Customer Reviews

Goldmine Jazz Album Price Guide, 2nd Edition

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Although it's nice to have listings from beyond 1969 (why was that date chosen as a cutoff for the previous incarnation of this book, anyway?), this book falls short in several areas.

First and foremost, most of the prices have been left unchanged; in some cases, they've been downgraded. A quick market pulse-check will tell anyone that you're not going to net $100 for a first press in M- condition of Lee Morgan's "Candy" on blue note, and you're definitely going to get more than $25 for a first-press Sun Ra record on El Saturn! Frequently, the prices for post-'69 records are formulaic; a majority of those records are listed as $6.25/$12.50/$25.00. Thanks for nothing, Neely!

Second, the label determining information is seriously lacking, frequently repeating mistakes made in the Umphred book (i.e., "the 'deep groove' on Blue Note records is about the size of a 50-cent piece.")! <p) Finally, the listings are unnecessarily confusing. For example, where the Umphred book sorted its album numbers first by date then by the labels' mono numbering system (and indicated whether the price was for the mono (m), stereo (s), or electronically-reprocessed version (e)), this book sorts albums strictly numerically (i.e., blue note listings for a particular artist whose recordings spanned 1957-1975 would list LT/LA-series numbered albums first, then 1500-series, then 4000, then 84000 (if stereo pressings existed). Helpful <bold>only</bold> in the case of Columbia mono/stereo pressings. Argh!

In sum: although this book is complete, its prices are out of touch with reality, and it appears as though the bulk of time it took to get the book to market was spent in arranging the listings, rather than completing the requisite thorough research to successfully achieve its auspicious goal. If you already have Umphred's book, purchase this only if you have a significant number of post-'69 records.

Well-a last a long-awaited update to the, despite some minor quibbles, excellent 1994 price-guide by N. Umphred.... But it doesn't take more than a few minutes to discover that this is a serious letdown. This is basically a photo-copy of Umphred's Book with all the excellent details an easily readable format edited out? . This has apparently been compiled without ANY real research, insight or interest for that matter in Jazz Vinyl collecting. The only excuse for the release of this text-book-example-of-cashing-in-on-other-peoples-reputation-and-work is the unavailability of Umphred's edition. Owners of this previous edition should stay way clear of this...

I ordered this book even after I read the sparse not-so-favorable reviews, because my experience with jazz officionados (sic) is that they are whining nitpickers (example: sniveling over Ken Burns Jazz documentary). I have the old 1992 Umphred book, missed the 1994 edition and thought it was time to update. I screwed up.

Pluses: *listings beyond 1969--though who really cares unless you like to have a checklist for all your albums. They're pretty much all the same price and overpriced at that.

*Frank Zappa listings. Though I don't agree with including this in a jazz book it is kind of cool to see the state of my Zappa collection being addressed.

*Updated prices. Sad to see my mono pressing devalue, but I kind of agree with some of the listings here, though how dime-a-dozen Brubeck albums on Columbia can bring more than early '60's Blue Notes is totally beyond me! Tim, what are you thinking?!

*Label info in the actual listings rather than in the intro--but sparse (see below)

*Cool little checklist boxes to mark off the stock

Minuses:

*WHat I've already mentioned above

*biggest minus: this book is for collectors--what we need more than anything, more than even a "new and improved" price list is "new and improved" label information bordering on the factual. Buyer beware: there is nothing regarding labels except for some Blue Note info and Columbia. I was looking for reliable info on Riverside which is sorely lacking in the '92. I couldn't believe that this vital information was tossed. A real disservice. Is there reliable info in the '94 Umphred? Could someone fax me copies of that so I can paste onto my inside cover. Jeeeezzzz!

*Stupid numerical listing system that separates Mono from Stereo copies. But on the plus side it is divided by labels rather than years. Preferable though I don't really know why myself

I really hope this helps. I should have bought the '94 instead but felt that it didn't address my concerns from the '92. I don't know how hard this can really be if you are steeped in the industry. I do this for s**ts and giggles and know things not in any of the books. A half-assed product, I'm sorry to say. If you are going to do it, do it right or not at all. Where was Neil? He at least has a particular interest in Jazz. WHen you read the forward Tim comes right out and confesses that jazz is not his cup of tea. He therefore has no business getting involved in such a delicate matter as jazz collecting. Sorry Tim, but I suspect I speak for all of those who will purchase this book AFTER have owned an Umphred. Newcomers to the arena will find themselves buried in unwanted reissues in no time.

P.S. Why did my Colpix stereo copy of Jimmy Rushing's "Five Feet of Soul" disappear? Is it even rare? Saw a VG+ copy selling for $25 at a show couple years ago. I already had it.

...Goldmine is still holding sadly to the olden days of flea market and record shop values, instead of realizing that ebay values are the only true ones these days for collectibles. With that in mind, the guide is useful only because it's really the only one published recently. Ebay prices are generally 1/3 of those quoted here, with a few exceptions spurred by trends online that bump prices to 1/3 or so above the prices quoted in this book. If you carry this book with you as you shop at garage sales or flea markets, make sure to adjust the values in your mind accordingly so you don't pay too much in the real world for something you want to sell in the virtual one.

I find the prices very routine-like and without the updating you can expect.

Necessary informations about label-designs are missing. Even for the most collectible label (Blue Note)

I bought this in order to estimate the vaule of my collection for insurance puposes and wasted my money. The guide claims that, for example, my mono Jackie McLean "Destination Out" is worth $30. If I were to lose my copy due to fire or some other reason would I be able to find another copy for $30? Absolutely not. More like $60. Several listings are completely out of touch with the current market and subsequent repressings of older recordings are overpriced. If you really had no idea about the jazz LP market then this book will be of at least some help. You might be cheating yourself, however, if you are looking to appraise a jazz collection about which are are unfamiliar.

Just a few examples of overpriced listings: Eddie Heywood, the Hi-Lo's, Harry James Columbia recordings, Ramsey Lewis Argo recordings, Ella Fitzgerald recordings in general (very few of her records are still sought after by collectors).

On the other side of the spectrum, Pharoah Sanders' records are priced about the same as a typical Barry Manilow record would be (Sanders' records are collectible), Helen Merrill's Emarcy records are priced to about 1/10th of what they should be (they routinely hit around the $500-$800 range, not the $20-$80 range the author says), and in perhaps the most glaring underpricing, Reg Wilson's "All By Himself" (released in 1956 on the Herald label) is valued by the book as between $15-$50. In truth, an individual would be more likely to be struck by lightning - twice - than to ever stumble across a copy of that Wilson LP in his or her lifetime.

This guide can serve as a general jazz LP discography, but it's a mistake to rely on its book values.

While I do not agree with some of the new price changes, the more complete listings are worth the price of admission.

These people are missing the point. Where else can you get such a complete jazz artist LP - DISCOGRAPHY - for CD reissue purposes. There are multiple entrys for each edition of the old LPs but it's worth the minor inconvience. They give the label that it was recorded on and the date of it's first release as well as subsequent editions released every couple of years.---- But be advised that Savoy Jazz listings 197- or 198- are name change reissues of Savoy from the mid to late 50's. He mentions this when discussing the record labels, but not in the individual artists listings.