This is Rough Trade – A Singles Collection

While possibly not the oldest in my collection, this album is certainly one of the earliest I remember buying on vinyl ( was it Canelands Records?) & that fortunately hasn’t disappeared or been trashed over the years.

This find was a seminal introduction to so much music that shaped my budding teenage tastes – especially growing up in 1980’s Regional North Queensland.

Along with my Tuesday late night ABC idol, Suzanne Dowling on Rock Arena, it changed my musical landscape & the two are kind of inextricably bound in memory & my exploration of alternative sounds at the time.

I always say that Rock Arena saved my life.
Well it felt like it at the time…
And it led me to this record & to even recognise the label & some of the bands names on it which I came to love…like The Smiths, The Go-Betweens, The Fall, Aztec Camera… which opened me up to more & more artists that might have taken me yonks to otherwise hear of… you know how the winding tales of discovering music go…
so yeah I reckon it saved me too.
Unlike the blurry clips of Rock Arena – I can still play this record & Rough Trade lives on too!