Vinyl Me Please Anthology

Boognotik Reaktion said:
The last records I bought - ‘Endtroducing’ with one badly warped disc (GZ) and it took me three copies of Grant Green’s ‘Idle Moments’ to get an an acceptable copy. Even though the Blue Note Classics series are pressed at Optimal, it’s a total lottery whether you get a decent copy. Check out Discogs for some very angry people taking about it. I also saw some dude from Luaka Bop explaining the horrible problems they had with Pallas and RTI with the Floating Points LP.
It seems like a really messy time to be in the vinyl business.
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I believe Sam Records also said Pallas was disappointing lately and they might switch plants. Every plant seems to be having issues but GZ is still the worst. Optimal is probably a little tier above. These places are frantically trying to keep up and it results in bad QC. I don't think it'll be solved anytime soon sadly.
 
Even recently I’ve always been lucky with QRP and RTI. Have had plenty of problems with GZ records for sure. Optimal has always had a good reputation but I haven’t been lucky of late.
 
I'm planning on moving abroad over the next 1-2 years, so I've been thinking about how to move my collection lately. Due to the pain in the ass that such a task poses, I'll probably take only a portion of it with me, store a good bunch at my parents' house, and sell those records that I don't really spin that much in order to pay some of the moving costs. This got me thinking: How many VMP records would survive if I were to cut my collection in half?

Here's what I got:
According to Discogs, I have 72 VMP records, between Store Exclusives and ROTM. Out of those, I think I'd only keep 31(I bet that number would go down once I'm forced to pick which to keep between them and some other non-VMP records in my collection). Here's a list of what I would keep on a first glance (I put a star on those that would be absolute musts on my sortened collection, which narrows the list down to 14 albums)

-BVSC - ST*
-Local Natives - Gorilla Manor
-The Roots - How I got Over
-Yusef Lateef - Eastern Sounds
-Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - The Freedom Rider
-Fania All Stars - Live at Yankee Stadium*
-Willie Colón - The Hustler*
-Al Green - Call Me*
-Experience Unlimited - Free Yourself
-Oneness of Juju - Space Jungle Luv
-Shina Williams & His African Percuccionists - African Dances*
-Colter Wall - Songs of the Plains*
-Eddie Gale - Ghetto Music*
-Novos Baianos - Acabou Chorare*
-Max Roach - Percussion Bitter Sweet
-Charlie Rouse - Bossa Nova Bacchanal
-Darrell Banks - Here To Stay*
-DOOM - Born Like This
-Little Milton - Waiting for Little Milton
-Noname - Telefone*
-Kelela - Take Me Apart
-Nototiour BIG - Ready To Die
-Moses Sumney - Aromanticism
-Miles Davis - Sorcerer*
-Johnny Griffin - A Blowing Session
-Fugees - The Score
-Alice Coltrane - Journey in Satchidananda
-John Lee Hooker - It Serve You Right to Suffer*
-NxWorries - Yes Lawd!*
-Nina Simone - Sings the Blues
-Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition*

Anyway, I just thought this was an interesting exercise, as it helps me see how many records I purchased out of FOMO, or with just little interest in the actual music. I encourage others to do the same. I would love to see how many VMP records would make the cut for you!
 
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I’ve been buying records for decades but only joined VMP in summer 2020. I’ve bought around 50 records since joining and reckon they’ve been among the best purchases of my life. Gabor Szabo, Mr Hands, Ask the Ages, +Justments etc. Recently quality control issues have marred the experience and the European vat hike could prove terminal but overall my VMP experience has been hugely positive.
 
The Quincy anthology has just been revealed. Overall, some interesting choices (I love that Back on the Block has finally been expanded to two vinyl records), but some meh ones too (aren't plenty clean originals of The Dude, The Wiz motion picture soundtrack, Walking in Space, and Body Heat readily available for much, much cheap?)
 
brando_soul said:
The Quincy anthology has just been revealed. Overall, some interesting choices (I love that Back on the Block has finally been expanded to two vinyl records), but some meh ones too (aren't plenty clean originals of The Dude, The Wiz motion picture soundtrack, Walking in Space, and Body Heat readily available for much, much cheap?)
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The Dude is a staple in every record stores $1 bin for sure.
 
Mather said:
Just a heads up, Pauly clarified they do have replacements for the discs, they just aren't at the warehouse yet. FYI
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The guy who posted originally on reddit messaged me because of my experience with trying to get replacements for Zamrock. I told him to fight back and he messaged me to say that they offered him a replacement this AM after he CCed Matt on an email. So that's good at least. Frustrating that they are even telling people there were no replacements in the first place. I swear nobody at VMP talks to each other.
 
MikeH said:
The guy who posted originally on reddit messaged me because of my experience with trying to get replacements for Zamrock. I told him to fight back and he messaged me to say that they offered him a replacement this AM after he CCed Matt on an email. So that's good at least. Frustrating that they are even telling people there were no replacements in the first place. I swear nobody at VMP talks to each other.
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Yeah I mean I don't think that guy would go and post if they just said "they aren't available yet".
 
SpinningSince85 said:
The Dude is a staple in every record stores $1 bin for sure.
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I bought two near-mint copies of The Dude months ago because it was a sore omission in my vinyl collection for the longest. Incredible engineering and recording. Universal did an unnecessary colored vinyl reissue of the album for its 40th anniversary this summer and the quality wasn't received well at all. I suspect it was pressed at Pallas. The reissue that's in this Anthology has a similar color variant, but it's pure yellow and is pressed at GZ.
 
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