#8 MONKEY MUSIC EMPORIUM
DAVID ZAGDOUN
Brighton is full of great record shops, but one that existed a good distance from the rest – and one of the very best – was Monkey Music Emporium on Baker Street. This shop, devoted to folk rock, psych, prog, art, experimental and post-punk, was a great hub for rock collectors who wanted good quality albums. Monkey opened in 2010 – although its proprietor mentioned to me he had started off in Hastings, but as that seaside town lacked the foot traffic a specialist rock shop needed he’d shifted to Brighton – and traded until autumn 2019. Monkey sold new and used (with an emphasis on used) and what treasure he would find: original pressings of Silver Apples, Moby Grape, Love and the most obscure psych-folk LPs decorated the walls alongside bins stuffed with exceptional, less expensive stock. Monkey had the largest stock of Zappa LPs I have ever seen and, jokingly, I asked if a Zappa fan had died only to be told, “he’s my favourite artist so I try to stock everything he did.” In summer 2019, word went out that Monkey was closing so I dropped in and, sadly, it was true. Brexit, said the owner, was forcing him out. He was shifting to Holland where he’d continue to work the record fairs. I did a final dig through Monkey’s bins and found a copy of Dick Gaughan’s Handful Of Earth. Brighton’s loss is Europe’s gain. Garth Cartwright