Vinyl Me Please Anthology

I hate to say this but I'd be so in for a subpop box. Honestly though I'll be very surprised if it isn't some kind of blues/soul/funk label/genre thing. If the price is around 150 or less, I might be in for it again with the assumption that any "extras" will be the extra bitching I'll do about them in this thread.
 
Indymisanthrope said:
Storf told me he thought I'd be pretty interested in the second Anthology after I said I didn't care about Blue Note. If the plans haven't changed, I think that points to something in the realm of indie/Americana or blues/soul.

People were never disabused of their notions about Sub Pop, were they? That didn't sound like a bad guess to me. Heck, even within Sub Pop you could pick an individual locus to tell the story of the label. Maybe curation by somebody like Mark Lanegan? That could get you some Lanegan solo, Screaming Trees, Twilight Singers, Soulsavers, Isobel Campbell collabs, and could all be timed to drop alongside a QOTSA Essentials AOTM.
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I think any sub pop box should be curated by either Megan Jasper or Bruce Pavitt. I also think that if sub pop wanted one they’d do it themselves, but that’s just my own inkling.
 
Ericj32 said:
Is this hyperbole? Weren’t the pages for the booklet 12”x12”?
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It's a bit hyperbolic....but the liner notes were extremely sparse for something that was supposed to talk about the history of Blue Note and seminal albums. Yes they were 12x12 pages but it reminded me a bit of when a kid is trying to cheat on an exam. The heading was half way down the page so they only have to fit the text on half a 12x12 page. Don't have the booklet in front of me, but this is what the liner notes look like for an entire album...

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MikeH said:
It's a bit hyperbolic....but the liner notes were extremely sparse for something that was supposed to talk about the history of Blue Note and seminal albums. Yes they were 12x12 pages but it reminded me a bit of when a kid is trying to cheat on an exam. The heading was half way down the page so they only have to fit the text on half a 12x12 page. Don't have the booklet in front of me, but this is what the liner notes look like for an entire album...

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Correct - I think some of the albums took up more of the page than this, but very surprising they couldn't get just a few more paragraphs to flesh out the page for these. (n)
 
MikeH said:
My guess is it will feature some badly up-rezed album art, at least one error on the labels, another 10 page pamphlet with a tweet's worth of liner notes for each album by grammy-award winner Ben Ratliff, some shipping errors and at least one album will have to be repressed and shipped months later.
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This is the reason that there are now up to TEN pictures nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars - so the word 'Oscar' can be used in a sentence about a non-winner. But people hear it in the sentence and think the film won.

Ratliff did not win a Grammy. He was nominated. He lost.
 
Indymisanthrope said:
People were never disabused of their notions about Sub Pop, were they? That didn't sound like a bad guess to me. Heck, even within Sub Pop you could pick an individual locus to tell the story of the label. Maybe curation by somebody like Mark Lanegan? That could get you some Lanegan solo, Screaming Trees, Twilight Singers, Soulsavers, Isobel Campbell collabs, and could all be timed to drop alongside a QOTSA Essentials AOTM.
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For that I would get back on board
 
MikeH said:
The only reason why they were able to get away with $230 was because the previous VMPxBN records were favorably compared to Music Matters which are all $40+. I'm not sure they would get people to bite on any other non-jazz anthology for that price for 6 records. It would be a tough sell for a lot of people. For Blue Note enthusiasts, it was a drop in the bucket.

I also don't think I'd sign up for Anthology and any promised extras, I would assume to just not get or be severely disappointed by.
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As a consumer the price point now becomes a major point of contention, VMP has shown it's cards, their "Experience" had no real value, the product, while at it's foundation is really good, left a lot of people let down with the end product. So, in my opinion, it's not going to be easy to sell the experience as part of the value anymore and you have your usual production track record still intact. It would have to be something I couldn't live without, which I can't think of anything at the moment, for me to even go sniffing at it at this point. The next Anthology is going to be an uphill battle just on price point alone. Of course it's probably also wise to go into it with @High Rant District's attitude, have low expectations and you won't be disappointed.

Here's the thing, and this isn't directed at those who bought Anthology, or VMP hate, it's just business reality. As long as Anthology continues to sell out and make them money, delivering an "actual" experience with flawless production at all levels, isn't going to be really important, at least in my eyes, this is the attitude they're projecting. As always, just my opinion ;)
 
AnthonyI said:
As a consumer the price point now becomes a major point of contention, VMP has shown it's cards, their "Experience" had no real value, the product, while at it's foundation is really good, left a lot of people let down with the end product. So, in my opinion, it's not going to be easy to sell the experience as part of the value anymore and you have your usual production track record still intact. It would have to be something I couldn't live without, which I can't think of anything at the moment, for me to even go sniffing at it at this point. The next Anthology is going to be an uphill battle just on price point alone. Of course it's probably also wise to go into it with @High Rant District's attitude, have low expectations and you won't be disappointed.

Here's the thing, and this isn't directed at those who bought Anthology, or VMP hate, it's just business reality. As long as Anthology continues to sell out and make them money, delivering an "actual" experience with flawless production at all levels, isn't going to be really important, at least in my eyes, this is the attitude they're projecting. As always, just my opinion ;)
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The thing is...the only places that people seem to be talking about the Anthology box is on here or the facebook group which is private. So if VMP does another one, I'm not sure that people who did not buy the first one and aren't members of this community will really know the wiser...They will likely continue with their vague FOMO marketing and will sell out again. I'm hoping they will actually listen to the feedback from the group and survey and change some things this time around, but like you--I can't really think of any MUST-HAVE box sets for me at that price point. I went into Anthology mostly wanting just the specific albums so I wasn't quite as disappointed as some others at the end result assuming we finally do get the other Dexter Calling and Shorter album represses. The liner notes were a huge disappointment to me. I was willing to pay the price though because the price on quality jazz reissues are around $30+ and I like all of the albums in the box set.

I think it's easier to go into it with low expectations if you aren't paying $230 for 6 records. I agree that it's going to be an uphill battle for them this time around. Unless they pretty drastically drop the price to sub-$200, the next one might not sell out. It sold out this time because they had the built-in rabid BN fan base. I can't think of another label that has such a big following of people with a lot of disposable income who are more willing to throw down money not knowing what is in the box.
 
MikeH said:
I think it's easier to go into it with low expectations if you aren't paying $230 for 6 records. I agree that it's going to be an uphill battle for them this time around. Unless they pretty drastically drop the price to sub-$200, the next one might not sell out. It sold out this time because they had the built-in rabid BN fan base. I can't think of another label that has such a big following of people with a lot of disposable income who are more willing to throw down money not knowing what is in the box.
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I can't imagine they aren't going to say all the albums up front this time. The end of the set survey asked like three questions about doing away with it. That is unless there's some weird silent majority who said they absolutely love not knowing what they are buying.
 
admiraltaftbar said:
I can't imagine they aren't going to say all the albums up front this time. The end of the set survey asked like three questions about doing away with it. That is unless there's some weird silent majority who said they absolutely love not knowing what they are buying.
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Not sure it's weird but I enjoyed getting the set two records at a time and digesting them slowly. I had a pretty good idea what I was buying, as it had been deduced by others before going on sale.

It sounds like their intention with the next one is to ship it all at once, but perhaps have the pairs of records packaged in such a way that you can't tell what the records are until you open them. Theoretically this allows people who want to enjoy/reveal the records slowly to do so at their own pace. The downside to this, though, is that VMP has a history. It's common knowledge that if you buy a VMP record, you need to check it out quickly and ask for a replacement (if needed) right away, before they run out of replacements. You cannot digest them slowly this way.
 
I did like the 2 records at a time. It was great having a few weeks to really digest them before the next batch. But I also like knowing what all the records were so that I could stream them when that is the only option for me to listen to music, like in my car.

While I would prefer the liner notes for all to be early, I could live with just getting the current records liner notes digitally. Then they could ship out the (better quality) liner notes at the end. That said, if they are the same 250 word type crap again, just don't bother.
 
Getting two records at a time would be great if the shipping wasn't a hassle. My last package got lost so I'm still waiting on replacements for the final two records. If they all came together I wouldn't have that problem. And I'd hope I'd have the mental fortitude to digest each record properly even if they all came at once.
 
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Djxfactor511 said:
Getting two records at a time would be great if the shipping wasn't a hassle. My last package got lost so I'm still waiting on replacements for the final two records. If they all came together I wouldn't have that problem. And I'd hope I'd have the mental fortitude to digest each record properly even if they all came at once.
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Hey, got my final two yesterday, yippee!
 
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