What vinyl do you own?

[virgil p colon]

New Nada Surf.

[Bubba McBubba]

Hey Bubba (I think you're a huge Stereolab fan?), Amoeba currently has a copy of Cobras And Phases in $25.  My favorite album of theirs and I don't think I've ever came across a vinyl copy.

Thanks for the heads-up.  Yes, they are my favorite band, and there is a lot of incredibly sweet 'Lab vinyl on Amoeba's site right now.  Alas, I am in a tight spot at the moment, and have chosen not to splurge.  I did, however, buy the "Rose, My Rocket Brain!" tour CD single for only $7, which I have tried to buy several times in the past, and was always outbid (in the few occasions it even shows up on sites like eBay).  There are two tracks on it have yet to be anthologized elsewhere.

As for the rarity of "Cobra" on vinyl, I have seen it before, though not in the used racks of any stores.  I just checked the Rough Trade shop linked to the Stereolab site, and was surprised to see it was no longer for sale there, when it was available for several years up until the last time I checked a few months back.  In my opinion (and knowing their relative rarity), the vinyl for "Transient Random Noise-Bursts with Announcements" at $40 is a steal, and "Mars Audiac Quintet" for only $25 is jaw-dropping.  Too bad this is a time when my jaw will have to drop ridiculously hard to make me drop any bucks.

[cyclone]

As for the rarity of "Cobra" on vinyl, I have seen it before, though not in the used racks of any stores.  I just checked the Rough Trade shop linked to the Stereolab site, and was surprised to see it was no longer for sale there, when it was available for several years up until the last time I checked a few months back. 

I went through a big Stereolab phase in the middle of last year and unless I just wasn't looking hard enough, it appeared that mostly everything except for the last two records or so were OOP on vinyl (checking just now reveals those as well as Peng!).  Looks like on that Rough Trade site they actually currently have no vinyl listed at all.  For Cobra specifically, a Popsike search reveals that it goes for an average of $33 on eBay (with the highest auction being $51).  Those auctions actually date back to 2009 as well. 

[daemon]

I went through a big Stereolab phase in the middle of last year and unless I just wasn't looking hard enough, it appeared that mostly everything except for the last two records or so were OOP on vinyl (checking just now reveals those as well as Peng!).  Looks like on that Rough Trade site they actually currently have no vinyl listed at all.  For Cobra specifically, a Popsike search reveals that it goes for an average of $33 on eBay (with the highest auction being $51).  Those auctions actually date back to 2009 as well. 

FWIW, I found some super nice speakers at Goodwill not too long ago, fired up my copy of Cobra (which I found at Everybody's a while back for about $20) and it was jaw-droppingly good.  The 'lab definitely focuses on quality when it comes to pressings.  I too have been on a quest to get all of their stuff on vinyl and have been mostly successful, except for Transient and Emperor (which apparently comes in a gold sparkle edition).  Sound-Dust also sounds damn good, if you're able to track a copy of that down.

[Bubba McBubba]

FWIW, I found some super nice speakers at Goodwill not too long ago, fired up my copy of Cobra (which I found at Everybody's a while back for about $20) and it was jaw-droppingly good.  The 'lab definitely focuses on quality when it comes to pressings.  I too have been on a quest to get all of their stuff on vinyl and have been mostly successful, except for Transient and Emperor (which apparently comes in a gold sparkle edition).  Sound-Dust also sounds damn good, if you're able to track a copy of that down.

The gold sparkle pressing of Emperor Tomato Ketchup is very hard to find (though not impossible, as I just saw two copies on eBay).  Alas, though very cool to own, that pressing is actually defective, as the glitter was just mixed into the wax and random bits poke out to the surface, waiting to destroy your needle.

I am incredibly jealous you have Sound Dust on wax.  If it is the hardcover version, I just might have to kill you.

[daemon]

The gold sparkle pressing of Emperor Tomato Ketchup is very hard to find (though not impossible, as I just saw two copies on eBay).  Alas, though very cool to own, that pressing is actually defective, as the glitter was just mixed into the wax and random bits poke out to the surface, waiting to destroy your needle.

I am incredibly jealous you have Sound Dust on wax.  If it is the hardcover version, I just might have to kill you.

Oh wow, yea, I don't think I'd be playing Emperor if that's the case.  And no, the hardcover was way out of my league so no wet work will be required .  You may already do this, but GEMM and discogs.com both have nice stuff pop up from time to time for less than the going eBay rates (although it's typically the opposite).

[Kwyjibo]

I have often thought of buying a few select titles on vinyl as a show of financial support to the bands, as I have no interest in owning CDs anymore.  But holy moly is it cost prohibitive.  The new Nada Surf is $22 on amazon (cheaper elsewhere including the NS official store but more once you figure in shipping), and I wouldn't pay $15 for CDs when I did buy them.

[cyclone]

I have often thought of buying a few select titles on vinyl as a show of financial support to the bands, as I have no interest in owning CDs anymore.  But holy moly is it cost prohibitive.  The new Nada Surf is $22 on amazon (cheaper elsewhere including the NS official store but more once you figure in shipping), and I wouldn't pay $15 for CDs when I did buy them.

There are ways to work around shipping these days.  Spend $25 on Amazon and you get free shipping.  Some record labels as well as a site like Amoeba offers always free shipping.  

But overall, vinyl is indeed a very expensive hobby, especially when you're concentrating more on building a library of select favorite albums rather than random browsing (I personally used to be more focused on the latter, which can admittedly be a funner option, but with the $ I spend I gradually shifted more toward quality over quantity).  Now, that being said, I rarely if ever spend much more than $20 on an individual record.  It just isn't worth it to me, and I say that as a huge vinylholic.  Occasionally I'll splurge, typically when one of my OOP favorite albums finally gets reissued, but overall there are ways to find stuff without spending much more than that, it just takes a lot of searching and patience.  And it's always good to keep in mind that unlike most other media, the value of vinyl actually increases more times than not provided you take proper care of it.

[euro60]

pretty random but fun anyway (saw this on NME):

The Top 10 selling vinyl singles of 2011 in the UK were as follows:

1. Beady Eye - 'The Roller'
2. Beady Eye - 'Millionaire'
3. Morrissey - 'Glamorous Glue'
4. Beady Eye - 'The Beat Goes On'
5. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - 'The Death Of You And Me'
6. Arctic Monkeys - 'Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair'
7. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - '...A.K.A What A Life'
8. Beady Eye - 'Four Letter Word'
9. Miles Kane - 'Come Closer'
10. Manic Street Preachers - 'Postcards From A Young Man'

The Top 10 selling vinyl albums of 2011 in the UK were as follows:

1. Radiohead - 'The King Of Limbs'
2. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - 'Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds'
3. Adele - '21'
4. PJ Harvey - 'Let England Shake'
5. Arctic Monkeys - 'Suck It And See'
6. Bon Iver - 'Bon Iver'
7. Beady Eye - 'Different Gear, Still Speeding'
8. Kate Bush - '50 Words For Snow'
9. Alex Turner - 'Submarine OST'
10. Pink Floyd - 'The Dark Side Of The Moon'

[cyclone]

Oasis and Arctic Monkeys are two of my least favorite artists of all-time.

[cyclone]

I'd be interested in hearing about your guys' set-ups, turntables, what you use for vinyl storage, etc.  I would post a pic to get us started but I'm too lazy at the moment.

Set-up: My turntable is a Technics SL-1400.  I'm very satisfied with it, and probably won't be upgrading any time soon unless I suddenly become wealthy enough to afford something like a Rega P1.  The 1400 is fairly similar to the cult classic 1200 but you can find it cheaper on eBays/Craigslists because the model didn't become an audiophile household name.  I have it connected to a hefty, vintage Sansui receiver, which I also love.  It can be a pain to work with at times due to the size and weight of it, but I guess that's actually a good thing.  And some boring RCA speakers where a modest upgrade is much needed.

For storage I have a version of an IKEA Expedit that my dad (a carpenter) built. It works pretty well, I should have considered making the dimensions slightly larger due to records being in sleeves. I also keep my turntable/receiver/speakers on top of it for a simple, classic set-up.  I don't know what I'll do when my collection eventually exceeds the shelves. 

[Bubba McBubba]

I'd be interested in hearing about your guys' set-ups, turntables, what you use for vinyl storage, etc.

My turntable is an Audio Technica AT-PL120, which is an incredible machine, and at a great price.

It has a built-in phono pre-amp, and I simply have it hooked up to Altec Lansing speakers that are supposed to be computer speakers, and yet they also have the separate RCA red/white inputs.  I like these speakers enough that I own two sets, one for the turntable and one for my Mac Pro.

Most of my vinyl is stored in three racks I on which I used to store my laserdiscs (which were also 12" x 12").  When I ran out of space there, I added a shelf above those laserdisc racks.  And then, when I ran out of space beyond that, I started archiving records I could not bear to part with, housing them in these boxes in my storage unit:



Have bought less wax in the past month or so than at any other time I recall in the past decade or so.  All I purchased recently was this Yep Roc re-release of The Apples in Stereo debut:

[cyclone]

[twentyshots]

man...that slint album is good. reminds me i need to spin that again.

[Bubba McBubba]

Finally had some spending money and some free time (the two rarest commodities) and went to Shake It last night and the Dayton (Beavercreek) Half-Price Books today.  For most of these records, I will only post the usual web images, because there isn't anything remarkably different enough about them for me to take a photo.

First, Shake-It:



Spread across two slabs of wax, with download card for entire album plus additional acoustic versions of two tracks.



Have been listening to the MP3 of this for a long time and only recently discovered it has been released on vinyl.  I think this single track is better than anything off their last LP.  This 12" has an exclusive remix on the flip side, which is just so-so.  As the sticker says on the front, it includes "a download of the complete album"--all two tracks of it.

Half-Price:


For only $3, I got a decent condition mono copy of this album.  Nowhere near as good as their debut or "Birthday", but it still has some solid tracks and the mono is not necessarily "rare", but is still harder to find.



I had heard about this in articles about the 50th anniversary of Elektra Records, but had not seen a copy in person.  I doubt this is rare, and I probably overspent when I paid $7 for it but I could not help my curiosity.

I was hoping the record would either be deeply appalling or a pleasant surprise.  Turns out the music is occasionally on the verge of "good", but is usually undermined by hilariously bad spoken pieces that occupy a space equally between William Shatner's records and the poems on early Moody Blues albums.  

Not so bad it's good, but not as bad as I thought it would be.

But one of the biggest surprises there is the ton of Vince Guaraldi vinyl somebody dumped there.  For an artist as well-known as he is, you don't see his vinyl in the racks very often.  All I have is a copy of "Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus" I bought on eBay, and an incredibly beat-up (but still glorious sounding) copy of "Charlie Brown Christmas".

Alas, the discs I saw today are largely priced beyond what I think is reasonable or in less than ideal condition.  Also, none of these were original pressings.  For the money HPB is asking ($12 - $20), these should either be originals in good condition or new issues.  So the only two I bought today are "A Boy Named Charlie Brown" and "Vince Guaraldi at Grace Cathedral".

The other surprise is what is in the box of rare 7" singles they keep behind the counter.  For some time now, there has been a ton of Elvis picture sleeves (including some four track EP's that I am aware are hens-tooth scarce) that would probably make some collectors weep.

Joining those are several Beatles' 7" picture sleeves, which I have not collected in the past, but was almost tempted to start doing today.

Even more new additions are ton of Nuggets singles, but I already have copies of "Liar Liar" and the like, so I wasn't tempted.

But what did make my heart skip a beat was seeing an original 7" of Pink Floyd's "See Emily Play", in the original Columbia sleeve.  The sleeve was in remarkable condition but, unfortunately, the record was not.  At least, not worth $50 to me.

And my heart skipped another beat when I was a pristine copy of The Stones' "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadows?" in the ridiculously rare "drag" picture sleeve.

No, I did not pull the trigger any of those, but I did happily pay $5 for each of these:



"Tin Soldiers"/"I Feel Much Better" by The Small Faces (1967).  By the way,their first three albums get double-disc reissues this year, and "Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake" gets a three-disc set.



"Children"/"My Time" by The Pretty Things (1967)



"The Good Mr. Square"/"Blue Serge Blues" by The Pretty Things (1970).

Get a load of that beautiful Harvest logo sleeve (well, beautiful to me, at least, as I seem to have a thing for the Harvest logo).  For that matter, I love the other two sleeves as well.  And how are these still in such good shape today when they weren't in protective sleeves?