZY RIDER, with grey hairs added by the years."
 
Greyfriars Market in the seventies.  Thank you to Alan for this picture. 

 
From the 1976 Edinburgh telephone directory.


A postcard from Gordon of The Valves to Ezy Ryder, franked Stockholm 17/5/79.  Thank you to Oddfellow for this rare item.

Greyfriars Hare Krishna poster.  The upstairs section of Greyfriars was rented out to the Hare Krishnas.  Thank you to Oddfellow for this scan.


Thank you to Jane Stewart for the three pictures above of Greyfriars Market in the seventies.

 

Gutter Music

19 Henderson Row - one of the proprietors of Gutter Music was Allan Campbell who promoted concerts around Edinburgh under the name Psychotic Reaction, and was also the manager of Josef K. The manager was Andre Thornton Grimes.


From the 1981 Edinburgh telephone directory.


19 Henderson Row  © S.S. 2009.

 

Head Quarters

11 South College Street


From the 1976 Edinburgh telephone directory.

Unbelievably, this is the original open sign from the Headquarters shop designed by David Irving in 1972.  The subject is Leslie Forsyth.

 

Hell

45 Thistle Street
28 Lady Lawson Street - later The Last Record Shop and Avalanche. The Hell shop apparently had a sign at the bottom of the road stating "go to hell!!"

28 Lady Lawson Street.  © S.S. 2009.

 Hot Licks

47 & 32 Cockburn Street


From the 1977 Edinburgh telephone directory.


Hot Licks bag showing 32 Cockburn Street
 

47 Cockburn Street  © S.S. 2009.
32 Cockburn Street.   © S.S. 2009.

 Jeffrey's Audio House

6/8 Bread Street


From the 1975 Edinburgh telephone directory.  I have included the recording studio entry aswell, as it has the same proprietor.  I presume this is the famous "Craighall Studios".

 Listen

Frederick Street

Listen record shop April 1982.  Thank you to Listen employee Debbie Woods for this rare picture.  Debbie can recall instore signings by Toyah and 999.
 

Listen, Frederick Street.   © S.S. 2009.
 
Listen interior and stairs. © S.S. 2009. 
 
Listen record bag.  Thank you to Debbie Woods for this item.
 
Listen employee Debbie Woods reference dating to March 1982.  Thank you to Debbie Woods for this item.
 
An oddity here!  The ashtray that used to be overflowing on the counter in Listen record shop.  Thank you to Debbie Woods for this unsual item.

 Other Record Shop

46 High Street
17 St Mary's Street 
Princess Street


From the 1976 Edinburgh telephone directory.


17 St Mary's Street  © S.S. 2009.


46 High Street  © S.S. 2009.


Thank you to Jeff for this photo.
Thank you to Scottie Somerville for the above item.


Other Record Shop advert dating to 1980.  Thank you to Oddfellow for this scan.

Debbie Woods copy of Dead Kennedy's California Über Alles signed at The Other Record Shop in the High Street.

 Pheonix

215 High Street 


From the 1976 Edinburgh telephone directory.


215 High Street  © S.S. 2009.
 

Thank you to Harry for this bag.
 
Peter Harris recalls the hand written signs in the the windows of Phoenix record shop:  "I remember the hand written signs that used to grace Phoenix record shop window? My favourite was the bubble coming out of Bob Dylan's mouth on Street Legal - "where is that damn bus"? The guy responsible for them was Mike Rintoul."
Record Exchange
 
1 Brunswick Street
46 South Clerk Street

From the 1972 Edinburgh telephone directory.
 
 
46 South Clerk Street 2009.   © S.S. 2009.

 

Ripping Records/Sound Centre

17 Easter Road (Sound Centre)
91 South Bridge (Sound Centre/Ripping Records) The Sound Centre store opened at this location on 10th December 1975, becoming Ripping Records in 1978.  Ripping was named after the Michael Palin series "Ripping Yarns" airing on the BBC between 1977-1979.  Thank you to John for the information. 


From the 1976 Edinburgh telephone directory.
 

Sounds Super Record Shop

211 Portobello High Street


From the 1981 Edinburgh telephone directory.

 Sweet Inspiration

14 Morrison Street


From the 1979 Edinburgh telephone directory.

Vinyl Villains

5 Elm Row, Leith Walk

 
 
The Police bootleg that gave Vinyl Villains it's name.

 

Virgin Stores

61 Thistle Street- The first of the Edinburgh Virgin Shops
131 Princess Street
18a Frederick Street (The Sex Pistols did an instore signing here when they visited Edinburgh).


From the 1973 Edinburgh telephone directory.


From the 1976 Edinburgh telephone directory.


From the 1982 Edinburgh telephone directory.


61 Thistle Street  © S.S. 2009.

18a Frederick Street.  © S.S. 2009.

Early 1980's "crinkly" Virgin 7" single bag.
 

An advert for Binns department store.  Binns had a popular record department.  From the 1965 Edinburgh telephone directory.