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The darker side of the "Vinyl Revival"

Most of the shop owners around my part cull the goodies for themselves, or sell to private parties for good money. Most of the rest of it is generally in below average to less shape and still goes for fairly decent money.

I had thought about getting back to vinyl awhile back, but seeing how the market is, not sure it would be worth bothering at this stage.
 
TimF said:
Most of the shop owners around my part cull the goodies for themselves, or sell to private parties for good money. Most of the rest of it is generally in below average to less shape and still goes for fairly decent money.

I had thought about getting back to vinyl awhile back, but seeing how the market is, not sure it would be worth bothering at this stage.
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I imagine that's been the case for a number of years now. The real good stuff gets sold online.
 
John said:
I imagine that's been the case for a number of years now. The real good stuff gets sold online.
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It has always been that way. Shops are amazing things for buying-in, but when it comes to selling you are limited to the local area's economy and tastes, which may be a fraction of the world-market. A record shop also degrades stock condition too, e.g. something going into the racks as M/M will be down to a VG+ pretty fast after punters have riffled through looking for stuff and a few have checked it (many punters have no idea at all how to handle vinyl). I love bricks and mortar record shops and have worked in one, but I would not want to own or run one! Before eBay etc one sold the real collectables via Record Collector mag, national record fairs etc. Half of the 'adding value' was moving something from somewhere it was worth not very much to somewhere it was worth a lot.

PS Many if not most dealers are like me and primarily do it as we are collectors ourself. I'm pretty good as my own collection has actually got smaller in recent years (though the quality and focus has improved), but some are real hoarders!
 
wylton said:
My only comment reading through this thread would be who on earth would want to spend all of their time listening only to old music?
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Depends upon how old. I'll never get fed up playing my more favoured LPs, and of course most classical is old as the hills. So-called 'new music' doesn't interest me; mainly, I suppose, because I never hear it, as there's too much chat on Radio 2 and other stations are rubbish for s.q. For me, sixty plus years of non classical music is quite enough ; a vast treasure trove indeed.
 
I remember a second-hand vinyl shop in Oxford, God bless them. I would often see an assistant, yellow duster in hand and vinyl out, polishing round and round. They did look much shinier afterwards, I must say. I'm not sure what brand of polish they used though.
 
wylton said:
My only comment reading through this thread would be who on earth would want to spend all of their time listening only to old music?
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well my opinion is there comes a time when you have too much music and too little time? I have been rediscovering some records/cds I havent played for ages, thats my time for listening taken.I have other things to do before I die. Last new record I bought were Anouk's Birds cant remember the cd name and Courtney Loves Americas Sweethearts
 
HarryB said:
I can only assume these new fangled vinyls are pristine quality.
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I have many LPs, Harry, that have so little extraneous noise that you'd swear you were listening to a CD! :D 'Xept, of course, the sound is better. :p


Andy
 
BobMaximus said:
I remember a second-hand vinyl shop in Oxford, God bless them. I would often see an assistant, yellow duster in hand and vinyl out, polishing round and round. They did look much shinier afterwards, I must say. I'm not sure what brand of polish they used though.
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Years ago , driving past a shop that had racks of second hand vinyl displayed outside on the foot path, I noticed the particular owner with a cloth or rag cleaning one of his for-sale records. I was taken further aback, when I saw he personally spit on the record and then keep 'cleaning'.
Any wonder, only a vinyl that I have owned since new, goes anywhere near one of my turntables.
 
I can't be bothered with the 'vinyl revival'. It is driven mostly by new records and reissues. But it has driven up prices of used common and popular stuff. Fortunately my interests tend to be in the more esoteric and marginal stuff and occasionally I still find relative 'bargains'. I have almost zilch interest in reissues with certain exceptions.

I've never stopped buying vinyl except for a period when I bought mostly CDs. Frankly I can't understand the vinyl revival. LPs are a high-maintenance medium, fraught with pressing, handling and storage issues and really require a reasonable turntable (= not cheap) to get decent sound.
 
RickyC6 said:
I think you can do both actually. Vinyl and streaming are pretty much my main sources.
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Yes, I have a pretty big collection on a 2TB server, mostly stuff that has not been given a physical release and I was seriously thinking of taking out a premium subscription to Spotify too.

mercalia said:
...there comes a time when you have too much music and too little time...
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Well, I will admit that is a problem!

I buy loads of CDs from the pfm shop, but most of the new stuff is on vinyl. Finding the time is indeed a problem. I listen to a lot of internet radio; there is just so much stuff out there!

The work-life balance is difficult to achieve at the best of times and I do have an ever increasing pile of stuff to listen too, but I live in hope!
 
Tony L said:
Not only are some new records mastered from CD, at least one was mastered from a scratched jumping CD! (Steve Hoffman thread).
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Worth keeping an eye on that SH thread - someone has found a reggae vinyl reissue that's been cut from a YouTube video of a needledrop! I kid not.
 
And talking of which - the Beatles mono LP box has been one of my prize buys of the last 30 years - partly because all but two of their records I'd only bought second-hand. And it's a lovely thing. And sounds fab.

I have, out of a sense of tidiness more than anything, replaced several grimy 60s and 70s classics which had been in my collection for decades with new (or new other) reissues, often at reduced prices - I got a great price on the Rhino Forever Changes a few weeks ago. They've uniformly sounded superb.

The question is - when will it reach peak vinyl and be time to unload all but the most favourites at top prices? Is it time to sell my first pressing Pink Moon??
 
I don't know what the 1st press of Pink Moon is worth but I guarantee you'd regret selling it if it's in good nick (if it's in bad nick it's worth not a lot). I made the mistake of scanning some vinyl recently with a view to sale, many discs worth £50-£100+. But, unless you really need the money that's a prized record gone for the cost of a trip to the shops. My view now is to keep everything until I really do need the money - I regret selling nearly all the vinyl I've sold regardless of how good the CD sounds or whether I can stream it.

Some reissues are very good, others aren't, so just pick carefully.
 
I've never been a fan of CD digital and the best sound quality I've ever heard has always been from vinyl, most especially late 1980s 45RPM 12" singles.

Going from something brand new on Tidal to one of those is like going from some fifty quid USB thing to a top end hi-fi system.

Three out of four modern LPs I've bought in the last couple of years have sounded abysmal and one (the Bastille one) was returned for a refund, though I did subsequently discover that the digital copy sounds just as horrific. I might as well just listen to it on YouTube rather than pay £15 for it. There's no significant difference in sound quality, the mastering is that bad.

I did my bit and bought the seemingly essential "Stone Roses" LP in Sainsbury's yesterday.

The DAC I bought to try out digital again including hi-res lasted for about 8 hours and then failed, while I did indeed pick up some new music while playing around with Tidal, I'm still happy paying a few quid per 12" single or LP via Discogs for stuff that so hugely outclasses modern mastering that it's a bit of a joke.
 
Rob998 said:
Yes, but the writing is very small on those CD booklets and oldies have to put their reading specs on to read them.

They can read the nice big fonts on the 12" sleeves though....:p
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Not just the oldies - us partially sighted gee,ers have a job of it too LOL. Less hassle reading which side of a CD to play though ha ha ha!
 
mark-hants said:
I...best sound quality I've ever heard has always been from vinyl, most especially late 1980s 45RPM 12" singles.

I did my bit and bought the seemingly essential "Stone Roses" LP in Sainsbury's yesterday
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Aaah - you want to mix the best of both worlds and get the Roses on double 45-rpm then. Bloody amazing! Mind you, my random unbarcoded 1989 CD issue sounds good as well. Way better than the 1991 (original issue, I thought at the time) one...
 
domfjbrown said:
Aaah - you want to mix the best of both worlds and get the Roses on double 45-rpm then. Bloody amazing! Mind you, my random unbar oded 1989 CD issue sounds good as well. Way better than the 1991 (original issue, I thought at the time) one...
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Was a bit of an impulse buy. Though when I got it home and looked at the track listings I seemed to recall two tracks on a double A single release that aren't on there: "Fool's Gold" and "What the World is Waiting For". If memory serves. It doesn't always. It does have "Waterfall", though.

I'll see how I get on with it and then perhaps go hunting on Discogs. I might even pay the money (c. £30) for the Oceansize LP while I'm about it.

The Mogwai one will have to wait, it's still too dear. Perhaps as a sign of how little faith I have in modern represses, I'd rather pay extra and get the original pressings second hand than the new "Central Belters" reissue.
 
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