Beatles mono vinyl box - sound comparison to Parlophone originals only

I know the demand for Blur's original vinyl has gone down since their catalog was re-issued on vinyl.

As for 70s artists, it seems like the Classic reissues of the Led Zeppelin catalog have become collectible items in their own right, commanding more than $100 for some titles. If I drop $100 on the Classic reissue of Zoso, am I going to feel the need to drop $250 on an original UK plum pressing? Probably not.

As for the case of the Beatles, I'll state one more time what I've stated before: thanks to these new reissues, I'm done collecting Beatles mono vinyl. My local record shop has an Odeon pressing of With the Beatles that, in the past, I would have bought in the endless quest for the best pressing. I'm done with that now. I'll spend my money on bands like the Stones and Kinks who don't have new analog mono re-issue LPs available now. I would assume other people will drop out of the hunt for, say, original Parlophone mono White Albums now, because the 2014 reissue gets you at least 95% of the way to an original, if not more, for a fraction of the price of an original. Maybe this doesn't mean that prices for Parlophone mono White albums will fall, but perhaps they will stop rising so quickly. Who knows? I realize there will also be people who want the first pressing for the same reason people collect stamps or first editions of books. But a lot of record collectors do buy records to play. Take them out of the equation, and demand falls. As I've said before, this re-issue campaign will almost certainly gut the prices of all but the most perfectly preserved original mono LPs. I now have zero reason or incentive to pay big bucks for a VG+ copy of Rubber Soul, much less a VG copy. The only copy I would be remotely interested in would be a NM- copy or better. But I'm not going to pay $200 or $300 for a copy like that when I have the brand new copy that came in the mono box. Maybe there are enough stamp collectors out there to maintain the prices of the NM originals. We shall see.

 

Earlier this week I saw a UK mono top loader white album with a 47047 number, or close to that, go for $1600.00. I was amazed. I picked up a NM complete copy about four years ago for a fraction of that price with a higher number but still I was surprised. I think that there are enough collectors out there to maintain the prices of the originals with no problem. I love this box set and think it's great but I won't sell my originals.

 

Good for them, and good for the sellers who have them. Thanks to my new mono White Album, I won't be one of the buyers at that price. The UK White Album for which I would still be tempted to throw down the big bucks would be the stereo version … at least until Sean Magee re-masters the stereo albums in all-analog.

 

I saw that.

Although that'd be something I wouldn't mind owning, the price for UK mono originals has gotten way too high. 30 years ago on a good day that same album could have been had for around $100 or less.

The new mono box suits me just fine.

 

I have stated before and I will state again, the prime buyers of original pressings are those that want to own the original artifact first and play considerations are second. Audiophiles are not really collectors in that sense ( and that is not said in a critical way ) and only make up a tiny part of the buying market. My only criticism of audiophiles is that they seem to think they are the main buyers of original pressings when in fact they are a tiny fraction and they still do not understand that people collect original pressings for the artifact first. Prices vary anyway for no obvious reasons and if there is a drift up or down these re-issues imho will have zero effect on that either way, zip .... nada

 

that price is mostly because of who sold it, I sold a very similar original mono two weeks ago for a tad over USD 300 and it played near mint and looked not far off.......do not gauge prices by the highest they sell for, sellers do this too, it is a mistake only certain sellers can hope to get anything near it !

 

I completely disagree with that. We'll have to agree to disagree. However, in my experience, a significant number of people who do buy original pressings of vinyl records do so for sound quality reasons, and buy the records to play them, not just as objects to put in a plastic bag. That's not to say that there aren't collectors who collect records as artifacts only and don't play them, but that's far from the only reason people seek out vintage pressings.

 

The stamp collectors are the vast majority, that is not to say that they all do not play them, far from it a good player can get a premium but the prime consideration of " collectors " is the artifact, the " stamp." play quality is a secondary consideration at best for most of them !

 

we will indeed have to agree to disagree....

 

From this thread alone, it looks like most people here are very interested in the sound quality of the originals versus the reissues.

Speaking only for myself, play quality is absolutely the number one consideration for buying any record by any artist other R.E.M., whom I do collect in the sense that I try to collect every sleeve and label variation, even if I already have the ultimate play copy of that record. And I know there are people who collect the Beatles that way. However, I don't think all of the people who buy used Beatles records collect them that way, and, if you remove the buyers for whom sound quality is the paramount consideration from the used mono Beatles vinyl market, demand will go down overall, which will have some effect on prices.

 

Yeah, if they don't do an all analog reissue of the stereo set at least let Sean do White Album, Abbey Road and Let It Be.

 

Do you collect the Baseball project too? I saw them last week w Buck and Mills.

 

If I ran the Beatles' business affairs, I'd lock Sean in the studio and throw away the key until he came out with an all-analog Abbey Road at the very least.

 

That's true, but The Beatles are one of the exceptions. Many of their rarest and most valuable records(US for the most part) are based on label and cover variations and overall condition. I've known Beatles record collectors that don't even play the records that they own. It is a lot like stamp collecting when it comes to collecting rare Beatles vinyl. I've personally collected their records for both reasons over the years. But now I focus more on purchasing the best sounding pressings......not the rarest or most valuable.

 

I'd also have him prepare a Singles Box and an EP Box, but let's not get carried away …

 

I completely understand that. I understand that they are the most popular band ever. I understand that some people will not rest until they own Please Please Me with the original Dick James publishing credits, even if it's highly debatable whether it sounds any better than the new reissue.I understand that some people have to have all of the Swan and Vee-Jay singles, even if they sound far worse than the Parlophone singles. I understand the appeal of collecting label/sleeve variations: I have multiple copies of the same R.E.M. single because the sleeve was purple in one country and green in another. I have R.E.M. records I haven't played.

I get that this is a part of record collecting in general, and Beatles collecting in particular. But I long ago stopped even looking at U.S. Beatle albums in the used bins. Why? Because their sound quality is inferior to that of the U.K. originals. Now I have a set of re-issues of the U.K. originals that, in my opinion, equal or surpass the U.K. originals (and late 60s pressings, foreign pressings, etc.) that I have heard in my years of record collecting and working in used record stores. Therefore, I am going to stop even looking at U.K. original mono Beatles records in the used bins at record stores or online.

If I found a Parlophone Rubber Soul at a yard sale for $5, would I buy it? Of course I would. My local shop recently put out some pristine Parlophone Beatles EPs, including Nowhere Man, at a (low) price that I could not believe. I snapped them up in a heartbeat. But I'm not going to pay hundreds of dollars for a single original UK album on the hunt for the best-sounding mono Beatles record any more. Maybe I am the only person who feels this way, and there are enough "stamp collectors" of Beatles records to keep the prices up. If I ever decide to sell those EPs I recently bought, I hope this is the case.

And if I wanted to cash out my original LPs of Out of Time and Automatic for the People by R.E.M., I would do so now, before the R.E.M. reissue program gets to them in the next year or two and floods the market with new, reissue LPs. Because, if the average R.E.M. fan can buy a new LP of Automatic for the People at the local record shop for $24, why is he going to pay me $40 for my vintage copy, which is a price I could probably get right now? I don't see why the same market forces don't apply to the Beatles, at least to some degree, and continue to maintain that the value of less-than-perfect UK mono Beatles LPs is going to crater because of these new reissues.

 

The stereo White Album maybe, as there's only one UK version (the export white vinyl) with all four sides mastered on a Neumann lathe, and it's pretty expensive these days.
However, there's any number of Abbey Road and Let it Be albums out there in the wild cut from the master tapes with a similar lathe to what Sean uses, so a bit pointless really.

 

Many people don't enjoy the "thrill of the hunt" in the wild for that perfect used copy with the right matrix number, or the mis-aligned Apple, or the label without "Her Majesty," and would just prefer to have Elusive Disc deliver a Sean Magee-mastered Abbey Road to their doorstep, I suspect.

 

The closest comparison to collecting records is probably books. Its more than just getting the content. You can pay $5 for a thumb worn paperback of Hemingway's The Old Man & The Sea - or you can pay $5,000 for a decent first edition with dust jacket. Same text inside. They read, fit your hands, feel, and smell completely different though.

 

You don't have to venture out into the wild, just a quick search on eBay, Discogs or Gemm and it's delivered to your door.

 

Yep. And then I get to find out about the edge warp the seller didn't bother to mention, or the groove wear from it getting played on a Dansette in the 60s, and all of the other fun surprises that come with buying used records online.

 

The problem is 'it' often turns out to NOT be it.

 

Unless I buy it from you, in which case it always IS it.

 

Similar to brand new product; ever heard of a pressing plant going by the name of Rainbo?

Done any comparison plays yet, Raunch?

 

Even in that worst-case scenario, I can send the new record back to Amazon until I get one that is pressed right.

Further, based on what he did with the mono records, I wouldn't put it past Sean to cut the best Abbey Road ever.