Weekly Top 5 eBay Vinyl Record Sales For January 2011

As always, a special thank you to Norm and Jane at Vinyl Record Talk for this great data. Stop by and listen to the radio show!!





Top 5 eBay Vinyl Record Sales - Week Ending 01/01/2011

A dull week between Christmas and New Years where no one wants to spend any money gave someone lucky buyer a sweet deal on a Parlophone "White Album" pressing. The rest of the list is full of obscurities this week, with private press Psych, blank label Jamacian Reggae and rare Rockabilly 45's.

1. LP - The Beatles "White Album" Parlophone UK Export Pressing - $2,750.00

2. LP - Christopher "What'cha Gonna Do?" Private Press - $2,524.00

3. 45 - Prince Buster "Linger On" / The Maytals "Baby Come Home" Jamacian Pressing - $2,200.00

4. 45 - Jackie Bernard "Torture & Flames" Test Pressing - $2,198.61

5. 45 - Marlon Mitchell "Bermuda Shorts" / "Ice Cold Baby" Vena - $2,005.00



Top 5 eBay Vinyl Record Sales - Week Ending 01/08/2011

An unreleased acetate from an Ohio funk band makes the top of the list this week, and is one of three soul related gems - the others being the very rare Northern 45 from Bobby Rich, and a Modern Soul 45 that is one to watch. Split Descision Band's "Watchin Out" single has been on the rise for several years, and this week's sale price is it's peak. It's also one that teaches looks can be deceiving. As a good friend and fellow dealer says, "No one knows every record", and he came close to passing this one up a year back because from the label style and font used for the band name it looked like just another lost country 45. Fortunately for his bottom line, he dropped a needle on it.

1. LP - The Crowd Pleasers unreleased acetate - $3,939.89

2. LP - The Beatles "The Beatles Collection" MFSL Japan Box Set - $3,599.99

3. 45 - Bobby Rich "There's A Girl Somewhere (For Me)" / "I Can't Help Myself" Sambea 101 - $3,000.00

4. 45 - Split Decision Band "Watchin' Out" / "Dazed" Network - $2,131.33

5. LP - Arthur Grumiaux "Bach Violin Concerto" Philips 835 - $2,026.98



Top 5 eBay Vinyl Record Sales - Week Ending 01/15/2011

The first three entries this week look like they're off the covers of the Goldmine Record Guide. Those are followed up by two Northern Soul 45s. Ok, I'm calling it - the economy is improving, at least in the UK, Northern Soul records have been making the list every week.

1. LP - The Beatles "Introducing The Beatles" Vee Jay Rainbow Label Stereo - $4,162.00

2. 45 - The Sex Pistols "God Save The Queen" / "Did You No Wrong" South Africa Pic Sleeve - $3,716.00

3. LP - The Velvet Underground "The Velvet Underground & Nico" Yellow Label Promo Mono - $3,506.00

4. 45 - Charles Johnson & Orchestra "You Made A Mistake" / "I'll Keep Loving You" Rainbow - $3,383.33

5. 45 - John Harris & Soul Sayers "Hangin' In" / "What Can I Do" Kerston - $2,916.00



Top 5 eBay Vinyl Record Sales - Week Ending 01/22/2011

Ignoring the sealed Introducing The Beatles that showed as having sold for $125,000, reality did bring the Beatles to the top spot, with a Butcher album with Perry Cox authentication. If I've noticed anything doing the Top 5 for going on four years now, it's that Perry Cox's signature adds about $2k to any Beatles "Yesterday and Today". It's just an observation. I don't know Mr. Cox; met him a few times long before I started dealing records and I'm sure he wouldn't remember me. One purpose of this weekly snapshot is to pick out trends and patterns that may not be so easy to discern at sites like Popsike.

And in case you don't know, The Squires 45 is from Neil Young's first band!

1. LP - The Beatles "Yesterday and Today" Butcher First State Stereo Perry Cox COA - $7,195.95

2. 45 - Scorpio and His People "The Unforgiven" / "Theme From The Movietown Sound" International Hits - $4,398.00

3. 78 - Robert Johnson "Sweet Home Chicago" / "Walkin' Blues" Vocalion 03601 - $3,575.00

4. 45 - The Squires "The Sultan" / "Aurora" V - $3,427.00

5. LP - Led Zeppelin "I" Atlantic UK Turquoise 1st - $3,200.00



Top 5 eBay Vinyl Record Sales - Week Ending 01/29/2011

A first press of "Please Please Me" shot to the top of the list, this one with matrix numbers that indicate it was pressed with the first stampers. Two modern soul 45's make the list this week. The self-titled David Bowie test pressing at the #3 spot is an approval copy of the US release that was for producer Mike Vernon.

1. LP - The Beatles "Please Please Me" Parlophone UK Gold Black label 1st Stereo - $8,238.88

2. 45 - The Darling Dears "And I Love You" / "I Don't Think I'll Ever Love Another" Flower city - $3,050.00

3. LP - David Bowie "self-titled" Deram Test Pressing - $2,894.70

4. 45 - The Mark IV "Take This Love" / "If You Can't Tell Me Something Good" Brite Lite - $2,620.00

5. LP - Art Pepper Quartet "Modern Art" Intro - $2,025.00

Vinyl Record News & Music Notes

New Label High Moon Records To Launch With Never-before-released Masterpiece By The Legendary Rock Band Love

On June 7, High Moon Records-the new boutique reissue label-will launch with 'Black Beauty,' the never-before-released masterpiece by Arthur Lee's legendary psychedelic rock band Love. Set for release on CD, vinyl, and digitally, 'Black Beauty' contains all ten original songs recorded in 1973 as well as rare bonus tracks, beautiful packaging with detailed liner notes by Ben Edmonds and never-before-seen photographs. The album was re-mastered by GRAMMY-winner Dan Hersch (Ramones, Alice Cooper).

Read more at top40-charts.com

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Urge Overkill Announce New Album: Rock&roll Submarine

Over 15 years since their last album, the two-headed rock 'n roll behemoth that is Urge Overkill, will finally make its return. Their new album, Rock&Roll Submarine, is out May 10th on their own label UO Records. The band's mixture of arena-ready hooks with punk rock ferocity is as potent as ever, as apparent on the rip-roaring new track, "Effigy." As fans who crowded NYC's Mercury Lounge this past October to witness the reunited group can attest, UO's live show is in top form as well. The guys kick off a brief US tour in May, where they will be tearing through their new and classic material.

Read more at top40-charts.com

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an interesting read from our friends in India, who have caught the vinyl fever as well!!

Black is Back

Indrajit Hazra, Hindustan Times

I’m inside a small room at the old Gramophone Company of India factory on the outskirts of Kolkata being made to listen to a rather sonorous voice coming out of a spinning plate. The rotating metal disc has been lovingly taken out of a cardboard box and I’m told by the gentleman fondly looking at the contraption that the voice belongs to Razia Begum.

Mentally, I draw a blank. But not wanting to be impolite, I manufacture excitement. The voice, clean as a whistle and earthy as a pot, is singing Launda badnaam hua... Natija tere liye with an open voice and minimal music. “It’s a traditional Bhojpuri track that was cut in 1983. This is the mastertrack,” recording engineer Sujan Chakrabarty tells me, adding how the film Dabangg has “done a copy of the song without giving any credit.” But that there’s some confusion about whether anyone can file a case as the song is ‘a traditional,’ so.... The machine is a Garrard 401 player and the ‘metal plate’ is a ‘mother cell’ with not a scratch on it. It’s the master disc, you see, from which vinyl records of the recording were once produced.

Read the rest at hindustantimes.com

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Vinyl records are spinning back around and gaining popularity

By Tracey Read

Greg Beaumont recalls buying a Black Sabbath album as a kid based on the cover art.

And now the owner of Record Den in Mentor for 38 years says he’s pleasantly surprised vinyl records are big once again.

Vinyl sales rose 14 percent nationwide from 2009 to 2010, with 2.8 million records sold, while CDs plummeted by 20 percent, according to Billboard.

Read the rest of the story at news-herald.com

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forbes blog has an interesting take on the demise of the CD and the vinyl revival

The Case for Vinyl: Why LPs Will Outlast CDs

Read more at blogs.forbes.com

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and in music history today:

In 1951, Ike Turner and his Kings of Rhythm record "Rocket 88" with producer Sam Phillips at his Memphis Recording Service. When the up-tempo combination of Swing and Jazz is released, it is credited to Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats and is now said by many music historians to be the first true Rock 'n' Roll record.

In 1959, Bobby Darin recorded "Dream Lover," which would reach #2 in the US the following summer.



Country singer Patsy Cline was killed in a plane crash near Camden, Tennessee in 1963. Most often remembered for her hits, "Crazy", "Walkin' After Midnight", "I Fall To Pieces" and "She's Got You", Cline's Greatest Hits L.P. has sold over eight million copies, making it the largest selling female Country album of all time, until Shania Twain came along.

In 1963, The Beatles recorded "From Me To You" at Abbey Road Studios in London. The song had just been written by John and Paul a few days earlier while riding a train during a tour with Helen Shapiro and was one of the last to be credited to McCartney / Lennon. Nine days later it will reach number one in the UK and stay on the chart for twenty-one weeks.

In 1966, Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler's "The Ballad of the Green Berets" topped the Hot 100, selling more than two million copies in the first two weeks after its release.

Led Zeppelin started a twelve-date Return to the Clubs tour at the Ulster Hall, Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1971 as a way of thanking British fans who had supported them from the early days. The band played for their original fees and fans got in for the original admission price.

In 1982, actor, comedian and singer, John Belushi, died from an overdose of cocaine and heroin. He and Dan Aykroyd had a hit record as The Blues Brothers in 1978 with a remake of the Sam and Dave classic, "Soul Man", while their album "Briefcase Full of Blues" reached #1 on the Billboard 200, going double Platinum. Belushi was one of the original cast members on Saturday Night Live, played “Joliet” Jake Blues in The Blues Brothers movie and also appeared in the film Animal House. His tombstone reads, “I may be gone, but rock ‘n’ roll lives on.”

Wham! made their U.S. television debut in 1983 when they appeared on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand.

The first episode of The Osbournes reality show was aired on MTV in America in 2002, focusing on the everyday exploits of Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne and two of their children, Jack and Kelly.

In 2007, records by Paul Simon and The Rolling Stones were chosen for preservation by the US Library of Congress. The Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” and Simon’s Graceland album entered the National Recordings Registry, which preserves historic works for future generations. Other recordings chosen this year included Carl Perkins’ “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Be My Baby” by The Ronettes, “A Change is Gonna Come” by Sam Cooke and the album The Velvet Underground and Nico.

Birthday wishes to Craig and Charlie Reid of The Proclaimers (1962)