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Saturday Deluxe / 17 October 2020

By Paul Sinclair

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54

ChartWatch

The 9 October was such a big day for physical music releases, now the dust has settled, it’s interesting to see which sets had the biggest impact the UK albums chart.

The most successful reissue was the John Lennon Gimme Some Truth set. It entered at an impressive number three, helped along, no doubt, by a 50 percent discount on the single CD variant, which was £4.99 on Amazon UK for a few days (now back up to normal price). Nevertheless, this is the highest UK chart position for a John Lennon album since another greatest hits, The John Lennon Collection, topped the charts in November 1982.

On twitter, Sean Lennon praised the SDEtv unboxing video!

After threatening to hit the top ten all week, Tears For Fears‘ The Seeds of Love reissue had to settle for being a new entry at number 13. There were no discounts or signed copies available which undoubtedly would have given it a little boast. Still, a satisfying result after all the delays and from what I’ve read you are all loving the bonus material, especially the Townhouse Sessions and demos on CD 4.

Travis‘ new album 10 Songs had the full marketing push with signed vinyl, signed CDs and bundles available from the official artist shop and then later signed CDs on Amazon (still available). This allowed it to enter at number five, two places away behind John Lennon.

You can’t beat good value and pent up demand. With virtually no promotion, Dire Straits‘ The Studio Albums 1978-1991 six-CD box entered the UK chart at number nine, ahead of Tears For Fears. It’s very much a cheap and cheerful package, as demonstrated by the SDEtv unboxing video, but the frill-free set is clearly a product that appeals to the target market and its appearance on supermarket shelves cannot be underestimated.

Demon Music’s Suede greatest hits, Beautiful Ones: The Best of Suede, was new in at number 16 and National Album Day made its mark as The Stone Roses debut (#26) and Duran Duran (#71) re-enter the album charts.

Ultravox / Vienna 40th anniversary 5CD+DVD box set

Chrysalis’ reissue of Ultravox‘s 1980 album Vienna was a new entry at number 49. This 5CD+DVD set offers new Steven Wilson stereo and 5.1 surround mixes, plus ‘cassette rehearsals’ and a live performance.

No place in the UK top 75 for The Divine Comedy‘s sublime Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time, although curiously it does enter the UK VINYL album charts at number eight, under that moniker. I can only presume that somehow all the sales of the vinyl reissues have contributed that overall performance, although I’m not sure how they got away with doing that, since they are individual albums!

Finally, the UB40 Essential three-CD set trounces the ABC one, entering the chart 32 places higher (#30 compared to #62).

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54 Comments

54 thoughts on “Saturday Deluxe / 17 October 2020”

  1. Just got my TFF Seeds box today…it’s bloody awesome…BUT I’m shocked no one picked up on this error I caught!! On the outside box, on disc 4, both tracks of “Rhythm Of Life” are listed as “Rhythm Of LOVE”…I was like, huh what?? wait!!…but inside the booklet, & on the disc sleeves, they are listed as “Rhythm Of Life”, and in my computer, they read as “Rhythm Of Life”…it’s really not THAT big a deal, but it did throw me for a minute or two…anyone else have this error?? Keeping an eye out for cool deals like that Barry White/Love Unlimited Orchestra box I bagged, but still have to keep mind the shipping charges…not too bad with this set, but months ago, I jumped on the Motown box from Amazon Germany and shipping was like $34, which brought the price up to $100, no savings at all, but I wanted it so kept it coming…

    1. …for your interest, Kraftwerk stormed the charts in colours – all 8 albums entering Top 100:

      Germany:
      12 Die Mensch-Maschine
      20 Autobahn
      23 Tour de France Soundtracks
      26 The Mix [deutsche Version]
      28 Computerwelt
      32 Radio-Aktivität
      33 Trans Europa Express
      41 Techno Pop

      UK:
      34 The Man-Machine
      38 Computerworld
      42 Autobahn
      48 Trans Europe Express
      52 Radio-Activity
      53 Tour de France
      62 Techno Pop
      63 The Mix

    1. That is more accurate. Streaming should not be included as that is not a sale obviously, just as hearing Phil Collins in the supermarket does not mean I bought his album.

      1. @ Michael – that’s fair enough but was the song “Two Hearts” and did you leave with a couple of artichoke hearts? Subliminal messaging I say and a clever supermarket DJ!

  4. Seeing all these reissues in the charts shows me that the record companies are releasing titles the collectors want not like some of the newer titles. If reissues are done properly people will buy.

  5. Graham Nash is interviewed in today’s Washington Post, and says ““Déjà Vu”’ comes out in about two months and it will be a five- or six-CD set. It will have a lot of stuff that people have never heard before. We found that the master tapes that we made of “Déjà Vu” are still fresh.” Should be interesting if the original album is expanded to that extent … great album … looking forward to more details.

  6. “But for some reason no one has noticed you can assemble a large anamorphic image of the How Do You Sleep session, by putting all the vinyl sleeves together”.

    Hmmm….I think I mentioned this on Paul’s unboxing thread.

    If Sean happens to read this, do I win a prize?
    I notice Sean is offering copies of the vinyl set to potential record reviewers.
    I’ll take one as a ‘spot the big picture hiding in the vinyl box set’ prize, thanks very much and all that.

  7. Pre-ordered Ultravox @ Amazon US and upon release date was unavailable. I assume this impacts chart position. Curious how recent new music releases from artists such as Pretenders, Psych Furs, Throwing Muses, Weller, Bob Mould, etc do on the charts. Love the classic reissues but also want to see artists continually challenge themselves and the audience with strong new work.

    1. Not sure what is going on with Amazon US and box sets and imports. You can pre-order them and on release day (which is sometimes a week or so later than in Europe) they all go out of stock and only third party sellers offer them for weeks or more. Vienna boxset is still not available, same situation with Donna Summer Wanderer, many Music on Vinyl releases, Sade box set, etc.

      1. This has been a fiasco for me.

        I had pre-ordered from JPC as Amazon UK would not ship to the USA. JPC tried to take payment but my CC denied the charge late at night after I was asleep. I authorized it the next morning. But JPC had already cancelled my order, and asked me to reorder. But by then it was unavailable from them. So I have been shut out from getting it from them for the time being.

        I looked around and found that Amazon US was selling is for not too much more, and so I pre-ordered on Oct 8. It still hasn’t shipped, is apparently coming from “OxfordshireEngland,” but won’t be delivered until NOV 21!!!!!

        Amazon UK are now selling it to the USA at net less than what Amazon US are charging. I am tempted to cancel my order with Amazon US and get it from Amazon UK, even though my order for the TFF and Lennon took 6 and 7 days after release to ship. They are being sent by DHL and are scheduled for delivery tomorrow which is about the same time it would have taken by regular mail.

        Sorry that I can’t afford to buy from you Paul, would love to, but the shipping and VAT charge would eat heavily into the number of physical music items I can buy.

        1. I have ordered a few things from this “OxfordshireEngland” seller before and had good service. It may take a few weeks, but the dates given are usually later than when you will actually receive something. But these days, who knows…

  8. My top fave reissue October 9th would go to Tears For Fears, what a treat. And that remastered sound! Exquisite.
    Loving all the edits and remixes too.

    Next on my list is the Howard Jones box set. Almost creamed my undies at all the different alternate mixes of ‘Everlasting Love’ included on there. I had no idea!
    [I’m not sure if that bix set was released on the 9th?] Oh well, I got it now.

    Third on my list for October 9th is Ultravox. More great remastering.

    I did get my Sigue Sigue Sputnik ‘Flaunt It!’ Box set. More great remasters on there. That box set might just blow them all away… Lots if goodies to explore. Gosh, so many great reissues, it’s hard to choose.

    If I were asked what my favorite re-issue was for this year… Depeche Mode’s 12″ singles Box for ‘Violator’. Which may too them all. Also at the top of the list is Berlin’s 1982 album ‘Pleasure Victim’ re-issued by Reubellian Remasters. [Did I spell that right?] What so exciting about the Berlin reissues is that their albums have never been remastered before in such excellent sound quality. With added ratities. I’ve waited decades for those two albums to be re-issued. Berlin’s 1984 album ‘Love Life’ was also resissued. I’m hoping for their third album from the 80’s to be re-issued as well ‘Count Three And Pray’. I kept looking to see if these were going to be mentioned on here and they weren’t. I think the Berlin re-issues are worth a mention.

    Also want to mention the Prince re-issue of the Japanese Only Edition ‘His Majesty’s Pop Life – The Purple Mix Club’. The sound quality on that one is amazing. I think it’s the one I’m playing the most right now. I’m very pleased with that one.

    2020 has been a great year for reissues, I’m sure I’m forgetting a few. I got the Bangles. And a few others I’m sure I’m forgetting.

    1. P. S. I want to add the ABC ‘Essential’ sounds great as well. Lots of great remixes added on there. My only gripe is they left off… BE NEAR ME [Munich Disco Mix]
      Why???
      I have that remix elsewhere a million times over, on various vinyl and CD’s, but… How could they? Or better yet, how Dare they? Also, I would have picked a different remix of ‘How To Be A Millionaire’. But it’s all good. Lovin it. Glad to have the ‘Look Of Love’ remix on there and in great sound quality, if a bit on the loud side. It’s funny, because I thought the Human Leagues ‘Essential’ was a bit on the low-volume end.

    3. Personnal opinion but the Ultravox reissue blows everything else out of the water. I purchased both cd and vinyl boxes. The variety between both is beyond what most bands reissues would give. On the vinyl we get the half speed mastered Vienna album and the live vinyl from St.Albans. On the cd box we get the different mixes, the Steven Wilson mix and the cream for me was the bands cassette tapes. Excellent and not bank bursting. Someone in an earlier post moaned about including Kings Lead Hat twice. One was used as a b side from the Lyceum and the other is part of a live gig from StAlbans. It’ s a box set for goodness sake. Enjoy.

      1. I’m actually disappointed with the Ultravox Vienna reissue. Not so much the audio but the overall presentation. Some of the things I find disappointing:
        – The booklet feels cheap and flimsy
        – The track back track comments are listed as being by Cann, Currie and Ure where in fact Ure only makes one short comment about the track Vienna
        – Usually these types of things come with some kind of overarching essay specially commissioned giving the overall context and recording of the album
        – The packing itself for me doesn’t work well. It seems like they wanted to keep the same slipcase that they had for the Vinyl and therefore designed around that. I think a nice compact box like the Tears for fears ones (or even the John Lennon Gimme some Truth format) would have worked so much better.

        I love this album and have done since it was first released so having the content that I have not heard before is great but in terms of an overall deluxe edition, for me it really misses the mark. TFF and Divine Comedy have had so much more thought and effort put into them.

        1. As i said it’s a personal opinion. I’m not interested in booklets etc. Just commenting on the exceptional job done on the music. Don’t have the others that you mention though Lennon 4lp is ordered. Can’t make up my mind on TFF though. Cheers.

  9. Paul, you got a nice feedback by Sean Ono Lennon, be proud, your videos are always great. Congrats. Do you have any information that box sets of post The Seeds of Love are possible. I think those are good albums too, maybe less commercially successful but good album. Also Roland solo projects are great for me, they never disappointed. Keep the good work.

    1. I think it all depends on the record company… I imagine Roland would definitely have no objections in terms of doing Elemental, because he’s rightly very proud of that album.

      2. As I keep saying Elemental is an excellent album (I prefer it to Seeds). The B-sides were also excellent – I’ve been gradually compiling my own ‘Deluxe edition’ of the album which so far features the following extra tracks:
        – Schrodinger’s Cat
        – Lord of Karma
        – New Star
        – Bloodletting Go
        – Deja Vu & The Sins of Science
        – Ghost Papa
        – Break It Down Again (Karaoke version)
        – Elemental (Sons of August Mix)

        There’s probably a ton of other stuff that I am not aware of – I only realised Ghost Papa exited because you mentioned it Paul). As you say Roland should be proud of this album.

        On another note – my vote for best boxed set of the year has to go to The Divine Comedy, if only for the care and attention that has gone into it and the amount of decent bonus material. Still ploughing through it but so far it is full of gems.

        1. New Star and Bloodletting Go are ludicrously strong. The latter should really have been on the album. Tonally, New Star probably wouldn’t have fitted, but it’s still a great song.

          1. Totally agree with you there Paul. I also have a soft spot for Lord of Karma (even though it is really just a groove/riff and wouldn’t have fitted on the album either).
            The others are great ‘just’ great B-Sides that allow Roland and Griffiths to stretch and experiment a little.

            Out of interest Paul – if the opportunity came up to repeat the work you did on ‘Seeds’ for ‘Elemental’ would you do it? It must have been a ton of work and more people are more enthused by ‘Seeds’ than ‘Elemental’ it seems.

            *and I just realised I wrote “I only realised Ghost Papa exited…” in my last post, when of course I meant “existed” – wish there was a way of editing posts.

          2. Personally, I’m a really big fan of Schrödinger’s Cat. (Has it ever been known who plays the harmonica on that one?)

            I’ve always felt the lack of real drumming somewhat hurt Elemental as an album – the live recordings have much more fire – but I actually didn’t realize that half of “Seeds of Love” also has programmed drums until the box set!

        2. I would LOVE an Elemental set as well, and I discovered the related B-sides on a good & inexpensive 2CD Spectrum compilation…really dig “Lord Of Karma”, and “New Star” was on the soundtrack to a forgotten flick called “Threesome” & the “then-new song” on this solid US comp with that bloody orange cover…just got my “Seeds” box today, which is incredible…just curious if that minor error was on all boxes?? The minor error?? On the outside box on Disc 4 showing both versions of “Rhythm Of Life” as “Rhythm Of LOVE”…curious if another song was on the printers’ minds?? Collector’s item?? Not that big a deal, just hmmmm….

  10. Tears For Fears (superb box set!) were number 5 in the midweek album chart and The Divine Comedy were at number 30. Its quite natural that these numbers would fall by the end of a week as most would have been pre-orders. Having said that I would have loved for Neil’s sake that the Divine Comedy’s box set had made one small impression on the chart annals, as having had a week to go through it, it’s pretty much the best box set of all time, content wise. Also, interestingly, ALL of th Kraftwerk vinyl reissues made the Top 100 midweek chart but none the final week count.

  11. Wow, thought Seeds of Love would’ve been #1. What great job. I kinda wish I’d bought the super deluxe of Big Chair but I already have the 2 disc deluxe. Hope there are plans to do this for ELAHE.

  12. after looking at the album chart to see where ” seeds of love” may have entered my other half said…” where did sigue sigue sputnik enter…..ummm…..don.t see that one at all.!

  13. I have never really been interested in ‘charts’ since the days of T.Rex v Slade. These days most of the music I buy would be well outside any chart apart from my own. Every now and again I can get embarrassed when an album or song I really like gets into the charts and I have to re-evaluate my self.

  14. Agreed on the Richard and Linda Thompson. Downloads will not convert to WMP.
    Big Frustrating Mess.
    I did receive a notice that the replacements are going out soon.
    Will cross my fingers but will not hold my breath.

  15. Congratulations on the comment from Sean. So cool

    The one thing I also like about the new John Lennon box besides the great new mix (that improves some tracks IMO a lot) and amazing book is that it is dimensionally it’s the same as the Imagine CD box. It has me making room for the next albums in the series as I assume they will follow the same format. One a year will be nice POB next. Well done.

  16. Pre-ordered Dire Straits box set from Amazon 2 months ago. Got an email saying delivery has been delayed until 20 October. I wonder if that counts towards its chart place?

    1. I must say that the sound quality of this box set is very, very good. I”v totally forgotten about the packaging. is this the maestro Ludwig remaster ?

  17. Hey Paul,
    What do you think is the issue with some retailers not getting enough copies of Seeds Of Love to fulfill pre-orders? Could that be a factor in their chart position?

        1. Ordered mine from UDiscover in US and it arrived within a few days. Was in the original Optimal Media box with all the stickers “Made in Germany” and even the date of July 24 2020 when it must have been manufactured or maybe it was the original release date that got pushed back?

      2. The biggest indie distributor in the US STILL has not gotten ANY of the TFF box set 10 days after release date. Lost sales prevail…what a letdown…

  18. Thanks Paul,
    It was an expensive week. I bought the DC box, TFF box and Lennon 2cd plus dvd box. Got a lot to go through. Tom Petty 9LP box on the way and just grabbed a Neil Young box from the US store as UK had sold out. I needs to stop spending money!.
    My only consolation is that I would probably have spent most of the money on gigs over the past 9 months. I am trying to keep that thought in mind.
    Keep up the good work. The site and unboxing videos are excellent

  21. I see the recently made available again Recordstore exclusive triple gold vinyl edition of the Best of James Bond pre order has sold out for the second time. For some reason the price jumped from £40 to £55. It was still the original price of £40 when they made it available to pre order again about a week ago. I’ve noticed they have also hiked up the pre order price for the regular black vinyl version from £35 to £50, again an increase of £15! What on earth is going on? Most other retailers still have this at around the original £35 mark.

  22. The album charts days are numbered i think. The ability to cherry pick which album tracks to stream or download will be reflected in the singles chart instead.

    The no.1 album last week sold 25,000 to get there. Had these reissues been released 5 (or so) years ago, they would barely have dentes the top 50…

  23. Different subject but I got my Richard and linda thompson box set download today. Absolutely rubbish. Songs all in the wrong order and some with blank titles. Now we know how they cocked the box set up

  25. The Divine Comedy box getting into the top 100 would have been some feat given its price point. They’ve sold out of the initial run from stores other than their own, maybe if they had distributed more they could have dented the charts.

    Impressed that the Suede position is so high given the amount of reissuing Demon have done with them over the past decade. Although they do have a hardcore fanbase who will buy anything they release. More so clearly than ABC (46 positions behind with their new compilation).

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