The Vinyl Thread

[innerspaceboy]

1. What is the oldest record that you own?

I have a number of 1930s big band scroll label Victrola 78s, '40s Vogue picture records, an Edison diamond disc, and a shelf of Edison wax cylinders (do they count?) manufactured between 1896 and 1915.





My favorite cylinder record is "Don't Take My Darling Boy Away" (1915) by J Philips and Helen Clark. The song is a mother's plea that the captain not take the last of her children off to The Great War.



But a friend of mine has me beat with this Dictaphone he found curbside on trash day.



2. What is the most valuable record that you own (can be based on monetary or personal value)?

A number of my favorite LPs and box sets hoovered at between $3-500 but I believe the most I’ve ever shelled out for a single release was about $550 in 2012 for The Disintegration Loops.

From the official release page:

The remastered collection was released in a limited edition of 2,000, complete with a 5xCD version, 63-minute DVD, and 144-page coffee table book with photos and liner notes by Basinski, Antony, David Tibet (Current 93), Ronen Givony (Wordless Music), and Michael Shulan (National September 11 Memorial & Museum).

In addition to all four volumes, the reissue includes two previously unreleased orchestral performances: one recorded live during a Wordless Music event at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on September 11, 2011, and one recorded at the 54th Venice Biennale.



3. What is the first record that you've purchased yourself?

I started crate digging at local junktique shops around 2000 but wasn't tracking purchases for the first ten years. The earliest specific title I recall buying was James Brown's Revolution of the Mind: Live at the Apollo Pt. 3 from a used bookstore on 3/7/09.

4. If you have any, what is your favourite hand-me-down album?

Graham Nash's Songs for Beginners was part of my late father's collection, and it will forever remain close to my heart.

5. Do you have any RSD releases? Name some or all if you do.

I have a few. I picked up the clear vinyl 7 Skies H3 excerpt from The Flaming Lips’ 24-Hour Song Skull in a silver foil jacket, as well as Tom Waits’ “Lucinda” 7-inch.



6. What is your "holy grail" of vinyl?

Screen Gemz (the earliest incarnation of Underworld) produced one lone single sold from the boot of Karl's car - "Teenage Teenage" b/w "I Just Can't Stand Cars." It's oddball punk with garage production quality. Silly stuff but the single sells for $239-$389 when it surfaces, purely for historical value. I'd love to get my hands on a copy.

[Tristan_Geoff]

1. What is the oldest record that you own?

An original 45 of Thank You/Everybody is a Star by Sly and the Family Stone that I found in the free bin at a punk store for some reason. It's in really ****ing good condition so I'm really surprised I found it there.

2. What is the most valuable record that you own (can be based on monetary or personal value)?

Probably #1 monetarily? I wouldn't be sure about that. To me, my most valuable record would be my Unwound box set. Or my Is a Real Boy box set. Or White Light from the Mouth of Infinity.

3. What is the first record that you've purchased yourself?

Bridge by Red House Painters

4. If you have any, what is your favourite hand-me-down album?

Slow Train Comin by Seldom Scene and Dire Straits' self-titled

5. Do you have any RSD releases? Name some or all if you do.

Not that I know of.

6. What is your "holy grail" of vinyl?

The fukin Basinski boxset that Innerspaceboy has

[Frownland]

1. What is the oldest record that you own?

I'm not really sure. The oldest one that comes to mind is a mid-50s Schoenberg piano works collection, but I'm too lazy to really track down my oldest one.

2. What is the most valuable record that you own (can be based on monetary or personal value)?

If it wasn't beat to hell, my copy of Concert for Bangladesh could be worth $65-100. But it's beat to hell. I have a Euro-release of Boom Bip & Doseone's Circle that I might be able to sell to a completionist for top dollar if I hold onto it for long enough.

Highest personal value? Obviously TMR, even if it's a reprint.

3. What is the first record that you've purchased yourself?

It was actually a gift. My mom got a nice vinyl player at a garage sale that my dad hooked up to some high fidelity PAs (which have since been sold off ) when I was about 11. So at a field trip, I talked my group and chaperone into a musty record store and came along Moving Pictures by Rush and picked it up. She tossed it on a couple of times to please me, but vinyl/albums weren't really her thing--she just dug the radio.

4. If you have any, what is your favourite hand-me-down album?

I had Sgt. Pepper's on vinyl until I took it over to my friend's place at about 14 years old because he had a turntable and was starting to get into it. Our vinyl party got busted because our obvious teenage ass voices bothered the neighbours during our smoke out breaks and I ditched without thinking about the vinyl. My friend who I left the record with moved away not two weeks later (I think there were some tweaker parents in the mix) and his number stopped working and I had to get high to the CD version from then on.

These days? Also the Concert for Bangladesh collection because of the Ravi Shankar set.

5. Do you have any RSD releases? Name some or all if you do.

Nah.

6. What is your "holy grail" of vinyl?

Loop by the Velvet Underground

The best thing that they've done imo and the most elusive material

[Akai]

1. What is the oldest record that you own?

I don't know, I'd have to look through my whole collection

2. What is the most valuable record that you own (can be based on monetary or personal value)?

Not sure, probably 'The White Album' (depending on the serial number)

3. What is the first record that you've purchased yourself?

The Mothers of Invention - Live in Uddel (1970) ''Piknik''

4. If you have any, what is your favourite hand-me-down album?

Frank Zappa - Hot Rats

5. Do you have any RSD releases? Name some or all if you do.

Don't think so no

6. What is your "holy grail" of vinyl?

Chunga’s Revenge - Japanese 10-track promo sample blue label issue

[Cuthbert]

How can I check the value of my records? Like what do I need to check, in terms of pressing, numbers and that.

[Frownland]

Search for the record on Discogs to get a general idea. If you want your records specifically, look for the catalog number and google it. They're pretty easy to find, just look for a code around the edges of the cover.

[Goofle]

1. What is the oldest record that you own?

The Mothers Of Invention - 'We're Only In It For The Money'

2. What is the most valuable record that you own (can be based on monetary or personal value)?

Not sure what is worth the most money, so I will go with...

El-P - 'I'll Sleep When You're Dead'

3. What is the first record that you've purchased yourself?

I honestly cannot remember, but probably 'Souvlaki' or 'Surfer Rosa'

4. If you have any, what is your favourite hand-me-down album?

Answer to Q1.

5. Do you have any RSD releases? Name some or all if you do.

I do not believe so.

6. What is your "holy grail" of vinyl?

Don't care enough to have one.

[Cuthbert]

Originally Posted by Frownland

Search for the record on Discogs to get a general idea. If you want your records specifically, look for the catalog number and google it. They're pretty easy to find, just look for a code around the edges of the cover.

>>>
Ta.

[innerspaceboy]

Originally Posted by Man like Monkey

How can I check the value of my records? Like what do I need to check, in terms of pressing, numbers and that.

Additional tip - if your records are modern enough to have barcodes on them, download the free Discogs app. It has a barcode button on the main menu that enables your camera and pulls up the exact pressing based on your shot of the album's code.

When I cataloged my first few thousand LPs I used a similar scanner with Discogs retrieval and had my entire collection cataloged and indexed in no time at all.

[Cuthbert]

Originally Posted by innerspaceboy

Additional tip - if your records are modern enough to have barcodes on them, download the free Discogs app. It has a barcode button on the main menu that enables your camera and pulls up the exact pressing based on your shot of the album's code.

When I cataloged my first few thousand LPs I used a similar scanner with Discogs retrieval and had my entire collection cataloged and indexed in no time at all.

Thanks a lot mate. I didn't see this until now.

Cheers.