Vinyl Me Please Classics

Anyone paying attention to the Anthology threads and the debacle there?

I decided to google VMP Anthology and see if it popped up anywhere else and, guess what, it totally DID (so shutting down their own forums was an effort in futility... thank God!) ... BUT:

People started pointing out shit I never noticed, like the Archie Shepp cover that was a scan of an original, complete with a stubbed corner. And the Max Roach with the inside being not a replica but a scan of an older, dirty copy complete with ringwear.

Anyone else digging through their old VMP Classics and jazz exclusives now to find other problems? Any to report?
 
Got my Anthology and Nat Turner today, finally. Nat Turner was in perfect shape, thank god.

The Dexter Gordon debacle is surely worth the discussion for the hardcore blue note people, but it doesn't really bother me. VMP just consistently has communication issues about things that are really important to their users.
 
MadLucas said:
Anyone paying attention to the Anthology threads and the debacle there?

I decided to google VMP Anthology and see if it popped up anywhere else and, guess what, it totally DID (so shutting down their own forums was an effort in futility... thank God!) ... BUT:
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I did a Google search. They certainly hyped the daylights out of it. For what was charged, these issues certainly aren't acceptable.
 
MadLucas said:
Anyone paying attention to the Anthology threads and the debacle there?

I decided to google VMP Anthology and see if it popped up anywhere else and, guess what, it totally DID (so shutting down their own forums was an effort in futility... thank God!) ... BUT:

People started pointing out shit I never noticed, like the Archie Shepp cover that was a scan of an original, complete with a stubbed corner. And the Max Roach with the inside being not a replica but a scan of an older, dirty copy complete with ringwear.

Anyone else digging through their old VMP Classics and jazz exclusives now to find other problems? Any to report?
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Not a big deal but #exactreplica #allaboutthedetails :

1767
1768

1769
1770
 
MadLucas said:
People started pointing out shit I never noticed, like the Archie Shepp cover that was a scan of an original, complete with a stubbed corner. And the Max Roach with the inside being not a replica but a scan of an older, dirty copy complete with ringwear.

Anyone else digging through their old VMP Classics and jazz exclusives now to find other problems? Any to report?
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I think the Archie scan was public knowledge when they dropped the record, and to be fair I don't mind seeing that stubbed corner on it. Some artists add fake ringwear to their artwork and that's a matter of taste. Same for Max Roach.

I mean, it's better having an accurate cover or inside gatefold even if it's a recreation or a scan of an older issue of the record. And Classics is not yet sold as a high end premium record.

That's not what's happening with the anthology, that was priced way above average, adverstised as faithful replicas and the problem being that the back cover is contaning false informations regarding the record it contains... Let's not try to pick every bone with Voldemort Me Please, they have enough issues as is.
 
MadLucas said:
Anyone paying attention to the Anthology threads and the debacle there?

I decided to google VMP Anthology and see if it popped up anywhere else and, guess what, it totally DID (so shutting down their own forums was an effort in futility... thank God!) ... BUT:

People started pointing out shit I never noticed, like the Archie Shepp cover that was a scan of an original, complete with a stubbed corner. And the Max Roach with the inside being not a replica but a scan of an older, dirty copy complete with ringwear.

Anyone else digging through their old VMP Classics and jazz exclusives now to find other problems? Any to report?
Click to expand...
I did a side by side comparison of the VMP Blossom Dearie with my OG copy and was disappoined with the amount they changed. They cropped the image, changed the levels so the image was considerably less crisp and darker (looked like the whole image had smudged compared with the original). The text on the back of the original is crisp whereas the VMP reissue looks like its been made to look old.

Pretty poor really (although the audio sounded good to me).
 
So far none of these things bothered me with the classics. Probably the price point along with the general quality of the pressings. But it happened a bunch of times.

Another one IIRC: I think one of them is MONO but the label on the record says STEREO. Blossom Dearie I think. But I don't have my records with me at work ( :( ).

EDIT: Yes, that's the one. See images on Discogs.

https://www.discogs.com/Blossom-Dearie-Blossom-Dearie/release/13022009
 
Selaws said:
I did a side by side comparison of the VMP Blossom Dearie with my OG copy and was disappoined with the amount they changed. They cropped the image, changed the levels so the image was considerably less crisp and darker (looked like the whole image had smudged compared with the original). The text on the back of the original is crisp whereas the VMP reissue looks like its been made to look old.

Pretty poor really (although the audio sounded good to me).
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Yeah even Van Morrison’s Veedon Fleece had completely different colors and was much more pixelated with terrible contrast. I did a side-by-side with my OG. I think it happens quite often with their reissues actually. I just don’t think they care enough to put the time and effort in to make it look exceptional. If it looks OK from a distance then it’s good enough for them.
 
mitchwagz said:
Yeah even Van Morrison’s Veedon Fleece had completely different colors and was much more pixelated with terrible contrast. I did a side-by-side with my OG. I think it happens quite often with their reissues actually. I just don’t think they care enough to put the time and effort in to make it look exceptional. If it looks OK from a distance then it’s good enough for them.
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I know he's beloved because Clay started on the forums, but VMP should hire a more competent graphic designer, who has a better eye for detail. Almost all of the mistakes (Dexter, Queen, pixelated scans, etc) are things that he should've had eyes on first. His design choices are fine, but his meticulousness is obviously lacking. Also, they went outside for Nat Turner and that is the best package they've done from an original graphic design standpoint.
 
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TCell said:
I know he's beloved because Clay started on the forums, but VMP should hire a more competent graphic designer, who has a better eye for detail. Almost all of the mistakes (Dexter, Queen, pixelated scans, etc) are things that he should've had eyes on first. His deigns choices are fine, but his meticulousness is obviously lacking. Also, they went outside for Nat Turner and that is the best package they've done from an original graphic design standpoint.
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Is it just him or is it a team? I have no idea. I’m sure they’re swamped either way and working on pretty short timelines. Not that that is an excuse.
 
Selaws said:
I did a side by side comparison of the VMP Blossom Dearie with my OG copy and was disappoined with the amount they changed. They cropped the image, changed the levels so the image was considerably less crisp and darker (looked like the whole image had smudged compared with the original). The text on the back of the original is crisp whereas the VMP reissue looks like its been made to look old.

Pretty poor really (although the audio sounded good to me).
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I brought this up at the time and I was shamed by the Enron community. 🤷🏼‍♂️
 
Paul got back to me on the SmartPost shipping of Nat, the story was they were processed as SmartPost before the switch to Media Mail and to change them to Media Mail would have to be done manually. See if you can find the flaws in this statement (I am sure this was the statement given to him)
 
mitchwagz said:
Yeah even Van Morrison’s Veedon Fleece had completely different colors and was much more pixelated with terrible contrast. I did a side-by-side with my OG. I think it happens quite often with their reissues actually. I just don’t think they care enough to put the time and effort in to make it look exceptional. If it looks OK from a distance then it’s good enough for them.
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stpaulbrowns said:
I brought this up at the time and I was shamed by the Enron community. 🤷🏼‍♂️
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What baffles me is that they aren't a small company anymore. Things like this shouldn't slip by. Remember, someone had to sign off on this, most likely several people, and they all thought it was acceptable to advertise it as a premium limited release.

Also @stpaulbrowns forgive my ignorance, whats Enron?
 
Enoch said:
Paul got back to me on the SmartPost shipping of Nat, the story was they were processed as SmartPost before the switch to Media Mail and to change them to Media Mail would have to be done manually. See if you can find the flaws in this statement (I am sure this was the statement given to him)
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I believe this. It’s what I thought when you first posted.
 
Kris said:
I believe this. It’s what I thought when you first posted.
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I would but they had switched to Media Mail prior to Nat and the second issue is if there were only a few us affected (remember they didn't think anyone would be in the second group) then why not manually change it for everyone since this was a rather big inconvenience
 
Finally got the Nat Turner record in..... and its dished. The book is the most likely suspect as it was in the same sleeve as the LP despite having a sleeve of its own. Totally fitting end to this ridiculous saga. I'm going to reach out and see if they can give me something other than canned response for this situation. I'll probably be avoiding VMP classics in the future if they keep cramming the book in there, unless there is something really good like this or the Al Green.
 
zombie.modernist said:
Finally got the Nat Turner record in..... and its dished. The book is the most likely suspect as it was in the same sleeve as the LP despite having a sleeve of its own. Totally fitting end to this ridiculous saga. I'm going to reach out and see if they can give me something other than canned response for this situation. I'll probably be avoiding VMP classics in the future if they keep cramming the book in there, unless there is something really good like this or the Al Green.
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I never understood why they didn’t ship the notes outside the sleeve, but the fact that NTR had a separate sleeve and it didn’t ship in it was ridiculous
 
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