Nee Lewman
बैस्टर्ड
Doesn’t matter to me after I get Fist City.
Pre-Order Thread
- Thread starter Captainfog
- Start date
dhodo
Well-Known Member
The worst part was that they (MM) stopped distributing to other retailers, claiming the reason was that those retailers were jacking up prices. Then within a couple months they deleted that sentence from the letter on their page and jacked all the prices up themselves.
Then they put out colored versions that were around $30 higher and kept touting LOW STOCK so people who didn't care about the color bought the color versions. Then they repressed the black and brought the lower prices back (for a bit).
Completely turned me off from them as a company.
MikeH
Well-Known Member
That's fair. When I compare them to other recent releases that don't have the promised fluff, the price point is pretty similar. Chance and Tyler's recent releases were both around $40 shipped and those likely aren't at the quality of music/pressing that these were. That said, the pricing of 1LPs is getting crazy now, but I felt that the Anthology ones were in line with other Blue Note high quality releases and cheaper than trying to locate previous pressings of these albums in good condition. I totally get why people were underwhelmed by Anthology though and if you went into it expecting to have a flawless experience and expecting to have a crash course into the history of jazz, I can 100% see why you would be mad. And that's all on VMP for their vague promises and failure to deliver on them. One of my favorite promises was "exclusive discounts!" which they are now saying might just be on the next Anthology box set when they implied that the discounts would be on Blue Note records...
And that's why I'm no longer a member and don't see myself getting any future Anthologies. I wouldn't have gotten the first one either if it wasn't Blue Note and I hadn't purchased the previous VMPxBN records and gotten an idea of the pressing quality/mastering.
MikeH
Well-Known Member
I think Crumb was the last record I was waiting on so now I should be VMP-free! It feels great.Doesn’t matter to me after I get Fist City.
Woob_woob
Well-Known Member
Every comparison I've read of Anthology to other high end Blue Note releases says the opposite, but ok.
MikeH
Well-Known Member
Yea--it's very frustrating. Although I have seen MM still being distributed through some places like Acoustic Sounds unless that's just old stock still. I have quite a few MM pressings now but haven't purchased any directly through Blue Note. I have mostly gotten them around original price on eBay but now with jazz becoming more and more popular again, it's harder and harder to find MM for the original $40 list price.
Believer101
Well-Known Member
MikeH
Well-Known Member
Have you listened to them? The music and pressing quality is entirely in line with Music Matters. Some of the Anthology albums sound better than my MM pressings or AP or Classic Records pressings which are all priced at $40+ now. The jackets aren't as nice quality but the music itself sounds incredible. It's pretty much the only thing they got right with Anthology. Even the Ambrose album which comes from digital source since it was never recorded to tape sounds phenomenal. People are rightfully annoyed by all of the other things VMP got wrong with this set, but all of that is overshadowing the fact that the music itself is awesome. Years from now, the other stuff about how they had to re-send an album sleeve or the fact that they had the wrong label on the wrong side of an album won't phase me. They will still be among some of the best sounding records I own and that's what is important to me when I pay for something that's at that price point. I fully realize that I may be in the minority on that though. Will I buy another Anthology? Probably not. If I had to do it all again would I still buy this set? I honestly think I would but that's mostly because of the album selection and sound quality. Schizophrenia is one of my favorite jazz albums and finding an older copy in good, listenable condition would have cost me closer to $100 and I love all of the other records in the series.
gregathon
Active Member
Gruff Rhys → Pang!
shopusa.roughtraderecords.com
Pang!
Shipping to arrive around September 13 the deluxe edition comes on blue-splatter vinyl. Pang! is a futuristic psychedelic world pop album, a cross-cultural collaboration between Welsh musician and Super Furry Animals
shopusa.roughtraderecords.com
Tracklisting
Pang! is a futuristic psychedelic world pop album, a cross-cultural collaboration between Welsh musician and Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys and South African electronic producer Muzi. Having met while recording the track “Vessels” for Damon Albarn’s world music collective Africa Express, Rhys and Muzi decided to continue working on transcontinental music projects together, first on a remix of Rhys’ song “Bae Bae Bae” and eventually on a Gruff Rhys solo album recorded in Wales and produced and mixed by Muzi in both Cardiff and Johannesburg which, at Muzi’s request, consists of Welsh-language songs (with bits in Zulu).
As Rhys recalls, “Sometimes like on Eli Haul, [Muzi] would leave songs alone - often simplifying them further. On occasion he would jump to the mic and join in with some vocals. Some songs he would take a loop of a particularly interesting section, build a beat and rework the song from scratch, and by the song Ôl Bys / Nodau Clust - which we mixed by coincidence following a conversation about Daft Punk and industrial music - Muzi completely takes over, scrapping my bad bossa guitars, only retaining the original’s vocals. In that sense it’s a kind of remix album where adventure is favoured over predictability and where the radical remixes are the finished articles. Pang!”
Rhys also drew inspiration for Pang! from a trip to Paisley Park on a tour for his 2018 solo record Babelsberg: “visiting the gloss of Prince’s democratic music palace confirmed in me that my move into day-glo processed pop with this record was justified and in particular, albums like Around the World in a Day (and in particular the title track) became a reference point for attempting to make psychedelically joyful, internationalist and deeply personal digital pop music.”
- Pang!
- Bae Bae Bae
- Digidigol
- Ara Deg
- Eli Haul
- Niwl O Anwiredd
- Taranau Mai
- Oi Bys Nodau Clust
- Annedd Im Danedd
Pang! is a futuristic psychedelic world pop album, a cross-cultural collaboration between Welsh musician and Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys and South African electronic producer Muzi. Having met while recording the track “Vessels” for Damon Albarn’s world music collective Africa Express, Rhys and Muzi decided to continue working on transcontinental music projects together, first on a remix of Rhys’ song “Bae Bae Bae” and eventually on a Gruff Rhys solo album recorded in Wales and produced and mixed by Muzi in both Cardiff and Johannesburg which, at Muzi’s request, consists of Welsh-language songs (with bits in Zulu).
As Rhys recalls, “Sometimes like on Eli Haul, [Muzi] would leave songs alone - often simplifying them further. On occasion he would jump to the mic and join in with some vocals. Some songs he would take a loop of a particularly interesting section, build a beat and rework the song from scratch, and by the song Ôl Bys / Nodau Clust - which we mixed by coincidence following a conversation about Daft Punk and industrial music - Muzi completely takes over, scrapping my bad bossa guitars, only retaining the original’s vocals. In that sense it’s a kind of remix album where adventure is favoured over predictability and where the radical remixes are the finished articles. Pang!”
Rhys also drew inspiration for Pang! from a trip to Paisley Park on a tour for his 2018 solo record Babelsberg: “visiting the gloss of Prince’s democratic music palace confirmed in me that my move into day-glo processed pop with this record was justified and in particular, albums like Around the World in a Day (and in particular the title track) became a reference point for attempting to make psychedelically joyful, internationalist and deeply personal digital pop music.”
Woob_woob
Well-Known Member
Yea I said the music is the one thing they got right, but if all you care about is the music why not save yourself a ton of money and download flac files since that's the best way to listen to music. The whole point of vinyl is that it's something more and Anthology got that part completely wrong.
Mr Moore
Well-Known Member
The Anthology records may have similarities to MM releases at ~$50 each but they have more similarities to VMP Classics releases at $23 each IMO and you even get full listening notes with each of those to boot. Why they can provide that price structure for one strand of their membership and not another is beyond me. The Anthology was a rip off, nothing more, nothing less.
Twentytwo
Pre-order Goodness
https://store.thehighwomen.com/the-highwomen-2lp-vinyl-w-etched-design-1.html
First 400 Vinyl Orders come with signed poster.
Thank you for this. This is one of my most anticipated releases and a signed poster is a huge bonus.
Found this band on Spotify’s “Dreamy and Distorted” playlist. I really like the first two singles.
Bodywash - Comforter
Release date August 30
Bodywash - Comforter
Release date August 30
Nee Lewman
बैस्टर्ड
I’m going to start this by saying I am not defending Anthology, it was an overpriced train wreck. But this is not a fair comparison. The $23 is as an add on. Normally those are $29 or whatever and wholesale cost lowers due to quantity. Ergo 5000 records cost less per piece than 1000.
Sonicpharmacist
Well-Known Member
Not really a country music fan, but Redesigning Women is pretty damn fantastic. Ordered.
Mr Moore
Well-Known Member
But as add-ons for members which these very much could have (and probably should have to avoid the initial anger at it being an open market) been, they're $23. They'd have still sold 1000 within hours to members only, especially at the Classics price point.
Marginally, like by pennies and Classics was limited to 1000 at the start if I remember correctly.
A damn site fairer IMO than MM where the pressings are flawless, the repro art quality is flawless, the information on both sleeves and labels is accurate and there are frequently (maybe always? I admit I don't know, they're too expensive for me) additional rare photographs included in the gatefolds.
Ultimately, people don't like to acknowledge when they've been ripped-off. I get that but, this was a rip-off.
Nee Lewman
बैस्टर्ड
They’re the same thing?
JonnyH
Well-Known Member
Did you hear their Fleetwood Mac cover? I only thought the first single was good, but THIS!
Selaws
Well-Known Member
Even with the price they went for im still pissed (a little less now seeing the shit show it turned out to be) that I missed out whilst non-vmp members were able to purchase it. How they can call themselves a record 'club' when the members get no benefit is a mystery to me.