One of the best things about building a vinyl collection is that it forces you to be intentional. You’re not shuffling through a playlist on autopilot — you’re picking a record, putting it on, and actually listening. Over time, certain albums just keep ending up back on the turntable.
Read more: 5 Records I Keep Coming Back to (And Why They Deserve a Spot in Your Collection Too)These are five of mine. I bought all of them new from record stores, and every single one has earned its place on the shelf. They span a few different genres, but they have one thing in common: they genuinely sound better on vinyl than anywhere else.
If you’re just getting started with building a vinyl collection on a budget, picking up records you already love is always a good strategy — and any of these five would be a solid first or early buy.
Quick warning: this list is biased. Very, very biased. But nonetheless, I firmly believe these records are incredible additions to each collection, with a sound that vinyl extracts perfectly.
The Records That Are 100% Worth Buying
Muse – Origin of Symmetry (2001)
This record doesn’t get talked about enough. There, I said it. Muse displays a degree of musicianship that I personally don’t think many bands were capable of in this era.
Acts like Pink Floyd, David Bowie and Hawkwind pioneered the space rock sound — larger than life, bombastic and existential music that made you feel like you’re drifting through a void.
Muse perfected this sound and brought it into the 21st century with Origin of Symmetry by blending the space rock sound with alternative rock on Hyper Music, metal on New Born and operatic influences on Space Dementia and Citizen Erased.
And my God, Matt Bellamy’s (Muse’s vocalist and frontman) vocals on this album are otherworldly. His trademark falsetto is still in its early days on this album, and it shows.
His voice is raw, powerful and incredibly energetic. Just listen to Micro Cuts or Megalomania and come back. You’ll see what I mean.
The album still sounds like it could have been released today, and it shows. Personally, I don’t think it aged a bit and truly stood the test of time.
Queens of the Stone Age – …Like Clockwork (2013)
On …Like Clockwork, Josh Homme (the rhythm guitarist, vocalist and frontman of Queens of the Stone Age), finds himself at the lowest point of his life.
A near-death experience during surgery, coupled with drug and alcohol problems, led him to a deep depression — and he channels all of it across ten masterfully made songs.
Queens of the Stone Age is known for their blaring guitars, pounding drums, catchy riffs and Joshua’s infectious singing style, which, at first glance, may conflict with a record that is emotional and vulnerable in nature.
But make no mistake, …Like Clockwork still has plenty of the things that make the Queens so good. Unlike their previous works however, this record is about more than just doing drugs in a desert.
On Keep Your Eyes Peeled, Joshua starts the record off with passionate piano play, coupled with his trademark falsetto and belting voice.
It doesn’t take long for the band’s sound to come back into the record though, as I Sat By The Ocean immediately starts off with an iconic guitar riff, addictive drumming and a lead guitar that makes you feel like you’re, well, sitting by the ocean.
I could go on and on about the songs on this album, and maybe one day I’ll write a proper blog about it, but rest assured that every song has something unique to bring to the table.
There’s a reason why this is the best alt-rock album of the 2010s. Find out for yourself by letting this spin on your turntable.
The Strokes – Is This It (2001)
This record can’t escape conversations such as these, and for very, very good reason.
Throughout the early 2000s, rock music was in stagnation. Hip-hop and pop music was slowly taking over as the mainstream sound that would be played on the radio, and rock music started to take a backseat.
Rock wasn’t sexy anymore. It wasn’t fun anymore. It wasn’t danceable anymore. It sure made you feel angry, or justified at the world’s problems, but the suave, sexy, fun and easy-going nature of the 70s and 80s pioneered by acts such as the Beatles, Blondie and the Doors?
That was gone. And The Strokes brought this fun, garage-rock sound back into the mainstream with Is This It.
There’s not much that can be said about this album that hasn’t already been said. Julian’s distorted vocals on every track range from powerful and energetic on Last Nite and Hard To Explain, to nostalgic and melancholic on the title track Is This It and Someday.
While Is This It (the album this time, not the song) was influenced by many acts from the 80s, the album itself probably influenced some of your favourite bands, like Arctic Monkeys, The Killers, Kings of Leon and Franz Ferdinand, and for good reason.
With Is This It, The Strokes brought fun back into rock music, and they can bring fun into your living room or bedroom, too.
Justice – † (2007)
Also known as Cross, Justice brings French House further onto the global stage with †.
Trailing after Daft Punk’s worldwide success, with Homework and Discovery, the French duo of Justice (Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay), take what Daft Punk did on the aforementioned albums and further implement elements of alt-rock, metal, funk and disco into a banging record of twelve addictive and pounding EDM tracks.
The album’s opening track, Genesis, opens up with blaring synths, which lead into a crunching bass-line and larger-than-life synth assortment. The track constantly glitches out, bringing cut-up vocals into the mix throughout, and as a high-pitched synth is introduced and layers on top of itself as it rises and rises in pitch, groovy guitars take it away, bringing danceability into the track, before seamlessly leading into the next track, Let There Be Light.
You can probably notice the religious influences already. I mean, the album art is literally a Christian cross angled upwards. Not only that, but tracks titled Genesis, Let There Be Light and Waters of Nazareth leave little to subtlety.
The actual content of the tracks doesn’t have much religious theming, however. Per the French duo — the religiously themed visual and conceptual style is largely a branding choice, rather than a running theme throughout the music.
Nevertheless, the bombastic electronic music showcased on Stress, Phantom, Phantom Pt.II and Waters of Nazareth with the dance-y and groovy Newjack, DVNO and D.A.N.C.E. sprinkled throughout make for a fantastic listening experience, especially on vinyl.
Cocteau Twins – Heaven or Las Vegas (1990)
If you have ever wanted to lie down on the couch, sink into the cushions, close your eyes and drift off into a world of rose-colored dreams, this would be the album to do so.
Cocteau Twins with Heaven or Las Vegas pioneered the reverb-drenched shoegaze sound that some of you may know and love today.
What makes this record so special is not only the instrumentation which sounds like it was pulled from a dream world, but also Elizabeth Fraser’s soaring, operatic vocals which often made use of glossolalia — made-up words and unintelligible language which is meant to be treated as another instrument rather than a traditional narrative (so if you have no idea what’s being sung, don’t worry. That’s the point.).
Regardless of the musical content of the album, Heaven or Las Vegas also feels deeply personal and human. Coming off of the heels of the birth of Fraser’s child, marriage troubles, and the tragic death of bassist Simon Raymonde’s father, every track is loaded with emotional weight.
The resulting tension between worldly struggles and heavenly relief gives the album immense emotional weight. I know I’ve shed a few tears to songs such as Iceblink Luck, I Wear Your Ring and Fotzepolitic.
If you’d like to find out just what makes people love this band and this side of the shoegaze genre so much, give Heaven or Las Vegas a listen.
And if you ask me personally, you’re doing the record a disservice by not capturing the raw, emotional energy on physical vinyl.
That’s five records I keep coming back to — different moods, different genres, but all of them worth owning on wax. If any of these are already in your collection, I’d love to know what you think. And if you’re picking them up for the first time, make sure you clean them properly before your first play — especially if you’re buying used.
New to collecting and not sure where to start? Check out why I got into vinyl in the first place — it might convince you too.
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