Last week was a bad luck week for records in my life. The first one was I ordered a record from this place in Spain. It was supposed to be the Black Flag Jealous Again 10″ on red vinyl. I even emailed the place selling it to make sure it was red and was told it was. When I got it, I opened it up to find it was the pink vinyl one. Now it isn’t a case of my eyes not being good, the pink ones are opaque and red vinyl ones are translucent. I emailed my displeasure to the place selling it and to their credit they told me to return it and they’d give me a full refund including the return shipping, which is the right thing to do of course. The sad thing is I was so excited to finally getting that last color I was missing and the quest continues.
The second one was even more frustrating. I ordered a copy of the first Soundgarden 7″ on blue vinyl (“Hunted Down”), a record I wanted for so many years, and was stoked because it was such a fair price. I was a little skeptical about it being a bootleg but google searches turned up nothing in the way of any info about there being a fake. When I received it and looked it over, I felt even more uneasy about it. The first giveaway to me was the etchings in the runoff groove. All that was contained there was 19©87 which seemed quite fishy to me as there should have been some sort of catalog number, or at least the order # from the pressing plant. Also the blue vinyl seemed a far different, lighter shade than the one copy I remember seeing more than 10 years ago (and am still kicking myself for not picking up due to cheapness). After posting a message to the kbd mailing list and receiving info from the fine folks who are members of it, my fears were confirmed, the record was indeed a fake.
I emailed the place selling it and stated that I wanted to return it as it was a fake. They agreed, but not before giving me some bullshit story about how it is real and they were an authorized Sub Pop dealer in the early 90s and bought those from Southern. They also claim to state they sold it too cheap and was offered more than 3 times what they sold it to me for by another dealer so they’d be happy to have it back. I wrote back pointing out the info I was given about how to spot a fake, and advised them they ought to make this alleged dealer who wanted to buy it aware that it is a repro and not authentic. I also saw that the same seller now has 4 others available for sale too. I don’t know who he thinks he is fooling. So now I have to ship that back, and the hunt goes on even longer for that damn record. If anyone has either of the above that they want to sell or trade, please let me know, I’d like to end the hunt for said items.
On a more positive note, tonite I am going to Smackdown over at the Allstate Arena with some friends. We got really good seats too so it is going to be a fun time I’m sure. My next pinball league is this Saturday and hopefully I’ll play even better than last time, despite my not having played but once since then. Speaking of pinball, I’m in the process of putting my Funhouse back together and it is finally starting to come along. I can’t wait to get that thing done and start playing it again, I’ve been without it for 2 years and I really miss it.
Well, you’re about to have some good luck. Check your mail.
I’ve seen these 2nd pressings, and I was happy to buy it for a decent price (I paid about $50), which I consider to be fair given the original is so hard to find, and then you’ll be lucky to get one for under $500. I don’t think you were ripped off, just a little naive perhaps:)