lots of really good advice and thoughts re: vinyl in this discussion
FWIW I've been a vinyl 'aficionado' since about 1968 (and boy do I wish I hadn't sold all those albums while 4 years in college !). Late to the party, but recently have been filling voids in my collection via Discogs which I've found to be an outstanding source of vinyl I've coveted. Discogs is also a great resource when it comes to learning about all the issues and reissues of various recordings. I've tried to stick with sellers whose ratings are 99.5% and higher; so far so good! I've had good luck and bad luck buying some of the new 180 gram vinyl; my assumption that, given the cost of new records, they would necessarily be equal to or better than original records has proven to be an incorrect assumption. Some are very good, some very bad, and some have been so warped or unlistenable, they just go back. Whatever you buy, I'd recommend you make sure you can return it for full purchase price. Partly because I've found that the original recording usually sounds best and partly because I like the idea of owning an 'original' vs. a reissue, I try to buy the original. Several labels have been discussed above; in my experience original Warner Bros (green label) and original Verve labels usually sound outstanding, depending of course on the record's condition. Won't bother with VG or VG+, it's either M or NM when it comes to sellers' descriptions. Yes, they can be expensive, no doubt. But so are guns, cars, motorcycles, boats, houses, fancy restaurants, fly rods, travel trailers, and vacations abroad. Factor in inflation, though, and factor in what a seriously good vinyl rig can cost, 'expensive' then becomes relative. Cared for properly, records should last several lifetimes. Knowing a recording is original AND sounds really good and I don't choke on the cost, provided it's not just crazy high. (Van Morrison Astral Weeks on WB original green label for $443 plus shipping? Uh, not going there......). Proper cleaning, handling, storage, and a TT/cartridge/tonearm set up properly will protect the investment indefinitely.
