Hi guys,
I really love to collect vinyls, but I rather only buy original ones. It’s only hard to find an original vinyl that’s also of good quality. Where do you guys buy original vinyls and do you care about if a vinyl is original or new? For some reason I just only want originals. I feel like the sound is better and I just love to own stuff from that time.
I live in Scotland. There used to be several excellent record shops in Glasgow and even more in Edinburgh, but it's all very limited now - really only about 6 or 7 good shops between both cities. Stirling, Dundee and Aberdeen are eve more limited. So occasionally, I'll head to Newcastle, Manchester, Leeds or London for record shop trips. Outwith that, it's travelling record fairs, eBay and Discogs.
I prefer original pressings, but getting them in really good condition (at a good price) is getting more and more of a challenge. When something genuinely is excellent/mint condition, you'll almost certainly never find a bargain. If it has the name Queen attached, people often over-inflate the asking price.
Whilst I accept that online shopping offers the best chance of getting the titles you want, I find that there's more areshole dealers than there are good ones. By that, I mean folk who either don't describe an item correctly, or deliberately mislead you about the condition of the item, before dragging their heels on a return.
I think I've returned more on eBay in the last few years than I've actually kept.
I purchased all of the UK Queen vinyl and CD releases on the day they came out, except for the first single and album which were still available from the record shop at the time.
There are many second hand record shops in London where first pressings can still be found at reasonable prices.
I have also found great condition first pressings at car boot sales, and one I bought for 50p turned out to be a rare withdrawn Rolling Stones LP.
Charity shops are another great source, although it can be a bit of a slow process finding the gems.
I don't collect much in the way of new vinyl, except the odd RSD release.
I still have my original albums from back then... the covers are fair and the vinyl is still in very good condition considering I played them to death upon their release. Good luck on your search... you won't be disappointed!
That’s indeed the reason why I’m careful with buying first pressings online from other people. I bought the first pressings of A Day At The Races, A Night At The Opera and The Game from a women in Rotterdam and the quality is very good. The thing is that she doesn’t have vinyls from Queen anymore cause I bought the last ones. On that site are more sellers who sell first pressings but I don’t want to take the risk. I bought a first pressing of Sheer Heart Attack from someone on there and he said the condition
was very good with no laggings, but the vinyl lags in the middle of In The Lap Of The Gods. That’s why I’m so careful and why I’m searching for other ways to buy first pressings. I think I’m going to look for used vinyls in Amsterdam and hope that they have Queen. I am also not like against new vinyls though cause have new vinyls myself next to my first pressing collection, but it’s just so nice to own something from the 70s since I wasn’t alive in that time and it’s the least I can experience from that wonderful period.
Thanks for the advice! I hope I’m going to find some good first pressings somewhere in Amsterdam or maybe Discogs :)