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It's quite interesting to observe how records are sold these days. The standard pricing for pre-used western titles seems to start at around Rs.1.5k for irrelevant worthless ones and goes up to Rs.4k or Rs.5k for either popular performers or albums of note. The common method these days seems to be - just stack a set of records against a wall and flip through them on video. At these price points, the buyer ideally should know whether proper branded high quality outer sleeves and inner sleeves are used (and not those sold in kilograms at your local hardware store), country of pressing and other related information, if pre-used, where the record came from (even if this is mentioned, just like all pre-used cars are pitched as doctor owned, records are usually from 'private' collections). Record and cover grading is almost never mentioned (of generally, the seller's own interpretation).
And then, there are the influencers, with their opinions. This is a first pressing, that pressing is outstanding, black nipper, red nipper, etc. A major scam especially for Bollywood records is that every movie OST seems to be rare or some worthless song that even the producers of the movie discarded from the movie itself but left it on the record in order to fill up space, is pitched as a rare and unheard gem. There are lot of Indian influences masquerading online as analog experts, giving opinions on these so called 'rare gems', usually sitting in front of some expensive audio gear giving the impression that they know everything. If you are part of whatsapp groups, you will notice that the content or topics of discussion especially when it comes to records, are dominated by a select few with strong opinions in support of each other, using the power of influence based on bragging rights (they are usually sitting on fancy equipment and believe their opinions are highly qualified). A new trend has started these days, reel tapes pitched as from a studio setting appearing as rare original recordings or mixes from studio archives. Even worthless audio cassettes that are fit to be thrown away are being pitched as 'original analog release' and are on the market for Rs.500 each or above. These are usually tapes thrown around at the back or bottom of some cupboard, full of fungus and dust. They are cleaned, polished up, if they look newish, they are shrink-wrapped and resold.
Having been around the world, buying records from all over, my general opinion of Indian pressings, especially from mixes done in India, is generally well below par (if not really poor). Some of the western titles released by Polydor and GCOIL back in the 1960s and early 1970s were the better ones but again, an original Decca UK press or Columbia US press of the same album was almost always significantly better. A lot of the Bollywood pressings that I have come across have distortion in the mixes themselves (as most audiophiles play these with tone-defeat, or on rigs with predominantly mid-range soundstages, the distortion is generally masked to a great extent). Anyone who is a student of the history of record production and sales in India will know that in order to sell records in volumes to the mass cost-conscious Indian consumer, the cost of record playing equipment had to be kept very low. Folks like HMV came out with cheap stuff and over 90 percent of the record reproduction equipment sold in India were portables, the crappy HMV Fiesta being India's highest selling record player of that era. The HMV Calypso came a close second. There were some better sounding models like the Philips 533 portable, the Philips Hi-Q and Hi-Fi rigs, etc but essentially manufacturers of Indian records never sold records produced for consumers with hi-quality rigs. Our Indian records just had to sound good on some portable record player or over the aluminium-horn speakers of public address system operators.
To add to the above is the digital vs analog source debate. And after all this, if one is interested in buying a new release or re-release of an old title, the high production costs and record-mafia based hoarding, is leading to high prices.
If you are an enthusiast starting out now, you are late especially if you are a bollywood person. Always keep in mind that most of the really mint records (either of reputed albums/performers, or even the worthless albums/performers) would already reside in some enthusiast's collection. Anyone selling duplicate copies, will always retain the better copy of the two. If you are into western titles and have access to international markets, you stand a great chance of building a high-quality collection but in India, its rather difficult these days. Nevertheless, the mantra is to always keep looking, spread the word and stay alert. You'd never know, that 'gem' which you are searching for may reside, forgotten, in your neighbour's, friend's or relative's cupboard
. Happy hunting!
