Do you guys think Abraxas has the potential to be worth $5,000 and $10,000 in years to come? I still haven't opened mine since I was able to listen to another copy on someone's system. I am pretty happy with the sound of the MOFI SACD to be honest. It's not an album I revisit very much, so I am just keeping the sealed One Step for investment at this point.
I have no idea, really, but I certainly don't see any reason why it would go down in value from what it's worth now. MFSL won't be making any more Abraxas 1-Steps, and it's not like this is a record that's valuable because there aren't other available high-quality reissues. For example, the MFSL "Sea Change" crashed in value from $3-400 a pop to about half of that after the latest reissue of that record. If/when "Songs for the Deaf" gets reissued on vinyl, I imagine first pressings will become a lot less valuable as well, assuming the reissue is done well. That won't be happening with Abraxas. Rarity of the album on vinyl isn't an issue; it's rarity of this reissue in particular (and the general myth-making around it that's taken place). That's an important distinction. Only way I see these going down in value is if the audiophile market eventually loses interest in vinyl generally. All this is to say, maybe I'll keep mine, after all.
Fixed. For most, myth implies fantasy, fiction. Legend tends to be thought of more as truth, which in this case, it is.
Well, maybe 50/50. I don't own a single record that sounds better than the One-Step Abraxas. I own several that I think sound just as good.
Ha! I would never have thought that it would get to these prices. I thought of selling my 2nd copy (sealed) when it reached $400 as I thought it might top out around there for awhile. Anyhoo, now I have it stored in a back room...no account on Discogs or flea bay and too embarrassed to ask what they go for on this forum, but don't want to "give" it away. So it sits....and more than likely will continue to do so.
Not quite. My list is further up in this thread. Of all the ones I named, I think the AP 45rpm Bill Evans "Explorations" is the only one that might actually be more sonically impressive, but that's a difficult comparison to make, given we're talking about a jazz trio versus a whole slew of instruments and percussion in "Abraxas." But no single moment in "Abraxas" blows my mind like the drum break at the end of "Israel" does.
I think you have to look at other records that command that sort of money consistently. Obviously, we're not talking about some old release where there were tens (or hundreds) of thousands of copies pressed and just aren't easy to find anymore. You're talking about a specific reissue of which just a couple of thousand were pressed. But there are so many factors that play into this. I'm not so sure they don't re-release it at some point in the future. In addition, the sort of people who will be able to spend $5,000 - $10,000 on a single record in the next 15-20 years probably aren't the sort of people who care about Santana.
It seems to me the one-step Abraxas has skyrocketed almost entirely because of the sound quality and not because of Santana/Abraxas fans. I don't think there are more than a handful of Abraxas fanatics out there. Based on that (assuming of course that I'm right, which isn't a given) it seems to me that people who don't really care all that much about the album itself are more likely to be swayed by a flashy pricetag than say, an equivalent sounding pressing of DSOTM or some other widely adored release. All this is to say, I don't see this thing continuing to skyrocket. It'll probably go up but not wildly.
Hm, I’d be careful with some of these assumptions. I don’t think it will happen soon (if at all) but there are at least a couple ways that this price could be driven down. 1) a superior (or comparable) reissue is released by another label. Say AP doing it as UHQR or even UHQR at 45RPM. 2) MoFi re releases the one step version. When I see the boxes limited to X copies, it seems an easy way around this would be to rerelease it sans box I think those are the two most likely scenarios that could cause a price dip. And I think the approach would be different for me based on my purchase price. If I paid $99 I would just keep it as it will likely not be bettered. If I paid $200 or so I’d keep it and listen to it for a while and probably sell in the future if I didn’t feel it was a must have (this album is not for me personally). However, if I paid north of $500 and didn’t feel it was worth keeping at that price? I’d give it a few more listens and flip it ASAP while the gettin is good. All it takes is one announcement referencing a scenario posted above for the Abraxas bubble to burst.
I think number 2 is more likely than number 1, but given the limitations of the 1-Step process, I also think a MoFi re-release would be more complicated than you're imagining. As Steve explained earlier in this thread, there's no "mother" MoFi can use to cut new records. If I'm understanding the process correctly, in order to re-release the 1-Step, they'd have to re-obtain the master tape from Sony and redo their mastering altogether. And there's no guarantee they'd capture the same magic from the tape a second time.
Well, if a company comes along and puts out a pretty equivalent quality reissue of Abraxas, the value to the OneStep will likely go down. Supply and demand.
I’ll venture a guess around $500 -$1000 sealed once the dust settles. I haven’t looked at the statistics on Discogs, but I suspect that there are a few hundred copies in collectors hands, many sealed. In fact so many are probably sealed that I would equate sealed with NM for older UHQR titles. If you look at the older UHQR titles, there are fewer in collector hands and a couple, Dark Side and Pepper, are by much more collectible artists and are therefore in greater demand. A nice copy would go for $500+, maybe even $1000. On the other hand, Cat Stevens is not quite as popular, and his Tea for Tillerman UHQR can be found for $200+.
New Hybrid SACD from MOFI, kind of out of nowhere. Thelonious Monk - Monk's Dream (Numbered Hybrid SACD)
Yes I think you are correct. It is the Impex. I got it from AS and may have gotten my wires crossed. None the less, very good! It did take a return to get an acceptable copy and it still has a small amount of noise. But I can live with it.
Sold my Santana Abraxas one-step a year after its release . I pre-ordered at least 18 months before I received it in the mail. Totally forgot that I pre-ordered it and then when it did come I was dis-interested from the wait and busy lifestyle put vinyl on the back burner . I sold it sealed for a modest profit. My only regret was not ordering 2.
