confessions of a reissue buyer
The_Hook_Up
8,182 Posts
Hi, my name is Eric, and I just bought a shit-ton of reissues.Now, I usually pass on reissues, but the other day as I looked at the Scorpio excel file at work and saw that I could get them at $5.90 a pop, I went a little crazy. It was weird, seeing them in one long list, and cheap. All of these records are of the "fuck it, I am tired of getting out bid on the OGs and/or these aint NEVER gonna pop up around here" persuasion. Our shipment arrived a few minutes ago...Marlena Shaw-Live at MontreauxCarlos Malcom-Bustin' Out of the GhettoJohn Holt-1000 Volts of HoltOs Pilantrocratas-PilantrocraciaGeorge Braith-Two Souls in OneThe Lat-Teens-Buena GenteD'angelo-S/T (the brazilian one, not the neo-soul dood)Willie Bobo and the Bo-Gents-do what you want to doDee Felice Trio-In heatThe Latinaires-Camel WalkHorace Silver-Total ResponseNow I am trying to rationalize this. Would anyone elese staring at that list, and seeing for a few hours' pay you could scoop all of them at once? I feel a little dirty.Oh well, the way I am looking at it, I just saved about a grand or so...post your reissue confessions
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and i just don't get a good vibe from the scorpio folks. sorry. the guys i met in person from there, despite their knowledge are
[JLR]Dakar likes his fake finds real[/JLR]
delicious!!
What I have done is set price celings: if an OG will cost me more than $300, I won't have a problem buying the reissue for my listening pleasure. Some reissues I have off the top of my head: Turner Bros, Arthur Verocai, Stark Reality, Sons and Daughter of Lite, Luiz Eca & Familia Sagrada, etc. I won't put those in mixes, but I'll play them at home. Although, I have recorded some of these for Microwave use. That whole thing may change up my shit a little bit here. Hmmm...
something like songs of experience,"the meters", etc should be avilable to everybody
life is too short
pun intended
why wouldn't you play reissues at a club? would you really want to drag your prizes out into the cold cruel world?
Why would anyone have an issue with you playing out a reissue?
I mean outside of it possibly being of bad sound quality?
I buy used cheap reissues whenever I can, in some cases specifically to use in place of my OGs, or to play out raer stuff I will never find and people will otherwise never hear.
If someone has the spare time to step to me and bitch about me playing out a reissue, I hope they time for me to laugh in their face. Course, the place I DJ is no cover!
why wouldn't you play reissues at a club? would you really want to drag your prizes out into the cold cruel world?
unless you are paying for the mp3s, I can't see your point.
I can live with that
- spidey
It's a personal decision I made as an extension of my DJing. I don't see it as "keeping it real" because I don't have a problem with reissues at all, I'd just like to be known as an excellent DJ with rare, original records. If I start playing a bunch of reissues, then I get lumped in with the majority of average DJs. It's just one of the ways I'm trying to distinguish myself among the rest. DJ skills and creative mixing are the other ways.
Who me?
I just try to keep it 'right', I don't have time to worry about keeping it 'real'.
that's why I only use Microwave with mp3s encoded at 320 kbps or higher.
fuck an average dj.
you know, on one level, i totally agree. If the music sounds good, and the audience is feeling it, then it doesn't matter if you're playing a reissue, a CD, or one of those other things that everyone's talking about these days. No one will care.
At the same time, i think there's something intagibly wack about playing a RE out. hard to explain. I think it has to do w/ having the respect of your peers. if you're playing a lot of reissues, it could mean you haven't put your time in, haven't paid your dues.
case in point, a few weeks ago at the spot, my man was spinning. My other friend and I (where you at Buscrates?) were standing around the tables, i think he was playing Food for Thought LP, and Bussy and I were jokingly inspecting the sleeve to make sure it was OG (it was!) I mean it's not like we would have stopped being friends with him it it were a reissue, or even lost respect for him, but there WAS this sort of unspoken subtext where if it were a reish, we would've been like 'aw dude wtf' in a clowning, friendly manner.
if its on my own tables i dont mind playing my og's out cause i know my shit is set up right.
really though, its just common sense.
You are a high-bandwidth microwaver
as Dakar would say, I'm just trying to keep it fake, you know?
The main problem I have with DJs who play re-ishes is 9 times outta 10, ALL they have are re-ish's...someone else has chosen what music would be good to own and play and made it available to them for very little effort. These type of DJs never dig stuff up for themselves, or discover hidden gems for themselves, it is done for them and filed aplphabetically at the shop down the street for easy availablilty. I routinely play $200+ records out(on my or my partners equipment)...like Ferrari said, it does set you apart from the dudes playing Jazzman or Stones Throw records...ANYONE can get those records...ya know?
as a digger, nothing feels better than replacing that Reissue with an OG you found in the dollar bin or at a fraction of what what it's worth.
having a copy on the shelf keeps me from getting caught up in dropping big kwan on ebay. if i have the music already, i'm less likely to get irrational about missing out on it. and over the years i've been pretty lucky in finding OG replacements for even less than reissue itself. a few that come to mind... Osmium, What Color is Love, ESG, Axelrod Isht, Hysear Don Walker, and many more.
Nowadays however, I want the OG or I will be happy with a high quality mp3/CD version. IMO, reissues don??t have "value" and a "strictly vinyl" approach doesn??t really make sense anymore.
yeah i confess a re-ish fish hope the vinyl sounds good, heard this re a while ago, recall it was ok...
this is all truth.
It shoudl also be said that those most likely to buy a reissue are music appreciators and those looking for OG's only are more apt to be labeled collectors.
I'm both, but I'll be damned if I skip out on some good music just cause it don't got a brown cardboard sleeve or a paste-on back
Sweet Charles popped my reish cherry
the Putney Swope OST I got last week ensured that I won't forget my roots