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How can you tell...

drewski_662drewski_662 Posts: 52
in The Porch
If a record is not a copy or bootlegged? I saw a discussion the other day on here where someone was starting a vinyl collection and people were telling him to beware of people selling fake/bootleg/not real legit versions of Pearl Jam studio albums. So how do you tell if they are the real deal? Looking forward to hearing from you...

Comments

  • jerparker20jerparker20 St. Paul, MN Posts: 2,527
    Look here. It's the thread about a half page down from this post:
    http://community.pearljam.com/discussion/242134/bootleg-studio-vinyl/p1

    Or just search bootleg vinyl. Lots of info here about this.
  • drewski_662drewski_662 Posts: 52
    Thanks!!!
  • JammalamboJammalambo Posts: 1,321
    edited January 2015
    Well, two that are very easy to identify as fake/bootlegs are Yield and Binaural.. Yield does not have the die-cut on the front cover like the original one, so the yield signal on the fake is directly printed on the cover.. Binaural has "pearl jam" written on the cover, instead of a clear (US version) or black with red words (EU version) sticker, in the original US version the sticker is on the shrinkwrap, in the original EU it is applied on the front cover.. and the fakes are white (yield) and orange (binaural) vinyl, but like said above you don't need to see the color to tell if they are fakes.. the other ones are a little more tricky, but there's one thing you can rely on: the barcode number.. I'm talking about sealed copies, because these fakes are all colored vinyl, so an opened copy is easy to identify in any case.. for example, a sealed copy of No Code or Avocado would look similar to the original, expecially on photo.. not always is easy to judge if the colors of the cover are clear and well defined (like the original ones) as opposed as a little blurry and inferior quality like the fakes.. But the fakes don't have the same barcode number (if they even have a barcode number) like the originals, if you are unsure of the number ask here or see on pjcollectors.com to verify it.. Anyway, I don't remember to have seen any fake one with a barcode sticker on it.. Lost Dogs has three or four colored vinyl fake versions, and there's a colored sticker on the shrinkwrap for each one of them.. Obviously, one can remove that sticker and try to sell it as an original, but fake copies don't have the barcode sticker on the back..
    Ultimately, if you are unsure about a sealed copy, and the seller can't provide decent pictures or correct barcode numbers, don't buy them. Anyway, there are releases like Benaroya Hall and the Vault 3 and 4, that don't have barcode numbers, but those are not being bootlegged fortunately (for now), the Benny in particular would be very hard to fake since it's manually numbered..
    Hope that helps.
    Post edited by Jammalambo on
  • drewski_662drewski_662 Posts: 52
    Great explanation thanks so much, people here are so helpful
  • MedozKMedozK Tennessee Posts: 9,212
    The information on the spine is usually a tell-tell sign of original or boot.
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