SDEtv: Sam Brown: The A&M Years 1988-1990 unboxing video

Paul and Sam,

Greetings from Germany.
Thanks so much for putting set together – truly a labour of love.
I wasn’t able to get all CD5 singles back then so man do I appreciate having all those B-sides completely now. I’m still amazed by the amount of songs that Sam was able to (co-)write back then in such a small period of time. I loved many of the B-sides, too. I’m one of these crazy collectors who simply enjoys listening to whatever outtake, early mix, multitrack, demo (in particular if Beatles-related). So the many cassette and 4-track demos came as a nice and very special surprise – amazing attention to detail even on those tracks.

Then of course the booklet is nice. Sam with her frank words on all the album songs. Plus the very detailed song credits (I appreciate this a lot!). One word of criticisim here (song credits): The printing is so d****ed small and somewhat lightweight that I had to put it on my scanner to read anything. A PDF of that would be nice.

Unfortunately I had never seen all of the videos (living in Germany) so finally be able to see all the rest …. PLUS Tea …. just wonderful. I love her sense of humour.

Let’s hope creating this set brought back just wonderful memories to Sam. Loved her back then – still do, and she is really looking great these days I must say.

The George fan inside me is wondering why George never contributed a guitar solo back then … maybe he was too busy with Belinda. Would’ve been a nice touch. Oh well.

Again, big thanks for this set. I will definitely keep an eye on SDE for whatever future releases. And yes, being a completist, the remaining demos will be something to be looking forward to.

Kind regards
Harald

Does the sticker remove the ‘gloss’ from the box when you remove the sticker?

Thanks.

Finally it arrived today! Thought it was lost for good somwhere.

My signed copy arrived today here in Texas. Thank you Paul and Sam!

Disappointed that Xmas has come, but my autographed Sam Brown box hasn’t… :-(

Extra disappointed to find it’s already up on torrent sites for download, grrrrrrrrr

I received mine in the U.S. yesterday.
Am I the only one who noticed a typo on the track number 19 (xix) on the April Moon CD back cover? Haha. Love the set. Great Job Paul.

Has anyone from USA received signed box yet?

Still awaiting my Box Sets arrival as I live across the Ocean…alas it must be close. So excited to get my hands on this. Can I Get A Witness is my jam.

Hi, got mine yesterday. Thank you for including the sticker after opening box for signing. Very nice. Wealth of added material, well worth the investment. Thank you again.
Keep up the good work!

My Sam Brown set arrived friday – thanks Paul. Sounds fantastic! I’d forgotten just what an incredible track “I’ll Be In Love” is. It’s great to have the bonus and alternative cuts – but I’m really glad the better version of “This Feeling” was chosen for release. Great notes by Sam – I love it when artists give candid views on their past catalogue. This was certainly a labour of love by all concerned. What’s your next project Mr S?
If any artists who read SDE have a retrospective box set planned; they should be knocking down your door to get you on board!
A fantastic set – congrats to all :)

Been listening to this on rotation for two days, not tired of it yet & really appreciate the attention to detail on the packaging. Sam’s comments are very informative & love the way her personality shines on the DVD.

Paul, I’d really love to know the mystery behind the non inclusion of “Planes, Trains And Automobiles” & “Too Much Is Never Enough”.

Sad that some don’t cherish a signed well mastered and lovely compiled set. Instead the dollars in there eyes and resale it on Discogs for 99,- €. That’s a shame

Postal packaging excellent!
The box set is terrific – fabulous liner notes and production credits.
10 out of 10.

Fantastic boxset. Attention to detail, wonderful mastering, great liner notes.
Huge thank you to all involved!

Hi Paul – loved the set. Wasn’t massively aware of Sam’s broader solo work so a fab way to engage with some undiscovered gems.

Have you got any more releases up your sleeve?

Excellent package overall, arrived yesterday!

Looking forward to this – can’t afford it right now, but hopefully in late Jan/early Feb (fingers crossed!)

Regarding the earlier comments about barcode placement – I have the exact same gripe with Australian DVDs! Not so much the barcodes but the classification/ratings. UK DVDs have that little red or blue circle discreetly placed in a blank space, whereas the Australian (and New Zealand) ones have some hideous large colour rectangle in the bottom left corner – often blocking out a part of the cover art. Horrendous.

/rant.

Pre-ordered a signed copy on day 1 of the pre-order campaign, nothing has arrived yet and I’m getting worried… is there tracking info available?

I wonder if the price will drop when it goes up on Amazon. When they start using their alga rhythms to drive down prices.

Sorry if this was already asked… But when will the Box appear in the shops?

I actually was not at all familiar with Sam Brown other than once seeing Stop! next to the register at the checkout in my local music shop. Despite that, the information on here was enough to convince me to take a chance on the box, just based on how thorough it is and your reputation for amazing work, Paul. I’m looking forward to it arriving soon.

Excellent work – love my set too. Will be enjoying your effort more over Christmas.

If you do more of these are you going to follow the approach used elsewhere: it’s a gorgeous box but it lacks marbles or a beach ball and at least one mis-pressed disc… :)

Ooops, that should have been ‘Am I right in thinking…’

How it should be done… take note record co’s. I am right in thinking Sam did a Jools Holland Later set Paul? Sure I saw her as a featured artist once, but maybe that was for future albums. Were there any considerations to put some live tracks on it Paul (there must have been some from radio ID’s or suchlike), or not in keeping with the project?

You little tease Paul ! You know there’s no Sam Brown fan alive who doesn’t now want copies of those unreleased tracks you’ve shown us from her demo tapes….

‘Who Cares’, ‘I’m So Tired’, ‘Woman’s Smile’, ‘Planes, Trains And Automobiles’, ‘Too Much Is Never Enough’, ‘Changes’, etc…..

You should round them all up and put them on a collector’s CDr for fans to add to their box sets. I know I’d pay for them in a shot. As a whole though, the box set is fantastic, you can tell a lot of hard work has gone into it. My only other wish would be for a few more pages of the brilliant Sam Brown interview, talking about all her B side tracks as well, which were always so varied and imaginative that I’m sure there must be plenty of interesting stories behind their creation.

And I guessed that the blue sticker would have gone top right or bottom left, so seeing yours stuck top left has surprised me…

A superb set Paul. Well Done. Every aspect amazing and such great detail throughout. Clearly made by a fan. Looking forward to your next project!! One query. You said during the unboxing video in the tapes section “we didn’t use everything…” there is more ??? LOL. Seriously though – a superb issue. Thanks for everything you do.

Excellent boxset Paul. The plethora of extra tracks are superb as are the packaging & sound quality. Great that Sam finally gets the treatment she deserves. The fact that i was lucky enough to get one of the signed copies made my Christmas come early!

Hey Paul,

Are there any plans for these albums to get a separate release at some point? I’m probably in the minority, but I’m not really that fussed about the videos – and if I can save myself a few pennies, it means I can buy more music :)

Very pleased with my boxset, Paul. Loved the attention to detail, right down to preserving the shrink-wrap label!

Also appreciated the fact that the package fitted through our letterbox. One less trip up to the Royal Mail Sorting Office, which is always fun at this time of year…!

Best place for it rather than bang in the corner somewhere on the back when you are trying to read the track listing…the back of the box looks so much neater and clearer than having the dreaded barcode taking up space.

Great unboxing video Paul although I don’t know anything else by her apart from the hit single ‘Stop’ it was still interesting to watch…I’ve also noticed as your selling it exclusively through this website there’s no ugly barcode on the box…am I right? or is it on the edge of the box somewhere?

Wow, that is seriously tempting! And glossy!