Great video on the pricing of vinyl from Phil Aston

When I bought Canned Heat - Finyl Vinyl. I bought it for about £13 free P&P on Amazon it was the cheapest place I could find the album.

HMV wants £18 for the same CD. I saw the vinyl for £30 or so for a red vinyl.

Who cares if it's pressed on red vinyl? It's not even a long album, clocking just over 47 minutes, they should have added a 15-minute jam at the end. Also, many records are pressed overseas, and people are wary of the packing conditions, the humidity of the plants or warehouses, and things getting laid on top of the record.

I saw unboxing videos on YouTube of expensive John Lennon/Beatles vinyl boxsets, in which the vinyl is warped and scratched, and some people have uploaded skips.


I have no idea why Phil Aston spent a fair bit of Robert Johnson on vinyl when you can get the complete Robert Johnson remastered for a few pounds brand new on CD, his stuff is now public domain.

I don't get the "warmth" that people mention about records, I still have most of the Yes albums on vinyl that are a little dog-eared. Maybe I am too tight to depart with money to get the remastered albums on CD.

Just this week I have seen a perfectly normal vinyl copy of Kate Bush's 1985 album The Hounds Of Love on sale for £42.50p.

WHY?

I bought the album on tape the moment it came out and it was proibably about a fiver, brand new. Even the vinyl at the time would have been maybe a tenner tops wouldn't it, so how come an old album on an old format is now through the roof in price. I wouldn't expect to go out and buy a standard 1985 British Leyland Mini Metro for £30,000 nowadays would I.

Yet in a charity hospice shop earlier this year I saw some quite interesting and rare vinyl that had obviously been handed in going for just 50p a go, while other bits were priced at a tenner and there was no obvious reason for the vast difference, it made no sense.

Charity shops are catching on with vinyl revival. However I do find the odd bargain or some Americana fairly easily. Charity shops admitted to me that the regional manager's set prices or they go online to value records.

I still buy used CDs, most CDs in charity shops are just suitable for recycling. I saw Breakfast In America on sale for £20 to £30 in charity shops and some record shops. It's not rare for FFS.

Where did you see Hounds Of Love? Record shops have mentioned that Kate Bush is popular again among student's.

It was on the WHSmith website early this week GM.

The album has now been reduced a couple of quid to "only" £39.49p.

There appears nothing special about the album, it's just the normal album you would have bought just the same in 1985. Notice it has a release date of 20th November 2023 which is a bit of a fraud when this album in this format came out in September 1985. Maybe there is a technicality on catalogue number or something, I've no idea. I fail to see how this 39 year old album is selling at such a crazy price in such a store as this when it's not remotely rare. You could have got it in Smiths in '85 for a quarter of the price.

£40 in 2024 was £13.20p in 1985, so it looks like the price is almost the same adjusted for inflation since then.
My hypothetical mini metro cost £4000 in 1985, but who would pay £12,120 now for a common,popular normal car nearly 40 years old.

www.whsmith.co.uk/Product/Kate-Bush/Houn...BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I was going to ask about inflation, people think that inflation would be equal to what we spent on vinyl 40 years ago give or take. I don't think we spent much vinyl, also many record shops would sell cutouts, or deleted titles very cheaply, sometimes as low as a few quid, or when I was in the States one dollar, yes one dollar.

I went to a record shop and went through their bargain bins, I picked up Jon Anderson - Animation for £1.

I am not an expert of ABBA but is £203.99 justified for an ABBA vinyl box set? You can abroad for that price and probably find it cheaper in Europe.

www.whsmith.co.uk/Product/ABBA/Vinyl-Album-Box-Set/15200028

Green Man wrote:
I am not an expert of ABBA but is £203.99 justified for an ABBA vinyl box set? You can abroad for that price and probably find it cheaper in Europe.

www.whsmith.co.uk/Product/ABBA/Vinyl-Album-Box-Set/15200028

There's a lot of songs on there I've never heard. It's basically £20 an album isn't it, if there are 10 vinyl 12" discs. You've got to be an absolute obsessive hardcore fan to buy that or be lucky enough to get given it. In an era when the value of music seems to have been cheapened somewhat, how many of these box sets at £200 plus a go, even for Abba, are likely to be sold?

I was very tempted to buy the full DVD box set of all the Laurel & Hardy films out of HMV five or six years ago, but that was only £100, but seemed well worth the price.

Another point on box sets in general, such as this £200 one, how does buying bulk music like that show up in the charts exactly? Do box sets qualify for the normal album chart or not, or do they have their own stand along listing?

I see the Laurel & Hardy set a lot online for £30 brand new.

Their Fox and MGM movies are only a few pounds.

I have been informed by fan, that you should look for the German DVD releases of Laurel & Hardy, the quality is better.

Charity shops are now charging the earth for LPs Rich. £10 for a Bobby Vee hits LP, £6 for SKY 2 and £13 for a Mud LP. I have no idea who does the pricing but they have no idea on vinyl.

I still think shop staff get first pickings on records and the dregs go on the shop floor. Most of them are only fit for landfill sites - like rugby songs and soundalikes etc.

Happy New Year.

There must be dedicated places where you can offload vinyl discs you don't want and get a professional evaluation that makes sense.

You're probably correct about freebie first pickings from staff in charity shops. Some of these people are not quite as selfless as they like to make out, much like the clergy! Infact they can be worse.

I must resolve not to be so cynical this new year.

Happy New Year to you Rich and other readers of this site!

If the shop managers or don't volunteers don't get the LPS for free, they probably price them low for themselves, still before they go on the shop floor. It's funny seeing the same record titles over and over again in charity shops these days. What there is of the classic "rock" or "pop" is nothing rare, amazing or very collectable - unless you are lucky.

Charity shops get them stock for free. I did overhear a charity shop manager saying the quiet bit out loud that they are a business and charity second. It's true after bills, managers are paid etc - what is left goes to charity. Even CDs in charity shops are getting ridiculously high in price.

Even clothes are expensive now in charity shops.

If you visit a professional record shop in the high street, once the owner knows you, you can get nice little discounts. They don't use silly online websites to get price guides but use their knowledge, not forgetting you get things on Layaway which is handy if you are spending a small fortune.

Rich wrote:
Green Man wrote:
I am not an expert of ABBA but is £203.99 justified for an ABBA vinyl box set? You can abroad for that price and probably find it cheaper in Europe.

www.whsmith.co.uk/Product/ABBA/Vinyl-Album-Box-Set/15200028

There's a lot of songs on there I've never heard. It's basically £20 an album isn't it, if there are 10 vinyl 12" discs. You've got to be an absolute obsessive hardcore fan to buy that or be lucky enough to get given it. In an era when the value of music seems to have been cheapened somewhat, how many of these box sets at £200 plus a go, even for Abba, are likely to be sold?

I was very tempted to buy the full DVD box set of all the Laurel & Hardy films out of HMV five or six years ago, but that was only £100, but seemed well worth the price.

Another point on box sets in general, such as this £200 one, how does buying bulk music like that show up in the charts exactly? Do box sets qualify for the normal album chart or not, or do they have their own stand along listing?

It seems some people have had pressing issues with the ABBA set on reviews. I remember the days when record shop would replace or give you a credit note for defective records. I still don't get the "warmth" people mention when buying new vinyl.

www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B09S5VG...ewerType=all_reviews