HIStory: Book 1 Vinyl

[humannature10]

Hey MJ fam, been reading the site for years but this is my first original post. Was wondering what light you could shed on the HIStory vinyl and why it’s so rare. I have a small collection of MJ vinyls but eBay prices are always so high for HIStory. I recently found a great deal on a sealed copy but I never understood what made it so rare. I know there’s the re-release vinyl now. Curious to hear the facts on the original. (Also. Was there a plan to make a HIStory Book 2?)

 

[Hulkamaniac]

Because at the time that History was released, CDs were the most popular audio format, while Vinyls were released as very limited copies. That's why now it is so rare.

 

[ChrisC]

Because at the time that History was released, CDs were the most popular audio format, while Vinyls were released as very limited copies. That's why now it is so rare.

This pretty much covers it. You'll find that any artists albums on vinyl released during the CD age (that have not since been re-released) fetch high prices. Blood On The Dancefloor is expensive too.

 

[SmoothGangsta]

There were never plans for a book 2.

 

[Electro]

Such a triple vinyl in gatefold cover plus giant booklet product is also pretty expensive to make. Which reduces chances for this to get a regular 1:1 reissue even further.

"HIStory continues" was re-released on 12" picture disc, right?

 

[JichaelMackson]

Yes what about Vol. 2 ? Was HIStory part of a grander thematic scope that never saw the light of day?

 

[Fuzball]

Hey MJ fam, been reading the site for years but this is my first original post. Was wondering what light you could shed on the HIStory vinyl and why it’s so rare. I have a small collection of MJ vinyls but eBay prices are always so high for HIStory. I recently found a great deal on a sealed copy but I never understood what made it so rare. I know there’s the re-release vinyl now. Curious to hear the facts on the original. (Also. Was there a plan to make a HIStory Book 2?)

Its rarity is due to the fact that the first shipped copies of HISTORY (their format doesn't matter) contain the original mixes of TDCAU & History. On subsequent pressings both tracks have been replaced with different mixes.

 

[NatureCriminal7896]

If there's wasn't a plan for book 2 why he called 1? it's was just a title?

 

[Hulkamaniac]

Its rarity is due to the fact that the first shipped copies of HISTORY (their format doesn't matter) contain the original mixes of TDCAU & History. On subsequent pressings both tracks have been replaced with different mixes.

Wrong. There was only one released vinyl version and all of them contain the original versions of the songs. It only became rare in recent years, but much before the reissue.

 

[Fuzball]

Wrong. There was only one released vinyl version and all of them contain the original versions of the songs. It only became rare in recent years, but much before the reissue.

I always thought there was a second pressing of the History LPs in the 1990s.

 

[Fuzball]

Wrong. There was only one released vinyl version and all of them contain the original versions of the songs. It only became rare in recent years, but much before the reissue.

Oh, ok. My bad then. I always thought there was a second pressing of the History LPs in the 1990s.

 

[humannature10]

Thanks for the responses here. I know someone referenced CDs being the main format at the time but I would imagine the same would be true for Dangerous however, that vinyl seems to be much easier to find.

 

[DuranDuran]

Yes what about Vol. 2 ? Was HIStory part of a grander thematic scope that never saw the light of day?

I've noticed that some acts who release a Greatest Hits or Best Of called Vol. 1 never get enough hits after it to make a Volume 2, like Hall & Oates. Elton John got up to Volume 3.

 

[Electro]

Elton John got up to Volume 3.

He probably has a more lose definition of "hit".

 

[mj_frenzy]

Hey MJ fam, been reading the site for years but this is my first original post. Was wondering what light you could shed on the HIStory vinyl and why it’s so rare. I have a small collection of MJ vinyls but eBay prices are always so high for HIStory. I recently found a great deal on a sealed copy but I never understood what made it so rare. I know there’s the re-release vinyl now. Curious to hear the facts on the original. (Also. Was there a plan to make a HIStory Book 2?)

Yes, there were plans at the time for a ‘HIStory Book II’ album, but they later abandoned that idea.

The ‘HIStory’ LP album is not even a double album because it actually consists of three vinyl records, which automatically escalated its manufacturing costs, and this explains the fewer manufactured and released LP copies of that album and its higher price.

Also, according to my sources, the ‘HIStory’ album (regardless of its format) was at the time the most expensive album of all time in terms of mastering costs, so this added also to the higher price of its LP format.

Generally speaking, keep in mind also that an LP album that consists of two vinyl records has a much higher distribution cost for the record company, let alone an LP album (like the ‘HIStory’ LP album) that consists of three vinyl records.

The higher distribution cost also leads to a higher price of the LP album.

 

[Electro]

Yes, there were plans at the time for a ‘HIStory Book II’ album, but they later abandoned that idea.

On what material should that "abandoned idea" have been based in 1995? Yes, you're just doing the obvious speculation.

But at the time "Book 1" can't have been anything more than a bold, ambitious but empty statement, that fitted the whole post-1993 "here I still stand" concept of the HIStory album presentation. Bold and empty like Michaels later "The best is yet to come!".

The ‘HIStory’ LP album is not even a double album because it actually consists of three vinyl records, which automatically escalated its manufacturing costs, and this explains the fewer manufactured and released LP copies of that album and its higher price.

Be honest, you didn't even know it was a 3x12" before you read it in this thread, didn't you?

And no, high manufacturing costs do not explain fewer manufactured vinyl copies. With vinyl records, the price per copy gets lower the more that are produced, because the most expensive part in production is to get the pressing tools done, the metallic stampers. Same with any print-products. The higher the edition, the lower the price per piece. So if manufacturing costs are high because it's a 3x12" set, you want to produce MORE so the cost per copy gets smaller.

In this case the fewer manufactured copies were a result of low sales expectations for this specific vinyl format, which at the time was pretty much dead in the pop mainstream world. So there was only one batch of vinyl produced for the die hard collectors. Same with the other (by 1995) "special interest" formats they did for HIStory, the double MC and double MiniDisc. Compared to the CD format, those were all niche products, only made in limited amounts, to seize all possibilities to boost the sales numbers of the album, to get good chart debut results. For the same reason the Invincible album was released with 4 limited different color covers etc.

The reason that they don't do a 1:1 reissue of the 3x12" now (or in the decades after it's initial release), is that those vinyl manufacturing tools usually do not survive many years (the metal starts to corrode). It's a complecated and expensive process to have them made, and doing all that from scratch for a 3x12" just for a collectors re-release probably isn't feasible enough, at least in the specific case of this album.

Generally speaking, keep in mind also that an LP album that consists of two vinyl records has a much higher distribution cost for the record company, let alone an LP album (like the ‘HIStory’ LP album) that consists of three vinyl records.

Huh?
The costs in distribution are with those BUYING it FROM the record label (distributors, wholesalers, shops, customers).

 

[ChrisC]

Thanks for the responses here. I know someone referenced CDs being the main format at the time but I would imagine the same would be true for Dangerous however, that vinyl seems to be much easier to find.

Think of it on a sliding scale though, if vinyl was still the dominant format in 1987, then it stands to reason many people would still have vinyl set-ups 4 years later in 1991. However fastforward another 4 years and that number has reduced even further as more and more people traded their vinyl set ups for CD hifis. By the late 90s it was a format for dance music only. So that 1995-2005 period is probably when vinyl albums not reissued are like golddust.

 

[humannature10]

On what material should that "abandoned idea" have been based in 1995? You're just doing (or repeating) the next best speculation.

At the time "Book 1" can't have been anything more than a bold empty statement, that fitted the whole "here I still stand" concept of the HIStory album presentation. Bold and empty like Michaels later "The best is yet to come!".





Be honest, did you even know it was a 3x12" before you read my post?

And no, high manufacturing costs do not explain fewer manufactured copies. That's broken logic. If manufacturing costs are high, you want to produce MORE to get the costs back in and keep the price for customers low.

In this case the fewer manufactured copies were a result of low sales expectations for this specific vinyl format, which at the time was pretty much dead in the pop mainstream world. So there was only one batch of vinyl produced for the die hard collectors. Same with the other (by 1995) "special interest" formats they did for HIStory, the double MC and double MiniDisc. Compared to the CD format, those were all niche products, only made in limited amounts, to seize all possibilities to boost the sales numbers of the album, to get good chart debut results. For the same reason the Invincible album was released with 4 limited different color covers etc.

Doing more copies of the same (once all the manufacturing tools are made for vinyl) is not that complecated or expensive, but back then there simply was not a big enough demand for pop music on vinyl.

The reason that they don't do a 1:1 reissue of the 3x12" now (or in the decades after it's initial release), is that those vinyl manufacturing tools (metallic stampers) usually do not survive many years. It's a complecated and expensive process to have them made, and doing all that from scratch for a 3x12" just for a collectors re-release probably isn't feasible enough, at least in this specific case of this album.





"Distribution cost for the record company"?

Huh?
The costs in distribution are with those BUYING it FROM the record label (distributors, wholesalers, shops, customers).

“So there was only one batch of vinyl produced for the die hard collectors. Same with the other (by 1995) "special interest" formats they did for HIStory, the double MC and double MiniDisc. Compared to the CD format, those were all niche products, only made in limited amounts, to seize all possibilities to boost the sales numbers of the album, to get good chart debut results.”

Ok this is making sense now. I wonder if there was a way to find out how many of them were made. (Also, i subscribed to your YouTube channel. I’m, “Tait’s Take).