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Saturday Deluxe / 25 February 2023

Happy Birthday, George + Kate Bush, McCartney & Orbital

By Paul Sinclair

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63

George Harrison / All Things Must Pass 50th anniversary

Today woud have been George Harrison’s 80th birthday!

It’s so sad to reflect on quite how young George was when he left us in late 2001, being still in his fifties. From a purely selfish fan point of view we wonder how much great music we’ve missed out on and what on-stage collaborations and live performances we could have enjoyed.

We had timed the release of the SDE blu-ray audio of Concert For George (now sold out) to be as close to George’s birthday as possible and it was due out yesterday. Unfortunately, we’ve had some delays, mainly related to the authoring of the disc, which is happening in the US. So the plan has gone awry and in truth it’s will probably be another three or four weeks before these will be ready to go out. Apologies to everyone who is waiting and I have emailed you all and there will be a further update in the coming weeks with more precise timings.

In the meantime here’s one of my favourite George songs, to cheer you down.

Orbital back in the UK top ten

Congratulations to Orbital and London Records for the success of Orbital’s new album Optical Delusion. The band’s 10th studio album entered the UK chart at number six yesterday, their first top 10 album this century! Music Week report that it sold more than 6,000 copies and of course the SDE-exclusive blu-ray played its part because all the UK sales counted towards the chart. The production run was 1750 copies. These have mostly shipped now so if you have received yours I’d love to know what you think! Ten Years After will be the next in the SDE Surround Series to ship (release date is 17 March), closely followed by Concert For George, which falls slightly out of sequence due to the issue described above.

Who are The state51 Conspiracy?

Interesting news this week of course as Kate Bush announced that her label Fish People “are moving to The state51 Conspiracy” meaning that this company now have the rights to release all Kate’s albums for the world, with the exception of the first three (The Kick Inside, LIonheart and Never For Ever) which are US-only. Kate was, of course, signed to EMI but then ended up at Warner Music Group when that company bought EMI Assets for $765 Million in 2013. The glacial pace at which Kate records albums means that she has never released a new studio album while at Warners (her last, 50 Words For Snow was issued in late 2012) although the Before The Dawn live album and the 2018 reissue campaign was overseen by that label.

Most people are likely to never have heard of where she is moving, but state51 describe themselves as a “completely independent, one-stop music company” who “believe in the power of being different”. They were established in 1991 and are a ‘collective’ who are a record label but also ‘do’ music distribution, marketing and creative services.

They have a diverse list of artists on their roster, including Austin experimental music project Shit And Shine, and a Polish multi-instrumentalist called Waclaw Zimpel who practises “expert manipulation of urban-ritual electronics and loops” which are “anchored to a human perspective and folk-trance tradition”. Very interesting, but mainstream, they ain’t!

An acoustic version of Gabrille Papillion’s ‘Deep in the Earth’ (from the Keep The Fire album) filmed at state51

I actually have some personal experience of state51 because I was invited by a friend to what, if I recall correctly, was their Christmas party in 2017. It was in a complex of warehouse-type buildings in East London and it was fantastic. They had some weird and wonderful artists performing (including a man who sprang around the room making bird noises, whose name I forget) and there was all sorts of creative stuff happening, including T-shirt printing and the like. It felt as far from a traditional record company as you can imagine.

The main legacy for me of that night was seeing Canadian artist Gabrielle Papillion perform with her band. She was, maybe still is, signed to state51 in what I think was a licensing and distribution deal and I was blown away by her songs and the band’s performance. Her album Keep The Fire (from 2017) its utterly sublime and I still play it often. After seeing her at this showcase/Christmas party I saw the band a few more times in London before they headed back off to Canada.

The big question is how and why did Kate’s catalogue end up with state51? We don’t know right now but it’s a coup for them, but more importantly, I feel this is very good news for Kate Bush fans, because the non-corporate, creative environment may encourage her to have a more collaborative approach. Or to put it more simply, having hand-picked state51, Kate will surely enjoy working with her new team much more then the corporate behemoth that was forced upon her back in 2013. This could well mean the normally reticent Kate might suddenly be open to doing the kinds of things (expanded reissues, for example) that historically she has simply not been interested in. In fact, we know this to be the case since it has resulted in plans already in place to re-release Hounds Of Love.

Paul McCartney announces Red Rose Speedway half-speed master

We’ll get around to doing a Record Store Day round-up for 2023 very soon, but one thing that caught my attention was the not entirely surprising news that Paul McCartney is continuing with his half-speed mastered vinyl reissues with his 1973 album Red Rose Speedway. Credited to ‘Paul McCartney and Wings’ this was the fourth different Macca credit in a sequence of four albums – (‘Paul McCartney’, ‘Paul and LInda McCartney’, ‘Wings’ being the others).

The album was released on 30 April 1973 and so with Record Store Day being on 22 April this year, someone at MPL clearly decided it was close enough to the 50th anniversary, although of course if they’d left it one more week they’d have been only two days away, on Friday 28 April.

In theory, this RSD-only release should create stress for the Macca vinyl collector, but unless they are being pressed in tiny quantities I don’t foresee any availability issues. McCartney, RAM and Wild Life half-speeds were not exactly flying off the SDE shop’s shelves when we sold them a few years back. Possibly Macca vinyl reissue ennui.

With Band on the Run also released in December 1973 we should get another one of these this year, although Paul may opt to do something bigger for his best selling (and best?) album.

Of course the bigger question is when are we going to hear about the next Archive Collection reissue? RSD is traditionally a tease for a forthcoming campaign and McCartney fans are waiting for London Town and/or Back to the Egg reissues to ‘finish off’ the 1970s.

Red Rose Speedway is available at participating ‘bricks and mortar’ independent record shops on 22 April 2023.

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63 Comments

63 thoughts on “Saturday Deluxe / 25 February 2023”

  1. “In fact, we know this to be the case since it has resulted in plans already in place to re-release Hounds Of Love.”
    News to me. Where’s that from?

  2. Currently listening to All Things Must Pass in Dolby Atmos and it sounds Heavenly.
    His whole back catalogue has been released in Atmos on Apple Music.

  3. Very interesting. I thought that State51 conspiracy was a company that was tailor-made for Kate Bush, but I was wrong. It’s a bit like Rykodisc with Bowie in the late 80’s. It can lead to great things.
    As for Macca, I’ll leave the half-speed for collectors. And I don’t think Band on the run is his best album. That honor would go to Ram, hands down

  4. The Orbital album and spatial mix is absolutely brilliant! Thank you Paul!! And thank you for the Propaganda cover! I got all the SDE exclusives lined up with gorgeous covers!

  5. Looking forward to the upcoming RSD 2023 round up, Paul. I particularly wish the following two album releases I read a little about will be covered:

    xPropaganda‘s “Strangely” remix album, as I cannot wait to listen to variants of any of the excellent tracks from last year’s top-class “The Heart Is Strange” album!

    Leftfield‘s “Version Excursion” dub mix album, as I am very much looking forward to hearing Leftfield’s 2022 album “This Is What We Do” remixed in dub, since dub is an art form Leftfield is known to master!

  6. The State51 £40 12″ singles, numbered 1-50, mentioned below could be classed as special presentations, and #51 was priced at £140. Let’s hope this doesn’t give Kate any ideas! I expect that with the HoL reissues, whatever they will be has already been decided 100 percent, and could even be in production as we speak, or even finished and awaiting an announcement and distribution. Personally I am quietly optimistic of something really exciting, eventually covering her whole catalogue, but having a devastating impact on our wallets!

  7. I didn’t receive my Orbital SDE blu-ray yet; I live in the Netherlands, so I expect it will certainly take another week or two before I receive my order; thank you Brexit…

    However, I can confirm it is a great album, as I already received it on other formats (signed white vinyl; signed regular CD + 4-track bonus CD; Amazon exclusive CD with 3 bonus tracks). This new album reminds me of the classic Orbital releases that made me get into that amazing brotherhood band, back in the early/mid 90s!

  8. There’s potentially a Band on the Run 50th Anniversary box set coming apparently. Paul also working on a new album and a Beatles Help!/Rubber Soul box set has been planned . This was all in Mojo recently

    1. From Mojo: “Giles Martin revealing to Mojo that, ahead of last year’s Revolver Redux, a paired revisiting of Help! and Rubber Soul was in the planning stages, there is also the possibility of a Band On The Run 50th anniversary box set. Meanwhile sessions for a new McCartney album are already underway, including recordings with US producer Andrew Watts who recently worked with Iggy Pop and Morrissey.”

      1. Cool news, I love “Help !”. It’s the first Beatles record I ever heard. I feel like it’s an underrated album, with deep cuts like The Night before that are never mentioned anywhere.

        1. The night before is not a DEEP CUT,
          It’s just a album track like all the rest!,, Was it not on the rock n roll cheapo album in the 70s??
          Really wish we could get away from this DEEP CUT nonsense!!

  9. State51 have been around for years they have a long history back to the 90s and were in there very early in terms of digital music distribution. I first heard of them because of the connection to Wire and their associated Pink Flag and ~Swim labels – and because of that I went to them to get digital distribution for my own music (getting music up on streaming services as well as YouTube etc) which they do brilliantly to this day- I think they still do that for independent artists – I don’t know if they’re still taking on new artists but ask ’em if you’re a music maker. I suppose I could claim to be labelmates with Kate Bush but the S51 label is a different thing entirely – but hey – welcome aboard Kate!

  10. Hi Paul,

    Gabrielle Papillon seems to still be releasing on State51, at least her still current album from 2019, ‘Shout’, has been brought out by them too.

    She has also released five albums before on a label called ‘Little Bug Records’ between 2001 and 2015.

  11. Orbital arrived today. Sounds great! Thanks for making it happen.

    George Harrison’s solo catalog has appeared in Atmos on Apple Music. Sadly the mixes aren’t very adventurous. Unlike the Orbital mix which is great.

    And if anyone ever needed their music mixed into surround sound, it’s Kate Bush. C’mon Kate, give Steven Wilson a call!

  12. Considering of the 6,000 copies of the Orbital album sold 1750 were the SDE release, I hope this will encourage record companies to release more Dolby Atmos mixes on disc and not just streaming services or on really expensive box sets.

  13. I am sure I read somewhere that the kate bush HOL is being re-issued later this year as a double with remixes and out-takes, i think there are some other options as well

        1. Obviously, I saw that since it’s the reason for the SDE post. You said you read about “remixes and out-takes”… and there’s no mention of that.

  14. Is it me or is Kate Bush’s back catalogue one of the most criminally under-served? Mind you knowing her it’ll probably stay that way sadly :(

  15. The State51 Conspiracy

    I know (knew) them from the mail order of Coil – Peter Christopherson and probably Throbbing Gristle.
    Here is / was their address Threshold House, The state51 Conspiracy, 17 Hereford Street, London, E2 6EX, United Kingdom

    Take a look for example here https://threshold.greedbag.com/

    Anyone remember this or is this music too unknown ?

    1. I remember Coil with tremendous fondness and respect. They made some truly wonderful and innovative music that has retained its freshness. A shame their legacy has been pulled apart by the vultures since their deaths.

    2. Coil were, and always will be, an inspiration to anyone interested in experimental music regardless of genre.
      Despite the passing of Peter and John their legacy remains as strong as ever.
      For anyone vaguely intrigued check out “Love’s Secret Domain” first as this is easily their most accessible album although having said that hardly mainstream.

  16. George was already semi-retired by the mid-nineties and only got involved with Anthology due to money troubles. It’s very unlikely he would have done much if he’d lived and his opinion of the music scene and business decreased as he got older, remember the Oasis spat?
    He might have popped up now and again as he had done previously but the real shame was he didn’t get to see the ‘LOVE’ show which he’d had the idea for. Happy Birthday George!

    1. A lot of people have also said we have been deprived of so much excellent music due to John Lennox’s death, but I’m not so sure. From memory, Double Fantasy did not receive critical acclaim on release and only started selling after his murder. If he had lived I suspect he would’ve had a bit of a strop and we wouldn’t have been graced with much more new stuff after that, it wouldn’t have been worth his time and effort.

      1. I agree. Whilst I like a lot of his Double Fantasy/ Milk and Honey material, much of it does veer towards the cloying and overly sentimental. He would have needed a change of direction in order to keep the public interested. And no matter what you think of her, alternating his songs with Yoko’s songs was never going to result in acclaimed works.

        1. In any kind of media it’s always the “greatest career move”. Lady Diana would be 62 this year. Imagine if George Michael had died in the mid 1980s (1988 for instance) we would have imagined a 20 album career of sustained excellence rather than the hotch-potch of sparse excellence mixed with years of silence or “approaching mediocrity”. (I am still a fan of GM though, but it became disappointing by and large).

          Pretty certain that a few members of the 27 club would have faded rather than dying at the cusp of acclaim. Amy Winehouse would be 40 this year….

          1. Yep I agree and Japan called it a day at their peak,,,,,,, they would have ended up shit as well..

    2. The saddest part of these untimely deaths is we will never know. Maybe George doesn’t make any additional music, maybe he connects with Rick Rubin and has a late career rebirth. Maybe Lennon is embarrassed by the pedestrian nature of Double Fantasy and quits again OR his competitive nature is spurred and after the rust is kicked off, the next one out is a winner (or “gasp” he and Paul bury their pride and write together separately again). Time is funny. Short and long all at once. Who knows what would have happened. Past history not a guarantee of future success or failure and never forget, some of these folks mentioned are some all time greats. These are not one hit wonders of which we opine. I find it hard to believe any of theme were creatively spent.

    1. I couldn’t make my mind up on the Orbital SDE release and in the end decided not to buy it…looks like another of my poor decisions LOL.

      I really enjoyed Steve Jansens last release “neither present nor absent”

      1. It’s a pity that’s not a fully release on cd either, really outstanding work it is. ( “neither present nor absent” ). The wait is now for Exit North second album, announcing will be very soon, one of the coming weeks.

  18. I think they still do the distribition for Trunk Records. I remember 10-15 years ago regularly slipping a fiver into an envelope addressed to 51 State Conspiracy for the CD copy of the latest Trunk release. The vinyl used to cost a tenner, I think. Buyers were encouraged to include a drawing related to the release and Jonny Trunk would publish them on the Trunk website!

  19. Enjoyed the George Harrison audio.Has Jeff Lynne’s production and signature sound all over it.Is this a co-write or is it just super Jeff’s studio wizzardly influencing the end sound?I might be mistaken but thought I even heard Jeff providing backing vocals.Anyway as a fan of both artists this is a magic tune and excellent selection.

    As regards Kate Bush’s decision to move her catalogue this must be a complicated transaction as her recordings are very valuable.For this to happen without Kate( or her new home) having to fork out a very large €sum some complex dealmaking/royalty arrangement with the label must have occurred.Anyway it is interesting to note that Kate still believes she needs a partner and has not chosen to do it all herself with her own solely owned enterprise. Anyway for Kate to choose to do this does suggest she might already have recorded in her studio a brand new lp and did not want the label to be involved with it ,and that has some major plans to re-release all her back catalogue in definitive Kate overseen presentations that might be expanded or different to what we have received so far.So good news for Kate fans I would suggest.

  20. I just can’t warm to the new Orbital album. In fact I’ve grown to actively dislike it the more I’ve heard it. Very disappointing and extremely samey once you get a couple of minutes into each track, and way, WAY too many guest spots. However I shuffle it, this album falls to the bottom of any “ranked” Orbital albums…Should’ve been called Orbital and Friends or The All Star Orbital Band. I’m not normally averse to collaborations but some of these were utterly terrible. I laughed out loud when I heard You Are the Frequency (words fail me) and the Sleaford Mods track (nothing worse than bands going political – standing around on TOTP protesting at the poll tax I can stomach, but not this bland Fisher Price rapping about what idiots the government are…hardly original, guys), they were that awful, and the less said about the needlessly repetitive, wispy, milky tea sparrow’s fart that is Ringa Ringa (I bet Alison Goldfrapp is wanting compensation for the rip off act that Medieval Baebes attempted there) the better. The whole album just lacked that killer feel most Orbital albums have. I know Orbital will feel this is a good depiction of where they are career wise now, but it’s more pipe and slippers than innovative, forward thinking electronica. Sad to say as a long term Orbital fan I wish they’d called it a day the last time they parted ways. On the flip side, I’m perhaps the only person who hasn’t liked it so what do I know. And I look forward to the album reissue campaign if/when that happens, with a plethora of rarities/remixes and live material! But for now, I’m out. Wish I could like it, but it’s just dross to my ears…sorry to be a downer and I wish I had something more positive to offer, but no. Optical delusion? Audio delusion, more like. Hope it sounds better on the Bluray because it’s absolute cack heard via the usual methods.

    1. How are Sleaford Mods “going political”? They’ve been anti-Tory and scathing since day one.
      Personally I find it refreshing that a modern(ish) band are carrying on a fine lineage of bands like Killing Joke and The Smiths in portraying a Britain that is currently rotten to the core.

        1. “Nothing worse than bands going political…”

          Impact (The Earth Is Burning)
          Are We Here? (Criminal Justice Bill?)

          Seems to me like Orbital have been political for some time…

    2. One good thing about the new release (which I think is pretty great, albeit I wish they hadn’t relied on so many collaborators) is that it’s got me back to playing previous Orbital albums I hadn’t heard in awhile (inSides and Snivilisation, for example) and I’ve fallen in love with the band again. Hopeful all these albums will get great SDEs over the next few years.

      1. Maybe that’s the idea! Push all the long term Orbital fans to the old albums ready for when the reissues come! It’s worked with me…. A bit like when Muse released their last album in August, I refuse to admit that happened and went back to the decent albums!

  22. After reading your news on the move to State51 I looked at their website. Jury’s out on whether this is a good move for Kates music, but time will tell. It reminds me of the design led media of the eighties, like IQ and The Face magazines, all design and no trousers. Looking at the roster of music artists, they are for the most part, unknown to me, and possibly a lot of people. Donovan was the only name I recognised! I may check some out, as I do like to try new artists, but they do seem to be on the expensive side. I can’t justify £40 on a 12″ single for an artist I know and like, let alone one I don’t. Let’s hope it does spark some enthusiasm for some excellent products, but hopefully not at the expense of the fans. Its a shame three of her albums haven’t gone over. One hopes this doesn’t disjoint the back catalogue.

    1. I had a wee look – those £40 12″s are very limited and are individual lathe cuts. The packaging is superior too. They’re comparable with a MOFI LP rather than a standard 12″ single, I would say.

      1. It looks to me like the really deluxe packaging — boxes, art prints, handmade paper — is reserved for the “Editions 51 series” which looks to run GBP 100 to GBP 180. These are priced as collectible design artifacts, not music for listening.

        It also seems that the label is publishing side project work for some semi-known musicians, among them Steve Jansen of Japan, and former Bjork collaborators Matmos; or musicians appearing under lesser known monikers, like JK Flesh (aka Justin Broadrick of Napalm Death, Godflesh and Jesu), and Brood X Cycles (aka Alexander Tucker, also in Ginnungagap with Steven O’Malley of Sunn O))) ); or those a couple of degrees of separation out, like VALVE (with members of Knifeworld, a side project of a guy from Cardiacs).

        As someone who likes experimental music, I’m looking forward to exploring some of the music released by this label. However, it has to be said that the website presentation has a strong aura of pretension. Consider the main menu options: “Collective,” “Atelier,” “Label,” “Factory,” and “Greed.” Yikes!

  23. What’s so wrong with not being mainstream? Maybe Kate has hooked up with state51 so that she can , in the words of Neil Young ‘go travelling in the gutter’. We shall see, and I’m also pretty certain that somewhere I have an LP by Shit And Shine. I’ll go take a look.

  24. I miss George everyday, always was my favourite Beatle and All Thing Must Pass is my favourite album of all time. Most of his contributions to The Beatles catalouge are equal to anything John and Paul did. I still remember the sad day he left us. I loved his wacky sense of humour and the fact that he was a F1 fan. Saw him play once with Eric along with Ringo and Elton, magic memory.
    I even named my sons after him.

  26. The state51 Conspiracy used to manage the Saint Etienne online store and they’ve reissued Donovan’s Pye catalogue, both familiar names.

    1. Yup Ive just been listening to Little Bug and really liked it.

      Another example of why I visit Paul’s website everyday as I enjoy discovering ‘new’ artists from the community.

      I discovered one of my fav LPs of all time after reading about it on SDE.

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