Why is U2 Vinyl always out of press?

I used to like Trolls growing up. It was one of the only dolls with which I played.

 

Ok in that way it makes sense. But wait what made them so expensive in the first place if it wasn't for availability?
I don't think that many of us are willing to pay almost 100 dollar, euro or whatever for one album. There are some people who would do such a thing but it's not that common for the others. I personaly count myself to those who don't pay these amounts for only one record.
In the end the labels will reissue every album - even if original copys are easy to find. But hey that gives us the opportunity to find more original pressings which are probably mostly prefered here - except if the first pressing of an album sounds particular bad - but there is no album to be known with that issue.

 

I preferred Stretch armstrong

 

To me this is a weird discussion. Of course U2 vinyl was never rare....this is one of the biggest bands on the planet we are talking about. But since when is rarity the most important factor for setting a price? Its supply and demand, and a lot of people wanted and want U2 on vinyl but with the release of POP Vinyl was not the number one medium anymore and so less vinyl was produced than in the 80s. And so without being really rare demand was higher than supply, especially since the vinyl hype.

 

Scarce in the USA, not in the EU.

We've had this discussion before (I can't remember which thread now), but the market is very different here than where you live.

 

Lucky!!

 

Manifest comment really surprised me as I've not had good experiences there before (high prices, few gems). Repo does have some nice rarities and more reasonable prices. Lunchbox has a good selection of new vinyl.

 

I pulled the trigger with Best Buy years ago, and I think I got the vinyl box for $50 and change.
IMHO this is a fantastic reissue.... It's probably mastered from the hi-res digital files, but it's BG and spread over 4 sides at 45RPM, so the sound is deep and open. Not remotely congested. And the bass is MASSIVE. I wish they'd included the B-sides rather than the remixes, but they're fine for what they are.
I confess I've never put down money for an original, but word on the street is that the reissue is better. It might be a matter of personal opinion. Pretty sure the original is an AAA master, but crammed onto a single record with an anonymous engineer doing the mastering. I think if anyone likes the sound of these current reissues (mastered carefully from hi-res files) they would really enjoy the AB reissue, although the current asking price is too high.
Why didn't U2 ever release a reasonably-priced reissue of this one? My guess is they were stuck with a ton of the expensive vinyl boxes that weren't selling and would rather sell those off than give fans a cheap option.

 

Currently Manifest is owned by FYE so that probably explains the current situation. The corporate overlords keep new vinyl prices high, which kills foot traffic, which also sends vinyl sellers running to Lunchbox and Repo instead to sell whatever possible gems they have.
BUT up until 2010 or so, Manifest was killing it. You could get new vinyl for $15 or less (I grabbed original Pearl Jam and NIN records there) and the used vinyl bins had amazing deals. (I remember multiple copies of vintage Metallica records and a Tom Waits Orphans box for $80 that I stupidly passed on.) In this decade, Lunchbox has become the premium vinyl place though, although I still scored some killer deals at Manifest because you see everything that comes through when you're working there. (Original Garbage S/T for $15, original Pearl Jam TEN for $12, multiple Bowie records like Low, Heroes, Diamond Dogs and Hunky Dory for $10-15.....)

Lunchbox also has a LOT of gems because the owner often puts items from his personal collection up for sale. Not always, but a lot of the "where did you get THIS??" items are from his personal stash. Repo has a few gems too, but the owner there prices them according to eBay/Discogs prices (and sells online as well), so you're not gonna see any great deals. It's fun to look at vintage sealed DJM Elton John records and Beatles UK pressings tho, even if you don't wanna pay $100 apiece for them....

 

Original press. I hope this one gets reissued soon for those who missed it the first time. Currently spinning...

 

Me too especially because of Moment of Surrender!

 

Btw, I think the newly remastered versions of Zooropa, NLOTH and Rattle and Hum are already available as Japanese SHM-CD.

 

What made them expensive? Initially? Bidding frenzy on thE bay. And suddenly these are the prices people are always expecting to get. Since thankfully not every music lover falls for their rip off
these sellers are now sitting on the records they are offering as "rare" at inflated prices.

I wasn't talking about any specific territory as I was referring to the constant availability of (multiple) copies on Discogs. Are you suggesting you don't have that in the USA? Isn't Discogs an American company???

 

If you look back in my posts in this thread, I did cite Discogs as an option. Again, I bought my copy of Achtung on discogs. Finding this title in record stores or at record shows in the USA is very difficult.

 

Well, from the more expensive U2 albums that's the one I keep seeing frequently in European stores and at shows. It's also an album where prices can rage wildly between 20 and 50.

Which definitely has to do with the fact that in 1991 vinyl was still bought and manufactured in larger numbers. In Europe.

"Zooropa" is different. I do see it but it's more expensive. A local store has a "Pop" original for 59€ and can't seem to sell it. But that might be down to the new reissues.

Speaking of which: It's great that they finally came around. At the very least they might bring some of these inflated prices down.

 

Yes, we're talking about multiple releases, not just Achtung Baby. I specified that in my earlier posts, and this line of discussion seems to have reached its end.

 

Speaking as an American who lives in the good ‘ol US of A.. on the hotly debated topic of used 90s U2 albums being easily available...

U2 albums pressed on vinyl from Achtung Baby up until No Line on the Horizon were pressed in limited quantities as from 1991-2009 vinyl wasn’t a priority for the record companies. A US pressing of Achtung Baby that I found in an actual record store cost me $45 USD in 2012, and to be honest, while being an official US pressing... the mastering left a lot to be desired. Cramming almost 60 minutes of music on vinyl wasn’t a good idea and the original CD sounds a lot better. Mastering at the time probably lended more to caring about CD quality as records were being phased out at that time.

With that said, through an association with a European friend of mine she tracked down a Zooropa original UK pressing for me back in 2004 and it sounds fantastic. 2 years later I stumbled upon a $6 dollar STILL sealed copy of Passengers on vinyl in a hole in the wall used record store.

Through my almost 18 years of record shopping in America I have rarely, if ever, found a U2 album from the 90s or early 2000s sitting in the Used record bins. Yes, they pop (no pun intended) up now and then online through auction sites at inflated prices. That’s understandable because it was fairly common for 90s albums to get europeon pressings as American audiences were just buying CDs so record companies didn’t care much unless an artist requested album still be sold on vinyl (See: Pearl Jam). I think based on observation and research, the European market probably saw more access to albums that were pressed during the dark ages of record collecting.

I’m glad the albums are getting repressed and remastered. While the thrill of the hunt is fun, it’s nice to just easily pay s decent price for a minty (pressing issues aside) of albums that have had limited pressings which have long been out of print.

 

Im content with my EU pressing of Achtung Baby but my US CD sounds better, so a reissue of AB would be appreciated-

 

Certainly a flat, clean, solid pressing although I did hear some very faint "sweeping/wooshing" noise in the silence between Beautiful Day and Stuck In A Moment but I should qualify that I was listening at a pretty high volume. One rather ironic thing I noticed in the reissue booklet is that the Aung San Suu Kyi references in the credits have been removed.

I have this exact same "sweeping/wooshing" noise on my copy in the exact same spot also. It's incredibly annoying since the rest of the pressing is flawless. It's enough to make me wanna get rid of it already.

 

I agree with you that Achting Baby a great sounding reissue but its 33 1/3 RPM right? Mine is...

 

You probably have a pirated copy, not the official reissue.

 

Achtung Baby reissue is 33 1/2 rpm.

As someone who owned an original to my ears at least the reissue sounds better which is why I sold my original.

Just need NLOTH to get a reissue and the 3 studio albums of the noughties I don't have will be available again.

I had all 3 but sold them and did very well out of it.

Always knew when I sold them they'd be back on the market so had no qualms with it plus I was rarely playing them.

 

Mine is legit, no worries ... BG in the deadwax
Can you post a picture of a label of the album that says 45rpm? The remixes are 45rpm in my box, the album is 33 1/3 rpm

 

My bad, I didn’t realize that the album proper was 33 1/3 and the remixes are 45 RPM.

It’s been so long since I even thought about that set... the facts got jumbled in my mind!

 

You're right, only the remixes are 45RPM.