Flashback Records is a record label and a chain of independent
record stores in London. It specializes in trading
vinyl records
A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near ...
with an emphasis on rare collectable records such as first pressings and hard to find releases. It also stocks new contemporary vinyl and has hosted live performances by
Thurston Moore
Thurston Joseph Moore (born July 25, 1958) is an American musician best known as a member of Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label. Mo ...
(Sonic Youth) as well as UK bands such as Mazes, Fair Ohs, Dead Coast, Virgin Kids, Veronica Falls and Shopping.
History
Flashback opened in 1997 with one shop in
Essex Road
Essex Road is a main road in Islington, London. It is part of the A104 and connects Islington High Street with Balls Pond Road via Essex Road railway station.
Location
The road is about long. It starts as continuation of Islington Green, whic ...
. It originally sold vintage clothes in its basement and vinyl on the ground floor. In the year 2000 it divided into two separate shops on Essex Road opposite to each other. The original store on Essex Road then sold vinyl in the basement and CDs, VHS, DVDs and computer games on the ground floor. In 2006 Flashback Records acquired Listen, a record store at 144 Crouch Hill,
Crouch End
Crouch End is an area of North London, approximately from the City of London in the western half of the borough of Haringey. It is within the Hornsey postal district (N8). It has been described by the BBC as one of "a new breed of urban villag ...
, London which was facing closure due to a fading vinyl market. In 2014 Flashback Records opened its third retail store in
Shoreditch. In 2021, Flashback's Crouch End record shop relocated to a larger premises on 26 Topsfield Parade, Tottenham Lane, Crouch End. It has been voted one of the best shops in London by
Time Out.
Label
Flashback Records has released material such as 'Levitation - Meanwhile Gardens' which was originally recorded in 1992 and 1993 and completely re-mastered and finally released on 23 October 2015. UK band
Tolerance Manoeuvre released their debut LP on Flashback Records label on 17 July 2015.
In 2020, while buying in a record collection, Flashback's owner Mark Burgess found a 7" acetate of an unreleased punk record that belonged to Chas Hines, the lead singer of Bona Rays who had sold in the record. Impressed by the quality of the track and its historical significance as one of the earliest records to feature a black female lead singer on a punk record, it was finally released on Flashback Records, over 40 years after it was recorded.
References
{{reflist
External links
Flashback Records - New vinyl & the best selection of used Records, CDs and DVDs in LondonFlashback Records - New vinyl & the best selection of used Records, CDs and DVDs in LondonFlashback RecordsLondon’s best record shopsThurston Moore, in store (at Flashback Records). – Matablog
Retail companies established in 1997
Music retailers of the United Kingdom
Shops in London
Record labels based in London