Record Store Day Black Friday 2019 - November 29

[Geezee]

Belated story around this year's Record Store Day for me - I went in a couple of days after RSD to see what was left over at my local Flashback store. Although there was nothing this year that struck me as "must-have" - hence I didn't go on the actual day - there was a surprising amount of good stuff still left, and I was wavering over a couple of purchases. One of them was the rereleased Dunedin Double, which I've never heard and thought would make a very nice purchase. Turns out the owner is a huge fan of Flying Nun and was very happy that someone was interested in the record - he was disappointed it hadn't sold out on the day. But my interest in it triggered a very heated discussion in the record store - there was another guy who was making another purchase at the same time, and he felt it was appalling that the record was being released like this, and at such a hefty price, when you can still find copies of it for much less. The owner was sceptical, as was I, that you could find the original record for this price - I've only seen it in a record store once before and that was priced well above $100. So after a lot of huffing and puffing the guy eventually left, and I did buy it, partly almost for feeling sorry for the owner, partly because I still feel partial to the general principle of the RSD, and partly because I really wanted the record!

It's been lying on a pile of records that I want to listen to but haven't had time to get through until this weekend, and so finally I put it on yesterday. After all that, the damn thing seems to be a faulty record! The vocals seem to be recorded at a different speed to the music. Unless there's an issue with my record player (which there is, but unlikely to be affecting the record in this way), this must be a faulty pressing. Fcks sake.

[Ralph Paisley]

... One of them was the rereleased Dunedin Double, which I've never heard and thought would make a very nice purchase ...

Out of all of the RSD products released over recent years, that's the only one I've had any interest in ... unfortunately, it appears that there have a been a lot of mispressings -- warped disk and off-centre hole on one of the disks -- so I've held off ... fuckers!

Although, apparently, there are some faultless copies out there ... I'm not holding my breath

[Geezee]

... One of them was the rereleased Dunedin Double, which I've never heard and thought would make a very nice purchase ...

Out of all of the RSD products released over recent years, that's the only one I've had any interest in ... unfortunately, it appears that there have a been a lot of mispressings -- warped disk and off-centre hole on one of the disks -- so I've held off ... fuckers!

Although, apparently, there are some faultless copies out there ... I'm not holding my breath

interesting - so you've heard that there were issues with this specific release?

[hookfinger]

I opted out of RSD and instead took advantage of a deal that Yep Roc was running and bought 3 Dave Alvin released on 2x 180 gram vinyls for 10 a piece. A deal and no headaches. A friend hit up two stores and came back terribly disappointed. People were shoving each other, early arrivals were scooping up all available copies, some as many as 7 or 8 copies of the same release. Then when he went to the second store where he had asked the manager to reserve copies of a couple of things he was charged an additional 5 bucks, as a "courtesy for holding" them.

Seems like a good idea that had butted up against greed and capitalism and lost.

[JQW]

Out of all of the RSD products released over recent years, that's the only one I've had any interest in ... unfortunately, it appears that there have a been a lot of mispressings -- warped disk and off-centre hole on one of the disks -- so I've held off ... fuckers!

That's the big issue with the vinyl revival - far too many serious quality control issues with some pressing plants. When I was buying a lot of vinyl between the mid 1980s and about 1994, I can't recall having a serious pressing issue with a new record, other than a couple featuring the same label on both sides, and records were being pressed in far higher quantities then than today.

What's the problem? Are the people operating presses not familiar with records at all, and so have no idea as to the problems caused by pressing off-centre? Are the correct procedures simply not being adhered to? Or are the presses simply starting to fail - after all no-one is making new presses these days?

[Count Machuki]

anybody interested in anything coming out today?
I won't make it to the shops until later, but if one of y'all want me to keep an eye out let me know...

RSDBF releases 2014

[Count Machuki]

oooh I want that JBs record!

The JB's
These Are The JB's

DETAILS
Format: 12" Vinyl
Label: Now-Again Records
Release type: RSD Exclusive Release
More Info:
The unreleased album by James Brown's backing band: The Bootsy Collins-led JB's. This album is the Rosetta Stone of funk's dominant idioms, yet its existence is barely a rumor. In 1970, James Brown perfectly captured a definitive moment in modern music when he ordered Bootsy Collins into the studio to record the tracks that would be test-pressed on King Records as These Are The JB's. And if there is any funk ensemble as influential as Brown's, in the post-"Cold Sweat" musical landscape, it's the Parliament Funkadelic contingent. Those two streams, as Grammy-winning James Brown historian Alan Leeds details in this album's liner notes, converged for the first time here. There are only two extant copies of the original King Records test press LP of These Are The JB's. This, the first commercial issue of this album, was overseen by Now-Again's Egon alongside Leeds and Universal Music Group's James Brown expert Harry Weinger. It was mastered specifically for vinyl by Elysian Master's Dave Cooley from the original two-track stereo master that James Brown and his engineer Ron Lenhoff delivered to production forty-four years ago and is packaged in a thick, tip-on Stoughton jacket. it comes with a 12 page book of liner notes by Leeds and Egon and many unpublished photographs and ephemera.
TRACK LISTING: SIDE A: "These Are The JBs (Part 1 & 2)"; "I'll Ze"
SIDE B: "The Grunt (Part 1 & 2); "When You Feel It, Grunt If You Can"

[bobzilla77]

Oh that does sound nice.

I wasn't that thrilled about anything I saw coming out, stayed home today.

[Six String]

anybody interested in anything coming out today?
I won't make it to the shops until later, but if one of y'all want me to keep an eye out let me know...

RSDBF releases 2014

I caved and bought the Miles box of ten inchers and the NY box which I really swore I wasn't going to get but there it was.....I have to say, listening to two so far and they sound leagues above my originals of which a few are a little less clean than I'd like them so I talked myself into the splurge. I had to work a little extra last week so that will take care of that. I don't know why those four had to be in a box only. I wonder if there is any chance that will happen? It matters not to me and I didn't see anything about this being limited. Did I miss it?

I didn't know anything about that JB's album. There are only a few songs, long jams or an EP?
I might go back tomorrow and see if they still have any. I suppose it's possible. Things do seem to pop up a week or month after RSD.

[Count Machuki]

I didn't know anything about that JB's album. There are only a few songs, long jams or an EP?
I might go back tomorrow and see if they still have any. I suppose it's possible. Things do seem to pop up a week or month after RSD.

It's gotta be long jams, probably recorded very quickly on tour on the fly (?).
I bet some of it has been released in one way or another...but I still really want it. That is pretty much the locus point of his oeuvre [/pretentious]
totally gonna keep my eyes peeled for it.

I copped that First Aid Kit 10"
Guess if you're gonna cover a Paul "Wanker" Simon song, you might as well choose his best.



(on a commerce note, I bought this for the ten, came home to look it up on discogs, cheapest one there is $29.95 wtf)

[The Mysterious Doctor Satan's Robot]

I caved and bought the Miles box of ten inchers and the NY box which I really swore I wasn't going to get but there it was.....I have to say, listening to two so far and they sound leagues above my originals of which a few are a little less clean than I'd like them so I talked myself into the splurge.

The originals are just bad pressings - buying the box set is a definite upgrade regardless of how pristine your originals are IMHO. A good value overall. I wish the Coltrane estate would be just as involved in RSD.

[Six String]

I caved and bought the Miles box of ten inchers and the NY box which I really swore I wasn't going to get but there it was.....I have to say, listening to two so far and they sound leagues above my originals of which a few are a little less clean than I'd like them so I talked myself into the splurge.

The originals are just bad pressings - buying the box set is a definite upgrade regardless of how pristine your originals are IMHO. A good value overall. I wish the Coltrane estate would be just as involved in RSD.

I agree about those NY albums. They sound really great, better than my originals. Even TFA has some punch to it. I wasn't expecting anything special about that one. I wouldn't have even bought it if these had been sold separately. I have an original in VG+ shape so it was good enough. I may sell off my original. Tonight's The Night really sounded excellent. My original is ok but it has just enough noise in places that keeps me from enjoying it loud. Now I can crank it up to pure bliss mode.

[Six String]

I opted out of RSD and instead took advantage of a deal that Yep Roc was running and bought 3 Dave Alvin released on 2x 180 gram vinyls for 10 a piece. A deal and no headaches. A friend hit up two stores and came back terribly disappointed. People were shoving each other, early arrivals were scooping up all available copies, some as many as 7 or 8 copies of the same release. Then when he went to the second store where he had asked the manager to reserve copies of a couple of things he was charged an additional 5 bucks, as a "courtesy for holding" them.

Seems like a good idea that had butted up against greed and capitalism and lost.

I'd be having a talk with the owners of those stores. They shouldn't be allowing people to buy multiple copies of any of the RSD items. Talk about greed. Are the owners really worried about selling them that they feel a need to sell in bulk instead of letting all of their customers have a fair shot. They aren't supposed to hold copies either. I would complain to them and the RSD people of their practices.

[Nolamike]

I felt like I got played last year, bought an overpriced copy of the Lee Hazlewood 2LP anthology released by Light in the Attic, which was described as limited to a couple of thousand copies. They then released the exact same version to stores/mail order as a (much cheaper) standard release a couple of weeks later. I was pissed off, wrote em an email, they apologised but played dumb really.

The only thing I want from this year's crop is a copy of PIL's Public Image 7" wrapped in a facsimile of the original newspaper sleeve. Who's releasing it? Light in the Attic

Light in the Attic pulls that shit all the time. I have their 2 LP Kris Kristofferson demos set, and when I bought it, there were two different versions in the record store - one for $18, one for $26. It took me a few minutes to figure out the difference - the more expensive version had some gold coloring around a few of the letters, and was a RSD version of the thing. Other than that, they were absolutely identical.

Price everything to move.

This is huge.

Look, I know digital commerce and "the free shit paradigm" changed everything. BUT...you know how people notice shit like one record store kind of sucking a lot less than another record store? Yeah, me too.

Let's look at something like competitive pricing...those stereo Beatles reissues that came out last year? I've seen them in various indie shops for...well anywhere from $19 to $35. You have to assume the guy who is charging $35 is not working any sort of long term strategy. Does he deserve RSD?

Similarly, the used titles - you sit on your stock for decades because you've decided everything is "collectible" and priced it accordingly, you probably deserve to struggle with your overhead even more than you do. Does HE deserve RSD?

Seriously. The only RSD releases I've picked up in the last couple of years (since that version of Big Star's Third) have been things left unsold for months after the big event at deeply discounted prices... e.g., most recently, a Sun Ra reissue, and the Numero Group 7" boxed set of rare tunes from the vaults of Ric & Ron (originally going for $40 or $50; I paid $15). But not every place does that... there's actually one record store here in Houston that has a separate RSD section in their bins, and they've got stuff in stock from three years ago, none of which has ever been discounted. Do they expect someone to wake up from a coma and go rushing down there, looking for that Duff McKagan lp at full (2011) price?

One of my favorite places to buy records in Houston is, believe it or not, a chain of used book stores (Half Price Books). Each location only has a small selection, but every one is priced to move. And when they price their records, the sticker has a date on it; they regularly go through their stock, and will reduce the price on anything that's been sitting out too long. This weekend, I was able to pick up Mose Allison's third album there for $7; peeling off the price sticker, I found two earlier pricings over the last four months; the thing started off at $18. I never would have paid the original asking price (and I can't imagine there's some huge, untapped Mose Allison following out there, just waiting to pay that much), but at the reduced price, they got me. THAT'S how to run your shit.

[Count Machuki]

THAT'S how to run your shit.

No kidding. I wish more shops would get their mess together and do that.

[Nolamike]

THAT'S how to run your shit.

No kidding. I wish more shops would get their mess together and do that.

Even Euclid in New Orleans, which generally does a great job of pricing and getting in new stock, doesn't do this. There were always a handful of records there that I'd see on every visit, but which were a good $10 more than I'd be willing to pay. Again, they may have been priced properly according to book value and what-not, but after they've been sitting there for a couple years, they should probably be reduced.

But at least they price their stock. Jim Russell's Records in New Orleans is an absolute madhouse, which doesn't price ANY of their vinyl. You have to get your stack, go to the front, and wait for the owner to look up the value of each in printed (not even online) listings guides. And by looking up the value, I mean they would simply find the album listing, and quote you the mint condition price of the rarest pressing. They'd negotiate a little, but it was such a pain in the ass that I simply stopped going - every time I went, I'd grab a few things and bring them to the front, only to be given a price of $20 or more per lp.

[BARON CORNY DOG]

My boss had a few things priced at insane prices, based on his hunches from 30 years in the game. We would break his balls for it, but he would always insist that eventually, someone would buy it. And, lo and behold, every six months or every yeah, someone would wander in and pick one of em up. This was before there was as much information on the internet as there is now, so it would be tougher for that to fly. But you never know. The other thing I would say is that profit margins on this stuff are probably really low when it's on sale. You've gotta move shitloads when you're making a quarter or fifty cents (if you're not losing money).

[Count Machuki]

But at least they price their stock. Jim Russell's Records in New Orleans is an absolute madhouse, which doesn't price ANY of their vinyl.

Fuck that. I don't even put up with that shit from the damn flea markets.

[Nolamike]

My boss had a few things priced at insane prices, based on his hunches from 30 years in the game. We would break his balls for it, but he would always insist that eventually, someone would buy it. And, lo and behold, every six months or every yeah, someone would wander in and pick one of em up. This was before there was as much information on the internet as there is now, so it would be tougher for that to fly. But you never know. The other thing I would say is that profit margins on this stuff are probably really low when it's on sale. You've gotta move shitloads when you're making a quarter or fifty cents (if you're not losing money).

Full disclosure, I ended up eventually buying one of those records I didn't want to pay too much for - a Merry Clayton album, that had been in their racks for over a year - following a trade-in where I got more than I expected. It's actually probably slightly more valuable now, following that documentary on backup singers in which she was featured, not that I'm planning on trading it in anytime soon.

[Count Machuki]

But at least they price their stock. Jim Russell's Records in New Orleans is an absolute madhouse, which doesn't price ANY of their vinyl.

Fuck that. I don't even put up with that shit from the damn flea markets.

The benefits of a no-price antiques shop, though....

"I dunno, $45 seems awful steep for the Mary Martin Peter Pan Soundtrack...I'll just take this $6 copy of Sticky Fingers. Yeah, yeah, I'm sure..."