Saturday Deluxe / 2 April 2022
a-ha, Sex Pistols, George Michael, Associates
“Loads” of a-ha reissues in the pipeline, including Hunting High and Low.
In a Q&A posted on the band’s website, a-ha manager Harald Wiik confirms extensive reissue plans. Fan Joanna Kowalska asked Wiik if there are “any plans for more deluxe editions of past albums (Analogue, Foot of the Mountain)” and the manager responded as follows:
“Yes. Loads. A vinyl box of the first 5 albums as well as a 6 album super deluxe Hunting High and Low is in the works. We are also working on deluxe editions of Analogue and Foot of the Mountain.”
Wiik also confirmed that there will be vinyl reissues of Memorial Beach and Analogue. While he didn’t mention 1990’s East of the Sun West of the Moon specifically, it is highly likely that album will be reissued on vinyl at the same time as Memorial Beach since, for unknown reasons, those two did not get the vinyl treatment when the CD deluxe editions came out in 2015.
It is surprising to hear that a super deluxe of Hunting High and Low is in the works. A very good 2CD deluxe was issued in 2010 and a 30th anniversary 4CD+DVD super deluxe edition in 2015 felt like the last word on that album with a tremendous amount of mixes, demos and video material. SDE spoke to Bill Inglot at the time, the veteran consultant who helped to put that set together.
No timeline was shared for these reissues and later this year the band will release their 11th studio album, True North.
John Lydon says new Sex Pistols best of is “substandard”
Unhappy with Danny Boyle’s plans to use the Sex Pistols music in the forthcoming Pistol dramatisation on Hulu/Disney+, John Lydon sued his old bandmates and lost.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, he’s also not thrilled with The Original Recordings, a companion ‘best of’ which was announced this week, and he has turned his ire on Universal Music. His official twitter account had the following to say:
A follow up tweet also added that Lydon “and his team were not involved in producing this compilation and consider it substandard compared to previous Universal releases since 2012”.
You can read more about The Original Recordings here.
George Michael’s ‘Younger’
If you follow SDE on twitter or Facebook, you may have seen a post yesterday where we reported that “the forthcoming Older reissue will feature a themed collection of unheard George Michael demos, collected under the ‘Younger’ moniker”.
Sadly, as I’m sure you probably worked out all by yourself, this was an April Fools jape, although if Sony ever want to pinch the idea, they are welcome to it!
Read about Older reissue speculation here.
Associates Sulk reissue
Last week, SDE told you about the 40th anniversary deluxe reissue of The Associates 1982 album Sulk. The SDE shop has an exclusive. All orders come with a free 6-track CD single of the classic ‘Party Fears Two’. I’m pleased to confirm that this CD single is limited to just 500 copies, so if you are interested then head over to the SDE shop via this link or just use the button below to place your order directly!
EU SHIPPING NOTES: If you are ordering from the EU please be aware that that goods may be subject to import VAT when they arrive from the UK. The prices the SDE shop charge you do not include VAT.
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There’s a wonderful YouTube clip from 1983 of an unknown Morten Harket dancing in the celebrated London goth club, The Batcave.
He looks like a totally cool cross between Martina Navratilova and Toyah.
Nice spot. It reminded me very much of the few seconds of a very young (pre-Wham!) George Michael in a tight red suit dancing in the Soul Boys of the Western World documentary on the Spandau boys.
The Batcave clip as a whole reminded me of two things. a) Michael Barratt, he is still alive and 94! Such a part of my childhood as “Nationwide” filled our homes with silliness like “Spaghetti trees in Italy” and the Police singing “Sue Lawley” on their new single and b) The well-used clips of the New Romantics in Blitz.
Another super deluxe of HHAL?
I’d rather see a super deluxe of Scoundrel Days. :)
You and me both :)
What could be added that was missing from the previous one??
Well to be fair, there was a 2CD deluxe edition of Hunting High and Low (in 2010 I think) before the 4CD + DVD version released in 2015 so who’s to say there isn’t a similar amount of Scoundrel Days-era material waiting to be uncovered, packaged and sold?
I think that Shane means ‘what could be added to HHAL,’ not referring to SD. A super deluxe version of SD? Now THAT would be interesting!
Ah right – my apologies.
If Shane’s referring to HHaL then I totally agree!
A-ha Movie is coming up: https://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/a-ha-the-movie/
The original film is in Norwegian, is the international version dubbed or subtitled? There are two versions on Amazon so you have to be careful which one you buy.
It has to be assumed that if John Lydon was ‘hands-off’ on The Original Recordings, it was most likely through petulance, rather than exclusion. Paul Cook has spoken months ago about ‘building bridges’ and Lydon still remains an equal partner in Pistols Residuals. Regarding the artwork, I am surprised anyone ‘approved’ it, except for the copyright holder of the photograph; and as for the track listing, well, what is there to perm from? The [ridiculous] title excludes any live tracks, or should – the Sidney tracks shouldn’t fall under that banner, nor the couple of what are essentially proto-Professionals numbers. Presumably it could be argued by anyone with too much time on their hands that ‘original’ means ‘original group run 76-78‘, but apart from the ‘Triptols’ version of ‘Anarchy’ in 2007 there wasn’t anything outside that run anyway. You could pick almost any Pistols’ song title on there and it would work better than TOR. Why not call it Pretty Vacant, it sums up much of the era and the comprehension of punk.
On a tertiray note, did anyone see John L on the Punk doc on Sky Arts last night? My stars, he looked like Yoda, and I say that out of concern, not sarcasm.
Regarding your concern, I’ve read that his wife of 43 years or so is suffering from dementia and that he is her sole caregiver which must be very stressful for him. He does look quite heavy which is shocking to see. I do hope that his weight isn’t a sign of some underlying health issue as certain meds such as steroids can make one become quite bloated. Regardless, I do hope he takes care of himself. Just last night, I watched the excellent PIL documentary, and I came away with a changed attitude toward the man. I used to find him an angry, self-righteous prick. After watching the film, I find him less angry and self-righteous, and more passionate and sympathetic. Even empathetic. He even intimated that Johnny Rotten may be more of a role he plays for the press and public. Fascinating stuff. I highly recommend watching.
This compilation made me listen to the Pistols again. And no matter how questionable some aspects of the band are, the music is still relevant. I can’t imagine how lonely they must have felt, in the beginning (late 75-early 76). Because they sounded like no other band. Those were the days when Yes played sold-out shows at The Madison Square Garden ! How untrendy the Pistols were at the time !
I think I’m covered with the 4 disc HH+L from a couple of years back – although I might be tempted to spring for a 5.1/Atmos blu-ray, if it were to come to pass….
I have all the others, but I missed out on the “Memorial Beach” and “East Of The Sun, West Of The Moon” deluxe editions CDs. Any that you can find on eBay have ridiculous prices. I would love to see a straight reissue of those two.
I got on those immediately not just because they were the next installments of a-ha expanded remasters but EOTSWOTM had the DVD debut of Live In South America by Lauren Savoy…and they are now on Sony, really?? And looking forward to the deluxes of Analogue & FOTM…
Analogue and FOTM already had deluxe versions when they were released. Digipak instead of jewelcase with a bonus DVD – but with next to nothing on it; just a few music videos and live versions.
I think Harald was saying that the new HH&L was going to be a vinyl version with just the audio from the 2015 version over 6 albums. All I’d like from this period of a-ha’s career is to hear Tony Mansfield’s side of the story regarding the production of the album. Sadly he’s completely retired from the music scene and has disappeared from public view. I’m disappointed with the way a-ha have dismissed his contributions to the album so it would be nice to get a more rounded picture and find out some of his production techniques.
Harald also mentioned in that interview that a-ha are now under contract with Sony. Having already issued music with Warners and Universal this could make future compilations a nightmare or have Sony now got the rights from their entire career?
2 new songs from True North have been played live – and went straight onto You Tube, based on them it sounds like this could be a good album. Shame Morten has Jetlag during the gig.
As a big fan of Tony’s work I’ve also always felt that his contribution has been brushed aside by the band. However I guess if they felt his production wasn’t working then that’s their decision.
I’ve recently been enjoying the New Musik vinyl reissues which all sound very good (to my ageing ears) aside from one terrible fault. A very talented songwriter and excellent producer/arranger.
At one point there was talk about him releasing some new material and a CD of tracks was even made available (unofficially) at one point but nothing happened and he has definitely slipped off the radar since then.
I’ve never managed to track down a copy of the CD unfortunately…
Ah well, at least we have New Musik!
Paul – interesting stuff regarding John Lydon’s comments regarding the Pistols release. Thanks for sharing.
Just a guess but I think the Hunting High And Low box he’s referring to will probably be the previously released cd set on vinyl, 6 lps sounds about right for the content.
You could be right.
Good guess but I tend to think it’s pointless to release demos on vinyl (CD 2 of the box set).
As CD 3/4 are 7’’, 12’’ and different mixes, they should have bundled the album and the 12’’ singles in one box set. 12’’ singles, mixes, remixes is what we want in vinyl.
I like Depeche Mode 12’’ Singles box sets but it would have been a good idea to include the album in the box sets.
Next I would love the same for The Smiths. All 4 studio albums with all the 12’’ singles of the same era.