Raz Pookie – A History of Dubious Taste

Late Night Stargazing

For any self-respecting music junkie living in or around Cardiff, Kelly’s Records is a must visit record store.

Located upstairs in the city’s indoor Central Market which links The Hayes with St Mary’s Street, it’s a real treasure trove where you can easily get lost for hours.

You won’t be surprised to learn I spent a lot of time there, selling records I (thought) I no longer wanted when I was skint, buying new ones whenever I wasn’t. In 1996 I went there with a pile of records I had decided to get rid of in order to finance an afternoon in the pub watching England v Spain at the Euros, managed to get about £25 for the lot, then was aghast to realise afterwards that I’d included a Chrissie Hynde-signed Pretenders album on vinyl. On a subsequent visit I winced when I saw they were selling it for £50. (I should stress, I’m not saying I was conned, I’m saying I was careless!)

You can read more about Kelly’s Records, the oldest second hand record store in the UK, here; I really hope it’s survived the Covid lockdowns.

I wrote recently that when I see a famous person, I generally don’t bother them. Often, if our eyes meet, I’ll give them a nod to let them know I’ve recognised them and have decided to respect their privacy. And such is the case with Rhys from the Goldie Lookin Chain, who I would see at often Kelly’s Records, truffling out a certain track he wanted to sample, I imagine.

I hadn’t realised that he has released a couple of non-GLC albums until I saw a tweet about a track from his latest one Rhys from GLC Presents: Raz Pookie. Intrigued, I clicked the link and gave one of the tracks a listen. It’s really good, reminding me a bit of Goldie’s Inner City Life, a bit of Nightmare On Wax’s Night Interlude and a bit of Origin Unknown’s Valley of the Shadows.

See what you think: