Thanks richie, most people have gone with VG+, but I'd go VG purely due to the size of the scratch. I'll keep it as the seller is sending me another CD from his list for free, and the price though high, is actually low for this 2CD. It does kind of surprise/annoy me that he still insists it's NM even after I sent him the photos. I've heard from a couple of Dutch forum users that Dutch CD sellers typically way overgrade. I had a different Dutch seller tell me "well it plays like mint!" when I contacted him after receiving a "mint" cd that was covered in scuffs and scratches!!
Picked up The Visitors Deluxe CD edition with DVD. Digipak. 20p as part of 5 for £1 in Barnardos. Didn't realise it was rare! The other 4 CD's I bought for just the cases..... ABBA - The Visitors
Today: Marc Russo: Windows Frank Sinatra: My Way Johny 'Hammond' Smith: Opus De Funk Brahms - Symphonies 1-4: LSO/MSO/Dorati (2CD) Korngold - Symphony (Oregon SO/DePriest) Queen - Hot Space (2011 remaster) Queen - Jazz (2011 remaster) Kris Kristofferson - Best Of Total cost to self: £3.00 I know HS and Jazz are supposed to be two of Queen's weakest albums, but I thought I might as well pick them up out of interest, anyway.
A few on this thread might be interested that 2AM When Every Second Counts is getting a CD reissue: https://www.amazon.co.uk/When-Every...64469061&sprefix=0762184215129,aps,198&sr=8-1 The original (and only official) 1987 RCA CD release commands very high prices.
Love the ROIR label. I've got The Germs, MC5, Ras Michael & Sons of Negus and Richard Hell releases. If I spotted any ROIR in a charity shop it would be an instant buy.
On ROIR I had 8 Eyed Spy - Live & The Great New York Singles Scene, but I have no memory of both how I managed to buy them or what became of them. I wonder if I saw them for sale in ads towards the back of New Musical Express.
Distribution was definitely an issue, the only place I can remember stocking the tapes with 100% certainty was Revolver in Bristol which was part of the Cartel, but I can't remember where they sourced them, though I may have known a lot more 35 years ago. The other great tapes from back then, of which I have a better collection, are the NME ones, many of which I believe were compiled by Fred Dellar, a man with excellent taste.
I buy lots of music, 90% new, 10% used from Discogs/eBay less than 1% of that From charity shops. I now have to fund my hobby by culling my collection, initially this was to make room on my music shelves, that is still the case but now money is tighter as we all know. Albums/box sets I haven’t played in a long time and I’m unlikely to play are those I cull. Almost all the LPs/CDs/box sets in my collection are in Near Mint condition apart from the pre- owned stuff. I have always taken care of my collection. Any CDs and box sets I sell on Discogs/eBay are Near-Mint if not they are donated to the local ‘Mind’ charity shop. Selling items that aren’t Near Mint isn’t worth the hassle. When it comes to selling LPs on Discogs/eBay I will only sell Near Mint condition vinyl and by that I mean LPs that look unplayed or rarely played. That also means they are flat, clean, no marks or scuffs, the cover/inserts/extras are pristine. I know that I can sell with confidence, I have 100% positive feedback on Discogs & eBay. Any LPs that I’m getting rid of that fail to be Near Mint I sell or trade with an independent record shop. The owner can inspect them if he doesn’t want any it’s the ‘Mind’ store for them. When I sell on either eBay or Discogs I always ensure for example the LP I am selling is the cheapest out of all of the same issue. I don’t want stuff being listed for months I want quick sales but I always ensuring my grading is correct.
The NME tapes were fantastic, introduced me to lots of new music. Actually, the main compilers were Roy Carr & Neil Spencer. I set about digitising my set recently, and found to my horror that a number of them no longer play. The tape gets stuck. I was able to buy some replacements online, which did play, but I'd advise anyone who has some to copy to their hard drive before it's too late.
I love to hunt British charity shops for decent CDs. Many of the CDs in British charity shops are those by late 1990s boy bands and such, but by chance I came across a late 1980s Japanese Bangles compilation album called Star Box at Oxfam's secondhand music store in Reading for 99p today (and I got a discount, taking it down to nearer 60p): Bangles - Star Box I got it for far less than any of the prices it's gone for on Discogs. The sticker on the spine (which is quite unique to Japan) is also still intact. It's missing the bundled thick booklet and the other extras that originally came with it such as the calendar and slip case, but otherwise I'm very happy to have it - I know the Bangles were quite popular in Japan during the 1980s. I've come across Bangles CDs occasionally in charity shops before, but they've been newer (and probably brickwalled) post-mid 1990s remasters whereas I want an original pre-Loudness War version (c.1993 or earlier) when it comes to old music. Other good finds I've come across in charity shops in the past have included a Guided by Voices compilation and three Mazzy Star albums.
I found a CD in Oldham yesterday! Really hadn't been expecting to. The Chico Hamilton Quintet - Gongs East! for £1.79 in the Oxfam shop. The weird thing is that the disc and back inlay are both from the Europe release, but the four page booklet is from the Japanese release. Checking on Discogs didn't help as whoever added the photo to the Europe release took the photo from the Japan release's page. Unless this CD was released in Europe with a Japanese obi! The Chico Hamilton Quintet – Gongs East! (2014, CD) - Discogs The day before, I'd got Chill With Satie, 99p in Garstang. An interesting comp which seems to have been drawn from several different Naxos' Satie albums. Nice, except that I'm not too impressed by the guitar arrangements of some of the piano compositions, they don't work for me.
Provided that a CD in a charity shop is being sold at a low price, I'm happy to buy a slightly scratched one (most of them are a little) provided that it doesn't look as though that scratch is going to affect my ability to rip the disc or play it on most players. Small CD scratches generally don't affect playback but very large ones can do. I also risked buying another CD from a charity shop earlier today which looked to be made in the early 1990s at PDO's infamous Lancashire factory and was showing on the label side of the disc noticeable browning and slight rot. The underside of the disc looked fine so I assumed it would play normally, and I was right. It's a good idea to make a lossless rip of those discs as soon as you get home with them, though. A slightly scratched CD is definitely not mint. A mint CD should be completely scratch free and also without any imperfections to its booklet or original case/box. I would grade a CD that is somewhat scratched but still plays fine as "good acceptable".
Yes, it actually was. If you click on "Jazz Best Collection 1000" in the Discogs entry you linked, you will find lots of titles which were manufactured in Europe for the Japanese market. And although they were obviously meant for the Japanese market, they were also sold in Europe (e.g. by Amazon), often quite cheaply.
Very interesting, thank you. Strange that the disc and back inlay have a Europe release catalogue number, and the 'booklet' has the Japan catalogue number. Bizarre.
The UK PDO disc always look OK on the play side. The problem was the lacquer on top of the aluminium layer.
I have the disc from The Monkees - The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees which has got mixed up with the insets from The Monkees - The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees I wasn't bothered as it was only 50p from a charity shop.
Jazz is one of my favourite Queen albums, it's great fun and still has the great musicianship and eclecticism of the earlier stuff. I like Hot Space too, but that divides fans a lot more. Jazz is popular among Queen fans.