My younger brother & I (13yrs & 15yrs), in 1969, cut a coupon out of one of Mum’s magazines and joined the Australian Record Club – 5 LP’s for $5 (Mum got 1 LP for her troubles). These two were my selection – ‘Spirit’ by Spirit & Bob Dylan’s ‘Nashville Skyline’.
Each subsequent LP purchase from the ‘Club’ earnt us a coupon – 2 coupons redeemed got you another LP. We saved our coupons ’til the next school holidays, when we would jump on the train from the Blue Mountains to Sydney and on arrival at Central Station head straight up to the Australian Record Club building in Hargreaves St, near Hyde Park. On arrival we would each take a listening booth and spend as long as took ’til we each were satisfied with our selections. (A stop in at Martin’s Records on the way back down to Central often rewarded with some excellent 2nd-hand LP bargains!).
Thus began a lifetime obsession with vinyl that digital still can’t quite match.
