first record every collection needs

Kind of Blue

Miles Davis

The best-selling jazz album of all time and a masterclass in modal improvisation — if you own one jazz record, it's this one.

Abbey Road

The Beatles

Side B's medley is the definitive argument for why albums must be heard as a whole, exactly as vinyl demands.

What's Going On

Marvin Gaye

A seamlessly sequenced concept album that proved soul music could carry the weight of the world — and sound gorgeous doing it.

The Dark Side of the Moon

Pink Floyd

Engineered specifically to be heard on a great stereo system from first note to last — it is the vinyl experience personified.

Rumours

Fleetwood Mac

Impeccably produced, emotionally raw, and perfectly sequenced — the record that turns casual listeners into serious collectors.

Thriller

Michael Jackson

The best-selling album in history for a reason — every track is a revelation and the production still sounds enormous on wax.

Highway 61 Revisited

Bob Dylan

Dylan going electric and never looking back — the album that redefined what a songwriter could say and how loud they could say it.

Songs in the Key of Life

Stevie Wonder

A double album of such sustained genius that it remains the high-water mark of popular music ambition and craft.

Led Zeppelin IV

Led Zeppelin

Four musicians at their absolute peak — the dynamics between quiet and crushing were made for the warmth of a turntable.

Blue

Joni Mitchell

The most emotionally honest record ever made — intimate enough that hearing it on vinyl feels like she's in the room with you.