Record StoreDay 2014 Wrap-up Part 2

Part one is done, so here's part two. Again sorry for the crap pictures. 

I'd initially passed LCD Soundsystem's The Long Goodbye over thinking I'd get the much cheaper Blu-Ray instead. Then I remembered how concert films usually bore me and decided to pick this up anyway. It's expensive and pressed in a manner that is DJ friendly but a little weird for those of us rocking a solo turntable (odd sides appear on one record, evens in another, so you have to keep changing records.) Still, the performance is pretty epic and if you're a fan, you're going to want this one. 

I have a subscription to Light In The Attic, so I got both their RSD releases as part of that. Sorry to say, as I love this label a lot, I think they kind of dropped the ball this year. Pictured above is Playing Guitar The Easy Way by Michael Chapman. I don't know the back story, so I'mjust going to tell you what I hear. Each track starts out with a couple of scales, then he launches into a kind of typical late 70's folky instrumental thing. Really does nothing much for me, though the package with a big booklet is nice. 

A World of Peace Must Come is a vinyl reissue of LITA's 2008 release by Stephen John Kalinich. Long story short, this was recorded in Brian Wilson's living room and sounds every bit of it. It's half almost madrigal and half hippy dippy spoken word. Maybe I was in a bad mood when I listened to this, but it just was a little too pot and patchouli for my tastes. 

Another label I love did deliver this year. Death Waltz delivered a quartet of their usual cult movie soundtrack goodness, three of which shared the above sleeve. The fourth was In The Wall and looked like this:

Not sure why they did it that way, but there it is. Death Waltz is a label that just gets it. All this year's releases came on cool multi-colored vinyl, had a big poster and 12"x12" slick. They all were pretty good with the 1990: Bronx Warriors soundtrack standing out for me. Good work and well worth the investment. 

Speaking of soundtracks, here's One Way Static's picture disc release of The Last House On The Left. This is an interesting soundtrack, dated to be sure, but if you're into that early 70's vibe, you'll dig it. There's some groovy tunes, some Moog noodling, some hoedown stuff, etc. Noisy, like most picture discs are, but the source material is kind of lo-fi anyway. 

Finally, here's the annual "what was I thinking" pick up. Now, I love Spacemen 3, especially the early stuff. The problem being, the entire contents of this set is readily available on an inexpensive CD, also titled Translucent Flashbacks, where as this three 12" single set ran $80. Ouch. But it did come with a download card, for untagged 128kbp mp3s. In 2014, that's just unacceptable. 

Record Store Day 2014 Wrap-up Part 1

I'm Rob G. And I'm back from the dead...

Has it really been three years??? Well, whadda know? Anyway. Another Record Store Day has come and gone and rather than rehash all the old sentiments I blogged about ages ago, I figured I'd just do a brief run down of my haul. Once again, I spent more than I'd planned, even though the list this year really left me underwhelmed. Go figure. (Sorry for the crap pictures. I'm doing this from my iPad.)

Leading off is Nothing New by Gil Scott-Heron, one of the few releases I was really looking forward to. Long story short, this is stuff GSH originally recorded for XL Records but was passed over in favor of what became I'm New Here/We're New Here. Stark recordings of just Gil and his piano, revisiting deep cuts from his catalog and a little chatting in between tracks. Needless to say, this is an essential pick-up for fans of GSH. Very deep stuff, goosebump territory here.

Tame Impala dropped Live Versions this year and I may be a little biased about this release as it happens to be from a Chicago show I attended. The band stretches out a bit in concert, so this isn't just a same old stuff with crowd noises type of affair. My only beef is that they trimmed down the set list to fit it on one record. I'd have gladly ponied up for a second disc to have the whole show. Nice emerald green vinyl too.

From 1968, we have Sun Ra's Outer Spaceways Incorporated, a nice slab of prime, live Arkestra. For an artist as prolific as Sun Ra, it can be a real crap shoot as to what you're getting, but this album delivers. Not a particularly rare recording, but nice to have it on lavender colored vinyl with snappy new artwork. Shame ORG Music didn't bother with a personnel listing though. 

Get On Down has become one of my favorite reissue labels, but this year their RSD pickins were kind of slim. Food For Thought by The J.B.s is uneven as most James Brown related LPs are, but there are some stone cold classics contained within. I'm sure I have all these tracks on various compilations, but it's still a good spin. The purple vinyl single of The Grunt is a nice touch, though the poster of the album cover I could give or take. 

And my second pull from Get On Down is my token overpriced 7" for this year ($12! Damn!) The Coldcut remix of Paid In Full is a classic moment in hip-hop and this is a nice reproduction of the British version of what may be Eric B. & Rakim's finest moment. The flip side ("Eric B. Is on the Cut") still sounds like filler and I'd have preferred the 12" of this with the full seven minute remix, so I guess I'm kind if split on this one. 

My blind buy for this year was Jazzman's Jef Gilson et Malagasy five LP/one 7" set. I'm still digesting this one, as it's all new to me, but I'm liking what I hear so far. Spiritual jazz with a bit of a foreign twinge. What's not to like, other than the packaging, which left me a bit underwhelmed. 

Another RSD repeat performer is The Black Angels who came out with another 10" this year called Clear Lake Forest. I'm not really sure what to say about is one other than if you don't like the Angels brand of Texas psychedelia, this isn't going to win you over. Clear vinyl, mp3 card. You know the drill. 

I think I'm going to stop for tonight as I'm running out of things to say. Keep an eye open for part two, before RSD '15, I hope. 

A Quick Blurb About the Vinyl Lovers Label

Even though they've been putting stuff out since 2008, I just discovered this Russian reissue label called Vinyl Lovers. Apparently it's a subsidary label of Lilith Records and somehow related to 4 Men With Beards. They have some sort of contract with Universal and have a pretty impressive catalog. And that's about all I know about that.

I picked up a couple of Os Mutantes albums and a purple vinyl pressing of the Velvet Underground's "White Light/White Heat" at Half Price Books, who seem to have gotten a bunch of these titles in new. I'll start with the positive and tell you that these are quality pressings. Nice vinyl, flat records, very quiet.

The problem is in the mastering. These all have some harsh upper mids. The Mutantes records just sound kind of thin overall. The VU isn't too bad, but it still gets a little trebley at times. I'd also lay money down that these are from digital masters, if you care about such things.

Would I recommend this label? Probably not, especially at the $30 a pop most places seem to be charging for their stuff. I paid $10 a pop, and that's about what a Scorpio/vinyl.com reissue would cost and quality wise, I'd say sound quality these are similar, though the pressing is definetly nicer.

Record Store Day Thoughts

Record Store Day is a bit of a scam. There. I said it.

At the same time, there I was, lined up before opening with all the other hipsters and record collector scum, waiting to spend, spend, spend!

Why?

Well, I had a ton of in-store credit burning a hole in my pocket. And, at the same time, I'm enough of a sucker that there was some stuff I actually wanted to buy this year. Sigh. Hook, line and sinker.

But first, let me reel off a quote from the excellent Numero Group which kind of sums up a lot of how I feel about this retail holiday:

For openers, most Record Store Day records are trashy cash-ins. Bogus 7″ repros, expensive and needless live LPs, and perhaps the worst culprit of all, records that aren’t actually limited but are marketed as such (We’re looking at you Flaming Lips Dark Side Of the Moon)

Of course, they then go on to pimp their own Record Store Day special, available in the oh-so-trendy and completely worthless cassette format. Waddayagonnado?

Speaking of worthless, how about that Beach Boys double 78rpm set? How many of those do you think will ever get played? How many people even have something to play 78s? I don't and yet, here I sit looking at #3794 of however many thousands they cranked out, unwrapped and on my table.

The one item I was actually out for, the Big Star Third "test pressing" set, is pretty cool, even the cynic in me must say. But, it's still a fetish item. I had the music already. There's nothing new there. But I still had to have it, for some reason.

Ditto a few "bogus 7" repros", though I stayed away from the live stuff. And I did actually get around to buying some Black Angels stuff I didn't have. So there was that.

But really, at the end of the day, it's all kind of silly. The false scarcity and silly collector's editions and whatnot are, in my not so humble opinion, some of the worst aspects of the music biz. They do nothing other than trivialize the music, which is what it is supposed to be about, I think.

Let me tell you though what I do like about Record Store Day: seeing the stores packed. Sure, it's a herd of folks grabbing at those exclusives, but ultimately, they are putting money in the cash drawers at some of the few record stores we have left. Who knows? Maybe this one day could mean the difference between paying bills and getting evicted for a store?

But it also kind of gives me pause. If they have to go to all this hype and gimmick to get people in, are record stores still relevant in today's world? I know I've moved a lot of my purchasing to on-line and digital sources for reasons of both price and convenience. Yet I still find myself at the record store, every now and again. I don't think I could imagine life without them completely.

And apparently a lot of other people feel the same way. Both of the stores I went to were packed, and I can't believe they were all eBay scalpers. People weren't just buying the exclusives. There must be something to it that people would stand in the kind of lines I stood in for pieces of plastic with music on them.

So I still think Record Store Day is a bit of a scam, as I do any retail holiday, but at the same time, it does make me appreciate living in a town that can support three independent record stores. Though I don't frequent them as much as I used to, I'm glad they're still around. And, even though it's kind of ridiculous, I'm glad to have this Big Star set sitting in front of me.

A Secret Stash of Fake(?) Funk

Recently, I've picked up some releases on a label called Secret Stash. The albums seemed right up my alley, claiming to be lost porn and blaxploitation soundtracks, funk from Russia and a reggae version of Kind of Blue. However, something about these albums just didn't seem quite right.

Each one of these records is kind of mysterious, which already set alarms off with me. Absolute minimal credits and a suspiciously perfect backstory accompany each record. Me being me, I wanted more info about what I was listening to. If the recordings were really as obscure as they claimed, not knowing the musicians who played wasn't out of the question. But, I figured there should be some reference somewhere to some of the movies the tracks from Porno Grooves are from. Or surely someone is looking for that lost blaxploitation film Mad Dog's Hustle.

Suspiciously, all the information I found about the Porn Groove and Mad Dog's Hustle albums either linked back to those albums or a source which took Secret Stash's promo material verbatim. In other words, outside the scope of these albums, these movies don't seem to exist.

Regarding the Soviet Funk albums, they sure smell fishy, if they aren't out right fakes. This blog post, was one of the first I found and it led me to this message board thread. Pretty damning stuff.

Now I'm not going to say that these releases are fake just because there's no information about the movies or any of the people connected to them out there. And just because there are some wonky Russian titles doesn't necessarly mean it's a fake either. But the evidence sure casts a heap of doubt on the authenticity of these records.

But does it matter? If the music is good, does it really matter where it came from? Well, I kind of think in this case it does. If you're selling something as vintage Russian funk, it's kind of shady to have some guys from the local throw it together for you. I took an interest in these records because of what I thought they were and yeah, I feel a little ripped off that they appear to be fakes.

So how is the music anyway? Well, the one record I haven't mentioned, the Reggae Interpertation of Kind of Blue is very good, though the dub versions on the B side are lacking. The Porno Groove and Mad Dog's Hustle albums are pretty much standard library sounding tracks. Mad Dog leans a little heavier in a blaxplotation groove. Not too bad, but neither is essential.

However, when it comes to the Soviet Funk albums, the origin and back story on the records isn't the only bit of questionable labeling. To be generous, one could call these Jazz-Funk records, but really they are more in an early 70s fusion bag than anything like funk. Aside from not being what I expected, there really wasn't anything that grabbed me on the records. That could be because I was expecting Meters and James Brown and got Return to Forever and Weather Report.

If I'm wrong about these releases being fake, I'd be the first to admit it. I'd also be very suprized. It seems to me like Secret Stash has wrapped some pretty average music in an interesting, but phony, back story and put it out there. Oh well, at least the colored vinyl is nice.

The Last of the Old School Record Dealers

I was thinking last night about this Paul Mawhinney story (see yesterday's post for the latest) and why it's hit such a nerve with me, especially given that many of my comments might sound very cold and calloused. While I don't know Mawhinney personally, I am 99% sure I know the type of person he is, and it's seeing the demise of his type that makes this story so interesting to me.

I've been collecting records since I was a kid. I could say I've been at it seriously 20+ years. Back in the late 80s, I attended my first record show. At the time, that was the primary way you bought records, other than mail order. There was no eBay, no GEMM. You had local record stores (if you lived in a hip enough town,) dealer's lists/ads in the back of Goldmine and shows.

Information was a bit harder to come by back then. There were price guides, all of which deserved to be treated with a bit of skepticism as the writers were always dealers. Other than that, you had to rely on talking to dealers and fellow collectors. You had to trust prices you'd see at shows and conversations you'd have there. You also had to learn to separate the BS from the truth, because 90% of the dealers would have you believe they had nothing but the rarest gems that they were doing you a favor to take your money for.

At the last show I attended (which was a while ago,) I remember hearing a lot of dealers crabbing about eBay. For years, these guys had been the rule makers in this game. If they told you a record was rare and worth $100, it was up to you to prove them wrong. Without the Internet, that wasn't always easy. Not only that but you didn't find a great deal of variation in price. Everyone checked everyone else's list out and there wasn't a huge deal of undercutting. Same with the shows (not to mention all the real deals happened before the doors ever opened to the public.)

When eBay came along, not only was it easy to find a dozen copies of a supposedly rare record, you could look through the completed auctions to see that the average price was a fraction of what that guy at the show wanted. You also had a kind of shopping anarchy. While reserve auctions are always an option, for the most part, people would list things and they'd see for what people were willing to pay rather than what some bearded guy with a pot belly (and they always were bearded guys with pot bellys) says it's worth.

I'm not saying that these guys were shady, but they certainly had the advantage in the days before the Internet. The rise of eBay gave people like myself a peek behind the curtain and painted a much more accurate picture of what things were really worth than the old system where the people with a vested interest in the value going up dictated the prices.

If you're still with me, you're probably wondering what this has to do with our friend and "cultural preservationist" Paul Mawhinney? Well, Mr. Mawhinney strikes me as one of the last of this dying breed of old school dealers who seems to think we're still living in pre-eBay times, the times when guys like him dictated how much this stuff is worth. I also think, in spite of attempts to paint him as some sort of protector of culture, the man cares about money first and foremost.

Now, why would I think that about this guy I've never met? Well, part of it is a hunch but, watch that video I posted yesterday. It starts with Mawhinney manhandling a record from the late 1891 (I'd really expect a collector to handle records, especially one so old, better than what we see here) and asking this camera "how can something that old not be worth a lot?" Notice how he refers to his collection as "merchandise?"

"This has gotta be worth a lot of money, right?"
Well, maybe it was before you got your oily fingerprints all over it.

And money is never far from the surface when he's discussing these records. Never once do we see anything about which record do you enjoy listening to, which one gives you the most joy, but he is quick to show us the one worth the most money. That how I remember a lot of those dealers too. The dollars always came before what was in the groove.

As for money, I'm constantly amazed that in all the commentary surrounding his story, rarely does anyone ask where his figure comes from. His "archive" has been for sale since 1993(!) according to this Pittsburgh Business Times article. Considering this collection has been pawed through many times by people who would know, I feel pretty confident in saying if the value was accurate, it would be gone by now.

I'd also like to point your attention some first hand accounts from people who have been to Record-Rama, Mawhinney's store. This thread on a collector's board and this random blog post are kind of interesting. (Back in February, I had read more posts like those, but I didn't have the foresight to bookmark them.) These stories are anecdotal and should be taken with a grain of salt, but they sound a lot more like a hard nosed dealer than an archivist collector .

A lot of people remark that some museum or library should purchase the collection. Putting aside the issue of what public institution has the kind of money Mawhinney is asking, what is a museum going to do with a couple million records? Even as a donation, this would be a huge burden on an institution just to store it and I'll bet he'd have a hard time finding someone to take it (assuming he's still insisting on keeping the whole thing together.) I don't think many libraries have records anymore and considering were talking about an all but obsolete medium, making this stuff available to the public would involve a lot of money and time.

In other words, this stuff as one huge collection is nearly worthless to anyone other than Paul Mawhinney. But that's something Mr. Mawhinney seems reluctant to see, even though he's coming up against this face to face. I think even the most stubborn dealers I used to know from the shows would have just opened the doors and had a fire sale by now. I have to wonder how much Mawhinney could have made if he'd done just that, especially had he done it closer to when he first tried to cash out, before the market really went south.

While I don't doubt that Mawhinney enjoys music, I have a hunch that he enjoys the physical record as much, if not more. There are still people like him out there, there are fewer and fewer each year and his predicament illustrates pretty clearly why. The value of most records is still tanking and who in their right mind wants to invest that much physical space to something that is just sitting around devaluing?

It's not that "nobody gives a damn," Paul. The world just doesn't see these records as being monetarily valuable as you do. If you wish your archive to be available to the world after you're gone, you have that power, but you're going to have to forget about the money. Besides, you've had potential buyers looking at this for for fifteen years, you told the Library of Congress to take a hike and eBay didn't come through. Don't you think maybe it's time to move on?

A Tear for Paul Mawhinney

The Archive from Sean Dunne on Vimeo.

I previously covered this saga here and here, but this video is making the rounds, so I feel the need to comment again. I guess the thing is, if you look into the whole story, get past the gee-wow factor of the number of records and the money claimed as value, things just don't add up.

First off, the issue of where this alleged value for this collection comes from is again glossed over. Can you take the word of someone who has authored price guides (a fact left out of the video) in a hobby where price guide authors have been known to bump up the book values of their own specialties? And surely I'm not the only one who is a little suspicious about someone selling something so expensive so reluctant to share details of what's exactly in it. Supposedly it's documented. Why not post it at the website?

Well, one thing is shown as again he trots out this Rolling Stones LP as the crown jewel of the collection. While it's a nice piece, if you're into the Stones, it isn't exactly a holy grail. Back in February, when he brought this out on publicity for the eBay auctions of this collection, a copy of the same album was up for $4k buy it now and no takers. Sure, you aren't just going to stumble across a copy at your local vinyl emporium, but I'd really expect a collection that large to have something much rarer as the centerpiece. Certainly something that wouldn't be up on eBay for less than you claimed it was worth and still no one wanting it.

There's also the at the least misleading, though more likely completely dishonest statement that 83% of his collection prior to 1963 isn't available at any price. The only way I can see that to be accurate would be if he owns every copy of 83% of the records produced in that time frame and they were never reissued. Not bloody likely.

And while he's going on and on about how the world just doesn't care, he fails to mention the Library of Congress bid he turned down in 2003, which was more than $3million but less than the $25million he was still expecting to get at the time. He also fails to mention the stipulations that the collection had to remain intact and only duplicates could be sold which accompanied each attempt at a sale.

And while he's painting this as his life's work, he fails to mention that he was in the business of buying cut-outs and remainders by the trailer load. He does tip his hand when he refers to the collection as "merchandise." Of course, I also noticed in researching Mawhinney that one common comment among people who visited his shop was that if he'd actually sold people records instead of insisting the dozens of copies of a title they had on the shelf were too precious to part with and offering a $50 CD-R instead, he probably wouldn't be sitting on millions of records he can't move now.

And the more I've looked at this story, the more it seems to me that this really is dead stock that he hoarded or couldn't sell than any kind of really valuable collection. Again, I feel sorry for the guy as his health is failing and this looks like it was his retirement plan. However, I'm finding the coverage of this to be very dishonest and it's probably only encouraging Mawhinney's unrealistic expectations for his collection.

What's more, this whole "well, they won't have Paul Mawhinney to kick around anymore" tone the video gives off really bugs me. I had trouble buying the "preserving culture" talk before, but after seeing this video I find it out right laughable. Instead of talking about donating all this precious cultural heritage, he's sounds like he'd rather destroy it than give it away for anything less than $3mil.

We're not talking about some lost Shakespeare works here or the legendary Buddy Bolden recording or something of that stature. We're talking about a record dealer who hoarded a ton of cut-outs. No one forced you into it and it's not like you were doing this for any reasons other than your own and your own commercial interests.

So, as always, best of luck to you and your family, Paul. But I really think you need to get real about this. How many more years are you going to keep schlepping this around, fishing for sympathy among people who don't have the resources to buy your "life's work" even if they wanted?

A Fist Full of Reviews

Hey! You! Wanna pretend like you were chilling with me in the Manlair tonight, slapping wax on the Rega? Arrite, here we go...



Jimmy Castor Bunch - It's Just Begun: OK, Mr. Castor really isn't an album artist, per se, but this thing hangs together really well. The title track is a killer, I mean one of the heaviest funk tracks ever. The rest of the album leans more to Castor's "Mr. Everything" philosophy, but it never dips into the schmaltz like some of his later records. Very enjoyable. Dull sounding Scorpio reissue on red wax (and why in the heck is an OG copy of this so hard to find? I've never seen one, and I've been looking.)



Joe Chambers/Larry Young - Double Exposure: Impulse purchase. One of those things I didn't know existed. Duet album between underrated drummer and one of my fave organists. But hold on! I didn't realize Chambers also played piano. First side is piano and organ duets. After Chambers doing a solo "After the Rain," he finished out the second side on drums. Sounds a little like Lifetime without guitar. Sadly, Young was dead about four months after this session. Sadly, this record left me really wanting more from these two. Both sides give you just a taste and leave you wanting a lot more. Sadly, this is a typical Scorpio reissue and side two is slightly off center.



Lou Donaldson - Musty Rusty: Oh snap! This album is smoking. Prime Lou with Grant Green and Ben Dixon (who is quickly becoming a new favorite drummer.) Billy Gardner is no Big John Patton, but he still keeps things going on the B3. This is house party jazz, stuff you can dance to, though it's not out and out funky like Lou would get about three years later. This music makes you glad to be alive and it's a damn shame Universal keeps this stuff locked up in the vaults, though there is a Spanish bootleg CD out there. And I'm convinced that Chess, like Motown, used the cheapest vinyl possible as this record looks beautiful but plays like Snap, Crackle and Pop made an uncredited cameo.



Marva Whitney with Osaka Monaurail - I Am What I Am: Finally, damn! First off, the Monaurail have NAILED the classic JB's sound. I mean, close your eyes and you'd swear you were listening to some unreleased track with Fred Wesley. And these dudes are Japanese! So, when they hook up with Marva, perhaps the most underrated of all James Brown's ladies, you know it's going to be good. And it is...mostly. There are a couple of songs on here that make me go "meh." I suppose that's keeping authentic to the 1969 vibe they have going on here, though I don't think it's intentional, that's just my taste. Still, I like this album a lot, maybe not as much as Osaka Monaurail's own Reality for the People, but when this hits, it hits hard. The big question for anyone who is not me will be is this worth the import price? The vinyl was $20. I've seen the CD as much as $15 more.

Once more...with feeling!

The so-called "World's Greatest Music Collection" hits eBay again. And again, with a $3 million starting bid. And again, as the whole enchilada. Except this time, approved bidders can access the 45 database. Whoo, hoo.

It's funny. You'd think this guy would be tired of flogging this thing. He's been at it for, what, four or five years? Each year, the number of people interested goes down.

And I remember the follow up to the first eBay auction. After the winner was found to be a fraud, they announced they were in talks with the runner ups and they had a deal, they just needed to work out the details.

Yeah, it was all BS.

So, here we are. Same scenario, except they must approve bidders first. Any guesses at to if this thing sells this time?

(See also here and especially here.)

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Now playing: Liasons Dangereuses - Los Ninos Del Parque (12" MIX)
via FoxyTunes

R.I.P. $4 Thrift Store Philips 212 Turntable

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to celebrate the passing on to audio gear heaven of a dear friend, the Philips 212 turntable I paid $4.04 for at the thrift store at least three, possibly five, years ago. I really can't remember.

See, I wasn't looking for another turntable at the time. And the only reason I picked this one up was I had a friend enamored with this particular model at the time. He'd just got burnt on one on eBay, so I thought I'd give him this one. However, he'd already changed his attention to some other make, and I was stuck with the Philips.

Even though it was homely as all hell, with it's chipped and scratched dust cover and missing top part of the head shell, I figured I'd throw a cartridge on there and see what happened.



Well, I actually liked this turntable a lot. It was very easy to use with a great suspension chassis design that held rock sold even in the less than optimal place I was using it (on top of a dresser. And I could open and close drawers while playing records and not have it jump. Nice.)

Eventually I put a better stylus on it, moving up the Grado line. I always appreciated the irony of using a stylus that cost about 30 times more than the turntable, but I actually felt the results were pretty good. I used this deck for tons of needle drops and never had a complaint.



One day, while I was out of town, my upstairs neighbor's bathroom flooded, sending a cascade of water into my room and all over the little Philips. Never had a problem, though the turntable gained a little water damage in the process. I'm pretty sure I've dropped this thing once or twice and still no problems.

Then, not to long ago, it's like the wiring just cut loose. At first, I was missing one channel, then both. Seemed like a short somewhere, but now it's just dead. I almost feel like I should put some effort into finding out what's going on, as this deck is such a survivor, but I just can't justify it.

So, anyway, it's the end of the line for the little Philips 212. $4.04 well spent. If you're looking for a good old school deck for not much scratch (these go for cheap on eBay), I'd highly recommend checking one out.

More thoughts on the World's Greatest Music Collection auction.

Well, there were some bidders, but *shock* the winner has vanished into thin air. Who didn't see that one coming?

As a certified record nerd, I've been thinking about this auction and I think I have it figured out. See, there's a lot about it that just didn't make sense to me (as I noted last post.) But there's even more, like why didn't they use a real auction house instead of eBay? And, considering they've mentioned it's inventoried, why wouldn't you put an inventory list up, or at least the most valuable stuff, to entice a buyer? The actual listing was pretty poor and the Q & A with the selling agent really didn't give much more insight.

Then it hit me, they didn't expect to sell this on eBay. I mean, if they did, cool. But, I think this turned out exactly like they planned.

Why? Well, you can't buy the kind of publicity this auction got. A lot more people are aware this guy is cashing out than would be if this was just done at Christie's or announced in the record collecting press.

The three million starting price was a joke and they knew it. I'm sure they would have taken it had it been seriously offered, but I don't think they expected to get any real action at that opening bid. But, they did get the word out and now the world knows this guy is looking to sell.

I'm still highly skeptical of the estimated $50 million value. How many $10K Rolling Stone albums (currently available on eBay, buy it now for $4000, BTW) does it take to offset the hundreds of "Here Comes the Hotstepper" I'm sure are in this bounty? And I think that right there is a lot of the reason the guy is having a hard time finding anyone to pony up for this collection. It isn't worth nearly as much as he thinks.

On that note, if my theory is correct, they might have hurt themselves with the auction. We already know the collection isn't really worth $50 million as no one is willing to pay that for it. Same for $25 million, which, IIRC was what he was shopping it around for prior to eBay. Now we can safely say it isn't worth $3 million either as no one was willing to pay that for it.

I guess the big question is, what is this collection really worth? The truth is, no one really can say until it sells.

The other side of this is that a collection this large is going to be a constant money drain. He has this in a warehouse I'm guessing he owns. How many people in the country own enough space to house something like this? And managing this beast would be a full time job on it's own. No private collector has those resources, to say nothing of the fact that it's way to broad a collection for anyone not obsessed with owning a copy of every record pressed to keep together (which is one of Paul Mawhinney goals in selling this thing.) Unless you're Bill Gates, you'd have to sell parts of this thing full time just for upkeep on the parts you want.

Regardless, I think this was a neat way for them to get publicity. As to what happens now, I think one of two things will occur. First off, I'm really skeptical anyone is going to come through and buy the whole thing. I could see a group of people wanting to get into selling, but even then, I have a hunch this would be a poor investment and if Mawhinney really wants to keep this together, I don't see this happening.

So, that's the question. How serious is Paul Mawhinney about not breaking up his collection? Assuming he's serious, he'll end up donating it somewhere, if he can find someone who has the resources to deal with a collection of this size. (And really, what museum would this collection fit into anyway? That's the part I can't figure out.) If it's the money he's after, he's going to have to begin the long process of selling it off piecemeal.

Now, this guy has been a dealer for a long time and I think he knows what's up. While many people in the media were portraying this as the bargain of the century, I really think he'd take a bigger bath selling out one at a time than all at once. (See the Rolling Stones auction above.)

It'll be interesting to see what happens now, that's for sure. Having just taken a pittance for selling a huge load of records at a chain reseller, I guess there's some solace in knowing there's at least one guy doing even worse than I am.

EDIT: I'd like to add this link to a 2003 Pittsburgh Business Journal article about the two previous failed sales of this collection. I'd encourage you to read it and make up your own mind, but I think it's just making me a bit more convinced I'm on to something here.

EDIT #2: After reading a bit more about this guy and going over the part in the above link about the Library of Congress' offer in 2003 that he told them to go shove (and I'm assuming it was more than the eBay thing,) I'm starting to doubt my theory after all. The picture I'm seeing is a dealer guy who knows the "book value" of what he has and wants nothing less. The funny part is, most of the current articles highlight a few records that really aren't that impressive (17 first editions of Elvis' Christmas album! Whoopie!) so I'm beginning to really doubt the value of this collection. Historical value, sure. Financial value, maybe not.

At the Corner of Preservation and Profit.

While I've been taking a bit of a bath on the records and CDs I've been getting rid of, at least I'm not Paul Mawhinney, owner of the self proclaimed World's Greatest Music Collection. (I'm assuming the definition of "great" would have to equal 20th century American music. But I digress.)

Paul's collection consists of an estimated 6 million unique titles. It's value is claimed (according to whom?) to be $50mil. It's in a climate controlled warehouse. It's amazing! It's colossal! It's for sale!!! ...again.

After offering this bounty for sale twice with no one able to cough up the asking amount, off to eBay it goes. Less than 24 hours left (as of now) and no one has touched the $3mil starting bid. I'd be shocked if anyone did.

Now, here's the problem: if you read the info, they are only interested in selling to someone who will keep the collection intact. It's been offered to museums and I get the impression that's where they'd like it to go. And that's really where it should go.

However, no museum has that kind of cash, not to mention the logistical nightmare or transporting and storing this massive collection. $3mil is a lot of scratch, even if this is the bargain of the century (is it?)

And I'm not so sure a big old record collection would exactly be worth building a museum around, although if they really want to keep this collection preserved this way, I think that's their only choice. Either that or they are going to have to donate it and as I music fan, I'd love to see this end up in the Library of Congress.

The big thing I have to wonder is why? Why does this collection exist? They estimate on the site it'd take someone fifty some odd years, listening 24 hours a day, to hear it all. This sounds like a "life's work" project. Mawhinney was a dealer, owned a few indie labels and some publishing. Sounds like kind of an "American Graffiti" era fan. I have huge respect for all of that. There's obviously passion (or obsession) here, but passion doesn't pay the bills, as Mawhinney is discovering.

If he really intended this to be some archive of recorded music, why didn't he look into setting up a museum himself or find a worth donor to give it to? I don't begrudge the man wanting to leave something for his children, but intending to do so on the back of a record collection is a very poor financial decision, especially in this market.

If I can play armchair quarterback for a minute, I think this collection is going to be broken up and sold off, which in itself is going to be a massive undertaking. I just don't see any other way this guy is going to get anywhere near what this collection is estimated to be worth.

It's going to be interesting to see what happens next. Maybe someone will come in with a last minute bid and take it all. I find that unlikely though. I think, at the end of the day, the finances are going to override the historical value and that will be that.

And I can't imagine what is going through this guy's head right now. To have find that what has essentially been one's passion for decades isn't worth a fraction to anyone other than themselves has got to be crushing.

Anyway, I wish him the best of luck. Like I said, I honestly don't begrudge the man wanting to get some return on his investment. It's not my collection, but I know what I'd like to see happen with it. It will be interesting to see which path Mawhinney chooses.

New Vinyl Has Me a Bit Perplexed

After all the writing I've done recently about ditching my CDs and not wanting to put cash into a stereo upgrade I've been lusting after for years that I didn't think I'd use, I've done a partial about face. I'm still ditching a ton of CDs (and LPs too, for that matter,) but I decided to finally sink some money into upgrading my stereo. This is due in part to the fact that all my thrifted gear from the 70s is finally giving up the ghost, but I digress...

Anyway, I'm focusing mainly on records, as that's what I still enjoy listening to and it's what I'm keeping the most of. That said, I'm not new to this. I've owned a record cleaner for a few years. I know how to set up a turntable and properly care for the vinyl disc.

What I'm discovering is just how lousy modern record pressings are. Now, I'm someone who can deal with noisy vinyl. A lot of what I own has come from the thrifts and is in much less than fantastic condition. I can listen past pops and clicks, especially on a platter I've spent less than a dollar on. But when I plunk down $15+ for a new album and rip off the shrink wrap (and all the stickers bragging about the weight of the pressing,) that sucker better sound like a new record. Saddly, that's rarely the case.

Now, I know how records are made. I know it's as much an art as a science and I know if you want perfectly quiet, you might as well snag the CD. What I'm talking about is this Amy Winehouse LP I have that first time on the turntable has some terrible surface noise during the first couple of songs on both sides. Or the new Dungen album with what sounds to my ears like the distortion from an LP being repeatedly played with a mis-tracking tonearm.

Those are just two instances off the top of my head. I can say for certainty it's not my table as it plays other records just fine. I was still buying new vinyl on into the 90s and even then it sounded fine. I guess I just don't understand what the deal is. Maybe it's too many people jumping into the vinyl bandwagon assuming people either aren't going to play the things or that they have no idea new records aren't supposed to snap crackle and pop.

Speaking of suspect vinyl pressing, I believe I've written before about all these reissues showing up in shops of a seemingly suspicious origin. What I mean is, there are legit reissue labels like Sundazed, Simply Vinyl, 4 Men with Beards, etc. Then there are these other LPs that don't have any information about their origin. They look like photocopies of the originals. Some are colored vinyl, some claim 180g wax. They retail for about $9-$15 and they have a lot of stuff that isn't even out on CD.

Well, I believed the name of the company was Scorpio and I've had that confirmed. What I didn't know was that they have a website (vinyl.com) and are apparently on the up and up. I find it a little weird that they claim to be legit when they have some real "who the heck owns that" type obscurities, but that's what they claim.

What I can tell you about them is, their discs are mastered from DATs or CDs and are really hit or miss as far as it goes. Sound quality can vary from really great to pretty dull and unimpressive. The biggest problem they have is a high rate of warped records. It's happened to me, and even the next batch of that title was warped as well.

Still, I have a bunch of their stuff, as sometimes it's the only way to find it without paying collector's prices. However, I think they are aiming mostly at the hip-hop DJ market, which is pretty smart. Why ruin your original JB vinyl, when you can get a Scorpio for $9?

Anyway, fun stuff and if you're into the fetishism of vinyl (not *that* kind, you perv) you can pick up that stuff with confidence. If you're looking for the "magic" of vinyl, you might want to pass though.

I'm almost sad really.

Because I know this thift score is going to take a while to beat. Yeah, I haven't done a thrift score in a while. I really haven't found that much interesting. But today...



Yes, that is an original pressing of Ska Authentic on the ND label from 1964, not Studio One like all subsequent pressings. The top seam is split, but the vinyl looks surprisingly good. How this ended up in a thrift store in Indianapolis (and remain in such relatively good shape) I'll never know.

Saddle Creek gets it.

Though I'll probably never buy anything they put out, it's really wonderful that they are offering the digital download of an album with the purchase of the vinyl. I love owning records, but the sad reality is, I have to listen to mp3s more often. This is a great idea and I hope either more labels follow or Saddle Creek starts putting out music I like (not bloody likely.)