The Vinyl Album Club

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

That's a stunning collection Jim, absolutely stunning.

I paid probably the most I've ever paid for a record today, an original copy of Neu 75 for just over £30 including P&P. It was on eBay, so I'm hoping the record is as good as the description says it is.

I don't have any records of major value, but I do have several originals that would fetch a bit.

My Bloody Valentine - Loveless

Mazzy Star - So Tonight That I Might See

God Machine - Scenes From A Second Storey Window

The first 3 Red House Painters albums

Nirvana - Nevermind (Simply Vinyl 1997 repress white label promo) Not sure about this one, but there can't be many of them out there, so it must have some value.

I've had so many bargains over the years, that it's almost impossible to pick just one out. Recent ones are Deep Purple-Burn 1st pressing in excellent condition for £1, Miles Davis-Bitches Brew 1st or 2nd pressing for 50p, the sleeve and labels are in awful condition, but the vinyl plays really well, with just a very occasional pop. Others that come to mind are Oasis's first 2 albums for £2 each, I also got Suede-Dog Man Star for the same price from the same seller, but stupidly sold it. A friend of mine inherited some great records from his uncle, including original pressings King Crimson- In The Court...., Curved Air Conditioning, and about another 10 or so records, including Hendrix and Hawkwind. I think I paid him £20 for the lot, then sold some at car boots, and traded in the King Crimson at a record fair. I have been very very stupid on occasions.Just remembered, I got the first 2 Pixies albums, Sonic Youth-Bad Moon Rising, and quite a few other albums for 50p each from a recycling centre, all in good condition.

It seems to me that those days have almost gone now, unless you're prepared to get up at the crack of dawn and battle it out with a load of dealers at car boots.

Thinking about it, I do have a great collection, it just could have been a lot better if I hadn't sold so many.

Edit. Just remembered a couple of others that I let slip through my hands. Miles Davis-Sketches Of Spain and John Coltrane-Blue Train. My dad got them in a job lot at an auction, and he's a big Jazz fan, but Coltrane's a bit mad for him, and he doesn't like Sketches, so he offered them to me. I wasn't at all interested in Jazz at the time, so I let my mate have them. I'm pretty sure they were orignal pressings, so I'm gutted a l let them go. I might raise the subject when my mate comes down for his annual xmas visit, and see if I can try to get them back, though I'm sure he'll tell me to sod off. *smile*

 

[Jim-W]

I forgot 90's rarities on my list but you'll find The Red House Painters records fetching about £100 these days and My Bloody Valentine's 'Loveless' can fetch upwards of £250. I love both of these bands too. I've got a Nirvana 'Unplugged' on white vinyl but I don't think it's worth much. I didn't know you liked Deep Purple; I've got originals of the first 3 records and then I gave up!

Best value for records is markets in towns and cities in my opinion. I can't be arsed to fight the dealers who are probably going to sell them to me and people like me anyway!

I don't buy so many these days; there's a logic at work: only the really rare stuff is left to get and they are hugely expensive and now I'm on a teacher's pension I can barely afford to eat! I do splash out about once a month and probably will do on Saturday. Who cares about food when you've got a habit?

'Sketches Of Spain' and 'Blue Train' originals...now you're talking.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

I forgot 90's rarities on my list but you'll find The Red House Painters records fetching about £100 these days and My Bloody Valentine's 'Loveless' can fetch upwards of £250. I love both of these bands too. I've got a Nirvana 'Unplugged' on white vinyl but I don't think it's worth much. I didn't know you liked Deep Purple; I've got originals of the first 3 records and then I gave up!

Best value for records is markets in towns and cities in my opinion. I can't be arsed to fight the dealers who are probably going to sell them to me and people like me anyway!

I don't buy so many these days; there's a logic at work: only the really rare stuff is left to get and they are hugely expensive and now I'm on a teacher's pension I can barely afford to eat! I do splash out about once a month and probably will do on Saturday. Who cares about food when you've got a habit?

'Sketches Of Spain' and 'Blue Train' originals...now you're talking.

I have that Nirvana album too, £5 from a charity shop. I think they're worth a few quid, but nothing that'll pay off the mortgage. *smile*

My brother was a bit of a rock fan, so I kind of got into a few bands he liked (obviously, I didn't tell him), and DP were one of those bands. More importantly, I'm a sucker for a dirty hammond sound, and John Lord could play that thing pretty well.

There's no chance he'll part with those records, I was stupid to let them slip away. My mate's actually got a great collection, with loads of 80s noise bands like Butthole Surfers, Big Black etc, Zappa, Tom Waits, Can, Neu, all bought at bargain prices knowing him. He doesn't really buy records anymore, as he just doesn't want to pay the prices they're selling for now. When I tell him I paid £30 for the Neu album, he'll probably spit his drink out. *smile*

 

[luckylion100]

I'm a complete beginner and have found myself almost out of my depth estimatng the worth of certain potential buys. I've had some fantastic bargains though, £1.04 for a mint, original Tubeway Army copy of Replicas for example. I was thrilled! However I bailed on this copy of

PEARL JAM "TEN" RARE ORIGINAL PRESSING VINYL LP at £56.00, it eventually went for £72.00 plus postage.

I understand its true worth is the pleasure a record gives when actually on the turntable but it's certainly an added bonus to think you've acquired something special. The vinyl aspect of the hobby is something I plan on exploring over the years and want to leave my daughter a collection worth having.

To date, the most I've forked out is about £30 on a couple of occasions. I've a must have list of about 50 or so albums that I'm gunning for but it appears to be 'growing'. I've banned myself from a certain auction site and limited my record buying activites to local independent retailers as this is a ridiculously expensve hobby. I love it!

Thanks for sharing your lists, interesting reading and recommendations.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

Have a look on Discogs (http://www.discogs.com) if you haven't already, there are some bargains to be had there, but be really careful with who you buy from. Quite a few sellers will send 1-4 albums for the same postage, which is where you can get decent deals.

 

[luckylion100]

the postage costs have at times equalled that of the purchases. I tend to think I'm being thrifty, seeking out well chosen single bargains but it's a false enconomy. I shall check out the link, any old excuse to purchase more vinyl! ;-)Thanks BBB

 

[Freddy58]

With the addition of a donation I guess I have around 300 albums? From ABBA to Yes (no ZZ Top or Zappa) all stored in alphabetical order. As for most played, I guess it would be 'Argus' by Wishbone Ash. Most valuable? I'm guessing an original copy of 'Quadrophenia' by The Who?

 

[thescarletpronster]

I thought I'd resurrect this thread as we seem to have quite a few new people that are interested in vinyl on the forums now, and we never really went into any detail with our collections.

Nice idea, Barney. Thanks for bumping this, I missed it first time around.

Just interested in where you all file your records, in what kind of order, within genres, or just A-Z?

Hmm, this is where I get a bit tragic. I had a unique filing system to start with, can't remember exactly how it worked but it was based on where each record seemed to belong on the shelf. But when I reached 17 and had about 100 records, I started having trouble finding things and much to my chagrin ended up filing them alphabetically. I've considered doing them by colour, but...

At the moment, it's 'general' A-Z (pop, rock, soul, reggae, electronic, etc); compilations after Z; soundtracks (of which I have only a few, don't know why they're separated except they don't really belong anywhere else, and then for historical reasons I have separate sections for jazz and classical, neither of which are anywhere near big enough. 12" and 10" are filed in with the LPs, 7" separately because they fit on another shelf.

I used to have them stored on an old Ikea bookcase, sawn up and lain on its side, but at the beginning of this year I got a carpenter mate to make me a bespoke unit, in English oak. It has 8 'cubes' of 13.5 inches square, fits most of what I've got. The wood cost a fortune, but it was worth it as my living room looks ten times better.

Like someone else above, I have *cough* a spreadsheet with records and CDs listed on it, but I promise – I promise – that I only did this to get an idea of the insurance value in case of a fire. The total value scared me a bit.

Have you got any favourite records? Most valuable? Biggest bargain? Are there any records that you have more than one copy of, and why? etc etc

Favourite records. That's a toughie. It changes from time to time, of course. I'll come back to this one! Most valuable are some of my Can records, of which I have fairly minty German pressings of their first few LPs which are worth over £100 each (I've seen Tago Mago go for over £200). I've got duplicate copies of those in the UK pressings to play, as the German ones are a bit too valuable. Tragic, I know. The biggest bargain from them was Ege Bamyasi, which I found for £5 in my local second-hand shop in 1987. It was a real shame - I'd popped in for a browse two days before, passed the shop the next day but thought 'I mustn't go in again', gave in the next day and found that someone had brought in his entire Can collection on the day I hadn't gone in. There were only three left, which I snapped up. (I got called the c-word by a hippie who had just nipped out to the cash machine...)

A few of my Fall records are worth a bit as well, also the first two Neu! LPs on green Brain, the hessian sleeve of Still by Joy Division, Beefheart originals (Trout Mask and Lick My Decals Off on Straight, for example), and Talk Talk's Laughing Stock goes for a fair bit now.

Unfortunately I was pretty broke from 1991 onwards for a number of years, also didn't have time to listen to the radio to catch up on new music, and didn't have a stable enough home to put a turntable in it from 1993 to 2000, so I don't have much vinyl from the 90s or 2000s. And of course stuff from that period is really expensive, so I don't have much chance to put that right.

I was a bit disappointed when looking up prices with a view to selling things I no longer listen to, that while most of what I have is rare and obscure (I was a devoted Peel listener in my teens) most of it also is stuff no one wants so has little value. Oh well.

Records I most want... mainly a lot more soul, jazz and reggae, which I'm far too light on. I've always dreamed of stumbling across a copy of Can's Monster Movie on Sound Factory (500 copies only) or Joy Division's Licht und Blindheit (1578 copies) in a charity shop, but realistically...

 

[thescarletpronster]

Oh yes, and according to my spreadsheet, I have 960 records, although that doesn't include a big box in the loft which I need to sift through and sell...

Too many, but not enough...

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

Records I most want... mainly a lot more soul, jazz and reggae

I've got quite a big soul collection now, though I'm sticking at what I've got unless an absolute corker becomes available for peanuts somewhere.

My Jazz collection is growing. I went to a few Charity Shops this morning, and one of them had loads of Jazz albums for 80p (That's their unusual price for LPs), but they were mainly stuff like Ella Fitzgerald, which isn't really my thing.

If you don't already own it, you must get a copy of Heart Of The Congos by The Congos, possibly the greatest Reggae album of all time, certainly my favourite. The Blood & Fire reissue is the one to go for, though it's quite pricey.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

Nice idea, Barney. Thanks for bumping this, I missed it first time around.

Hmm, this is where I get a bit tragic. I had a unique filing system to start with, can't remember exactly how it worked but it was based on where each record seemed to belong on the shelf. But when I reached 17 and had about 100 records, I started having trouble finding things and much to my chagrin ended up filing them alphabetically. I've considered doing them by colour, but...

At the moment, it's 'general' A-Z (pop, rock, soul, reggae, electronic, etc); compilations after Z; soundtracks (of which I have only a few, don't know why they're separated except they don't really belong anywhere else, and then for historical reasons I have separate sections for jazz and classical, neither of which are anywhere near big enough. 12" and 10" are filed in with the LPs, 7" separately because they fit on another shelf.

I used to have them stored on an old Ikea bookcase, sawn up and lain on its side, but at the beginning of this year I got a carpenter mate to make me a bespoke unit, in English oak. It has 8 'cubes' of 13.5 inches square, fits most of what I've got. The wood cost a fortune, but it was worth it as my living room looks ten times better.

Like someone else above, I have *cough* a spreadsheet with records and CDs listed on it, but I promise – I promise – that I only did this to get an idea of the insurance value in case of a fire. The total value scared me a bit.

Favourite records. That's a toughie. It changes from time to time, of course. I'll come back to this one! Most valuable are some of my Can records, of which I have fairly minty German pressings of their first few LPs which are worth over £100 each (I've seen Tago Mago go for over £200). I've got duplicate copies of those in the UK pressings to play, as the German ones are a bit too valuable. Tragic, I know. The biggest bargain from them was Ege Bamyasi, which I found for £5 in my local second-hand shop in 1987. It was a real shame - I'd popped in for a browse two days before, passed the shop the next day but thought 'I mustn't go in again', gave in the next day and found that someone had brought in his entire Can collection on the day I hadn't gone in. There were only three left, which I snapped up. (I got called the c-word by a hippie who had just nipped out to the cash machine...)

A few of my Fall records are worth a bit as well, also the first two Neu! LPs on green Brain, the hessian sleeve of Still by Joy Division, Beefheart originals (Trout Mask and Lick My Decals Off on Straight, for example), and Talk Talk's Laughing Stock goes for a fair bit now.

Unfortunately I was pretty broke from 1991 onwards for a number of years, also didn't have time to listen to the radio to catch up on new music, and didn't have a stable enough home to put a turntable in it from 1993 to 2000, so I don't have much vinyl from the 90s or 2000s. And of course stuff from that period is really expensive, so I don't have much chance to put that right.

I was a bit disappointed when looking up prices with a view to selling things I no longer listen to, that while most of what I have is rare and obscure (I was a devoted Peel listener in my teens) most of it also is stuff no one wants so has little value. Oh well.

Records I most want... mainly a lot more soul, jazz and reggae, which I'm far too light on. I've always dreamed of stumbling across a copy of Can's Monster Movie on Sound Factory (500 copies only) or Joy Division's Licht und Blindheit (1578 copies) in a charity shop, but realistically...

Sounds like you've got quite a few records that I'd like.

Is the Laughing Stock an original? I have a reissue of it, and an original copy of Spirit Of Eden, plus all the other Talk Talk albums.

The oak shelf unit sounds good, and you're right, oak doesn't come cheap. Which reminds me of a funny story. A carpenter I was working with on a job had to collect a load of oak skirting for a job, but some of the lengths were too long for his van.........yep, you guessed it. The funniest thing was seeing him arrive at the job with a stupid grin on his face, then going to the back of the van, turning to us with the most confused look, and saying "How did you get it all out of my van so quickly?". Cost him about £800.

 

[thescarletpronster]

If you don't already own it, you must get a copy of Heart Of The Congos by The Congos, possibly the greatest Reggae album of all time, certainly my favourite.

Thanks, I'll look out for it. I've never heard of them, although checking it out on Discogs I see most of the people in front of and behind the desk are familiar names. My current favourite regaae/dub albums are Beware Dub, which I've had on cassette and CD at various times, but never the LP, Marcus Garvey by Burning Spear, and Live at the Counter-Eurovision by Misty in Roots. I've always liked reggae but never knew much about it and only in the last few years been making real efforts to find out more. A good reissue label for reggae lovers is Pressure Sounds. Good sound quality in the few releases I've bought. Made by real enthusiasts. Blood and Fire are excellent too.

Yes, Laughing Stock is an original - one of the very few records I bought during my poor and peripatetic years. I prefer Spirit of Eden, but Laughing Stock is more valuable as it was released after the magic 1991 date.

Ella Fitzgerald had an amazing voice, although the style she sings over tends not to be my favourite.

I must admit to an almost obsessive love for 1930s British dancehall music, I've got a very few 78s of it, and a wind-up gramophone. Forgot to mention that earlier. I'd love some more, especially by Lew Stone. Hard to find now, though.

 

[Jim-W]

I had no idea that 'Laughing Stock' was quite that rare and worth money but anyway it's my favourite Talk Talk lp. 'Spirit Of Eden' is dense, claustrophobic and lovely but 'Laughing Stock' is an incredibly beautiful record. I'm not a fan of any of their other records but the 'Mark Hollis' solo lp is pretty good too.

Augustus Pablo is wonderful, by the way.

Cheers.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

I think I agree with you Jim, but my opinion changes whenever I play one of the albums. I like the slightly rawer feel of Laughing Stock, and think, wow! this is fantastic, but then I'll play Spirit Of Eden, and think, but this is just beautiful. Both great albums.

The further you go back into their catalogue, the worse they get, but Colour Of Spring is pretty great.

I have yet to get into the solo album, I've owned the CD since it's release, but I really am struggling to like it.

Augustus Pablo, just one of the hundreds of great artist I've never heard, that I really need to. Life is too short to do all the things you have to, along with all the things you want to.

 

[Jim-W]

There's plenty of Augustus Pablo on youtube, BBB. Try his 'East Of The River Nile' and if you like that then chances are you'll like more.

One of the dealers that I buy from has, seemingly, no gaps in his knowledge of all recorded music. He is incredible! I feel so embarrassed when he holds something up and says, "I bet you've got this" and I've never even heard of the band. He has over 100,000 records in few lock ups, but he's just bought a new place to house them; he wants me to go through them and stick 'em on ebay but it just seems so time-consuming. Anyway, my point is that even with my decent knowledge, I can be made to look pretty stupid and realise I have huge gaps in my knowledge. It's funny how you discover, by chance or reading or youtube etc, an artist and then a whole new world opens up. Why haven't I got any of this? How did I not hear that band? Well because, as you say, life really is too short.

 

[thescarletpronster]

I only really like the final two Talk Talk albums, plus the Mark Hollis solo one, which I've got on CD (if you have the vinyl of that album you're a lucky man!), which work as a trilogy, I think. The Colour of Spring – which is starting to move in that post-rock direction and away from the new romantic synth-pop stuff – is quite good apart from the awfully twee children's choir singing about Jesus on the first track.

Augustus Pablo I don't know a huge amount of, but I do have (only CD, not LP) his 'King Tubby's Meets the Rockers Uptown', which was described as the second best dub album of all time on the liner notes of the ROIR cassette release of Yabby You's Beware Dub (which was, of course, the best). It is a pretty fabulous dub album, but I'd like to hear some of this non-dubbed stuff too.

 

[Daz B]

I have 240 Lp's and have been buying them on and off since I was 10 years old back in the late 70's

I have a varied colllection mainly late seventies / early 80,s new wave /ska and love my 2 tone collection.

I mainly buy my records from record fairs but have purchased quite a few from ebay but not so many recently,

I am currently decorating my listening room so I am missing my music at the moment.

My current set up is a Rega P1 turntable, Kenwood 3020SE Amp, Marantz 63 CD player and Mission M70 speakers..

I have recently purchased a Expedit storage shelf which will house the majority of my Lp's.

 

[jetski]

I have about 300 albums although I used to have loads more but sadly 'lost' lots a few years back and haven't been able to replace most of them. Included in the records that disappeared were loads of rarities (esp 7" singles like the original Anarchy in the UK and a few Rolling Stones bootlegs).

I don't file them in any order although sometimes feel I should as I have unwittingly bought duplicates of some.

I mainly collect anything by Van Der Graaf Generator/Peter Hammill, anything produced by Guerilla Records, and reggae (especially roots and dub) although my tastes are pretty eclectic and I'm not particularly genre sensitive.

A few years back I was forced to sell all my separates so now I've just got a (reasonably decent) Sony stack system to play them on but I hope to buy some new hardware if I can a) make the space, and b) get permission from the mrs.

 

[thescarletpronster]

Ji jetski, and welcome to the forum.

I forgot to mention before that my A to Z filing goes from right to left on the shelf. Completely logical, of course. Does anyone else do that?

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

Ji jetski, and welcome to the forum.

I forgot to mention before that my A to Z filing goes from right to left on the shelf. Completely logical, of course. Does anyone else do that?

How is that logical?

 

[thescarletpronster]

Well, it seemed logical when I did it. It means that when you take out a few, they'll be in the right (rather than reverse) order, because the front cover is on the right when they're spine-on. Works for me, anyway!

 

[stevebrock]

re: Talk Talk

I have a US first press of Laughing Stock

Also Spirit of Eden on Parlaphone, is this a first press?

My most expensive record was a sealed copy of Massive Attack 3 x 180g 1st press that I paid £65

Also have a copy of Kate Bush - Ariel that set me back £60 a few years ago.

I guess this is small fry to some of you guys - WOW

 

[Hi-FiOutlaw]

Ji jetski, and welcome to the forum.

I forgot to mention before that my A to Z filing goes from right to left on the shelf. Completely logical, of course. Does anyone else do that?

My method is the same, Right to left!*biggrin*

 

[thescarletpronster]

Also Spirit of Eden on Parlaphone, is this a first press?

My most expensive record was a sealed copy of Massive Attack 3 x 180g 1st press that I paid £65

Also have a copy of Kate Bush - Ariel that set me back £60 a few years ago.

I guess this is small fry to some of you guys - WOW

Spirit of Eden was originally released on Parlophone (PCSD 105), but you could only tell if yours was a first press by the stampers in the runout grooves (something like PCSD 105 A-1-1-1).

Is that Massive Attack the 100 Windows album? I think that's a triple LP, didn't realise it was so expensive though. No wonder I bought it on CD!

I have quite a few records that a worth a lot more than that (i.e. other people would pay that much for them), but I haven't ever spent that much on a record myself. I think they highest I've ever spent would be about £35-£40, and that only once or twice. Usually I try to get things for as little as possible, and I'd rather get original pressings than new, 'audiophile' reissues which do cost a bomb.

 

[thescarletpronster]

My method is the same, Right to left!

Good man. We can form the forum genius clique.