My uncle was the drummer of Australian band Madderlake. This was the first album I ever owned when I was a kid and first got into vinyl. Have been collecting now for over 40 years .

Hailing originally from Liverpool, we arrive in Australia in the early 1970s. A week after our arrival our new neighbours, another family from Liverpool moved in. From day one we knew our Australian stories would be entwined. Their middle daughter was my age and we’ve been best friends from day 1 – but our love for music from home never wavered, this is one of the first albums we bought together – the album sleeve is faded and tatty but the memories are still crystal clear.

I happened upon this Leadbelly record five years ago in an opportunity shop inside an old wooden church at Lakes Entrance in country Victoria. Over the years I’ve noticed op-shops increasingly offer diminishing returns (and I’ve learned that Australians bought a lot of Jim Nabors records in years gone by!) but I still can’t help flicking through the dusty selections whenever I pass an op-shop. Every now and then you happen upon a nugget like this beauty. I can remember being amused it was called Leadbelly’s ‘Sinful Songs’ and I had discovered it inside an old church. I wasn’t familiar with the album but knew at least half the songs. Like most 90s teens I had discovered Leadbelly via Kurt Cobain singing Where Did You Sleep Last Night – and I was excited to see that track was on this album. I’ve always loved everything about this record. I love the artwork and the orange and blue colours – and I love that it’s called ‘Leadbelly’s Sinful Songs’ – that’s just so cool! I always find myself studying the album cover when listening to it. The record was pressed in 1954 so is the oldest in my collection. It’s also a 10” record which only adds to its aura of specialness.

It’s old and moth eaten but as a wise man once said happy wife, happy life. We’ve moved a lot over the years and lost a lot along the way. The one and only Christmas music I’ve ever purchased because it made my wife happy this is one of the few original vinyls we still have.

From Record Store Day this year! I heard mummy and daddy talking about this competition and told mummy to help me enter so I could try and win my own turntable instead of having to share theirs.

I love Bluey so much, my favourite character is Bingo, I’m the Bingo in my family. I have books, clothes, hats, saw the Bluey stage show and then I found out there was a super awesome Bluey vinyl being released I made daddy line up from 7am to make sure I got a copy. I’m lucky he loves me.

My favourite side is the Bingo side and I told my sister she’s not allowed to enter because like we learnt from the Bluey episode “Squash” – big sisters don’t always bear little sisters!

I had a turntable as a child but as I grew up and cassettes and CDs took over everything I had on vinyl was eventually replaced. Then I met my now husband and as a self-confessed music/movie/tech nerd he got me back into vinyl. Reliving my final year of high school with one of my favourite Aussie bands and some of my favourite songs of theirs even today with their now huge catalogue – my first “new”, restarting my collection vinyl was the Living End’s self titled album. My children have even learnt to not be embarrassed by mum rocking out to Prisoner of Society.

This is more a story of how I lost it – twice. This is the only vinyl I ever bought.
I was about 14 or 15 and had access to a massive record collection that my older brothers and sisters had assembled over a number of years.

When the time came to move out of home it had disappeared from our family’s extensive record collection. I was pretty devastated, mostly because vinyl was no longer selling.

Got married, had kids, and one year they surprised me with the remastered Sabbath Bloody Sabbath for my birthday – vinyl and CD package. Best present ever! Sadly, I’m no longer with my little family or the album, but it’s still high on my preferred playlist. And, you know, there’s a record store just opened not far from where I live…

So sorry to post a stock photo, I just don’t have the album to take a photo.

I bought this very album in 1969 whilst still living in Berne Switzerland. I was 16 years old and had gotten myself a school holiday job working for the local council cleaning garbage bins parks and walking forest walkways collecting rubbish including dirty nappies and all other sorts of stuff that people throw away.
With my first pay I took the bus into the city and went to the GLOBUS department store where they had a record bar – remember them? The place where you look for the latest albums, hand it to the person behind the record bar and they put it on a record player. You then take the two speakers, they looked like two telephone handsets without the microphone piece, you put them to your ears and immerse yourself into the sounds of the record.
The record I chose was the “Rolling Stones – big hits (high tide and green grass)”. I listened to both sides twice – then bought it took the bus home and put it on my own record player, which by the way was connected to a UHER tape recorder with built in amplifiers that I used to record from a radio or play records.
I still own the same record today – still occasionally have it on my BRAUN PS-500 record player here in Australia and it still brings up those memories of the record bar – great days to be had !!

From 2019-2021 I was working in Japan at a whisky bar which was renowned for its old school vending machine door, fantastic cocktails and an eccentric owner who spun records all night, ranging from classic Jazz to underground Japanese hip-hop. His collection of records on his last count was over 3,000 and he continues to buy more. After working a few weeks I decided to ask him what his favourite Album or record was, he paused and genuinely considered his answer before confidently stating “Speak Low by Walter Bishop Jr.” I immediately pulled up Spotify to download it but could not find it at the time. So I saved it in my notes and as I spent time in Japan I continued my search for the record, but to no avail. Fast forward 16months and my time in at the bar and in Japan is coming to an end and I decided to embark on a country long road trip. From Hokkaido to Kyushu, North to South, in the middle of a pandemic. I had a country to myself and a small van to live out of and very little money to survive on. As I was travelling I would stop in small towns and explore, sometimes checking out second hand shops for any treasures I may find, all the while continuing my search for Walter Bishop Jr. But now expanding my radius to whatever small town I pulled into for lunch or to explore. One day, in the last week of my trip, just before I began the last leg of my trip back up to Tokyo to fly home to Sydney, I happened to have a spare hour so drove out of my way to check out a second hand shop, and there, in the front row of the records, was Walter Bishop Jr. All mine for a mere ¥500, just over $5 Australian. 18months in Japan, 16months off handedly searching, and I find it during my last week in the country. I attached a screen grab from a video I took of the wall to give an idea of how it was positioned when I spotted it. Hands down my most cherished record.

I first heard this when I was 14 years old playing frisbee with my sister and brother in law. I just felt something from the music and just wanted to hear more. Pretty sure I bought it about a week after hearing some of it. It’s the only album that I have kept for 36 years. All the rest of my albums I’ve collected over the last 10 years, many of which I originally had many years ago. And this one always makes me smile every time I listen to it. Plus the artwork is the best! The front has the skeleton overlooking San Fran bay, and if you open it up another, back to back, is overlooking New York. (The album was recorded in New York and San Fran) Ended up seeing the Dead 40 or so times, but this is the best live Dead album ever. Whenever I spin it, it brings me back to that summer day throwing the frisbee around listening to some good old Grateful Dead.