Craig Armstrong - Nominates His Favourite Music Shops
MISSING | GLASGOW
It feels more a boutique than the average grungy second-hand record shop
that stocks a lot of old and obscure vinyl. Do they know me in there? Possibly
I'm in there quite a bit
9-11 Wellington Street, Glasgow. Tel: +44 (0)141 2481661
ECHO | GLASGOW
One for me, because it does a lot of old jazz and I'm a West Coast jazz
fan. As well as the work I do with Massive Attack, I do a lot of soul tracks,
and come here for background. But I often go in not knowing exactly what
I want, or whether I'm going to come out with dance music or Debussy
305 Byres Road, Glasgow. Tel: +44 (0)141 339 2996
TOWER RECORDS | LONDON
The megastore in Piccadilly Circus is one of the leading record shops of
the world. I go there mostly for the avant-garde classical department, which
has a range I really haven't found anywhere much else. I've bought CDs in
there I've been looking for 20 or so years. But it's good on jazz, too.
1 Piccadilly Circus, London W1. Tel: +44 (0)20 7439 2500
COLLETTE | PARIS
A place I go for film soundtracks. It only ever has five albums on sale
- it's one of those shops that only sells the best of everything: the best
chair, the best watch, the best whatever. They change the Five CDs they
sell every week, so it could be new releases or just favourites of the assistants.
I always buy all five - which, being a musician, isn't an abnormal amount
for an evening's listening.
213 rue Saint-Honore, Paris, France. Tel: +331 55 35 33 90
TONY BINGHAM | LONDON
There are a few record shops amid the second-hand bookshops near Air Studios
in Hampstead, where I record. But a shop I go into a lot is Tony Bingham,
which stocks old musical instruments. They search out obscure things for
museums and have their own great collection of ondiolines, the first electronic
instrument. For me it's a bit like a kid's sweetie shop.
11 Pond Street. London NW3. Tel: +44 (0)20 7794 1596
EBAY.COM | INTERNET
Another thing I do quite a lot is I get records and instruments from the
auction website. I've also used it to buy a couple of drum machines, a Wurlitzer
piano and a VCS3 synth. I've been trying to buy a Dan Martin electric sitar
for ages, but no one wants to sell one. It was used on early Steely Dan
tracks, but you can play it like a guitar