Vinyl Me Please Essentials

serotonein said:
Counterpoint - except for Phoenix (closest 2018 analog - Beach House, even though I love that album), this has been a great year for their AOTM selections; best in a few years so far. There's been no questionable dreck like Queen, Arctic Monkeys, or Moby. I'm always going to reward curation that exposes me to something new over retreads.

And I'll have you know my beard is nicely trimmed, and... well, ok, I live in Seattle and get "fancy" even though I make my coffee at home :LOL:
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Counter counter point.

It’s been appalling, they’ve jumped the shark and I haven’t wanted an album since de la soul.
 
Joe Mac said:
Counter counter point.

It’s been appalling, they’ve jumped the shark and I haven’t wanted an album since de la soul.
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Mariah as AOTM would have been jumping the shark.

I agree with you on Phoenix, since it was wholly unnecessary, and I can understand negativity towards S/K depending on how you feel about the new album or new albums as picks in general. Loretta, Experience, and Jorge are fantastic, and only Experience is truly cratedigger from an obscurity viewpoint. If people haven't spent time with classic country or Brazilian music, then it's a surprise, but they're really obvious/popular picks from those genres. Each makes perfect sense as an AOTM to introduce people to the most important work outside of 'traditional' US/UK rock... similar to De La Soul :)
 
serotonein said:
Mariah as AOTM would have been jumping the shark.
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How? The album hasn't been pressed since the 90s and was never released on vinyl in the US, is worth hundreds of dollars on Discogs, and is a well regarded album with two of her classic hits on it. It would have been perfect for them to give it a wide release to their subscribers.

I also think Loretta, experience, and Jorge were all good picks, it's just that they all weren't for me. I'm glad that these albums that hadn't had a repressing in a while finally got it, and I feel that Mariah should have been alongside them in the sub.

I feel like Jim Sullivan isn't going to click with everyone and should have been an exclusive instead of a ROTM. It's probably gonna be one that rots for a while in their warehouse.

I'm probably not going to get Jim Sullivan either unless the color variant is cool.
 
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tonythegamer said:
How? The album hasn't been pressed since the 90s and was never released on vinyl in the US, is worth hundreds of dollars on Discogs, and is a well regarded album with two of her classic hits on it. It would have been perfect for them to give it a wide release to their subscribers.
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The complaint to which I was responding was that the albums this year were too cratedigger. I pushed back from the opposite side that Mariah would be the best-known pick they've ever done, a sign that they're solely catering to the (waning) masses for attention & $$$. It would pretty much be the least-"curated" selection they could have made. To my mind, that would closer correlate to 'jumping the shark'.

That aside, nothing is more *in*Essential to a collection than modern mainstream pop music. It hasn't been pressed consistently on vinyl, but you almost have to go out of your way to avoid it outside that medium. Ubiquitous and utterly lacking in quality; completely disposable. As they've done it, an exclusive being basically pressed on-demand gets it to those who want it.
 
serotonein said:
The complaint to which I was responding was that the albums this year were too cratedigger. I pushed back from the opposite side that Mariah would be the best-known pick they've ever done, a sign that they're solely catering to the (waning) masses for attention & $$$. It would pretty much be the least-"curated" selection they could have made. To my mind, that would closer correlate to 'jumping the shark'.
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The problem is when you go to albums that nobody has ever heard of, you start to lost the feeling that the albums presented aren't holding up to the namesake of the track, "essential." There are well known albums that are truly essential to someone's collection, just because an album is unknown to everyone doesn't mean it's essential, let alone does it even mean it's a good quality album.
serotonein said:
That aside, nothing is more *in*Essential to a collection than modern mainstream pop music.
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I don't know if I'd consider 1995 that modern tbh. I mean that's almost 25 years ago now.
 
For me it all comes down to money. I'm giving VMP about $30 per month to be subscribed to the Essentials track. In exchange for that $30 per month, they send me a record every month. If I get more records I don't care about than records that I do care about over a certain period of time, I'm no longer going to find value in this subscription, and I'll go on my way to something else. And I personally would rather my $30 have gone to something other than some forgotten folk album from 1969.
 
serotonein said:
Mariah as AOTM would have been jumping the shark.

I agree with you on Phoenix, since it was wholly unnecessary, and I can understand negativity towards S/K depending on how you feel about the new album or new albums as picks in general. Loretta, Experience, and Jorge are fantastic, and only Experience is truly cratedigger from an obscurity viewpoint. If people haven't spent time with classic country or Brazilian music, then it's a surprise, but they're really obvious/popular picks from those genres. Each makes perfect sense as an AOTM to introduce people to the most important work outside of 'traditional' US/UK rock... similar to De La Soul :)
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Loretta I got the pick, not my thing so avoid but no quibbles on the pick
Experience is too esoteric to be claimed to be an album needed in every collection, ideal for the long rumored crate diggers stream
Jorge likewise
Phoenix shit and wholly unnecessary. There needs to be the odd indie pick but they need to do better.
S/K not my thing but again I get the pick
This months seems again to be like Jorge and experience, too obscure for a headline stream, a crate digger pick.

I get pushing new things on people but this year has been ridiculous, 3 and we’re only 9 months in and all this in a stream that’s about giving people things they want and need in their collection rather than obscure shit they’ll listen to once and leave aside. I wasn’t records I’ll wear out, not ones that make me look clued in.
 
It seems to get said every month but people really get hung up on the title Essentials. I would go so far as to say that there have only been a handful of essential titles since VMP started. Black Sabbath, Nina Simone, J Dilla and maybe Beck. Everything else is on the level of ____ (fill in with your favourite hated ROTM from the last couple of years
 
Joe Mac said:
Loretta I got the pick, not my thing so avoid but no quibbles on the pick
Experience is too esoteric to be claimed to be an album needed in every collection, ideal for the long rumored crate diggers stream
Jorge likewise
Phoenix shit and wholly unnecessary. There needs to be the odd indie pick but they need to do better.
S/K not my thing but again I get the pick
This months seems again to be like Jorge and experience, too obscure for a headline stream, a crate digger pick.

I get pushing new things on people but this year has been ridiculous, 3 and we’re only 9 months in and all this in a stream that’s about giving people things they want and need in their collection rather than obscure shit they’ll listen to once and leave aside. I wasn’t records I’ll wear out, not ones that make me look clued in.
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The flaw in your argument is you're applying your taste in the mix. I get that you wouldn't spin EU or Ben again but to me they are two of the best records they've done this year. I'm not about to argue that I am remotely interested in every Essentials pick either though, we can agree on that much.
 
dhodo said:
The flaw in your argument is you're applying your taste in the mix. I get that you wouldn't spin EU or Ben again but to me they are two of the best records they've done this year. I'm not about to argue that I am remotely interested in every Essentials pick either though, we can agree on that much.
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But doesn’t that work both ways? Isn’t that impossible to separate from either argument? Thus they’re both flawed?

My issue is the amount of obscure albums they’re throwing in the largest stream that’s supposed to encompass the most people. I get going there from time to time but 3 time in 9 months is ridiculous. That combined with the horrendous Phoenix joke pick are my major issues this year.
 
Joe Mac said:
But doesn’t that work both ways? Isn’t that impossible to separate from either argument? Thus they’re both flawed?

My issue is the amount of obscure albums they’re throwing in the largest stream that’s supposed to encompass the most people. I get going there from time to time but 3 time in 9 months is ridiculous. That combined with the horrendous Phoenix joke pick are my major issues this year.
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Yeah, I wasn't trying to defend the Essentials track. I think calling it that is dumb and nothing is essential to everyone. I was just responding to you seeming to think that nobody is interested in repeated spins of those two, but maybe I misunderstood you. There's also no period of VMP that I'm aware of that I wouldn't have been making quite a few swaps, so I might have different expectations as well.
 
dhodo said:
Yeah, I wasn't trying to defend the Essentials track. I think calling it that is dumb and nothing is essential to everyone. I was just responding to you seeming to think that nobody is interested in repeated spins of those two, but maybe I misunderstood you. There's also no period of VMP that I'm aware of that I wouldn't have been making quite a few swaps, so I might have different expectations as well.
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No I agree. And I think that even with any name its still the headline track. It has to appeal to the majority of its subscribers. Occasionally highlighting obscure artists is really cool, it’s just got out of hand this year.

Also I’m by no means deceiving myself that I’ll like everything but I’d got used to 2/3 to 3/4 being my thing or something I’m willing to try. Hitting 6 straight that are misses makes me think it’s them and not me...
 
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