Vinyl Me Please Essentials

Geologyst said:
joining this thread to say hey! Vultures is a GOOD SONG

that being said i don't need Continuum. Seems obvious to me VMP knows this will get some ridicule so they're hyping up 2 more essentials ROTMs to still get some positive feedback.

also best album of the 90's ? weird way for VMP to announce they're doing Long Season . i can hope, ok?
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If you’re talking about Long Season by Fishmans, that would be an insanely awesome pick for essentials. I wish I would have picked up the reissue a few years ago. I think it’s only a matter of time before their stuff gets reissued outside of Japan.
 
Yeah I view them not as a club but as a store that occasionally reissues stuff I want. Some things are hard to find or, with the 90s and aughts, never released on vinyl. When VMP supplies a title on vinyl I can’t easily get my hands on that I want - or provides a quality remaster - I buy it from VMP. When they release something I don’t want, I don’t buy it.

but I get the frustration of some OG members because I think once upon a time it WAS a club. And the advertising and hyperbole and such they throw out is a bit...much. and if you’re in for curation of Essential albums...wooowee Jim Sullivan burned me on that forever.
 
wynn72 said:
I guess my expectations aren't the same as yours. I don't expect them to really be a club or for the monthly "essentials" pick to live up to the name. Honestly, at this point I don't know how anyone does. "Records your collection is incomplete without"? It's just typical hyberbole used in branding and marketing.

My only real expectations at this point is for them to mail me whatever records I choose to buy in a reasonable amount of time and in good condition (which granted, is also not one of their strong points).
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I guess that's what I'm saying. WE don't expect much, because WE have been in this for a minute and got used to low expectations. I'm also somebody that will just ignore it and not buy it, happy for those excited about it. Where are all these happy faces, though. I don't even expect their "essentials" to appeal to me consistently. So, in a way, we have similar expectations. Most of the time, I can at least see the argument for the choice, though. There is usually a good amount of people really excited for something. That's why I'm asking if anyone in here is really excited about this choice. Most people are just kind of okay with it, at most. Maybe someone could explain to me how this album matters. Maybe there was a greater importance or appeal to this thing that I don't know about.

I still don't think it's really fair to dismiss people questioning its essential status for two reasons. Even if it's hyperbolic marketing, they go out of their way clarify that it isn't hyperbolic marketing in the same statement. Beyond that, it's about faith in the company and service they are paying for.

I mean... I've pretty much already explained exactly where I'm coming from, so I guess it doesn't matter. I still don't believe most of us would have been cool with this choice a couple years ago and the fact that we have more choices to swap and avoid it is one of the reasons that is part of that. But, for some people, they still exist in that old format, for the most part. They just take the essentials and don't really know about all the other options and methods we've all adopted and become accustomed to over the years as the service deteriorated or switched things up around us. These new people also joined with a promise that VMP is only living up to if they are actually trying and believe in what they're doing. I think it's fair to question if they do believe in what they're doing.

But, like others have mentioned, they are really good at one thing and that's trying to pull people back in at the last minute. They're dropping Continuum alongside two other future albums that will hopefully stabilize any faith they might lose with this choice.

I just keep imagining if the the old forum was up and they announced this in a guess thread. These days, they can pretty much do whatever they do remotely and kind of click the lights off like nobody is home. I would have loved to see Storf explain to us why Continuum was Essential while members lit their torches. If the forum would have lasted an extra year, this could have been the ROTM to kill it.
 
supahypeag said:
Yeah I view them not as a club but as a store that occasionally reissues stuff I want. Some things are hard to find or, with the 90s and aughts, never released on vinyl. When VMP supplies a title on vinyl I can’t easily get my hands on that I want - or provides a quality remaster - I buy it from VMP. When they release something I don’t want, I don’t buy it.

but I get the frustration of some OG members because I think once upon a time it WAS a club. And the advertising and hyperbole and such they throw out is a bit...much. and if you’re in for curation of Essential albums...wooowee Jim Sullivan burned me on that forever.
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That's basically what they are, but they try really hard to keep their feet in both camps. They still try and wave off critiques by saying, "Hey guys, thanks a bunch. We're a small company and your friends." Most companies wouldn't be able to get away with a lot of the shit that VMP does, just because a lot of folks still buy into that angle. If Storf or Pauly pop up to wave at them on reddit, there is a certain contingent that reacts like, "Fuck it! That's okay that I didn't get what I ordered and you canceled it on me and owe me $500! WE LOVE YOU! It's okay guys." Name another record company that can swing that move.

I think a lot of older customers actually do get it, but we've figured ways around it, or we just leave. Personally, I use this company when/if it makes sense and don't when it doesn't. That being said, I still don't slight people who feel like they deserve more, whether or not they expect it. VMP built their company off a climate and idea where customer feedback was supposed to matter. At a certain point, they didn't want to hear it anymore.
 
Dead C said:
I'm hoping for The Mollusk, actually. And that's only because I have solid pressings of Pure Guava and The Pod already. The Plain Recordings Mollusk is notoriously shit, so I don't own it.
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Nice! Still haven't found a solid Pure Guava pressing. I've got a few of the Plain recordings - Mollusk isn't terrible but White Pepper is pretty bad. Their whole discography deserves better than Plain.
 
Dead C said:
I guess that's what I'm saying. WE don't expect much, because WE have been in this for a minute and got used to low expectations. I'm also somebody that will just ignore it and not buy it, happy for those excited about it. Where are all these happy faces, though. I don't even expect their "essentials" to appeal to me consistently. So, in a way, we have similar expectations. Most of the time, I can at least see the argument for the choice, though. There is usually a good amount of people really excited for something. That's why I'm asking if anyone in here is really excited about this choice. Most people are just kind of okay with it, at most. Maybe someone could explain to me how this album matters. Maybe there was a greater importance or appeal to this thing that I don't know about.

I still don't think it's really fair to dismiss people questioning its essential status for two reasons. Even if it's hyperbolic marketing, they go out of their way clarify that it isn't hyperbolic marketing in the same statement. Beyond that, it's about faith in the company and service they are paying for.

I mean... I've pretty much already explained exactly where I'm coming from, so I guess it doesn't matter. I still don't believe most of us would have been cool with this choice a couple years ago and the fact that we have more choices to swap and avoid it is one of the reasons that is part of that. But, for some people, they still exist in that old format, for the most part. They just take the essentials and don't really know about all the other options and methods we've all adopted and become accustomed to over the years as the service deteriorated or switched things up around us. These new people also joined with a promise that VMP is only living up to if they are actually trying and believe in what they're doing. I think it's fair to question if they do believe in what they're doing.

But, like others have mentioned, they are really good at one thing and that's trying to pull people back in at the last minute. They're dropping Continuum alongside two other future albums that will hopefully stabilize any faith they might lose with this choice.

I just keep imagining if the the old forum was up and they announced this in a guess thread. These days, they can pretty much do whatever they do remotely and kind of click the lights off like nobody is home. I would have loved to see Storf explain to us why Continuum was Essential while members lit their torches. If the forum would have lasted an extra year, this could have been the ROTM to kill it.
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Just for funsies, I thought I'd take the devil's advocate route and hype this selection.

Form its wiki, the album was nominated for three Grammys (including Album of the Year), and won two (Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Waiting on the World to Change".) It was Rolling Stone's 11th best album of 2006. This aggregate site rated it the 14th best album of 2006.

www.besteveralbums.com

Best Albums of 2006

What are the best albums of 2006? BestEverAlbums.com brings together over 60,000 charts and calculates an overall ranking of the best albums of all time. The top ranked albums of 2006 are 1 - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not by Arctic Monkeys, 2 - Ys by Joanna Newsom, 3 - Back To...
www.besteveralbums.com www.besteveralbums.com

A columnist for Stereogum had this to say:

"Ultimately, what matters is that Continuum was good. It was a better record than the ones he’d released before. Mayer’s vocal delivery means that, no matter what, this still sounds like a contemporary soft-rock version of the revered stuff he was trying to quote. But that’s all right, if it’s something you can get past. “Vultures” was calmly infectious, as was the sultry comedown of “I Don’t Trust Myself (With Loving You).” Though “Waiting On The World To Change” sometimes gets sidelined as a the pop concession if you’re talking to the rock purists who’d welcomed Mayer into their tribe, it’s a great pop song that succeeds in cribbing an old mold for something new, even if the idea of Mayer gesturing at politics and The State Of Things is a bit much. And “In Repair” builds to a stunning conclusion, all beautiful intersecting guitar licks while Mayer gently mulls over the refrain of “I’m in repair/ I’m not together/ But I’m getting there.”

www.stereogum.com

Trying To Make Sense Of John Mayer’s Career, 10 Years After Continuum

For an indiscernible amount of time in the ’00s, I remember hearing John Mayer’s “No Such Thing” everywhere. Echoing from new SUVs parked at the intramural soccer matches, playing in T.J. Maxx and Target, the muzak for the shopping mall food court. It was that kind of super-safe pop-radio token...
www.stereogum.com www.stereogum.com


So...it's got some critical love. It's just not for me at this point.
 
duke86fan said:
saving feels weird and though i can buy something else i still will have to make 45 bucks every month


i just like buying things
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if you don’t want something why spend? There’s bound to be something you really want in the weeks and months ahead and if you put it to one side rather than wasting it you’ll have that money there to buy the thing you actually want.

Buying for the buzz of buying is dangerous and can be a ruinous addiction.
 
Dead C said:
I guess that's what I'm saying. WE don't expect much, because WE have been in this for a minute and got used to low expectations. I'm also somebody that will just ignore it and not buy it, happy for those excited about it. Where are all these happy faces, though. I don't even expect their "essentials" to appeal to me consistently. So, in a way, we have similar expectations. Most of the time, I can at least see the argument for the choice, though. There is usually a good amount of people really excited for something. That's why I'm asking if anyone in here is really excited about this choice. Most people are just kind of okay with it, at most. Maybe someone could explain to me how this album matters. Maybe there was a greater importance or appeal to this thing that I don't know about.

I still don't think it's really fair to dismiss people questioning its essential status for two reasons. Even if it's hyperbolic marketing, they go out of their way clarify that it isn't hyperbolic marketing in the same statement. Beyond that, it's about faith in the company and service they are paying for.

I mean... I've pretty much already explained exactly where I'm coming from, so I guess it doesn't matter. I still don't believe most of us would have been cool with this choice a couple years ago and the fact that we have more choices to swap and avoid it is one of the reasons that is part of that. But, for some people, they still exist in that old format, for the most part. They just take the essentials and don't really know about all the other options and methods we've all adopted and become accustomed to over the years as the service deteriorated or switched things up around us. These new people also joined with a promise that VMP is only living up to if they are actually trying and believe in what they're doing. I think it's fair to question if they do believe in what they're doing.

But, like others have mentioned, they are really good at one thing and that's trying to pull people back in at the last minute. They're dropping Continuum alongside two other future albums that will hopefully stabilize any faith they might lose with this choice.

I just keep imagining if the the old forum was up and they announced this in a guess thread. These days, they can pretty much do whatever they do remotely and kind of click the lights off like nobody is home. I would have loved to see Storf explain to us why Continuum was Essential while members lit their torches. If the forum would have lasted an extra year, this could have been the ROTM to kill it.
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As someone who likes the album, I will also concede the point that it is not Essential in the mode that VMP advertises.

I will also say that there have been several albums in the past year or two that also don't meet such a standard that they have try to pass as such.

It is disappointing, and anyone that is in for more than month to month has more faith than I.
 
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