B.G. FORBES IN COMMERCIAL STREET



Here's some ads pertaining to BG Forbes, a shop that sold records and musical instruments.

First though, the photo is a good wee reminder of its location - right on the corner of Commercial Street and Dock Street.

I shopped in here quite a lot in the 70's because it had a really cool selection of jazz vinyl that other record shops in Dundee didn't have - a fine array of ECM albums for example. Some I recall buying were - Terje Rypdal, Jan Garbarek, Pat Metheny, Eberhard Weber, these kind of acts, although I must admit I also came home with a heap of pretty obscure albums from this place too. Names that spring to mind are Pacific Eardrum, Opa, Stomu Yamashta, Passport, Brand X, Casiopea, Shakti, Turning Point, PFM, Nucleus, Marscape, Solution, Azymuth, UK, Nana Vasconcelos, White Noise, Isotope....and plenty others of this variety.

Why they stocked records such as these was probably down to the fact that the guy who ran the shop, Rob Adams, was himself a bit of a jazz-rock aficionado. In fact he was also in a couple of local bands called Europe and Head, acts influenced by the likes of Weather Report.

Anyway, getting back to the above items - the first ad that's making a "note" of the name, dates from 1978.

The small ad under it is from a 1972 Telegraph and the next one is from a 1977 Telegraph - both displaying albums that were more commercial than the kind I usually bought from there.

The 2 yellow items date from 1980 and were adverts that cropped up on the reverse side of tickets for gigs on at the University. The idea being that if you took the ticket stubs into Forbes you got £1 knocked off the price of the related albums - these here being for Peter Gabriel and Mike Oldfield.

We'll just have to ignore the fact that the Uni got the address wrong on one of them!!

Top photo by Neale Elder.

RAINBOW - BELL STREET AD - 1988

When I put up an ad in March earlier this year for Rainbow's original music shop in Hawkhill, it got quite a big response in the comments. However, most of them were about their Bell Street store!

So here now you have an advert from 1988 for Rainbow Music, 15 Bell Street.

Seems like this was the place to go if you were looking for a synth in the late 80's, judging by their special offers!

Below the ad is a review of the Bell Street emporium.

Keith Mackintosh & Alan Roy, who ran the Hawkhill shop for 6 years, were still the main men at their new premises. Also, Bob Orobzcuk gets a special mention, he being the shops Hi-Tech expert.

According the the previous batch of comments, the guys at Rainbow had a good rapport with their customers, and this bond is backed up in the review.

Those of you who can't remember where you've put your specs, just click the review to read the large version!

RAINBOW MUSIC SHOP - HAWKHILL

I don't have the exact date of this ad for Rainbow Music, but I guess it's probably the late 70's, or possibly early 80's.
Hawkhill was the shop's original location. They are now in the Cowgate.
Thanks to DD

JT FORBES ADS - 1960's

Some adverts from the mid 60's for JT Forbes in the Nethergate, a shop that sold musical instruments and accessories. The ads here emphasising guitars graphically - acoustic for the folkies and electric for the beat groups.
It was very popular with local musicians and was active throughout all 3 retro decades.