Stewart Home is a writer for good reason. He has a brilliant memory, having recalled succinct details of life since he was two years old. On occasion, this can be more of an annoyance than a blessing. But he has put it to good use, linking inane facts and insane lives in his varied published works.

Although he’s too strange for the likes of Penguin, over the last three decades, Home has grounded himself as a scion of subculture. His writing ranges from satirical to the non-narrative, from pamphleteering to critique. He touches on everything from the early users of LSD (Tainted Love) to pornography (69 Things to Do with a Dead Princess); from boot stomping skinheads (Slow Death) to underground art movements (The Assault on Culture). If it sounds fun, Home has usually dabbled in it.

psychoPEDIA asked the writer and avid music-lover, born and bred in London, to guide us through the fast-changing nooks and crannies of his old stomping ground and source of inspiration-– Berwick Street’s record shops. Hoping to stumble across some gems before urban re-development to the area creeps up (whereby many of Berwick’s streets finest record shops have already disappeared), Home gives us some insight to his favorite spots:

What are your earliest memories of Berwick Street?
The first thing I remember of the area was Carnaby Street’s colored paving stones. They took them out in the 1980s, because they were looking a bit crappy. But they really should have refurbished them instead.

Why does that area appeal to you more than others?
Carnaby Street and Berwick Street are great, because you could pick up all the new bootleg records down the market. Then, just behind them, in St. Anne’s Court is a science-fiction shop, The Golden Eye. I started going to all these places in ’74. I remember discovering Aleister Crowley in there, who I thought was hilarious. Not because I was into magic, but because his books had chapter titles like “A Harrowing Heroine” which, when you are 12, is very funny. But Berwick St was the place.

Which record shop did you frequent most?
So many have come and gone–- but Selectadisc, which is now Sister Ray, was the best. You want change, because that is what a vibrant urban environment is all about. Sometimes things change for the better, and sometimes things change for the worst. Obviously, the property values in London are ridiculous. That’s one thing. But the other is that book and record shops are on the way out.

Any particular reason why you think that’s happening?
You can sit at your computer and pick what you want now, which is fine. But the down side is the loss of the social element. You don’t get recommendations, people don’t play you stuff. When I was a teenager, I’d go down Soho Market where they had the Rocks Off record store. It was great just to hear the records, talking to market traders, listening to new Siouxsie Sioux releases. When I was 12 or 13, I discovered You Can’t Sit Down by The Dovells and thinking that was the most amazing record I had ever heard.

Do you go anywhere nowadays to find new albums or discover bands?
No. But then I know what I want a lot more. I realized as I grew up that my taste veered towards Mod and Northern Soul. Now it has moved into a little bit of techno and the old psychedelic '60s stuff. Like The Vibrations or The Temptations when they stopped being so pop.

Do you have different stores catering to different needs then?
I have Soul Jazz doing their little post-punk thing. Sister Ray is great other than their obsession with shitty industrial bands which they should fucking dump. Record & Tape Exchange has hoards of random second hand stuff. There was Mr CD, which recently closed down, sacrificed to MP3s. I don’t say that in a bad way. I want my music in the cheapest possible format. I understand people being precious about their vinyl. On some dub tracks, you just don’t get the bass tone out of an MP3 or CD, or if you copy very minimal techno, like Plasticman, it sounds really shitty, because you are losing vital frequencies. But with most stuff, you can never tell the difference. With old Motown and punk songs, they are supposed to sound shitty and tinny. Mind you, on The Slits' track Vindictive, the tom sounded so rubbish on CD but fine on the vinyl.

Do you feel like Berwick Street is losing its record and bookstores to gear more towards Red Light District-friendly establishments?
I’ve got no idea where the sign saying ‘Model First Floor’ leads to, but all the girls on the street are quite obviously clippers. They are just gonna take your money and run. It used to be a hobby of mine, sitting outside a café and watching guys get strung along. I used to go to the venue The Marquee, which was round the corner. I would bunk off school to go to shows and beforehand, think it hilarious to sit outside a café with a cup of tea, and watch some businessman who had just been up to shag a prostitute having a cup of tea before he went home to confront the wife. He wouldn’t be able to hold the mug still.

~Iphgenia Baal