Vinyl Me Please Anthology

Socks! Socks! Really! 🤦‍♂️

I’ve also got to disagree pretty strongly with the idea that this is a fair price for an 8LP set, even at $280 delivered. That’s $35 per album which is €31.50 delivered. That’s per single LP just above the price I’d pay for a 2LP new release and well over the price of say the AAA’s of Joni Mitchell or Van Morrison’s early albums. That’s not even taking into account the standard reduction in individual unit price for ponying the extra cash up front for the box. The kinks in mono is a gorgeous AAA set of 9 albums over 10LPs for €160. It’s also so far above what good quality represses of Stax and Motown are in store. I also think that putting VMP on a par with an audiophile label is otpimistic at best.

I’m getting increasingly jaded at the acceptance of high cost limited records of standard quality being aggressively sold to collectors who want the next special piece rather than to listen to music. I sometimes want to see the whole thing burn to the ground and start all over again.
Yah, but did you look at those socks?!
 
Socks! Socks! Really! 🤦‍♂️

I’ve also got to disagree pretty strongly with the idea that this is a fair price for an 8LP set, even at $280 delivered. That’s $35 per album which is €31.50 delivered. That’s per single LP just above the price I’d pay for a 2LP new release and well over the price of say the AAA’s of Joni Mitchell or Van Morrison’s early albums. That’s not even taking into account the standard reduction in individual unit price for ponying the extra cash up front for the box. The kinks in mono is a gorgeous AAA set of 9 albums over 10LPs for €160. It’s also so far above what good quality represses of Stax and Motown are in store. I also think that putting VMP on a par with an audiophile label is otpimistic at best.

I’m getting increasingly jaded at the acceptance of high cost limited records of standard quality being aggressively sold to collectors who want the next special piece rather than to listen to music. I sometimes want to see the whole thing burn to the ground and start all over again.

How's that €170 Blood on the Tracks? I mean, we can all find faults about how others choose to spend their money and what they find value in. We can all find arguments to support a claim in either direction. £26 for a classic album presented AAA in high quality packing is for me, reasonable. Do I wish they cost less, sure, but this is what I pay for many of the AAA reissues I buy so I won't criticise a company for following market trends.
 
How's that €170 Blood on the Tracks? I mean, we can all find faults about how others choose to spend their money and what they find value in. We can all find arguments to support a claim in either direction. £26 for a classic album presented AAA in high quality packing is for me, reasonable. Do I wish they cost less, sure, but this is what I pay for many of the AAA reissues I buy so I won't criticise a company for following market trends.

The best record I’ve ever heard, and likely will ever hear, and utterly ridiculously overpriced to an extent I can’t possibly defend. I can defend that it sounds exponentially better than the previous MoFi blood on the tracks that was €45ish if I remember correctly. I also accept that I’ve overpaid more than once for things I’ve wanted because I love music. My point isn’t necessarily about how others choose to spend their money either but how this heated marketplace, in which music seems to be the afterthought, is creating an acceptance of things that aren’t particularly remarkable being marketed as limited one of a kind special things that we must buy now at a premium price.
 
That has to be The Soul Album.

And I asked Storf about why this was the only clickable clue and now this one's gone too. Whoops!

So my best guess on the 8 Albums:

Booker T. & The MGs – Soul Dressing (March 1965)
Sam & Dave – Hold On, I’m Coming (April 1966)
Otis Redding – The Soul Album (April 1966)
Bar-Kays – Soul Finger (July 1967)
Eddie Floyd – I’ve Never Found A Girl (1968)
Johnnie Taylor – Raw Blues (1969)
Albert King – Years Gone By (May 1969)
William Bell – Wow… (1971) or Phases of Reality (1972)
I pulled the trigger. Not going to try to defend/justify the price, I just love Stax, always have even before I started collecting vinyl or was a VMP Classics subscriber, and this list is the best case scenario for me if accurate. The Soul Album is one of the few Otis albums I don't already have, and I really hope we get Wow... because Phases of Reality is a clunker IMO.
 
My point isn’t necessarily about how others choose to spend their money either but how this heated marketplace, in which music seems to be the afterthought, is creating an acceptance of things that aren’t particularly remarkable being marketed as limited one of a kind special things that we must buy now at a premium price.
This is kind where I’m at with it too right now. Not sure what this box offers for $250. AAA is nice. But it appears to be albums that aren’t super hard to track down. I spend $30 on albums all the time To get AAA pressings so the price in itself isn’t a huge turnoff. It’s just nothing is terribly rare as far as I can tell. I liked the BN anthology selections because Ambrose has never been issued on vinyl and Shorter is hard to find for a decent price in good condition. I also like all the other records in it.

But then you see that Otis box set for $99 and I’d rather just pick that up than this box set. I’m sure the people buying it will enjoy the records but for me at $250 I would want to love and not own 80% of the records in it and while I love Stax, the list isn’t entirely doing it for me.
 
I pulled the trigger. Not going to try to defend/justify the price, I just love Stax, always have even before I started collecting vinyl or was a VMP Classics subscriber, and this list is the best case scenario for me if accurate. The Soul Album is one of the few Otis albums I don't already have, and I really hope we get Wow... because Phases of Reality is a clunker IMO.
No need to defend yourself! The quality of the pressings is likely to be great if Classics are any indication. Hope you enjoy it.
 
This is kind where I’m at with it too right now. Not sure what this box offers for $250. AAA is nice. But it appears to be albums that aren’t super hard to track down. I spend $30 on albums all the time To get AAA pressings so the price in itself isn’t a huge turnoff. It’s just nothing is terribly rare as far as I can tell. I liked the BN anthology selections because Ambrose has never been issued on vinyl and Shorter is hard to find for a decent price in good condition. I also like all the other records in it.

But then you see that Otis box set for $99 and I’d rather just pick that up than this box set. I’m sure the people buying it will enjoy the records but for me at $250 I would want to love and not own 80% of the records in it and while I love Stax, the list isn’t entirely doing it for me.

And do you know what, I actually do really hope that anyone who buys it enjoys the thing, I just wish it was at a fairer price for what you are actually getting. Tbh as much as they annoy me VMP aren’t even the problem, they have been created by the climate. I think the worst aspect of the vinyl boom is that the collection culture has breathed new life into the decaying corpse that is the major label music system.
 
And do you know what, I actually do really hope that anyone who buys it enjoys the thing, I just wish it was at a fairer price for what you are actually getting. Tbh as much as they annoy me VMP aren’t even the problem, they have been created by the climate. I think the worst aspect of the vinyl boom is that the collection culture has breathed new life into the decaying corpse that is the major label music system.
I'm not even rooting against VMP on any of these. I want the box sets to be awesome. This one just isn't for me for a few reasons. I do agree that I wish it was cheaper and as you say, VMP is just following the trends in the industry. Prices everywhere are crazy.
 
I'm not even rooting against VMP on any of these. I want the box sets to be awesome. This one just isn't for me for a few reasons. I do agree that I wish it was cheaper and as you say, VMP is just following the trends in the industry. Prices everywhere are crazy.

I think with all 4 anthologies that they’ve gone past the industry standard prices for this quality of box set imo and that’s the main issue I have with these. That said I judge them on it, not anyone who chooses to buy it if they’re going to love those records and spin them, it’s why i hope we’re all in this game.
 
I think with all 4 anthologies that they’ve gone past the industry standard prices for this quality of box set imo and that’s the main issue I have with these. That said I judge them on it, not anyone who chooses to buy it if they’re going to love those records and spin them, it’s why i hope we’re all in this game.
Ya--I was talking more the $30/album for AAA but I do realize that box sets are typically cheaper than that. I tend to stay away from box sets in general though except something like the Dylan mono set since it was SUCH a good deal.
 
Ya--I was talking more the $30/album for AAA but I do realize that box sets are typically cheaper than that. I tend to stay away from box sets in general though except something like the Dylan mono set since it was SUCH a good deal.

I don’t even know that $30 AAA is even standard given the prices the likes of Rhino have been able to do those very well for the last few years. I think at these prices ($35 a record) VMP are straying towards audiophile and I’m just not buying that they’re there. I also think we don’t help ourselves by getting blindsided by terms like AAA (which is no silver bullet) or 180g (which makes less than zero difference in my experience).
 
I don’t even know that $30 AAA is even standard given the prices the likes of Rhino have been able to do those very well for the last few years. I think at these prices ($35 a record) VMP are straying towards audiophile and I’m just not buying that they’re there. I also think we don’t help ourselves by getting blindsided by terms like AAA (which is no silver bullet) or 180g (which makes less than zero difference in my experience).
It's $31 shipped for US customers per record I believe if you buy early. Yes--there are labels that do cheaper AAA pressings at QRP, but those factors do add costs and there are quite a few quality labels that all are costing around that much now. Blue Note TPs, Pure Pleasure, etc. Prices are all over the place though. I agree with you on VMP not necessarily being audiophile but I will say that most if not all of the Classics track have sounded really damn good to me.
 
It's $31 shipped for US customers per record I believe if you buy early. Yes--there are labels that do cheaper AAA pressings at QRP, but those factors do add costs and there are quite a few quality labels that all are costing around that much now. Blue Note TPs, Pure Pleasure, etc. Prices are all over the place though. I agree with you on VMP not necessarily being audiophile but I will say that most if not all of the Classics track have sounded really damn good to me.

I’d say pre-Otis they were just about acceptable for $23. Since they’ve mostly been good value at that price. But again, they can do it at $23 outside a box and stuff in boxes usually cheaper because you’re dropping a big pile of cash on it.
 
For me, there is one reason I haven't bought a single one of the Anthologies. There is simply no way I'm dropping $300+ on anything without knowing what I'm buying. Full stop.

It’s weird thinking back on the Blue Note anthology where they gave those album cover clues in the video and basically gave all of the albums away. Still, people weren’t happy that there was no official confirmation. But it seems like they’re moving in the opposite direction and providing fewer and fewer clues. Blue Note was the only anthology that I seriously thought about purchasing because I streamed all of the albums, definitely didn’t own any of them, and liked what I heard. But they lost me on the price.

It feels like their unspoken target customer is someone who doesn’t know much about music or have much of an existing record collection but is willing to shell out for something that either will be viewed as collectible and have high resale value or will give their record collection some hipster cred. The ROTM tracks are like a mini, entry-level version of that, and I will shamelessly say I have spent more money than I should have on just because of the convenience of getting albums I’m unfamiliar with to close some of the gaps in my collection. But at least with those, they do get announced before you have to commit and you have at least a few days to stream the record and decide, or you can go in blind, but it’s only for 1-3 records, all priced at less than $30.

Now that they’re getting rid of the monthly subs, you have to commit for at least 3 records at a time. It’s not a completely blind commitment since you can swap, but even that ability is now being restricted, too. And I have to think that the success of Anthology is partly responsible for that change. If they can focus more on customers willing to shell out larger and larger sums for larger chunks of records more and more blindly - there’s no incentive to continue to offer one-offs, and definitely not to offer them at a good price, hence the price increases in the store this year to discourage those one-off purchases that don’t require a larger subscription commitment.
 
It’s weird thinking back on the Blue Note anthology where they gave those album cover clues in the video and basically gave all of the albums away. Still, people weren’t happy that there was no official confirmation. But it seems like they’re moving in the opposite direction and providing fewer and fewer clues. Blue Note was the only anthology that I seriously thought about purchasing because I streamed all of the albums, definitely didn’t own any of them, and liked what I heard. But they lost me on the price.

It feels like their unspoken target customer is someone who doesn’t know much about music or have much of an existing record collection but is willing to shell out for something that either will be viewed as collectible and have high resale value or will give their record collection some hipster cred. The ROTM tracks are like a mini, entry-level version of that, and I will shamelessly say I have spent more money than I should have on just because of the convenience of getting albums I’m unfamiliar with to close some of the gaps in my collection. But at least with those, they do get announced before you have to commit and you have at least a few days to stream the record and decide, or you can go in blind, but it’s only for 1-3 records, all priced at less than $30.

Now that they’re getting rid of the monthly subs, you have to commit for at least 3 records at a time. It’s not a completely blind commitment since you can swap, but even that ability is now being restricted, too. And I have to think that the success of Anthology is partly responsible for that change. If they can focus more on customers willing to shell out larger and larger sums for larger chunks of records more and more blindly - there’s no incentive to continue to offer one-offs, and definitely not to offer them at a good price, hence the price increases in the store this year to discourage those one-off purchases that don’t require a larger subscription commitment.
The thing with the Anthologies is that they are in my opinion doing too many, too frequently. They will burn out on this very quickly, as will the consumers. There's only so many worthwhile box sets you can put out before you start scrounging. One box set every two months is not sustainable for very long. Unless they take a break this will go south. We've already seen the last two (likely) not sell out before they were pulled... And we're only on box 4 now.... I don't know how many they have planned for next year but if they keep up at this pace these will lose all semblance of being a "special" item and will just be another expensive monthly item, like the Woodstock box.
 
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It’s weird thinking back on the Blue Note anthology where they gave those album cover clues in the video and basically gave all of the albums away. Still, people weren’t happy that there was no official confirmation. But it seems like they’re moving in the opposite direction and providing fewer and fewer clues. Blue Note was the only anthology that I seriously thought about purchasing because I streamed all of the albums, definitely didn’t own any of them, and liked what I heard. But they lost me on the price.

It feels like their unspoken target customer is someone who doesn’t know much about music or have much of an existing record collection but is willing to shell out for something that either will be viewed as collectible and have high resale value or will give their record collection some hipster cred. The ROTM tracks are like a mini, entry-level version of that, and I will shamelessly say I have spent more money than I should have on just because of the convenience of getting albums I’m unfamiliar with to close some of the gaps in my collection. But at least with those, they do get announced before you have to commit and you have at least a few days to stream the record and decide, or you can go in blind, but it’s only for 1-3 records, all priced at less than $30.

Now that they’re getting rid of the monthly subs, you have to commit for at least 3 records at a time. It’s not a completely blind commitment since you can swap, but even that ability is now being restricted, too. And I have to think that the success of Anthology is partly responsible for that change. If they can focus more on customers willing to shell out larger and larger sums for larger chunks of records more and more blindly - there’s no incentive to continue to offer one-offs, and definitely not to offer them at a good price, hence the price increases in the store this year to discourage those one-off purchases that don’t require a larger subscription commitment.
Yea--I only went in on BN because the albums were 99% figured out beforehand, I'm a huge BN fan and I didn't own any of the rumored records in the box. I also had the other VMPxBN albums and the sound quality was great on them. Also at the price point for early buyers, it was in line with what I was willing to spend as I regularly buy BN pressings of a similar quality for more than what the VMP prices were per album. And you're right-- it does seem like they are getting further and further from giving hints on what's in the box despite what must be 90% of people saying they want to know what they are buying. The FOMO they push amazes me more and more every day.
 
The thing with the Anthologies are, they are in my opinion doing too many, too frequently. They will burn out on this very quickly, as will the consumers. There's only so many worthwhile box sets you can put out before you start scrounging. One box set every two months is not sustainable for very long. Unless they take a break this will go south. We've already seen the last two (likely) not sell out before they were pulled... And we're only on box 4 now.... I don't know how many they have planned for next year but if they keep up at this pace they will lose all semblance of being a "special" item and will just be another expensive monthly item, like the Woodstock box.

Storf was talking like they want to do one anthology per month next year. That seems kind of stupid, honestly. I suspect these boxes are only going to get worse from here. I bought Stax, but I fully plan on skipping anything that doesn't really excite me from here on out. I'm glad I got Motown and BN though. Ghostly, not so much.
 
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