First off, as this is my first post I’d like to give some context to this blog. My ambition here is to write the kind of record collecting blog that I wish I had found when I started this journey. This is a blog that focuses on finding the best sounding vinyl pressings of mostly rock albums, with a bit of jazz and blues thrown in, along with the occasional new discovery. My observations and opinions are based on what I hear and personally get excited about and will lack the more educated insights of a musician or producer. I am a fan of great music and hope this blog with appeal to other music fans who are passionate about vinyl and love it to sound wonderful.

I’ve been buying records since I was a kid growing up in Michigan. In fact, I still own the first record I ever bought, fittingly Michigan’s own Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band’s “Stranger In Town.” It still sounds great! But it wasn’t until very recently that I realized that while I bought a lot of records over the years, I wasn’t actually collecting.

The difference between someone who buys records and someone who collects is that the collector has reasons for buying a particular record that go beyond liking the music on the record. Of course enoying the music on the record is important, but for a collector the music on the record can be of secondary importance. The primary reason for seeking out and buying a particular record will often be the “collectabilty” of the record and that collectability is generally driven by it’s relative scarcity along with its place in history as an important album.

Another important factor that determines the collectability of a record is the pressing. If a record is 10 or more years old and has maintained a certain level of public interest there will generally be more than one issue of the album, often several and sometimes a multitude. Led Zeppelin’s first album has well over 400 versions including vinyl, cd’s and cassettes (as well as 8-tracks!) but there are relatively few that a collector would want to own. For this album and many others the very first vinyl pressing is often the most desirable. A first UK pressing of Led Zeppelin 1 can fetch well over $1,000 in good condition!

With less than 2000 copies of this album originally shipped and its iconic place in the lexicon of rock music, it’s no wonder the record is so valuable. But there’s another reason that this and other first pressings are so desirable. They often sound better. This is because, the thinking goes at least, buying a record from an early pressing will greatly increase the liklihood that the record was pressed with a stamp that had not been used heavily and therefore hadn’t suffered the wear and tear of a stamp that had been used to press subsequent re-pressings of the record. As the stamp wears the quality of the pressings diminishes and the sound quality of the music suffers on playback.

Whether or not this “get the first pressing” approach is a reliable way to predict the sound quality of a particular record is highly debatable, but in forums that discuss the sound quality of various vinyl pressings the first press is always discussed as an option that should be serioulsly considered. However, other options are often discussed as good or better than first pressings and these other options are often a lot more affordable and better sounding.

I myself learned very quickly that buying a lot of first pressings of the albums I was interested in was not a sustainable approach to collecting. I really can’t afford it and frankly, I don’t think I’m every going to part with the vast majority of the records I buy and therefore don’t see the need to have the most valuable copy of every record. But what does matter A LOT  to me is that I find a record that sounds really good and is engaging to listen to. To get such a copy, I’ve realized, doesn’t necessarily require spending a ton of money and often I find very affordable gems that, after a good cleaning just blow me away on the turntable. I’ve also spent a little big on some pressings that were of the more “collectable” variety and have been really happy with the return on my investment in sound quality. So far I’ve have had very few disappointments.

For me,  the joy of record collecting is, finding great vinyl pressings, rare or otherwise of great albums that sound wonderful and that give me a new appreciation of the musicians and the music. This is why I’m so excited to be on this journey and why I wanted to start this blog and share this with other budding collectors and vinyl lovers.  I look forward to sharing more!