Vinyl Me Please Anthology

MikeH said:
Pretty sure Storf said that they were worried about making money at all on Anthology, at least when they were originally only going to do 500 copies.
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This first effort should have been ok with a loss. You make sure it’s perfect, authentic and everyone is happy, then the next thing(s) will be a breeze.

I got lots of experience with social media outrage as I run various very large fan accounts for UK music artist, Paul Weller. In that community Weller is almost as much of an institution as Blue Note, so I’m well aware of people moaning and complaining. I recognize when it’s justified and when it’s a bunch of BS.

This VMP Anthology issue is not BS. If the first motto on the VMP idea board at the start of this project wasn’t, “THIS BETTER BE PERFECT!” They made a mistake.
 
botherly said:
Oh serious question, why was there an AMA with Storf? Did he do his PhD in music theory with an emphasis on post-bop or something? Or was it just like, hey this guy works here and loves music so ask him some questions! I'm trying not to judge that since I didn't watch it (the thing's an hour long so...) but that seemed weird honestly.

Now I think I'm just nitpicking, but man. I really did think there'd be an education experience. Maybe there still will be as we go forward but I doubt it.
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I think it was because Storf picked the records that they eventually pressed. Would have been WAY cooler (no offense to Storf) if the AMA had been with anybody even remotely involved with Blue Note. I only watched about 10 minutes because it was mostly people asking him questions not at all related to Blue Note or the albums they selected.

Not having the listening notes (and actually deleting the listening notes from the back cover of the Dexter album) was a huge missed opportunity for the educational aspect. We'll see what that ends up being but I think it should have been included in the first batch of records. There was even something in their promotional materials about this being the experience for people who love reading liner notes hah.
 
MikeH said:
I think it was because Storf picked the records that they eventually pressed. Would have been WAY cooler (no offense to Storf) if the AMA had been with anybody even remotely involved with Blue Note.
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Literally anyone involved in jazz scholarship would be cool. Academics, authors, collectors, literally anyone. I bet they could get someone to do it for free or at least for a reasonable honorarium. Academics love talking about shit. Hell, contact some working musicians, that'd be cool.

And yeah, obviously no offense to Storf. I was just expecting someone, you know, intimately involved in jazz.
 
heavysoulbrutha said:
This first effort should have been ok with a loss. You make sure it’s perfect, authentic and everyone is happy, then the next thing(s) will be a breeze.

I got lots of experience with social media outrage as I run various very large fan accounts for UK music artist, Paul Weller. In that community Weller is almost as much of an institution as Blue Note, so I’m well aware of people moaning and complaining. I recognize when it’s justified and when it’s a bunch of BS.

This VMP Anthology issue is not BS. If the first motto on the VMP idea board at the start of this project wasn’t, “THIS BETTER BE PERFECT!” They made a mistake.
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It’s crazy how unknown Paul Weller is America :LOL:
 
Mather said:
Yeah this is the thing, they are marketing their service predominantly to people that don't know any better. Aside from BlueNote which they really should have left till later their entire model is based on a curated experience that the average consumer doesn't have to think about. Casual subscribers can get home from work, take the records out of their mailbox and listen to them, show them off to their friends who will be impressed with their eclectic musical knowledge; most of these people will not care about poor pressings or warps or improper jacket art. These same people will get the High Five emails and will go to the VMP store and buy the very overpriced records because they don't know any better and they won't look elsewhere because VMP takes care of all of their vinyl needs. This is likely exactly what VMP wants and it's how they'll make the easiest money. It's a curated life for the new millennium, don't do the thinking because we'll do it for you. The fact that all these incredibly overpriced curated selections continue to sell out speaks to how well this model is working for them. I don't think they're losing much money on these errors.
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The people that don't know any better are also the people that will collect vinyl for a little while, then dip when the novelty has worn off and the hobby becomes more of a chore. This will become apparent soon. Vinyl is not convenient and we will soon hits 90s era levels of adoption (or lack thereof) of the medium. Maybe that's why they are trying to expand their brand beyond vinyl, because vinyl is not going to pay the bills for the rest of your natural born life. ANORAKS. ASSEMBLEEEEEE.
 
Two thoughts:

1)
Indymisanthrope said:
Alt-take
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Not sure how to properly quote @Indymisanthrope ‘s quote revision there, but I think they’re banking on these things selling out and trying to make that (and maybe the quality pressings) the only headline that people remember the next time they release an anthology. Even if Anthology #1 members got burned and don’t come back, it might be easy to attract a different 1,000 people for anthology #2 just based on the fact that the first one sold out in 3 hours.

2) What might eventually come back to bite them is losing relationships with premium labels like Blue Note, or pressing plants like RTI, or bands who wanted to work with them due to their reputation for a quality product. I would think they all have other ways of finding a customer base for their products without compromising trust in their brand.
 
So when looking at pics of the box I thought the VMP Anthology was foiled stamped, having it now I see it isn't
Mather said:
Dexter Calling was actually done on purpose
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the current story
Critter said:
Not that it's fully on point, but how would y'all feel if the number was on a stick on the shrink wrap.... *cough* Floating Points *cough*
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par for the course with LateNightTales
duke86fan said:
I dunno why we got at least 4 oops in the year (weyes blood, anthology, forum, Nat Turners Rebellion), hell in just 2 months. I mean the first 3 months were pretty fine, but after Loretta Lynn its been a ton of oops
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Yeah it has been a bad stretch starting Snoop
duke86fan said:
Since the Facebook can't be used for criticism. Used the one way they can

Anthology@

Email them and show them you care, whether it's about the foil stamp (which is slightly explained but not really in the faq), the Dexter cover, the label, anything (though not about the semi-censoring since that's a little different)

Show that you would cancel or refund or anything because of this

and please be civil... we dont wanna seem like hostile people who will try to kill VMP for anything they do
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Matt emailed me and wants to do a phone call, I haven't decided yet to take him up on the offer
 
Enoch said:
I asked if this issue happened with a Beatles release/box do we think their fans would be understanding
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IIRC, the relatively recent Rolling Stones in Mono box set had poorly-recreated album art. The sound quality is supposedly fantastic though.

uvwxVinyl said:
They priced these on par with Music Matters - how did Music Matters manage to get their jacket right?
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I think the difference is that they had true long-time Blue Note aficionados working on those releases - people who grew up loving, buying and listening to Blue Note. Differences in labels are a big deal to folks like that, and they'd spot an aberration in a heartbeat. VMP didn't have that going for them (AFAIK) on this project.

That said, even the well-regarded audiophile reissuers make mistakes. The recent Analogue Productions UHQR Hendrix releases were supposed to be foil-stamped on the boxes but were not, and were supposed to have a hand-signed something-or-other in the package but don't.

botherly said:
I really did think there'd be an education experience. Maybe there still will be as we go forward but I doubt it.
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I ordered for the education aspect as well ("Join us and become a true student of jazz."). I don't do Facebook so have no idea what's happening with that aspect of the purchase. Hoping to at least learn how to differentiate between the six different 'flavors' offered in this set, and maybe have something 'click' for me with old-time jazz. Worse-case scenario is I'll have a mostly AAA box set that should have pretty good sound quality; had it been pressed at GZ rather than RTI I wouldn't have purchased.
 
Cam just posted in the FB Group the 12 albums Don Was came to them with:

Bop
Bud Powell - The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 2
Horace Silver – Horace Silver Trio

Hard Bop
Dexter Gordon – Dexter Calling
Hank Mobley – Roll Call

Post Bop
Lee Morgan –The Procrastinator
Wayne Shorter – Schizophrenia

Soul Jazz
Big John Patton –Got a Good Thing Goin’
Lou Donaldson –The Natural Soul

Fusion
Bobby Hutcherson – Montara
Eddie Henderson –Heritage

Modern
Robert Glasper – In My Element
Ambrose Akinmusire – Origami Harvest
 
TCell said:
Cam just posted in the FB Group the 12 albums Don Was came to them with:

Bop
Bud Powell - The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 2
Horace Silver – Horace Silver Trio

Hard Bop
Dexter Gordon – Dexter Calling
Hank Mobley – Roll Call

Post Bop
Lee Morgan –The Procrastinator
Wayne Shorter – Schizophrenia

Soul Jazz
Big John Patton –Got a Good Thing Goin’
Lou Donaldson –The Natural Soul

Fusion
Bobby Hutcherson – Montara
Eddie Henderson –Heritage

Modern
Robert Glasper – In My Element
Ambrose Akinmusire – Origami Harvest
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Some damn good records there too. Hopefully they release those sometime.
 
TCell said:
Cam just posted in the FB Group the 12 albums Don Was came to them with:

Bop
Bud Powell - The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 2
Horace Silver – Horace Silver Trio

Hard Bop
Dexter Gordon – Dexter Calling
Hank Mobley – Roll Call

Post Bop
Lee Morgan –The Procrastinator
Wayne Shorter – Schizophrenia

Soul Jazz
Big John Patton –Got a Good Thing Goin’
Lou Donaldson –The Natural Soul

Fusion
Bobby Hutcherson – Montara
Eddie Henderson –Heritage

Modern
Robert Glasper – In My Element
Ambrose Akinmusire – Origami Harvest
Click to expand...
so i guess we got the modern album wrong?

as we guessed when the heart emerges glistening... and that was all but confirmed
 
TCell said:
Cam just posted in the FB Group the 12 albums Don Was came to them with:

Bop
Bud Powell - The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 2
Horace Silver – Horace Silver Trio

Hard Bop
Dexter Gordon – Dexter Calling
Hank Mobley – Roll Call

Post Bop
Lee Morgan –The Procrastinator
Wayne Shorter – Schizophrenia

Soul Jazz
Big John Patton –Got a Good Thing Goin’
Lou Donaldson –The Natural Soul

Fusion
Bobby Hutcherson – Montara
Eddie Henderson –Heritage

Modern
Robert Glasper – In My Element
Ambrose Akinmusire – Origami Harvest
Click to expand...
they are pressing a different Ambrose though I thought? I’m glad they went with the choices they did although the others are great too.
 
High Rant District said:
IIRC, the relatively recent Rolling Stones in Mono box set had poorly-recreated album art. The sound quality is supposedly fantastic though.



I think the difference is that they had true long-time Blue Note aficionados working on those releases - people who grew up loving, buying and listening to Blue Note. Differences in labels are a big deal to folks like that, and they'd spot an aberration in a heartbeat. VMP didn't have that going for them (AFAIK) on this project.

That said, even the well-regarded audiophile reissuers make mistakes. The recent Analogue Productions UHQR Hendrix releases were supposed to be foil-stamped on the boxes but were not, and were supposed to have a hand-signed something-or-other in the package but doesn't.



I ordered for the education aspect as well ("Join us and become a true student of jazz."). I don't do Facebook so have no idea what's happening with that aspect of the purchase. Hoping to at least learn how to differentiate between the six different 'flavors' offered in this set, and maybe have something 'click' for me with old-time jazz. Worse-case scenario is I'll have a mostly AAA box set that should have pretty good sound quality; had it been pressed at GZ rather than RTI I wouldn't have purchased.
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Seeing you on here pleases me.
 
High Rant District said:
IIRC, the relatively recent Rolling Stones in Mono box set had poorly-recreated album art. The sound quality is supposedly fantastic though.



I think the difference is that they had true long-time Blue Note aficionados working on those releases - people who grew up loving, buying and listening to Blue Note. Differences in labels are a big deal to folks like that, and they'd spot an aberration in a heartbeat. VMP didn't have that going for them (AFAIK) on this project.

That said, even the well-regarded audiophile reissuers make mistakes. The recent Analogue Productions UHQR Hendrix releases were supposed to be foil-stamped on the boxes but were not, and were supposed to have a hand-signed something-or-other in the package but don't.



I ordered for the education aspect as well ("Join us and become a true student of jazz."). I don't do Facebook so have no idea what's happening with that aspect of the purchase. Hoping to at least learn how to differentiate between the six different 'flavors' offered in this set, and maybe have something 'click' for me with old-time jazz. Worse-case scenario is I'll have a mostly AAA box set that should have pretty good sound quality; had it been pressed at GZ rather than RTI I wouldn't have purchased.
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welcome (back?)
TCell said:
Cam just posted in the FB Group the 12 albums Don Was came to them with:

Bop
Bud Powell - The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 2
Horace Silver – Horace Silver Trio

Hard Bop
Dexter Gordon – Dexter Calling
Hank Mobley – Roll Call

Post Bop
Lee Morgan –The Procrastinator
Wayne Shorter – Schizophrenia

Soul Jazz
Big John Patton –Got a Good Thing Goin’
Lou Donaldson –The Natural Soul

Fusion
Bobby Hutcherson – Montara
Eddie Henderson –Heritage

Modern
Robert Glasper – In My Element
Ambrose Akinmusire – Origami Harvest
Click to expand...
so much for waiting to tell us all the albums
 
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