Record Store Day - a winner (if you're an eBay seller)

Opinion on Record Store Day seems to be changing. What started as a noble enterprise intended to lure people back into independent record stores, has been taken over by members of the public trying to make a quick buck.

Record store day releases tend to be unique vinyl pressings that can only be acquired by physically visiting a record store. Shops are also banned from listing stock on the Internet for the following week thus adding to the exclusivity. As a consequence of these rules, people queue outside shops from the early hours of the morning. But some of these people are exploiting the rarity of the releases and are buying multiple copies solely with the intention of selling them on the Internet.

One example of this phenomenon is the Pet Shop Boys limited edition 12" of "Fluorescent" which was a UK record store day exclusive for 2014. This 12" carries 2 exclusive mixes of the title track and is limited to 1000 copies - it cost around £7. Before the day had ended, copies of the 12" were listed on eBay at ridiculous prices. There are currently over 40 listing for this record, all of which are selling for massively inflated prices (they seem to fetch anywhere between £40-90 currently).

I chose not to queue outside a record store and was content to take my chances later in the day. I did queue in 2010 to purchase the last Pet Shop Boys Record Store Day exclusive "Love Life". However the record wasn't particularly good and was soon available quite cheaply on the Internet (you can still buy it now for around £20). Thus I decided queueing wasn't worthwhile and stayed in bed.

Unfortunately my gamble didn't pay off. The single was sold out by the time I ventured to the shops. Looking at eBay I am convinced the reason I missed out was because people bought multiple copies of the single with the sole intention of selling them for a hefty profit. Releases are supposed to be limited to one per customer, but all you have to do is visit multiple shops or have a friend tag along (or both) and you can buy multiple copies of a release quite easily.

However, I am very lucky and live in a city with many independent record stores. I tracked down a retailer with copies of the single in stock and after an anxious wait over the bank holiday weekend, I visited them at 9am sharp Tuesday morning (I was not the only person with this idea). The eBay profiteers didn't beat me.

But many fellow Pet Shop Boys fans have missed out as they either don't live in the UK or couldn't make it to a store. For them, the only hope seems to be degrading themselves on Twitter or paying the prices asked on eBay. 

 

Yes, we live in a free world and there are no rules against buying multiple copies of a record and selling them. But I don't believe that is why Neil and Chris created this 12" and I believe it goes against the ethos of Record Store Day as a whole. The only remedy for this situation would be if Neil and Chris's management team were to announce that there was unsold stock and make them available on their website.

Yet, I fear that there is no excess stock lying around. The store I visited had received a box of singles with damaged covers. They were only bent or creased slightly, but the store had asked the distributor for replacements only to be told there were none.

So Record Store Day has become a cash cow for eBay and its users as well as independent record stores. Personally I would love to see what happened if there was a USA or Japan only Record Store Day Pet Shop Boys release. Seeing revenge being exacted upon these mercenary eBay sellers would be quite satisfying.

The Art of Remasters?

Listening through the Art of Noise tracks on my media player I can't help but notice a missed opportunity. ZZT seem to continually recycle the original early material from '83/'84 (and boy do they milk it) whilst China seem content to let the bulk of the bands back catalogue languish.

I only realised how little of the Art of Noise's music is still being issued when a box of my CD's was 'lost' during a house move some years ago. Trying to replace their albums via eBay became a surprisingly annoying and expensive chore (thankfully cut short by the idiot who took my CDs into "safekeeping" finding them some months later). Having just scanned eBay I can see only one copy of "In No Sense? Nonsense!" on CD and one exorbitantly priced copy of "Invisible Silence" listed.

So why don't Warner Bros or whoever own the rights reissue these albums? There is lots of additional/bonus material from 12" singles and b-sides hanging around and there are plenty of fans ready to buy shiny new masters of their favourite 80's albums. If ZZT can spin out one albums worth of material into a 2 CD retrospective, a 3 CD box set, 2 expanded reissues and a "Best of", why can't we get the 12" version of "Legs" on CD?

Less pops in my pop music please

As I sit listening to the remastered version of “No 1 in Heaven” by Sparks I can’t help but notice that some of the extra tracks are sourced from vinyl. I understand that 30 year old master tapes get lost and I can accept that sometimes this is the only source available. But what I don’t understand is why they are always so badly mastered.

If an enthusiast such as DJPaulT can master vinyl to sound immaculate for his excellent “Burning the Ground” website; why can’t professional engineers do the same? It doesn’t take long to remove pops and crackles from a digital recording and adjusting EQ isn’t too complicated if performed by someone with skill.

Either record companies need to start looking harder for master tapes or employ DJPaulT to master their vinyl. Take pride in your work like Paul or don't bother I say. Music is too important for half hearted efforts.

Jarre remastered?

Most of the artists I listen to have had their back catalogue remastered and released in some form or another. The first artists to do this were the Pet Shop Boys, followed more recently by Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode, Eurythmics, New Order, Mike Oldfield, The Beatles and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. The list goes on and on. But why I asked myself have Jean Michel Jarre’s albums not been re-mastered?

Various Jarre CDs in my collection

Well the truth is I forgot it had already been done. It's been done more than once in fact. Dreyfus released tweaked versions of all Jarre’s albums in 1991. These CDs were not released in the UK and were only available for a short time. Thus I own only two of the discs and don’t remember them particularly well.

The second attempt at a reissue was made available when Jarre transferred to Epic in 1997. These CDs have clear trays and the name of the album written in the tray insert. They we all remastered by Scott Hull in New York.

However, both sets of reissues have one thing in common; they don't sound different from the original pressings. Yes, the live albums and compilations have different running orders or double albums have been shrunk into a single disc, but the music doesn't actually sound very different. Only with 2011's "Essentials and Rarities" did Jarre's old works receive what I would consider a true remastering.

Happily Jarre has begun work on a set of new masters which are to be reissued by Sony sometime on the near future. Zoolook seems to have been the first to have the fairy dust sprinkled upon it and whilst nothing has been announced officially, it seems all of his back catalogue is to receive the same treatment. Let's hope there will be new vinyl as well as CDs. New remastered vinyl would help banish the memories of the terrible reissues of his fist 3 albums from 2011.