1. Home
  2. analog
  3. 1212139013

Picture discs - Collectors items?

Hello...

I have an opportunity to buy a few dozen new, sealed picture discs - leftover inventory.

I have a few questions, please. I shall use the abbreviation PD to refer to them following.

Were PDs just a novelty and suitable only for memorabilia collectors? I realise that PDs were being released just at the beginning of the CD era.

Were PDs pressed from a superior grade of vinyl? I've seen them in different colours.

Does the colour of the PD vinyl make a difference in the sonic quality of the recording?

Were any PDs re-mastered at all? Again, this was at the time that CDs were being introduced and some recordings were re-mastered.

I am not looking to buy and then sell this stuff on eBay but to add to my collection.

Thanks and regards,

Jan
jsmoller
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
Picture disk LPs were considered to be of inferior sonic quality. If they were played much of the 'collector' value was lost anyway. They were a 'novelty' item, for fans of the artist or group. About as useful as 'bobblehead' dolls.
They appeal only to collectors of that particular group or artist.
In other words, they are Goodwill fodder.
jaybo
4,478 posts
 
they vary in quality, but are really made to be 'momentos' and collected...not played. depending on the artist, they can be very expensive.
shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,333 posts
 
I have the Boston first album picture disc - it did not sound good compared to normal 33 vinyl (more pops and clicks) but it looks awesome and cool - love the art - but as someone mentioned it is really just "memorabilia"
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
Not worth anything, but my prized possession that always gets a chuckle is a clear (see through) green colored LP of Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf.

It is by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy.

The narrator is David Bowie.

Now that is a interesting combination.

It is actually quite good. David Bowie with his British accent does a very animated narration.
More to discover