One of the things about having been involved in making an album which, years later, sells for hundreds of pounds (or dollars) is the nagging thought that its value has more to do with its rarity than its quality.
We only pressed 500 copies of the Caedmon album in 1978, for the simple reason that we couldn’t afford any more and couldn’t press any less. Thirty years later, how many are still in existence?
And how does the rarity affect the value? If say, 200 are out of circulation, and the value of the remaining albums is £500 each, then what happens when another 10 go out of circulation. Are the remaining albums now worth £517.24? Or does the market see the continual shrinking of the available pool and increase the value by some more sophisticated futures based mathematical model?
Well, to all you speculators and collectors out there… SIT UP! The value of the Caedmon album (original vinyl 1978) has just increased.
On Saturday 19th April 2008, at around 11.30am, I sat on my Caedmon album. That’s one more copy which is now permanently out of circulation.
AAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
I think I’m traumatised. Sob.
I wondered about the rarity v. quality thing too. Is there a definitive answer??
Well it’s a genre with a small number of very enthusiastic collectors, some of whom can afford to pay big bucks. So the price reflects a combination of quality and rarity. I’ve seen a limited press album that probably very few people have heard fetch £100 on ebay. On the other hand albums by my first love, Parchment, don’t fetch much even though they are probably better appreciated now than 30 years ago. And that’s because there are thousands of copies released by major labels.
In the case of Caedmon, I think the music is exceptionally interesting. Is Angela going to sing with the band again?
Simon talked to Angela on Sunday after the four men had had their three day jam and she was pleased to hear it had gone well.
It goes without saying that we’d love to have her singing with us again.
This description of Caedmon’s sound, from ‘Music Saves Lives’, is typical of many reviews: “The sublime sound of Caedmon results from an unusual blend of styles, the fragile female vocals, admirable use of tension and atmosphere, savage fuzz-guitar, art rock leanings – everything from exquisite understatement to frantic show-off musicianship……”
The ‘fragile female vocal’ is a key element.
We have a bit of a dilemma here. We’ve all moved on since Caedmon and one of the decisions we took before we met up was that we would try to make music that reflects where we are now. When we met we deliberately didn’t play any of our old songs. If where Angela is now doesn’t involve singing we need to respect that. On the other hand none of us guys is really that much of a singer and, as Ken points out, one of the distinctive features of Caedmon’s sound was Angela’s voice. If Angela doesn’t sing then what do we do that doesn’t involve trying to go back to how we sounded before?
Interesting…