I just got a sealed copy of the this 2010 box from a good friend of mine. He bought it when it first came out and put it aside, never opening it. I traded an extra Beatles UK Blue box from '82 plus a few other records TBD. I lusted after this box for a long time and never knew he had it. Played the entire set this past weekend and it IS stunning. WOW!!! The only flaw is on one LP where the there two small parallel gouges in the lead in causing loud ticks for about 5 out 6 revolutions. Too bad, but it is another example why you need to open these things right when you get them. Don't keep your records sealed!!! But aide from that issue, it's wonderful and my buddy knew I'd appreciate it more than he would have,.
Chad and AP are the new mega flippers. That price increase is just an insult to their customers. Maybe trying to make some money back from their botched Kind of Blue UHQR release.
Because I don’t understand the people crying about an increase in a pre-order price that they could’ve pre-ordered for ages for the original price. If you want some thing, buy it/place your pre-order. It’s that simple. That’s been the name of the game in vinyl for a long time.
I think some of the dissonance here is because that group has positioned themselves as both an original retailer and a secondary market source, so when the same folks that put something out at one price turn around and put a hefty price increase on it, there’s a natural tendency for it to appear a bit sleazy.
Who’s crying? Just pointing out that it’s brutal treatment of your customers hiking up prices like that. People have so much energy against major labels when they do things like this. AP are just as bad in my opinion.
I don’t disagree, but, again, that’s how it’s been for a while. When AP repressed their 45s of Moanin’ and Maiden Voyage, for instance, they were $75 and $90 (I think, going off memory), respectively. I had backordered both and got them for $50 each. They’ve done the same for several other titles. It’s no shock that the Bill Evans box went up in price. It’s been quite evident to me that it’s been in the works for quite a while (and I’ve posted that countless times on the forum). This is exactly why I have nearly every backordered AP title that I want on order, and placed those some time ago. That’s just the state of vinyl right now, especially the boutique audiophile stuff.
I mean, the last two pages of a thread that’s had no traction for quite some time are mostly people complaining about the price increase. The last time I saw activity in this thread is when Elusive put this up for preorder (with a delivery September date). So I’m guessing most of the folks complaining now were aware they could have ordered from Elusive, and Acoustic Sounds had it for $600 then also. And that made it quite evident that a repress was coming. Not to mention several posts by others on the forum and myself that a repress was almost certain. My guess is that they have nearly sold out of the repress and are trying to maximize profit on the last few sets. Kind of douchey, but so be it. When it’s selling for $1300+, it’s hard to blame them. If it was sold out (for good) and you really wanted to buy it, you’d have to pay a lot more than $900.
I dont like preorders that you dont know when theyre going to ship. I dont mind doing $25 or $30 but $600 to wonder when it come sout and then have a charge show up on our card when it wasn’t budgeted for at the time, thats a problem for me.
Not seeing your point? You’re just giving more examples of AP taking advantage of customers by increasing prices on popular titles they know will sell quickly. Imagine the scenes if all labels and record stores started pricing like this. As I said, it operates a lot like flippers do.
Better than waiting on edge for an email for something that will sell out a blink of an eye, IMO. If AP sent out an email that this was coming for $600, it wouldn’t last more than a couple of minutes, unless they pressed several thousand. Some of the single albums in this set sell for over $300.
So they just automatically jack-up prices before the flippers get there? We can go back and forth on this. I get there is no perfect way to sell these things. It’s business after all. Just somewhat shady business if you ask me.
I have a few stand alone albums from this set and they really are fantastic. Explorations is pretty incredible. I also have Everybody Digs (not a great recording), Interplay (fantastic though not my favorite musically), and Sunday at the Village Vanguard (awesome sounding). I’m really excited for the rest, but especially Debby and Moonbeams. Also Know What I Mean? which is an awesome album.
This is the other point I’ve repeated in the past, but will repeat again: Open and play the records within the 30-day return window. I have the 2017 set pressed at QRP, and at least 1/3 of the records required replacement due to scratches, warping, or other pressing issues. I think the 2010 Pallas set had much fewer issues. Of those replacements, about half again needed a second replacement. At least at that time, that was the limit of what they would do - if you still had a defective record, you either had to accept it or send everything back for a refund. I had 1-2 discs that still had minor issues, but I could live with that rather than be without the set. If you wait beyond the 30 days, you’ll be in the position of either having to persuade them to make an exception to their policy or be in the position where you may be “competing” for a limited number of replacement discs which may run out at some point. Another forum member held onto his set for a couple of years without opening it and when he finally did, he also found at least 1/3 of his discs with defects. First, they resisted doing anything because the order was fulfilled a couple of years ago, but since he was a good customer that spent 1000’s with them, they finally said they’d look for replacement discs. But at that point, they didn’t have any more of the ones he required, so he was left with bad discs. Even for those who are holding onto them for resale later, I still think an opened set with all discs play graded and verified to be NM will have at least as much value as a sealed set where it’s no refund/returns once opened. With 22 discs, there’s bound to be a couple/few with issues that need addressing.
I feel like the timing is bad. We all saw the $60 price increase which we expected due to the announcement. But less than a week later it increases by another $240 unexpectedly.
Agree totally. Yeah all are mint except for the one glitch which looks like something grabbed or clipped the in groove. Not the end if the world because everything else is perfect but that opening first 30 seconds of Village Vanguard ;-( Otherwise beautiful Pallas Pressings
thats fine, theres many places i can give my $600 to for other great music that’s reasonably priced. everyone here should take note of Colemine Records, well pressed records at Gotta Groove, stoughton tip on jackets in eithet gatefold or single pocket and mofi styled inner sleeves. Oh and download codes, all for $20-$25. and these are new bands so it supports them directly. So the notion of places have to raise prices because of stoughton and records costing more is BS. Colemine is tone poet quality for less and supporting brand new artists with royalties and product. So the notion AS, MOFI, and BN have to keep high prices is bs.
This set has wavered on my mind strongly the past few weeks, especially this past week. I was trying to recall their pre-order/charge policy. I was almost certain it only charged upon shipping. Hopefully, my message in this thread wasn't too much of a whine fest. I certainly snoozed on this one, you and I even discussed it in a message. Good advice I forgot to follow. There is so much good vinyl out there, we can't have everything. I know this one will be a gem though. I have over 10 backordered Mofis (Dead, Garcia, Miles, etc.) pre-ordered so I know the game.
45 RPM seems overkill to me, arent these supposed to come out under Craft at some point in 33RPM and AAA?
This is one of the big issues is you're saying they are new bands, licensing would be very low. There is some crappy new prog rock band King something that has dozens and dozens of different vinyl reissues on various colored vinyl from various reissue labels because the license is probably dirt cheap. Sadly major labels (including Fantasy, Concord or whatever) are getting really greedy now that they're seeing vinyl is making them a lot of money again. I looked into licensing classical music where the current reissues only have poor sounding versions (ie noise reduction or poor EQ) either on digital or my preference 15 IPS tape and the licensing costs are absurd, I almost thought I was getting comical figures just to get me to go away. Like buy a new BMW M car and still have plenty of money left over type of cost.
yes for AP and Mofi licensing is definitey higher for the big names. But like BN (Universal) owns all their masters, and 99% of the stuff theyre reissuing, the guys are dead and probably nothing owed to the estate anymore. So not sure why TPs are $36. Blah blah blah kevin gray, joe harley blah blah
This is my thought as well. As much as I wish that I had pre-ordered back in the good ‘ol $600 days, Bill Evans is too much of a hot seller in the vinyl world these days for Craft not to emulate BNC and The Acoustic Sounds series model by reissuing these AAA. Haven’t heard any confirmation that this will actually happen, but I have faith. I didn’t sweat it when I missed out on Music Matters copies of Somethin’ Else and Speak No Evil, and I’m not going to sweat these titles either.
