Great Record Shops Soul Brother - Putney- London
Soul
Brother *Backing singer stands in for Bobby Womack at PA*
1 Keswick
Road, East Putney, London SW15 2HL
0208 875
1018
Monday-Saturday
10am-5pm
Sunday
11am-5pm
Established
1991
Stock:
Vinyl, CD, Pre-owned, In-stores
Nearest
station - East Putney
Laurence
and Malcolm Prangell were brought up in the 1960s in a large house in Watford.
Laurence’s first memory of music was courtesy of the next-door neighbours, a
West Indian family, who played their reggae music very loud and into the early
hours of the morning. This tended to annoy most of the neighbours, but not
Laurence who lay awake enjoying the beats.
After
leaving school Laurence went to Cambridge Technical College to train in
accountancy. To earn a bit of extra cash, he started his own business, Record
Enterprises. As well as studying, he bought and sold records wherever he could;
at gigs, parties, college and eventually from a converted chicken shack.
Without
references or paying money upfront he somehow managed to open accounts with all
the major record companies. Studying during the day while working as a DJ and
selling most evenings, Laurence realised he was working too hard when, at a gig
at an American air base, he fell asleep in front of the enormous speakers.
After
leaving college he found work with an office supply company but kept up his
music related projects. He started a mail order service called Soul Brother,
and in 1980 he sold Record Enterprises as he had got engaged to Doreen and the
couple used the money towards their first flat. From then on, he concentrated
on building up Soul Brother.
Laurence
took the first of many trips over to the USA to purchase vinyl in 1992. The
visit coincided with the first day of the Los Angeles riots. When he stepped
off the plane, it looked like a scene from Blade
Runner as plumes of smoke rose above the city, where an 8pm curfew was in
force. He headed for the East Coast instead and, despite his initial problems,
the trip was a success, perhaps too much so.
When the
shipment arrived at his house in London, Laurence realised he had
underestimated how much room the records would take up. His wife Doreen came
home from work to find every bit of space in the house, including the bathroom,
had been filled with records. Laurence needed to get selling. With the help of
his brother Malcolm, he printed the first Soul Brother catalogue and posted it
out to customers all over the world.
A couple of
days later Doreen called Laurence and told him to get home as soon as possible.
The phone had been ringing all day and they had taken more than 50 orders. When
posting the catalogue to soul fans all over the world, Laurence had not taken
into consideration the different time zones in which their potential customers
were located. In those pre-Internet days, they soon found themselves receiving
phone calls from customers in Australia at 3am.
After a
family meeting, it was decided that the brothers would give up their day jobs,
acquire suitable premises and, along with Doreen, devote themselves to selling
records. In March 1994 Soul Brother opened for business and quickly established
itself as the UK’s best-known soul music shop. Malcolm was already writing for Echoes magazine, reviewing lots of the
titles they were stocking and to obtain more publicity they started advertising
on Jazz FM.
This
brought in lots of new business and Laurence and Malcolm were asked if they
would be the sponsors of Robbie Vincent’s radio show and then, later, Johnny
Hayward’s show. Both DJ’s were pioneers of the jazz, funk and soul scene. Jazz
FM was available to more than 15 million people in the London Area. When Johnny
Hayward was taken off the air the shop received nearly 100 complaints, many of
them abusive, from listeners who assumed that Soul Brother were behind the
decision. Many listeners assumed that, because the shop sponsored the show,
they had some involvement in who was presenting it, which was never the case.
Soon people
were queuing to get into the shop on Saturday afternoons. Laurence was going to
the USA on regular buying trips. Customers would ask when the stock was being
delivered, and before the shop opened there would be up to 30 soul fans waiting
to look through the new stock.
Laurence
had many adventures on his American tours. His trips would combine visits to
wholesalers, record shops, dealers, record fairs and even meeting up with a
bunch of taxi drivers in Washington who would fill up the boots of their taxis
with records and meet him in the city. One record dealer known as Fat Tony was
based in one of the less salubrious parts of Philadelphia where he ran an
indoor market. Laurence was chuffed when Fat Tony said that he had something
for him, assuming it was a piece of rare vinyl. Instead, Fat Tony handed him a
gun, informing him that he would need it for protection in the
neighbourhood. Laurence declined the
offer, so Fat Tony kindly lent him his own personal minder for the visit
At a record
fair, one of the dealers suggested Laurence should pay a visit to someone known
as The Count who had an amazing record collection. The directions Laurence was
given were not clear, and Laurence found himself in a menacing, unlit area of
town asking people on the street where he could find The Count. Eventually a
group of youths pointed him in the direction of a three-story house. As he
approached the door he noticed the house was lit by a deep red glow. He rang
the bell and the door opened. Standing in the doorway, swathed in a big purple
cape and looking like a version of Bela Lugosi, was The Count. “Come in,” he
beckoned. Laurence stood there for a few seconds wondering whether The Count
was about to sink his teeth into his neck, before tentatively stepping inside.
The large
room he entered had no furniture, no paint on the walls and was filled with
records. Laurence presumed this must be the storage room. The Count summoned
him to come upstairs. Again, the second floor was just records. Laurence
guessed that the bottom two floors were used for storage and the top floor was
where The Count lived. Imagine his shock when he reached the third floor and
found it was the same. The Count had no TV, chairs or tables just three floors
of records. Over the years The Count became a regular supplier for Soul
Brother, but Laurence will never forget the first encounter.
Soul
Brother has successfully brought international soul artists to England to
promote their latest releases. They arrange gigs and signings in the shop.
Laurence pointed out that while it was a lot of fun working with soul artists
who are all extremely talented, organisation and timekeeping were often not
their greatest strengths.
This was
brought home to him after he arranged a signing session with singer and
producer Leon Ware, who had worked with many top artists including Michael
Jackson, Marvin Gaye and Minnie Riperton. In the hours leading up to the
signing Laurence had heard nothing from Leon and was beginning to get a bit
worried. A queue was forming outside
the shop, so Laurence drove to the hotel Leon was staying at. Sure enough, Leon
had forgotten all about it. The two men rushed back to the shop and the story
had a happy ending as Leon had a great time meeting up with his fans.
Not so
successful was the occasion when soul legend Bobby Womack agreed to do a
signing at a record fair held at the Hilton Hotel in Birmingham. Well over 100
fans turned up. But Bobby was feeling unwell and sent one of his backing
singers to do the signing in his place. It was not a happy occasion for Laurence who had to explain
to the people in the queue that the reason the person signing the albums did
not look too much like Bobby Womack was due to her being a different sex. Bobby
Womack had sent Alltrinna Grayson one of his female backing singers who seemed
to be having a ball signing her name on the albums the fans had brought along
for Bobby to sign.
According
to Laurence, Jazz FM’s rebranding to Smooth FM in 2005 was a major factor in
the decline of the shop’s sales at that time. The station’s playlist changed
from playing the music that Soul Brother sold to a more commercial sort of
music that could be heard on other stations. This compounded the key problem
for Soul Brother, which is a lack of media coverage for the music they sell.
They receive support from Echoes, the
black music magazine and numerous internet stations, but on national radio
Gilles Peterson is the only DJ championing their sort of music. The station
that has been the saviour of the shop is Solar Radio where Laurence has an
extremely popular show that has been running for 18 years.
Soul
Brother is a family business and a friendly shop with a great vibe. In
Laurence, Johnny and Alex, who runs the mail order operation, you will not find
anyone more knowledgeable or happier to share that knowledge. Sadly, due to
health reasons Malcolm only works Sundays these days. Through the shop, gigs, mail order, the
record label and Laurence’s writings in Echoes
the family work tirelessly to share their passion for soul music with the
nation. If soul is your music, then make the pilgrimage to Putney.
Over 220 independent record shops featured in The Vinyl Revival and the Shops That Made it Happen
The
books of Graham Jones are available in record shops or online. The latest book
The Vinyl Revival and the Shops That Made it Happen' has been turned in to a
film. It is released on 13 April on DVD and is available in record shops.
Distributed by Proper Music.
www.thevinylrevivalfilm.com
@Revival_Vinyl
The books of Graham Jones are available in record shops or online. The latest book The Vinyl Revival and the Shops that Made it Happen has been turned in to a film. It has just been released on DVD and is available in record shops or online. Distributed by Proper Music.
Each week I record The Vinyl Revival Record Shop Podcast. It contains lots of funny tales from the crazy world of record retailing. It is also available on Spotify.
Twitter: @Revival_Vinyl
My blog has over 100 features on record shops and vinyl.
grahamjonesvinylrevival.blogspot.com
For film screenings and talks contact Graham.
As the person who has visited more record shops than any other human, I often
get asked my advice on buying turntables. I always say do not purchase a budget
model. What is the point of buying one that costs the price of a few
albums? The sound will not do the recordings justice. For a long time, I have
recommended Rega Turntables as they are superb quality
at great prices. They got more brownie points for sponsoring 'Record Store
Day' and manufacturing limited editions just for record shops.
Comments
Post a Comment