There's a particular kind of CD that filled Australian shelves through the late eighties and nineties: the pub-rock album, bought at Brashs or Sanity, played to death in the car, and eventually boxed up in a spare room. The good news is that almost all of it is still out there.
The staples worth owning
Cold Chisel, The Angels, Hunters & Collectors, Midnight Oil — the catalogue runs deep and the secondhand prices are honest. For the cost of a single month of streaming you can own the album outright, liner notes and all.
When the remaster is worth it
- Expanded editions with live bonus discs from the original tours — small print runs, genuinely collectible.
- Anthologies that gather a band's whole run into one parcel.
- Remasters cut from cleaner transfers, which on a real stereo you can actually hear.
Dig patiently. The best ones rarely sit in the bins for long.