The inaugural session of Vinyl Club brought together four enthusiasts, each armed with a favourite purchase from the past year. The brief was simple: bring along your best vinyl buy of 2024. It didn’t have to be a new release—just new to you.

No booze. No pretense. Just coffee, cake, conversation, and records. Here’s how it played out.

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Bryn – American Woman by The Guess Who

Bryn Played: American Woman, No Time, Talisman, No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature

This was a bold opener. Bryn picked an album few of us knew —except for the title track, famously covered by Lenny Kravitz. The Guess Who were a Canadian band formed in 1965, fronted by Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman. Their bluesy, psychedelic, and occasionally hard-edged rock found mainstream success, especially at home.

American Woman (1970) was their sixth album and showcased the band’s maturity, delivering sharp songwriting and an evolved sound that balanced anthem energy with soulful undercurrents. It’s a confident, often overlooked rock record that has aged better than many of its peers.

Full Track Listing:

• Side One: American Woman, No Time, Talisman, No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature
• Side Two: 969 (The Oldest Man), When Friends Fall Out, 8:15, Proper Stranger, Humpty’s Blues/American Woman (Epilogue)

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Jimmy – Get Down to It by Steve Marriott

Jimmy Played: Give it All She’s Got, Road to Ride, Ruthy the Groupie , Bigger They Come, Harder They Fall (with Peter Frampton)

Jimmy’s pick was a sprawling retrospective that traced Marriott’s career through early R&B, mod rock, and raw blues. Best known for his work with The Small Faces and later Humble Pie, Marriott was one of the great underappreciated voices of his era—gutsy, gravelly, and fiercely authentic.

This 2018 compilation is a goldmine of lost cuts and live energy, with everything from medleys to soulful reinterpretations. As Jimmy put it, “I probably was Steve Marriott in the ’80s!”

Full Track Listing:

• Side One: Give it All She’s Got (1964), Shake and Fingerpop (1966), Please Please Please (1966), Comin’ Home Baby (1966), Plum Nellie/Baby Please Don’t Go/Parchman Farm/In the Midnight Hour/Wok Song (Medley) (1966)
• Side Two: Wrist Job (1969), Every Mother’s Son (1969), Road to Ride (1969), 79th Street Blues (1970), Get Down to It (1973), We Can Work it Out (1975)
• Side Three: Think (1975), The Times They Are A-Changin’ (1975), Ruthy the Groupie (1975), Are You Lonely for Me (1976), Soldier (1978), My Lover’s Prayer (1980)
• Side Four: Ain’t You Glad, New York Can’t Talk (1982), Some Kind of Wonderful (1987), I Never Loved a Woman (1989), Oh Well (1989), Bigger They Come, Harder They Fall (with Peter Frampton) (1991)

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Verso – Snap! by The Jam

Verso Played: Down in the Tube Station at Midnight, Strange Town, The Eton Rifles, Going Underground

Verso’s pick may have been deemed “safe,” but there’s a reason Snap! is widely considered one of the best greatest-hits compilations ever pressed. Released in 1983, a year after The Jam split up, this double LP is a comprehensive collection of their 16 UK singles, powerful B-sides, and deep cuts.

It captures the band’s evolution from raw punk mod revivalists to mature, socially conscious hitmakers—and includes many of Paul Weller’s finest lyrical moments.

Full Track Listing:

• Side One: In the City, Away from the Numbers, All Around the World, The Modern World, News of the World, Billy Hunt, English Rose, Mr. Clean
• Side Two: David Watts, ‘A’ Bomb in Wardour Street, Down in the Tube Station at Midnight, Strange Town, The Butterfly Collector, When You’re Young, Smithers-Jones, Thick as Thieves
• Side Three: The Eton Rifles, Going Underground, Dreams of Children, That’s Entertainment, Start!, Man in the Corner Shop, Funeral Pyre
• Side Four: Absolute Beginners, Tales from the Riverbank, Town Called Malice, Precious, The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had to Swallow), Beat Surrender

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Coxy – Up Pompey! Live in Portsmouth by Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine

Coxy Played: After The Watershed (Early Learning The Hard Way), Bloodsport For All, Lean On Me I Won’t Fall Over, Lenny And Terence

Coxy brought the noise with a Carter USM live set from 1993. At the time, the band were riding high on the success of Post Historic Monsters—and this show captures their raucous, witty chaos in full force.

Recently unearthed and remixed by Fruitbat and Dave Draper, the album is more than a nostalgia trip. It’s a raw, political, and funny snapshot of one of the UK’s most unique bands doing what they did best: tearing it up on stage.

Full Track Listing:

• Side One: 2 Million Rears B.C., Spoilsports Personality Of The Year, Mid Day Crisis, My Second To Last Will And Testament, Rubbish, Cheer Up, It Might Never Happen, A Bachelor for Baden Powell
• Side Two: Say It With Flowers, Do Re Me, So Far So Good, The Only Living Boy In New Cross, The Taking Of Peckham 123, Travis
• Side Three: After The Watershed (Early Learning The Hard Way), Bloodsport For All, Lean On Me I Won’t Fall Over, Lenny And Terence
• Side Four: Suicide Isn’t Painless, Sheriff Fatman, Stuff The Jubilee! (1977), G.I. Blues

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In Summary

Vinyl Club #1 proved you don’t need a pint in hand or a pub setting to appreciate music deeply. Just four music lovers, one simple theme, and a willingness to share and listen.

Jimmy captured it perfectly:

“What a nice afternoon gents. Who would have thought us 4 could be so refined and without alcohol but coffee and a bit of cake. F*** I am old!”

Looking forward to the next session already.