CRIPES...MORE PUNK!

This article is taken from an issue of CRIPES, a Bruce's Record shop in-house magazine dated the end of August 1977.
It's just a brief word about a few gigs that were on at the Marryat Hall during the summer of '77.
The Chelsea / Alternative TV gig took place on 19 August 1977.
The Boomtown Rats were due to play on 6 September 1977.
The Count Bishops had already played up at Dundee University on 11 February 1977, so the Marryat gig was obviously to be their second visit.

BRUCE'S TOP TWENTY - 1977

Influenced by the punk DIY fanzine craze that began in '76, Bruces Record Shop started up their own in-house publication called CRIPES, given away free at the shop counter. The contents consisted of blotchy xeroxed graphics, record info, gig updates and ads.
So what we have here is a page from Cripes showing their top twenty singles for week ending 27th August 1977. What might surprise some of you is the sight of Dundee's NRG outfit, The Drive, up there at #3.
Bruces back then was at 33 Reform Street, with Jim Stewart running it.
The shop was always buzzin'!
Click image to enlarge.

BRUCE'S RECORD SHOP - 1974

Bruce's opened their record shop in Reform Street in December 1974.

This was the 7th Bruce's shop to open in Scotland.

The interior was a custom built design that was kinda like being inside a submarine - a long narrow tube with curved walls and arched stanchions.

Coffee & cream was the colour scheme together with bronze effect details.

When you entered the shop the long counter was on the right-hand side and the rest of the shop space was record racks and cassette displays.

At the far end, in the middle of the floor, there was the latest record rack design called the "wedding cake" - a 2 tier circular rack filled with LP's which was also illuminated.

The shop had moody concealed lighting, a listening booth and the usual music related paraphernalia on the walls.

In fact Bruce himself said the shop design was inspired by the famous Lido Musique record store in Paris, which was based around an ultra modern tunnel concept.

John Preston (who used to work with Decca) was the first manager and had 4 permanent staff & 2 part-timers working for him.

A couple of years later, Jim Stewart took over as manager.

It's main round window in the recessed exterior entrance area would display record sleeves, the shops "album of the week" and such like.

In the other showcase window near the doors they would put up the latest chart list each week.

Every Friday, as soon as I got my wages, I was down to Bruce's like a shot and headed straight to the "new releases" rack.

I can also remember the time when all of Dundee's record shops banned the Sex Pistols album when it first came out, but Bruce's, being more hip, had improvised a huge sign in their shop window stating proudly that they had the album in stock. I think the record sold out that same day!

Goodness knows how many records I ended up buying from there in total but these are the bag designs I brought them home in.

------------------------------------------------------------
Bruce's Record Shop now has its own website - go visit Bruce's Record Shop

ROD STEWART IN DUNDEE - 1974

The picture here shows part of the crowd outside Bruce's record shop in Reform Street, waiting to catch sight of Rod Stewart opening the store on 14th Dec 1974.

I'm somewhere in the crowd too, wearing my Dundee FC scarf, because the team were playing Celtic that day.

Incidentally, Rod didn't have a gig in town, he was actually playing at the Glasgow Apollo that night, so he did travel through especially to do the biz at Bruces.

However, because Rod turned up late for the shop opening, I, along with many others, had to make a last minute mad dash up to Dens Park to catch kick-off.

Rod also made that same dash up to Dens for the game, getting the V.I.P. treatment in the directors box. Unfortunately, Rod didn't get to see the Dee on a good day - Kenny Dalglish was in scintillating form that afternoon and Dundee were hammered 6-0!

Kenny got a hat-trick and the footage below captures 2 of his goals from the match.

Rod & Bruce then had to scarper quickly back to Glasgow to make it in time for the start of his concert!

Yes things were pretty hectic the day Rod came to town in '74.

 

Photo by DC Thomson.