A thread peeling off from the new tt thread started by @Greybeard
My strategy has/had a few parts.
Recreate some of what I owned and loved in the 1970’s as a college student. Those were very music-formative years for me. I had about 500 lp’s but let them weather and die in the 1990’s as I assumed cd’s were replacing them. What we call “classic rock” today; Beatles, Led Zep, The Who, Pink Floyd, Bowie, Supertramp, Yes. You get the idea.
Here, I read up on and searched out excellent quality copies of very good pressings. The Steve Hoffman forums are my main source of geek talk about pressings and they’ll identify what you need to see in the deadwax to know what’s what. And I’ve found the Discogs is about the only marketplace where sellers identify down to the deadwax markings what they are selling. (Although some Ebay sellers do.) A fair number of these for me are first pressings.
There is a web store for a UK-based seller that’s excellent and they get a lot of UK first pressing Beatles albums. My wife has a soft spot for the Beatles and we’ve bought a number of these. They are surprisingly not as expensive as one might think . . . at least some of them. These are more fun to own for the album art and notes and ‘extras’ as opposed to the sound quality per se. The digitally remastered Beatles stuff sounds wonderful to us. But come on – have to own the original 7" Magical Mystery Tour that was never sold in the US! Or the Blue album on blue vinyl; White album on white vinyl, etc.
Acquire some of the jazz I love in the form of really great sounding lp’s. This meant new ‘audiophile’ pressings, often from original analog master tapes, as opposed to 1960’s pressings of the vinyl. Lots of decent sources online for info about these including the Steve Hoffman forum. And the guy who owns The In Groove record store in Arizona has a very good YouTube channel and he makes solid evaluations of new and vintage jazz. And for me one of our forum members here sends me recommendations that have always panned out
I have no patience for record store browsing. I’d rather pay $40 for a great early pressing of an LP than $10 each on 4 copies hoping for a clean one. Others love the chase; no argument but it’s just not for me.
Umm… I just kept mine…from the 70’s and 80’s. No recreation needed. Although I have filled in a few ‘holes’ in the collection - which I either never bought at the time - or foolishly chucked (not too many, fortunately).
Just buying used on Discogs. Quality is generally OK - only returned one, I think. I just accept that LP’s will never be as ‘clean’ as CD’s are. The odd pop or crackle is part of the experience…! Don’t think I have paid more than £10 per LP…?
What I am not doing, is buying LP’s of any current releases.
Just too expensive, for me…
I am just restarting my vinyl journey and actually fancy some record store browsing. The office is close to Brick Lane and I understand that there is a record store down there - will make a change from 20 years ago when it was known for me to visit there four times a week for a curry as my boss then was addicted.
I want to re-create the small vinyl collection I had long ago in the eighties but actually most of it was on cassette so I could play it in the car as well.
so for me I think it will be a cross between browsing the stores for some second hand vinyl and some online purchases of new stuff. As Bart said in the other thread there will be some hits and misses but I can live with that.
On this point does anyone have any recommendations as to a good online store for new vinyl?
Sorry I can’t help - I kept all my 70s (and late 60s) music from my start on the record collecting and hifi path (my taste hasn’t changed), the ones that didn’t wear out to be replaced with CDs (later ripped), or downloaded files, long since ripped, the rips preserving the albums (warts and all) forever.
I don’t have one really beyond don’t sell them because you will likely regret it later, I did sell about 10 LPs as an impoverished late teen and never have since then. Now with older second-hand records, I just buy the ones I like and want when I see them at a price I want to pay. With current releases, I will sometimes buy vinyl over CD if the mood takes me.
I wish I still had my vinyl from the 70’s but “it is what it is.”
Also some have the “luxury” of being rather indifferent to the volume acquired. Dedicated space, etc. I started off with and have maintained an ‘I have to be selective’ approach. They all have to fit in one piece of furniture that’ll hold about 200. And we have access to more digital music that we could ever listen to.
Last time I was in RT East, I was surprised by the sheer number of DOL reissues in the jazz sections…But still a nice place to duck in to now and again…
Yes, I’m sure you’re right. I mainly stick to used record shops, so don’t see new stuff much.
I thought Rough Trade would have little truck with DOL, but…a sale’s a sale, and RT East is pretty hipster!
Given that I’ve never sold a record I’ve bought so don’t have to replace anything, I’d say my only strategy is “do I like it or not”. I’ll admit there are a few albums I bought for completism that I’m not keen on but they’re few and far between.
Being a teenager through the 70’s, my heart is with the rock bands that were prevelant at the time (now referred to as classic rock bands), some of whom are still at work of course. My strategy has been to collect the full back catalogues of the albums of those bands, where possible through record fairs or shops dealing with quality used vinyl, the music, the atmosphere derived from many of the records takes me straight back to the most ‘educational’ part of my youff! A time period that can never be repeated unfortunately.
