The Vinyl Collector's Thread

[storymilo]

Originally Posted by Rickenbacker

What's wrong with that? I have a bunch of vinyl and I still listen to some of the records every once in a while, but since I have all of it in .mp3 format it's much more convenient to listen that way. It's the same music, plus I get to brag about my vinyl collection.

No, he just doesn't listen to music at all. What's the point of having a great collection of music and never listening to it?

[Wrymwood]

My dad is really into collecting records, and he's kind of got me into it too. It pretty much ends up him picking out the gems for me, while I just buy the records I like to listen to them. Recently he gave me a Zeppelin III album in mint condition with the heavier vinyl for my birthday. It's got the wheel on the front cover that you can spin and put the faces in view of the little holes. Not sure if that explanation suffices, lol. Just wondering how much it might be worth?

[Certif1ed]

Originally Posted by music_phantom13

To be honest I'd probably rather buy a reissue of an old album than hunt out a rare pressing of that album; while the quality might be different it doesn't make too big of a difference to me.

There is a very noticeable difference - to some extent, it depends on the equipment you're playing it back on, but, as in any system, the output can only ever be as good as the input.

Thick, good quality vinyl will always sound noticeably better than thin, poor quality compounds - it's a matter of physics;

In good quality vinyl, the polymer molecules are smaller, better aligned, and smoother, allowing more space for the music that's being transferred from the metal cutter. Since the sound on vinyl depends on up and down movement of the stylus (as well as side to side), thickness is also key to a more dynamic sound.

As with a decent guitar amp, you really notice when you turn the volume up.

Crank up a Marshall JCM 800, and your guitar tone will sound sweeter and sweeter.

Crank up a first press Led Zep II, and the sound really comes into its own - you start realising what the fuss is about even if you're not an audiophile.

Originally Posted by Wrymwood

My dad is really into collecting records, and he's kind of got me into it too. It pretty much ends up him picking out the gems for me, while I just buy the records I like to listen to them. Recently he gave me a Zeppelin III album in mint condition with the heavier vinyl for my birthday. It's got the wheel on the front cover that you can spin and put the faces in view of the little holes. Not sure if that explanation suffices, lol. Just wondering how much it might be worth?

As with II, III should be on the UK Plum and Orange label - just about every sleeve has the wheel on it. The earliest (and best-sounding) presses have the legend "Do What Thou Wilt, So Mote It Be" etched into the runoff in the actual vinyl - but this text alone does not make them worth much more than about £20 for a really nice copy. They're not rare!

There are three versions which are worth serious money to collectors, the top one of which is a MONO promo with a red sticker on the sleeve proclaiming "promotional dj copy monaural not for resale". These can fetch up to $1000.

Sealed American presses with the original black sticker can fetch top dollar too, and these have the serial number SD-7201, rather than the later 5-digit number.

The UK press to find has 2 identifying features - the first is, of course, the serial number, which should be 2401002. Later presses added a dash - ie 2401-002. The second feature is the production credit given to Jimmy Page appears at the top of the label, with Executive Producer: Peter Grant appearing beneath. On later labels, Jimmy is relegated to the bottom of the label, and Peter's credit is removed altogether!

[wad]

Just wondering if anyone knows if The Who's Live at Leeds come with any extras? I recently found one on a job and it had a poster some glossies and some questionable sigs. If anyone has heard of this please let me know

[LoathsomePete]

I use to collect vinyl about five years ago, it was fun to find and listen to, but it's incredibly impractical. I actually ended up selling all my records when I moved to Wales, and by that time I had already gotten over the novelty of it in favor of storing music on hard drives, makes it a lot easier to share.

[Certif1ed]

Originally Posted by wad

Just wondering if anyone knows if The Who's Live at Leeds come with any extras? I recently found one on a job and it had a poster some glossies and some questionable sigs. If anyone has heard of this please let me know

It comes with 12 inserts in total. A first edition has black print on the front, not blue or red. The poster should be semi glossy, not fully - if this sounds like yours, I can describe the other inserts

[Wrymwood]

Thanks for the info! It has the serial number SD 7201, but it isn't sealed. Either way it's my favorite Zeppelin album and a fantastic gift, so worth a lot of money, or not, I still love it.

[Certif1ed]

Excellent!

Of course, as with antiques or any form of collecting, the main point of collecting vinyl is to enjoy it - that's why I say you can pick up ANY Red/Plum Zep album and it will sound amazing, if it's not scratched to death.

There are certain presses that sound better than others though - and there are rumours I've heard about some early pressings being mastered in such a way that cheaper record players simply couldn't handle them, and many "scratched" copies of mind-blowing vinyl were returned to stores - so a really early press may not suit your system if you're on a tight budget.

For example, some US audiophile collectors swear by a particular US pressing of LZ II with the initials RL in the dead wax - apparently copies can still be found in secondhand shops for less than $10. The sound on this pressing (RL was the mastering engineer) is supposed to render the music breathtakingly lifelike (and is the one I heard the above rumour about) - but I couldn't verify that, as US presses hardly ever turn up in the UK.

Like "Antiques Roadshow" (UK TV show), there's always interest in what it's worth - that's another part of the fun of collecting - but I mainly want to find the finest possible sounding recordings of the music I really dig.

LZ III is a superb album. I just double checked mine, which I got from a local shop for £10, and yes, it's definitely the earliest press possible, and Near Mint - which is nice.

Now I need another that I can actually play without worrying about decreasing its value...

[Wrymwood]

Oh, I also have a live Dark Side of the Moon album, but instead of going by Pink Floyd they go by The Screaming Abdabs, and instead of calling it DSotM they call it Brain Damage. I've never seen anything like it since so I'm curious if you know anything about it.

[Certif1ed]

I'd never heard of it until now - although I know that "The Screaming Abdabs" was one of many names (including The Meggadeaths and Sigma 6) that was used by Syd Barrett's groups prior to Pink Floyd.

I Googled "Screaming Abdabs" and "Dark Side of The Moon", and from the various bits and pieces that popped up, it seems that this would be a bootleg - possibly one of a large number of mixing desk recordings that were distributed in the 1970s, particularly of Floyd.

Some record plants were only too happy to get the work to press extra vinyl (and be paid for it!), hence the different names used, so that execs wouldn't trouble themselves with investigating why there were so many Floyd albums being released...

Whatever, most Floyd bootlegs I've heard from that time sound great - and I've even read one report of a recording matching your description as sounding better than the studio release. There seems to be some dispute over the date on the sleeve (1972), but it's possible, as Floyd did gig the album some 6 months or so prior to its release.

Disclaimer: I don't condone the purchase of illegal material, but I know how easy it is to buy one accidentally and then be delighted with it

In my early collecting days, I found one called "Forgotten Songs" by Marillion and didn't even realise it was a boot because it contains loads of stuff I hadn't previously heard by them, like a recording of Genesis' "I Know What I Like" - and the packaging style looked like it could have been created by a band just starting out and on a tight budget - like the Chemical Alice EP (Mark Kelly's band prior to Marillion).

Forgotten Songs sounds quite bad - and the Chemical Alice EP isn't amazing sounding (although the music is great!);