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Vinyl prices

I nearly bought the Beatles Mono box but decided I could get reasonable original copies if and when I wished. However if I had bought I am not sure I could resist getting toward 3k for it.

I do have a few £300 LP's and plenty in the low hundreds but enjoy those too much and rather they or the cash go to my loved ones one day.

They have my Discogs details and will be sharing this and other forums in due course. Sounds morbid, and I am perfectly well, but at 55 you never know.
 
If I had anything worth £1000+ then I think The Wife would be mentally converting that into a bit of a holiday.

I am amazed at the price of Symphonica - George Michael, which we purchased at the concert.

I saw this on Amazon for about £14 pre-release price, and thought it would sound good.
It sounds very good, I had no idea the price would do that…

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Killing Joke ‎– In Dub
Label:
Not On Label (Killing Joke Self-released) ‎– VAV005
Format:
3 × Vinyl, LP
2 × CD
Country:
UK
Released:
Feb 2014
 
flapland said:
I nearly bought the Beatles Mono box but decided I could get reasonable original copies if and when I wished. However if I had bought I am not sure I could resist getting toward 3k for it.
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I went for The Beatles In Mono CD box. The Beatles have always been one of those bands which were fluid with regards to staying in my collection. In hindsight it is annoying I didn’t keep a decent set of originals. I bought and sold them for decades and made what was at the time very good money in the early days of eBay finding them in Liverpool, Manchester and surrounding areas and shipping worldwide, usually to Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea. The only ones I’ve not had pass through are a black gold stereo PPM and a nice White Album. I’ve had really good examples of the rest, in both mono and stereo, often several times. I’d typically buy-in at £5-10 from high-st shops, car boots etc, the auction would typically end at £70-90, so decent cash. It was easy enough to find red-plumb Atlantic Yes, pink scroll Genesis etc at that time too and that all went the same way.

In some respects I’m pleased I went for the CD In Mono box as I’d likely just flip the vinyl box had I bought it, plus it is absolutely bloody huge so takes up too much space (a friend has one). I lived in Liverpool city centre for too long to ever really want to play the Beatles again. They were just everywhere, oozing from everything and I got so bored of it and the endless tourism, commercialism, in your face marketing etc. I’ve played my CD box exactly once whilst reading the excellent Revolution In The Head book and that’s likely me done now. Nice to have on the shelf just in case though…

PS I’ve got Rutherford Chang’s White Album on vinyl, obvs.
 
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Tony L said:
I’m of the view that in the vast majority of cases the first pressing from country of artist origin is by far the best sounding cut. There are some exceptions, but to my ears this is correct in more than 8/10 times. As such those are what I and most collectors seek out.

PS I have no ‘shabby or worn’ records in my collection!
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Why is the artist country of origin important? A US Coltrane first pressing is better than a UK or Italian one?
 
Saxondale said:
Why is the artist country of origin important? A US Coltrane first pressing is better than a UK or Italian one?
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Yes, absolutely. Not only will it be an earlier generation of the master (copies were sent abroad), but it will be the cut the artist, manager, producer or someone very close to the artistic intent actually signed off. Foreign markets could have been cut by anyone, and frequently were. The difference between different masterings, cuts etc dwarfs hi-fi changes IMO. They are just massively huge and there is very good reason why 2st press US Blue Note, Implulse etc with a RVG stamp, UK prog, punk etc with Porky (George Peckham)’s signature in the run off is so treasured. These are the records that all subsequent issues are judged against. I love demonstrating it to people, it really can be chalk and cheese even between a -1 matrix and a -2 from the same country. Just a totally different sound.
 
Saxondale said:
Why is the artist country of origin important? A US Coltrane first pressing is better than a UK or Italian one?
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Down the rabbit hole you go... ;)

As Tony says foreign pressings were often mastered from a copy tape by a local engineer. There are exceptions though - UK Esquires have shot up in price in recent years largely because people twigged many were pressed from US RVG stampers.

You might already be aware of it but the LJC site is a good resource especially for Blue Note: https://londonjazzcollector.wordpress.com/record-labels-guide/labelography-2/
 
The thing I struggle to articulate is just how big sonically the differences can be. Ot can sound like swapping a £20 MM for a £3k MC cart, but more so, just a huge difference. It always amazes me how little some owners of very expensive audio kit grasp the master and cut is the front end. Any bad decisions there can not be replaced later no matter how much you spend. From an artistic perspective it can be similarly huge; cut, assessed and approved by those who created the music vs. something cut by some random record label suit many years later. This is one area I struggle with a few high-profile audiophile engineers in that I think the occasionally miss that artistic intent and assume say how forward Coltrane’s sax is on an RVG cut was a limitation of the technology, whereas from my perspective it is absolutely intentional - it gives these records an astonishing emotional power and directness.
 
Amazon’s pricing algorithm lives by it’s own rules and possibly it’s own religion. It certainly bares no connection to what people are actually prepared to pay for an item. There are many rare CDs, though you’ll get a way better valuation from sold eBay auctions, the Discogs median sale price etc.
 
I have the Beatles mono vinyl box! In fairness, it doesn’t take up that much more space than the individual albums would anyway. Not sure what to do with it as it does get regular play (well, Rubber Soul/Revolver onwards, although I’ve listened to every disc).
All the LPs are flat and astonishingly noise free, so if I ever shifted the box on a part of me would always regret it. I do have a lot more Beatles vinyl, but very little is original.

Mick
 
Tony L said:
Amazon’s pricing algorithm lives by it’s own rules and possibly it’s own religion. It certainly bares no connection to what people are actually prepared to pay for an item. There are many rare CDs, though you’ll get a way better valuation from sold eBay auctions, the Discogs median sale price etc.
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I have sold one thing on Amazon, many years ago.

It was an Oasis album that I paid 20p. at a car boot sale, part of a bundle.
I was newish to Discogs then, and the price for the album on Amazon was over a £100 used.
(cheaper on Discogs)
So I opened an amazon account, sold the album within a week, never used it since. My limited experience is that some folk will pay whatever if they really wants it.
 
Big Tabs said:
I think I remarked at the time of purchase how good a pressing it is.

Another prompt to play something I love. Excellent.
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Do you mean the silver or the black vinyl pressing?
My copy isn't the greatest unfortunately, it suffers with quite a bit of surface noise (if you read on Discogs, it looks like I wasn't the only one) - I'll have to try it out again and maybe wet clean once more.
 
irons1965 said:
Do you mean the silver or the black vinyl pressing?
My copy isn't the greatest unfortunately, it suffers with quite a bit of surface noise (if you read on Discogs, it looks like I wasn't the only one) - I'll have to try it out again and maybe wet clean once more.
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My apologies.
I meant the black pressing.
 
Tony L said:
Yes, absolutely. Not only will it be an earlier generation of the master (copies were sent abroad), but it will be the cut the artist, manager, producer or someone very close to the artistic intent actually signed off. Foreign markets could have been cut by anyone, and frequently were. The difference between different masterings, cuts etc dwarfs hi-fi changes IMO. They are just massively huge and there is very good reason why 2st press US Blue Note, Implulse etc with a RVG stamp, UK prog, punk etc with Porky (George Peckham)’s signature in the run off is so treasured. These are the records that all subsequent issues are judged against. I love demonstrating it to people, it really can be chalk and cheese even between a -1 matrix and a -2 from the same country. Just a totally different sound.
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Wow, thank you, that is one huge learning. I picked up 70’s and 80’s UK and German pressings of Coltrane, Monk, Getz and others just last week. I knew they can’t have been that great as the dealer knew his stuff yet sold them for between ten and twenty quid despite the decent condition - all makes sense now!
 
There are still 1000's of great albums available in early analogue pressings in nm condition for less than £30 that will sound better than the CD on a very good vinyl replay system.
 
foxwelljsly said:
There are still 1000's of great albums available in early analogue pressings in nm condition for less than £30 that will sound better than the CD on a very good vinyl replay system.
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My rega planar 25 destroyed my naim cds3, it wasn't even close. You really don't have to spend too much. I've been using my ancient Planar 3 with the S-arm recently owing to trashing a cartridge, and with a simple Denon 110 it's more than enjoyable
 
Saxondale said:
Wow, thank you, that is one huge learning. I picked up 70’s and 80’s UK and German pressings of Coltrane, Monk, Getz and others just last week. I knew they can’t have been that great as the dealer knew his stuff yet sold them for between ten and twenty quid despite the decent condition - all makes sense now!
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You might be pleasantly surprised. Led Zep 80's UK vinyl, for example, (usually pressed up in Germany) can sound excellent, as can a lot of period non UK and US first pressings from vinyl's peak in the 70's and early 80's.

Some less desirable pressings WILL sound less than great but, IME, it's not as quite cut and dried as Tony implies. I have a number of sought after first pressings and not all of them leap out of the speakers in the transformative way you might expect.
 
foxwelljsly said:
Some less desirable pressings WILL sound less than great but, IME, it's not as quite cut and dried as Tony implies.
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Absolutely. And some stuff, e.g. the 70s and 80s jazz repressings mentioned are likely very good. I’d recommend the Prestige/Riverside OJC range to anyone, they are great pressings and can certainly be found for quite ordinary prices. Likewise the much derided Pathe Marconi Blue Notes, I really like them and have a load. Are they as good as first issues, Tone Poets, Japanese cuts? No, absolutely not, but they are in no way bad.

At this stage in the game it is about either having the good stuff already or blind luck when bin-diving (which certainly still happens). I’m not suggesting anyone drops £2-4k a pop on mint Blue Note 1st pressings of rare titles, but even if they had no value there are no reissues I wouldn’t swap for them. Artistic intent is encapsulated in those grooves IMHO.
 
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