[porkmarras]

Again,,what if $ 125.000 were peanuts to you?

[sonicl]

I wonder what level the bidding would be at if there weren't loads of people bidding just to get some kind of dumb kick out of pushing the price up. The seller really should have protected himself, and any genuine bidders, against that sort of shit by making it that people had to register with him first in order to bid. I am right in thinking that ebay auctions can be run that way, aren't I?

[atari 2600]

Originally Posted by article

Allegedly, another acetate of the same session, belonging to Moe Tucker and featuring "significantly lesser sound quality" according to Hill, was included on a Japanese bootleg released several years ago. However, the authenticity of the recordings on that bootleg have not be confirmed. As far as Hill knows, the piece of vinyl being auctioned is the only copy in existence.

Well, this is funny. It's easy enough to make the leap to theorize that Moe has exactly the same acetate (used to make the Japanese bootleg) and that, as a result, Hill's find isn't one-of-a-kind. The Jap boot includes the outtake alternate versions. The only one that some bootlegs do not include is the different take of European Son, which was probably omitted because of the skip. Some versions of the pre-existing boot do have European Son, so it depends on which one that one may have. Since the rest of the tracks are already on the debut album in better quality, only those 3 or 4 from the Scepter Studios sessions (Venus, Heroin, Waiting, European...depending on which version one has) songs were included on the Japanese bootleg.

[atari 2600]

Originally Posted by article

Hill said that he has never listened to the actual piece of vinyl all the way through, though he and Isaacson created a digital copy of it and listened to that.

Which is likely what we are enjoying now, owing to it being leaked.
This thing could be cleaned-up and de-popped. There is the possibility that the "leak" is actually a fake, that someone with the Japanese bootleg and an old vinyl of the debut album and a mixing program constructed it.
I do confirm that the sound quality though is better overall than my cd-r lossless copy of the Japanese boot. But that may be because encoding and audio archiving programs are better nowadays than in the day when the Japanese bootleg was made.
The vocals are much clearer from Hill's acetate. There are some parts though were the music sounds better on the Japanese bootleg and if one has the actual Japanese vinyl, it stands to reason that it would sound better than the .mp3s (in theory) ripped from the recording Hill is selling.

[RdTv]

Originally Posted by porkmarras

Again,,what if $ 125.000 were peanuts to you?

I would have learned long ago the empty feeling you get after spending that much money on something so minimal.

[atari 2600]

"Buyer's remorse" is the term widely in use.


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128,300.98

[noisemachine]

Originally Posted by sonicl

I wonder what level the bidding would be at if there weren't loads of people bidding just to get some kind of dumb kick out of pushing the price up. The seller really should have protected himself, and any genuine bidders, against that sort of shit by making it that people had to register with him first in order to bid. I am right in thinking that ebay auctions can be run that way, aren't I?

If you look down at the bottom of the bid history page, you can see that the guy in charge of selling it has retracted several bids, making people contact him first before they can bid. Thats only one filter though, so Im sure several false bids are still going through.

[scott v]

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

gauging the possible selling price of a one of a kind item like this acetate is impossible.
whoever buys this is probably either a rich musician or music executive, or the hard rock cafe will buy it to display it in their "marquee" vegas location.

if I were lou reed I would buy it just to take it off the public eye.


I found a 12" single on blue vinyl of They Might Be Giants DON'T LET'S START signed by the two johns and they drew an accordion and a guitar on it, for $1.00 at a tent sale.

I agree about who's likely going to be bidding on this... but personally i think it is unlikely that Reed himself chase after this though i'd think he'd be the most likely candidate from VU to go for it, since i'm guessing he's the one with the highest financial situation from VU followed by Cale and then Moe... both Sterling Morrison and Nico have passed on now.

However if it is true that there was a previous copy that was in the hands of Moe Tucker, then i wouldn't discount that there might be a couple more copies that lay in the hands of the artists themselves and would therefore not want or need to go after a off quality version of this acetate, original or not. As I think it wouldn't be too farfetched to believe that additional copies were made during the sessions to be reviewed for all of the band members.

a historical and important document in rock music... "yes"
this particular acetate used for releasing the music officially?... without hearing it and only reading about how the sound is sub-par i'd say "no" as i would also think that Reed or Cale and or Tucker would have an orginal master, and if they wanted these versions to see the light of day it probably would've already happened. so the best place for this acetate is in the rnr hall of fame or equivalent.

[atari 2600]

The 150,000 barrier has now been breached.

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150,300.00

[atari 2600]

I didn't watch last night, but I could tell from the promo that Letterman was a repeat with Teri Horton, the Texas woman who bought a Jackson Pollock from a flea market for five dollars. Hell, the primed and mounted canvas is worth far more than five dollars. Anyway, there's a documentary this year about her quest for authentication. The upshot of which is that a fingerprint on the verso matched Pollock's. Judging by what the work looks like, it seems like one of his more unsuccessful overly-painted ones that was never intended to be exhibited or sold.

[atari 2600]

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151,100.00

[atari 2600]

3 hours 20 mins to go...

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US $155,601.00

[luxinterior]

Oooh, this is a nail biter.

[luxinterior]

Haha.

[static-harmony]

I feel tired, is this the right thread?

[atari 2600]

1 hr 13 mins left

US $155,401.00

The last bid must have been deemed officially bogus.

[static-harmony]

I want to see which guy has money.

[atari 2600]

What's nifty to me is that this will make the news because this is the most anyone has ever paid for a recording.

That it's The Velvet Underground serves to sweeten the fact considerably!

[static-harmony]

Wow, I did not know that. But who do you think it is that is buying it. A common folk with money or a some Big label?

[atari 2600]

Who knows? But to answer the question with my gut feeling, I would suppose it's just some wealthy, eccentric fan that doesn't plan on releasing it.

Then again, a lot of these eBay items that go for inordinately inflated amounts end up in a museum collection in Vegas somewhere.