Vinyl Me Please Essentials

Pretty relieved this upcoming VMP month is looking like a 3/3 pass for me. I tried selling myself on the Prine but my fiance was like "If you're thinking of getting this album.....please don't." So that put that one to bed. Don't need Isaac Hayes' 13th best album. Never been a fan of Killer Mike's music.

Maybe I'll dip in to grab Donny Hathaway, but might as well spring for the Speakers Corner version tbh. This entire first 3 month stretch that has been hypothesized up to this point is pretty bleh if I'm being honest. Only thing that's been interesting so far is Cudi, going to take my VMP munniez elsewhere finally. They had a REALLY good release run for the second half of 2020 but looks like the momentum has run out for me/
 
wynn72 said:
Maybe. But they generally do a couple new releases each year....This whole "focus on things not currently pressed" seems like a made up thing that is not really VMPs objective.
Click to expand...

I mean they also put in bold huge letters on their mailers “Lost Sounds Found”. And spent years talking about unearthing “the hidden gems” in artists discographies. The salt is kinda understandable.
 
wynn72 said:
My Dead box is great, my Coleman Hawkins sounds flawless. So I dunno. Not denying the issues exist, they're well documented with the dead box.

I'm sure I'll be thought of as a VMP shrill but I used to trash them like crazy when they were incapable of shipping records on time and they were always damaged (queue the "when?" jokes).
Since they've gotten better at that (I don't blame them for delays that effect the whole industry this year), I have no issues. Pressings are quality and very much worth the money for me.
Click to expand...
Fuck what you're thought of. People are entitled to form their own views. And I think it's healthy to have the likes of yourself and Nathan putting forward one perspective in the same way its good to acknowledge the other.

Honestly. I'm in the middle. I think their support is very good. I think their pressings are very patchy. The inconsistency absolutely infuriates me. But as an international subber the yearly price is right and they usually have something Im happy to have. However, they seem to make absolutely bananas business decisions and justify them with total and utter corporate shit term bullshit phraseology and psuedo-happening slogans. But fuck it. They had me at hello. They can have my money for now as I flit between classics and essentials till May comes. Then I may have to find something else to complain to the dog about once a month... But who knows
 
mitchwagz said:
Does anyone else think that’s a terrible slogan though? Might be alright as a classics slogan but having that represent what VMP is is pretty silly.
Click to expand...

Entirely terrible BUT you’re allowing them to have their cake and eat it. They can’t talk out of both sides of their mouth and expect everyone to be happy. The criticism is not invalid regardless of what they may or may not think.
 
Joe Mac said:
I mean they also put in bold huge letters on their mailers “Lost Sounds Found”. And spent years talking about unearthing “the hidden gems” in artists discographies. The salt is kinda understandable.
Click to expand...

Fair, and no arguments that it's a garbage slogan but their multi-year track record of picks for essentials should speak louder than a slogan that is a few months old.
 
Joe Mac said:
Im sorry but that’s shit! The Ortofon black is an unforgiving cartridge but it doesn’t invent pressing issues that aren’t already there.

Also I have a very forgiving musical cartridge and pressing issues, on top of terrible picks and shitty behaviour, are a reason I treat them with kid gloves.
Click to expand...

It was a joke because he always brings up warps and his unforgiving ortofon black. I don't really blame any pressing issues on a cartridge or equipment of any kind (unless someone was using a Crowley, Audio Technica LP60, etc)
 
Joe Mac said:
Im sorry but that’s shit! The Ortofon black is an unforgiving cartridge but it doesn’t invent pressing issues that aren’t already there.

Also I have a very forgiving musical cartridge and pressing issues, on top of terrible picks and shitty behaviour, are a reason I treat them with kid gloves.
Click to expand...
Totally, totally, totally! The fact that someone has a more analytical cart is in no way justification for sending them absolute garbage to play on it. All the ortofon does is replicate what has been pressed it doesn't take the record off the table and drag it to the kitchen and run a fork across it to distort the sound quality first.
 
wynn72 said:
It was a joke because he always brings up warps and his unforgiving ortofon black. I don't really blame any pressing issues on a cartridge or equipment of any kind (unless someone was using a Crowley, Audio Technica LP60, etc)
Click to expand...

Yes but it’s a joke that whether intended or not dismisses the criticism based on the cartridge. People laugh at the ortofon black rather than the competence of VMP. I hate the things sound profile but it doesn’t invent issues it just highlights the hell out of them. The fact of the matter is that if the record was pressed correctly the black would pick nothing bad up, it’d just sound really damn bright...
 
Rowan said:
Fuck what you're thought of. People are entitled to form their own views. And I think it's healthy to have the likes of yourself and Nathan putting forward one perspective in the same way its good to acknowledge the other.

Honestly. I'm in the middle. I think their support is very good. I think their pressings are very patchy. The inconsistency absolutely infuriates me. But as an international subber the yearly price is right and they usually have something Im happy to have. However, they seem to make absolutely bananas business decisions and justify them with total and utter corporate shit term bullshit phraseology and psuedo-happening slogans. But fuck it. They had me at hello. They can have my money for now as I flit between classics and essentials till May comes. Then I may have to find something else to complain to the dog about once a month... But who knows
Click to expand...

Thanks. I used to be more passive on this board but the constant negativity made me start speaking up more. Don't get me wrong, they deserve alot of the criticism (like their poor overall business running and inexcusable support delays this year). Pressing inconsistency is fair too, even if I'm either on the lucky end or have ears that arent trained enough to hear the difference (probably a blessing)

But honestly valid complaints don't mean alot at this point when they're from people that complain about EVERYTHING VMP. At this point, how can you be surprised by the curation? It's the same thing every announce time....
 
Joe Mac said:
Yes but it’s a joke that whether intended or not dismisses the criticism based on the cartridge. People laugh at the ortofon black rather than the competence of VMP. I hate the things sound profile but it doesn’t invent issues it just highlights the hell out of them. The fact of the matter is that if the record was pressed correctly the black would pick nothing bad up, it’d just sound really damn bright...
Click to expand...

Well, I had no idea the ortofon black was such a controversial topic....

For the record, I do not think that a better cartridge or equipment that brings out flaws is the equipments fault at all. The flaw is the flaw.
 
wynn72 said:
Thanks. I used to be more passive on this board but the constant negativity made me start speaking up more. Don't get me wrong, they deserve alot of the criticism (like their poor overall business running and inexcusable support delays this year). Pressing inconsistency is fair too, even if I'm either on the lucky end or have ears that arent trained enough to hear the difference (probably a blessing)

But honestly valid complaints don't mean alot at this point when they're from people that complain about EVERYTHING VMP. At this point, how can you be surprised by the curation? It's the same thing every announce time....
Click to expand...

I’ll be honest a lot of the reason I find them so objectionable is that I used to enjoy them a lot. It feels that since the high water Mark of Jan-March 2019 that the curation has gone to hell, to my taste anyway, and that there is also a marked increase in price, to the point I find $49-52 a month to be obscene, the destruction of the forum and almost dismissive snark against any criticism from their social media interactions. I’d like the fun club I got some awesome records from back in 2017/18 to return please!
 
wynn72 said:
Well, I had no idea the ortofon black was such a controversial topic....

For the record, I do not think that a better cartridge or equipment that brings out flaws is the equipments fault at all. The flaw is the flaw.
Click to expand...

Oh ortofon are hugely divisive, loved or hated, very little in between. They have a very extreme sound profile that is technically amazing but not to everyone’s taste from a listening point of view!

That’s on good pressings though, on bad pressings the fault is indeed the fault and that’s the point I was making from the beginning.
 
Joe Mac said:
I’ll be honest a lot of the reason I find them so objectionable is that I used to enjoy them a lot. It feels that since the high water Mark of Jan-March 2019 that the curation has gone to hell, to my taste anyway, and that there is also a marked increase in price, to the point I find $49-52 a month to be obscene, the destruction of the forum and almost dismissive snark against any criticism from their social media interactions. I’d like the fun club I got some awesome records from back in 2017/18 to return please!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I remember. I've been on the forum since I joined the club just have gotten more active over time.
I get how you grew to dislike them and can't blame you (even if I personally am not bothered by any of your points above).
I just feel the need to be a little more supportive to offset all the same ol' same ol' anti VMP sentiment because despite ups and downs I really do enjoy the service and curation. As much as some may find that hard to believe
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top