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Abbey Discs - The End Of An Era

13

Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 3,373 ✭✭✭Executive Steve


    Avago wrote: »

    fair play abbey discs and all the others that have fallen by the wayside, i second the comment that the communtiy aspect to record shopping is the biggest casualty



    Words cannot express just how correct this is.



    Big up to Billy and all the Abbey discs crew - always sad to see a record shop go... I only ever bought a handful of tunes in there over the years (too expensive / never had anything i liked) but record shops are community centres and when they die history passes.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 117 ✭✭CelticSpirit


    Enjoyed reading all the posts there and your own thesis JDee :D It was like reading a who's who of Dublin's best DJ's.

    I was first introduced to Abbey Discs by some of my mates from Ashbourne. They've probably posted on here already :D I'd often meet them on a Saturday and it'd be into the mall to pick up a few tunes. I didn't have decks myself but that didn't mean I enjoyed the buzz any less.

    IMO the shop in the mall was a proper record shop. I never really liked the one on Liffey St. As a wide-eyed 13 yr old the mall was a real underground record shop to me. There was a real buzz about the place that I never got from Liffey St, even when the place was full of ravers on a Saturday afternoon!

    It's gas but there's a café where the old mall shop used to be now. I still go in every Saturday when I'm in town and I know them all by name. I guess some things never change. :D I was telling them once that there used to be a record shop where they used to be, but was only really met with indifference. My point is that I think you really had to be there to understand.

    I used to go in for tapes over the last few years and I noticed that even on a Saturday there were very few in there. More's the pity, it's a sign of the times that the old dance music scene, the way it was back then, fresh, new and full of character and characters like Billy seems to be well and truly dead.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 184 ✭✭JDee


    What a show Andy did tonight worthy.gif

    55 minutes of spine-tingling radio. I even caught myself dancing when Dream Lover came on smile.gif

    Thank you Andy - it was the tribute Abbey deserved.

    I have the full first hour on MP3, if anyone wants it emailed to them in 4 parts drop me a PM.



    Now for Round 2;


    Today in the shop - Storm 99.1 are broadcasting LIVE from 12-6 behind the counter, its going to be brilliant radio too.


    And join me this Sunday in the 90s Network - Im looking at asking the boss to let me extend the Abbey Discs Special part of the show to 90 minutes wink.gif


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2 paulduffy72


    A big thank you to billy.tara.derek and jamie for all the good memories from abbey discs,me now 36 and then 15 and all in between what good tunes they gave me to promo on club fm.Best of luck with a new shop if it happens,ye can educate the next crew of dj's

    Paul Duffy

    P.S. if Derek wants a new shop, i will have one in on tuesday!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 21 SRFC Ultras


    Probaly not as funny a tale as those that have gone before

    Many a Sat morning me and the lads trooped off to AD after a night in the Asylum or Sides and a house party to get the latest tunes we heard the night before. Then down to the White Horse for a few refreshing pints contemplating which one of us where going to nick the Napoli scarf at the end of the bar (We never did, but we loved that scarf) God bless Len Allen (RIP) he never did give us that scarf in the end but gave us many a free pint to shut the **** up, then off to the RDS to watch Rovers then back to the horse show house. Heaven on earth


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  • Registered Users Posts: 12,364 ✭✭✭✭The Nal


    Ballax! Bought a Prodigy dvd in there, only place in Dublin that stocked it.

    Sign of the times I guess.

    Flipside.


  • Subscribers Posts: 8,322 ✭✭✭Scubadevils


    Wow, some great reading here and fantastic to hear about peoples experiences in Abbey over the years.

    I went in on Wednesday for my last ever flick through some 12"s behind the counter. I bought about 6 or 7 and a couple of CD's. Billy seemed pretty upbeat and the shop was quite busy with people digging around for bargains - mainly random people passing by though as opposed to regulars from over the years.

    I hope to make it in tomorrow for a final goodbye - Billy did get me also for the last time and mentioned that he was going to have a look for some old CD's and might have them ready for me on Monday :D There always had to be a bit of bait thrown to ensure you came back again!

    A very sad time though, the shop really was a huge part of the scene in Dublin for a long time. It genuinely closes a large chapter of my life and drags up so many memories from over the years, good and bad.

    This thread should even be nominated for a sticky?


  • Registered Users Posts: 12,364 ✭✭✭✭The Nal


    What time is the shop open till on Monday?


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,607 ✭✭✭VinylJunkie


    The Nal wrote: »
    What time is the shop open till on Monday?

    I think he just said 5 on the radio there!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 184 ✭✭JDee


    Well Gar Skelly, Steve Power, Michelle T and the rest of the the Storm crew did a top, top job in Abbey on Saturday. I cant remember anyone ever doing an OB like that before in the shop in all its years and it made for a great atmosphere with a touch of sadness.

    Billy's speech was very touching, in all my years knowing him Ive never seen him so emotional. I forgot how much that man could multi, multi-task, there is a brain there that simply has to be put to further use - future shop or no.

    The 3 DJs Ive mentioned above were previously left out of my " DJ faces I remember" in the "DJ list" part of the piece above and I apologise for that, I also forgot about 2 very good mates of mine (Lofty and Sean) in the first draft and Id only spoken to them that day! All 3 added to the same piece on Radiowaves http://www.radiowavesforum.com/rw/showthread.php?t=16388&page=2 ..... I think you've only 24 hours to edit stuff here.

    Gar, I think of all the Storm crew, needs to be singled out as a bit of a legend on Saturday - his knowledge of the whole Irish dance scene from 1988 onwards has few rivals. He has some notes and archives I want access to! smile.gif

    Good to see Andy Jackson in the shop Saturday too, his threat to wear his Club Fm jacket was - thanks be to jaysus - not carried out wink.gif

    I believe I just missed Tony Langsford in the shop when I got there and he is another name Im afraid to say I ommited in the list above, I think I looked at solely Dance DJs for the mall and then the huge CD commercial jocks for Liffey St and unfortunately some people got lost in the mix if they fell between the two. That has been fixed Tony.

    Gary Matthews has been added too - he presented the original "Abbey Discs Top Ten" on Sunset. I only met him again last year in Premier and he still has an amazing CD collection.

    Cheers to station manager Mikey of The 90s Network for allowing what was one hour of Abbey dance classics to be stretched to 3 and then, on the night 4! It was amazing that songs like Sound Crowd's "Think About It Please" finally got an airing on a licensed radio station - that would have been unthinkable ten years ago and shows that maybe, just maybe Dublin will get a licensed dance station yet, ya never know.

    I had hinted at an in depth interview with Billy and, despite a couple of technical hiccups, what was intended to be a 15 minute chat turned into a 45 minute story - but this time in Billy's own words.

    I came home to find the stream I fed into Cool Edit Pro had died after half an hour so Im hoping that I can get it off Mike from the station's log during the week. Or if anyone has a copy maybe you could PM me.

    I was thinking that these tweaks and additions to my memories of the piece. will be probably ongoing for a few more days as I want to add more audio, videos and all those pics that were taken in the shop on Saturday etc. Its not really complete without a picture of Billy & Co is it?

    So Ive just registered the following website as a place where we can all pool those pics, videos, youtube links (with embedded videos of the songs) into one handy link.

    Ive called it welovedabbeydiscs.com

    No content there whatsoever now but I'll host whatever we want to put up there as a "retro" sub-site to my own. For starters I'll paste the above piece that I did in in the next couple off weeks (thats another website project for Leo lol smile.gif) and then the pictures as we get them. I'll also paste in every comment and memory on here and from the other big thread on Radiowaves.

    I'll put up Andy's first hour from 104 on Friday, all 6 hours from the Storm broadcast when I get them and the 4 hours I did yesterday evening too.

    All other suggestions for what we can put on there are welcome - again, drop me a PM. Lets not wallow in the "good old days" too much but lets at least have a shower in it now again wink.gif


    For the week thats in it maybe we could use the logo below as our Bebo/Facebook profile pic.

    banner_logo-revolve.gif


    So today is the day.

    Abbey Discs closes at 5pm

    Billy informs me that the last bit of shopping has to be done there by 4 ish as there will be then an hour of dismantling and getting stuff into boxes etc. Knowing the mad man that is Billy that could all change smile.gif but its the plan at present. Im aiming (catch up sleep permitting) to be in about for about 4.

    Hope to see you there one last time.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 5,810 ✭✭✭jeffk


    jonny68 wrote: »
    Was in there on Fri for the first time in a few years, tbh there didn't appear to be much in the way of bargains on show (didn't look at the vinyl though) in fact one CD i have was vastly overpriced, Tunnel Trance Force, i think they were charging something like €32 or something for this:eek: http://www.amazon.com/Tunnel-Trance-Force-Vol-31/dp/B0006BLIWW im sure it was that one, madness charging that much, anyway didn't stay long just popped in for a quick nose, was busy rnough by the looks of things but maybe that's just old customers like myself who went in for a nose.

    LOL that's billy alright used to go in there up till around 06 and pay around €30 for future trance.Was selling it for €33 but i knew billy/derek from going in.
    The two things that stopped me where getting a credit card/net connection and being charged €9(maybe less with my discount)for promos that a few other places had for 50c-€1.50

    Also got loads of those German singles with loads of mixes,always said with poles etc billy should have made a killing of stuff like that(cascada.scooter,basshunter would be ones people know)

    Anyways semirant over,it will be missed.Never great prices but one of those things you never expected to go :(
    Best of luck Billy/Derek!!!!


  • Registered Users Posts: 11 andy jackson


    credit where credit is due i think jason did a fabulous job, posting all the post`s that he did , and also makin sure every single dj and record buff from around the country (and possibly the world) knew about the sad departure of abbey . an institusion is to small of a descripstion to label the shop that we all loved and knew

    well done jason - your a credit to the dj industry

    and goobye "uncle billy" gone, but will never be forgotten

    andy.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 184 ✭✭JDee


    Thanks for that Andy but a big thanks for not wearing that Club FM jacket on Saturday :D

    Ive had loads of people asking for it and Andy Preston's first hour from Friday on FM104 (his Abbey Discs "Dance Decades special) can be found be found here at 320 kps:

    http://dl007.zshare.net/download/4d43877724c0e01669b0a0900367a4c9/1227607124/51825301/Andy%20Preston%2021-11-2008_%20FM104%20-%20Dance%20Decades%20-%20The%20Abbey%20Discs%20Special.mp3

    Ive asked Leo to try to have the bones of welovedabbeydiscs.com up in a week or so, so - knowing Leo - expect it by January smile.gif

    More links to the other radio specials as I get and upload them


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,810 ✭✭✭jeffk


    JDee wrote: »
    Thanks for that Andy but a big thanks for not wearing that Club FM jacket on Saturday :D

    Ive had loads of people asking for it and Andy Preston's first hour from Friday on FM104 (his Abbey Discs "Dance Decades special) can be found be found here at 320 kps:

    http://dl007.zshare.net/download/4d43877724c0e01669b0a0900367a4c9/1227607124/51825301/Andy%20Preston%2021-11-2008_%20FM104%20-%20Dance%20Decades%20-%20The%20Abbey%20Discs%20Special.mp3

    Ive asked Leo to try to have the bones of welovedabbeydiscs.com up in a week or so, so - knowing Leo - expect it by January smile.gif

    More links to the other radio specials as I get and upload them

    Nice one JDee thx, dying to hear all the tunes and memories and to have em on my pc with the rest of the old tunes/shows!!


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,349 ✭✭✭francois




  • Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 12,778 Mod ✭✭✭✭Zascar


    But he hasn't given up entirely on the music business. He said he was considering a new venture, specialising in rare vinyls only, possibly in the Temple Bar area.

    "I'm going to have a rest for a few weeks and then think about it, I'd be going back to selling what I started out selling, music you can't get on the internet," he said.
    Is there really much of a market for this type of thing? I didn't think there was much music you can get on Vinyl, that you can't get on Download....

    Best of luck to him anyway!


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,850 ✭✭✭JDxtra


    Zascar wrote: »
    Is there really much of a market for this type of thing? I didn't think there was much music you can get on Vinyl, that you can't get on Download....

    Best of luck to him anyway!

    Some DJs will always prefer vinyl. Plus most of the downloads [well, the illegal variety at least] of rare / hard to find tunes are typically of very poor quality [volume levels wrong, record not cleaned, recorded off pitch, wrong name on title etc etc]. It drives me nuts - so I source original copies of everything I'm after.

    Best of luck to him though.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,373 ✭✭✭Executive Steve


    Zascar wrote: »
    I didn't think there was much music you can get on Vinyl, that you can't get on Download....

    Best of luck to him anyway!



    There's loads... Most dubstep labels (and plenty of dnb labels) refuse to sell mp3's

    Even the legal mp3's of older tunes are just straight rips off crackly vinyl 9 times out of ten, horribly compressed and digitally distorted...

    Personally I play 90% vinyl and 10% 320kbps mp3s sourced directly from the producer or else ripped from a cd.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 408 ✭✭Luke G


    I would be really suprised if billy called it a day and didn't return with a smaller place, in fairness the man would sell sand to an arab, so i wouldn't worry too much...


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 184 ✭✭JDee


    Luke G wrote: »
    I would be really suprised if billy called it a day



    So would I.

    From what he's told me he will be back specializing in rare vinyl in the new year. He just wants to take a long hard look at the current retail climate. I also know of no other man that deserves a good long break to relax so I hope he does lots of that.

    Regarding the current music retail climate; lets call a spade a spade - how longer before the likes of HMV pull out of Ireland too? The money just isnt out there to spend 20 quid on a DVD in there when it can be obtained for free online.

    In ten years time all DVD/CD shops will be looked on with nostalgia, as I doubt there'll be a single one left.

    On another note I enjoyed doing Sunday's 4 hour Abbey special on The 90s Network so much that Ive decided to do one hour of dance classics that make you go "wow" every week.

    Im calling it "The Wonder Years" and you can catch it on the last hour of my show every week .... 7-8pm on Sundays on The 90s Network 99.5FM

    We also stream here (live content at weekends, previous weekend's content is streamed Mon - Fri)

    http://www.the90snetwork.com/resources/90s+Stream.asx

    More info on Dublin's newest licensed station here

    http://www.the90snetwork.com/


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  • Registered Users Posts: 2,334 ✭✭✭positivenote


    just wanted to add my tupence worth...

    shopped there in the early 90's when it was in the abbey mail. great great days. memories of queing up to get the limited edition of the soundcrowds tallaght/ringsend release on red records... it will be missed alright. fair play to billy/derek and the rest.

    Break Beat Collective (circa1994)


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,413 ✭✭✭Stab*City


    what a shame me and the lads used to travel up from limerick all the time.. great memories of us all getting off the train and practically racing up to abbey to get the top tracks that billy might only have one or two copies of.. Then back to Limerick that night on the train and party all night listening to our new tunez!! even though i was from outside dublin i was always invited behind the counter to look through whatever i wanted.. always got free cd's, tickets, vinyl, discounts and the likes from tara and billy.. picked up some absolute gems up there that i will never part with.. records that i will always hold onto my 1210's just so i can listen to then when im old.. i think the first time i was there buying vinyl was back in 94 and the last was about 2 months ago.. i hope they are planning to have a going away party.. and mention of that i must read through the post when i finish this.. so to abbey discs.. GOODBYE.. our old friend..

    The Limerick City Progressive DJ's

    CenadMusic

    Nigel, Shaq, Dave, Jay, Jamie C, Corey Mc and Shane


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,056 ✭✭✭hans aus dtschl


    JDee wrote: »
    So would I.

    Regarding the current music retail climate; lets call a spade a spade - how longer before the likes of HMV pull out of Ireland too? The money just isnt out there to spend 20 quid on a DVD in there when it can be obtained for free online.

    In ten years time all DVD/CD shops will be looked on with nostalgia, as I doubt there'll be a single one left.

    To a T, really.

    And the real loss, to music lovers, is the community-centre aspect.


  • Registered Users Posts: 194 ✭✭i_love_toast


    its mad!live in the same estate as billy and used to hang around with his son anto for years.billy-nicest man in the world-used to bring us to the beach and always on the way back stop off in the northside shop to stick stickers on cd's used to love it!if we were ever goin to town for the day as kids he's always shove a ten pound note into your pocket and say get some lunch.still stops and chats after years!cant praise him enough really decent down to earth man!!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 93 ✭✭gottahavehouse


    Just letting yas know me and a few of the lads have booked radio city for Saturday 20th december from 11 o clock. were going to be playng all the best in olympic,sides and asylum classics such as floor control justified, spiritual north superman, kamilian guidance, matto grosso mystery, romero la tormenta, astronauts the nasa, mad sound disease moonboom and crunch devo. so if yas are interested in a cheap night of great classics come down to radio city were only charging 5 euro at the door and everyone that is into these type of tunes are more then welcome its gonna be a good affordable night so hope to see yas der.....

    Re:tro Re:Vival Xmas Bash @ Radio City
    Saturday 20th December
    doors open 11pm
    Entry is 5 euro
    see yas der


  • Registered Users Posts: 9,587 ✭✭✭tossy


    jesus i was late coming to this news,im a little out of the loop these days!

    here is a copy and paste of a little piece i wrote on another website,this is how i feel or felt about abbey discs - its a sad day.

    Back in the day before you could download or burn music or before you could click on line and get some posted to your house you had to actually buy music or get it taped from someone who did,and in this day of "back then" there wasn't many places brave enough to stock music worth buying there were places like comet,freebird and borderline who specialised in rock etc and had small hip hop sections usually containing goodstuff it has to be said but your were never greeted with the warmth of welcome as you were in the mall(abbey mall),where there was entire shop dedicated to to bringing you the best of hip hop and dance records,where the records you wanted to buy were playing in the shop as you browsed.where there was no problem walking up to the counter and asking for a 12 to be played prior to buying "sure jump in there yourself mate and play it" billy would say,and sure enough you would slip in behind the claustrphobic counter and stick on the latest hi jack or krs 12" replacing the 4/4 dance beat that was playing,you would then sheepishly look up and see heads nod in approval without looking up from their record browsing!

    I first found abbey discs in the mall circa 1989,i was a fresh faced fellow up form the country for christmas clothes shopping,being from the curragh i had heard of abbey discs and knew its legend but had never seen it,i had 100 or 150 pound in my back pocket for clothes and we were intent on hitting marathon to pick up the latest pair of nike airs (when the were still cool) but myself and one of the lads who was like me more musically inclined made our way to the mall,and thus the love affair with vinyl started,at this stage i didnt have a set of turntables and probably had 10 records to my name,loads of tapes though!

    The mall was heaven,it was still a vibrant place back then,all the shops were occupied and the place was hoping with coffee shops clothes shops etc,but there was no doubt that the abbey discs was the mall,the record stalls extended way out beyond the bounds of the shop itself and so did the music.

    The staff at that time was simple the main man billy murray and his brother derek,billy was a legend even at this stage he would sell snow to the eskimoes but would never forget a face or musical preference and derek would never remember your name lol,i was a first time customer but felt as welcome as any DJ in the city.

    Abbey was also the place where you could stand toe to toe with the greatest DJ's in the city at the time we all drank from the same trough,you could meet DJ mek,mick walshe,billy scurry,johnny moy you name it in there,of course these guys got preferential treatment and access to the abbey discs red book lol.

    I wasn't a dj though,i was just a music mad teenager,it would be a few more years before i considered myself a DJ and even a few more after that before billy considered me one lol.this was when the service stepped up even more you were given a place in that same fabled red book with your name on a page and the hot stuff would be reserved for your eyes only,on the unwritten promise that when you played it on the radio or at a gig you made it known where one was to get the record if they wanted to buy it.

    At this stage they had expanded from the mall to the comparably huge shop across the road on liffey street which is the place most people will identify as abbey discs(im not quite sure when the mall closed!) and the staff had expanded to the likes of tara and jamie all members of the close or extended murray clan,keeping it in the family was billys moto.i always felt that abbey discs changed the day it moved to liffey street but it was a few years before that change really became noticable to me,maybe it was jsut me that was changing as i grew musically i relied less on abbey discs to feed me i was receiving promos and had discovered mail order from the UK etc albeit still before the internet days,i would have to put a phone call through to receive me order lol.

    I guess these days were the begining of the end for abbey and im as guilty as the next underground music fan for neglecting them,in leu of mail order,internet,pirate music

    Well thats my nostalgic warble over,just saying a few things that needed to be said.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 677 ✭✭✭RaverRo808


    Just letting yas know me and a few of the lads have booked radio city for Saturday 20th december from 11 o clock. were going to be playng all the best in olympic,sides and asylum classics such as floor control justified, spiritual north superman, kamilian guidance, matto grosso mystery, romero la tormenta, astronauts the nasa, mad sound disease moonboom and crunch devo. so if yas are interested in a cheap night of great classics come down to radio city were only charging 5 euro at the door and everyone that is into these type of tunes are more then welcome its gonna be a good affordable night so hope to see yas der.....

    Re:tro Re:Vival Xmas Bash @ Radio City
    Saturday 20th December
    doors open 11pm
    Entry is 5 euro
    see yas der

    Very cheap mate,fair play,obviously your doing it out of goodness of your heart,5 euros decent during these hard times


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 186 ✭✭Da Funky Munky


    Felixdhc wrote: »

    This thread should even be nominated for a sticky?

    +1


  • Subscribers Posts: 8,322 ✭✭✭Scubadevils


    +1

    Good to get some support! :pac:


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 184 ✭✭JDee


    Just an quick update on the Abbey radio specials and when they'll be online;

    Keith Mac's "The Bassline" - a show I didnt know was having a special till Keith told me afterwards. I'll have the audio and tracklisting up this week.

    My 90s Network 4 hour special including a 45 minute chat with Billy is in the hands of Andy Jackson who is kindly transfering it from VHS to MP3 - that will be online next week.

    The Storm FM 6 hour broadcast from the shop is in the laps of the Gods at the moment. The data is out there somewhere, hopefully I'll have an update on this soon.

    I'll be bouncing all to Zshare.com when I get them to get them up quickly and then a permanent home on welovedabbeydiscs.com in the new year :)


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