Saturday Deluxe / 3 March 2018

Had my copy in the mail today, looks great. Thanks Paul! Bowie and Bush next, please!

My copy’s just arrived in the post, Paul.

Excellent work and fits nicely into the box set (and complements it beautifully).

You should add shipping to Israel option, Paul. As of now there’s no such option in your store.

Hands up those who are buying the booklet without the box set. I am tempted!

When I try to complete the order , I receive this message:
“Transaction rejected, please contact the buyer”

Any idea why the (paypal) transaction would be rejected?

Thanks Paul

As an American (ducking those tomatoes), could a Brit explain the appeal of Kate Bush?

Any chance of a second run of the McCartney booklet?

Kate Bush. Of course. But then, I’ll buy anything and everything with Kate Bush’s name on it so perhaps I’m biased.

You ought to write a full-length book Paul! “My Life In Music” sort of a deal…a book of memoirs, covering all the bands you’ve worked with and the people you’ve had the pleasure to interview would be great!

It looks like you and Barry Page could put together a decent booklet for the forthcoming proto-Aha “Bridges” album.

Errr oops, sorry about that……

FRANKIE. And..

Not sure if it’s possible, but maybe one on the various people who do remastering (not just Steve Wilson). those who do both CD and Vinyl

This is possibly outside your own area of interest, Paul, but you’d find Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) a very accessible and loquacious interviewee – I think most of the SDE regulars, Tull-interest nothwithstanding, would regard the Jethro Tull / Steven Wilson series of deluxe album ‘book sets’ as a kind of gold standard in terms of content, presentation and VFM. Ian’s a very intelligent fellow – he would have lots to say of general interest as regards the changes in music and the business of selling music/repackaging music from the 60s to the present, let alone the success of the Tull album-by-album book sets.

If memory serves – and it may be a bit shaky here – these began with a 2CD slip-cased version of ‘Aqualung’ (1971) several years ago, followed by expanded/remixed versions of ‘This Was’ (1968) and then ‘Stand Up’ (1969. It was only at that point that Steve Wilson became part of the picture and these ‘book set’ editions started appearing, in chronological order. Both ‘Aqualung’ and ‘Stand Up’ have since been re-presented (with addition SW involvement and audio content) as ‘book sets’ and the word is that a SW version of ‘This Was’ will appear soon – leaving ‘Benefit’ (1970) the only one yet to be upgraded to that format.

I think you’d have a lot to talk about, both Tull reissue-wise and in more general terms – applicable across the industry – of successful/viable ways of balancing bells-and-whistles reissuing with affordability. For instance, Ian eschewed licensing the long-sought BBC ‘Sight & Sound In Concert’ (1977) for an extra disc in the ‘Songs From The Wood’ set because the cost was too great. He clearly thought in terms of RRP to the punter in that instance. It’s a balance…

As an aside Paul, and only speaking for myself, we all have preferences…BUT… I am here because I trust your judgement and the general good nature of the blog replies. I have had my own thoughts backed up, I have had new thoughts that have turned around old prejudices and I have had new thoughts that I never even thought about before…. I would make a wild stab in the dark that other than those who really couldn’t give a toss (currently 12% or 1 in 8) most here also trust your judgement and whichever you went for we would know it would be a worthwhile and enjoyable addition to a box set.
Bush, Burns, Bowie, TFF or Prince. Whichever you go for doesn’t really matter.

I would love anything on Bowie! Other ideas: something with Steven Wilson on both his own music and the remixing/remastering of orher artists’ music. Also, anything on Price would be very interesting. And, perhaps a little far-fetched: if we could get a word from the people involved in curating Dylan’s outstanding Bootleg Series.
Thanks for the hard work, SDE is by far my favourite web site for anything music-related!

A full fledge two parts interview with Steven Wilson, covering his own work and how he mixes it to stereo and multi channel (artistical approach ans technical approach) and his work for other artists. I would love to know the differences when he works on his work and the works of others

Back in 1972 you could read the following lines on the back cover of the german 45 „Virginia Plain“:

„Die unwahrscheinlichste LP des Jahres! Eine Mischung aus Musik der 50er, 60er, 70er und 80er Jahre“
(„Most unlikely LP of the year! A Mix of music from the 50´s, 60´s, 70´s and 80´s)

(https://www.discogs.com/Roxy-Music-Virginia-Plain-The-Numberer/release/558204)

Well, if ever there was an advertising slogan true than this one!

Hi Paul, Love this idea of booklets, could I add my suggestion?
I’ve ordered the Simon & Garfunkel ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ Box Set
one step mastering edition from Soundstage @ $99.99 ( I know I must be mental)
However a booklet on S&G to accompany this iconic release would be amazing..
CERTAINLY my all time favourite album (Also hoping they might do ‘Sounds of Silence’) …. love S&G …Hope you think this might work

You should do all 3 booklets: Pete Burns, A Life Listening To Bowie and Kate Bush. I voted for Pete Burns because he passed away pretty quickly after the interview. I used to joke about his plastic surgery and in your interview you asked about it. He explained he just had to do that. I felt so stupid and judgemental reading that. Never too old to learn. Anyway, I’ll buy any booklet. The interviews and articles have great insights plus I want to support your site. I enjoy it every day, several times a day. I recommend all regular readers buy the booklets in support of SDE.com

Alan Parsons please
Thanks Paul

You picked really nice photos for that.. with Manzanera’s beautiful smile, and Mackay so handsome…

At the end of A Life Listening to David Bowie: part 3, I read: “This was going to be a three-part piece of Bowie, but I’ve made some C-C-C-C-Changes to that plan and the final part, covering Lodger, Scary Monsters and Outside to Reality will be posted soon.” But I can’t find it! Did you write something, Paul, or will it be for a special SDE Publications?
BRAVO for your music blog!

Maybe any prince related article?

Any Tears For Fears!!! Count me in for a “Seeds Of Love” box set booklet someday soon. :)

How about something to go alongside some of the sites you have worked on such as Thompson Twins, Tears for Fears etc…a combination of artists input and your personal feedback would make a nice mix…

Would love a Bowie mag but how about a ZTT covering Frankie, Art Of Noise Propaganda etc etc

Been meaning to push the button on this for the last week or so and this was the final push I needed. The Macca edition was very nice indeed. The Bowie option might be nice around the 83-90(?) box set later in the year but if you wanted to do another one prior to that I’d be up for that.

Peter Burns: The Last Interview!
As a companion to the Sophisticated Boom Box MMXVI sets.
Great work, Paul! :)

I love the Uncut specials about one particular artist (though they need to widen the circle, and stop re-issuing certain ones). Could be a market for certain ones of those that Paul likes, but maybe with a collectable / re-issue / SDE slant – like the DD Wedding Album one of a couple of weeks back) with personal opinion, mixed with useful detail about the releases.

Come to think of it, that could a kick-off one : A Duran Duran one, looking back on the box sets, collectables, etc etc.

There’s a massive gap for this sort of thing…

I’m up for Before The Dawn, by the way.

You definitely need to collect your Bowie articles together as they eerily mirrored my own life!! I’m also still waiting for the half promised 4th installment!!

Interesting idea Paul, a regular booklet with the key release of the last 6 months to a year kind of thing. I guess it is dependent on what you can put together, who you can talk to and what there is to say. The key to it is the release should have something lacking that you can add, if the producers do their job properly then you would have little left to say. But the two so far Roxy and Macca have both left room for your brand of SDE improvement.
A Before the Dawn book would be awesome, particularly if you got so much as a single word from the Lady herself, even a “No” to the question of “Do you mind if I do this?” would put you in a very small group. But with David Rhodes already in the bag what could be added to that? You know the issues of loyalty that surround Kate, getting something juicy and worthwhile would be tough, but if anyone could do it I am sure you could. there is a list of celebrity attendees, some of who I am sure you would have access to, Del Palmer is the coolest of guys and would always be good for a few insightful words, if he felt up for it. Do you have access to anybody else in the band, Bertie’s perspective would be interesting to know too, shoot for the stars…..approach Kate, you never know.