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Tracking Angle is hosting an article of mine about "sleeper" bargains in collector LPs that cost less than $250, all the way down to $10.
Here's the list of mini-reviews, renumbered according to affordability:
The List, Ranked by the Affordability of their Discogs "High" Prices
1. Dan Fogelberg: Home Free $10.00
2. Tom Rush: Wrong End of the Rainbow $15.25
3. Jesse Colin Young: Light Shine $19.99
4. It's a Beautiful Day: It's a Beautiful Day at Carnegie Hall $20.00
5. Al Jarreau: Look to the Rainbow-Live in Europe $22.47
6. Phil Ochs: Pleasures of the Harbor $24.00
7. Michael Franks: Sleeping Gypsy $29.99
8. Harry Connick Jr.: We Are In Love $39.99
9. Stan Getz/Joćo Gilberto: The Best of Two Worlds $49.99
10. Marvin Gaye: What's Going On? $112.77
11. Al Stewart: Year of the Cat $170.05
12. Fairport Convention: Unhalfbricking $243.90
cheers,
john
Follow Ups:
I realize everyone's taste is different, but I was mystified by the valuation the Al Stewart record. I liked "Year of the Cat" when I was I high school, and I even saw Stewart in concert (with Minnie Ripperton opening--the indignities of the music business!) I have not listened to it in 40 years, but is the original mix/mastering so deficient in presenting its musical intent that someone would pay well over $100 for the the full MFSL treatment for a record that can be easily sourced in excellent condition for under $5? Well, I guess it so, but not for me.
Mobile Fidelity was a label that specialized in recording antique steam train pass-bys. Really. If you want the whole story, read my article at the link.
When they decided to get into the reissue business, they added "Sound Lab" to the name.
Quoting from my article:
"Some time around 1976, Miller retrieved The Mystic Moods Orchestra's Stormy Weekend master tapes (from 1970) and sent them off to Nippon Phonogram Co., Ltd. in Japan for "audiophile-quality" remastering and vinyl pressing. In that same general time frame, Miller changed his label's name, by adding "Sound Lab."
"Stormy Weekend was Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab's catalog number MFSL 003. (Please note, projects were not necessarily released in the chronological order in which they had been remastered.)
"In fact, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab's first three LP releases were all by the The Mystic Moods Orchestra. Who knew? MFSL 001 was Emotions, and MFSL 002 was Cosmic Force; both are from 1968.
"MFSL 004 was The Power and the Majesty, which was ambient thunder and train sounds. MoFi's own website's "Archive" page misidentifies this recording as a Mystic Moods Orchestra project; but it's quite obviously another steam-trains-and-bad-weather program.
If you are curious as to what came next in those earliest days, Supertramp's Crime of the Century was MFSL 005; John Klemmer's Touch was 006; Steely Dan's Katy Lied was 007; the Los Angeles Philharmonic/Zubin Mehta Star Wars & Close Encounters of the Third Kind was 008; Al Stewart's Year of the Cat was 009; and The Crusaders' Chain Reaction was 010."
# # #
The first four MFSL album releases were novelty or gimmick releases. So, I think that would drive the prices of the early MFSL LPs that were "serious" music up.
On the other hand, the first recording project I managed from conception in the early 1980s to the recent re-releases, Arturo Delmoni's "Songs My Mother Taught Me," in the North Star LP release has sold for over $400, and the JMR Bob Ludwig remastering (better in every way) has sold for over $325. So, mighty oaks were once little nuts.
ciao,
john
Yeah.
I never "got" the nostalgia for coal-powered steam trains.
I guess that I was born too late for that.
BTW, Dvorak loved trains. I believe that the double-stop slides at the end of his "American" string quartet are tone pictures of Dopplerizing steam-train sounds.
For which, a committee of the American Musicological Society has recommended that I be confined to a Sanitorium.
john
the enthusiasm of a collector. Brad's enthusiasm for perfect recordings sure benefitted all of us in audio.
Thanks for that reference of Dvorak. I will have to search my unorganized classical records for that album and give it a listen.
...so you could feel the power, whether it be steam of diesel. No way to really describe it.
And by up close I mean within a 10 yard distance or closer. The diesel engines are doable, the steam would have to be on a train or rail fan meet. Warning - you may pee your pants
It actually leaned me to one side. While in AF pilot training in Chandler, AZ, some friends came to visit and we stood near the jet takeoff position. That vibrated the whole body, and we were stupid to not wear ear plugs. While flying the jet, one doesn't hear any of that. The only problem was holding the brakes while the afterburner was lit.
Even with my pair of HSU sonotube subs, the MF record did not transfer the power and noise of the trains. However, I can understand how they must sound up close like you mentioned.
...a re-issue or re-mix of "Thunder on Blue Ridge".
Later Gator,
Dave
Paid 8 bucks for the MFSL at HalfPrice Books for what it's worth.
To my ears, the biggest difference is the quality of the vinyl. The MFSL is quieter.
But, me, if I had to pick a copy to listen to, I'd take the original Janus. The MFSL cuts off the piano at the beginning of the intro to "Across the Border." It's not just my copy, friend of mine also has the MFSL, his is the same.
BTW, YOTC was an early MFSL with the sunrise label. Maybe that's why people will pay way too much for it.
The blissful counterstroke-a considerable new message.
I love this sort of list! Thanks for doing it. It reminds me of LP's/groups I may have missed. I moved my collection recently and have looked at each album as I placed them in their new location. Several on your list were in there. I will be playing them soon!
I think that list is a good reminder of how diverse and "experimental" the record business was 1960s and 1970s. Could Al Jarreau get a major-label record contract today? I rather doubt it.
Today, the "Shazam Effect" means that the record business has an unprecedented amount of information about what people seem to like, so the focus is on giving them more of the same.
Obviously, such lists are definitionally incomplete and totally subjective. Starting with Pick No. 1. I can easily imagine someone's saying, "No, no, no, not 'Sleeping Gypsy.' It should have been 'The Art of Tea.'"
ciao,
john
Maybe since Tea was recently reissued, Gypsy is now more rare.
I've had a copy Tea in my collection since it was released - and Gypsy too for that matter. A wonderful record. Always have a BIG smile for 'Popsicle Toes'.
I have warm feelings for The Art of Tea... but you put your finger on what I consider its drawback to be--the kind of cleverness that creates distance.
Whereas I find that in Sleeping Gypsy, the emotions are both deeper, and are more forthrightly dealt with.
"I Hope It's You" is a good example.
The guy comes right out and says, "I have no reason to recommend me."
Anyway, I hope that that list connects lots of people with a lot of largely forgotten great music.
john
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