A recent trip to the Central Coast of New South Wales (about an hour and forty-five minutes drive north of Sydney) unearthed a great dedicated record store we weren’t previously aware of:

The Sound Exchange Record Bar, located in Long Jetty, sells new and used LP’s and 45’s, picture discs and coloured vinyl, turntables and accessories, as well as used amplifiers, speakers, etc.

Of course we made a beeline straight to the Beatle section and there was a large choice of good quality second-hand LPs on offer. For some time now we’ve been looking for a copy of the Australian version of Rock’n’Roll Music (Volume 1) on the Axis budget label – the one with the catalogue number AX-1002. Well, The Sound Exchange had a copy – and at a reasonable price. This will now sit alongside the copy of Volume 2 (AX-1003) which we already have and complete the set:

In Australia Axis was the equivalent of Music for Pleasure in the UK, or the budget green Capitol label re-issues in the USA. For more info see our post on Budget Beatles releases.

There’s something of a Beatles theme going on in Long Jetty. Just across the road from The Sound Exchange is a groovy art gallery/cafe called The Glass Onion Society, and right next door to it a florist/gift shop called Octopus’s Garden. On the intersection closest to all three stores a street artist has painted this cool image on the roadside box which controls the traffic lights:Nice.