Question: The Mix Up pressings

[tuc70021]

So about 14 years ago The Mix Up was released. To this day, you can find brand new copies on the Beastie Boys website for sale. So are these really 14 year old records that have been sitting in a warehouse all these years, or were they later "runs" that didn't quite count as reissues? I'm not sure how record pressing really works - like if a label usually prints a ton at once or if they do it in phases.

[brooklyndust]

Judging by http://www.beastiemania.com/discog/show.php?g=mixup
It looks they still might be going through their original run.

I am sure one of the more knowledgeable board members could answer this though (paging SirScratchaLot)

If you take this virtual tour of Oscilloscope Studios it looks like a lot of copies of the Mix-Up are still hanging around in the studio.

[Sir SkratchaLot]

Originally Posted by brooklyndust

Judging by http://www.beastiemania.com/discog/show.php?g=mixup
It looks they still might be going through their original run.

I am sure one of the more knowledgeable board members could answer this though (paging SirScratchaLot)

If you take this virtual tour of Oscilloscope Studios it looks like a lot of copies of the Mix-Up are still hanging around in the studio.

I'm not too sure on this point. I've got a good collection but some of the guys I've met from Beastiemania have insane collections of every release imaginable. I've always been more of the guy who buys the first press and says "I'm good".

I would suspect that it's been repressed because not that much vinyl was being pressed in 2007 (you have to remember this was before every hipster in the neighborhood was buying a turntable). No clue though really. It's not always that easy to tell a repress from an original.

[tuc70021]

Hmmm, interesting. I just bought a new copy from Amazon (I'd love to support this actual BB store but... it's horrible) and it looks identical to the copy I got when it first came out - same sticker and everything. It may be a perpetual mystery.

I also wondered the same things about the colored reissues of Paul's Boutique, Ill Communication, and To The 5 Boroughs. They were allegedly "limited," were for sale on the site for a while, sold out, and then magically came back. I wonder if they just made more or if their inventory system is as bad as their customer service.

I also wonder if the distribution of Root Down colors ever evened out from the 94% orange, 2% red, 2% blue, 2% green distribution it appeared to have.

Doing a lot of wondering....

[brooklyndust]

Originally Posted by tuc70021

Hmmm, interesting. I just bought a new copy from Amazon (I'd love to support this actual BB store but... it's horrible) and it looks identical to the copy I got when it first came out - same sticker and everything. It may be a perpetual mystery.

I also wondered the same things about the colored reissues of Paul's Boutique, Ill Communication, and To The 5 Boroughs. They were allegedly "limited," were for sale on the site for a while, sold out, and then magically came back. I wonder if they just made more or if their inventory system is as bad as their customer service.

I also wonder if the distribution of Root Down colors ever evened out from the 94% orange, 2% red, 2% blue, 2% green distribution it appeared to have.

Doing a lot of wondering....

The collector in me is a little miffed about all the coloured re-issues and just the general re-issues as of late. Especially the Root Down and In Sound and some Old Bullshit ones.

Although, I'm not really in it for the money, I wonder if the all these reissues drive down the value of the OG pressings.

It took me years to get my og copies of Root Down Blue vinyl, In Sound Gold and Some Old Bullshit 10"
I guess I can sleep easy knowing that my numbered In Sound is a numbered release, but the Root Down blue vinyl doesn't feel that rare to me anymore.

At the end of the day you gotta collect for what makes you happy and not for the money or the prestige. And for me the hunt is probably the most thrilling part. But I would be lying if I said that all these re-issues didn't annoy me just a little bit.

[Sir SkratchaLot]

That blue Root Down was hard to track down back in the day. There was virtually no info about it. I got my first one at a record store in DC (about the time it came out) that somehow knew it had blue vinyl. I didn't even know it existed on blue wax until I saw that. The next one I found was when Mike D was selling the contents of his closet on eBay. I also got a green vinyl Ill Communication from that sale. The Ill Com had this little, round silver sticker so you could tell it was the green vinyl version but the Root Down was impossible to tell from the unopened record.

The In Sound on gold vinyl is one of my favorites because back in the day I mail ordered it directly from Grand Royal as a promo type thing. I remember sweating it super hard because I was afraid they would run out of stock before my mail order got in.

[brooklyndust]

Originally Posted by Sir SkratchaLot

I also got a green vinyl Ill Communication from that sale. The Ill Com had this little, round silver sticker so you could tell it was the green vinyl

I picked this up too, the Green Vinyl is a Canadian pressing which I ironically bought from Japan off discogs. Go figure.

The qualification for my collection is rarities, original pressings, audio quality, different picture or sleeves, promos and size ie. 10" or 12"

So instead of having 5 different copies of Paul's Boutique I just have one.

Example I went for sound and opted for the 2019 purple vinyl reissue of Paul's Boutique with the remastered tracks and flipped my double vinyl 8 panel Grand Royal 98 re-issue.

Went for rarity and flipped my regular 94 pressing of ill communication for the green vinyl.

OG pressing of LTI has since replaced my Dej Jam 2000 reissue (but I wonder if the reissue had a better sound quality).

And once I get my hands on original Red Country Mike pressing, my place holding 2003 bootleg copy is leaving the line up.

On the audio quality and rarity subject I think about buying all the 2009 reissue box sets.

[Sir SkratchaLot]

Almost certainly the original press of LTI sounds better. Those old Def Jam records sound GOOD!

[tuc70021]

Originally Posted by brooklyndust

The collector in me is a little miffed about all the coloured re-issues and just the general re-issues as of late. Especially the Root Down and In Sound and some Old Bullshit ones.

Although, I'm not really in it for the money, I wonder if the all these reissues drive down the value of the OG pressings.

It took me years to get my og copies of Root Down Blue vinyl, In Sound Gold and Some Old Bullshit 10"
I guess I can sleep easy knowing that my numbered In Sound is a numbered release, but the Root Down blue vinyl doesn't feel that rare to me anymore.

At the end of the day you gotta collect for what makes you happy and not for the money or the prestige. And for me the hunt is probably the most thrilling part. But I would be lying if I said that all these re-issues didn't annoy me just a little bit.

Glad I'm not the only one thinking about this...

I personally like reissues when the secondary market has become ridiculous. Before the 2017 reissue of To The 5 Boroughs, a vinyl copy was easily over a hundred bucks on Discogs. Anyone who wanted that record had to pay a ton for it, which is ridiculous because this isn't some rare art pieces - just a rap record. So when they reissued it I was happy because now people can get a copy for a fair price. For me, my 1st edition will always be valuable because I believe it to be so, and some people would pay more for a first edition.

The colored Root Downs are the same way. I have an original blue and a new blue, and they are in fact different shades of blue and different weights, but otherwise yeah... I guess it's not as rare to own a blue copy now. But still, to me the original blue isn't diluted by the new blue because there never will be more original blues. The hunt to get one, the thrill at actually getting it, etc. will always be the same.

The only thing that irks me a little about reissues - and about vinyl records in general these days - is the emphasis on color. I'm not knocking anyone for trying to make a quick buck by having fancy colored records (I admit to buying one of each of the new Root Down colors), but I feel like we're reaching a point where every new vinyl release or reissue has to be on colored vinyl. I'd rather save the money and avoid the quality issues that often come with colored vinyl (although not in my experience with Beastie Boys records) and just get a solid black copy. Colored vinyl used to be a special thing like some of you guys have mentioned, and that made them extra cool. Having a green Ill Communication was SO DOPE. But now I have a silver one.... eh, I guess I don't really care, but it's just getting a little kitschy now. Some artists release an album exclusively on on colored vinyl with like 10 different variations. That's cool... I guess. It's just a different fan experience.

Oh and lastly Def Jam can get fucked with their reissues. I bought that clear "Walmart only" reissue (I should have known better...) and it's just super apparent that Def Jam has no desire to do anything productive with that record. Even the cover quality is shit. How is the clarity on the 1986 release great and the 2019 release looks like someone photocopied it at a Staples?

[tuc70021]

Speaking of which, there appears to be an original pressing of the blue Root Down for sale on Ebay right now for the lowest price I've seen in a long time.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Beastie...AOSwZ7dgG09 a

Not my auction - just never see them this cheap.