We need more collectors who are transparent like this! Really enjoy your content.

sheeesh. some of these in G+ condition have sold of upwards of 1k. i’d say great buy on your part

But all Lexington 10"red are such a WITCH to find in any shape!All of these mint,run in the four figures,I would think.

Great video, really enjoy the topics you are coming up with for the channel. And appreciate the honesty too!

Thanks for being real. I still struggle with how different people grade records.

I thought you were going to say that I’m glad you’re not in the room with me to see the tears falling down my cheeks😢 I have four of the albums you’ve shown in the Music Matters series and love and cherish them all. Great video with a unique approach.👍

You’re quickly becoming one of my fave VC channels. Thanks for the videos and your honesty. Cheers! -budgetphile

I found that fascinating. I thoroughly enjoyed that. Thanks.

What a great topic. Really enjoyable video. All amazing titles. I'll pick up trashed originals on the cheap any day of the week.

Great video! Love the transparency (and sarcasm)

Exactly like some of my purchases, though not for Blue Notes. Very informative. Thanks, Chris

Brilliant video. I have plenty of beat 1500 series titles that I keep in my collection. They can’t all be crispy OGs

I didn't realize that the 1500 series was that sought-after. I have a few and keep finding them in not so great conditions in Detroit

Well done and thanks for your open, honest approach. Everyone would like mint but there is a historical value to have early copies of these records. That said if you saw these live or had the chance to hear them how much would you have paid? Great site though deserve way more subscribers.

I found this video fascinating even though I’d rather a nice clean reissue over a old beaten up original every day of the week. Was very interesting to see what even the “bad” copies are worth and what collectors like yourself are happy to settle for in the curation of your collection. I like to think about the journey those records have been on before they ended up with you. And I absolutely loved that you shared your “worst” copies, it’s really refreshing to see this kind of thing.

Hey Chris, great topic! Enjoyed it. Guess we all got these sound wise annoying copies hidden somewhere…

Now I am curious to look for statistics on the depth of the grooves of different labels, years, plants, etc. More depth would explain a rough looking record still playing well.

Those Blue Note Plastylite pressings are warhorses. I've got 25 of them, the worst grading being VG. But the VG grading play virtually as well as VG+ gradings on their contemporary label releases like Prestige, Riverside etc. Great video - thanks!

This is great content. More people should share what they pay for records, I’ve never understood why people are so averse to this. Collectors outside of jazz I feel more readily share purchase info, it seems like it’s a newer trend not to share it on videos. Going back to my record show days half the discussion was always on pricing. I think a lack of transparency on condition and price only contribute to the “frenzy” buying and more inflated prices. Aside from that, some of these still play well particularly with a mono cartridge. In terms of fidelity, I’ve found many early BN cds that are AAD sound incredibly similar to the original issue albums. The old cds don’t sound like the new modern Kevin Grey reissues. I think on just about any LP with even moderate wear the fidelity simply isn’t there. The originals are still cool to get but I’d readily buy an AAD cd for $5 -$10 over a paying a few hundred for a VG or below copy. OGs are still definitely cool. Over time paying what you did for some of those isn’t too bad. It’s like cost averaging your collection. I think it’s hard to say it’s about the music though at some point when the disc is so beat. There’s just much cheaper alternatives that are available and are incredibly good sounding. There definitely is a collecting aspect that kinda comes through more. There’s definitely albums I bought that I questioned later what I was thinking.

I'm from Uruguay, enjoying your videos!

I have the Kenny Burrell w/ the Warhol cover that looks like it survived a shipwreck!

Excellent video idea. There’s that fine line between condition and price..sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. If I’m buying lesser condition records I try to pay a price that I think I won’t lose much on if I ever sell it in the future. Of course that’s not an exact science and may not always work out..but…

Wax based furniture spray and a micro cloth can help bring back shine on covers and rid the smell of mold. I've used bleach and water mixture on a swab to remove black mold spores as well.

I wish more people would discuss the price they paid, there’s definitely deals to be had still if you look hard and wait.

Great video, great channel, thank you, subscribed.

Fabulous video

I am enjoying your channel thanks for sharing your experiences. Have to say that I am kind of amazed how much you paid for records clearly found in a flooded basement. 😁

A second comment because I watch this video for a second time. Everybody has to find out how far down you go with condition so this is all subjective. For me i am more picky, for a mono at least VG and VG+ for stereo, otherwise I buy a reissue, mostly Japanese. And wait for a decent copy for a reasonable price. Some high grade stuff like 1568 I will never have, but I can live with this.

Great video! Just wish you could do some needledrops on these suckers ,but well we can't have everything... Peace

16:00 I used to be confused about the sheen on framed originals. I got a 1501 Miles and it looked original but the sheen / gloss worried me because I didnt want to buy a laminated reissue. There should really be more mentions of this aspect regarding early 1500 series covers. If I passed I might have missed my biggest blue note score, 120$ for an EX/EX copy, almost unbelievable.

Another great video! I have a lot of BNs with marks all over them and they play pretty well. Granted they do have some noise but that is to be expected, some of these records are over 60 years old! And it's crazy to me that you'll most likely make all of your money back plus some if you indeed decide to sell and upgrade your copy. Yes $100+ for a g+ record is a lot of money, but BN these days is a collectors label and thats how the market sees these rare presses especially those with the Lexington or w47 labels.

Cool idea for a video!!! I also have some bad condition blue notes

Really enjoyed your video and appreciated your bravery telling the prices. Very appreciated! But…. Make fun real fun for us please, let us hear them play! Lol Too curious to hear how they play, of course specially the worst in condition ones. Big ups and regards from Italy G

I enjoyed this very much.

Love your honesty and not taking it too seriously. A collector once told me « playable does not equate listenable » and that’s been my guiding light for collecting. Also, playing such poor condition records will shorten the life of the stylus. 😅

Everyone collects for different reasons and that's what's great. It's cool to have Blue Note originals. I also value old records just for the artifact. But I am too cheap to pay those prices for unplayable records.

Great video. I have many in similar condition and similar prices.

When I got back into vinyl collecting after taking years and years off I too wanted to only purchase OG or 1st press releases. Some or most were over priced and many I did land the sound stage was just to ruff for me. I started to settle on in Blue Note cases Liberty pressings at minimum. But someone turned me onto Analogue Productions and their 45’s and I thought I’m going about this the wrong way. Do I have to have something I can put up with the noise or just buy an audio file if available and listen to it like it’s supposed to be listened to. I found Music Matters soon after and I spent my money there before they started changing their prices.

Recently discovered your channel and have been enjoying your videos. I live in the ATL metro area. I havent had much luck finding great jazz records locally and primarily rely on Discogs. Can you shoot me names of some local vinyl shops that do a good job of stacking jazz records. Thanks.

Wild man!

Hi Chris. I appreciate your honesty in this video. Not sure I agree with the prices that you spent on these records. 😬 But if you’re enjoying the music, then there isn’t a right or wrong price. Did you get these records online or through a local record store? As others have stated, the price and hype on jazz (and classic rock) OG records are rising. I suggest sell/trade up for what you want, b/c prices will not be going down anytime soon 🙇🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️

wow! I'm getting close to 90,. so I am thinking I should find out what my collection might be worth. Dates mostly from 1954 to 1964. Probably a good many 10" and original pressings. vinyl is good, covers sometimes not so. I need to find a trustworthy guide and helper. At my age vision is compromised, and hearing still working. An interesting fact is that I am one of three college roommates all of whom are still alive, healthy, listening,and with much material. What do I do?

Two things I'm curious about: 1) what would you grade these and 2) how do they sound? It is so cool to have OG pressings of these rare early Blue Notes but I'm not sure if I could justify it to myself if they didn't sound at least halfway decent still.

I like the honest approach Chris! For myself I have never been into getting poor condition records for the sake of having an original in my collection so I only stick to VG+ and up with an occasional VG thrown in. I know that I'm never going to play a poor copy because it will annoy me. My Blue Note collection is a mix of originals, usually found at a decent price and later pressings (Liberties, UA, Japanese and more recent audiophile issues). I will certainly pick up copies like you showed here but they need to be cheap and I will probably resell them eventually.

I've done it a million times. Bought a ( super ) beat up copy of different records for super cheap. Play it. If I don't like it. Nothing lost. Buy new copy later. I did that as early teen w/ no money.

Side 2 of that Jenkins looks like a cat danced on it 😆 Still cool to see even if they are trashed. Great video.

There is a lot of hypocrisy in this community. Some supposed audiophiles who claim they will never step foot in a thrift store also seem to have the most elaborate and expensive record cleaning machines. How does that work? Come on. And there are others who won’t show some of their collection on KZfaq because the outer sleeves are beat up. Which is ridiculous, as some of the best playing records in my collection have beat up sleeves. Probably because they are afraid what kinds of comments they may receive. Social media has had an often ridiculous impact on this hobby.

One thing I’ve noticed from collecting poor quality blue notes is that they are still playable, that microgroove works so well

Brrrrr!

50's record players with a penny for the needle.

What I find really disturbing about this thing is that people still charge hundreds of $ for a record that's actually unplayable and should be in the 1 $ bin. That's the reason I don't buy secondhand Blue Note and really appreciate the new series from Blue Note, Tone Poet Series and Classic Vinyl Series.

I'd rather not have an extremely rare record if I can't find it in EX or NM condition. If there's any hearable line or crackling then I get rid of it. I can't stand the noises, it drives me crazy. This mean I'll never own some records, but I'm ok with that !

cheaper than paying $1000+ on these grails. nice lp's there

Gotta say I’m surprised at the price you paid for some of these, haha. Personally I could see myself paying $50 for a beat up historical artifact, but I could never do $100, $200 and up

I'm sure you can hear every note and nuance through all of those scratches on the OG. Newbie collectors naively bought the Music Matters pressing for 1/4 of the price or box set covering these album with bonus tracks or cd with bonus tracks but you can hear the digital. Actually the digital artifacts are way louder than the music.

Couple of hairline scratches 😂

I’m confused. Are (were) you interested in the music or the media? Yes there is some overlap but the prices you’ve paid for these bad recordings is just astounding. You’re paying for these things like they’re hot stocks in a market bubble.

Well, I wouldn't have bought any of these records in this condition to be honest. In your next video, try to show us listenable records, thanks.

Great video Chris, very interesting. Always a treat to get some insight into how other collectors approach this hobby. When I first started collecting strictly original 1st pressings I had the same philosophy as I have today, which is trying to find these albums in as good as possible condition, both vinyl and jacket. Cause I know I wouldn't be happy listening to records with severe issues. That has of course been expensive and as a result I've only been able to get a handful of albums into the collection each year. But I'm happy I got a lot of them before this recent craziness. Don't get me wrong, they were expensive as hell before as well, but not in the same league as the going rate on eBay for rare titles these days. I've always tried to find albums in VG++ to M- shape, both jacket and vinyl. Sometimes a VG+ jacket will do. I prefer the vinyl to be cleaner than the jacket if I had to choose. The vinyl has always been the most important thing, but the jacket is quite important as well I think. Also, I've been focusing on quality over quantity in my years collecting. I'd like to get some more stuff faster into the collection, but as I'm only after 1st pressings, even the more non-desirable stuff or lesser known titles costs a lot. But there's so many great titles that can be had for way less than a rare Blue Note, so it feels more sane to purchase maybe 10 albums for the price of one. Still, it all comes down to what titles you really want and what artists you're most into. It's hard to save up and wait forever for (in my case) those Henderson, Shorter and Hancock titles on Blue Note to maybe show up. I've been fortunate to find some of them recently but it takes some character to resist spending money on other albums while you wait, so when that title you're really after finally shows up you can afford it. Overall, a cool-headed approach to this hobby can be difficult to master. Sorry for the rambling. 🙂