The Next Generation of Grails.
Breez
1,706 Posts
What are some records that you've noticed climbing in price and status lately. I know there was a thread a little while ago that was talking about this topic and the Minority Band record hitting $1500- $1800 lately, but I had no clue of the thread title so I didn't rack my brain doing a search.
Also, what records have kind of slowed down and hasn't been reaching the prices it has in the past.
Example: Stark Reality hasn't been any where near the prices it was getting 4-5 years ago.
Also, what records have kind of slowed down and hasn't been reaching the prices it has in the past.
Example: Stark Reality hasn't been any where near the prices it was getting 4-5 years ago.
Comments
I don't think E.O.U. will ever lose steam. Exactly how many of these are rumored to be around?
Well that paid for Rocks diggin vacation round' the southeast and then some.
I found two copies, handed one to my brother and told him that would cover gas money.
When the trip was all said and done....9 days....3,000 miles...gas money ....rental car.......airline ticket to ATL........meals.....hotels.....and the records I bought I spent about $3,400.....my brother probably spent around $2,500 simply because I bought a lot more vinyl than he did.
Granted, we don't stay at Motel 6 or eat at MickeyD's.
EOU probably paid all his expenses less the records he bought.
They will be the next generation of grails.
Especially some of the larger rock bands. There was a period where bands that were selling out arenas only had their vinyl released in tiny numbers. Records by the bands that stand the test of time (not looking at you, Everclear) will soar, imo.
Does that kind of manufactured rarity--the "Limited Edition!" shit--ever result in any real, deep grails, though? It seems like the records (or any collectables, really) in heaviest demand are always precisely the ones that were not meant to last, that were not geared toward careful, savvy collectors who are gonna buy two and keep 'em in the plastic. It's always the most ephemeral, disposable shit--records given away to soldiers, acetates from no-names, baseball cards that came with fried chicken, whatever--that stokes the kind of frenzy that transcends fashion.
My feeling is that anyone who was still buying or manufacturing vinyl in the 90s kinda knew what they were doing. I doubt you're gonna hear about the organic freak shit that inspires real drive, like some Pearl Jam record that's one of ten because the rest of the run got destroyed or something. By the 90s, the folks that knew, knew, you know? There's of course the manufactured collectibilty and its attendant aura, but I think there's a ceiling/expiration date on that shit, and I can't see those records getting the kind of decades-long (that is to say multi-generational) burn that the heavy funk/punk/psyche/whatever jernts enjoy today.
Famous last words, though, right?
I always like hearing about who first discovered these "grails" and the stories of finding these records for $1. Rockadelic has the best story I've heard in years (E.O.U.).
Also, when you find a "grail" for $1 and you're not aware of the it's worth and then find out what it is do you still look at that record as a $1 pull or do you hold in higher regard?
I'm one of those guys who was putting out limited edition stuff starting in '88, and no, I had no friggin clue about what I was doing. One early Rockadelic release, Cold Sun, has sold for close to 4 figures and if I knew what the hell I was doing I'd have a box of them stored away in a closet somewhere.
No such thing.
Or so I have read.
Next Generation?
That record has been over a G for like 20 years.
http://www.popsike.com/PRINCE-BUSTER-FUNKY-JAMAICA-LISTEN/270568095134.html
This guy is asking 2220 Euros!
AKA US $3,082!!
http://www.industrial-silence.com/lp-list-txt-search.php?word=damon&Submit;.x=0&Submit;.y=0&Submit=Search
The big psych LP's are at their second peak right now and have been there for about 5 years.
The first peak was in the early 90's pre-Ebay and it took 10 years of ebay to get back to that level.
The folks with world class 50's Rock & R&B LP collections should have sold 10+ years ago.
My dad has tons of stuff that falls into this category, LP's & 45's, but he's just a major fan of the music and couldn't give a rat's ass about their worth. He's got a bunch of white test copies w/ hand written labels and promos that he got from his cousin that managed a few regional groups/singers from that period. I don't even bother going through them cause I know I won't get them til he (God forbid) passes.
Yeah, I'm sorry--I was thinking less of reissues (I know that Cold Sun technically wasn't a reissue, but you know what I mean) and more in terms of limited-edition contemporary (or then-contemporary) releases: e.g. Third Eye Blind vinyl back then, or Stones Throw Rapper #472 or Third Man shit now. That stuff will have its red-letter days at the market, no doubt, but think it will have comparatively few of them.
I also extend my skepticism to second- and third-generation rap collectors/speculators who have visions of paying for their hovercars with copies of "Burn Rubber" or whatever. During the Texas/Bay regional-rap reawakening a few years back, a number of dudes were saying that in ten years that shit would be the new Random Rap, but I think that by the time that stuff hit, the information saturation level was just too high, fucking the commercially necessary cocktail of proprietary-knowledge-of-the-few-plus-ignorance-of-the-many all up. Again: The folks that knew, knew, you know? And a lot of folks knew, cuz. I just can't see post-internet rap records doing Cobra MCees money.
But you know what? I'm feeling that my particular strain of crankiness here is angled somewhat perpendicular to the thread. So I'm just gonna kinda ease out and go needle-drop this Gauntlet record that I'm pretty sure is gonna be a piece of shit. Good evening.
If I had it to do all over again I have no doubt I'd do it the same way....I put out records so people could hear them, not as some speculative long term investment....If I had, they'd probably be worthless and I'd have a closet full of shit.
And at least in the beginning they were "limited" because we weren't sure we could sell 300 copies!
I don't think any copy of the Index has sold for as much as the first few did in the 80's.
The Music Emporium is finally back to the price it was at pre-50 OG copies showing up at the Roanoke Record Room in the 90's.
I wouldn't advise paying the "going" price on any of those others in 2010 as an investment for the future.
I agree