Buying Salsa Vinyl Noob Question!

Hello everyone, I've recently started buying some Salsa vinyls whenever I go to Peru to visit family. My question is that I noticed some records I buy from Fania artists also say that the discs were made in Venezuela from Palacio De La Musica and even some made in Peru from Infopesa. I was just wondering, based on your experiences, are these pressings vastly inferior or does it really just depend on the condition of the vinyl since the sound isn't too different. Thanks for your help!!

vivaperu348 said:

Hello everyone, I've recently started buying some Salsa vinyls whenever I go to Peru to visit family. My question is that I noticed some records I buy from Fania artists also say that the discs were made in Venezuela from Palacio De La Musica and even some made in Peru from Infopesa. I was just wondering, based on your experiences, are these pressings vastly inferior or does it really just depend on the condition of the vinyl since the sound isn't too different. Thanks for your help!!

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From my point of view and generally speaking, the "outside the US" pressings are somewhat inferior. Of course, how much will depend from record to record sometimes. Another thing to keep in mind is that the original US pressings of Fania (and other) classic salsa records are worth a lot more in collectors' markets than the Venezuelan, Peruvian and Colombian "copies".

Here in Cali, where vinyls are still played at some of the top salsa clubs and where you have collectors whose collections amount to thousands of Long Plays, owning original US print classic salsa records amounts to somewhat of an investment. I guess that is why there is a fervent second hand vinyl market in this city.

So, I would recommend you to pay more in order to get your hands on the original US prints, unless of course, you are buying actual Colombian, Peruvian and Venezuelan releases.

Original LP's pressed before Fania was sold at the end of the 70's has a superior quality and they were much thicker. Until 1974-75, the paper jackets were printed with pictures of Fania's catalog on a light blueish background. Album Covers were also thicker. A lot of albums were released with gatefold covers.

As the eighties arrived (with Música Latina as the new owner), quality went down rapidly. Suddenly, US pressings weren't available. So they start pressing in Venezuela and sending it to US, Puerto Rico and other countries. Colombia, Ecuador and Peru were pressing too, but for their local demand with local labels. Venezuelan pressings were much lighter. Their covers were made with very thin cardboard and gatefold covers dissapeared (they were only printed as a single cover). All pressings from Venezuela have a very distintive label printed with copyright codes and the phrase "El Disco Es Cultura". Sound quality on these LP's were good for some albums and pretty bad for others; a proof that maybe the masters were being starting their deterioration due a faulty care. a nice bunch of masters were damaged or ruined during these years.

When Masucci bought Fania back at the end of the 80's, CD releases began. First releases were made in Europe to get back quality pressings (Siembra first CD release was pressed in Austria) but the back cover art templates were very basic (just plain black and white lettering) and only the front cover was available (from 1989 to 2005). Several front covers were modified to fit the smaller size of the jewel cases.

In 2006, EMusica brought back original art covers, additional liner notes, photos and full credits.

Wow! Thanks for all the great info. So as a general rule of thumb try and get the original US pressed versions from groups based out of the US. How about comparing original foreign pressed to US versions. For example, I was able to find a really great condition Alfredo Linares Sensacionales LP from the Caliente Label. I think this was the original Colombian Press but I just found out that he had a US press Sono Lux one. Wasn't the one from the Caliete considered the original one? Is one better than the other?

Also a couple other quick questions. I also bought Ray Perez Ra! Rai! from the Pyraphon label although I believe it was first released on Velvet. Any one better than the other? I also bought Federico Y Su Combo Sabor from Foca Records. Is that the original press or is the one from Colombia the original press? Thanks again for all your help and hopefully I'm not too annoying with my questions!

Abayarde and dj Ara are spot on!

I've also been collecting vinyl records for close to ten years now and have experiences with both original pressings and south american pressings.

First of all, if you are looking for collectable records, it is always the original pressings that collectors want the most. Later pressings may be worth considerably less. Be careful of paying high prices for the south american (or unoriginal) pressings. For example the Ra! Ra! album on Pyraphon is a later 80s repressing. That one should not cost more than $10-15 or so, as it is plentiful. The original pressing I don't remember seeing for sale online at least, so that is much scarcer and would be the one that could get a higher price. (the 80s press is low volume and a bit hissy if I remember my copy well)

As for sound quality, there is a huge variation. Some may be very good, even indistinguishable from original pressings. Others are pressed from a high quality source, but onto low quality/recycled vinyl and will have background noise or hiss. Others again are extremely bad to the point that you think they are pressed from lo-fi radio recordings or something!
I think many of the worst ones are unlicensed pressings, essentially bootleg pressings.

Even the US pressings have variation, as Abayarde says. The first Fania Gold label pressings are think and pressed on hard vinyl with deep grooves while the later represses after 75ish are flexi press and thin vinyl.

For example the original black label Alegre pressings of Eddie Palmieri's records may fetch up to $100 on eBay, while the later flexi press ones may sell for $10-15.

Thanks for all the great info guys!! This looks its going to be a long and consuming new hobby but so far I'm loving it! Thanks again!