Polly Wog Stew EP

[blmelon]

How do you know if what you are looking at is an original or not? Haven't there been a bunch of reissues and bootlegs of this? I have an extensive Bboys record collection and this is one I need to add, yet have never seen. I just came across one, but want to know if it is real or not. Thanks.

[Jitters]

The original catalogue number for the EP is MOTR 21 so look for that somewhere on it. I dont think there were any bootlegs of it but if you can't find that number on I wouldn't get it because the U.S and France version look almost identical to one another.

[blmelon]

nice work jitters. much appreciated.

[Jitters]

No problem, good luck on getting that copy for your collection (y)

[blmelon]

another vinyl question. was the original country mike's ep on red vinyl? i have a bootleg of this one with just a white label on the LP. I know that the sleeve has a white border around the edges on the original, but had heard about the red vinyl and was curious.

[Laver1969]

Check www.beastiemania.com. They have an extensive discography and also some articles on the differences between certain releases/bootlegs.

[Sir SkratchaLot]

The best way to tell an original from a repress on the Polywog Stew is going to be age. The original is 7" vinyl. It was repressed on tape cd and 12" vinyl out of France. I'm unaware of bootlegs but it wouldn't suprise me at all if they're out there. The thing is, while you can copy artwork and labels and all that, you can't really create a convincing copy of a 25 year old record. Even mint copies are going to be obviously aged to some extent. The copy I've got has little or no ringwear, no bends, stains, rips, tears, scratches, etc., but trust me, from someone who has thousands of records, you can still tell its old just by looking at it. You can't fake old. If you're looking at the thing and the cover looks all glossy and clean, like it was just printed last year, it probably was. Most of the copies floating around out there are going to have some wear at the top of the sleave from being in 7-inch bins, either at someone's house or at the store. My first copy (which I later sold after getting a better one) was in good shape but it did have some wear at the top of the sleave. About 90% of the covers are going to be like that or worse because nobody knew it would be valuable back in the early 80s. But even the really clean, mint copies that somehow escaped the damage of being in bins are going to show some signs of age on the cover (fading, lack of gloss, dust).

The problem with Country Mike is, the original is new, so its a lot harder to tell if its real from age. And it was imediately a collector's item so there is no big issue with finding mint copies of the original. If a bootlegg is done well you won't be able to tell it from an original based on age or wear from sitting in a bin somewhere. So far, the bootleggs have not been exact replicas, so they're easy to spot. But if someone actually put some thought into it, they could bootleg the original presses on black or red vinyl and make it really damn hard to tell the difference.

[paul jones]

I saw one on e bay last year, the 7" but lost the bid,I can't remember how much the winner paid,sorry

[blmelon]

thank you folks. the help is much appreciated.