I've just got back from a fortnight's holiday in Orlando and thought I'd share with you some info on various shops out there that sell Northern etc. Since Orlando is quite a popular place, although I suppose, not that well known for Northern, I thought it might be useful to people who plan to visit.... Hopefully this info hasn't been posted before - a quick search on here didn't bring up anything!
The best shop without a doubt is called Rock 'N' Roll Heaven which is located downtown, about 13 miles or so from International Drive. It's best to get there by car but you can get the Lynx Link 8 bus from International Drive to the Lynx Central Station and then get a Lynx Link 1 (or, I think 9) out to just outside the shop (as I did!). The Link 8 bus takes ages though, so be warned!
The store is a general (and quite large) record shop selling stuff right across the musical spectrum. The extensive "soul" section is quite good although you won't find many rarities there. The term "soul" is quite loose as I did find stuff such as Sinitta and New Edition mixed in with the soul records! It's also a good idea to check out the other "non-soul" categories as you will no doubt find a few things in there too..... Roy Hamilton and The Vibrations for example are filed under "50s" which is behind the soul section. There's also a few white record boxes in the far right hand back corner of the shop which contain a fair bit of soul.
I was chatting to one of the guys in the shop and he told me that they have a few BIG rarities behind the counter ($1000-ish) which they tend to sell via eBay. I didn't see these but was told that they have multiple copies of some of the items as they acquired a large record collection from the estate of a well known Florida DJ several years ago who allegedly had some fantastic stuff.
So, most soul records tend to fall into the $20 and below bracket, and then the $1000 + bracket.... and strangely enough nothing in between. One good thing (I suppose!) is that the shop doesn't rely on price guides (I asked them about that one!!).
On the way to Rock 'N' Roll Heaven I passed by a shop called Soul Train Music on Parramore Avenue (about 3/4 of the way into the journey). The shop was located in what looked like quite a run down part of downtown and looked like a really old-school, dusty shop... the sort of shops you see on some CD covers, and the ones that you're convinced must hold some real gems! Unfortunately this isn't really the case so the guys at Rock 'N' Roll Heaven tell me..... Soul Train Music only stocks albums (most of which they obtain from Rock 'N' Roll Heaven anyway) and mainly stock CDs.... Honestly though, I almost fell off the bus seat when I saw the shop out the window!!!
As the name suggests the shop mainly sells books but they also have several boxes on the floor holding mainly albums but also quite a few 7"s. Most of the boxes didn't contain much, but the last box that I found tucked away behind a pile of magazines had all these 7"s in there! Nothing too rare...... Voices Of East Harlem, Mel Carter, some stuff on Stax, Atlantic etc.... but all nice stuff.... and only $1 each. All the records are 70s stuff, so I guess it could be that someone just brought them all in as a job lot and that I was just lucky that day. I remember going last year and the nearest I came to a soul 7" was Build Me Up Buttercup by The Foundations! Still, it's probably worth checking out especially since it's so central to where most tourists stay in Orlando.....
Well, hopefully that has given people some useful info on Orlando and, if nothing else, it will be a nice break from Mickey Mouse and stuffing yourself silly with the huge food portions out there!
Hi everyone
I've just got back from a fortnight's holiday in Orlando and thought I'd share with you some info on various shops out there that sell Northern etc. Since Orlando is quite a popular place, although I suppose, not that well known for Northern, I thought it might be useful to people who plan to visit.... Hopefully this info hasn't been posted before - a quick search on here didn't bring up anything!
The best shop without a doubt is called Rock 'N' Roll Heaven which is located downtown, about 13 miles or so from International Drive. It's best to get there by car but you can get the Lynx Link 8 bus from International Drive to the Lynx Central Station and then get a Lynx Link 1 (or, I think 9) out to just outside the shop (as I did!). The Link 8 bus takes ages though, so be warned!
The store is a general (and quite large) record shop selling stuff right across the musical spectrum. The extensive "soul" section is quite good although you won't find many rarities there. The term "soul" is quite loose as I did find stuff such as Sinitta and New Edition mixed in with the soul records! It's also a good idea to check out the other "non-soul" categories as you will no doubt find a few things in there too..... Roy Hamilton and The Vibrations for example are filed under "50s" which is behind the soul section. There's also a few white record boxes in the far right hand back corner of the shop which contain a fair bit of soul.
I was chatting to one of the guys in the shop and he told me that they have a few BIG rarities behind the counter ($1000-ish) which they tend to sell via eBay. I didn't see these but was told that they have multiple copies of some of the items as they acquired a large record collection from the estate of a well known Florida DJ several years ago who allegedly had some fantastic stuff.
So, most soul records tend to fall into the $20 and below bracket, and then the $1000 + bracket.... and strangely enough nothing in between. One good thing (I suppose!) is that the shop doesn't rely on price guides (I asked them about that one!!).
The shop's website is at www.rock-n-rollheaven.com
On the way to Rock 'N' Roll Heaven I passed by a shop called Soul Train Music on Parramore Avenue (about 3/4 of the way into the journey). The shop was located in what looked like quite a run down part of downtown and looked like a really old-school, dusty shop... the sort of shops you see on some CD covers, and the ones that you're convinced must hold some real gems! Unfortunately this isn't really the case so the guys at Rock 'N' Roll Heaven tell me..... Soul Train Music only stocks albums (most of which they obtain from Rock 'N' Roll Heaven anyway) and mainly stock CDs.... Honestly though, I almost fell off the bus seat when I saw the shop out the window!!!
Finally I picked up 53 7"s from a book shop on International Drive called Best Used Books - https://www.insiderpages.com/b/11728375094
As the name suggests the shop mainly sells books but they also have several boxes on the floor holding mainly albums but also quite a few 7"s. Most of the boxes didn't contain much, but the last box that I found tucked away behind a pile of magazines had all these 7"s in there! Nothing too rare...... Voices Of East Harlem, Mel Carter, some stuff on Stax, Atlantic etc.... but all nice stuff.... and only $1 each. All the records are 70s stuff, so I guess it could be that someone just brought them all in as a job lot and that I was just lucky that day. I remember going last year and the nearest I came to a soul 7" was Build Me Up Buttercup by The Foundations! Still, it's probably worth checking out especially since it's so central to where most tourists stay in Orlando.....
Well, hopefully that has given people some useful info on Orlando and, if nothing else, it will be a nice break from Mickey Mouse and stuffing yourself silly with the huge food portions out there!
Cheers,
Jon