Used record stores (or any kind of record store) are so rare nowadays that I always try to track them down whenever I’m on my travels. On my recent trip to Germany, I found myself with a few hours to kill in Nuremberg. After a quick search on the internet I saw that there were no fewer than three situated on a street called Jakobstrasse. I found the street quite easily (a rarity for me) and the first shop I made it to was the one you see above, Copacabana Records. The store was longer than it was wide and with a high ceiling, but it was nicely laid out and very tidy. The main area was given over to loads of vinyl records and these seemed to be quite reasonably priced. Unfortunately, I had to ignore these as I wouldn’t have been able to fit them into my luggage. I found the CDs in the corner and these were as neatly arranged as the records. There were lots of jazz, rock & roll, blues and soul and I found a few bargains amongst these. Live in Dublin by Bruce Springsteen with the Sessions Band is a nicely packaged double CD with a DVD and was the most expensive album I bought on this excursion, though it was still good value at two euro below a tenner. The other four I bought here cost that much between them and, having listened to them, some proved to be better value than others. Brook Benton was mostly known for A Rainy Night in Georgia and it’s the best song on Fools Rush In. Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs had a big hit with the hilarious Woolly Bully and, listening to their Greatest Hits, it’s easy to see why they didn’t have any more. I only knew J.B. Lenoir from Elvis Costello’s version of Eisenhower Blues from his King of America album and that’s not even the best song on this collection. I’ve already got far too many collections of northern soul, but that didn’t stop me picking up After Hours 2: More Northern Soul Masters. I found it hard to pick one track from the album but eventually plumped for Archie Bell & the Drells
