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This Week’s Box Set and Reissue Deals

Grab a bargain

By Paul Sinclair

Comments

535

Blondie / Against the Odds 8CD box set

Blondie / Against the Odds 1974-1982 8CD box 8CD super deluxe

£73 was £90

Deal Over!

Lowest price to date on the excellent 8CD super deluxe of the Blondie Against All Odds release.  Watch the SDEtv unboxing video.

David Bowie / Divine Symmetry 4CD+blu-ray 4CD+blu-ray

£99 was £115

Deal Over!

Price of this superb ‘Journey to Hunky Dory’ David Bowie set dips under £100 for the first time.

ABBA / Ring Ring 2LP half-speed remaster 2LP black vinyl

£14 was £40

Deal Over!

This price in Germany won’t last long!

U2 / Songs of Surrender 2LP vinyl 2LP black vinyl

€20 was €44

Deal Over!

With so many coloured variants, maybe the black vinyl 2LP set will be the rarest edition of U2’s Songs of Surrender in years to come?!

Rush / Moving Pictures super deluxe edition

Rush / Moving Pictures 3CD+5LP+blu-ray 3CD+5LP+blu-ray super deluxe

$173 was $300

Deal Over!

Not exactly ‘cheap’ but it’s nearly half the original price and there’s a lot of stuff in this Rush super deluxe edition box set (including music!).

The Rolling Stones / Some Girls super deluxe 2CD+DVD+7″

$85 was $180

Deal Over!
David Bowie / Brilliant Adventures CD box set

David Bowie / Brilliant Adventures 11CD box set 11CD box

$100 was $160

Deal Over!

Good price indeed for the David Bowie 1990s-era box.

Bob Dylan / Fragments: Time Out Of Mind Sessions 5CD set 5CD deluxe

$27 was $140

Deal Over!

Crazy deal for the recently released Bob Dylan 5CD super deluxe

Paul McCartney / McCartney 3LP vinyl box 3LP vinyl

€30 was €94

Deal Over!

Amazing deal in Italy on the 3LP Paul McCartney box that contains McCartney, McCartney II and McCartney III. Works out to be around £30 shipped to the UK (no Brexit-related import duties, either).

The Pretty Things / Live at the BBC 6CD box set 6CD box

£27 was £50

Deal Over!

A pretty good price for this Pretty Things 6CD Live at the BBC box set.

David Bowie / Brilliant Adventure [1992-2001] 18LP vinyl box set

David Bowie / Brilliant Adventures 1992-2001 – 18LP vinyl 18LP vinyl box

£211 was £365

Deal Over!

This is now the cheapest price this mammoth David Bowie vinyl box has been in the UK. Great value with this price tag.

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535 Comments

535 thoughts on “This Week’s Box Set and Reissue Deals”

  2. Yep, got the cancellation email as well. Spoke to an Amazon Germany employee on online chat. Completely useless and got fobbed off with a €5 gift card! Probably get eaten up straight away with p&p and vat on an order. Anyone else get a cancellation email, this time from Amazon UK, stating that Snow Patrol’s 2CD of Final Straw reissue was ‘temporarily out of stock’?

  4. I got the Abba cancellation email also.
    I must say,the way that it was worded was shocking, clearly pointing the blame at the customer.
    Then they start going on about rules and regulations??
    Like a naughty kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar !
    Definitely put me off buying from them, come to think of it,I thought if something is displayed at a price, even an incorrect price, the retailer has to honour it?
    I know that’s the case in the UK.

    1. It really isn’t the case in the UK.

      Mispriced items do not have to be sold at that price.

      A priced item is an offer of contract, which needs the agreement of both parties: the buyer and the seller.

      The internet websites were coming a cropper, early on, because the contract was being agreed by the act of purchase: buyer offers funds, seller accepts funds. But that last step was being performed by an automated process.

      That has changed, and Amazon often will cancel sales, because payment hasn’t actually been taken!

      They make it sound like a feature: “no payment taken until goods are despatched”, but it’s really a protection against selling TVs for a fiver. Or Abba LPs for however much it was.

    3. Absolutely this phrase in the email shifts blame to the naughty customer, which is quite an arrogant position rather than just profusely apologizing: “You may have been surprised by the unusual price”. I think even in the UK, shops can take items “off sale” if wrongly priced, but most take the higher ground and honour mistakes as long as not ridiculous. I’m pretty sure at around £17 delivered to the UK, this Abba LP wouldn’t have actually led them to lose money, just not make much and this “loss” was only on a limited number of copies alerted via SDE before their pre order amount was exhausted. The item itself is now N/A even at an inflated price, so nice produce launch there Amazon!

      1. Exactly my point Rich G.
        Your higher ground comment sums it up perfectly
        Regardless of what “cut and paste” folks who misunderstand the point say, flexibility, managers discretion and good customer service play a part a lot of the time.

    6. “if something is displayed at a price, even an incorrect price, the retailer has to honour it?
      I know that’s the case in the UK.”

      This is not the case in the UK – you clearly need to stop being gullible & believing everything you read on the internet !

      Retailers may choose to honour a price which was clearly a mistake as an act of good will , but there is zero legal obligation. When i worked in HMV many years ago the number of morons who thought that if they swapped price stickers on items that the store would legally have to honour the prices as displayed & sell a £300 box set for £9.99, because ‘that’s what the sticker says & legally you have to sell it at the price on the sticker’ was legion.

  5. Abba – Ring Ring Half Speed Vinyl cancelled by Amazon.de citing “you may have noticed the unusual price”. It was cheap but not a total give away. Can’t say I’m surprised, but not very cool to sort of suggest we had some part to play in taking advantage of a deal. They do sometimes heavily discount things after all. Happened with the Japan pre release vinyl too and then it was unavailable, so not great service really.

    1. They need to sort out their service rather than blame the customer. I had the issue with Japan too. I once copped a bargain on the Soundgarden live box set from Record Store a couple of years ago. They listed it at £5, I ordered two copies, within 10 minutes price had jumped to £55 (someone’s finger must’ve slipped on the keyboard!) but they honoured the cheaper price. That’s a retailer who was a bit more on the ball but more customer focused too

  8. I’m sure I’m not the only person who will have received their cancellation email from Amazon.de of their order for the Ring Ring remaster! Inevitable I suppose and no real biggie! Surprised it took so long.

  10. Received an email from Amazon.de about the Abba Ring Ring Half Speed remaster. States they advertised at the wrong price & they have cancelled the order. I was ok with that until the cheeky bastards suggested it could still be ordered from them at full price…

  11. Of interest to some on here I reckon – the brand new book by Mark Blake about the story of the amazing Hipgnosis (album art designers for Pink Floyd, Led Zep etc) is down to £9.35 on Amazon UK. Supposed to be a great read.

  17. Probably limited interest for this on this forum, but I just walked into my local HMV and they had the Spice Girls 25th anniversary 2cd edition in the sale for £7.99. Was about £35 originally I believe.

  22. Couple of very small bits and pieces on Amazon UK

    Neil Young Official Release Series 13, 14, 20 & 21 4CD – £23
    David Bowie – Width Of A Circle 2CD – £9.89
    Zappa Official Motion Picture Soundtrack 3CD – £8.99
    Neil Young – Citizen Kane Jr Blues 1974 CD – £6.85

      1. Super! Many thanks, was toying with the Amazon offer but when I saw this I thought I’d have it. It was like the deal I found a wee while ago for the Pixies box set of live in Brixton via here, 8 CDs for £20 and everywhere else it was a lot more expensive.

      2. I was at Reading Record Fair (UK) yesterday. Several dealers had the Neil Young set for £10. Not any use for anyone here looking to buy obviously – but a good indication that a warehouse is being unloaded somewhere, so cheap prices may emerge elsewhere.
        The Joni Mitchell Archive Vol 2 box was also in abundance at only £15. I haven’t seen any cheap online deals on this one yet but possibly worth keeping an eye on if interested.

    1. Thanks Nico,

      though after clicking through the offers i’d have to say that is mainly for people interested in (coloured) vinyl.

      Most of the prices for anything cd-related have just been corrected from ‘daylight robbery’ to ‘sounds about reasonable’.

      Best prices in that area are for the Van Der Graaf Generator ‘Charisma Years’-box and a 10cd/3dvd box by Little Steven which both go for 100€ now.

  26. Just want to say this is one of my favorite web pages and I check this frequently. After quite a long time of lurking and reading all your comments almost daily, I am now signed up for comments. Thanks Paul for a great job here. I have purchased quite a few of the SDE dolby atmos blu-rays and I love the way they sound. Looking forward to many more. Thanks for letting be part of the SDE community.

    1. Also worth mentioning is Absolutely, 7 and The Rise & Fall which also are back on the shelves in 2-disc deluxe edition as well. They first came out a few years ago but eventually slipped out of print with 7 being the first one to disappear hence the silly prices for a second hand copy. I think these re-issues have the same track listing as the previous pressing but somebody might be able to confirm this. I’m guessing that there will eventually be re-pressings of the Deluxe Editions of Keep Moving and Mad Not Mad soon as well.

      1. Re: Same Tracklisting
        The sets that came out a few years ago had the related promo videos included (usually at the end of the 1st disc of each set). Other than that the track listings are the same. If they do re-release them all the CD spines look as though they won’t spell out M A D N E S ! and 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 like the older set.

  29. New Order’s Low Life Superdeluxe is now down to £107 on Amazon UK. Way more reasonable than the £180 it was first listed as on release, and around the price of the previous two boxsets. Glad I waited this one out.

    1. I think Amazon were exagerating a bit with that price. It’s only ever been £150 (and still is) on the new order store. I’ve got it in my wishlist, but I’m not gonna bite until it’s at least under £100. Paid about £90 for the last one, so hoping for something similar…eventually.

  30. Ok -slightly different angle on the HMV sale. I went into one of the physical shops today with some surprising findings. Firstly, there wasn’t much in the way of big boxes – certainly none of the significant ones – just a selection of Stones ones mainly, the PJ Harvey & most unexpectedly the Macca Flaming Pie ( about £179). Most of the others were priced roughly at £5-£10 more expensive than the web site. However, some of the CD boxes were actually cheaper that the website ie Abba 10CD was £25.99 compared to £30 online. The Mark Knopfler boxes were also about a fiver cheaper.
    Standard Vinyl was a surprise. The sale aisle had about 15 boxes on the floor. Many of the titles sold out online were still instore (but £2-£3 more expensive than online) but there were also many titles in these boxes which were not in the online sale (ie latest Taylor Swift, old McCartney titles like Paul Is Dead, and Wings live triple, and some long gone Centenary series vinyl (I got a couple of Bjork ones). Individual CDs were a similar situation with titles not in the online sale (I got a selection of Rory Gallagher ones for £2.99 or £3.50 each)
    It’s probably not worth a dedicated trip, but if there’s an HMV near you, I’d say it’s well worth a look in

    2. Yesterday I wandered in to the HMV near our office and picked up a few bits, including the Dexys’ Too-Rye-Ay 3CD set for £20. Best bargain was Godley/Creme Consequences 5CD box for £13 (listening now – bonkers but fun). Chatting to the guys in the shop, they’d not even bothered putting everything out on the racks – much of it was still in the store room. They had a rummage around for me and probably the most interesting thing they found was the 200 Motels super deluxe for a few pence less than £50 (passed as I’m not a Zappa fan). If there’s anything you’re looking for in particular, it’s probably worth asking at the desk.

      1. I’ve pulled together a list of about 20 mainly £6.99 titles from the Online Sale but held back from buying in case they had any in my local store (Staines) as i thought it would be nice to put some money through their tills and keep them going especially as this branch closed down a few years ago but has come back from the dead. I was shocked to discover that they hadn’t got any of the titles, as Teddy says maybe they haven’t bothered putting everything out on the racks?

    3. Must be my age, but the HMV stores I have visited recently seem a bit of a mess. I barely recognised the one in Oxford as having anything to do with music per se.

      1. I know what you mean. My local one seems to have more Funko Pops, Manga, T-shirts and odd foreign sweets than it has records. I get that some diversification is probably necessary to survive but it does look as though they have lost identity along the way…

  31. On the off chance I logged onto HMV sale at 1pm to see if the Blondie vinyl box was there. It was to my surprise ……but the code didn’t work. Tried for half an hour and to add insult to injury I received an email from HMV notifying me it was back in stock. Called customer services to try reserve one but couldn’t. Asked about stock in branches but the branches don’t have to full 50% discount so it was £200. I was advised there was an issue on the website and it was being worked on. Tried every 15 minutes since around 2pm and suddenly at around 3pm it was sold out again……
    I do wish HMV would make sure their website works before going live.

    1. Problems with the HMV website have existed for several years. Every time HMV create any significant increase in demand – particularly when releasing any limited edition product (ie the Centenary Album series), there are always similar issues. HMV effectively financially went under a few years back and were bailed out by Sunrise, but it looks as though Sunrise aren’t making any significant investment in the company.

  33. The Moody Blues ‘To Our Childrens Childrens Children’ SDE 4CD/BR is available from Rarewaves UK for £57.70 inc. shipping. This is almost £20 cheaper than Amazon. Sorry can’t supply links on this machine. It is also available for €70 plus shipping from JPC.

    I don’t know if they ship to the USA but Moodies fans in States may be interested, I say this because Universal Music are not issuing a physical release of this in the USA. What do you know about Universal’s decision Paul because quite a few artists attached to Universal have reissues either severely limited or no release whatsoever. Surely this is a question that affects everyone who visitS this site and most importantly yourself.

  34. Interested to see if anyone had issued with their Blondie BOXSETS from HMV? I ordered the 8CD and the 10LP sets which both came this morning (in massive boxes). They were both shrink-wrapped but the CD set had a large gash on one part and the ‘wraparound’ was torn at a different place (shrink wrap was undamaged).

    With the vinyl set, the ‘outer’ box (with printed inner) had clearly had an address label ripped off and also an (empty) plastic ‘returns/receipt’ bag stuck on… makes me think these are returns. I’ve included a photo of the boxes they came in (which were both undamaged).

    3. My vinyl box was exactly the same, I tend to think the vinyl box set was shipped from abroad from another HMV depot rather than a return, my cd box set was sent in a tight fitting box that gave no protection to the corners but luckily there was no damage.

    4. Think I can solve this one as my HMV Blondie vinyl box still had the full label and documentation with it. Mine was shipped from Utopia Distribution Warehouse in Aylesbury on 15 December 2022 to a HMV warehouse in Birmingham. It was mailed via Parcelforce without any additional packaging which is why the external packaging looks grubby. So, not customer returns – just distribution. It does rather display a weird practice though, if HMV are only calling off items individually from a distribution centre – just putting 50 copies in a van would be much more cost effective that individual Parcelforce costs.

    5. They’re likely not returns , they will often pull stock from stores. I have often received online orders that had store security tags & store price labels on them. It enables them to sell stock that may be sitting around in stores where they’re not selling & sell them online to people who would never be anywhere near those stores.

    6. My Blondie set finally turned up today (12 days since purchase). It arrived in a generic cardboard box instead of the fold-out standee box. Bit miffed TBH. The set itself is pretty much perfect apart from the obi strip on the discography being a bit scuffed and ripped. I’ve emailed HMV asking for an official outer box to be sent but I’m not holding my breath ..

  35. The official US Prince shop has a media sale. Sign O The Times vinyl box now only $200. CD box $100. There are much more sales. Check it out. Great time to catch up on Prince music, both vinyl & CD.

  36. Wow don’t usually go searching on the HMV 50% sale but with so many recommendations put up on SDE i couldn’t help my self, ended up with Lennon Gimme Some Truth 3 disc, Dexys Too-Rye-Ay 3 disc, Norah Jones Come Away With Me 3 disc, Beach Boys Sounds Of Summer 3 disc a couple of Elton John Classic Years and a Van morrison cd and to cap it all of The beatles Revolver 5cd new for £52 delivered from a private seller on Ebay, all on the back of my slighly bumped and bruised Dylan from the states and the Time Out Of Mind Dolby Atmos in the pipeline.
    Great couple of week many thanks Paul and everybody else who gets involved searching and posting making this site what it is indespensable.

  38. Another from the HMV sale. For those that got cancelled last year on the Amazon too-good-to-be-true offer. Japan – Exercising Ghosts 2LP Half Mastered – down to £22.
    Out of stock in most other places

  41. Finally, I’ve got the 2 CD version of Kiss’s Creatures Of The Night and the 3 cd version of The Beach Boys Sounds Of Summer greatest hits at decent prices on the HMV 50% off sale.

  42. Can someone please post a link to the HMV bargains, provided they are not limited to UK only? Thx.
    I seem to remember that Kate bush and simple minds from their centenary collection were UK only. I never bought from them, so I have no clue.

  43. Your german resident readers are very pleased to hear about the ABBA / BBAF offer but a bit envious of the HMV offers. There have not been any great across the board box set offers for a few years. Great to see to see them back.

  45. HMV Update: As of 9am Monday 27/3, UK time, both Queen Studio Collection and Blondie Odss Box vinyl sets both live! Both GnR Use your Illusion deluxe CD set and Metallica Black Album Box (latter a real bargain at £100 or so) sold out!!

    1. Many thanks to all – snapped up the Blondie Super Deluxe vinyl half price for £136.49. And got a further 3.15% (£8.58) off by buying it through Topcashback, and another 1.25% cash back on the credit card. Fan dabi dozi!

  46. Spent 45mins typing on chat with amazon last night. Dylan set was dispatched, never arrived. They offered refund or replacement. Chose the latter, got passed to 3 different operators on the chat. Then was offered a replacement inside 2 days “from which country site?” I asked. Never answered and the offer was rescinded as they said they couldn’t fulfill. In the end requested an email to confirm their offer that I could reorder at same price after receiving a refund. The email is inconclusive. They wanted rid of me (don’t blame them.) I’ll pass now. A shame, I tried. I have an email should I wish to attempt again.

  47. More HMV nuggets…

    Dexys Too Ry Ay As It Should…reduced by 50% on all formats :

    £17.50 3CD £5 1CD £65 Vinyl Box Set or £15 Vinyl

    Florence Dance Fever CD HMV Exclusive only £2.50

    same price for Japan Tin Drum CD and Human League Dare

    lots more been added

    1. When I was looking last night I noticed the recent Human League Virgin years vinyl box was on there for about £60.
      I picked up The Damned – Night of a Thousand Vampires CD/Bluray for £11.50.

  48. I haven’t seen it mentioned yet, but the Beach Boys’ Feel Flows box would be £45 with the HMV discount. Having bought it last year (for quite a few pounds more), I can truly say that is an exceptional price for a brilliant set. I did get the Sounds of Summer collection for a tenner, so happy enough with that.

  50. If you take the effort to dig deep in the HMV sale there are some nice items to be found ( for instance TRex Electric Warrior Half Speed Abbey Master for £15, the TFF HMV Centenary Exclusives – picture disc and double seeds.

    There are some oddities marked as “sold out” and I wonder if they ever existed. For instance the Queen Studio collection vinyl box. HMV havent carried that in stock for yonks but now it’s in the Flash50 but sold out. Odd

    For those new to HMV sales, there’s the usual warning to check prices with Amazon for comparison. Some of the HMV items are genuine bargains (ie Blondie boxes) but others seem to have had their prices artificially inflated to a huge margin (notably most Rolling Stones boxes) – some to the extent that even after the Flash50 discount, they are still cheaper to buy elsewhere

  52. Blondie ‘Against The Odds’ 8CD set is £55 on HMV with postage… must use the FLASH50 code though to get it.
    Other 50% off with the code above includes:
    Elton John ‘Madman Across The Water’ SDE £37.50
    Mark Knopfler ‘Studio Albums 2009-2018’ 6CD £27.50
    Nirvana ‘Nevermind’ SDE £55
    Tears For Fears ‘Seeds of Love’ SDE £32.50
    John Lennon ‘Gimme Some Truth’ SDE £32.50
    Abba ‘CD Album’ Box Set 10CD £30
    and others…

    2. Thanks for heads up – I checked the flash 50 out a few days ago and not a lot there – looks like they added some new stuff – picked up that Lennon Deluxe CD/Blu Ray – a PJ Harvey vinyl and a couple of guns n roses 2 cd reissues

    3. Thanks, I’m sure there wasn’t much that I wanted when I first looked. Had another look now and managed to find a few that I can now tick off my amazon wish list, including the last 2 PJ Harvey demos CDs.

    2. Excellent! Thanks for that! Have the CD set, but can’t pass the vinyl up for that price! I thought this had been a good selling/well received set from the off, so if this is discounted, there’s hope for a large discount in a year or so’s time for the OTT priced Floyd box.

  54. If it’s €3 vinyl you’re after Berlin is the place to be lol, good job I haven’t got room to take any home, haven’t seen many CDs in Berlin or new vinyl for sale yet

  56. Century Media (US) just started its Spring clearance sale. No extreme deals this time, with discounts around 17% to 25% off.

    A few SDEs are on offer, including some exclusive vinyl colors and spacial audio mixes:
    Dream Theater “A View From The Top of the World” gold vinyl 2LP/2CD/Blu-ray with slipmat, book, poster, keychain, hat etc. is US $112.49;
    Yes “The Quest” glow-in-the-dark 2LP/2CD/Blu-ray with slipmat, book, poster, badge etc. is US $90.18;
    Jethro Tull “The Zealot Gene” white 2LP/2CD/Blue-ray with slipmat, book, and print is US $90.18;
    plus there are some deluxe LP/CD combos from Steve Hackett, Swallow the Sun, and others, along with basic colored vinyl, black vinyl and CDs from the label’s prog and metal acts.

    Free US shipping over $75, too.

    https://centurymedia.store/dept/spring-sale

  60. For anyone who recently purchased the Kinks Village Green deluxe edition at the bargain price, if you email TM Stores they will send you a copy of the missing ‘autographed’ photo that is (still) missing from all copies of the box set. Really good service from TM Stores as they sent it free of charge, 48 hour tracked and in a hard back card mailer.

      2. TM initially replied to me saying that the photo was only available with the first copies of the box set. I responded and explained that this was not actually the case and that it should be included in all copies, as it is pictured in all the adverts for the box set and was accepted as ‘missing’. TM then responded the next day to say they had run out of photos but had ordered some more and that it would be with me in approx. 2 weeks. They were true to their word.

  61. Dunno what happened to my previous post about the Carter USM “30 Something” CD/DVD box? It is now on a limited time deal (for the next 4 hours!) at just under £20 on Amazon UK. 3xCDs and the DVD is the “In Bed With Carter” live gig that previously only existed on VHS.

    1. I may have to get a copy for old times sake, as was at the Kilburn gig that features on disc 3. Worth mentioning as well the official Carter site they are selling copies that are autographed for a couple of quid more.

      1. I got an autographed copy from the Carter site – unlike most signed things which have a separate card, this one is signed on the actual box by Jim Bob and Fruitbat – so well worth the asking price

  64. There are great deals for Bowie stuff at Amazon.ca: Brilliant adventure cds boxset at 98 $ (48% off), Moonage Daydream bluray film at 21$ (43% off) and 2cds version at 13 $ (37% off). Divine Symetry Boxset at 128 $ (31% off) Lowest prices I’ve seen so far.

  67. If you want the new Yes album in limited sun yellow for £35 in the UK
    Go to nuclear blast records, sign up for the newsletter, get a 15% off code, and then order. Shipping is lower than from other German stores (10 euro).
    This is incidentally the first yes album I have bought. I have 90215 from a charity shop though.

  68. Re “Fragments” box set…
    What about disc 2?
    Absolutely amazing!
    Very rarely have I ever heard such good out takes and alternates
    Dirt Road Blues (version 1), Standing in the doorway (version 1) Fantastic!
    Brilliant box set .

  69. Couple of small Kinks bargains on Amazon UK.

    2CD deluxe editions of:

    Lola Versus Powerman (2020 edition) – £6.99
    Arthur Or Decline and Fall… (2019 edition) – £6.99
    Village Green Preservation Society (2018 edition) – £8.99
    Kontroversy (2011 edition) – £8.99

  71. Hi Paul, a couple of questions. You’ve had Rush ‘Moving Pictures’ 3CD/5LP/Bluray set showing for Amazon U.K. for £150 for over a week but when I click on it, I’m taken to Amazon USA where the price is £204. When I checked on Amazon UK the cheapest price available is £204. Other prices on links on both sites showed cheaper prices but NOT the £150 displayed on SDE.

    Now you have it for $173 on Amazon UK, but click on it you get the same results as above on both sites and same prices.

    1. The deal was in the USA so the currency and flag were errors on my part. It was $150 in America and has now gone up to $173. If you have your shipping address set to UK then quite often you don’t ‘see’ these deals which sometimes are only available domestically (i.e. ship to a USA address).

  73. After reading Emili’s comment below, after a five minute chat with Amazon they’re refunding me the cost of my Dylan box as well. First they said they’d send a replacement without a return, but when they tried there was an error so they issued a refund instead. I do feel a bit sleazy about it as my box arrived with only slight damage, but the point is one of the richest companies in the world shouldn’t get away with this. And honestly, I’d rather have got a perfect set for £41 than a slightly bashed set for free.

    I recommend anyone else who received a damaged box due to their inadequate packaging does the same. I know it’s a drop in the ocean to them but maybe if enough of us do it they’ll start to take notice. I have no doubt that the reason they use such cheap packaging is because they know most people will just put up with it and won’t bother complaining.

      1. Seems like a bit of a cop-out to just tut-tut at me and refuse to discuss it any further. Which part don’t you agree with? There was nothing in the deal that said this item is reduced but it might arrive damaged, so the price reduction is irrelevant to the discussion. The fact is a lot of us ordered something which arrived damaged (from pictures I’ve seen, some arrived pretty much destroyed) due to Amazon using woefully inadequate packaging.

        I will add incidentally, that I never asked them to refund me during the chat. All I said was that I didn’t intend to return it as the replacement may arrive just as bad or worse, and just wanted to bring the packaging matter to their attention, and straight away the agent offered to send me a replacement. I actually got the impression that they’d already been briefed about this and told to just offer refunds or replacements without argument.

        1. You did right Phil, however there is no need to feel “a bit sleazy” about it especially with a company such as Amazon who pay minimal taxes in whichever country they operate and treat their workforce like shyte.

          Also their Customer Relations aren’t what some make them out to be, anyone here tried putting in an official complaint? Oh yes you’ll be provided with an email address and confirmation of Amazon receiving your complaint and then……..err, that’s it. You will not hear anything again.

          Yes their exchange policy, we’re talking music purchases here, is very good. Receive a damaged/warped LP, no probs, they will exchange it. Box set that’s dinged, the same. But try querying a payment for example which I’ve quite rightly had to do and not be very happy how it’s going. That can be a rabbit hole you don’t want to fall down.

          Please don’t think I’m completely anti-Amazon because if I was I wouldn’t buy anything from them. I probably buy 50% of my music purchases from Amazon(it was 95% one time). These days I buy from the artists own site when possible or Bandcamp/Burning Shed. If not those it’s Badlands, Rough Trade or Rare Waves who are slower on delivering but beat Amazon on price 75% of the time.

          I don’t understand what G.D. is getting at, this is exactly the place to discuss these issues.

        2. Well, I agree and approve.

          Name me another business model which allows goods to be damaged in transit through poor packaging and it is deemed an acceptable practice. Imagine ordering a car with a massive dent in the bodywork and the dealership just shrugs and says, we’ll knock 40% off the price.

          The big question should really be, why can’t a company as dominant and swimming in cash as Amazon deliver something as basic as a small box set undamaged.

        3. Many thanks for the heads up Phil, as mine also arrived with slight damage which i was going to ‘ live with ‘. I contacted Amazon and have been given a refund and told to keep the damaged item. I agree and approve

      2. The ability to receive the goods that you pay for in the condition advertised – is a basic consumer credit right. Nobody should feel “sleazy” because they ask for a refund/ replacement for something that is not received in good condition. The fact that somebody at Amazon decided to refund Phil and let him keep the damaged product is not Phil’s fault. It is Amazon’s internal policies that allow discretion. Amazon packaging has been questionable for years. However, if they reverted to shipping bulletproof, then costs would undoubtedly go up and they would loose sales. I suspect they will always err towards the lowest cost option.

        Most of the Amazon redundancies are not the result of returns cost but strategic decisions. Amazon in UK are closing several of their existing warehouses (Hemel Hempstead etc) but they are also creating new monster size warehouses (and therefore more jobs) elsewhere in the country. They are in fact upscaling their operations. Crap for the staff who cannot travel to work at the new locations. But not Phil’s fault because he got a $27 dollar refund.

        Amazon have experimented with diversification to a major extent. Some of these – Prime for example are major successes. Others like Amazon Fresh simply havent really caught on and may struggle to continue.

        Amazon are also quietly closing other initiatives for example Amazon Smile – where a tiny portion of the purchase price was given to a charity of your choice – has recently been shut with no real announcement. Amazon Assistant now displays a page saying closed. Certainly many changes going on at Amazon but unfortunately I’m not expecting standard of packaging to be one of them.

    3. I totally agree with you and I do that every time a damaged product arrives. I know they are good at refunding and replacing but sending items so poorly packed (I always tick the gift option which makes no difference) is a lack of respect for customers.

  75. The Dylan ‘Fragments’ arrived here safely from the US on Tuesday, having been scheduled three days later, so earlier than planned in fact. Packed in a Jiffy-type, bubble-wrap bag with only the most minor of barely noticeable bumps to the outer box. Given my Dylan fanatic status, I would have ultimately paid the £112, or whatever amazon.co.uk were charging, normally having pre-ordered all the previous sets, but had put it off in what I imagined at the time would be the forlorn hope of a price reduction. But then the amazon.com deal came along. I’d been keeping an eye out for a deal alert on both SDE and amazon.co.uk itself, but without the former would never have thought of looking at amazon.com, having only otherwise used amazon.fr, amazon.de and amazon.it as a rule when they beat the uk price. So, many thanks for the tip! Great work!

    1. Mine arrived in Spain last Tuesday, opened the brown paper envelope/bag on Saturday and as it had small dents on two corners I emailed them complaining about the way it was packed and telling them I would keep it as there was no guarantee a replacement would arrive better packed.
      One hour later they emailed me and issued a refund for 41,09€, the exact amount I had paid for it.
      Can’t believe the very same Saturday evening I had the money in my bank account actually.
      So a real bargain for me!
      Thanks a lot to whoever spoted it first!
      And Paul, keep them coming! I would buy them all!

    1. Thanks. I’ve noticed Rough Trade have an eBay store now too so I managed to snag the last Flaming Lips box for £40 with free postage. Don’t think they have all the deals you mentioned though but thought I’d share.

  80. The Never Ending Tour of Fragments has just come to an end. Slight corner dings and a couple on the top front, but not enough to spoil the deal. Thanks Paul and whoever spotted this.

    I just got round to opening my MuswellHillbillies / Everybody’s in Show-biz super deluxe. Really nice set and still available for £50 I believe.

      1. I agree with the positive feedback others have given to the Kinks mega box. However mine came with a warped ( not too bad…but) LP2 in the ‘Everybodies…’ 3LP set. I’ve just bought one of those ‘Record Pi’ record flatteners (cheapish if you live live in the States but when shipping, customs fee and the cost of a step down transformer are added in not cheapish) and it worked, totally flat at the first attempt.

          1. I’ve got an original “village green preservation society” with edge warp, would one of those fix it?

  83. Breaking news on Bob-watch… my box set was meant to be delivered by 8pm today by DPD. It didn’t arrive and now Amazon US are saying:

    “Now expected March 17 – March 22. We’re very sorry your delivery is late. If you have not received your package by March 22, you can come back here the next day for a refund.”

    Expecting it to be lost, but hoping it will still be delivered…

    1. Just for info – the signed art card that comes with this vinyl is pretty small – just a bit bigger than Cd size but rectangular. For some reason, I was assuming a 12″ size card with the vinyl. The advert isn’t specific. It’s nice – just small

    3. Either the industry has decided to actively discourage physical media customers and push everyone onto subscription streaming; or it’s repeating the same mistake it made by keeping CD pricing artificially elevated.

      They don’t appreciate the panoply of non-music entertainment options available, and that for those who do want music, they are competing with free downloads. It just took me less than 15 seconds to find a 320 kbps mp3 download, and to discover that the full concert film is available to watch in HD on youtube.

  88. I saw a documentary about the wear house workers at Amazon and they stand at a conveyor belt looking at a screen that tells them what box size the next item coming down the conveyor belt needs and the printed label comes out…. So they stick or even force everything in whatever they are told too …… just robots!

      1. My £22 copy of Live At The BBC arrived today – worth waiting just over a week for at that price. The £22 Amazon offer is still available (via “other sellers”), if you don’t mind waiting a week or two for delivery.

  91. Not a huge saving but the Blondie Against The Odds 8CD Box is down to £73 on Amazon UK (reckon this one will go lower one day but it’s not bad value at that price for 8CDs)

    2. I think you may be correct that it’s the lowest price it’s yet been. However, as it had been hovering around the £74 mark for some time until about 10 days ago, it’s not actually that good a deal comparatively.
      When I saw Paul’s deal alert e-mail I hoped it had at last dropped below £60 (which is when I would take the plunge). Oh well, fingers crossed that it’ll come down further if I wait long enough :)

  93. Some deals on HMV re The Kinks…
    Muswell Hillbillies/Everybody’s in Show-biz 2CD hardback is £7.
    Muswell Hillbillies/Everybody’s in Show-biz SDE is £55 (I know slightly cheaper on Kinks site but when you factor in post about the same?)
    Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One SDE £30.
    Plus various other reduced vinyl of a Kinks-related nature.

  94. My first ‘pointing out a deal’ message!

    HMV have an exclusive signed CD of the new Ed Sheeran single for the bizarrely cheap price of….99p currently.

    No idea why it’s so cheap, or how anyone is making any money on it, but there we go.

    Probably only a one track disc, and maybe not everyone on here’s cup of tea musically but a great deal.

  95. Dylan, Fragments, from Amazon.com at $27.76 was a joke! “Undeliverable. Unfortunately, a problem occurred during shipping and we had to cancel your delivery. The package is being returned, and we will issue a refund within 3 – 5 business days after the return is processed. We’re very sorry for the inconvenience.” Very bad way of working! :-(

      1. Probably, but they wrote me two weeks after buying it!!!! The box is still available at Amazon.com, so why they didn’t send me another one, instead of cancel the order? I think it was not a good work!

    2. Mine was despatched from Texas last Thursday and is still bouncing its way around the US with DPD. Hopefully it will arrive and in reasonable condition, as most seem to have done.

  97. My Dylan arrived…..with no packaging whatsoever, just in a very thin plastic bag.
    Completely battered and bashed up, as anyone would expect from an item shipped from America to the UK with no packaging.
    Just seems a total lucky dip with Amazon.

      1. Seems some people below are saying they had jiffy bags/bubble wrap and stuff?

        This really was just a wrap- the sort of thing they’d send out a magazine in. If people got them in good condition from America in just that, then I’m very impressed!

        Still a bargain, just seems a shame as a bit of bubble wrap would have meant it arriving in a good condition. Looks like we just got a bit unlucky with the packaging compared to those posting below. Ah well.

          2. I think if we all pooled our info we’d find that it varied depending on which fulfilment centre it was shipped from initially. I was incredibly lucky in that mine bounced through three centres in the US before it ended up on the plane to the UK, then two more centres over here – all in a fairly basic Amazon jiffy bag. But I ended up with only one very, very small dent no worse than the ones you would get if you’d picked it up yourself from a record shop. I feel really bad for the few that have had this one go awry.

  98. Dylan arrived today and not in fragments. He wore a jiffy airbag. The dents or possible wear are not very easy to spot. You have to really search for those. I’ve read somewhere here that the slight, slight, slight damage may well be the reason for this crazy priced box. Could be. A year or so Amazon got criticism for throwing away thousands of good items on a regular basis. Should this be their way to handle a slightly damaged batch (which would’ve otherwise ended up in their bin), then I’m okay with being a small part of their waste problem. I hate throwing away good stuff.

    1. J-A-F. that’d be a good idea, but I guess by not labelling it as imperfect stock, they’d lay themselves open to returns, unless they are theorising that at $27.76 price they can call anyone’s bluff who moans and tell them to return it for a full refund. A “Warehouse Deal” would have been a better idea, albeit less likely to shift such numbers of units. They have some very strange practices which any small retailer would go bust with, such as the inordinate cost of refunding and returning damaged items when packed so badly. Maybe with this being Amazon US, to the ROW the limited amount of postal refund has ensured most people “put up” with the damage for the cheaper price. I think such massive discounting so soon after release is only going to fuel people waiting on these box sets, rather than buying on release as many are already doing with Beach Boys Sail On Sailor, Beatles Revolver etc. overpriced ones. Now if they could only charge a more reasonable £60-70 on release and stick to it, now there’s an idea!

      1. I’m assuming that anyone who received a smashed up set due to poor packaging would surely be ‘complaining’ to Amazon rather than ‘moaning’. As people below who have complained stated they were offered a refund on their postage/tax & 50% off the $27.76 sale price (not asked to return it for a refund) I’m not sure where Amazon ‘calling anyone’s bluff’ comes in ?

  100. For those in the UK who still have an ASDA store that sells CDs – my local one seems to have a promotion on Now Yearbooks – all seem to be £5 per set (except for the latest one – £11)
    I’m not aware of any Bob Dylan tracks on the compilations and obviously any denting to the item will be caused by you being careless carrying it home…….

    1. Got an Asda in Slough which is the only place for miles around which still sells CDs, always something to buy for £3 to £5, got the Cure Wish 30th single CD & Small Faces 2CD Essential collection for £3 each, it’s always busy and well looked after by a great guy who loves his music

  103. At last a Bob Dylan deal that isn’t the Fragments one, which sadly I couldn’t take advantage of, as I’d already bought it at full-ish price! The Philosophy of Modern Song: Bob Dylan on Amazon UK at just over £14 https://amzn.to/3YR8ISy I’ll make sure I let you all know when it arrives and in exactly what condition and packaging as seems to be the new norm! ;-)

  104. The Dylan box seems to be such hit and miss. Mine arrived Sunday and I opened it with some trepidation after reading other comments, but thankfully all was ok. Maybe this lucky dip may be down to which carriers were used? Though, obviously, if they were well packed to begin with….

  106. For anyone who took advantage of the Bob Dylan deal, don’t get your hopes up. Mine just arrived this morning and (surprise) Amazon US sent the heavy box set in a thin plastic envelope with zero padding or protection so it’s dented and ripped to bits. Already arranged a return and full refund (no use requesting a replacement as same thing would no doubt happen again). Why Amazon US do this heaven knows.

    1. Mine just arrived. Bracing myself for the worst after all the reports of damage, and it did arrive in nothing but a flimsy jiffy bag, but it’s made it in fairly good condition considering. A few dinged corners and general scuffs, but nothing worth sending it back for. And I’m not going to let it take the shine off an incredible bargain. Many thanks to whoever discovered it and to Paul for bringing it to our attention.

        1. Thanks. Was yours just in a polythene envelope? That’s really disgraceful. Rarewaves sent my Abbey Road super deluxe like that, by some miracle it survived unscathed but I couldn’t believe they could possibly think it was acceptable.

  109. Hi,
    My Dylan ‘Fragments’ set has arrived from California though due date was meant to be Thursday. It arrived in a jiffy bag style pack, is sealed and is the 5 disc set. No damage despite the light packaging.
    Brilliant price for this set, currently £105 UK and £79 USA.

    1. Mine arrived too! A couple of lightly dinked corners but surprisingly okay and certainly nothing that would make me want to start complaining, given the deal and the miles this thing has travelled!

        2. Perhaps that’s why they were cheap. We are all assuming they were damaged in transit, but perhaps they were all a little bit damaged in the warehouse before shipping….

          1. SimonP2, I think you might right. My copy arrived fine in one of those plastic juffy bags. The bag was pristine, but the box had some minor scuffing of the type I don’t think I would put down to shipping. It may be the reason for this unusually low price. And I’m perfectly happy with that.

    2. Arrived yesterday, a bit nervous reading the comments on here BUT………. got a good one ! no corner dinks.

      One of the very best deals in recent times well done for spotting it and quite a few copies going at that price judging by the response on here.

      1. Arrived today on our wedding anniversary all the way to Scotland in perfect condition – lots of jokes about Rab C Nesbit from the loved one on viewing the cover…

  110. Another box set which price keeps getting lowered is Depeche Mode’s 101. Now on sale for $64 on Amazon USA.
    Another good deal is Bowie’s box Who Can I Be Now for $109.Of course at one point in time $109 was a regular price for this box and not a deal but this box is hovering on sold out and now typically costs $170’s. If you are behind on your Bowie boxes, this is a good time and probably a last chance to get this for a reasonable price.

  111. He’s Bob Dylan, here is my Shipping Report – IT’S HERE!! BOB HAS ARRIVED!
    At 18:06pm Sunday night the package, an Amazon Jiffy bag was delivered.
    The delivery man was wearing a heavy jacket, red trousers and brown shoes.
    A rather pleasant chap, obviously full of the joys of delivering Bob Boxsets !
    Once opened, the Amazon Jiffy bag revealed a box set with small scuff marks on each corner of the outer box.
    I will be keeping it, I won’t be pursuing a replacement, I am just so glad to have got such a great deal.
    Shipping report over and out.

      1. Mine has so far gone from Texas to Teterboro NJ, then to Edison NJ and is now on its way to somewhere unspecified. It still has the Atlantic and the Solent to cross, so it could happen yet.

  112. Help me out, please. Cure Show will be released on RSD in April as double picture vinyl. Is this a common thing for these Cure records to be released as regular vinyl afterwards? I know this was the case for Wish, however, this seems to have done because of the 30th anniversairy PR. Just wondering if I need to be on my toes for RSD or not.
    Thank you.

    1. Not always and like yourself I prefer black vinyl for sound quality but so far with Wild Mood Swings and Bloodflowers they havent done black vinyl versions. They did a black vinyl version of both the remix albums ie Mixed Up and Pornography as well as Wish as there were RSD Picture Discs of them but as I already have Show on black vinyl having bought it and Paris when they were released on vinyl I won’t be going for the picture disc on RSD day.

    2. My observation on this would be that the Cure RSD releases seem to be usually produced in reasonable numbers. I’ve got quite a few of them. I picked each of them up a couple of weeks after the RSD and I paid a reasonable price for each of them, so I wouldn’t panic. A quick scan of Ebay just now shows copies of last year’s Pornography release to be still available for about £35.
      There are sellers on Ebay already listing Cure Show RSD for horrific prices but this is the usual process. Prices usually drop heavily within a few weeks of release. There will be exceptions – Foo Fighters Bee Gees release, Taylor Swift etc, but on the whole I’ve found that most things aren’t really that difficult to get a hold of nowadays

    3. No one needs to be “on their toes” for RSD. For the first time in years I got in line last year to get “rarities”. Today, those so called rarities are all on Discogs for the same price that I bought it for, in some cases even lower. Jesus Jones Scratched with the beautiful marbled vinyl, now on Discogs for $13 (sealed!). Rick Astley red vinyl, now $21, etc. Bowie and Prince are widely available at original prices, no, Im not going to stand in line anymore. Maybe RSD releases will be rare 5 or 10 years after release but that’s fine, you have 5 to 10 years to get a copy. I guarantee that you will easily find a copy of Cure’s Show.

  114. A short intermission on behalf of BDSR.FM (again):

    Mine arrived yesterday in a bubble wrap envelope (not sure if it’s the same that lots of other readers here call ‘Jiffy Bag’).

    Regarding that it has travelled from New Jersey, USA to Germany it is in surprisingly good shape. One upper corner is a bit bumped, one lower corner and the lower front side have a really small dent but nothing for which i’ d search contact with Amazon.com for.

    Of course every one here who commented in the sub thread about Amazon acting eco-friendly has hit the spot that this kind of packaging may be various things but ‘eco-friendly’ certainly ain’t one of those…

    Still a decent deal which set my credit card about 47,50€ (about £42 at the moment of writing) back. Not the best i ever found (or have been told about) but still nice.

    I hope that Paul got his too by now and also didn’t have pot luck.

    End of intermission.

  119. The Kinks Muswell Hillbillies/Everybody’s in Showbiz box is down to $120 on Amazon US.
    I know that it has been less expensive in the UK recently, but I believe this is the best US price yet.

  120. Apologies to those who criticised my earlier post about the Dylan set. I tried twice to respond, agreeing with your comments, but for some reason (presumably technological), my comments disappeared after I’d posted them. The phrase I originally used ‘not exactly giving it away’ was wrong, and not quite what I had meant to say. One of your replies neatly summarised the point by talking about value. In other words, at £48 it was good value for money, but at £130, it wasn’t. It is, of course, a great set, and as I said at the time, I’m very pleased I’ve got it – thanks again, Paul. Best wishes all you music fans, and especially to Paul for running this site!

    1. No apology necessary (at least not to me).

      I got your point the first time and i think the others responding to you might have too.

      As i wrote elsewhere, not the best deal since time began (at least not for those of us who aren’t in North America) but still a nice surprise to get it that cheap so soon.

  121. Just got my two copies of Dylan, solid box with good packaging.
    Both perfect condition.
    My mates going to love me, he doesn’t have the Internet, so not privileged enough to know about this site.

    Great spot whoever it was, thanks.
    My best deal ever.

    1. Ordering two copies probably did help, wish I’d thought of doing that. Mine arrived this morning 5 days early, in a flimsy jiffy bag. Surprisingly only a couple of very minor dents and scuffs, so very happy with this bargain (from amazon US for under £42 inclusive of shipping and taxes, that’s £72 cheaper than the current amazon UK price). A big thank you to SDE for flagging this one up.

      1. Yep that was part of my thinking, regards it being packed in a bigger box. Also by ordering two copies, with all the fees, it worked out £37 per box, so slightly cheaper.

    1. Quirk for Factory obsessives: this 5 cd set was originally released in 1989 as facd296. It was basically a bundle of the 5 previously released cds in a card slipcase.
      Catalog facd276 was a short single-cd sampler.
      Someone apparently decided to use the simple and elegant sampler art (by Peter Saville) for the cover of this reissue.

  126. Hi Folks

    Level 42 – The Complete Polydor Years Volume Two
    Box Set, 10 CD Box Set
    £22.79 brand new on Amazon.
    A bit crafty this, they are showing it at £45.61 in main headline but if you go to
    ” new from ” they are also showing it at £22.79
    Be quick !

  127. My 5CD Dylan box just arrived. As expected it’s in a jiffy bag so some minor dents. Still worth it at that price considering I paid full price for all of the others in the series. Thanks again for the bargain alert.

  129. I just don’t get Amazon’s approach to eco-packaging. They send out expensive box sets etc in paper bags or thin eco packaging expecting it to go overseas etc BUT the level of damaged goods that ends up being returned and binned must be enormous. Surely this waste must have a far more damaging effect on the environment than using better packaging in the first place??!! And as for the disappointment for buyers and the trouble they have to go to sorting damaged goods out……..

    1. Amazon is all about automation and bots. Commom sense doesn’t exist. Over the past four years I’ve been increasingly buying from online independent retailers, Bandcamp, independent record shops and HMV. It might involve spending a couple more quid and sometimes the only viable option is Amazon, but I would hate Amazon to be the only option, which could happen if people don’t buy from elsewhere.

    2. Its the same with books. They used to send them out in specially adapted carboard packaging. Now they come in flimsy thin cardboard envelopes that allow for the book edges to get damaged. I guess it’s all to do with keeping costs down but the amount of returned items must make the savings negligible

    4. On one order recently i had to order the same thing 4 times to get a set that wasn’t smashed up as they kept shipping in their eco paper bags – thats 3 additional journeys for the driver & use of fuel/electricity. They keep talking about ‘help us to reduce the number of trucks on the road’ – delivering an item once in good condition instead of 4 times for the sake of saving on packaging would help !

  130. JUST GOT MY DYLAN, would never had sprung for the deal but for 27.00 it’s just too good to pass up. I am not much of a fan but this set is amazing! The book and music very well done. Bad thing is now I have selected two more of the boot series to buy…. So thanks SDE for the heads up.

  131. I just received my Dylan box in Quebec City. It was shipped in a kind of white plastic envelope, so not much protection and of course all the corners are dented, one particularly so much so that I can see the white cardboard underneath the colour paper of the box that was all torn out!!
    Horrible, not sure I want that in my collection even at that price!!
    Are they sending replacements or just a refund if anything?

      1. They offered to refund the $17 shipping cost, I accepted, it was that or I had to return it for a full refund which I couldn’t be bothered with, I can’t say I’m a huge Dylan fan, so I can live with that damaged box at $39 Canadian dollars after all!!

      2. I was on a chat session for a long time about my bashed corner. They were very keen on me returning for a refund and claimed that they would also credit me the $61 difference if I bought a new one after the return was refunded to me. This would still leave me paying lots of extra delivery charges whilst I tried to spend the $61, so didn’t seem that sensible for a bashed corner. Anyway, luckily for me, their end of the session crashed (or they got fed up with me and dropped it) and the person whop took over offered me a 20% refund (which is suspiciously $6.66 – what are they saying to me?), so I took that as a refund to my card. The moral of this story is that it almost always pays to moan a little bit if you’re not happy and these occasional small victories make up a little bit for the much more frequent full price purchases just before a massive price drop. The house always wins, basically. I’m also dead jealous of the person further down who got a Bowie box for £20.

  132. Fire Records UK currently offers 25% off just about everything (except pre-orders) with code FIRE25. That includes some mediabook, box set and deluxe editions from classic indie bands like Television Personalities, the Jazz Butcher, Pere Ubu, the Dream Syndicate and Neutral Milk Hotel, as well as earlier artists like Bert Jansch, Trees, and the Groundhogs. The discount brings the three and four CD sets down to the GBP 18-25 range, and the vinyl looks like a fair deal too.

    The label has an excellent roster, and the coupon works on its regular LP and CD offerings too, and applies to items already in the sale bin (e.g. Lemonheads, Bevis Frond, Bardo Pond).

    One caveat: Fire’s reissues usually omit bonus tracks that were included on earlier releases. You might want to take a quick look at discogs to see what (if anything) has been left off.

    Unfortunately for stateside customers, the code doesn’t work in the US webstore.

      1. Cromarty, Forth, Tyne, Dogger, Fisher – Heavy snow showers, good to moderate ; Dylan – damaged corners, occasionally poor.

        I managed to save further damage on my Jiffy Bagtastrophe Dylan boxset, when I intercepted my postman, who was just about to drop it through the letter box.

  133. Cat Stevens Teaser and the Firecat, deluxe vinyl edition is now down to $84 on Amazon US. It’s less expensive then the CD deluxe edition at that price, and includes the CD’s. As of two months ago when I ordered it, I was still able to get the replacement album from Universal for the incorrect vinyl LP that was included. Didn’t this start at $300?

  136. The Band’s “Cahoots” 50th anniversary SDE is currently USD $42.65 on Amazon.
    This gets you an LP, a 7”, 2cds and a blu-ray (with 5.1 surround); a 20-page booklet, and four prints.
    As discussed previously on SDE, there’s an incredible overlap across the formats. The audio content comprises the album, 8 outtakes and mixes, and 11 tracks selected from a 1971 concert, all of which is available on a 2 cd set that runs under $15.
    Is it me, or was the original $150 list price delusional? Anyone want to comment on the quality of the packaging?

    1. I was going to give you the price I originally paid for the Cahoots SDE but when I checked my Amazon order details it says I got for zilch, nada, gratis! When I checked further that was a replacement and I paid £113+ for my copy. There were £50+ in gift cards that went towards the cost which is why I probably paid the price so in $s, $150 isn’t far out. I think I’ve learned with these Band SDEs, they’ve all sold for less than half price later on. However having the thing to play on release to me is worth it. Sometimes.

  138. My Dylan box arrived Sunday. That aside I can’t believe the Bowie price!!! I originally pre ordered it and I’m fine with that BUT i can not believe that price! Now if that Beach Boys Sail On Sailor-1975 would come down a bit! Lol

  139. Dylan 5cd set arrived today in the UK, damaged, with a second item in same shipping box, crushed at one corner, as has happened before with Amazon. As per usual, only one piece of inner protection (one strip of bubble rather than paper, in this instance) at one end of the shipping box, and this is a heavy item. After an hour(!) on the phone as there are no replacements currently available other than market sellers at above $90.99, I eventually managed to receive a full refund of shipping and tax, plus 50% refund off the item without having to return it. Yes i’m moaning at having received it for $13.50, but Amazon need to listen…stop the pathetic packaging and the loss in time having to deal with it. It’s so annoying when there is then no replacement stock.

    1. It’s the total lack of any common sense that gets me. They send big, heavy, expensive box sets in woefully inadequate packaging (sometimes even NO packaging, just a label on the shrink wrap), and yet I recently ordered a CD, one single CD, and it was sent in a box big enough to fit a turntable in it, padded with about 20 metres of scrunched up brown paper. Absolutely senseless.

      Anyway my Dylan set has finally shipped, so now begins the anxious wait to see how it’s packed and what condition it arrives in…

  140. Thanks Paul (or whoever spotted the Dylan offer). I only ordered it on Monday morning, it was despatched from the US and has been received in the UK this morning. Like others, it was in a jiffy bag but no serious packing faults. This must go down as my second best deal (after snagging the Bowie ‘Who Can I Be Now’ CD boxset for £20 on Amazon a couple of years back).

    1. I live at high elevation in the southwestern United States–fairly remote, but not really–and we’ve had 140 inches of snow so far this year. I ordered the Dylan set Saturday morning, received it Wednesday afternoon. It’s hilarious to hear they’re getting stuff to Dublin faster! But on a non-sarcastic note, I’m so happy to have the box set at such an incredible price. Thanks SDE for getting the word out!

  142. Dylan box: mine shows as shipping yesterday (via Pitney Bowes). Today shows as undeliverable. It seems that the package is damage, it will be retuened and i will get a refund. So no luck for me this time.

    1. My copy arrived ok but my brothers set was shipped in a paper Jiffy bag & arrived smashed up, so Amazon had to pay for the return shipping & they offered to ship him a new one with free expedited shipping so not bothering to put the set in proper packaging has cost them nearly £60 in shipping costs, twice the price of the set itself – they love throwing away money. Not sure why anyone would think shipping a box set internationally in a paper bag is a good idea.

          1. I think it’s pot luck ! Apart from the odd huge box, most people seem to have receive theirs in paper Jiffy bags either in fine condition, with slight damage or totally smashed up. Every amazon order is a lottery !

  143. Not a deal per se but i think some readers will be delighted to hear that jpc.de is taking orders on the ‘Live And Dangerous’-SDE by Thin Lizzy again.

    Seems like Universal has come to their senses (again) and printed a second run.

    Currently 80€ and ready for shipping within three days.

    I expect other retailers to follow soon.

    1. I was late when the first press was released and the price was around 70€. Four weeks ago i did buy it from Discogs. It cost me 110€ with postage. Cheap compared some prices in Discogs. Lowest price at Discogs have been 169€ and highest 249€!

  147. Many thanks Paul, for the heads-up on the Bob Dylan set last weekend. I managed to bag a copy, which arrived this morning. In common with others, mine was the 5-CD set and as some others have reported, delivered in a lightly-padded jiffy (so minor scuffs, but nothing to worry about). I’m very pleased to have got this, although at £48 (including ‘expedited delivery’) for 5 CDs, plus a small book, this seems to me not exactly giving it away even at that price. It was completely off my radar at its ‘normal’ price. I probably would have bought the 2-CD set at some stage when it was below £20, but I’m very glad I have the expanded set for a reasonable price. I was lucky to catch the Revolver Italian deal before Christmas, too, so thanks to you for that as well.

    1. £50 is not exactly giving it away, but only half of that cash goes to Amazon and the other half is taxes and shipping for us in EU/UK. Price for U.S. customers was really just $27. Still not sure why Amazon did it but I’m not the kind to look a gift horse in the mouth.

      1. I agree with you Milosz though even 27$ is not ‘giving it away (for free)’.

        But that is not what the majority of people interested in this would have wanted.
        I think most of them understand completely that creating these kind of box sets costs money and will continue to pay a decent price for these offerings.

        Point here was that 120€ or £130 haven’t looked decent to lots of potential buyers.

        For myself i had decided to wait until it went under 70€ so even with taxes and shipping from the US i’m quite delighted with the offer.

    3. You make an interesting point in that £48 is hardly giving it away. As comments above say, I realise only 50% goes to Amazon and still a much better deal than the 2CD set. But it does make you think about how vastly overpriced these boxsets are. Surely a retail of around £50 in the first place is actually a fair price. I mean Springtime In New York is still around £110 mark on Amazon currently and the discs aren’t even maxed up to the 70 minute mark.

  148. Many thanks for the heads up on this amazing offer Paul. Ordered the set on Tuesday and paid a little extra for expedited shipping (total cost £48.00) – it arrived this afternoon!

  149. Re Dylan box – the usual Amazon pot-luck. My copy arrived today in UK in a paper bag – thankfully ok , but my brother who also ordered a copy received his in a paper bag & it was totally smashed up.

  150. I told a friend about this offer at the weekend. Just heard from him – he didn’t order until Monday. He didn’t pay for expedited shipping, but received notification overnight that it has been shipped by FedEx and should be with him by close of play tomorrow!
    Strange inconsistencies with how these orders are being processed…

  151. My Dylan box arrived in Barnsley today, fulfilled from Amazon UK. Paul, I have had loads of bargains (and now a couple of 5:1 Blu Rays!) over the years thanks to you, but this is the biggest bargain yet. I was one of those who had bought every other Dylan boxed set on the day of release, but drew a line with the ridiculous pricing of this one, deciding to wait for a bargain. But I wasn’t expecting a bargain a) this soon, and b) this cheap. There are going to be a lot of people very happy with you in the coming days and I am certainly one of them!

  152. My Bob Dylan box arrived in snowy Buckinghamshire this morning via DHL. Amazon packaging was twice the size it needed to be and no brown paper inside so there had been quite a bit of movement but only minor scuffing to the set. As everybody else has reported, it is the 5CD version.

    1. Ordered mine on Saturday and STILL not even sent yet. To be honest I don’t care if they use the Laurel and Hardy Transfer Company to ship it, I just want them to get on with it!

  153. Black Sabbath Technical Ecstasy Super Deluxe 4CD is £28.70 on Amazon UK (search “Sabbath Technical Ecstasy Super Deluxe Rhino” – the BMG set is still £35)

  154. Yep my Dylan box set is on it’s way to my brother’s in the mainland though I’m told it’ll be the 20th of March before it gets there, after that he has to post it on to me in Northern Ireland. It’s a roundabout route I know but because of Brexit that’s why I had to do it this way and even though I’ll be paying double postage it’ll still work out cheaper than buying it off Amazon’s UK website so thank you Paul once again.

    1. Yes mines been dispatched by Landmark (whoever they are) to me in the UK…. Landmark have 1.5 stars / 76% with 1 star (bad) reviews on Trustpilot… 4% of customers left 5 stars and 3% of customers left 4 stars….. I don’t hold much faith in it arriving – so will be interesting to see if it turns up.

      Was yours shipped by Landmark?

      4. Whether these things turn up or not is questionable (I’ve never seen a worse reviewed company than this Landmark – my guess is they’re cheap as Amazon have had to economise due to the insane markdown and hundreds of international orders).

        But I do enjoy watching the parcel bounce around the world. So far it’s moved from just across the Hudson from Manhattan in East New Jersey to west New York State, right on the Canadian border (so, technically further away from the UK than it started).

          1. Pitney Bowes is the company that run Ebay Global Shipping. They are usually pretty reliable (and expensive)

    1. I ordered mine on Sat afternoon, but still not shipped. Am I correct in assuming that unlike myself you used the expedited shipping option? If not, despatch may be somewhat random or dependent on the individual dealing with the order.

  161. My despatch email has come thru for a U.K. delivery- picture in it clearly shows the 5 CD set and the original retail of $101 reduced to $27

    Looking forward to this arriving- bargain of the year I reckon

  166. simply put. its not worth buying. more plastic and cardboard and not much more content than already available elsewhere. Bootlegs can be remastered at home as a hobbby with affordable software. And Bobby is a millionaire so, nah. Seen it, not impressed. Wonder how many will be returned as “faulty” and appear on a bay of some kind soon.

    1. It went like that this morning when I first tried to buy it, but very quickly became available again. If you haven’t grabbed one yet, keep trying, although I find this continued deal hard to believe.

  168. Deal on Dylan box seems to be over for good as they probably sold out all stock they had. I managed to grab my copy and I was already emailed that it shipped to my address in Poland. Happy days!

  170. Got my Dylan box set yesterday and have already been immersing myself in it, thanks so much for the alert,Paul!

    I almost bought this with my Christmas/birthday gift cards in January, but realized I could spread them across many other items instead and am so very happy I waited. Even my wife who tends to give a raised eyebrow at many of my SDE purchases told me I would be an idiot not to jump at this.

  171. Is there a reliable methode of paying without a creditcard on Amzazon.com?
    I bought the Dylan set at the cheap price but it seems impossible paying without creditcard.
    I live in the Netherlands.

    1. For me in Germany it isn’t possible to order from any abroad Amazon site (i e. not the German one) without a credit card.

      That’s nothing new though. It has always been that way since i first gave it a try in 2008 and ordered something from the UK site that was ridiculously cheaper than the price on the German site even including shipping cost.

    2. Same here in Poland. Only method of payment is credit/debit card. It’s strange that I can’t pay with Apple Pay or PayPal but that’s the way it’s always been with Amazon US.

  172. Astonishing price – although it doubled for me with shipping and VAT. They must have a huge amount of excess inventory – presumably this title undersold for the christmas market (because it was grossly overpriced). The discounts on the Kinks, this and other box sets strongly suggests that we should all wait until February or March to buy box sets. Its a mugs game otherwise.

      1. That’s what i meant to say Phil.

        It was announced and open for pre-orders before X-mas but you wouldn’t had anything physical to give as a present on X-mas Day…

  173. Another hand to raise: just received a message to say that my Dylan’s boxset is on the way to the UK – delivery estimate of 10 days. (and the McCartney box should arrive today from Italy!)

    1. I had exactly the same issue as I assume based upon your username that like me you’re in Northern Ireland which means because of Brexit we can’t avail. What I had to do was get it posted to my brother who lives in mainland and then ask him to post it to me when he gets it and then I’ll paypal him the money he’s out for postage which even allowing for that will still mean it’ll work out cheaper than than the UK Amazon site. If you know of someone either friend or family on the mainland that could be a possibility for you.

      1. Yes but that was because you’re in the Isle Of Wight I’m guessing and not Northern Ireland. Ever since Brexit I have always had problems with Amazon America, never had any before that.

        1. Yes I can see that now, replies crossed. We do have terrible delivery problems here too. Loads of companies will not send stuff to the IOW or even let you open an account. So I have to do what was suggested above, get it sent to someone on the mainland and forwarded to me.
          Hope you get it GBinBelfast.

  176. Due to the law of sod, I have been out of contact until this morning so assumed that I had missed this. I was kicking myself as this is the only big Bootleg Box I haven’t got. However, I have literally just ordered the Dylan set, which seems unbelievable. Due Monday 20th for £41.44.

  177. Ordered this at the weekend as had been waiting for a price drop from a UK £129.
    Took over a day to appear on my credit card app but this morning received an Amazon email stating ‘shipped’.
    I also thought that they may send the double and not the full set but all correspondence and images show the 5 cd set so hoping that’s the case.

    Price adds £7 postage and some VAT bringing it to around £41.

    Thanks

  178. Grabbed the Dylan boxset, fantastic price Paul, cheers.

    Dunno why everyone is questioning which format we will receive? It’s clearly listed as the 5CD boxset and priced accordingly albeit with a huge discount.

    If it gets shipped? That’s my only concern, I expect it to be the 5CD boxset, 100%.

    Keep up the good work guys

          1. Mine is now with DHL and tracking is showing on their systems. If they are fulfilling one international sale then I’m sure they will be fulfilling all.
            The fact that the offer has reappeared again today, and this is now showing as “No 1 sales in Rock” gives me confidence that this isn’t an error price and that they must just have a shed load unsold that they need to shift.

          2. Just been notified of shipment Paul, normal post and I live in Ireland. Happy days!! Thanks for the notification :-)

      2. Should that make any difference? We’ve all still paid for it plus shipping costs etc. and we’re not going to give them the hassle of returning it if it is the five disc set.

        1. Depends on how much stock they are holding. Shipping existing stock at a frankly absurd price is one thing, but ordering more in to then ship at this price is another. But from what people are saying, it’s looking reasonably good…

  179. Though the Dylan offer seemed to be over yesterday evening, when I finally saw the deal listed here, it is on again! Just placed my order. Getting that boxset for just under €50 is a steal.

  184. Deal on Dylan box is back again! I managed to place my order at 6 a.m. CET today. Here’s hoping it will arrive undamaged and indeed in 5CD form as advertised by Amazon.

  187. Mine just arrived about an hour ago from Amazon and it was indeed the 5 disc edition new and sealed with no damage that I could make out
    deal of the year so far imo

  189. On the question of will they/won’t they cancel. My order appears to be going through on the Amazon.com site and I have a £41 charge pending on my credit card. Still have to see what version turns up and, knowing Amazon US and their penchant for soft eco packaging, what condition! By the way, on an earlier too-good-to be-true-bargain, anyone else got a message from Rough Trade UK saying the listing of the Laura Nyro Box ‘American Dreamer’ for £45 (not £149) was a mistake so your order is cancelled?!!

    1. Yeah, that would have been nice, but at least I don’t feel too bad going for the Dylan box.

      After getting the Kinks muswell/showbiz big box, it all seemed to be happening after what seems like a couple of years of not much

  193. This is an unbelievable deal (or mistake) .. reminds me of 2009 when the Genesis (gabriel-era) boxed set came out .. I had no money and visited the Amazon page every day just to look at it .. like a kid passing a bakery on his way home from school. Then one day somehow the decimal point got moved and it went from $139.70 to $13.97 .. I nearly shat myself. I was shaking as I made the purchase (“should I buy 2.. should I buy 5?? Don’t be greedy.. don’t draw attention to yourself”). I couldn’t believe it when it finally arrived, and by then the price had been corrected. Take a look at the attached screenshot. Hopefully we all actually get the 5 disc Dylan set .. we deserve it

  195. Unbelievable Dylan deal. Good companion box for Paul’s blu Ray. Jumped on it right away. Own literally nothing by Dylan and now two Dylan purchases the past few weeks. $29 including free Prime shipping. SDE rocks!

  196. I received my Dylan 5CD box from AMZ US today ($27). It is indeed the box set. Looks like they are still available… Nuts. As per my posts below, this is also the 2CD price so assume this is a pricing error.

    1. Glenn, Thanks for the confirmation that you received the 5-CD version (it was a little worrying that it was the same price as the 2-CD). The price has increased now – still at a discount but now 36% off instead of 80% off – maybe they realised a mistake had been made. Hopefully outstanding orders will still be honoured.

        1. ‘Should’ doesn’t carry any legal weight. That’s why it’s usually best to choose expedited shipping, as if there is a mistake the expedited delivery items are more likely to have already been processed/shipped & it’s much more likely to be the be the slow-delivery orders which they haven’t processed yet that would be stopped before they ship.

    1. Have you received it yet? I saw the same deal on Amazon AU nearly two weeks ago and ordered it right away, but it hasn’t shipped yet. I’m half expecting the order to be cancelled.

    2. That’s an even better deal than the 27 US$ especially if you’re living in Oz.

      Seems that Sony seriously overestimated the demand and printed way too many to sell at the original price.

  199. Still listed and still let me buy it. You’d think by now they’d have noticed and corrected it if they wanted to.

    Thanks for the email Paul, even if I’m a bit late in reading it!

  203. Glad I was able to contribute and return the favor of notifying you all of a deal as I’ve been able to take advantage myself many times in the past.

    Hopefully it eases some of your minds knowing that I just received a notice from Amazon stating that my order has shipped. I hope y’alls will too soon.

  204. Hopped onto the bandwagon as well.
    Was underwhelmed by the original offer (120€ on Amazon.de) but to NOT give it a try at 28$ would be stupid as i’ve got all the other releases of Dylan’s Bootleg Series so far (except the 18-cd-set of ‘The Cutting Edge”).

    Even almost doubling the price because of VAT and shipping is for once not a dealbreaker.

    I would even chuckle in good humour if the set will be delivered by an Amazon hub in Germany but like others have written i’ll only believe that this deal will be fulfilled when the postman rings twice…

  205. Hmmmmmm what worries me is that Amazon.com have the EU 5 disc version for sale at £205 !!! I have ordered 3 hours ago and they money has not come out of my bank account yet so I have a BAD feeling that the order will either be cancelled or I will receive the two disc version even though they quite clearly are offering the 5 disc deluxe for £23. Problems will ensue if that happens as I will return it

    1. Yes, I have a bad feeling about this one too. I don’t want a £40 2CD edition and returning it could prove tricky.

      The 2CD and 5CD sets are now showing as exactly the same price, so it’s clear what’s happened.

    2. Well I bloody hope it is CANCELLED! All you Johnny come latelies jumping on His Bobness’s bandwagon.

      Seriously what a bargain this is, I almost ordered a second set at that price! I paid £96 for my Fragments 5CD set and I have no regrets whatsoever. This is a superb Bootleg Series set, ENJOY!!! You lucky people.

  206. That’s a great deal on the Dylan set. I was very tempted, but as I have most of the series on vinyl, I couldn’t justify it. The collector in me would’ve then needed to track down the other 16?

  207. Thank you Paul for this; was this a mistake on Amazon’s part, or 12-dimensional Amazon marketing chess that I will never understand? I can understand dropping the price by 25-35% if sales are slow, but 80% ? I welcome your/the forum’s thoughts.

    1. As I posted below I noticed that they marked the 5-CD set using the 2-CD price (to the penny). It is clearly the listing for the 5-CD set and shows ‘80% off’ but I assume it was a mistake yet I still expect to receive the 5-CD set. Mine is being delivered today (US Pacific Time) so will post here when it arrives.

  209. Just nabbed the Dylan deal. Being delivered today! Thanks Paul!

    I see the $27.76 price for Dylan is the actual price for the 2-CD version. Appears they accidentally assigned the 2-CD price to the 5-CD version. Oops. Looks like you can still get them (were unavailable 20 mins ago but back again…).

  212. This is the first time I’ve been able to nab one of these ridiculously mis-priced deals. I had been kicking myself for missing the previous deal with the 5 disc Fragments set when it dipped into the $70 range not long ago but it turns out me not paying attention back then worked in my favor in a major way. Amazon says it’ll be in my hands by 10pm tomorrow! Only downside is that I bought the 2-disc version when it came out so I sort of spent double the price.

  214. Just logged on to my emails and had to look twice at the Dylan ‘Fragments’ deluxe offer from the USA. At £27 surely this is some kind of a mistake. However I clicked on deal and ordered. Price in UK pounds 27.76 plus 12.85 shipping plus 8.12 US tax. Total price £41.44 (bearing in mind this is over £120 on Amazon UK). Thanks for the alert on this one, although I don’t think I’ll believe it until it actually arrives at my door, here’s hoping.

  216. This is even crazier than the Italian Let it be deal. 27 $ ! Even with taxes and shipping costs it’s an incredible bargain. Apparently, I will get it next wednesday. I really hope it’s the 5 CD set and that it’s not a mistake. It seems too good to be true. I ordered it anyway.

  225. Just tried to order the Dylan box and it said it was no longer available. But then I tried again, selecting expedited shipping, for an extra few quid, and it went through. Remains to be seen whether it gets cancelled, but at that price it’s a bargain, even if customs slap a fee on top.

    I’d bought all the previous Dylan boxes on the day of release, but this one was just too expensive, so I’ve been waiting for a deal. Wasn’t expecting one so quickly and so cheaply, so thanks Paul, you’ve come up trumps again!

  236. Thank you Paul – ordered! , I was waiting for the Vinyl box set to come down in price but it seems almost rude not to buy Dylan – Fragments @ £41.00 shipped to the UK

  240. Thanks for the alert re: Dylan. Just bought the 5CD set for £41.44 including shipping to the UK. That’s a massive difference from the current £107 Amazon.co.uk price.

  247. R.E.M.’s New Adventures in Hi Fi 25th Anniversary 2CD & Bluray is under 17 euros on Amazon Germany. It’s cheaper than the regular 2 CD version.
    Also the 25th Anniversary 5CD + bluray set of Monster is €78 on the same site. Is that cheap? Well it’s going for €136 on Amazon UK

    1. That Monster set has almost never dropped in price – I got mine for £30 from some Australian site a couple of years ago but that was a heck of a gamble (never used the site before or had something sent that far) and I’ve never seen it that cheap since. £50 seems to have been the standard price everywhere since its release. Even the digital version of the album has been stuck at £40. I’m not 100% convinced it’s worth £50 as a set.

    2. I got 5cd and blu-ray monster box from Amazon in2020 for£54.99.i suppose it’s a matter of luck.someones probably bought it for cheaper than that at another time

        1. Yeah – £39.99 I paid in HMV sale – sticker still on the shrink. I think it was only in store – don’t think it was online. Remember getting the Tears for Fears Hurting Box on the same day for £29.99. Glory days….

  255. Hi Paul,

    Thanks for the McCartney deal. I’ve just bought one for my friend and myself. I don’t need it, but the price is too good to miss out on. I’ve the McCartney II record from the time I bought it as a young boy, so it’ll be interesting to see if this recent pressing is an ‘improvement’ in sound or not?

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