Record store owners across Norfolk have shared some of their favourite vinyl choices as the region prepares to mark International Record Store Day.

Norwich Evening News: Lawrence Lewks is ready for Record Stor Day on the 19th April at his store Lewks, in Downham Market. Picture: Matthew Usher.Lawrence Lewks is ready for Record Stor Day on the 19th April at his store Lewks, in Downham Market. Picture: Matthew Usher. (Image: © Archant Norfolk 2014)

The annual date – first celebrated in the UK in 2008 – has proved

Norwich Evening News: Record shop owners with their favourite/most-prized LP ahead of Record Store Day. John Naylor at Beatniks.Photo by Simon Finlay.Record shop owners with their favourite/most-prized LP ahead of Record Store Day. John Naylor at Beatniks.Photo by Simon Finlay. (Image: Archant Norfolk.)

popular in East Anglia in recent years, with queues snaking out of shops.

Norwich Evening News: Record shop owners with their favourite/most-prized LP ahead of Record Store Day. Mark Long at Fine City Sounds.Photo by Simon Finlay.Record shop owners with their favourite/most-prized LP ahead of Record Store Day. Mark Long at Fine City Sounds.Photo by Simon Finlay. (Image: Archant Norfolk.)

And more than 240 record shops in the UK and Ireland will take part tomorrow to raise awareness of independents and encourage people to use them or lose them.

Soundclash, in St Benedict's Street, Norwich, has been trading for more than two decades and will be among those taking part.

Owner Paul Mills said: 'Last year was our busiest day in 22 years of trading, with the longest queue ever outside the shop.

'It's great that there is more interest in records again – many of my customers prefer the sound quality of vinyl over CD, and this year we are seeing even more young people in, who are realising what they have been missing and have started building up their record collections alongside their downloaded music collections.

'This year there is really something for everyone, with more than 600 exclusive releases.'

Record Store Day serves to celebrate the independents, which offer music fans unique products as well as recommendations, information and a friendly face – a service you cannot get online or in a supermarket.

Unique and extremely limited releases will be available at independent record stores across the region tomorrow.

The exclusive releases to celebrate Record Store Day will only be available in participating stores on the day itself.

Mr Mills said these will include the Pixies' new special studio LP release, Nirvana, Tame Impala, Temples, David Bowie, Joy Division, The Specials, The Rolling Stones, The Strypes, Sex Pistols, Toy, and more.

While independent record shops have been closing down all over the world, Soundclash has managed to hold its own – listed in the Guardian music webpages last year as one of the best record shops in the UK.

Last year saw record sales grow by 101% due to a vinyl revival that has engaged people of all ages, and

last year Record Store Day products accounted for 12% of all vinyl

sold.

Soundclash will be open from 9am to 6pm tomorrow, and last year the queue started forming in the early hours of the morning with some releases selling out within minutes.

A full list of releases available at the region's participating record stores is available from www.recordstoreday.co.uk

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John Naylor, owner of Beatniks in Magdalen Street, Norwich, picked The Lemonheads by The Lemonheads.

He said: 'They were influential to me when I was a teenager getting into alternative music.

'They were part of that scene with Nirvana and Beck - they were a slacker, American band that I liked.

'It's a scene I always go back to.'

Mr Naylor was in his early 20s when he started Beatniks record store 14 years ago, and said he has put the effort in.

'Business has got more difficult in the sense that you have to know what you're doing,' he explained. 'You can't just open the door and think you're going to do well.'

Martin Webb, owner of Circular Sound, in St Benedict's Street, Norwich, chose Baby I'm Yours by Barbara Lewis.

He said he had bought a single from the album from the former Soul Bowl record shop in King's Lynn, but when he went to play it his cat jumped on the turntable and destroyed the record.

Mr Webb later bought the 1966 album, and it became one of his favourites.

'The thing I like about it is it's a mixture of uptempo and deep soul from the 1960s,' he said. 'You wouldn't know by looking at it that it's by a black artist as there's a white couple on the front as marketing.

'It shows what was going on in the world at the time.

'She's a lovely looking lady and has a fantastic voice – she should have been on the cover.'

He added he still includes tracks from the album in his DJ sets, including Hello Stranger, Think A Little Sugar and Someday We're Gonna Love Again.

Mr Webb has been running Circular Sound for 26 years, with 16 of those in St Benedict's Street after moving from the indoor market.

Prior to that he ran a business called Find-a-Groove, but changed the name to cover CDs as well as vinyl.

Mark Long, owner of Fine City Sounds in Pottergate, Norwich, opted for Please Please Me by the Beatles.

He said: 'This came out in 1963, around the time I was born. Everybody used to listen to them right from when I was a baby.

'They're the favourites of many of my customers.'

The album was originally released on mono, and Mr Long said they can fetch up to £11,600.

'I've never been fortunate enough to have had an original copy,' he said. 'If I was lucky enough to get one in it would be straight into the collection.'

Mr Long has owned Fine City Sounds for almost five years, taking over from Paul Fisher who ran it for 15 years before him. The shop was originally in St Benedict's Street and has moved several times over the years, including to St Gregory's Alley.

Lawrence Welham, owner of Lewks record store in Downham Market, picked Tubular Bells as one of his favourite albums.

The Mike Oldfields classic was released in May 1973 and was the most popular album when Mr Welham opened his record shop that year. He said EMI records sent him a special

disc case with the Tubular Bells copy in it as a special gift.

Mr Welham initially bought the shop with a partner, but became the sole owner when his partner moved away.

Paul Mills, owner of Soundclash, in St Benedict's Street, Norwich, picked Illmatic by Nas.

The 1994 album has been reissued for its 20th anniversary, putting it on the radar of many younger music fans who did not hear it the first time around.

He said: 'It's one of the most underrated hip hop LPs.

'It's a fantastic LP and it's there for the next generation.

'A lot of things don't come back through and there will be a lot of younger people interested in buying that this time round.'

He stressed his shop sells new and not second-hand vinyl, and that he wanted Record Store Day to focus on his shop and not on him.