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Old Rare New: The Independent Record Shop, 2008

In Lincoln’s ‘Rockabilly Shop’ Colin and Mary Chapman sold me battered James Brown albums. Here’s a book of people who measure their time on earth in dusty vinyl: collectors sleeping in warehouses, shopkeepers too attached to their stock to sell it, handmade signs, groaning shelves. Inspired by a US road trip (film to follow), and centred on a touching memoir from Bob Stanley. Lovely and loving.
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The Recording Angel: Explorations in Phonography – Evan Eisenberg, 1987

Before recording was invented, to hear your favourite tune took a special occasion and a roomful of musicians, and owning or collecting music was unimaginable. In this quirky and thought-provoking treasure Eisenberg muses on the culture-quake of records and the love affairs with music they made possible. Originally published in 1987, the new edition adds digital musings.
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Charlie Grappone

"Fuhggedaboudit." Charlie Grappone's Vinyl Mania was just another downtown record shop until the Paradise Garage opened a couple of blocks away. Then, with the weeekend a constant crush of customers asking for "that record Larry played", the Carmine Street store became the club's unofficial wax works. Open from 1978 until its sad closure in 2007, Vinyl Mania was where two generations of New York DJs honed their knowledge and built their collections.

 

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