Red Eye Records

Red Eye Records is your go-​to place in Sydney for high-​end new records. However, if you are more of a used record fan, this place isn’t for you. Their shelves are filled with mostly remastered sealed vinyl and have quite a small selection of older pressings. If you are a little short on money, I wouldn’t recommend this place as it is quite overpriced.

This is my go to for vinyl. I know you can probably get cheaper on eBay but nothing beats the ritual of standing in front of the racks, flipping through the records and coming across the one you’ve been looking for for ages. Red Eye is also slightly cheaper that other places like Hum, for example, and they have a bigger range! They have a dedicated section for Australian music in the front if that’s your thing. I hope this place never closes down!

A record store just like you used to love.
It’s racks and racks of CDs and vinyl, with posters all over the walls, and staff who know all the bits of music trivia you don’t (but with none of the attitude).
Especially good, unsurprisingly, with Australian music. I was able to pick up a couple of albums I couldn’t find elsewhere here. And they were happy to search their database for the one I couldn’t (turns out it doesn’t exist, so fair enough).
They’ve got a mailing list that comprehensively details every new release they add each week.
Real music lives here.

Now, gather round children, and let me tell you a story of a time when people used to BUY music on shiny round disks in grungy shops staffed by music obsessives who would eagerly press new releases on you which were perfectly suited to your taste which they would KNOW because you went to see the same bands and staggered out together bleary-​eyed and ears ringing, grinning like happy fools.
Red Eye Records is, I think, the last of the great Sydney independent record stores, Phantom and Waterfront having disappeared long ago. They’ve only just moved to this location, and all shiny it is too. Yes, you may be able to buy things a little bit cheaper elswhere. Yes, it is more geared to the collector now. But the independent record store is not just about price, it’s about community. I can’t count the times over the years I’ve had great conversations with the staff about gigs we remember, and been suggested fantastic music I would not have found otherwise. They host performances by local and up-​and-​coming artists and their trademark bloodshot carrybags are a mark of those committed to supporting independent businesses and providing jobs for staff with real knowledge and expertise to offer.
If we could just dowse the new store in flat beer wiped down by a Siouxsie and the Banshees t-​shirt worn to a rag, rig a couple of the lights to flash on and off drunkenly in an epileptic fit-​inducing lack of rhythm, and somehow replicate the tinnitus of having just seen a band at three in the morning, it’d be perfect. Long may they reign.

Being a bit of a collector, I used to buy many CDs from Red Eye, but I used to hate myself every time as I knew that everything I bought was overpriced, now a decade later, I buy everything for its true value on the internet, so I just call into Red Eye occasionally to look at the new releases so I can see what is out there.
Red Eye’s range is nothing like it once was and I honestly don’t know how a shop like this stays in business anymore as all the current CDs can be found cheaper in other shops and the collectables can be found cheaper on the internet.
Oh well maybe there are a few people without a phone connection and they have no other option.