Vinyl Me Please Anthology

Crabbers said:
And yet people still buy their crap issue after issue
Click to expand...
Honestly, it's been hard to leave but it gets easier and easier every month over the past four months. It's honestly too much money for way too much bullshit. The scales are completely unbalanced now between "I want this album" and "I am straight up not having a good time".
 
bdrummond said:
The scales are completely unbalanced now between "I want this album" and "I am straight up not having a good time".
Click to expand...
that's what got me too. i dipped back in for Lee Morgan but VMP just stopped being fun for me. It became less about enjoying a record from them and more about dreading the need to open a package right away and check for defects so i could try to put in for a replacement quickly. same with the Anthologies. It sucks because when they are good they are good. I love the BN one. Zamrock and Tribe are also great after I got the pressing issues sorted with both. Herbie tempted me but I couldn't bring myself to deal with the possibility of more pressing problems and replacements.
 
bdrummond said:
Honestly, it's been hard to leave but it gets easier and easier every month over the past four months. It's honestly too much money for way too much bullshit. The scales are completely unbalanced now between "I want this album" and "I am straight up not having a good time".
Click to expand...
Most of us have been in this situation…it has been nice not having to deal with this month after month and saving money to curate your own collection to your interests though ;)
 
Crabbers said:
Most of us have been in this situation…it has been nice not having to deal with this month after month and saving money to curate your own collection to your interests though ;)
Click to expand...
Yup. For example I went to an antique store the other day and bought a few of > $10 used albums (mostly Erroll Garner) and while you never know how it's going to sound until it's on your turntable, it's still much more fun doing so and at least if the record sounds like shit, then you've only spent under $10 and the time it takes for a good cleaning, not $50 fucking human dollars. I loved the discovery part of VMP, Grizzly Bear was one of those discoveries, but the only thing it left me with was a feeling that I wanted to get a non-VMP version of the album.
 
bdrummond said:
Yup. For example I went to an antique store the other day and bought a few of > $10 used albums (mostly Erroll Garner) and while you never know how it's going to sound until it's on your turntable, it's still much more fun doing so and at least if the record sounds like shit, then you've only spent under $10 and the time it takes for a good cleaning, not $50 fucking human dollars. I loved the discovery part of VMP, Grizzly Bear was one of those discoveries, but the only thing it left me with was a feeling that I wanted to get a non-VMP version of the album.
Click to expand...
I think the non-VMP sounds pretty darn good and probably can be had for under $20.
 
bdrummond said:
Yup. For example I went to an antique store the other day and bought a few of > $10 used albums (mostly Erroll Garner) and while you never know how it's going to sound until it's on your turntable, it's still much more fun doing so and at least if the record sounds like shit, then you've only spent under $10 and the time it takes for a good cleaning, not $50 fucking human dollars. I loved the discovery part of VMP, Grizzly Bear was one of those discoveries, but the only thing it left me with was a feeling that I wanted to get a non-VMP version of the album.
Click to expand...
TenderLovingKiller® said:
I think the non-VMP sounds pretty darn good and probably can be had for under $20.
Click to expand...
Yep…and lately I’ve been selling a few things and have found most of them to be vmp ones going first because I have no real attachment to them or can find them cheaper elsewhere and sell off the vmp variant cuz people pay stupid prices for them for some reason
 
MikeH said:
so uh....this is a fun one! someone on reddit is saying that VMP is not issuing any replacement discs for Vanguard. only replacement sleeves. which is insane.
Click to expand...
Jesus christ...Of the 8 records in the Metal Blade box I needed replacements for 6 of them, one of which needed 4 attempts before finally getting a flat copy. This is insane.
 
MikeH said:
so uh....this is a fun one! someone on reddit is saying that VMP is not issuing any replacement discs for Vanguard. only replacement sleeves. which is insane.
Click to expand...
Isn't that a pretty easy situation? They could not delivery on what they sold so if they don’t get that corrected by providing replacements they have to take the box back and reimburse
 
Jan said:
Isn't that a pretty easy situation? They could not delivery on what they sold so if they don’t get that corrected by providing replacements they have to take the box back and reimburse
Click to expand...

Yup and it's what I will do if it ever comes to it
 
I wonder if this is a new hard-line stance by VMP given the last several months of replacements after replacements. Probably feel like they're just sending out way too many replacements. What will be left after everyone cancels is those on reddit that swear their copies have no issues, or that the crackle is just part of "the vinyl experience".
 
The last records I bought - ‘Endtroducing’ with one badly warped disc (GZ) and it took me three copies of Grant Green’s ‘Idle Moments’ to get an an acceptable copy. Even though the Blue Note Classics series are pressed at Optimal, it’s a total lottery whether you get a decent copy. Check out Discogs for some very angry people taking about it. I also saw some dude from Luaka Bop explaining the horrible problems they had with Pallas and RTI with the Floating Points LP.
It seems like a really messy time to be in the vinyl business.
 
Boognotik Reaktion said:
The last records I bought - ‘Endtroducing’ with one badly warped disc (GZ) and it took me three copies of Grant Green’s ‘Idle Moments’ to get an an acceptable copy. Even though the Blue Note Classics series are pressed at Optimal, it’s a total lottery whether you get a decent copy. Check out Discogs for some very angry people taking about it. I also saw some dude from Luaka Bop explaining the horrible problems they had with Pallas and RTI with the Floating Points LP.
It seems like a really messy time to be in the vinyl business.
Click to expand...
I believe Sam Records also said Pallas was disappointing lately and they might switch plants. Every plant seems to be having issues but GZ is still the worst. Optimal is probably a little tier above. These places are frantically trying to keep up and it results in bad QC. I don't think it'll be solved anytime soon sadly.
 
Even recently I’ve always been lucky with QRP and RTI. Have had plenty of problems with GZ records for sure. Optimal has always had a good reputation but I haven’t been lucky of late.
 
I'm planning on moving abroad over the next 1-2 years, so I've been thinking about how to move my collection lately. Due to the pain in the ass that such a task poses, I'll probably take only a portion of it with me, store a good bunch at my parents' house, and sell those records that I don't really spin that much in order to pay some of the moving costs. This got me thinking: How many VMP records would survive if I were to cut my collection in half?

Here's what I got:
According to Discogs, I have 72 VMP records, between Store Exclusives and ROTM. Out of those, I think I'd only keep 31(I bet that number would go down once I'm forced to pick which to keep between them and some other non-VMP records in my collection). Here's a list of what I would keep on a first glance (I put a star on those that would be absolute musts on my sortened collection, which narrows the list down to 14 albums)

-BVSC - ST*
-Local Natives - Gorilla Manor
-The Roots - How I got Over
-Yusef Lateef - Eastern Sounds
-Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - The Freedom Rider
-Fania All Stars - Live at Yankee Stadium*
-Willie Colón - The Hustler*
-Al Green - Call Me*
-Experience Unlimited - Free Yourself
-Oneness of Juju - Space Jungle Luv
-Shina Williams & His African Percuccionists - African Dances*
-Colter Wall - Songs of the Plains*
-Eddie Gale - Ghetto Music*
-Novos Baianos - Acabou Chorare*
-Max Roach - Percussion Bitter Sweet
-Charlie Rouse - Bossa Nova Bacchanal
-Darrell Banks - Here To Stay*
-DOOM - Born Like This
-Little Milton - Waiting for Little Milton
-Noname - Telefone*
-Kelela - Take Me Apart
-Nototiour BIG - Ready To Die
-Moses Sumney - Aromanticism
-Miles Davis - Sorcerer*
-Johnny Griffin - A Blowing Session
-Fugees - The Score
-Alice Coltrane - Journey in Satchidananda
-John Lee Hooker - It Serve You Right to Suffer*
-NxWorries - Yes Lawd!*
-Nina Simone - Sings the Blues
-Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition*

Anyway, I just thought this was an interesting exercise, as it helps me see how many records I purchased out of FOMO, or with just little interest in the actual music. I encourage others to do the same. I would love to see how many VMP records would make the cut for you!
 
Last edited:
I’ve been buying records for decades but only joined VMP in summer 2020. I’ve bought around 50 records since joining and reckon they’ve been among the best purchases of my life. Gabor Szabo, Mr Hands, Ask the Ages, +Justments etc. Recently quality control issues have marred the experience and the European vat hike could prove terminal but overall my VMP experience has been hugely positive.
 
The Quincy anthology has just been revealed. Overall, some interesting choices (I love that Back on the Block has finally been expanded to two vinyl records), but some meh ones too (aren't plenty clean originals of The Dude, The Wiz motion picture soundtrack, Walking in Space, and Body Heat readily available for much, much cheap?)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top