Exploring Vinyl : The Unexpected Rush Collection

I’ve mentioned it here once before, but my reputation in this town precedes me. I’m the guy you talk to before you throw your LPs in the trash, and no matter what they are, I’ll probably salivate over them. Sure, I might end up painting on them, but I’ll use them. The locals know that I’m a painter too, so it’s not unexpected.

So, it happened again today. I was handed a milk crate full of LPs by a local woman who comes into the library often, and she told me, “These are for you! If you don’t want them, the library can have them.” Her sons, both musicians, were no longer living at home and she was clearing out some space. I gladly accepted the lot, as our particular library has no consistent or reliable means for selling vinyl, nor do we really have the audience for it. I am essentially the whole audience.

I started to leaf through my treasures and I wasn’t too excited by the front of the box – Shaka Khan and The Thompson Twins aren’t really my idea of a pleasing sonic experience.

Now, there are countless albums that were designed for the turntable, so this is my attraction. I could listen to an MP3 of a song from the 1970s, or I could listen to it on the original LP and lend the experience some additional authenticity. I don’t debate the clarity, just the action.

As an aside, I also enjoy the fact that we still call it a ‘discography’ as our musical media becomes more and more distant from assuming the shape of discs.

I continued to hunt through the box, and I was not disappointed – some very clean Pink Floyd and Blue Oyster Cult indicated a fixation with prog rock – and then I came across nine Rush albums, from their very first 1974 self titled release through 1982’s Signals, and three live albums. While not a complete discography, I was just handed a collection. I love things that come pre-collected for me. And when I am handed a collection, I hunt down the value of what’s in my hands – not to re-sell it, but to see how carefully I need to preserve it.

All albums, generally speaking, are worth much more in their sealed forms than their opened forms, and many even have a respectable value if they retain their original plastic wrapping, despite being opened on one side.

Rush’s first album, simply titled ‘Rush‘ seems to have had at least three versions. The initial pressing of 3500 copies features a cream-colored label and a blue ‘Moon Records’ logo. The second pressing includes a red logo, as opposed to the later pink lettering, as well as a small logo for Moon Records which is missing from later pressings. The pressing of 5000 ‘red’ copies reach prices around $80, opened. Reprints of the ‘pink’ LP sell fairly consistently around the $10 mark. Mine, of course, is the latter.

I’ve also come across at least three versions of 1978’s Hemispheres. While the plain, black vinyl copy sells for only a few bucks, an alternate pressing on red vinyl sells for between $15 and $25. A picturedisc featuring the cover artwork sells for a similar price.

Most of these LPs have versions which were released exclusively in Japan, and while almost identical, they have an ‘obi’, or a little paper belt of sorts that wraps around the record sleeve to describe what it is in Japanese. These copies consistently surface for about $30 to $50 bucks. A Japanese picturedisc version of Fly By Night recently sold for $200, having met some kind of holy trifecta of rarity.

A comparable price was reached by a rare, sealed 2002 pressing of Vapor Trails. By 2002, LPs had already faded out of the mainstream, so vinyl pressings of things have become scarce by their very nature – but the best musicians out there still make vinyl releases. And I still collect them.

Of course, there are always a few auditory odds and ends out there in the world of vinyl, including promos, radio station releases and fan club specials, but this is the main crux of it. Keep an eye out for picturediscs and red logos and you’ll have something of monetary value. For nw, I’ll enjoy my musical value.