Hello, everyone, I thought that I's start a thread here to talk about the VMP Classics track. Hopefully some people are interested. If not, I'll just be talking to myself! I signed up for Vinyl Me Please Classics a couple of weeks ago and Finally listened to my first album, Oriental Jazz. I know that the recordings weren't the best but I really enjoyed it. It was pretty different. I was also happy with the quality record itself, mine was dead quiet. I had read some reviews that made me nervous about the pressings from VMP, but so far so good. I like the packaging and I'm looking forward to reading the booklet before I give it another listen. I'm really looking forward to the next release, Nat Turner Rebellion's Laugh To Keep From Crying. Both of these albums are albums that I probably would never have bought on my own, which is why I decided to try VMP. So far, so good!
I'm pretty excited for the Nat Turner's Rebellion set. Between the Loretta Lynn, the Nat Turner, and the Betty Davis (I swapped the Rap track), this month should be a needle destroyer for me.
Hi, I’ve been a VMP member for 2 years & have most of the Classics releases; they’ve introduced me to so much music that I’d probably never have discovered otherwise, from big names to the extremely obscure. I’ve had a lot of records from VMP & have rarely been disappointed. The curation is top-notch & the packaging always decent, with the Classics pressings & record sleeves being especially high quality. There are a small number of people on the VMP forum that seem to spend all of their time complaining about warped records, dinked corners, & any number of other things, but in my experience I’ve only ever had one record with a slight crease to the sleeve & they completely refunded me when I emailed them; & I’m a member who has several records a month from them, sometimes up to around 40 records in a big box. I highly recommend VMP to anybody who loves music. My musical horizons have been expanded & I only wish I’d known about the club sooner.
I haven't had a single bad pressing yet, and that impresses me, given how many LPs I have bought over the past year that are off-center, have non-fill issues, etc. It's been a pleasant surprise to be part of VMP and I hope that continues.
That's great to hear about the quality of the pressings. I listened to Oriental Jazz a second time today and I really like it. I had a chance to read the booklet and it was fine, really just a brief biography and nothing that really helped me better understand the album. That being said, I love these touches. The overall presentation of the album is top notch and "exclusive" feeling. I am considering joining another track, but I want to wait it out a bit. I wish that they had a Classical track, I would hop on that in a New York minute.
I’ve not got many of the Classics releases but happily swapped on for Nat Turner Rebellion this month, really looking forward to getting it. I’ve been a VMP member on and off for 3 years, have enjoyed it. I post in the forum pretty regularly too.
They recently started to press fewer numbers of the Records of the Month, especially the Classics sub, so they’re much more limited & often sell out in the first month or two. The Essentials ROTM is worth keeping an eye on; there have been many great titles across all genres. Also, the monthly exclusive pressings in the members store are often great picks, as well as being very limited to anywhere between 300-1500 pressings.
Just after I posted, I read that they're having all kinds of supply problems with the Nat Turner album. Looks like I won't get my record until mid-May. I can deal with that, but I'm not happy that some people who swapped for it are going to get it before people actually on the Classics track. I haven't received the email yet, but my order still shows "pending" so I'm not hopeful. On a side note, anyone interested in the Blue Note Box tomorrow? I'm going to take a look.
Well, looks like I was wrong. I received a surprise today when I checked the mail and the VMP box was there with Nat Turner. It still says "Pending" in my orders. I opened it and everything looks good.
Nice. I liked really Nat Turner. I didn't think that it was outstanding, but I'm glad that I got it. Still loving Oriental Jazz. Also, I bit on the box set. FOMO, I guess.
So I really debated swapping out this months Classics selection, Al Green's Call Me. But after reading the forums, I decided to stick with it. I was thinking about getting Sorcerer. I'll save that for later.
Some discussion about it here: https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/thre...e-forum-being-shut-down-on-may-16-2019.839852
glad i'm not alone in feeling this way. i guess i'll go with the apparently AAA sister rosetta LP though. i'm even disappointed by the swap options.
Oooh, AAA for Sister Rosetta, mastered by Ryan Smith? That's exciting to me. Why shouldn't we be excited about the Phoenix and Outkast LPs for June as well? I actually added the Hip-Hop track for the first time ever, because of the Outkast. I don't have any Outkast in my collection and this seems like a good way to start. I was born and grew up in the Atlanta area, so all the metro-area references in the raps should be interesting to hear for that reason. I don't know much about Phoenix, other than seeing it in my partner Sara's CD collection. So I figure she'll be happy to hear this on vinyl. And I see it's also "remastered from the original analog tapes by Ryan Smith, Sterling Sound." So it should sound about as good as it can? Craig.