Who would have thought it......fake LPs

[Graceman]

Conmen caught selling fake Northern Soul LPs

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-46393631

 

It took 4 years to catch them and police seized 50,000 records!

[Chigurh]

A while back I unwittingly bought a dodgy pressing of Electric Ladyland from an overseas Ebay seller. There is nothing etched in the runouts and the sound quality is poor - probably made from mp3s. The cover isn't too bad. Maybe I'll just put it in a frame. You live and learn.

[Hergest]

Northern Soul records have always gone for serious money, it would have been a good earner to bootleg them.

 

Bootlegging records has been going on for ages especially with the bigger bands, so many coloured and picture discs of bands such as Pink Floyd are bootlegs

[eman]

...fake LPs ?

 

Hell yeah , there's plenty of them.

[eman]

1 hour ago, Chigurh said:

A while back I unwittingly bought a dodgy pressing of Electric Ladyland from an overseas Ebay seller. There is nothing etched in the runouts and the sound quality is poor - probably made from mp3s. The cover isn't too bad. Maybe I'll just put it in a frame. You live and learn.

I accidently got one a few years ago.  The ladies cover had too much orange in the colouring and even had label paper pressed into the record.  Came from Discogs.  Discogs has clamped down on known fakes now which is good.

Any which are new with the 'Ladies' cover or coloured vinyl are fakes.

The Hendrix estate is using the US version only and they're not making any coloured ones either.

Seems to be a lot of fake LPs (Hendrix and others) coming out of Europe.

[Hergest]

I bought a Talk Talk album 3 or 4 years ago from Redeye in the city which turned out to be a bootleg so even distributors and shops can get caught up. It was a double album, one album of which was black, the other red. The first record had a previous Talk Talk album piss poorly pressed on it but with the album I was expecting to have printed on the label. The second album was some awful mish mash of noise, neither of the records contained the album I was expecting to buy . The sleeve was the only correct thing.

[colinm1]

my neighbour who I lived next to 20 years ago,was a bit of an expert on northern soul

some of the fakes are really good , looks just like the original, and you really gotta know your stuff, not to get fooled

as stated earlier they can go for many thousands for a 45,

so there is a market 

[Andrews_melb]

Theres also an EU fake pressing of ‘Jack White live at Third man records’ doing the rounds. Although seems like Ebay has got onto deleting listings.

 The original was a split black and blue and the fake is normal black. Also the cover is far from the same holographic cover the original has.

Really frustrates me, i dont really mind bootlegs of unreleased concerts/radio broadcasts but just doing a dodgy press of a released album just seems wrong

[Kaynin]

I bought a bootleg of Eagles Hell Freezes Over knowing it was a bootleg because I had a fair idea it would sound good.  Wasnt disappointed either, I’ve been very happy with it!

 

I also have a couple of bootleg Metallica albums I bought about 25 years ago which are in high demand!  So there’s even a market for some of the bootlegs.

[Paul R]

Growing up in Malaysia in the 1960s 1970s, there was a huge trade in pirate LPs and books. Then came casettes. Notbing was sacrosanct. It still boggles my mind how they pirated LPs what with the whole works required.

[aussievintage]

I have a couple of Asian fake Lps, on coloured vinyl/plastic even.

[Guest Y B]

I bought a Talk Talk album 3 or 4 years ago from Redeye in the city which turned out to be a bootleg so even distributors and shops can get caught up...

So did I, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds The Boatman’s Call and Let Love In. K&D Sessions 4xLP. That was before all these albums being reissued. I was completely appalled by Redeye selling bootlegs. Only found out later that they were.

[audiofeline]

A clarification of terminology (although they are commonly interchanged, the difference is important):

• Bootleg - unofficially released record/CD which contains recordings which have not previously been released by the artist's record company (eg. outtakes, live recordings, radio broadcasts, interviews)
• Pirate - a copy of previously officially released material by the record company, in many cases designed to be passed-off as a previously officially-released item.  It can also include compilations of previously officially-released recordings.

The "fake" Northern soul records would fit into the "pirate" category.  In recent times, officials have tended to focus more on pirated material, as representing a direct threat to the record company's income. 

 

The previously-active bootleg industry has become less lucrative, as in the internet age most of these recordings are shared by free downloads/torrents, and cater for a relative minority of music lovers. 

 

[Andrews_melb]

@audiofeline

spot on.

While i understand people can have a problem with any unautherised material which is understandable.

There is a big difference between a bootleg and a pirate copy.

 

 

Edit: Demon Days, by Gorillaz is another album that comes to mind. Prior to the reissue, the original press was going for $200+ plus. The pirate copy around $50. 

Edited December 2, 2018 by Andrews_melb

[Wimbo]

Has anyone seen that video of Neil Young visiting a record store as a customer and finding bootlegs of his albums? He wasnt impressed.

[ThirdDrawerDown]

Plenty of bootleg Neil Young available, especially live shows, and I hope that seeing such things in the shops further encourages Neil to get off his backside and carry out a release program similar to what has been done for the Grateful Dead.  After all, it took him decades (pun intended) to finally release his Archives. For all his good reasons - sound quality etc - for too long there was a gap, no, let's call it how it was: a canyon or abyss. It has been said that every Neil Young completist ought to have several Bluenotes live shows, for example.

 

As for pirate copies, failing to release On the Beach and Time Fades Away on CD resulted in pirated copies (not bootlegs) there is no doubt. Any artist who waits over thirty years to release primo LPs on CD can only have created an opportunity for pirates.

 

As for the music industry deliberately muddying the distinction between bootlegs (for sharing) and pirating (for profit), you've got to remember how the music biz views the world and the consumers in it. We refer to Hunter S. Thompson:

“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.”

 

[audiofeline]

2 hours ago, Wimbo said:

Has anyone seen that video of Neil Young visiting a record store as a customer and finding bootlegs of his albums? He wasnt impressed.

Yes, it's on Youtube.  I wonder how much of it was for the cameras. 

 

It's interesting the relationship artists have with bootlegs.  When they first came out, there was one store that would give copies to recording artists of any bootleg they wanted in the store.  Apparently there were lots of artist collectors.  At the start of some early radio broadcasts, Springteen used to say "bootleggers, roll your tapes!".  He knew one devoted early fan and taper by name and was quite friendly.  Then Bruce changed management and this taper found himself treated roughly, with Bruce looking on ignoring his cries for him to intervene. 

[stevoz]

16 hours ago, Wimbo said:

Has anyone seen that video of Neil Young visiting a record store as a customer and finding bootlegs of his albums? He wasnt impressed.

Pity he used what sounds like a bootleg recording for the 'Rust Never Sleeps' live album. Very average recording that one.....

[Wimbo]

10 minutes ago, stevoz said:

Pity he used what sounds like a bootleg recording for the 'Rust Never Sleeps' live album. Very average recording that one.....

Yeah, but I love it. "Sitting out on the Palm Beach Road, I'm so drunk and the car won't go". Richard Clapton.

[RickSL]

Maybe these pirate Northern Soul LPs will have a bit of value in the future. People will still pay a bit for some of the pirated 45s if the tracks are rare enough,

[cafe67]

I have double lp of the cure faith on vinyl. 

 

I was was looking at the track listing which seemed familiar , so went a checked my superdeluxe cd edition of the same album, yep the same. The sound quality is fine tho. 

[Umr at-Tawil]

On 01/12/2018 at 5:10 PM, Paul R said:

Growing up in Malaysia in the 1960s 1970s, there was a huge trade in pirate LPs and books. Then came casettes. Notbing was sacrosanct. It still boggles my mind how they pirated LPs what with the whole works required.

Were you growing up in Penang, maybe as part of RAAF? I am assuming you are Australian. A lot of the pirated LPs bore the same stamper numbers of their original equivalents, which makes me wonder if there was some secret deal between dishonest staff of the official distributors and the pirating companies. Obviously the stampers were already much used and perhaps originally intended for disposal, but were sold (?) instead to the piraters to make low-fi copies of the LPs.