The Vinyl Thread

[david]

I pondered the Soundgarden Superunknown Singles box set, but I am just going to get the reissued Superunknown.

 

[BigMacPhisto]

and a pretty weird-looking Paramore single, where it looks like the record is broken in half.

I'd like to break Ms. Paramore in half.

Speaking of Foals, I got last year's album via import + shipping for $20 and felt pretty good about myself. Then many months later at Rasputin I noticed a neglected Record Store Day section that had a special edition of the Foals record that was like gold and came with a 7" for the same price. Granted, I got to own my copy a few months before RSD, but that's one of those annoyances that comes with collecting. Usually, you expect to miss out for not doing a preorder soon enough or whatever, so it's kind of irritating when something is re-released for less. Other examples of this are the Raum record from last year which was rereleased in white vinyl after the initial pressing had sold out and was selling for about $35 on Discogs and the Courtney Barnett EP set which was twice the price from her own label (thanks to expensive shipping from Australia) and now has a reissue, ugh.

LCD Soundsystem box probably went faster than even the R.E.M. one. I think its quantities were probably just as limited and it was likely far more sought after in hipster dense areas. Weirdest thing about RSD is that you can get a hand on the great majority of the albums as long as you don't show up too late, but people go mad for the special singles. Personally, I could give a fuck given their high price tag and that I don't even like playing them very much. Perhaps it's where people's wallets come into play (you can get a couple truly special singles for the price of an LP), but I'd rather pay $20-30 for a bunch of albums although I'll admit that my wallet isn't really limited when it comes to purchasing records.

 

[david]

The frustrating aspect of RSD is the people who buy up only to resell on eBay at an incredibly inflated cost. I passed on the LCD Soundsystem Box Set because other than the high price, I prefer the filmed version of their last show that was released a few years ago.

 

[BigMacPhisto]

I'd rather watch the film and know I'll eventually get around to seeing it. I don't listen to live albums at all (or more than once out of curiosity like I will with the Tame Impala release) and know it's extremely unlikely that I'd get through that LCD box more than once. The R.E.M. set is a slightly different story as it's all acoustic and they're one of my favorite bands ever.

I agree about the resellers. It's an absolute joke. I've heard the R.E.M. was limited to 1,000 copies, but I think the actual number is 2,500. Either way, I counted close to fifty on Discogs/Ebay alone. Even at places like Amoeba where so many people are barging in the doors, being first in line still gives you a few minutes with all of the floor space to yourself mostly. Those sort of people pretty much snag all the super rare items, then grab a few others they can resell before walking out of the door with a fucking truckload of vinyl. So irritating and such an easy pay day. Part of the blame really needs to be placed on the labels for making some of these releases too limited. If the R.E.M. one had been released with double the copies, it still would have sold out most everywhere while satisfying more demand (thus lowering the eBay price) and still accomplishing the goal of getting people into the record stores on that specific day.

I recommend that people don't pay the scalpers. The entire reason these items get snagged up faster and sell for insane markups are because people are willing to pay. I say, just let it go if you can't get it for slightly more than the purchase price or less. Same with concert tickets...it's bad enough that Tickemaster/Live Nation are illegally moving tickets over to their own scalping websites, but everything would be A-OK if people didn't bother to pay those premiums.

For example, Ticketmaster basically lied and said the Rock Hall tickets at like $500 were sold out immediately. The fact of the matter is that they moved virtually all of them to their scalping website figuring the Kiss/Nirvana nuts would go mad buying these things. Instead, Kiss ended up refusing to perform and it was unknown for awhile if Nirvana's members would even attend. The end result? That scalping website ended up taking a hit and selling these tickets for $10. $10 to go to that arena and see performances by Peter Gabriel, Cat Stevens, Nirvana and Bruce & The E-Street Band. Obviously, who knows what might have happened had Kiss wanted to perform, but it's an example of how people can screw over these greedy assholes. If you can't get it, just ignore it. Eventually, the resellers will have no choice but to sell things around or below face value in order to not take a big loss on the product. It's all these richies that don't give a fuck that will drop $5,000 on U2 floor tickets and fuck everybody over.

 

[BigMacPhisto]

One more record store day tip. If you have access to smaller stores, by all means hit them first. I found out after the fact that a store I didn't even know existed in Oakland had opened up at 8 AM (three hours before Amoeba). They gave out free coffee/doughnuts, had a free signing from a current member of The Stooges, automatically entered the first 100 to walk through the door into a contest for a signed Green Day test pressing...and when all was said and done, had an incredible fill including that R.E.M. box set (and their Facebook had a picture of a whopping five people in line right before 8 AM). Basically, everyone and their mother goes to the bigger stores instead while these smaller ones aren't full of pushing/shoving and might have exactly what you need. No doubt in my mind that the copy or two they had of the R.E.M. set was probably there much later than five minutes after opening like everywhere else. Next year, I know where I'll be headed.

Also, to clarify, the Zombies release I purchased is the Record Store Day one and it's the original stereo mix, I guess. It's one of my favorite albums and there's usually other reissues of it in the stores, but I figured there'd be some extra care put into this one and it's more "limited"...concerning the other Zombies release, I Love You, my store had quite a few extra copies of it lying around although they're probably all gone now. Just one of those things where your area/store can affect what you get access to depending on what the buyers want and what the retailer was willing to order...obviously, Amoeba shoppers are pretty lucky as they're the main sponsor of RSD and probably have all of the major releases in their store at the beginning of the morning.

 

[david]

The Zombies reissue that came out today of Odessey and Oracle sounds really great.

 

[david]

Man, the Black Angels 7 song album is great.

 

[Imperor]

Managed to snag the Banks remix EP, the Disclosure single, and my #1 want, the Paranorman score. Struck out on the Ghostbusters single unfortunately, but three out of my four wants isn't terrible. Waterloo was a complete clusterfuck, and I'm pretty much over RSD. It's too much of a hassle. Went to a smaller store in my neighborhood afterwards with a line of only twenty people which is where I was able to snag Paranorman. They didn't get in Ghostbusters, but that's definitely the route I'm going in the future. The big name stores are just too much bullshit. I can't even imagine how bad Amoeba was.

 

[Danny Boy]

Silver Platters has always been relatively calm, but not so much this year.

Getting in line early doesn't help much because the bins are in three different areas.

Wish I had known you were looking for Ghostbusters, Imps. I could've snagged you a copy.

I got Tame Impala, Disclosure, and Cut Copy, which were the main three I was aiming for. Got very lucky to snag one of only two copies of LCD, which is going to Cobbler.

Sort if regret not grabbing Joy Division but oh well.

 

[BigMacPhisto]

The most retarded release in terms of the concept had to be that Green Day collection. It's demos from their awful recent crop of albums, but the reason why it was the lamest thing out there (other than Indie Cindy, of course) is that we had people in line specifically trying to get that, yet there turned out to be so many copies of the thing that they kept replenishing the overhead section with them (there were maybe like two other releases that had the same thing happen). I dunno about you, but I'd be kind of annoyed if I went through the hassle and found that there were dozens of the item and they were priced at a rather high $35. It beats missing out on what you want, obviously, but it sort of defeats the purpose of being an exclusive when it will likely be in the bins months from now.

Also, bewilderingly, I guess there's people that collect Dave Matthews Band RSD releases? It's 2014. I guess whatever the hell it was happens to be rather rare, but I saw like a dozen people carrying the damn thing. Really?

Oh, and the other big surprise, Grateful Dead. Seriously. Tons of people carrying some live album and other assorted stuff that said Jerry Garcia on them, I believe. I get that they have a large, extremely devoted fan base, but a lot of these buyers were kids in their early 20's and I'm not sure what exactly made these releases that much more important than the other 51,000 live albums they have floating around. Each to their own, I guess. And American Beauty is awesome.

 

[cobl04]

That's the second straight year you've pulled through for me Danny. Very appreciative. Three straight years someone I've never met has bought me something (Imps got me Rubies in 2012).

 

[cobl04]

And also Khan has bought like 8 million digital files for me.

 

[iron yuppie]

I agree about the resellers. It's an absolute joke. I've heard the R.E.M. was limited to 1,000 copies, but I think the actual number is 2,500. Either way, I counted close to fifty on Discogs/Ebay alone. Even at places like Amoeba where so many people are barging in the doors, being first in line still gives you a few minutes with all of the floor space to yourself mostly. Those sort of people pretty much snag all the super rare items, then grab a few others they can resell before walking out of the door with a fucking truckload of vinyl. So irritating and such an easy pay day.

Completely agreed. They ought to call it Record Store 10 Minutes on account of how commodified the damn thing has gotten. I showed up an hour into it and already the top 7 or 8 things I wanted were gone.

 

[Imperor]

Wish I had known you were looking for Ghostbusters, Imps. I could've snagged you a copy.

Damn. Thanks anyway.

The LCD box is getting a wider release on May 20, so I decided to wait until then as I'll be more financially solvent (i.e. not post-Coachella).

 

[david]

Amoeba records throws all their Record Store Day items online to purchase off their website the day after (free shipping too), at regular cost, and even trying to get whatever is left over that way is hard. I checked this morning and they had the Soundgarden Singles set for $39 dollars, now it's gone.

 

[Danny Boy]

I found a copy of Joy Division online. Marked up $8 above what stores were asking yesterday, but it was really bugging me that I missed out on that one.

I'm not going to look at the list anymore because I'll be tempted to buy more stuff online.

 

[cobl04]

Damn. Thanks anyway.

The LCD box is getting a wider release on May 20, so I decided to wait until then as I'll be more financially solvent (i.e. not post-Coachella).

Shit at Coachella is so fucking expensive man. It's like Australian prices.

Thankfully the rest of your country is hella cheap.

 

[david]

I finally picked up Beck's Morning Phase on vinyl today and this album reminds me of why I like vinyl. The mastering is top notch. The separation of instruments comes out and it sounds like Beck is strumming his guitar in my living room.

Sent from my AT300 using U2 Interference mobile app

 

[david]

Morning Phase was mastered by Bob Ludwig which explains the top notchness in the mastering.

Sent from my AT300 using U2 Interference mobile app

 

[BigMacPhisto]

Anyone have the Blu Ray of Sea Change? It has got to sound amazing...if ever there was an album meant for surround sound..

 

[BigMacPhisto]

Just snagged the REM box at Face Value. Some leftover from the place that had the Mike Mills signing.

Bull Moose. R.E.M. Unplugged The Complete 1991 And 2001 Sessions 4lp Rsd Exclusive

 

[BigMacPhisto]

Well, the site is now unusable, lol. Funny enough, the records were supposed to go on sale at noon but went on sale like four minutes early, so I had no problem with my order. Now it's impossible to search anything.

Just hoping nothing weird happens. I already received a confirmation email.


God, Record Store Day is so irritating. There must be thousands on this damn site right now. Guess Maine is the only place that didn't sell out of a lot of this stuff or decide to resell it for way more than list price. I would not be shocked if four hours from now this website was still clogged...I can't even add anything to the basket at the moment and I doubt anyone else can. And of course, nobody is going to just leave...this could go on all day...

...but I'm sticking with it, regardless. There's three more releases I want that this store has...and for the list price and free shipping? Fuck yeah.

 

[Danny Boy]

Anyone have the Blu Ray of Sea Change? It has got to sound amazing...if ever there was an album meant for surround sound..

I have it on DVD-A and the surround mix is nice. Not sure if the Blu-ray is a new master or just a repackaging of the DVD-A.

I have been hesitant to buy any of these "Pure Audio" Blu-ray releases because I don't have the setup to rip them. Seems like hi-res downloads are becoming more common so it may become just another dead disc-based audio format. I suppose Blu-ray players will be around for awhile, though.

 

[iron yuppie]

I found a copy of Joy Division online. Marked up $8 above what stores were asking yesterday, but it was really bugging me that I missed out on that one.

I'm not going to look at the list anymore because I'll be tempted to buy more stuff online.

Yeah I found the Disclosure 12" I had wanted online for a reasonable price as well. I must have gotten lucky seeing it at $20 when others were asking $35 or 40.

 

[BigMacPhisto]

It's weird how some stores would sell out of certain items. The Joy Division EP and Disclosure single were pretty much sitting on the shelves for a while at my store, guess it all just depends.

Anybody who lives in Maine pretty much lucked out though. The chain store that I bought the R.E.M. box set from had practically everything in one of their locations or another as late as this afternoon when they went on sale to everybody on the internet. If you lived around one of their chain locations, you could have easily picked up $15 EPs that are now going for $90, etc. R.E.M. box sets were sitting on the shelves in four stores as late as Sunday night.

People in nearby states should just do record store day in Maine on Saturday. Their website even tells you what is at each location. You could probably land almost anything you want by just visiting three of their stores over a couple hours.

 

[Danny Boy]

Maine is pretty far from Seattle.

 

[BigMacPhisto]

What a d-bag.

Signed REM Box on eBay

 

[bono_212]

That is what I loved about Record Store Day when I lived in Fort Worth. They're just weren't as many people, so there were more releases available. Anyways as far as those eBay prices go nobody should even bother trying to buy any of this stuff for about 3 or 4 months. After that they go back to right about what the normal price should be.

 

[Danny Boy]

I think I'll just get the R.E.M. set on CD rather than pay $500 for it.

 

[gump]

This is pretty cool.

The deluxe edition of Jack White's new LP is a vinyl nerd’s dream · Newswire · The A.V. Club

By Marah Eakin May 6, 2014 12:56 PM

Jack White has long been an advocate of all sorts of vinyl nerdiness, from acting as last year’s Record Store Day ambassador to using his label, Third Man, to put out an absolutely ridiculous box set of Paramount Records material from the ’10s, ’20s, and ’30s. Now White is taking pretty much every trick he’s learned and applying it to the “Ultra LP” version of his new Lazaretto. White and Third Man label manager Ben Blackwell walk through all the features in the clip below, which is recommended viewing for any LP nerd. But in a nutshell and for laymen, basically there’s going to be a whole bunch of nerdy record collector shit jammed onto this one, 180-gram LP.

For instance, side one plays from the inside out, while each side features a hidden track beneath the center labels. One of those tracks plays at 78 RPM, the other plays at 45 RPM, and the actual record plays at 33 RPM—making Lazaretto the only LP to ever contain all three speeds (probably). The record also uses “dual-groove technology,” meaning that one of the tracks, “Just One Drink,” has both an electric and an acoustic intro, depending on where the listener places the needle. The grooves meet later about halfway through the song. Both sides of the record end in locked grooves, meaning they’ll just spin one short sound ad nauseam, until the listener finally flips the switch and turns the record off. Perhaps most impressive are artist Tristan Duke’s holographic etchings into the unused vinyl of the A-side, which, in the right light, make it appear like a pair of angels is floating above the record as it spins.

There’s some other superfluousness built into the LP as well—one side is matte and there is shiny, and so on—and should all this appeal to you, the Ultra LP edition of Lazaretto is available for pre-order now from the Third Man records site. Amazingly, it’s only $20.