tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8518649431129525958.comments2024-03-05T00:27:43.026-08:00PismotalityPismotalityhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15326025086367299858noreply@blogger.comBlogger215125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8518649431129525958.post-91743091887401130622023-09-18T13:16:01.275-07:002023-09-18T13:16:01.275-07:00So happy to discover this lasting testimonial to P...So happy to discover this lasting testimonial to Phil Cording and Cheapo Cheapo Records.I first discovered this Aladdins cave in early 80s. My every opportunity to visit and browse there as sealed. Yes I remember Phil of course. I learned very quickly no to ask if they had specific titles and just browse! I often offered to get Phil a coffee on A Saturday night when he was busy. I always got a thank you. I recall his radio on when cricket was being broadcast. Yes Gloria was a charming lady and I believe it was her daughter who sometimes helped out. John was into his country big time. Matthew the African guy could be a bit rude and then Graham on stall outside, music big time.What an era that was , Along with Steves Sounds in Newport Court and MR cd further down.Terry Redpathnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8518649431129525958.post-77601872965275237022021-02-21T03:09:20.784-08:002021-02-21T03:09:20.784-08:00Ivan Santiago-Mercardo has sent the following comm...Ivan Santiago-Mercardo has sent the following comment: <br /><br />Reading your evocative write-up brought up memories of going to used record stores here in the United States. One of those stores, located in Massachusetts, happens to be called Cheapo, too. Since I no longer live in the area, I just looked up for an update online. It's nice to see that it is still operating -- and that it has been around since 1954! But my favorite store in the area (and everywhere in the US, really) was, and shall forever remain, Stereo Jack's, in business for 37 years now. Great and very reasonably priced selection of LPs and CD from all genres, but especially jazz and the Great American Songbook. Knowledgeable and pleasant staff, too ... Thanks for awakening, through your picturesque and informative blog entry, those pleasant memories of my days of record hunting!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8518649431129525958.post-42819264855973448762021-02-17T06:41:32.060-08:002021-02-17T06:41:32.060-08:00Nice bit of research, Pismo.Nice bit of research, Pismo.Steve Gardhamhttp://www.yorkshirefolksong.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8518649431129525958.post-30876636550960210772020-07-04T10:19:21.388-07:002020-07-04T10:19:21.388-07:00Great to find this but sad to hear of Phil's p...Great to find this but sad to hear of Phil's passing. I started frequenting Cheapo in 1977 while appearing in "I Love My Wife" at the Prince of Wales theatre and must have visited it at least once a week for the duration of the run and, after that, literally every time I was in Soho. The lps and cds I bought there (all emblazoned with those infuriating price stickers which are well-nigh impossible to remove) still form the cornerstone of my collection. Phil was I suspect more shy than unfriendly and was without doubt much loved by the staff. Apart from the Goth (who was an expert on WW2 military history and, on one memorable occasion entertained customers with a recording of SS marching bands) there was indeed an older lady, part West Indian I think and possibly called Gloria, who was always charming.woolfnoteshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11211530583377517160noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8518649431129525958.post-62079516728510903702020-02-24T13:32:42.121-08:002020-02-24T13:32:42.121-08:00I just came across this review, and approached it ...I just came across this review, and approached it with a little trepidation, as from the URL alone I could tell you'd be someone who knew the topic well, and so could easily have found problems with the podcast. I'm very glad you didn't, especially since given the various tags in your sidebar you're clearly someone whose blog I'll have to read more.<br />Looking through the list, in fact, it's astonishing how many of the things you've written about have particular connections to my own interests -- as a handful of examples, Spencer Leigh is the only DJ ever to play a recording by the band I was in in my twenties on the radio, the first piece of writing anyone ever commissioned from me was on Jake Thackray, I have a book on Anthony Newley's TV series The Strange World of Gurney Slade coming out next month, I'm a good friend of Ron Geesin's son... you get the idea. Anyway, I'll definitely be checking out your archives, and thanks again for the kind words.Andrew Hickeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07412263807838661843noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8518649431129525958.post-3003875596929977922020-01-15T13:49:15.439-08:002020-01-15T13:49:15.439-08:00I sincerely appreciate the thought and detail that...I sincerely appreciate the thought and detail that went into this review. Many times, people skim a book and pen an general analysis- from your blog history I knew that wouldn't be the case here. I've been eager for someone who is passionate about the Flamingos to truly read and digest the book and put their honest thoughts into words. Knew your review was coming soon and grateful for your honest assessment. THANK YOU, Todd Baptistatrbenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12246055190716933695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8518649431129525958.post-27822951234707656372019-10-20T06:02:06.007-07:002019-10-20T06:02:06.007-07:00Hi Garth, I know your book well - fascinating and ...Hi Garth, I know your book well - fascinating and a valuable record of a way of life, and a series of communities, unexpectedly consigned to history. Something which really needed to be written - and you did a great job of creating a shape out of all that mass of material. I do remember a middle-aged woman working there at some point in the nineties, probably - she talked me into buying a 1991 Fats Domino box set I wasn't sure about.Pismotalityhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15326025086367299858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8518649431129525958.post-52985639823092724582019-10-20T05:20:01.608-07:002019-10-20T05:20:01.608-07:00Lovely post to the wonderful Cheapo. I wrote up my...Lovely post to the wonderful Cheapo. I wrote up my 90s experiences in Cheapo in my book GOING FOR A SONG: A Chronicle Of The UK Record Shop and have subsequently found that many readers have a memory of Cheapo (even if its only how rude Phil and the staff could be!). I was speaking at a Walworth History Event about record shops on Friday night and Cheapo's name came up and one person remembered a "lovely lady" who used to work there - obviously, before my time as it was totally bloke during the years I made use of it. Garthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06377839502900482211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8518649431129525958.post-82085022309394810462019-10-20T00:02:29.676-07:002019-10-20T00:02:29.676-07:00Well written stuff and chimed with many of my memo...Well written stuff and chimed with many of my memories. Phil and John were neither of them affable characters but the shop was unique and very much part of my youth along with Dobells and Berwick Street. I no longer make pilgrimages to the West End because all of that's pretty much gone except for a few remnants. It's a place for tourists and the big chains now.Sippoghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11408133123806484187noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8518649431129525958.post-91047891456365485432019-06-06T06:40:47.638-07:002019-06-06T06:40:47.638-07:00Cheapo cheapo records....What a place to be.
To me...Cheapo cheapo records....What a place to be.<br />To me it was magic!!.I was just like a small kid with a candy in his hands, with a smile on my face ten miles wide.<br />flicking through all those racks full of records or even all those cd's hanging from the wall trays,i could spend hours inside that shop and i wouldn't give a shit about the world outside that place. That's how magic it was to me.<br />I've been visiting that shop almost every weekend between 1990 & 1997 and it was very rarely that i would come out of that place with nothing bought.<br />Phil was a tough bastard to deal with but he was a nice bloke, i remember one day asking him for a particular band and his answer was " sorry mate but do i look like a fucking encyclopedia to you!?" LOL.I have to admit that was a classic reply.I certainly miss that grumpy old man!. r.i.p PHIL.<br />CHEAPO RECORDS is no more but at least i am very proud to be a part of the history of the best record shop London ever had.Robbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07692152529790782594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8518649431129525958.post-32635920429204401432019-03-23T14:06:13.755-07:002019-03-23T14:06:13.755-07:00I worked at CCR part time 2 days a week around 199...I worked at CCR part time 2 days a week around 1990/1 when I was playing in a band in Oxford,living on a mate's sofa in Brixton and staying in Herne Bay at weekends, all before I could drive. So called "Miserable Phil" was only that way to the punters. He was the most accomodating of bosses - hilarious in his dryness - it was as if the punters - and especially the "timewasters" got in the way of his trying to make a living. Old school for sure. Good times - and all pre internet of course. RIP Phil ;)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05365796139076785955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8518649431129525958.post-39341423792164684722019-02-07T15:05:27.001-08:002019-02-07T15:05:27.001-08:00Nice to find a memorial to Cheapo online.
It was ...Nice to find a memorial to Cheapo online.<br /><br />It was the 10th anniversary of Phil’s passing last week and I thought I’d look him up, see if anyone remembered him. And boy, did they!<br /><br />Unlike most commentators on Cheapo, I was in it for the movies. And the film scores. His VHS collection was a treasure trove when I found the shop in ‘97. Obscure titles, and loads of promos - oversized video boxes for obscure films with ‘timecodes’ periodically running across the bottom of the frame like breaking news. I still have most of them somewhere. It was my favourite shop in my new home of London for three years until I moved back to Glasgow in 2000.<br /><br />Then I moved back to London in 2007. My first port of call was always going to be Cheapo. I remember feeling almost nervous about it still being there, still being full of gems, and perhaps most importantly, that the misery-guts owner would still be behind the counter.<br /><br />I walked in and there he was. Right where I’d left him. I’d gone from maybe two visits a week to none in seven years but nothing had changed (save maybe DVDs taking over from VHS).<br /><br />‘Hey stranger’, the owner said. ‘How long since I saw you last? Seven years? Great to see you! You finished work? If you can hang around for an hour we can grab a pint and catch up.’<br /><br />I made that up. If there was so much as a flicker of recognition of me, Phil didn’t let it show. Even when I asked him for a few soundtrack CDs from the locked racks... nothing. (The soundtracks were on the right as you walked in, before moving to the left, if I recall, shortly before the shop closed).<br /><br />And yet... something about Phil’s utter indifference to a once and future good customer (musta spent £100 a month in there) kinda made me feel that there was something utterly dependable in this world.<br /><br />One day in late Jan 2009 my cousin died suddenly in his mid forties. So I was in a morbid kinda mood when I walked into Cheapo. Looking at the DVDs, I overheard a conversation between the fella behind the counter and a customer. The shop was in trouble. The owner had been borrowing money from everyone to pay everyone else off and no one had any idea the extent of it until now. The shop’s finances were a house of cards and it was all about to fall. I could feel it in my gut but asked anyway. ‘Did the owner die?’ He had. I asked what his name was. Phil. I hadn't known it until then.<br /><br />I went in just once more and knew it would be the last. I ceremoniously bought a soundtrack (Nowhere in Africa) that had sat there unloved for a couple of years, with me barely recalling the end titles being quite good. And considering how much I hate stickers, I just left this one on. It would be my last purchase, the distinctively handwritten, unmistakably Cheapo little circular sticker would be my souvenir.<br /><br />Phil’s demeanour could sometimes be a downer, I have to admit. If I could, I'd wait until someone else was around before making the purchase. (Being into the film section meant I was mostly infront of Phil for the entire visit). But one moment of pure Phil I remember vividly... a customer hands over a CD for purchase and asks ‘Are the CDs definitely all in working order?’ Phil responds ‘Well I haven’t listened to every last one of them if that’s what you’re asking.’<br /><br />I saw the Mango shop come and go. Not sure what’s there right now. But that strange and amazing atmosphere are still burned in my memory. And as my family recognised the 10th anniversary of one of our own last week, I thought of Cheapo and Phil.<br /><br />Great to find others who still have a place in their heart for Cheapo. I had no idea he went as far back as he did. And the sneaky snap of Phil on the job was priceless. Thank you!Gordy Lazolerahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06210792188160810657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8518649431129525958.post-43394835161849292512018-12-03T10:21:29.753-08:002018-12-03T10:21:29.753-08:00Fantastic read! Great comment too, from Kit.
My Ch...Fantastic read! Great comment too, from Kit.<br />My Cheapo Cheapo story goes back to the mid-70s, when I was a very regular visitor. No subsequent return to London was complete without going back.<br />In those days, there was another guy, John, whom I assumed was Phil’s business partner. I think he must’ve taught Phil all he knew, because he was by far the grumpier! Nevertheless, as such a regular customer, my face became known enough that I could ask if, maybe, perhaps, they had a copy of a certain album, which had not yet found its way to the racks.<br />I sometimes joined the Saturday morning queue, waiting for the opening, when new “promos” would be made available.<br />RIP Phil and I wonder what became of John? <br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16688397386961984718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8518649431129525958.post-44569788615525445912018-11-10T13:48:46.523-08:002018-11-10T13:48:46.523-08:00A very emotional read and heartfelt tribute to a m...A very emotional read and heartfelt tribute to a much missed shop and Phil. I never actually worked in the shop but run the record stall outside for five years, I knew Phil well and much of the reports of his grumpiness (which are true). I can honestly say he was always friendly to me, even to the point of renting a van and lifting boxes when I moved house and offering to help decorate. He had an amazing musical knowledge and was more intelligent than he ever let on. I went to his memorial and found out he was well loved in his local community. I loved reading these reminisces and the fact that a simple messy record shop can evoke so much emotion in people.Kithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09042536979997516861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8518649431129525958.post-78580921167527847232018-11-06T02:02:30.509-08:002018-11-06T02:02:30.509-08:00Excellent!
Excellent!<br />Garthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06377839502900482211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8518649431129525958.post-50371219185910073852018-05-04T22:51:04.501-07:002018-05-04T22:51:04.501-07:00Check out the out-takes of ITSOTN for more insight...Check out the out-takes of ITSOTN for more insight into the creative process... dlchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02547892511025287645noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8518649431129525958.post-3506605777246415912018-03-24T03:30:38.516-07:002018-03-24T03:30:38.516-07:00Fantastic piece. Evoked many wonderful memories. R...Fantastic piece. Evoked many wonderful memories. RIP Cheapos ... RIP Phil.Monkeynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8518649431129525958.post-51123623032483406512017-08-21T14:42:18.459-07:002017-08-21T14:42:18.459-07:00I really enjoyed the programme about Tommy Hunt an...I really enjoyed the programme about Tommy Hunt and his long career! I've listened to Spencer Leigh on BBC Radio Merseyside for many a long year. Some people say that I am a poet, but now I fear, it's getting late, so time for me to disappear...Theokienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8518649431129525958.post-41914683299488552842017-04-16T13:23:35.651-07:002017-04-16T13:23:35.651-07:00I loved frequenting this treasure trove of musical...I loved frequenting this treasure trove of musical formats. I must've bought at least fifty cassettes here throughout my visits, and remember "miserable Phil" well. He was an enigma, ushering and disappearing between the floors and counters beyond the mountains of yet-to-be priced-up boxes of stock. I'd often quake with fear to ask 'that man' to open the locked cassette cases (I'd often take interest in one or two cassettes per case, which I knew greatly irritated him when asking for his 'assistance' to continually open them to remove the cassettes - only for me to put them back after inspection! Not a good move. On one occasion, I did have the recourse to get Phil to re-open a case I'd already asked him to do earlier. He stood next to me and said "now are you gonna buy a f**king tape this time or not?". Nice. Customer care was not the man's strong point. That said, I admired his indomitable spirit; having to endure hour upon hour bypassing the catacombs on a daily basis without natural light would make anyone cranky. I was always polite and made my entrance a happy one, and kind of believe he missed me each time I left. After all, I was spending serious money in there sometimes. I did buy some truly rare gems in there, including rare 'trunk-sold' LA hip hop tapes, as wellas promo CD's I've not seen since. Rarities that'd make Discogs experts shudder in envy. Great days, sadly missed. Phil, Rest in Peace, you grumpy old sod.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8518649431129525958.post-72498759539703753292017-01-02T07:51:37.449-08:002017-01-02T07:51:37.449-08:00Thank you for all this information. I once possess...Thank you for all this information. I once possessed 'Hard Times' but seem to have lost it. I am really trying to get hold of 'Goodbye, America Keep You Well', but I cannot find it anywhere. But thanks again - excellent music. <br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07334987819876493603noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8518649431129525958.post-14460171159238295272016-06-24T15:58:48.073-07:002016-06-24T15:58:48.073-07:00Have a listen to the Radio 4 Extra re-broadcast of...Have a listen to the Radio 4 Extra re-broadcast of Peter Skellern on "The Tingle Factor" with Robin Ray from the early 1990s http://bbc.in/28SI3gf (not sure how long it will be available). He chose "Hymn Song" as the track of his he would like to have seen better known. Also, I wrote a short blog post on the instrumental "Cold Feet" from the Still Life album here: http://bit.ly/28VtT1qAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8518649431129525958.post-84986182268640061522016-01-24T23:04:25.555-08:002016-01-24T23:04:25.555-08:00Absolutely brilliant writing about a Bowie period ...Absolutely brilliant writing about a Bowie period of which the hatred by seemingly the majority of the planet is something that's disturbed me for a lifetime! <br />And... the meat is dead!! :)romy3https://www.blogger.com/profile/07748354665244836065noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8518649431129525958.post-52351240149615156222016-01-11T22:50:47.662-08:002016-01-11T22:50:47.662-08:00I knew Briz quite well, and miss him a lotI knew Briz quite well, and miss him a lotAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05781633266850384459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8518649431129525958.post-48890608328260965852015-11-29T16:17:25.599-08:002015-11-29T16:17:25.599-08:00This is truly an honour, Mr Pruter - thank you so ...This is truly an honour, Mr Pruter - thank you so much for reading and for your kind comments. And how wonderful to have all the names of this superlative group at last - so the "Charles" some remembered was presumably non-existent or perhaps a mishearing or misremembering of "Ashley".Pismotalityhttp://sweetwordsofpismotality.blogspot.co.uk/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8518649431129525958.post-5833133378843606962015-11-29T14:56:34.535-08:002015-11-29T14:56:34.535-08:00Since my book, Doowop, came out, I have since foun...Since my book, Doowop, came out, I have since found the members of the Orchids, which is given on the RSRF as "Orchids, in the 8 titles they cut for Parrot, have to rate as one of the most splendid doowop groups to come out of Chicago. All of them were from the South Side. Gilbert Warren was the principal lead and composer; he had matured considerably since his days as lead singer for the Five Thrills. Bass Buford Wright wrote and sang lead, and second tenor Robert C. Nesbary also played piano for the group. The two remaining members were Ashley Farr and Hubert White." Excellent write up on the Orchids tunes, love them in fact. Robert Pruternoreply@blogger.com