Many regular visitors to the discogs website will probably be aware of this list that appeared at the beginning of the week, detailing the most expensive records bought on the website’s marketplace. It’s an interesting and at times amusing list, veering from Throbbing Gristle boxsets to Italo and hip hop 12″s and even a rare release from infamous death metal act, Burzum, along with lots of other anomalies. I commented before on here about the ludicrous prices wanted for some records but this list is a telling sign of just how much some people are willing to fork out for a record.
And in some cases there has been more silly things done via e-bay than on discogs – just from what I know myself for the Clarence G record, and some Italo bits and bobs – and while collectors will always want the original of the likes of Dario Dell’Aere – Eagles In The Night (which comes in at 83) it being re-issued last year would have certainly put off some people maybe prone to some extreme indulgence.
One thing I would like to know, if readers can help me out, is why No.1 Equidity Funk by Mistafide went for so much, it’s more than double anything else on there! I hope there is an interesting back story to that one. Or that it’s a joke.
One bizarre – well seemingly bizarre – entry comes from Jennifer Warnes, most famous for the hit single “I’ve had the time of My Life” from the 80′s movie “classic” Dirty Dancing. There is an album of hers in there that goes for about 6 quid on CD, but someone forked out $831 for a vinyl copy! Why do I mention this? Well this is where Arthur Russell comes in to play. He obviously has nothing to do with “The Hunter” album but to my surprise Warnes was a singer that Russell once worked with, which I discovered reading the new Tim Lawrence book, “Hold On To Your Dreams”, his biography of Russell which also doubles as an overview of the Downtown music scene in New York in the 70s and 80s.
Some of you out there will no doubt be aware of Lawrence’s writing, who is most well known for his fantastic disco tome “Love Saves the Day” which was a fascinating and in-depth analysis of disco music in the 70s in America. Similarly in his latest he balances the nerdier elements (it’s great to read about the making of some of the music and then go listen to it) with interesting human insights into his subjects without any huge amount of fawning going on. To be honest, after reading Hold On To Your Dreams I imagine Russell was a bloody nightmare to work with even though he paints a picture of a gentle and genuinely nice human being. But he was one just so full of ideas he could barely finish any work properly, much to the frustration of those around him. I’m not going to go in to too much detail on the rest but just gonna recommend it for Russell enthusiasts and also people interested in dance music and/or alternative music scenes. Lawrence’s two books really paint a great picture of the melting pot that was New York city during those decades.
After Tom’s skyscraping post on new music there I’m just gonna leave a link to my latest Traxx:Files article on the Bodytonic site, looking at some music I’ve been diggin over the last few months. I don’t always link to it, but my article is monthly and it’s where I do new music reviews more so than on here, if anyone’s interested. Also a new podcast from Juju and Jordash appeared today too, here.
Silly season is about to kick in the clubbing world too. Next Saturday (20th Feb) sees a fun double header roll into Dublin with ghetto legend Dj Funk and the rather wonderful Gerard Hansen aka Convextion/E.R.P. performing over 2 stages in The Twisted Pepper. I’m especially looking forward to this one as I’m also getting to play records. I’m on the early slot in the stage room, where Funk is on (with Conan O’Donnell slipping inbetween us, who more than knows his way around turntables) so it should be a great night! The week after that sees both Maurice Fulton and Blake Baxter come to town, on the same night no less. Fulton is in The Button Factory with Baxter playing in new(ish) venue The Good Bits (that’s the 26th btw) Also, yesterday BLOC announced that the Saturday night headliner of this years festival would be Model 500, which has certainly increased my excitement for the weekend (happening March 12-14th). I was initially disheartened by this years line up, as previous years had been so amazing but it’s shaping up nicely now. Along with Juan and Mike will be Omar S, Alden Tyrell, Autechre, Rob Hall, Anti-Pop Consortium and Del May amongst others. And as anyone who’s been there knows, half the fun of BLOC is partying oneself into oblivion in the chalets. AND, if your brain is still functioning after that Rob Hood comes into town the week after – again in Twisted Pepper for Test who are doing the Funk gig – so whatever energy one has left, you can use up then. I’m then hopefully gonna find a really comfy hole to crawl into for a while.
I was quite surprised at some of the tunes on the list, especially some of the Hip Hop. It would be interesting to hear the history of those records and find out what pushes them into the thousands price wise.
The Clarence G situation is just a taste of things to come, I think anything Drexciya related is just going to get more ridiculous price wise as time moves on. I just wish I’d picked up more of them at the time when I had the chance (for personal use rather than financial gain).
That night at the Twisted Pepper looks the business.
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jwins: agreed on the drexciya situation, the catalogue is crying out for the reissue treatment, and not just for those of us who retrospectively regret not picking them up when we had the chance but to introduce more people to their music. btw- didn’t realise you had I-G on in the weej last weekend. g.u.t.t.e.d.
Am reading “hold on to your dreams” just now.
It’s great stuff, you get a real sense of the extent to which “making” music was the primary motivation rather than finishing/releasing. There’s a purity to that intention that is really admirable (and, as everyone mentions early on in the book, the primary reason for his obscurity when most of his fellow travellers went on to fame/acclaim).
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jwins reply on February 12th, 2010 8:47 am:
I-G was the business mate, shame you didn’t make it. We did manage to get it recorded though:
http://www.slabsofthetabernacle.com/articles/191/slabs-090-i-g-la-cheetah-club-060210
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Well a mate of mine bought that Clarence g record a couple of years ago on e-bay and it went for considerably less than it went on discogs and ebay before (though it was still A LOT of money)so I think the hype has died down a little bit over that release, for now anyways.
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jwins reply on February 12th, 2010 9:11 am:
Does he ever play it? The most I’ve spent on a record was about £60 (a miniscule amount compared to the stuff on that list) and it’s not exactly on heavy rotation round my way. I think I’ve come to the conclusion if I’m not prepared to play it cause it’s so expensive, it’s not worth it.
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Kenny reply on February 12th, 2010 10:22 am:
Nope, only to rip it to mp3. It’s an investment afaik.
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most of those rap records don’t necessarily have that much history behind them, other than that they had small pressings and are good. the keefy keef 12″ is keith murrays first release, so maybe that name gave it higher profile, but i think it stands on its own pretty well.
i think the craze for that sort of rap really hit its stride in the early 00′s and a number of mixtapes from tony d, dj ivory, dj muro, 7l, edan,skippy white etc helped solidify a canon of rare late 80s rap 12″s
i like the dj ivory hear no evil mixes the most
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I know that the Land Of Hits label is highly collectible both with disco and hip-hop collectors but hadn’t seen one go for that much before.
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apart from the Land Of Hits label being highly collectable the Mistafide 12″ itself is a highly sought after piece among collectors of old school hip hop & is certainly a record you could label as super rare i.e. it really never ever shows up hence the $4143
If it ever surfaces on ebay expect it to sell again for a similar price
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