audioexchange

I intermittently watch the 45rpm audiophile (Michael Ludwig) Youtube channel. There is something both endearing about watching Michael, who clearly has stacks and stacks of money and a late in life enthusiasm for vinyl records. He clearly did not spend his formative years crate digging. His impressive record collection is made up, principally, of new releases and audiophile reissues, which he has been reviewing – sometimes comparing different pressings by different audiophile reissue labels. A couple of months ago, the bubble burst – when we all discovered that MOFI were, effectively, duping us into believing that their reissues were cut directly from analogue tape sources. He vowed that, in future, he would source original pressings to make comparisons. When I heard this, my heart sank, it was like looking at the Truman show – he was so upset by the MOFI conspiracy that he naively decided to fall into the “original pressing” sinkhole.

If you are a book collector, the object of all desires is the “first edition” that looks exactly like the second edition, the third and so on. The book doesn’t look or read any differently from one edition to the next. In fact, later editions may be printed on better quality paper with more easily readable fonts, but – no mind – the “first edition” that is the one you want.

There is a widely held perception that if you want to get the best copy of an vinyl record you want a first pressing from the country of origin (i.e. the metal work was derived from the original master tapes, not copies of those tapes). However, “country of origin” is ok if that is, for example, Sweden, where there was likely only one pressing run at one pressing plant. For popular recordings, albums may have been pressed up at several plants in the USA. Was the metalwork all made in the same place or were copies of the master tapes distributed to make lacquers at each plant? Did they use virgin or recycled vinyl? What was used for pressings in the UK, or in the Netherlands, Germany, France or Japan? Was the record in the first 100 off the stamper or the 9000th. How many pressing runs happened in the first year (they often look identical)? Absolutely nobody knows.

Yes geography matters. You can be pretty sure that if the album was recorded in the USA or UK then the Spanish, Portuguese or Greek version will sound horrible. However, as has been my experience, the Dutch pressing may seriously outshine the origin country one. The ONLY way to know how good a record sounds is to listen to it in the record shop before laying down any money. In the modern era, that is often impossible. Many record shops have closed and gone online only. Smaller markets don’t have second hand shops. Hence Better Records set up a business that takes the guess work out of shopping for your favorite albums. They buy piles of the most popular albums, listen to them and then grade them – into super white hot stampers or whatever (and then they, presumably dump the detritus – the exceeding blue cold stampers – on unsuspecting record shops, ebay or Discogs). It will cost you $200 or so for a hot stamper – and there is NO MENTION about first pressing, country of origin or anything else. And for good reason: it’s a crapshoot. Great sounding records are great sounding records. It has been my experience, for example, that D5 stamper represses of Contemporary Records albums, may sound better than original pressings, in particular if the grooves have been gouged out by 1950s needles.

Although you will read reams and reams of comments on the Hoffman forums that say things like “I don’t understand why you would pay $40 for this reissue when you can pick up an original copy for $5 in my local record store.” I often wonder where that store is. Not near me, and not likely near you. Most second hand records that I encounter are scuffed, warped, lightweight discs in tatty covers. Even if they look good they often sound horrible. It is often hard to find an early copy in excellent condition that sounds good – anywhere (see my last post). The reissue market exists because those records sound and look great.

This all brings me to Discogs. I have a long strong and loving relationship with that online platform. It is an amazing wiki type resource where users catalogue recordings – and correct mistakes. It is a goldmine for record collectors and a cash cow for record sellers. There are lots of great record dealers on Discogs who have sold me wonderful records that have enriched my life. And there are shysters. You order what you think is a country of origin first pressing (COFP) and receive a budget or midprice repress that comes on 90g of flexi vinyl – which NOBODY would mistake as a COFP – particularly when there is a mid-price sticker on the cover. After vehement complaints you end up stuck with the product (after a partial refund) due to the hassle and cost of returning it to the oh-so-innocent huckster. Add this to the epidemic of overgrading both vinyl and covers and you have a major problem. If you give the seller a negative review you get an ignorant and patronizing response. An a downgraded buyer rating.

So, when Michael posted a video titled “Why Discogs is no longer working for me” – it was like clickbait.. He informed us that he had ordered something like 130 original pressings on Discogs and, surprise surprise, a bunch of these never arrived, many were overgraded, bootlegs or not the original pressing and some dealers were particularly strange. He describes one seller in the UK who wouldn’t ship the precious album because he believed that it would be “flipped” for profit. I’m sure that some viewers would not believe the story, but I had exactly the same experience a few years ago with a seller from whom I wanted to buy a COFP of “Exile on Main Street” – he became weirdly suspicious of my enthusiasm for the record. He wouldn’t let me pay for it (the absence of a pay now Paypal button is a red flag on Discogs). Eventually, after a few email exchanges, he cancelled the order and later relisted the record for twice the price. Scumbaggery in the extreme as far as I’m concerned (I really wanted that record at the time – I lost interest about a week later).

If you are looking for COFP of jazz records, from any era, you have a good chance of picking them up, from reputable dealers, on Discogs. Often later Japanese pressings actually sound better for significantly less money. However, if you are looking for COFP in NM condition of popular rock albums from the 1970s or 1980s – well good luck to you. You are a sitting duck for being ripped off on Discogs or EBay or on any other online platform. Rock fans in those days didn’t buy a lot of records; they couldn’t afford many – and the ones that they had got a lot of play. Each time you play a record it deteriorates. Mint or near mint original pressings are few and far between: archives, cut outs or avid collectors. If you encounter, even in a shop, a record that has not been reissued on vinyl since 1975 and it looks new – it is a bootleg. It may sound great, incidentally, but it is not worth more than €20.

I was particularly bemused that Michael was going to a lot of trouble trying to source an original UK copy of a Blondie album. What was wrong with the German* version that would likely sound identical, cost half the price and avoid that horrors that involves buying anything from the UK post Brexit? [Warning rant ahead]. At this stage I am convinced that it would be cheaper for me to fly Ryanair to the UK, go to the record shop and buy the album there rather than face the deluge of duties, fees and VAT charges that you encounter from the postman. Michael seems to have found a good dealer in the UK to serve his insatiable desire for first pressings. Hopefully the dealer has vinyl mules who carry the records from London to Brussels on the Eurostar and then post them to Dusseldorf.

*A large proportion of albums pressed in Europe, particularly in the 1980s came from a couple of plants in the Netherlands and Germany.

~ by Pat Neligan on September 8, 2022.

Posted in Uncategorized
Tags: 45rpm audiophile, Audiophile Vinyl, crate digging, Discogs, first pressing, first pressing country of origin, michael lugwig, Vinyl, vinyl reissues