Saturday Deluxe / 31 October 2015
Just tell me that you want me – Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk box
This week’s really big news was that Rhino are to reissue Fleetwood Mac‘s 1979 album Tusk as an 8-disc box set. This is almost three years after Rumours got the same treatment, making Paul McCartney‘s six-months-to-a-year hit rate when it comes to reissues look positively rushed.
Eight discs sounds quite impressive, although a close inspection reveals that four of the discs (CD 1, LP 1 & LP 2 and DVD) simply repeat the same content – the Tusk album, albeit the DVD gives us a 5.1 surround mix.
The biggest grumble from fans judging by the comments left here on SDE is the fact that the two vinyl records are being bundled in as part of the super deluxe set. Fans that have no interest at all in buying vinyl records (a majority, regardless of the vinyl ‘resurgence’) are forced to buy them because the box set with the 5.1 and live material isn’t available without them.
I have to say, I have a great deal of sympathy for this point of view. In fact, I’d go further and say even if you are a vinyl lover you probably aren’t that interested in the vinyl in this box either, because if it’s anything like the LP in the Rumours box it will be a thin pressing, in a low-grade paper white inner sleeve (i.e. not poly lined) and exhibiting no ‘audiophile’ qualities at all. Collectors who buy vinyl are looking for quality pressings, probably on 180g vinyl. Rumours was pressed on a limited edition double 45RPM pressing a few years back – that is the kind of thing that’s of interest, not something bundled in with a load of other content, done on a budget. Also, perhaps you have an original pressing at home that you know will never be beaten, so why would you want a new one with your CDs and DVDs?
Rhino would make more money by not doing this, so why they insist on including the vinyl is a mystery. The Tusk box is £48 on Amazon UK at the moment. If you removed the vinyl, you would still be left with a 5CD+DVD package, giving you a six disc set for less than £50. The Jam‘s new Fire and Skill box is six-CDs for about £60. The forthcoming Simple Minds Once Upon A Time box set is a 5CD+DVD set and is retailing for £44. So I don’t think fans would be outraged at the Tusk box set as it stands being available minus the vinyl for between £40 and £50.
It would also be a hell of a lot easier to store. If you don’t buy vinyl, the likelihood is that your shelving and storage situation is designed to cater primarily for CDs, so these 12″ x 12″ boxes are going to be nothing short of a pain.
The only saving grace is that this isn’t £100 like the Led Zeppelin boxes. It’s cheap enough to shrug your shoulders, give the records to some mates and enjoy the stuff you are into – CDs, DVDs etc.
What do you think about vinyl being bundled in with CD/DVD box sets? Leave a comment!
Read more about the Fleetwood Mac Tusk reissue here.
Queen combo price-drop
If you’ve been keeping an eye of the forthcoming Queen A Night at the Odeon set then you may be aware that the CD+Blu-ray combo pack has dropped in price (from £30) and is now available for about £23 in the UK. In fact there’s a reasonable chance that may drop further – you can keep an eye on prices here.
If you are determined to pick-up the super deluxe box set then I’d ignore Amazon UK for the time being and perhaps shop at Amazon France where It’s less than £80 at the time of writing.
Read more about Queen’s A Night at the Odeon here.
The Beatles’ Christmas Record
When Universal and Apple announced The Beatles‘ forthcoming 1 video collection there was talk of a new vinyl edition coming ‘later’. I actually expected this to come out in early 2016 but this is the Fab Four we are talking about here and there is now a release date of early December and the 2LP set can already be pre-ordered from Amazon UK to arrive on doormats before Christmas. It’s a bit overpriced at the moment although the Italian pre-order price isn’t bad.
This is the same 27-track compilation and the same double-LP set but the difference is that this contains the brand new stereo remixes that were created (by Giles Martin) alongside the 5.1 surround mixes, for the CD/blu-ray and CD/DVD sets.
Read more about The Beatles 1 release here.
SDE ChartWatch
The brand new UK charts were announced yesterday. SDE takes a look at the movers and shakers with regards to reissues and box sets.
David Gilmour‘s Rattle That Lock finally drops out of the top ten in the physical UK album chart (for the first time since its release six weeks ago. For an hour or two this week you could have picked up the CD+Blu-ray version of this for a tenner over on Amazon Italy. I was toying with doing a ‘deal alert‘ but it’s cheapness must have been brief because it had gone up again, when I next looked!
Meanwhile Mogwai‘s Central Belters retrospective is a new entry at number 26 which is quite impressive. This equates to number 40 on the ‘normal’ album chart. I have the vinyl box of this, so look out for a SDEtv video soon!
I’m personally really pleased to see the Susanna Hoffs and Matthew Sweet‘s Completely Under The Covers box set do so well. It enters this week’s physical chart at an impressive no. 41, thanks in no small part to the fantastic price point of the 4CD set which was under £14 on Amazon for ages (gone up a bit now). If you haven’t read my interview with Susanna then check it out here, and watch me take a look at the 6LP coloured vinyl set here.
We almost had an a-ha-free week in the UK physical chart last week, but with the three new reissues out that was bound to change yesterday when the new chart was published.
Sure enough, Stay On These Roads enters at no.81 with not much more than a hair’s breadth between Memorial Beach (no. 96) and East of the Sun West of the Moon (no. 99). A tad disappointing perhaps, although the band are rather pre-occupied, busy promoting their new record. Also, I’m sure the issues with the Stay On These Roads booklet didn’t help (see last week’s Saturday Deluxe for more) because some people were complaining of it being hard to get hold of.
Finally Duran Duran‘s Paper Gods is back in the UK’s top 100 physical albums chart, albeit it has scraped back in at no. 94. We can put this down to their appearance on Jools Holland’s BBC TV show Later… last week. On the Tuesday’s live programme they performed Pressure Off and Notorious. The longer broadcast on Friday included What Are The Chances? and Wild Boys. Interestingly, a couple of days later the band appeared on Italian X-Factor. I imagine if they had repeated their 2007 appearance on the UK show then this would have had a bigger impact on Paper Gods in the UK chart.
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But if you did want it, it has dropped to £44.99 on Amazon UK now. My previous record player was broken in a trans-continental house move and I never got round to replacing it. Until tomorrow, when a turntable (though a lowish priced one) will arrive, and complete my home set-up. It will be interesting to play them to the kids (aged 8 and 6), who saw some LPs on the wall in HMV the other day (on a display, not in sleeves, just the vinyl) and said “do those big CDs really play?”
Scotty, a white vinyl copy on 180g from Mo-Fi (of Rumours anyway) would be my dream. Bugger all the rest of the stuff in a box; sometimes I love getting all that content, but mostly I would be happy with just a pristine stereo version. After all, if you really need a copy to play in the car say, you can always use Audacity or similar to ‘record’ vinyl into the digital realm and make your own CD or suchlike.
For those of us that love vinyl and appreciate re-issues (particularly if they’ve been remastered (again), I could care less about the useless, sterile music found on CD’s and the last time I ever “watched” a full music DVD was Peter Gabriel’s “Secret World” back in about 1989. I’m an audiophile. I collect vinyl. I listen to music almost exclusively on a stereo now. I’ve even started boycotting some of my favorite bands for NOT returning to offer a vinyl alternative. (And there are a few bands who have recorded records over the past few years where there is no digital release and there’s no CD. Just vinyl. And no download code. I love it! The tide has turned.
No one has ever been able to prove to me with their systems that their CD’s sound no different than mine; pristine emptiness.
So I’m offended I’ve got to buy a bunch of junk just to get to the meat of the matter. Fleetwood Mac. Why anyone would have bought that “Rumors” junk box three years ago, remains a mystery to me? My LP version was remastered at 1/2 speed from original source tapes and lovingly released by Mo-Fi Records. I hope “Tusk” ends up there, too, someday. The superdeluxe stuff that is being put out is getting pretty silly with how “superdeluxe” is defined by the industry. I don’t need 6 discs (who would buy CD’s is MY question?) of Tears for Fears. A newly remastered one? Sure. But they didn’t even release “The Hurting” on vinyl when that boxed set came out last year. Waste of money. And yet, the next two Tears for Fears records HAVE gotten the mobile fidelity treatment in a limited number, like all Mo-Fi records are.
I love the service this site provides. It gave me the jump on the lowest prices on three deluxe items so far. But with band merchandise being “banded” together, I’m wasting a lot of money on things like tote bags or t-shirts or CASSETTE tapes (forget it) as incentives for suddenly paying $75 for a remastered favorite LP of mine, when I’d been happy to have paid just for the vinyl. The gimmick is getting old, fast. Eventually folks won’t have any option to buy anything BUT a bundle. And then the industry will cry and say “sales are down”. Ho hum.
I think the vinyl will be available separately, either as part of this release or shortly after.
How did you manage to watch Secret World on DVD back in about 1989 when the concert wasn’t recorded till 1994 as well as the fact DVD’s hadn’t even been invented then and it wasn’t released on DVD till 2003 ??
Scotty, The Hurting was released on vinyl by Universal. There’s a post about it on this website. And “useless, sterile music” depends much more on how the album was recorded and mixed rather than the medium on which it’s presented. It seems like you haven’t even heard some of the improvements that digital audio has gone through, and there is frankly no argument whatsoever that an “audiophile” is not going to like digital sound period, particularly not with hi-res on e.g. blu-ray cancelling out all the “the sampling rates are too low” discussions.
You love that some bands are shutting out people who might want to have their music on portable devices? Freedom of choice no?
“I don’t need 6 discs (who would buy CD’s is MY question?) of Tears for Fears.”
Well, MY answer is I do, and that’s why I bought it… I didn’t have any of the singles (I’m 21) so I found lots of great material particularly among the extended versions, as well as the demos/early versions which provide some fascinating insight (e.g. what those eerie voices at the end of MT are!) and the documentary wasn’t in my collection either yet. The new mixes on DVD-A were an added bonus.
IMO, these TFF boxes were some of the best and most thought-out I’ve ever encountered (despite the lack of printed lyrics :P) and there’s no need whatsoever to talk badly about them. If you’ve still got your old 12″ singles, play them instead!
Quite frankly I’m sick of the constant release of albums that have already been reissued previously when there are other albums in an artist’s catalogue that have yet to be even revisited once. Fleetwood Mac are a case in point.
As someone who does like vinyl I still have to agree that it’s wrong to force it on those who are not interested. Personally I find the 5.1 mixes of no interest so unless the DVD/Blu-ray has a hi-res stereo mix then this particular format is wasted on me. All down to personal preference and I think Universal generally get it right when they issue stuff separately – the Songs From The Big Chair reissue being a case in point – single CD, 2Cd, blu-ray audio, vinyl and super-duper big box. Duplication of formats in one box is not a good idea.
I don’t agree with the majority. I like the entire package and like that it is issued with vinyl. My only gripe is that because of the collectibility of the boxset, it would be super cool if they colored the vinyl like marbled cream or something that matched the original Tusk album. With that peeve aside, I like to have all formats in one box. I am just happy they are releasing this boxset.
Baward, That would be great if true!
Sadly Paul Rhino isn’t going to use the common sense that you suggested. I agree with you. Heck, I’d be happy a relesse like they did for Moondance.
I wouldn’t be surprised if at Rhino Towers as we speak they are working out designs and a release date for a 5.1 DVD-only disc without all the rest of it.
I’ve been buying music for close on 50 years and have always been a sucker for the deluxe editions, especially when they contain at least one nanosecond of previously unreleased material. I’ve always loved music in boxes too and, having started out with vinyl, then rejected it for CD, my collection now has a lot of both (7000 and counting). I like having the vinyl with the CD. It does, sometimes, sound better (check out The Doors on 45rpm heavyweight vinyl) and I guess there is some nostalgia in it for me. The storage argument I find difficult to understand because if you’ve bought the King Crimson, Who, Beach Boys, Stones etc SDEs, then you still have awkward packages to store, the Rolling Stones (Grrr, Some Girls) being more difficult than most as they don’t fit into a normal size vinyl space. I’m sure we all feel that the record companies are taking us for a ride but they know that fans will be unable to resist – well this one anyway.
Paul, thank you for this site but you are costing me an awful lot of money! Are you employed by the government to boost the economy? :-)
Well I am the other way around, just to be awkward. I don’t buy CDs, if it isn’t available on Vinyl I use spotify. I own two CDs. The Crises SDE which had some live concert recordings I was at and the CD / VHS double pack of Kate Bush Live at the Hammersmith Odeon 1979. That’s it. But I do agree, keep them separate. I would go one further. What I am seeing is the vinyl element of these SDEs are identical or inferior to the original pressing. They would shift more units if they kept everything separate and made the LP version of an SDE a quad LP. I won’t pay £60 for a bunch of CDs to get the Vinyl which is inferior to the original. BUT I would pay £60 for a quad LP with all of the b-sides, demos and remixes done properly. I didn’t buy the Hunting High and Low SDE because I have no time for CDs but would have paid £60 for that content on Vinyl. The Industry is a mess at the moment and the reason why Vinyl is resurgent isn’t JUST because of old gits like me who love it. It’s difficult to pirate. A Vinyl edition is a guaranteed sale. It can’t be downloaded or spotified. You want it on Vinyl you have to go out and buy it. So split the content. The CD lovers get what they want, the Vinyl Lovers get what they want (in lovely 12″ artistic size) and they sell twice as many copies that no-one turns their noses up at. Seems simple to me. What’s wrong with that
I think that, in this case, as long as the vinyl retains the same amazing original packaging (multiple inserts, embossed doggie pic) then it — to me — is well worth the inclusion. It’s a work of art in itself!!
So gimme!!
Serious question – how many sold cds/vinyl does it need these days to hit the physical charts at #94? Was ist 295 or 321?
The chart watch is of course a nice item (used to do my own charts for years and am still fascinated with say the Top 25 from Finnland in 1987 or), although with the amounts sold it makes virtually no difference if a disc hits #81 or #92, I fear, the difference in sales will be rather marginal.
Don’t know. The official chart company won’t give numbers because of their agreements with labels.
Some box sets are very expensive some are very cheap! Don’t know how record companies pick their prices (and they have way too much freedom in that) but when I pay a lot of money I want everything in it! Paul Simon’s Graceland box set (for example) was too expensive for not having a vinyl album included or a 5.1 mix. So I buy box sets when the content matches the price!
I did buy the Division Bell without a second thought. But I don’t need this vinyl. It seems they could make a lot more money by releasing dvd-a or blu-ray by themselves. It’s like killing the goose laying golden eggs out of greed. Put it at a reasonable price and watch the money roll in.
I’d love to have this, but I think I’ll wait and hope for a standalone release.
even for some vinyl lovers like myself, this set is kind of a ripoff. most people who would even be interested in this kind of extended material already have the album on CD and vinyl–maybe even the already-remastered version that came out back in 2004 along with a bonus disc of outtakes. I’m still going to get the big bundle but just because that’s the only way to get the “alternate tusk” and live discs. figure do what the article says…give the discs i don’t need to friends.
Totally agree with the vinyl argument,i have a loft full,great at the time but fluffy needles warps and static i can do without.
The artwork and lyric sheets i miss but not that much.
I have a huge collection of cd’s and don’t collect vinyl ..
So.. if vinyl is included … in a box set with cd’s + rarities . I don’t buy it
same for CD/DVD/BLURAY Combo I like CD and BR individual
Richard
I play my records. So I like the inclusion of vinyl in me SDEs. However, I favor a vinylless SDE option for those who do not share my affliction.
I’ll add my comment.
No more vinyl in deluxe box sets please.
If I was a vinyl collector (I’m not) I wouldn’t want it on CD either
It’s a joke what these companies do with music!
I have no use for vinyl. I stopped buying it in 1979.
Regarding the Tusk box set, it would be a bit daft to “give the records to some mates”. Judging by the photo in your original post about it, it wouldn’t make the box set any smaller!
Well, perhaps they want it….
Any news on how to get hold of a new, unfaulty booklet of Stay On These Roads yet? Tried to find out myself but couldn’t find any facts about that.
The vinyl puts me off everytime. The only concession was the Who’s Qudraphenia SDE but that was just a 7″ single fortunately. It has so far put me off buying SDEs for example of the Rolling Stones Exile, FMacs Rumours and now Tusk to name just three. Also being a completist the knock on is that I then avoid further SDE releases of those artists who have already done this before and just buy the deluxe editions. So lose-lose all round.
A Tusk Deluxe version has shown up in the U.S. iTunes store and has 5 cds including the live material. $39.99 for this edition.
Sold!
I don’t see how anyone would want both the CD and the vinyl. No matter which you prefer, you don’t need the other. It’s annoying and wasteful. (If you need both, then buy them both!)
I also agree about the vinyl, I simply do not want it, and my shelving system is not designed to store it.
I bought the T.Rex The Slider box set when it was reduced in price and it is stored under my bed still in the box it came in, it looked totally stupid on my shelving system, sticking out a few inches past the shelf.
Now I won’t even consider buying a box sets that comes LP sized.
I personally like the fact that they add the vinyl inside the box. Another thing that is missing is a proper live dvd from the tusk tour…
Its a price thing for me. I like vinyl but usually it makes boxes really pricey. I bought the mogwai today for £12 on CD, the vinyl was just too much. That said the price of the Tusk box seems great – may even get my 4th copy of this classic, though imagine the 2nd hand vinyl.I picked up for less than a fiver will be the version I tend to play!
No vinyl for me please!! And it’s not a thing of price, but of space. Vinyl might be great to some listeners, but even taking that as a fact I still prefer CDs because of their lower storage needs and the possibility to skip tracks.
Including vinyl is a deal breaker for me, I don’t have any nor do I have the room to store it. I would have definitely bought this set for the 5.1 mix had it been offered in a more concise format, for example like the Jethro Tull sets.
I think there’s a hell of a lot of vinyl that’s made for middle-aged men to look at, but never play. The trend for vinyl albums to come bundled with a download code or a cd is a startling turn of events. LP’s are now made for the nostalgia market, where they can remain in pristine condition, looked at as an audio file is listened to. I know that there will be people who love listening to vinyl, to be honest I hope I’m wrong, and lord knows I’ve been tempted, no least with the stuff from vinyl me please – mauve vinyl Paranoid? Looks stunning! But for now at least I’ll keep admiring the vinyl reissues while concerning myself with the cd’s. Now where’s my Velvet Underground ‘Loaded’ box set Mr postman?!
Not happy about the vinyl being bundled in and that this is only way to get the 5.1.
They need to look at how music is offered and make options available rather than having multiple formats in one box. Make the CD, vinyl and DVD/Bluray available separately. Especially if there is a 5.1 mix.
My biggest gripe is 5.1 mixes only being available in multi-format boxes that are priced way above and beyond what I am prepared to pay to get one disc.
Jethro Tull need to fix and reissue the surround mix for Aqualung in a set that matches the rest of the current CD/DVD releases too while I am having a moan!
No vinyl for me too. It just makes no sense at all. The overwhelming amount of buyers will be one or another in format choice. Not both. Plus your point Paul about storage is spot on. I could not buy this SDE without a major re-org of my shelf space, with my music books and tour programme’s having to be sacrificed to make space. No way! Even my DM SOTU SDE has had to be placed lying flat and sticking out of the shelf, and that is smaller than this Tusk box I’d guess.
I agree with the fact that not everybody wants the big box set with the lp and cd+dvd… I prefer to get the vinyl separetly from the cd if I buy both.
As an exemple, I got the Led Zeppelin Reissues for all the albums in both format and I must say I save a lot of money doing this. But sometimes it’s cool to get the dvd in 5.1 as a bonus with the lp like the Ziggy Stardust re-issue. I think the marbles and scarf are not necessary in a box set (Pink Floyd) when all we want is a good sounding cd or dvd in 5.1. Maybe one days record company will understand that…
Great site Paul, many a good buy had from this. Under 50 notes is a bargain for pretty much anything these days, box sets, music, a meal out etc etc. If you want it buy it, if not, save those pennies. There’s bound to be another titbit along soon……
I prefer deluxe sets without the vinyl. King Crimson do this and release the vinyl as an audiophile release separate. Surely others could do the vinyl-less sets and costs would be cheaper. I also think that the deluxe sets should have a soft cover book only. No hard backs and no extra paraphernalia which again only bumps the cost up.