Used Record Shopping In New Zealand

I recently spent a couple of weeks driving from Auckland to Queenstown in New Zealand with my wife and daughter. While not quite top to bottom, we covered about 1,000 miles of some of the most diverse and beautiful scenery in the world. It is fall in New Zealand, and we enjoyed wonderful, crisp autumn weather throughout our trip. I had been to Auckland about 20 years ago on business, and have a dozen or so albums in my collection that I picked up from a used record store at the time, including a very nice New Zealand pressing of the first album by Dire Straits. 

Since I've been on a vinyl buying spree in the last few months, I wasn't planning to spend much time record shopping down under. In such a beautiful country, it seemed a shame to spend much time indoors anyway. Plus, records are heavy, and I knew I'd have trouble getting a big stack of albums home without paying a hefty fee for extra baggage.

My restraint held out until we got to Christchurch. While driving through the city, we passed a van parked on the side of the road with a big sign that said: "We Want To Buy Your Used Records." The ad was for a shop called Penny Lane, and when we ended up with a couple of free hours one afternoon, I decided to stop by.

Good decision. Penny Lane is a fabulous record store with a huge stock in just about every genre. I started off in the jazz section, and quickly found 10 or so titles, including a couple of Dave Brubeck and Kai Winding albums that I didn't have. One of the neat things about foreign pressings are the differences in the jackets and labels from the U.S. originals. Dave Brubeck, for example, was with Columbia Records for the bulk of his career. Original Brubeck albums from the 50s and 60s are on the famous Columbia "six-eye" labels. 

Below are the cover and "six-eye" label from the US original 1957 release of Dave Digs Disney.

The New Zealand copy of Dave Digs Disney that I found is on the CBS/Coronet label, with a greenish tinted cover and a unique hexagonal  "stop-sign" label.

The back jacket states that the album was: "Manufactured for the Australian Record Company by Philips Electrical Industries of N.Z. LTD."

The sleeve is the old UK style, where the front of the jacket folds over and seals on the back, like the original Beatles Parlophone sleeves. The stamped matrix numbers on the New Zealand copy are exactly the same as as the original Columbia release: XLP42063-2C and XLP42064-2E, leading me to wonder if the New Zealand pressings were made from U.S. stampers? The New Zealand release also has hand-etched (and presumably) New Zealand or Australian catalog numbers MX 106399 and MX 106400 in the matrix. The New Zealand jacket is laminated on very flimsy stock, the kind also used for UK and other EU releases. I don't have a U.S. original to compare it to, but the NZ mono pressing is NM and sounds very fine.

Before I left, I took a quick look through the rock section. I picked up an original UK pressing of Ashes Are Burning by Renaissance on the Sovereign label. I have several U.S. copies, but have always wanted to hear the UK pressing. (It's better than the Capitol/Sovereign U.S. release.) Interestingly, the UK release has a slightly different cover, with band members Annie Haslam and Jon Camp smiling (and wearing different clothes), as compared to their more serious expressions on the U.S. release. (U.S. release is on the left below.)

I also found a New Zealand copy of the Emerson, Lake & Palmer album Pictures At An Exhibition, which also has a different cover than the U.S. and UK releases.

Both the original US and UK releases have empty frames, as shown on the right above. When you open the gatefold cover, the pictures appear on the inside. The New Zealand cover is not a gatefold, so apparently they just put the pictures on the outside. 

Finally, I found very nice New Zealand pressings of the Beatles first two albums, Please Please Me, and With the Beatles. Both were originally issued in 1963. In a previous post, I talked about the Beatles' original UK Parlophone releases, which some collectors think are the best sounding versions of all. Unfortunately I've never been able to acquire any of them, since they can easily fetch hundreds or thousands of dollars, depending on condition. So maybe the next best thing are New Zealand pressings? The two Beatles LPs that I found are on the black and silver Parlophone label. According to the jackets, they are repressings from 1978 and 1979 respectively. Both are near mint copies, with shiny vinyl and almost flawless covers. The prices seemed ridiculously cheap to me at only NZ $30 apiece (about $20 US).

I am happy to report that the vinyl is dead quiet on both, and the sound is outstanding. They are stereo copies, but are not like the awful early Capitol versions with vocals on one channel and instruments on the other. The NZ copies have a natural stereo spread and great texture and detail. I haven't done a comparison with the copies from the 2012 remastered stereo box set, but these Kiwi copies sound excellent.

Penny Lane in Christchurch had a good selection of New Zealand Beatles albums -- some with unusual covers and labels -- and I wish I had bought more. However, my suitcase was already bursting at the seams. Luckily for me, the very nice person at the check-in counter in Auckland attached a "Very Heavy" sticker to the outside and said she wouldn't charge me for the extra weight. 

Enjoy the music!