Russian Records - How to dig for them?
disco_che
1,115 Posts
As I'm living in a former socialist state (East Germany) I relatively often find russian stuff on fleas but without any knowledge in deciphering cyrillic I'm practically lost judging if I should cop or not. If the artwork doesn't tell me anything about the style of music and I can't see no picture of the band or the instruments involved I'm completely helpless and usually don't buy.
I know there are some people into russian stuff on here. How do you do it? Do you understand the language or are you always digging with a portable? Any tips and hints how to sepparate the good from the bad?
I know there are some people into russian stuff on here. How do you do it? Do you understand the language or are you always digging with a portable? Any tips and hints how to sepparate the good from the bad?
Comments
People mostly go by that label to decipher whats good and what isn't. Tragically I feel most of the music on Melodiya is criminally overrated and overpriced. People tend to get a bit overzealous thinking because something is from the Cold War era that it has some sort of extra awesomeness. I think Bulgarian records are much better and easier to decipher whats good and what isn't. The Balkanton label reissued/repressed a lot of stuff which makes for better quality pressings of records that never made it out of the country in the 70's, AND most Bulgarian joints have english text as well as the backwards R's on em. good luck. it's a cold world out there.
Just bring a portable to the flea and do some needle drops, there really isn't any other way when it comes to melodiya records with generic sleeves.
Most of the good Melodiya records are known by now. There's some pretty good stuff from the republics like Turkmenistan or what not, and often the covers will betray what's going on. There's some good jazz, almost all the rock stuff is patchy (ie: one or two trackers) and a lot of it sells for what it sels for because it's exotic not necessarily great.
At the same time, in historical context, a lot of this stuff is super interesting. Also, because I was born in the Eastern Bloc (I live in Poland right now, I came back after 25+ years in the West after a girl, stupidly, now I'm stuck here) this stuff has some kind of resonance with me, I guess.
Where in Germany are you? I'm in Pozna??, Poland and drive to Berlin a lot.
Thanks for the insight. I even had some very few lesson in russian in school but this is long ago and I forgot everything. Seems like fixing my portable is the only solution for now.
Recently I made a little score with an Azerbaijan-Jazz LP because there were saxophones on the cover and there was something translated in english that said "Jazz".
Poznan is the only polish city I've ever been to (also girlfriend-related). I'm in Weimar which is 300 km south-west from Berlin. How is digging in Poland?
I basically got myself a little Cyrillic chart and started deciphering words on records and other things, and before long I was able to drop the chart. The key is to just keep at it, you get to a point where you can slowly start deciphering stuff with one or two letters missing. In my case, since I speak a Slavic language, it was maybe easier to fill it in, but that was basically my totally unscientific method.
Nice score on Azeri jazz - I never see that stuff.
To clarify - my presence in Poland is now EX-girlfriend related, and I am desperately trying to get out of this place as soon as I can. The problem is I brought all my records and stuff over as we were going to be here long-term, and it's pretty hard to pay for shipping records internationally on the hilarious joke of a farce of a kick in the teeth that is called a salary in this country. And if I just sell the good ones to pay for shipping, why bother shipping the shitty ones?
Digging in Poland kind of sucks. Even Polish records tend to be in better shape and cheaper in Germany. Lately it seems that I spend hours at the flea markets only to find G+ copies of stuff at 2x Berlin EX/NM prices. I've been diligent and have come up with some good stuff at OK prices, but it's mostly from living here and being persistent. Maybe it's just Pozna??? Last time I was in Warsaw, I managed to find some things. I've heard stuff crops up in ????d??, and I have managed to always buy cool stuff from sellers that come from there, so maybe there is something to that.
As far as shops in Poland go, they are few and far in between, though here in Pozna?? I noticed two places that popped up - but I haven't had a chance to check them out yet because I work crazy hours like everyone else I know here. I do know that Warsaw and Krak??w have some shops that actually have good records, though since they're at western prices, they're not really affordable to Polish diggers. There's a place in Gda??sk that has some vinyl, but the prices would just shock you. 5-10x eBay, without any regard to condition. The upside is that if he doesn't know it or care about it, it's cheap, so I managed to pick up some good Cuban stuff there for pennies while leaving the VG- copies of ???10 LPs priced at ???100 behind. If you're coming over with Euros though, some of the shops in Warsaw or Krak??w are not a bad way to stock up, as not everything is at eBay+ prices... some stuff slips though. Beware of tricks and condition issues like groove wear that you can't see the way you would scratches or warps. Never assume that just because a 20??? record is priced at 20??? it isn't warped, broken or so scratched it won't play. ALWAYS inspect the entire LP. There's one douche from Wroc??aw who would take warped unplayable LPs, put them in the sleeve so that if you just take the LPs out 3/4 of the way you don't see the warp and price them at 1/2 top-dollar absolute maximum NM price. He'll also give you a price that's already high in zlotys and if he thinks he could squeeze you more, he'll change it from zlotys to euros. He did that once to me (100 zlotys suddenly became 100 euros), I laughed in his face, and found a cleaner copy of the same LP on eBay for ???15 later that week. He buys and sells in Germany also. Caveat emptor!
I also find people are pretty surly and don't smile, but if you earned ???300 a month before taxes in a place where a 15 square metre hole in the wall costs more than your salary to rent, you wouldn't smile either. I know I stopped smiling since I moved here.
There are some nice and honest sellers that I have come across too, of course, but they seem to be the exception and not the rule. The younger digger guys are totally different - nice and generous and civilized people. And of course not all the older guys are awful either, some of them are really nice dudes. But the prevailing attitude (and not just in records) here is fuck or be fucked.
My advice is to buy your Polish records in Germany in better shape for less money, and avoid this place unless you have other reasons to come here.
I have never tried to look for records in Poland but a friend told me he didn't find anything interesting while he was there. Here in Weimar usually always something good turns up (but no Milians, Novi Singers or Debrichs). Recently I bought a package of 30 polish jazz records on german ebay that was pretty nice. 50 bucks and it brought me the Nahorny, Big Band Kattowice and lot of other good stuff.
Hope you can make it out of your nasty situation soon.
Yeah I mostly lurk around here, but even I felt the need to chime in with a "hope that gets better for you soon" kind post. You must be a dude of strong character, because that situation sounds utterly horrible.
I hope you find a way out of Poland soon. Or at least some good records!
When I first came to Poland, I found two String Beats in the same pile of records for about the equivalent of 1 euro each (I had my own copy already) and thought this was going to be easy, but it turned out to be total beginner's luck. I found a clean original NOVI "Bossa Nova" in Warsaw for about 100 zlotys (???20 at the time) and that was a stroke of luck -- the last one I saw in the wild was in 2000! As for Milian, I got my copy of Bazaar in Canada - never seen it here except for an online auction on Allegro with a reserve price that would make a Japanese collector shit himself.
Nice score on that 30-record package. Even beater copies of the Nahorny are like 1/2 of what you paid for all 30 of those here! I think in the 90s and early 00s Polish people figured out they could make some money by selling stuff in the west and it all went out there until the market got saturated. Now that people in Poland have a little more disposable income (though it's not much, trust me) and are becoming interested in records, the supply is really low and so sellers here can charge whatever they want.
As for me, part of the problem is that while I have a job and an apartment here, I'd need to basically have a job lined up before I moved, and would need to save up the cash, which is not easy here. I came here from the US (though I am a dual Polish/Canadian citizen) and our move cost us almost $10,000 with all our shit, our two cats and all that was needed to get ourselves over here long-term. I figure it would run me at least five grand to get my ass back to North America with my records and my cat - that's about half a year's wages here, and just my modest studio apartment in the worst neighbourhood in the city (knife murders, skinheads, urine everywhere, etc) consumes more than half my salary once bills are factored in - and I have a decent job! Of course, the norm here is to not live alone, but I can't afford the place my ex and I were renting together, and I'm really not into living with strangers at this point in my life.
The other option is to look for work in Europe, so I can just drive my stuff over. If I spoke German, I'd not be here anymore! In fact, sometimes I wonder if I shouldn't just swallow my pride - I can make more money picking fruit or working at McDonald's in Germany than I do as a designer at an agency here in Pozna??! (This is why Polish migrant workers have flooded Europe!) Plus no one in Poland pays you overtime and you're often expected to work on weekends.
Anyways... thanks for the kind words. I'll figure it out sooner or later.
Thanks! Sorry to hijack this thread on some woe-is-me shit. I dunno if I'm a dude of strong character - I feel like I'm ready to snap at any moment - but the situation is what it is so I just have to dig in and get through it. I'm stocking up on books like Papillon and Shantaram to draw inspiration from dudes who weathered unfathomably worse situations than mine.
If you're planning to move to/work in germany and have any questions/need help send me a PM. Good luck man and keep your head up.
Jesus man, I feel for you and wish you nothing but the best. Hopefully you can figure out a way to get out of there sooner than later.
Can anyone enlighten me?
And the third one this: http://collectorsfrenzy.com/Details.aspx?id=260794793499
Is this the way to sell this shit?
i think learning Cyrillic helps. At least to remember what you have bought already!
about records that finelikewine posted.
Veselye Rebyata
Samotsvety "U nas molodyh"
Pojusshie Serdca ("Singing Hearts")
Margarita Suvorova
I have never heard of last record, but others are pretty known and yes, they seem to be loved by secret squirrel sellers, which I think is really stupid way to sell. I think Singing Hearts is best of them with two OK tracks and it has been quite tricky to find clean copy over here.
Oh yeah. I won't buy from secret squirrel sellers on principle. Ever. Not that I am missing out, since it would mean paying $50 for a $3 record anyways - that's why they do it. If the seller is particularly annoying, I tell everyone what records he's flogging so they can get them for a reasonable price. A lot of people seem to sell Russian stuff that way, probably to try and increase the mystique on some "Russian raer" that was pressed in a run of 3,700,000 copies.
:walk_away_son:
There are genuinely rare Melodia records, of course, but that's usually got very little to do with secret squirrels.