RECORD SHOP AIMS FOR YOUR DOOR

It’s no surprise that the Tower of London and Buckingham Palace are among the 10 most popular tourist attractions in London.

But who would have figured that a record store would be on the list?

Then again, the massive Virgin Megastore on Oxford Street is hardly your average record store.

Like the California-based Tower chain (which recently opened a “megastore” of its own in London), Virgin is a virtual toy store for record fans, tempting customers with equal parts warehouse and razzle-dazzle. Among its flashy features: a mini-coffee shop and life-size wax figures of two-dozen rock heroes, including John Lennon and David Bowie.

But the main reason the Megastore attracts enough people to make the London tourist board list of top draws is its massive inventory: more than 500,000 albums, videos, magazines and singles.

Watching the parade of tourists in the shop last year, Tom Smith, London regional manager for the Virgin Stores, began thinking about how profitable it would be if he could find a way to keep in touch with these customers on a year-round basis, and also reach out to record-buyers who don’t get to London at all.

The result: the Virgin Megamail catalogue.

Described by Smith as the world’s most extensive music catalogue, the 675-page volume lists nearly 55,000 album titles, all of which are available by mail order. The list, including 3,312 compact discs, covers most non-classical subjects from rock and country to jazz and R&B.;

The book has been such a hit--more than 40,000 copies have been sold (at $9 each) through the 94 Virgin stores in England--that Smith plans a second, expanded edition. It will be marketed in the United States this fall as part of an aggressive attempt by Virgin to make its mail-order business more international. (Information may be obtained through Virgin Megamail, Liverpool X, L70 1AX, England).

The catalogue is of little use to someone who buys only current hit albums, but should have great appeal to anyone looking for hard-to-find product: albums that might be out of print in one country but still available in another country, and non-mainstream albums that aren’t generally available in most U.S. record stores.

Even the best specialty shops in Los Angeles, for instance, may carry only 50 to 100 African albums and possibly twice that many reggae LPs. The Virgin catalogue lists more than 500 African and 2,200 reggae LPs. Similarly, the book offers 350 gospel albums, more than 1,400 country LPs and more than 2,500 sound tracks.

To test the thoroughness of the catalogue, I asked someone who is sophisticated in buying records-- Rick Snyder, import buyer for PooBah’s record shop in Pasadena--to name a favorite album that he has been unable to locate. His nomination: Jimmy Webb’s “Songwriters for the Stars,” an obscure 1983 collection that features Webb’s versions of such hits as “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” and “Galveston.”

No problem: It was listed, along with Webb’s “Angel Heart,” on Page 272 of the catalogue.

One drawback is that U.S. customers have to phone London for information, and pay for the records in British currency. The store, he said, is considering opening a U.S. office this fall to provide more custom service here.

CD DIGEST: Rather than follow the Motown and MCA pattern of selling two old (catalogue) albums for the price of a single CD ($14-$16), PolyGram has opted for a budget CD series similar to the one introduced recently by CBS. The series, due in stores next month, features one album and is expected to carry a regular shelf price of $11.98, which means titles could drop to $9.98 during sales. Among the initial 36 titles are some albums that have already been released as full-price CDs: the Allman Brothers’ “Brothers and Sisters,” Cameo’s “She’s Strange,” plus sound tracks for “Flashdance” and “Midnight Express.”

Harry Weinger, a PolyGram spokesman, said the company is not ruling out selected releases on a two-for-one basis, but feels there is a greater market for a budget-priced CD than for a regular-priced CD even though that CD contains two albums. “We think price is a major motivating factor,” he said.

CD DIGEST, II: Capitol/EMI will release the next three albums in its much publicized Beatles CD series--”Help!,” “Rubber Soul” and “Revolver”--on April 30. Meanwhile, consumer interest in the first four Beatles CDs seems to be fading faster than expected. Since racing to the top of the Billboard magazine CD sales list in March, all but one (“A Hard Day’s Night”) of the first four Beatles CDs have dropped from the Top 10. . . . In the stores: the Rolling Stones’ “More Hot Rocks” and “Got Live If You Want It,” the Band’s “Music From Big Pink” and “The Best of the Band” and the Smiths’ new “Louder Than Bombs” (two discs at only slightly more than the cost of one disc).

LIVE ACTION: Billy Idol and the Cult will be at the Forum on May 8. Tickets go on sale today. . . . Deep Purple and Bad Company will be at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre on May 22, while the Kinks are due May 15 at the Pacific Amphitheatre. Tickets for the shows go on sale Sunday and Monday, respectively.