« Dylan meets Brecht | Main | Ornette Coleman interview in the New York Times »

"Now that a large percentage of previously released mainstream music is already out there, some obsessives are hunting down recordings that were overlooked by the labels to begin with."

Thus starts this article in the NY Times about the hunt for self-released vinyl LPs in the late 1960's and early 1970's.

"This is music that was largely self-released in the 1960’s and early 70’s in runs of a few hundred copies and in many cases far less, then handed out to family and friends, or peddled on street corners. Many of these records are so scarce that the artists themselves don’t have copies."

Gear Fab is one of the labels set up to get this music out. Another is Numero Group, founded by Tom Lunt, Rob Sevier, and Ken Shipley in 2003, three self-proclaimed "record obsessives."

The article continues:

It’s a small but fervent niche market; only a handful of reissues have ever sold more than 1,000 copies. The origins of the private-press phenomenon can be traced to eBay, where collectors have been creating demand for decades-old vinyl albums from virtually unknown Birkenstock troubadours. Granted, many of these records deserve to be marginalized. But the occasional gems are being snatched up for hundreds and occasionally thousands of dollars.

“Many of these records have been around for a while, at record fairs and so on,” said Byron Coley, a music writer who has been collecting private-press records since the early 80’s. “Lots of collectors initially bought the private-press records strictly for their covers. They were fetish objects in a way. Then people started to listen to them, and realized, hey, there’s some great songs on these records. What’s happened is that younger listeners have picked up on it, and that has created renewed interest in the CD reissues.”

Check out the article for some leads on those lost gems!

Name (required)
Email
Website
Remember personal info? Yes   No
Comments

home | music | democracy | earth | money | projects | about | contact

Site design by Matthew Fries | © 2003-23 Consilience Productions. All Rights Reserved.
Consilience Productions, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
All contributions are fully tax deductible.