Es-Say #22- Consolation Prize
Mr, I mean, Sir Paul McCartney- what are you doing to me? I'm just mindlessly now traveling on trains on whims to find your vinyl releases. Just stop! I can't even blame Kanye West anymore for your PR ideas. Granted, these PR stunts are good..so good, that's why I'm sheepishly drawn to them. However, I'm going to have to think about if I really want to be in the "Paul McCartney Fun Club" or if I am just going to not care about these secret vinyl releases, multi-coloured glowing cubes, or the possibility that you might be at my local supermarket(stranger things have happened...).
I guess I should explain that mini-rant(yes, it was a mini one). Record Store Day is this Saturday April 18th. It is basically a promotional day for record companies to re-release or release new limited copies of Vinyl. It's quite a nice event that I just planned to not attend this year as I'm unable to make. I did look at the planned releases list and didn't see any Beatles or McCartney on the list so I didn't worry about not going.
WRONG! It's be revealed that the caped crusader will be releasing new mixes of "Hope For The Future" on white vinyl. This newly open "secret" became even stranger. Read the whole story about it here WogBlog- Secret RSD Release . So, upon reading all this, I decided to go find it....
One of the dumbest ideas I ever had, but it was worth getting out on the hottest day of the year(seriously, it's always cold in England) at least. I chose a favourite record store and couldn't find the vinyl on my own. I went to the counter and told the shop keeper all about it. He had no knowledge about it as the record label had not listed it as one of the RSD releases. One phone call confirmed most of what I had been explaining about the white vinyl. The only conflicting info seemed to be the actual amount of copies that would be or actually are "Out There". With some copies already on Ebay, I can't really reveal what I had been quoted only because a) It's a rumour that is probably wrong and will or could change by Saturday b) If you really want it, you will buy it from ebay anyway...who goes into record stores in 2015?(except me and a 1,000 65 year old men, but let's ignore that odd statistic for a moment).
Basically, as much as I think the RSD release of McCartney's is extremely clever, it's a bit too complicated to hunt down during the event and I'm pretty sure you'd need to be a major friend of someone who works in a store to just hand it directly to you, anyway. Since I don't want to participate this year and the fact I have few connected friends, I will just sulk, moan, and complain some more about it in my leisure (another unique thing about me, maybe? complaining about records? anyone?)
After I left the record store, I went to different one and spent £3($4.50) on a used copy of 2004 Black Friday's Beatles "Long Tall Sally" EP. It had some noticeable ring wear on the cover, a small tear, light scratches on the disc, etc- it seemed like a reasonable price. When I got home, I checked it online and looked at comparison photos. Turns out to be the 1st original uk pressing from 1964 and not last years reissue. If it was in mint condition, it could go for 10x what I paid for it, but it's actual condition knocks it down to what I paid. The 2014 version is more expensive to buy, but I'm much happier to have the original EP. Here's some information about my 51-year-old EP http://eil.com/shop/moreinfo.asp?catalogid=568395
So, is there a point in this blog? Probably not, but sometimes collecting is more rewarding when you don't expect it to be. On the other hand, collecting is less rewarding when it's too complicated. RSD I'm looking straight at you!
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