'I visited these Leeds charity shops to see what CDs I could get amid their great revival and found some all-time classics'

This weekend marks the release of special vinyl releases as part of Record Store Day, but those simply wanting a selection of all-time greats to add to their collection don’t need to look far.

And you don’t have to pay an arm and a leg to buy the classics as well, as we found upon visiting a selection of charity stores around Leeds city centre with a £20 budget.

Compact discs, which were the last major tangible recorded music source before mp3s and streaming services changed peoples’ listening habits, are becoming more popular with the younger crowd, Relics Records owner Ian Feasy explained.

Having opened the store in 1990, he said: “We were here before the big CD boom, during it and now we're here for the great revival.”

He explained that many are looking for all-time classic albums from down the years rather than collectors items as is often the case with vinyl records, and that those getting stuck in are generally in their 20s.

On what is fuelling this further return to collecting music, Mr Feasy said: “You might find something here you’ve never heard before and you’re not going to get that experience from an algorithm.

“People say retail is dead, but buying online is a soulless experience.”

With that in mind we rummaged through the shelves of a selection of charity shops around the centre and were able to pick up some great finds.

After perusing through the selection at the Yorkshire Cancer Research store on Vicar Lane, which featured Elton John, Edith Piaf and plenty of classical music collections for as little as 25p, we checked in to disability charity Scope’s store on Kirkgate and got a great haul for someone wanting to bolster up their collection.

A good place to get started is with greatest hits and compilation packages, and there was some available for music legends including Frank Sinatra (£1.50), Whitney Houston (£2), Elvis Presley (£1) and Billie Holiday (£1).

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Then there was some of the great albums of the last few decades. Among them you can get R.E.M’s Automatic For The People (£2), an alt-rock classic that was a favourite of Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain.

You could also get St. Elsewhere by Gnarls Barkley, which spawned the mega hit ‘Crazy’ in 2006, and This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours by Welsh greats the Manic Street Preachers, which had its own era-defining hit in ‘If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next’.

Raucous terraced-chant friendly ‘Chelsea Dagger’ is featured on The Fratellis’ hit album Costello Music and there was also Dido’s 1999 album No Angel, which was an international hit at the turn of the millennium.

Undiscovered by James Morrison (who I have a guilty pleas-like soft spot for) was also there and indie folk band Noah and the Whale’s Last Night on Earth.

All these album’s were priced at just £1, meaning that you could add a great deal to your available collection by spending just £13.50.

And with plenty of charity shops to look through in Leeds, there’s sure to be plenty more selection to help get you on your way.