Christmas comes but once a year. ALDI’s questionable vinyl comes out whenever there’s a dubious sale occasion, and Christmas definitely matches that description. So what’s new in the collection this time around?
The sale kicking off on Saturday 13 December 2025 follows a familiar pattern:
- The price is $17.99 per disc, which has been the case since Christmas 2024.
- Once again, these are almost all bootleg recordings taken from radio broadcasts which are more than 20 years old, many presented under the generic title Greatest Hits . . . Live. That makes them “legal” under some European country copyright laws, and grey market imports from those locations aren’t illegal in Australia. Too bad the artists involved won’t see a cent from them, hey ALDI?
- ALDI is also offering a turntable as part of the sale (along with a portable cassette player which I’ve written about elsewhere). The offer this time is for the $69.99 turntable briefcase, which is also what ALDI sold at Christmas 2024 and Christmas 2023. This year’s colour choices are black, brown and teal (last year we had cream, black or sage).
Predictably, 4 of the discs on sale at ALDI this time around have been sold there before:
- Elvis: The Christmas Album and Rockin’ Christmas were on sale at Christmas 2024 and Christmas 2023. I guess if it ain’t broke, keep flogging it. (Pedant note: ALDI’s online catalogue says “Image coming soon” for Rockin’ Christmas, which suggests someone’s not keeping a very orderly house.)
- David Bowie: Greatest Hits . . . Live was also on sale at Christmas last year, with a slightly different title (Greatest Hits Of The 70s Live) but otherwise identical cover art.
- Prince: Greatest Hits . . . Live has been on the racks twice before, in April 2024 and again in April 2025.
Here’s the full list of what’s on sale this Christmas. I’ve linked stuff I’ve written about previously in the ‘New@ALDI’ column. “Radio bootleg” means a grey market copyright loophole import. “Licensed” means this is actually the original recordings (but also means you won’t see anything much from after 1960).
| Artist | Title | Type | New@ALDI? |
|---|---|---|---|
| David Bowie | Greatest Hits . . . Live | Radio bootleg | No |
| Joan Jett & The Blackhearts | Greatest Hits . . . Live | Radio bootleg | Yes |
| Cyndi Lauper | Greatest Hits | Radio bootleg | Yes |
| Stevie Nicks | Greatest Hits . . . Live | Radio bootleg | Yes |
| Elvis Presley | The Christmas Album | Licensed | No |
| Prince | Greatest Hits Live | Radio bootleg | No |
| Smashing Pumpkins | Greatest Hits . . . Live | Radio bootleg | Yes |
| Talking Heads | Live Hits | Radio bootleg | Yes |
| Toto | Greatest Hits . . . Live | Radio bootleg | Yes |
| Various Artists | Rockin’ Christmas | Licensed | No |
Now let’s look at the source for each of the “new to ALDI” bootlegs. All of them appear to be relatively recent releases on the “I Love Vinyl” label, which ALDI has frequently sold before. Note: If you love vinyl, you won’t love these. The recency means none have shown up on Discogs yet, so we’ll have to look a little further afield to track down their contents and make some educated guesses.
Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Greatest Hits . . . Live. This would appear to be a January 1982 recording broadcast on WNEW. That early date means you get ‘I Love Rock And Roll’ and ‘Do You Wanna Touch Me’, but no ‘Cherry Bomb’ or ‘I Hate Myself For Loving You’.
Cyndi Lauper, Greatest Hits. This could be one of several oft-bootlegged Cyndi concerts: one from 1986 in Paris, Houston in 1984 or 1983 in Cleveland.
Snide note for ALDI’s web managers: her name is “Cyndi”, not “Cindy” as your on-site product selector has it.
Stevie Nicks, Greatest Hits . . . Live. This is most likely to be a concert from 6 October 1989 in Houston that’s been bootlegged on vinyl before. If so, you get just 7 tracks in extended live versions, ranging from ‘Stand Back’ to ‘Dreams’. For collectability, the Stevie Nicks Barbie remains a much better bet. ALDI has form here, having previously sold a Fleetwood Mac bootleg with Stevie on the cover but not on the recordings.
Smashing Pumpkins, Greatest Hits . . . Live. This could be a recording from Toronto in 1998, or maybe a 1993 recording from Del Mar. The Pumpkins have been very heavily bootlegged and did a lot of alternative radio gig broadcasts, so this one’s hard to call without seeing the record itself.
Talking Heads, Live Hits. Does the lack of a “greatest” appelation mean this is a mish-mash of earlier live performances, rather than a later-era concert set? Quite possibly. It might also be a 1979 Tokyo gig that does the grey market bootleg rounds.
Toto, Greatest Hits . . . Live. In last place alphabetically, this seems likely to be a 1980 performance from Tokyo. That early date would mean no ‘Rosanna’ or ‘Africa’, with just ‘Hold The Line’ as an obvious hit.
Bottom line? Experience shows these aren’t good audio quality and the artists involved will get nothing. Spend your vinyl dollars elsewhere, and save your ALDI cash for cheaper items.
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