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Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows... How many copies pressed?

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2013 12:12 pm
by catweazel
Aside from being overjoyed that I haven't actually lost my LP - I found it again recently after years of being convinced I'd lost it somewhere following a series of house moves....

I recall buying it at the time of release on Berwick St. in London and I remember seeing it around for a while so I was always surprised to find it was considered 'rare' over the years...

I had a look at discogs.com and only '30' people have it in their collection - while over 100 people are looking to buy it... this makes me think it must have had an incredibly low pressing - 30 isn't very much at all... and it seems to indicate that there weren't that many out there...

http://www.discogs.com/Spectrum-Highs-L ... se/1932373

Does anyone have any idea how many copies were actually pressed?

Re: Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows... How many copies pressed

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2013 6:45 pm
by spzretent
Runcible will know. I do know it was deleted the week it came out and was never repressed. Its the hardest Spectrum album to track down for sure.

Re: Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows... How many copies pressed

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2013 7:58 pm
by Hofstadter
Out of curiosity, can I ask what "deleted" means here? It's a word that always has very digital connotations for me, wondering what it means in this context? Masters destroyed or something?

Re: Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows... How many copies pressed

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2013 8:09 pm
by spzretent
out of print.

Re: Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows... How many copies pressed

Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2013 9:59 pm
by Hofstadter
Durr

Re: Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows... How many copies pressed

Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2013 2:55 pm
by runcible
spzretent wrote:Runcible will know. I do know it was deleted the week it came out and was never repressed. Its the hardest Spectrum album to track down for sure.
I don't know the exact number to be honest but they only did one pressing. At the time I was trading a lot of stuff with Pete and was waiting for stock of Highs, Lows. It took an age and eventually the supporting tour started and Pete told me the album was deleted yet he hadn't received any copies yet. I did get them after a while but that was it, no more available. So you could only buy it for a week or so and then it vanished. Shame as that show with Scott Reilly on guitar - a very underrated musician - was quite excellent. Josh Hampson from Loop was in the dressing room after as he wanted to meet support band Labradford. I never thought I'd see Josh and Pete in the same room I must admit!

Re: Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows... How many copies pressed

Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2013 7:14 pm
by catweazel
Thanks Runcible, although now I'm scratching my head wondering why it had such a low pressing?

Re: Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows... How many copies pressed

Posted: Mon Apr 08, 2013 8:12 pm
by runcible
Because Silvertone had withdrawn all support for Spectrum by then and just wanted rid. The album had a fantastic stained glass effect sleeve design planned but then they pulled the whole budget and gave no support to the packaging, the release itself or indeed the tour. It was pretty wretched and people at the time had no idea where they could buy the album.

Re: Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows... How many copies pressed

Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2013 8:45 pm
by catweazel
runcible wrote:Because Silvertone had withdrawn all support for Spectrum by then and just wanted rid. The album had a fantastic stained glass effect sleeve design planned but then they pulled the whole budget and gave no support to the packaging, the release itself or indeed the tour. It was pretty wretched and people at the time had no idea where they could buy the album.
A depressing read, but thanks Runcible - I did kind of suspect as much... man, they must really have hated Spectrum!

A real shame though, I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking it's the better Spectrum LP - and to realise it was practically extinct after a week isn't fair for any artist, no matter what differences they may have had. Here's hoping it gets a re-issue (although I'm kind of thinking any kind of re-issue would in fact be closer to a premiere at this point, as odd as it may sound)

Re: Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows... How many copies pressed

Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2013 11:29 pm
by runcible
catweazel wrote:A depressing read, but thank Runcible - I did kind of suspect as much... man, they must really have hated Spectrum!
Actually in the early period Silvertone did put in some support. The fantastic artwork on the solo LP and Soul Kiss, as well as the free 7" single that was given away at gigs, show they had some belief. By the time Highs Lows was due for release, however, they just pulled everything from what I can see. I remember the earlier discussions about the stained glass sleeve and was really excited to see it - I don't know if mock ups were made but suspect not - but when the time came the album was just released and forgotten about.

Re: Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows... How many copies pressed

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 12:14 pm
by BVCP206
Remember when it was released going into a record shop in Leeds in the Victoria Quarter which name currently eludes me (help me out here Runcible) and there must have been 20 copies in the racks. Also recall how disappointed I was when I saw the cover and no inner sleeve either :!:

If there were any mock ups made of how it was supposed to be how much of a collectors item would that be :shock:

Re: Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows... How many copies pressed

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 6:19 pm
by runcible
BVCP206 wrote:Remember when it was released going into a record shop in Leeds in the Victoria Quarter which name currently eludes me (help me out here Runcible)
Way Ahead.

Re: Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows... How many copies pressed

Posted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 9:42 pm
by davedecay
I feel so lucky to have come across a CD, can't recall how much I paid but it wasn't a lot.

When my daughter was younger, she used to take it from my library shelf and play it in her green Sony boom box stereo. Something about it appealed to her unformed ears.

'course, now it's all Top 40 pop crap, but maybe she'll come 'round again.

Re: Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows... How many copies pressed

Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2013 7:35 pm
by mh
I've 2 copies, one vinyl, one CD. Bought the vinyl as soon as it came out, the CD a few years later from an el-cheapo shop that obviously had no idea what they were sitting on. The vinyl - my copy at least - was quite a poor-quality pressing with lots of filth/gunge on it. I wrote "better than Playing with Fire!!!!" on the (nasty plain white paper) inner sleeve first time I listened to it, and still rank it among Sonic's best work, and probably 2nd-best (after LGM) post-Spacemen LP from either Sonic or Jason.

The sorry tale of this LP makes it somewhat bizarre that the Undo the Taboo single even got released, but things were different in them days.

Re: Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows... How many copies pressed

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 7:58 pm
by Shinesalight
What would you say was a reasonable price to get a good conditioned copy of this on vinyl now?

Re: Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows... How many copies pressed

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 8:16 pm
by olan
Shinesalight wrote:What would you say was a reasonable price to get a good conditioned copy of this on vinyl now?
I bought a really, really nice copy for £54 plus postage in April 2012 (checked my eBay account). I had real troubles coughing up that much for an album I already owned on CD. I had bought from the vendor before though, so when he said NM, I trusted him as he is very conservative. Since then I've seen it go for a lot more without any idea of what the condition is.

I would budget to pay £60 plus postage, but I would wait until a really decent copy turns up. Patience is its own reward in this particular hunt.

I bought a massive Spacemen3/Spiritualized/Spectrum/EAR/Other nice stuff collection for not a lot a while back :D . I'll dig through it and see if there is a copy in there, and try to convince myself it is a spare......

(Don't hold out too much hope, I've only ever sold records I absolutely hated in 30 years of collecting...... :roll: I really need to thin things out a bit though. I have 6 copies of Playing with Fire :shock: )

EDIT: Just climbed out of the cellar. I own eight copies of PWF (:facepalm:) as there were two more in the eBay stash and I have a second copy of Highs, Lows and Heavenly Blows. Just going to give it a bit of a clean, then a play.....

Re: Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows... How many copies pressed

Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2013 10:54 pm
by mc
At least it's available on iTunes now. No album should be out of print in these digital times. I hope Sonic is getting royalties from Sony/Apple...

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/highs ... d570944506

Re: Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows... How many copies pressed

Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 2:28 pm
by Aquarian-Time
Olan. I think me and your cellar need to be introduced :wink:

Re: Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows... How many copies pressed

Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 4:35 pm
by Shinesalight
Thanks for the offer and for looking Olan. The reason I asked is there was a near mint copy up for grabs on eBay. It started with a Buy It Now price of £100 but yesterday it came down to £75, then £60 and finally £50. I just wanted to know what a fair price was as I very rarely see it going on eBay or Discogs. Earlier today I noticed it still hadn't gone so I messaged the seller to see if he'd accept an offer of £40 just for Highs, Lows... or £50 if he threw in the mint copy of the Wedding Present's Bizarro which he also had up for sale. He came straight back to me and said I could have both LPs for £50 plus £6 p&p so I agreed. :D

Re: Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows... How many copies pressed

Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 7:21 pm
by olan
Shinesalight wrote:Thanks for the offer and for looking Olan. The reason I asked is there was a near mint copy up for grabs on eBay. It started with a Buy It Now price of £100 but yesterday it came down to £75, then £60 and finally £50. I just wanted to know what a fair price was as I very rarely see it going on eBay or Discogs. Earlier today I noticed it still hadn't gone so I messaged the seller to see if he'd accept an offer of £40 just for Highs, Lows... or £50 if he threw in the mint copy of the Wedding Present's Bizarro which he also had up for sale. He came straight back to me and said I could have both LPs for £50 plus £6 p&p so I agreed. :D
Bargain! I was going to delete my last post as I can't bring myself to sell anything. Its a full-on obsession :D

Re: Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows... How many copies pressed

Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 7:31 pm
by olan
Aquarian-Time wrote:Olan. I think me and your cellar need to be introduced :wink:
Good luck! You might get down there, but you'll never make it back out :lol: . Here are a few shots of what we're dealing with down there:
Image

That is just one side of the mess. Looking the other way there is this:

Image

Clearly, the cellar is full of Xmas decorations, but there is also the server and NAS for the streamers we use instead of CD players

Image

Most of the boxes in the pictures are either empty equipment cartons, or are full of books and CDs. An example:
Image

I'm going to get the builders in to convert the cellar into a dedicated man cave/music room/ fuhrer bunker. I just need about 6 months to clear it out first....... :roll:

This must be the dullest and most OT post ever...... :?

Re: Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows... How many copies pressed

Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2013 3:12 pm
by Aquarian-Time
Sounds like a lengthy project but ultimately well worth it. My man cave is essential for chillng, listening, reading, watching and sometimes hiding !

Re: Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows... How many copies pressed

Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 9:56 pm
by Shinesalight
olan wrote:
Shinesalight wrote:Thanks for the offer and for looking Olan. The reason I asked is there was a near mint copy up for grabs on eBay. It started with a Buy It Now price of £100 but yesterday it came down to £75, then £60 and finally £50. I just wanted to know what a fair price was as I very rarely see it going on eBay or Discogs. Earlier today I noticed it still hadn't gone so I messaged the seller to see if he'd accept an offer of £40 just for Highs, Lows... or £50 if he threw in the mint copy of the Wedding Present's Bizarro which he also had up for sale. He came straight back to me and said I could have both LPs for £50 plus £6 p&p so I agreed. :D
Bargain! I was going to delete my last post as I can't bring myself to sell anything. Its a full-on obsession :D
The Mrs picked this up from the post office for me today so only just getting to see this mythical record in all its glory. It looks and sounds in pristine condition...it must have only been played a couple of times. £40 (plus p&p) is still a lot of money for one record but I can't believe I finally found a copy, and one that's in such great condition, and for this price :D

Re: Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows... How many copies pressed

Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2013 10:49 pm
by BzaInSpace
Olan - no proper bunker is complete without the mandatory Lego sets. I salute you! 8)

Re: Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows... How many copies pressed

Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2013 10:12 pm
by WillK
Shinesalight wrote:
olan wrote:
Shinesalight wrote:Thanks for the offer and for looking Olan. The reason I asked is there was a near mint copy up for grabs on eBay. It started with a Buy It Now price of £100 but yesterday it came down to £75, then £60 and finally £50. I just wanted to know what a fair price was as I very rarely see it going on eBay or Discogs. Earlier today I noticed it still hadn't gone so I messaged the seller to see if he'd accept an offer of £40 just for Highs, Lows... or £50 if he threw in the mint copy of the Wedding Present's Bizarro which he also had up for sale. He came straight back to me and said I could have both LPs for £50 plus £6 p&p so I agreed. :D
Bargain! I was going to delete my last post as I can't bring myself to sell anything. Its a full-on obsession :D



The Mrs picked this up from the post office for me today so only just getting to see this mythical record in all its glory. It looks and sounds in pristine condition...it must have only been played a couple of times. £40 (plus p&p) is still a lot of money for one record but I can't believe I finally found a copy, and one that's in such great condition, and for this price :D

Good to hear you are pleased with it :D
Cheers,
William

Re: Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows... How many copies pressed

Posted: Mon Jul 29, 2013 5:08 pm
by Shinesalight
WillK wrote: Good to hear you are pleased with it :D
Cheers,
William
Thanks again William, it was a pleasure doing business with you and at least you know it's gone to a proper fan rather than someone trying to make a quick buck and sell it on.

Re: Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows... How many copies pressed

Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 4:52 pm
by Dreamweapon
runcible wrote:Because Silvertone had withdrawn all support for Spectrum by then and just wanted rid. The album had a fantastic stained glass effect sleeve design planned but then they pulled the whole budget and gave no support to the packaging, the release itself or indeed the tour. It was pretty wretched and people at the time had no idea where they could buy the album.
Don't suppose you have any image of this you can share at all? Sounds amazing! Similar to the 'How You Satisfy Me' and 'True Love' singles or even more elaborate?

Re: Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows... How many copies pressed

Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 5:13 pm
by runcible
I don't think it reached that stage so no covers were pressed. But I know it was discussed.

The solo Spectrum album had another colour scheme in mind - purple and blue - with a different font and the title in yellow and the inner sleeve with lyrics on as opposed to the toy picture. I think just a single copy of that was printed, but it didn't look as good as Pete went with the multi-coloured scheme that came out.

Re: Highs Lows and Heavenly Blows... How many copies pressed

Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2015 5:22 pm
by Dreamweapon
To be fair, he does come up with some amazing packaging and vinyl concepts!