Features

SDE’s Disappointments of 2019

By Paul Sinclair

Comments

333

SDE has explored the best reissues and favourite albums of 2019 but hey, what about the not-quite-so-good things that happened (or good things that didn’t happen) in 2019? The stuff that makes us, the fans, bang our head against the wall… like artists who think their 50+ demographic love streaming and have no interest in hearing ‘the old stuff’ remastered with bonus tracks on CD and vinyl. Broken promises, weird decisions, baffling omissions… here’s SDE’s ‘best’ disappointments of 2019:

Tears For Fears’ The Seeds of Love wasn’t reissued. Don’t ask.

Paul McCartney didn’t put out an archive release. In particular we want him to ‘finish’ the 1970s and ‘do’ London Town and Back to the Egg.

Macca did put out that ‘suitcase’ Traveller’s Edition of Egypt Station however absurd it may seem.

Duran Duran continue to be completely disinterested in their own back catalogue, save for playing the hits at concerts and allowing Warners to put out ‘As The Lights Go Down’ for Record Store Day. Liberty is 30 this year, by the way. With a new album touted for 2020, getting the band engaged with their post-80s past will be as easy as a nuclear war.

The folks responsible for reissuing Now That’s What I Call Music on CD keep putting them out with numerous errors (wrong versions of tracks) and don’t seem to care. Stop getting NOW wrong!

HMV nearly went under. Thankfully, it was ‘saved’ by Canadian businessman Doug Putman but it remains to be seen whether he can keep the retail chain viable in the longterm. There still isn’t one in London, unless you want to trek to Westfield in Shepherd’s Bush.

Lindsey Buckingham had a brush with death after undergoing  ’emergency open heart surgery’. Mick Jagger had heart surgery as well in 2019, although the wiry Rolling Stones frontman ‘won’ the recovery process and was seen jumping around in a dance studio only six weeks later!

Sting issued the largely pointless ‘My Songs‘ album (twice!). None of the Police long-players or his solo records have been expanded or reissued, even though Stewart Copeland said (in 2018) that unreleased Police material would be coming down ‘the pipeline’. Must be a long pipe.

Phil Collins put the icing on what SDE described as the ‘shitcake’ of his ‘Take A Look at Me Now’ reissue campaign by ‘releasing’ remix and B-sides compilations as ‘digital-only’. I like Phil Collins, but that Gorilla in the Cadbury’s ‘Dairy Milk’ advert would be better at curating his back catalogue.

Kate Bush had the opportunity to put some interesting rarities on her box set-promoting ‘Cloudbusting’ and ‘Ne T’Enfuis Pas’ 12-inch singles…. but didn’t. Not only that, she ‘forgot’ to even tell anyone about the latter, with fans finding it ‘by accident’ in FNAC in France and later HMV in the UK.

Universal Music stood accused of underplaying the extent of the 2008 archive fire, with Sheryl Crow claiming that “all her masters” were destroyed. This shocking revelation did at least result in SDE getting on the BBC News at One to ‘explain’ why a record company burning your master tape was a big deal (every cloud, etc.)

Prefab Sprout's reissue campaign confirmed by vinyl reissue listings

Over 23m CDs were bought in the UK in 2019 compared to just over 4m vinyl records. That didn’t stop Sony only issuing the Prefab Sprout remasters on vinyl and not CD. This makes no sense and an explanation to the large CD buying community was not forthcoming (why not?).

Mystify: A Musical Journey with Michael Hutchence fails to include any music from the excellent Max Q album. In a revealing interview with SDE manager Chris Murphy explains that “the rights are in transit” (to be clear, not a Ford Transit) and his hands were effectively tied. This ‘journey’ that the rights are on didn’t stop the music being used in the documentary.

Andrew Ridgeley‘s memoir Wham! George Michael & Me is enjoyable but rather lightweight and offers little in the way of true insight into his relationship with George Michael. Andrew signed so many copies of the book in-store during the year, that for tax reasons his legal residence had to be changed to ‘Waterstones’.

There were no George Michael or Wham! reissues (although Blank & Jones managed to include a new-to-CD rarity on so80s 12). I’m not counting the ‘Last Christmas’ white vinyl seven inch which was dull and didn’t help get the song to number one in the singles chart, anyway.

On the subject of George Michael, Yog‘s fairly good ‘new’ song ‘This Is How (We Want You to Get High)’ wasn’t released as a physical single, but bolted on the end of the soundtrack to the dire ‘Last Christmas’ movie. The song isn’t quite as good as it should be because George mashed up most of his vocals.

Black Box Recorder say “told you so” by including a CD in their Life Is Unfair VINYL box set that isn’t in the CD version.

Pink Floyd needlessly include DVDs and Blu-ray, repeating the same content, in their The Later Years box set. Rumours of VHS tapes in a possible ‘Middle Years’ have proved unfounded.

Back in 2018 UMC announced that a Blondie box set would be issued in “the fall of 2019”. The Complete Studio Recordings 1975-1982 would be available on vinyl and CD and would feature remastered versions of the first six albums along with two bonus discs of B-sides, rarities and “previously unreleased curiosities from deep in the Blondie vault.” NONE OF THIS HAPPENED and neither the band nor the label offered any explanation as to why. Rude.

There were no Madonna reissues. The endless ‘coloured vinyl’ editions of Madge’s albums are getting quite tedious. Life is a mystery.

Depeche Mode announced MODE, a career-spanning box set that fans on SDE embraced with the words “pathetic”, “far too expensive”, “underwhelming” and “useless”. This set is currently delayed until 24 Jan because upon reviewing the first boxes coming off the production line the band “identified a handful of places where the box is not up to our standards based on the prototypes that were approved.” (i.e. they looked crap).

I get that it’s a great pop song, but a-ha have become overly fixated on ‘Take On Me’. Deluxe reissues of Minor Earth Major Sky and Lifelines came and went with little fanfare. The band played nothing from either album on their ‘Hunting High and Low’ tour (which continues into next year). And what’s happened to the vinyl versions of Stay On These Roads, East of the Sun West of the Moon and Memorial Beach?

Roxy Music‘s Andy McKay is forced to cancel a ‘Roxymphony’ tour with Phil Manzanera due to health issues (specifically problems with his hands that restrict movement and hinder sax playing). Luckily, you can buy a signed CD+DVD of the only concert that was performed on the SDE shop.

ABBA announced in April 2018 that they had recorded two new songs. These were originally supposed to emerge later that year, only for it to be delayed to 2019. Nothing has happened, yet. Rumours persist that the work has expanded to a possible album, but it’s all quiet at the moment and we don’t know what the ‘status’ of that virtual reality tour is, either. An unnamed source has put the delays down to persistent teething troubles with the tech, which have resulted in Roy Orbison appearing on stage, alongside Agnetha, Benny and Frida, with Bjorn nowhere to be seen!

All of the above pales into insignificance when you consider that we said goodbye to many great talents including Scott Walker, Keith Flint, Ric Ocasek, Mark Hollis, Marie Fredriksson and Neil Innes. RIP.

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333 Comments

333 thoughts on “SDE’s Disappointments of 2019”

  1. Great feature, and so many good points raised. For me, and indeed many others, the continuing non-appearance of the Small Faces ‘The Autumn Stone’ has reached maddening proportions. We’ve been promised an expanded set since 2014 and still it hasn’t appeared.

    As others have pointed out, it’s now been delayed for longer than the actual band were together! It’s especially disappointing as 2019 would have been the 50th anniversary.

    On a more positive note at least we got the Ronnie Lane set last year, which was truly wonderful, and the deluxe box of New Orders’ ‘Movement’ was great -my favourite NO album incidentally – (although they should have included the all the 12″ too). Plus points too for the Kinks ‘Arthur’ and the ‘Space Oddity’ box.

  2. A comprehensive Bonzo Dog Band retrospective box was tentatively on the cards from Madfish/Snapper Records for the latter end of 2019, but it all went quiet around August, unfortunately (think along the lines of their superb Pretty Things box from a few years ago).

    Neil innes was involved with the Bonzo box’s production. With his sad and sudden passing over Christmas, hopefully the box will not now be forgotten entirely and will be off the back burner soon – if anyone deserves a fulsome tribute for his services to music (and comedy), it’s Neil.

  3. Not a reissue but no where else to park this comment: I would love to see a new Rolling Stones album, the one they’ve been working on on & off for at least 2 years, with an Arena tour where they play at least half of it. NOT another tour where 90% of the setlist is completely predictable. Mick Jagger CEO obviously more interested in $$$$$$ than one more ( Surely there couldn’t be more than one more in reality ) brand new album, so they go out on a creative high rather than “No Filter” volume 4!

    1. the stones have out worn their welcome. the only thing to do is open the archives of studio and live material from the early 70s. like a 3 cd goats head soup box to start.

  4. Btw, thanks for existing SDE. Valuable resource and cheeky too. Im hoping Roxy Music continues deluxe sets of their catalog, which I won’t hold my breath for, but hope springs eternal. Live sets don’t count.

  5. Paul, you should mention the zero interest Mark Knopfler has in reissuing Dire Straits back catalogue. Is there any band with such impact and record sales with zero deluxe or expanded releases out there?

  6. The maddening thing about the Tears For Fears situation is that Roland, Curt, their management, people at Universal, perhaps even Steven Wilson, lots of people directly involved with this project know EXACTLY why this hasn’t been issued, and yet no one will say. It’s not like, “Whoops, we did the 5.1 mix and then forgot to release it after the first two.” I believe this was their biggest-selling album worldwide, so why won’t anyone involved simply state what the reason is for the delay in releasing it (and that’s assuming/HOPING it will be released eventually)? Baffling and infuriating.

    1. There is no big secret, to be honest. No controversy. For The Seeds of Love reissue to get released Tears For Fears management have to approve it. And this is something they haven’t done in the last four or five years. There reasons are their own, but that’s why it hasn’t come out (yet).

      1. This still leaves open the big question: why are their management sitting on this, and do Roland and Curt have any say or opinion regarding the stalemate? The fact may absolutely be that — as you state — their management may be the culprits behind the delay, but the REASON for their so far not having “approved” it is still left unanswered and , at least to this fan, remains a “big secret.” Those close to this project know what the issue is, but no one’s saying anything. Legalities, can’t find certain rarities or BBC sessions, ANY excuse — although preferably a real one — would be better than year after year of total silence.

        And I still find it difficult to believe that Curt, Roland, someone above the band’s management at Universal etc. couldn’t simply call them up and ask, “What specifically is the hold-up on releasing this, how do we resolve this and how soon?”.

  7. Thanks for mentioning Lindsey Buckingham. I protested my fave band Fleetwood Mac this past spring for firing Lindsey and instead bought a ticket to his solo tour. Like many fans it’s not unreasonable for us to ask Stevie and Christine to make up with Lindsey, forgive and record one great last album together.

  8. Not one to flog a dead horse BUT; it would be nice if The Beatles Singles Collection would get that CD box in 2020, instead of just moving on.Why won’t “they” listen? The Depeche Mode CD Box will surely be something but to not provide a matching box of black vinyl and black sleeve art is wack.I was this close to having a 2001 monolith black box capable of emitting eighteen albums of sounds of their universe while I dance around apelike tossing my Depeche Mode guitar pics into the air! Oh well. Happy New Year Paul and SDE readers.

  9. My personal lowlight 2019 has been ordering the Josef K box, never receiving it, and not getting ANY reaction on any of my inquiries via mail, fb, ig, or here. None of my comments have ever seen the light of day here, probably this one won’t also. Absolute bummer. Good site though, but 55£ down the drain for me.

  10. Count me in as highly disappointed about the no-show of the Blondie box.

    Also the new (and older) TOOL not released on vinyl.

    And lastly for me, the 1999 sets leaving the Prince promo videos of the era out.

  11. Well at least we have 2 of the bigger albums from the late 80’s getting deluxe treatments later this year to look forward to.
    As long as the powers that be don’t put a hold on them.

  12. The Kate Bush boxes and reissues were a big disappointment. We got neither the expanded deluxe treatment nor reissues faithful to the originals, but somewhere in-between. Sonic improvement is next to negligible and there are several new flaws introduced. When only a couple of the B-sides are missing (I counted 4), why not include them all? Only one track is new (Humming). No video content. The choice of the extended versions wasn’t updated from the 1990 box (The Red Shoes era is missing).

    Why make a gatefold sleeve for Hounds of Love LP but not The Dreaming or The Kick Inside? Why the fish pics design for the boxes? Why are the vinyl boxes titled “Remastered In Vinyl I / II / III / IV” but the CD counterparts “Remastered Part I / II” – and not “Remastered on CD I & II / III & IV”? The inconsistent naming of the boxes also means that “Remastered Part II” on CD contains different albums than the download version with the same name.

    All in all the boxes were a half-baked affair and that’s just sad.

  13. I would love to see a full release of the Knebworth 90 show, which is 30 years old this year (audio and visual) – but I don’t imagine it will happen (though great to see the Floyd set released in the Later Years box, despite the imperfections in that set…)

  14. Hello to All,
    As this is my first post I hope it is appropriate. How about the fact that Cher’s Warner Brother albums from the 70’s have not been reissued? Oops my bad, they haven’t come out on CD AT ALL….! For the uninterested we are talking about Cherished, Stars, I’d Rather Believe in You, and Allman and Woman (with Greg Allman). I realize that there is some discussion of where Cher might fit into musical pop history….. However she has been “rather successful” during her career as a singer (a #1 song in each of six decades for starters….). Currently her “Here We Go Again” Tour is playing to sold out arenas all over the world. I know, another “Farewell Tour” lol…..While certain folks might not appreciate or like some of her music I think a little respect is due. Any signer or entertainer that can stay in the business that long has earned my respect. So perhaps some serious thought should be given to getting those Warner Brothers albums on Cd. Heck even Sonny’s Inner Views LP was released on CD and that one is no masterpiece…….

    1. Cher has the ownership of Allman and Woman mastertapes. Warner Brothers can’t reissue it if Cher doesn’t approve it. Don’t know about the other albums. In 1979 Rolling Stone Record Guide call the album worthless. The album’s cover is one of the worst ever. I dig the Allman Brothers Band, Gregg’s solo records and some of Cher’s too, but i think this is their all time low!

    2. I’ve been saying this for YEARS. The fact that she has been back on Warners since the mid 90’s only adds to the irony.

      Add me to the list of those disappointed by no London Town + Back To The Egg SDE’s or Duran Duran back catalog – and also add me to the list of those thrilled with 1999, Abbey Road, and Conversation Piece (though the price tags on the latter two were a thumbs-down.).

      I know the Cher issue has nothing to do with 2019 specifically, and neither does this, but I’ll mention it anyway: I was very disappointed when the early 2000’s Elton John hybrid SACD and 2CD Deluxe Editions were cut short before all of the classic 70’s albums got released as such. Thought I had read somewhere that Greg Penny actually did surround mixes and DSD transfers of Don’t Shoot Me, Caribou and others that were never released. Would also love to see 2CD Deluxe Editions of those two albums…as well as Madman Across The Water & Honky Chateau. Hell – at least give us the full 17/11/70+ as a 2CD Deluxe Edition!

  16. I agree with everything you wrote above Paul – and ‘easy as a nuclear war’ and ‘life is a mystery’ fairly tickled me! Loving your work in 2020!

  17. 1. The Woodstock multi disc behemoth would have been perfect were it not for the absence of the complete set performed by Jimi Hendrix. Experience Hendrix refused permission so we were stuck with the trimmed and chopped version authorised by the family, omitting the two songs sung by Larry Lee and mixing out much of his supporting playing during the show. It’s difficult to know what the Hendrix family issue is, after all with the Grateful Dead show in the box the accolade for most untogether performance was already in safe hands.

    It’s not as if the Estate has an issue with other performers riding the Hendrix train; when the family put out the four Band of Gypsy shows last year we had all of Buddy Mile’s scat singing in there. If you’ve never heard Buddy’s contribution, think of it as a bit like being at a Maria Callas performance and seeing her being joined by the Crankies mid show.

    With the amount of time and effort put into bringing the box together, the actions of the Hendrix Estate just look to be petty and small minded.

    Number Two, step up New Order and Movement. Movement wasn’t the best album of 1981, in fact it isn’t even New Orders best album but kudos to the compilers for doing a full belt and braces job. Shame that the attendant singles were not included and instead were shunted out as four stand alone 12” singles adding another £40 to the cost of an already expensive set.

    And related, at three we have the Rhino Factory Box of the first ten label releases. So, that’s one reissued LP, four reissued 7” singles, reproduction posters and ephemera along with a book all for a staggering £180. I know that this also included a two CD set of Joy Division interviews and a Tiller Boys 12” but the world didn’t exactly stop on its axis when they hit the decks. The fact that King Crimson can put out 20+ CD boxes with books and assorted reproductions for circa £120 just makes the Factory box look somewhat mercenary by comparison.

    And at four, let’s not forget rocks answer to Philip Green – the Rolling Stones. The Let It Bleed box simply compiled the already issued Mono and Stereo pressings with a 45 and interview disc. Adding a book seems to justify a retail price well north of £100. Sir Michael of Jagger once said “My hearts labour, my minds liberal but my money’s Tory”. World’s Greatest Rock n Roll Band? More like Worlds Shrewdest Accountants.

    And finally, Record Store Day. Honestly, do we really think that having an event that gets people into record shops for TWO days will answer the woes of the retailers? And am I the only one to have noticed that certain eBay sellers seem to have a whole raft of RSD pressings up and listed on the morning of the event itself? There is something rotten here and if anything is worthy of a Panorama investigation it’s these shenanigans.

    1. I think the Rolling Stones had nothing to do with the Let It Bleed box. Same goes with the Beggars Banquet and Their Satanic Majesties Request boxsets. Put the blame on Allen Klein’s estate. By the way Let It Bleed does’t include interview disc. It was Beggars Banquet boxset!

  18. I’m also disappointed that HMV stores have practically disappeared from the face of London. It almost brings tears to my eyes when I remember the good old times, 15 years ago or so, when London was full of megastores such as the huge Virgin near Tottenham Court Road Station ( now replaced by Primark ), Borders stores, two FOPP stores including the now defunct one on Tottenham Court Road. I even remember the Towers store at Piccadilly Circus. Life back then was much merrier, now they are almost all gone. It’s a disgrace.

    1. it’s not just the big stores that are hugely missed from central London, but the second hand stores and specialist shops like Shades, once located in St. Anne’s Court, that were the go to locations in the 80s too.
      Shades had a huge influence on the rise of thrash metal during that period, but was the best place for anything related to hard rock, heavy metal, glam and AOR back then. Sadly, as we are seeing with HMV, the greed of landlords prompted its closure in the early 90s.

    2. @Daniel: But who is to blame? As a U.S. resident, I can’t speak with authority as to the state of the UK business (although on visits to London, I visited many of the record shops you mention), but I can say that in the U.S., there are few large record stores left (and none in Manhattan) because of a) landlord greed – the rents being asked are simply far more than media retail can afford to pay and b) because consumers have stopped buying physical media. In the first six months of 2019, streaming constituted 82% of industry revenue in North America, although supposedly, vinyl had a very good holiday season, although we won’t see the final RIAA numbers until March. Back in the day, over a billion long-form units were sold each year. 2019 will probably come in at about 60 million.

  19. Paul! This made me howl with laughter multiple times and I would like to encourage you to lean into the snark more often because, damn, it’s glorious. Your website is the only one that I visit every single day and I’ve lost count of how many amazing deals I would have missed, if not for your alerts. Thank you, for the great work you do. Cheers!

  20. Agree with many of the comments and, of course with your list Paul. Like many others here, I’ve become addicted to the site over the past few years. Many thanks!!

    My disappointments I fear are pretty exclusive to me and perhaps one or two other blokes. That being said I’m holding out hope to someday see SDEs for Mega City Four and Senseless Things back catalogues.

    Also, can you clarify re Lindsey Buckingham? “had a brush with death AFTER undergoing ’emergency open heart surgery’.” Was the brush with death really after the surgery or was the surgery necessary to save his life? I honestly don’t know.

  21. ok here is my input. allman brothers band s/t, john mayall complete turning point fillmore east july 69,jefferson airplane vollenters(studio ,so much unreleased) the who live 69 , tommy sets and intro and out to sets,the rolling stones ya yas both msg and baltimore 69,jimi hendrix complete woodstock with no edits ,the byrds( anything live 69).

  22. No real disappointment. Maybe a 40th anniversary SDE of London Calling or a 35th anniversary SDE of Sade’s Diamond Life. Both albums originally on CBS (now Sony Music). Same for other big 80s hits like Wham’s Make it Big or MJ’s Thriller. Both on Epic Records (owned by CBS). Or even Celine Dion. These albums didn’t get the proper super deluxe treatment they deserve. Even Culture Club’s albums (released by Virgin in the UK and Epic in the US) fall into that category.

    I noticed the Polydor (Jam for example), EMI, Virgin or Warner artists and bands usually get a better treatment when it comes to box sets and SDEs.

  23. The aforementioned “London Town” and “Back To The Egg” non-releases. I’ve also been waiting since, let’s say 2010, for a “Rattle And Hum” deluxe edition. And yeah, I was looking forward to that Blondie reissue since it was announced, but I don’t think that’s ever happening.

  24. hmv….sorry to be the ‘bringer of bad news’ but here we go again…..
    https://www.getreading.co.uk/whats-on/shopping/hmv-readings-oracle-launches-closing-17510399
    https://www.expressandstar.com/entertainment/birmingham-entertainment/2020/01/02/hmvs-bullring-store-closing-within-weeks/
    https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/news/grimsby-news/hmv-announces-grimsby-store-close-3694114
    …..and that is just 3 stores so far…….if this keeps up it will be as associated with New Year as Auld Lang Syne……

    1. I suspect some HMVs will be relocating out of expensive large-footprint stores to smaller off-pitch locations, similar to what is happening in Plymouth.

  25. WHY DIDN`T THIS CANADIAN SAVE HMV IN HIS OWN COUNTRY????????????
    GEE, DAD WHAT IS A RECORD STORE?
    WELL, SON LET ME SHOW YOU…
    OOPS, SORRY I CAN`T FIND ANY. ASK YOUR MOTHER.
    SHE` GONE TOO!!!!!!
    ISN`T LIFE GREAT IN THIS INVISIBLE, STREAMING, BUY IT VIRTUAL WORLD?

    1. YOU ARE QUITE CORRECT ABOUT THIS INVISIBLE , VIRTUAL WORLD.
      JUST LOOK AT THE JUST ANNOUNCED D.B. STREAMING ONLY EP.
      MUSIC FANS LIKE ME WANT TO OWN THIS RELEASE, PHYSICAL PRODUCT.
      IT IS FAR MORE EXCITING TO HAVE SOMETHING TANGIBLE THAN UNSEEN.
      EP? AN EXTENDED PLAY RECORD…THIS IS NOT VINYL!
      A COVER OF WHAT? SOMETHING THAT DOES NOT EXIST MATERIALLY?

      1. I AGREE WITH BOTH YOU GENTLEMEN.
        LET THE STREAMING BUSINESS BE
        WITH THE YOUNGSTERS…AND LET THE
        PHYSICAL RELEASES CONTINUE FOR THE
        OLDER GENERATIONS…YOU KNOW THOSE WHO REMEMBER THE TIME
        WHEN THERE WAS CLASSIC MUSIC BEING MADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  26. If only Roxy Music would release a super deluxe ‘For Your Pleasure’ because the first one, though overpriced, is absolutely brilliant. Er….and then Stranded & Country Life too

  27. Another disappointment was the vinyl sourced digital download reissue of Lulu’s 1982 album “Take Me to Your Heart Again.” Those late 1970s/early 1980s albums need to be reissued properly, from mastertapes.

  28. Another great read both by Paul and the various comments. Music disappointments this year included:
    – the lack of the Blondie box set – no announcement/reason offered for the delay; suspect more ex band members wrangling: theres never been a decent retrospective of any sort for Blondie – admittedly there doesn’t seem to be much in the vaults – but the tease, then silence was another disappointment
    – the lack of a new album or the STSOL box set from Tears for Fears – feel they are going through the motions. Their live set at Blenheim in Oxfordshire in June was identical to their RAH show 18 months earlier. Disappointing
    – conversation piece by bowie was great but there are so many bowie releases now it’s all a bit too much and the cost of some of them are ridiculous
    – as others have said blue nile and prefab vinyl reissues seemed lacking without cd releases and extra tracks to make a proper SDE
    – amazon quietly introducing paying for items on pre releases even when they were months away, then quietly dropping this
    – production issues with the heaven 17 box and the blancmange vinyl – got replacements eventually but its a shame for the artists
    – I love vinyl but it would be really nice to see vinyl only box sets get a cd release also.

    Finally, not so much a disappointment, but a big wish for 2020 would be to see a retrospective release of Swing Out Sister featuring all b sides, remixes etc.

  30. Wel said Paul, you hit the spot today,
    the box of Depeche Mode will also be crap when it finally comes out as it is supposed to be as the band and Sony wants it to be, but that goes the same for the other vinyl boxset reissues of DM, useless overpriced and cheap outlay printed, even with the crappy new designings from Mute staff, instead of releasing more relevant stuff, like sofadlive on vinyl, remixboxes, older live vids remastered on dvd, they handle it like a band whos becoming outdated and believe me, they are, they now always chant around they are in front of all the new techniques, but they missed that years ago

    1. Agree with you about SOFAD live on vinyl, they need to crack on with the 12” singles boxes too.
      A box set collecting all the live DVDs would be nice too.

  31. The Biggest by far- apart from Toms Passing…..

    Tom Petty – Wildflowers 25th – All the Rest Re-issue Shelved due to The Families Legal Dispute – thankfully the Dispute was Resolved a couple of weeks ago so maybe it will be out in time for the 26th Anniversary!

    10+ Unfulfilled / Cancelled Orders from Amazon….

    Pledge Music Going Under and Running Off With My Money!

    So many other Dissapointments- There are Not enough Hours in the Day to Write them all !

  33. Thank you for continuing to voice the cause of we who wait for Prefab Sprout reissues on compact disc (or lossless download).
    i’ll miss dulcet tornado Sara Romweber of Let’s Active, the genius of Daniel Johnston, Kofi Burbridge of Tedeschi Trucks Band, and Paul Barrere of Little Feat.

  34. I was really hopin that Kate would give us back The Single File. Even an expanded/updated box would have been great. She really hasn’t got much left to reissue, and that classic box updated-with the On Stage EP would have been treat!

    Shame about the Blondie stuff, and boo to that Depeche Mode box. Overpriced certainly. The Beatles Singles box also not all that tempting, but prices could drop at least.

    Surprised the King Crimson In the Court of…anniversary box also a bit weak in terms of packaging, but the vinyl is superb! I will also add that Mute missed the mark on the Y triple CD set. Three jewel cases? For goodness sake! It would have made a nice triple in a cardboard packet-less bulky and not so prone to getting cracked!

  36. Hardly a disappoinment – given an expected non-event can’t really disappoint – but… 2019 proved to be the 29th consecutive year in which The Sisters Of Mercy failed to release a new album. Despite still writing and premiering new songs on virtually every tour. Eldritch said back in 2016 “If Donald Trump actually does become President, that will be reason enough for me to release another album. I don’t think I could keep quiet if that happened.”. Apparently he can actually.

    In 2011 the (one-man) band toured to celebrate 30 years as an entity – this year they could tour to celebrate 30 years without a new album! Ha!

    And another comment was right: PledgeMusic was a sad loss – I hadn’t anything on order at the time but it was good to have an artist-to-audience platform like that which ‘seemed’ to work so well. Clearly not as well it transpired.

    And, oh yes. Those frustrated at Shakespear’s Sister’s continued non-delivery of DE/SDE/CE/SCE/UE/whatever’s of the first two albums is correct: not least because now is the most obvious time to release them – whilst the band are back in the public eye, however briefly it might turn out to be. Get them released before the Catwomen unsheath their clawses.

    Cats always have clawses…. that’s what they tell me. Have they been lying to embarass me into using the word in public?

  37. Happy New Year to one and all!!

    I think it’s a great shame about TFF and they really don’t seem to be bothered about what they record and when to release it but hopefully something will arrive unexpectedly either SOL or the new album or even both of them!!

    As regarding Macca, other than the dreadful suitcase album(!) I think there was no way he was going to release any archive series albums (except for the live ones) whilst the 50th anniversaries of Abbey Road and Let It Be taking there course through the release schedule.

    I think once they have cleared and if Flaming Pie is next then you might get Back To The Egg and London Town by next Christmas

    There again he might give us another new album!

    1. I think the Macca team probably regretted squeezing out Red Rose Speedway and Wild Life right at the end of 2018 where it probably just got overshadowed with Christmas etc.

  38. How about most ignored super deluxe set: T.Rex Dandy In the Underworld Super Deluxe Edition 3 CDs. It is really 2 albums – Dandy & The Final Cuts plus alternate tracks. The big screw-up is how they scattered the tracks from The Final Cuts across 2 of the CDs. No new unheard song except 2.29 minute “Demo – Song Idea.”

  39. Just thought I’d add my main gripe about expanded and deluxe versions,which is WHY is stuff deliberately left off them? i.e the expensive super-deluxe versions are NEVER the full warts and all versions despite having a VERY HIGH retailing price and the purchasers being fans that really do WANT to own the full warts and all and not have anything missing.Some omissions are often illogical too like a well-known promo video missing when they’ve got plenty of space left on the DVD they have provided that has the other promos on it etc..Or they miss out a well known mix that’s 8 mins long when the CD containing the mixes is only 56mins long so has room for it etc..All kinds of odd incomprehensible omissions that Never make the expanded edition (that might even have costed over £100 to buy i.e not been cheap)as definitive as the fans wants it to be!

    1. I feel the same and its unfortunate but also very common problem with deluxe-editions, boxsets and anniversaries being rekeased. Seems like they will gladly leave material out, so they can justify further releases and more milking in the future. I think record companies did lost it sometime ago and there shouldn’t simply be this much released, instead Im more interested in new releases and upcoming albums than always living in the past. I decided that from now on, I wont automatically buy the same albums for the umteeth time, but instead use legal streaming services, where I’ve seen almost all interesting releases and boxsets being rekeased. Sure you dont get books and marbles etc but you can access the most important thing that matters, the music.

  40. Still no releases from Tears For Fears is a big one for me. A couple missing:
    – the initial Bowie releases were very disappointing a very over-priced
    – no Bowie box or Tin Machine
    – the reissue campaign for The Smashing Pumpkins continues to be stalled with still no sign of the Machina box set

      1. The TFF FB feed consists of old photos being posted with an inane comments that are lapped up by the TFF sycophants. I frequently post about the lack of new material (2 new songs) in the past 16 years since ELaHE, the TSoL Super Deluxe having been shelf ready for 4 years, and the continual postponement of the new album. And while a few are in agreement with me, I also get labelled as an “obnoxious whiner.”

        I will dance a jig and immediately pre-order the TSoL when its release is announced.

  42. I’d like to add the very sad passing of Vaughan Oliver to the list, whilst not strictly speaking a musician his impact on the music world & the graphical presentation of music cannot be overestimated…his work for seminal works on 4AD by Breeders, Pixies, Cocteau’s et al…is probably a big reason why the works are so seminal…i’m hard pushed to think of another label so clearly defined by it’s ‘look’ that he created & what passes for album art these days is laughable in comparison, massive loss…

  43. Hello,, i must say that The bancrupcy of Pledge music was a major dissapointment. I had pledged for The complete box set by killing joke (sometimes I just need that kind of power). Hopefully this set Will be picked up and release just like The upcoming set by cat Stevens. Other vise, please release The yes 1968-69 recordings and also a complete tales from topographic oceans live set. I would also like to see The tin machine set by bowie. Best regards hans

    1. Hans, I agree the PledgeMusic story was a huge disappointment. What started out as a great idea- which worked for everyone concerned; artists, fans and the company, was corrupted by business types who bled the company and the artists dry.

      1. @ The Geordie Expat

        “Corrupted by business types” – are you sure about that.

        From what I could see it was managed by flakey creative types who hadn’t a clue how to run a business or provide meaningful customer service.

        1. Paul, I suggest you dig a little below the surface and find out about the role of the Magna group, who took over PledgeMusic in 2016, and their “Death Spiral Financing” model. Magna bought into PledgeMusic in 2015 placing Russel Rieger and Joshua Sason on the board. Magna are currently being sued by the SEC for fraud!

  44. Hey Paul,

    I, really, appreciate how you “let-loose” here. You were frank, open, honest and DIDN’T pull (your) punches. We, the “hold-it-in-your-hands,” physical-media, music-community help support the music industry in NO SMALL MEASURE. It’s gonna take a loud, universal (no pun intended) voice to communicate our general, collective, music, RE-disappointments, while trusting that someone is acting on our behalf.

    I liked that this SDE post was “to the point” and didn’t get “bogged down” with a HUGE list of 2019 disappointments. You “hit the highlights” from SDE’s POV and, thusly, put ‘em all on notice in one quick (“break-length”) read.

    Kudos. Well done!

    Lastly, whatever ones’ MUSIC RE disappointment(s), don’t give up. Stay positive, spread the word and keep your RE hopes alive. “It takes a village” and we can’t expect Paul (Sinclair) to carry the torch, alone!

    Cheers, all. It’s a new decade with limitless possibilities!

  45. Thanx for the great work Paul! Just wanted to say, can we please re-master some Stevie Wonder? How about a deluxe “Songs in the Key of Life”? “Innervisions”? “Fulfillingness’ First Finale”? Doesn’t Universal own all that? Universal seems to “deluxe” everything… but no Stevie.
    Maybe you can give Universal a bit of a nudge….?

  46. My biggest disappointment was The Beatles singles boxset. I really disliked the random foreign covers especially as they had reproduced the mono LPs to the smallest detail of the original issues. I decided to make my own instead using the 1976 boxset and repro period Parlophone covers found on eBay and SFF / Let it be 1980s covers. Add a set of 7” blakes sleeves and they look really nice. To me this boxset was a wasted opportunity and a mish mash.

  47. As others have said, the lack of a live archival Led Zeppelin release to mark the band’s 50th anniversary was hugely disappointing. Jimmy Page stated on numerous occasions in 2018 that it was “definitely” coming, as was new material from from the man himself. We got a snowboard, a book, JV clothing (££££!) and some Hot Wheels cars however. T’riffic.

  48. Talking about OMD deluxe box please note “Disc 3 – Unreleased Archive Vol I” which means (hoprfuly) a second on the way. Remember remastered albums version stopped at Junk Culture.

    Since Sony brought the Depende Mode back cataloge rights I’ve been waiting for what’s really behind it. I think the first big thing happened the 18 CDs Mode box. Please note the 4 CDs bonus which put all the B-sides, non album singles and extra tracks altogether in the the package. I suppose Sony plans to release another Depeche Mode box with all the remixes only. If it happens a fan can decide among a box of albums or remixes or both. I’d really love to know why record companies keep things in secret and we are aware of what’s to come rarely, for instance ‘Seeds Of Love box’ not released in 2019 it’s mystery neither Tears for Fears dare to talk about it.
    To keep it in secret is much easier !!!!!!!

  49. My biggest disappointment in 2019 was after finding out that HMV nearly went out of business last christmas and was then saved after a thousand plus people protested about the closure of HMV in Bury St Edmunds last summer is that the landlords of the ARC shopping centre have accepted we will pay any rent you want for that unit from JD Sports and HMV closes January 25th with no music or dvd/blu ray store now in Bury St Edmunds. No more browsing on a Saturday!!

  50. The Black Box Recorder live CD in a vinyl box issue was certainly weird, but I’m glad they at least got it out there, especially with a lack of live BBR stuff commercially available before the box set.

    I did get the CD edition as a gift for a friend, but bought the vinyl set for myself – and not just to get the live CD! Strange when you see how well The Auteurs back catalogue was handled when it was reissued in 2014. One can only hope Luke Haines’ solo albums get the treatment they deserve – although there’s not tonnes of remixes/B-sides he’s done as a solo artist, it’d be interesting to hear some demos/alternate versions for his superb solo material, possibly in a box set. Looking forward to the Peter Buck collaboration in March!

  51. We’re also still waiting for the remastered version of the final Blue Nile album, High, to be released. It was announced nearly four years ago (February 2016) that producer Calum Malcolm had completed remastering it, but since then there’s been no more news. Yet in the meantime they’ve released more vinyl editions (reremasters?) of the first three albums, even though we’d already had new versions of those a couple of years back. They’re beautiful-sounding records, but so were the previous ones. So what’s happened to High?

    Also, didn’t Tears for Fears promise a new album too? Perhaps they can’t make up their minds whether to release that or the remastered Seeds of Love… But at least Ian Broudie has been dropping hints that the new Lightning Seeds album may see the light of day this year, which is probably more than can be hoped for the Prefab Sprout one.

    1. Hear! Hear!

      Although probably 2 of the 3 least successful Virgin albums I have soft spots for both.
      I really REALLY loved Earth Moving mainly as I got my first CD / speaker set installed in my car and that album was fresh out and I played it to death. For me, the best set of “single length” songs Mike ever made.
      I have always believed that Mike had overdosed on late era ABBA just before he wrote Islands you can hear circa 1980 – 1982 Benny / Bjorn all over it, particularly the vocal tracks and I always wondered (Mike’s rampant libido aside) whether he chose Anita Hegerland’s Norwegian / Scandinavian vocals for that very reason.

  53. How about The Blue Nile “High” reissue that was announced as forthcoming in 2016?
    Thank you Paul for all of your work and this amazing site!

  55. Was no one disappointed by the box set of New Order’s “Movement”? Who can sanction the ‘one size fits all’ approach of forcing people without a turntable to purchase vinyl? This would have been a perfect three CD + DVD set with the inclusion of the period singles.

  56. Happy and healthy New Year to Paul (amazing job in 2019 as every year!) and all of the SDE.com readers/community. Still hoping for both London Town and Back To The Egg SDEs in 2020 but pleased to see that there will be a SDE of Alan Parsons Project’s Ammonia Avenue slated for a 3/27 release (4/3 in North America). Set will contain 3 CD/1 Blu Ray (5.1 Surround version of AA)/2 Vinyl LPs. Cherry Red’s Esoteric label issuing this and will smartly also separately sell the Blu Ray as was the case with Eye In The Sky, although that was not done until several months after the release of the SDE version.

  59. Is there anyone else who doesn’t give a toss about McCartney re-issues? A few great albums (principally,’Band on the Run’) but little else of great merit. Musically, George Harrison was always way ahead but Olivia and Dhani seem to be drip-feeding stuff for their pension fund and have no interest in releasing other Dark Horse stuff , such as Splinter.

    2. very disappointed with the McCartney Archive Collection over the years. To not even include any demos, especially on the Pipes of Peace album. Dont tell me the album version is the only version of that track he recorded. he needs to listen to the fans, and now the engineers etc.

  60. Paul as always well done, both for what’s been made available this year and then what hasn’t; your site is a near-daily stop for me as well. Thanks for all you’re doing with this site and here’s to the compact disc proving its’ continued worth in 2020!! Along with all of our wish lists coming into existence and in the right ways!!

  61. Thanks for mentioning Neil Innes Paul, one of the saddest events of 2019, and right at the end of it.

    A de luxe Flaming Pie is pencilled in for a July 24th release apparently.

  62. Would love to see the Mandela Day Wembley concert from 1988 be issued on cd / dvd like the Live Aid release a few years ago but don’t expect it will ever happen. You made me laugh ( in a good way) with some of your comments – I think you’re a frustrated comedian!
    Happy New Year !

  63. That where some well written, funny and unfortunate very true, comments on what went down the crapper last year. Thank you so much Paul!
    It’s shocking how diverse the quality is compared to the previous list.

  64. I have been on a campaign for years for the two and only Glencoe albums to be released officially on CD. A Korean label has them, but they are poor sounding, plus the first track of the first album is edited and missing a part. They would make a.great two/fer.
    Also Argent’s Counterpoint has never been released on CD!
    And finally, I hope they are going to release Chapman Whitney Streetwalkers (the first album) as a stand alone CD – the Streetwalkers box set was too rich for my budget and they butchered the one release that did come out – gads – even changing the order of songs!!

    1. Bob M ~ This past August, I wrote to Talking Elephant about the Argent – Counterpoints being their only not-on-CD title and wondered why after they released the next-to-last Circus a few years back, they didn’t then release Counterpoints. They replied that they approached Sony and got nowhere. Um, I pointed out that Counterpoints wasn’t ON Sony; it was on United Artists in some territories and RCA in others. Malcolm Holmes replied, “That could be good news. They are checking and I can try Universal who own UA.” (NOTE: Hopefully it wasn’t lost in the 2008 fire, but given RCA had it also in certain territories, masters might be elsewhere).

      At the same time, I also suggested it to Esoteric and the response from Vicky Powell was, “Yes we know the score with this release and have contacted the appropriate person.”

      Hopefully one of them will get this out.

  65. Some good news is that Tom Petty’s widow and daughters are now going to manage his estate jointly, so hopefully this means proper reissues, including CD versions of the vinyl box sets and the long-rumored Wildflowers box. Fingers crossed!

  66. Aside from the obvious disappointments (Tears For Fears, etc), I was disappointed by the lack of a 5.1 mix in Howard Jones’ SDE’s. His music is great for a 5.1 mix and that was really missing in the box sets.

    Of course Mecca did not continue his reissue campaign because he was too busy selling Egypt Station thru all kinds of ridiculous and expensive tricks. All focus had to be on that and no risks would be taken to avoid hurting sales. Fans cannot be distracted and only be milked once a year.

    The other disappointment was OMD. Only one disc of unreleased material and no remixes in “Souvenir”. For a box that was to give an overview of OMD’s career, very disappointing. Erasure set a standard with “From Moscow To Mars”, that had its flaws too but wayyyy better than “Souvenir”.

    Lastly, Peter Gabriel never fails to disappoint when it comes to reissues. His “SO” SDE was a colossal fail and when the rarities and remixes were finally released this year, it’s digital only. Once again Peter Gabriel wins the trophy for “most out of touch with fans”. Just ahead of Phil Collins.

    1. Maybe when MC cartneys record company seen eygpt station triple colorful vinyl, getting knocked out for 3 fivers at h.m.v. and fopp,they will take note in future,cheapens the McCartney brand, effectively it says we can’t give this away,it started life at£50,

    2. I totally agree with what you wrote about TFF, Howard Jones, OMD, Erasure, and PG. Can’t comment on Macca as I don’t follow or collect his music.

      I would say I was underwhelmed by the OMD Souvenir box. Liked getting all the singles compiled, and the CD of unreleased material is quite intriguing. But the set was overly burdened with live material – two live CDs and two DVDs featuring two different live performances to the CD and TV appearances. Was hoping for an update to the Navigation release as there are b-sides that still have not been on CD. Two or three CDs of b-sides and various non-album tracks would have made Souvenir much more satisfying. I agree that From Moscow to Mars is a superb set.

      May 2020 fulfill all our dreams and be profitable for all.

  67. My wife and daughter both enjoyed the Last Christmas film.

    I’ve yet to listen to Kate’s box number 3 and 4 despite having bought them yonks ago.

    Grace’s original albums sound great and are cheep as chips second hand.

    My dad bought me an HMV gift card for Christmas. My local shop closed last year. You can’t use them online.

    The biggest disappointment though was seeing how many people still vote blue and red. With no pressing plant in the UK my vote was dragged into new territory. Attenborough would have been pleased but maybe not about the vinyl.

  68. I agree with a lot of these comments regarding the 2019 disappointments especially Duran, TFF, Eurythmics and Depeche and most certainly the Teenage Fanclub (what a screw). However a lot of this stuff has been available in some remastered reissue form in the past. RE The remastered Prefab Sprout Japanese MINI LP Sleeve reissues. It did happen and they sound great. I’m more inclined to b**ch about albums that have never been released on remastered CD. Where are the Jane’s Addiction remasters? More Peter Murphy. Jeez even the Enya CDs sound horrible. There’s got to be a market for those! Loads of late 80s / early 90s compact discs could use a remaster as they are digitally harsh and ear bleeding. Still waiting for a CD reissue of The Batfish Boys – God’s Hate Kansas + B-sides, Marc Riley & The Creepers, re-re-issues of Ian MCculloch solo, Midge Ure – The Gift, Wah!, Wild Swans. Blink and you missed em. Sadly this vinyl nonsense is stopping these great releases from surfacing again on CD.

    1. No point waiting for The Creepers – Marc Riley has ruled it out several times. A shame as I would be absolutely there for a reissue programme too but it’s his call.

  70. Major disappointments: the non-release of Paul McCartney’s “Back to The Egg” & “London Town” boxed sets, “Bruce Springsteen’s “Tracks 2” and Yes’ “The Early Years”(a box of upgraded BBC sessions and unreleased vault materials by the original 1969-70 group), and, of course, the continued halt on “Immediate Records” & Yardbirds vault activities at Charly Records. Some have recently suggested that internal financial difficulties (at Charly) is the reason.

      1. It was mentioned on the internet (by drummer Gary Mallaber, who had played the “Human Touch” & “Lucky Town” albums), that he had been in the studio with Springsteen to complete some older recordings for release on a boxed set towards the end of 2019. On the released recordings that had Mallaber on drums, the drums were added last. All the other instruments were played by Bruce Springsteen. Mallaber had for many years been the drummer for The Steve Miller Band.

  71. Neil Young Archives 2 not arriving.

    Paul can you please copy and paste this comment in for all future end of new year wash ups thanks.

    Steve

  72. Steven Wilson is right about Chris Murphy regarding Max Q. Don’t trust everything Chris says. At the q&a event for Mystify, Richard Lowenstein said the Max Q masters had been mislabeled as ‘Inxs’ and had been hidden in a library for all these years. And it’s common knowledge that Tiger Lily was responsible in pushing the band & Chris to allow Richard to obtain the rights for using Inxs music in Mystify. I’m glad Richard was able to uncover his unreleased footage from the Sometimes music video and remaster the track for the DVD / blu ray release.
    We also saw a couple of European Warner sites list the Like A Prayer anniversary deluxe editions for it to all not happen.
    Another 2019 release to flag is the digital only Peter Gabriel release, Flotsam & Jetsam…after all the fuss of extended mixes not being on the Up reissue, here’s an amazing compilation without a physical release.

  73. Placebo – Debut Super Deluxe was being worked on in 2016 as said by band member Stefan, whatever happened to this?? Although they’re working on a new album so here’s hoping for 2020.

  74. Don’t forget the cock up with King Crimson’s ‘Heaven and Earth’ SDE with material playing at the wrong speed. That’s not really the issue though, what is the issue is DGM’s response to the error. David Singleton taking to social media explaining that a) the KC cottage industry couldn’t afford to press replacement discs so it would only be available as a download, b) it wasn’t their fault so we shouldn’t be mad at them, and c) we should just be grateful they even do this stuff in the first place. Very condescending to fans.

    1. How much of the set was ‘cocked up?’
      quote from david singleton’s explanation (I have no connection other than a fan)

      Thus, in the case of the Heaven & Earth boxed set, we can proudly create a boxed set that contains over 7,000 minutes of music in all the various formats. A figure that bears repeating. Seven thousand minutes. That is over one hundred hours. Or more than nine days spent listening continuously for twelve hours. A triumph by all those involved.

      Of all this music, frustratingly and annoyingly, ten items play at the wrong speed – hence the downloads from the site. One might think that the remaining ninety hours (far in excess, I suspect, of any of our previous boxes) together with the printed contents more than justified the purchase price.

      Except that replacement discs do not exist. The boxed set has never been re-manufactured, nor is it likely to be. The cost of replacement discs (authoring and manufacturing 16,000 BluRays, and then paying someone to receive requests and mail out discs to 8,000 people worldwide) would realistically be close to £100,000.

    2. Yes, I was going to post something similar. This was hours of material not of merchantable quality and the argument was advanced that it was “bonus material” so it didn’t matter. The Heaven & Earth set was still my boxed set of the year, but provides an example of DMG falling a long way from their usually stratospheric standards.

  75. Totally pee’d off about the Stones/ABKCO stand off. Don’t they realize that their audience is getting smaller every day? What incentive was there to buy the last 2 releases?
    Meanwhile ABKCO pushed out 106 tracks from 1969 on 1st of January, 2020 on YouTube to “protect their copyright”. – Although many of the tracks were hobbled / watermarked with various tones – the stuff I listened to was very good indeed. They’ve since been labeled “Private” on YouTube.
    Mr Dylan continues to put out large quatities of great archive material, why can’t the Sones?

  76. The biggest disappointment for me was within the Kate Bush box sets, in peticular, box II! Kate included a remix cd which dumbfoundedly did not include any of the remixes that were inventive and sonic wonders. We got a very short 5-cut disc of the same great remixes that have been released over and over. Where was Shoe Dance (The Red Shoe Dance Mix) or Rubberband Man? Not to mention the remix of Love And Anger. She had an opportunity to make this disc a jam and give us the remixes and extended dance tracks we crave and she totally missed the mark! It left us feeling as if the box was purposely thrown together and that these discs were just afterthoughts!

  77. I’d love to see London Town & Back To The Egg reissues (I actually heard Arrow Through Me played in a pub on New Years Day… I’d love to think that was a sign!), but why do I have a horrible feeling there could even be a pointless Band On The Run re-re-re-issue first since presumably Universal would see that as the cash cow now they have the catalogue!

  78. Agree on the Stones. They’re doing the least amount of work possible for their “deluxe” boxes. If they were done with the care of The Beatles’ or J.Tull reissues, I’d buy ’em, but they really give you no reason to waste anymore money on albums (albeit, both great records) I have several times already in the Villano Archives.

  79. Hi Paul,

    Just to note that there was life before 1980 and, when it comes to big disappointments in 2019, I’m surprised you overlooked the Let it Bleed 50th anniversary set from The Rolling Stones. As you know, it was originally released in 1969,

    As countless fans pointed out, there were no bonus tracks – outtakes, demos, etc – because ABKCO and the Stones can’t agree on terms for releasing anything other than the previously released studio tracks on box sets. This explains why the 50th anniversary sets for Beggars Banquet and Their Satanic Majesties Request suffered the same dismal fate.

    Always appreciate your work quite a bit, but wondering how you omitted this one.

    Regards
    ed

  81. Ha, would have bet my last £ that lack of TFF Seeds re-issue would top the list!
    Re: Blondie, remember DH saying a few years ago in an interview that Blondie is a legal nightmare with multiple ownership & label issues, must make getting SDEs and the like very difficult to get signed off.

    Superb website, keep up the good work!

  82. Surely the most disappointing thing of the year must be Parlophone’s fleecing of David Bowie fans with their £260 worth of Dodgy Demo inatallments?

  83. Worst of all to me was the failure of the Bowie camp to put out the Tin Machine box and go back to the before Ziggy era with Conversation Piece.

    1. Also, I was disappointed that they haven’t continued the boxsets [Five Years (1969–1973)
      Who Can I Be Now? (1974–1976)
      A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982)
      Loving the Alien (1983–1988)] and is it even known will they continue to release them anymore?

  84. Sorry about the passing of Mark Hollis. Hoping this might trigger a tribute box of some sort to the whole of Talk Talk and MH. I have what I assume is the only concert TT video and other visual components along with previously unreleased audio material would be great additions to a comprehensive career box.

    2. As well as the Montreux gig still available on DVD, Talk Talk’s Hammersmith gig was also filmed back in 86. It was shown on telly in the UK and I had it on an ever-deteriorating VHS copy for years. A proper cleaned up release for this along with the full gig on CD (the Pondlife issue was abridged and is now out of print) would be wonderful. They took their last bow as a live band in style. It deserves to be seen again.

      Last November’s Spirit of Talk Talk tribute gig at London’s Royal Festival Hall was filmed. So I suspect that might be released in 2020. I was there and it was a great night. If you accept that it can’t recreate what’s been lost and rightly doesn’t try to do that, it’s a fine gig with heartfelt performances by an eclectic cast. Above all it shows the far-reaching influence of TT on fellow musicians, and the enduring love and respect out there for Mark and the band. There you go: something positive and honest amid 2019’s seemingly endless cascade of shite-mongering gloom.

      1. I totally echo the wish for a (2?)CD/DVD edition of the London concert. Also, the Montreux gig could also be reissued as a CD+DVD set – I suppose BD upscaling doesn’t make much sense in this case.

        There’s a few other live recordings – a gig from Rotterdam 1984, of which two songs exist somewhere on a rare single, and one from Spain if I remember correctly…

  85. No follow up to the Bowie box set series this year :(

    Also a 25th anniversary edition of Tom Petty’s best album Wildflowers was due out this year but due to legal battles between his wife and daughters’ lawyers over the late musician’s estate, this did not see the light of day.

  86. I would love to see re-issues / expanded editions of 80’s Australian music. The likes of the Divinyls, Pseudo Echo, Eurogliders and Wa Wa Nee for starters. And state side, what about Pat Benatar!! Her catalogue defintely needs a re-issue and expansion. Love her.

    Dead or Alive’s expanded CD’s need to be released individually. Missed out on the box set – but would love the chance the get that music! I did recently pick up the vinyl box set (less than half price – so hello!) which is decent enough. Music on Vinyl’s Youthquake is still the best version for me – but the copy in the set is decent enough. I wish MOV would have continued the re-issue campaign past Nude. Nukleopatra was the main reason for getting the box set – I really like that album.

    But its always great when Music on Vinyl starts revisiting artists back catalogue. At least they have a quality product (for the most part). It’s also great when they do expanded albums. Loved the first couple of LPs from Smokie they did.

    Whilst we do not always get what we want – I found there is no shortage of decent music to buy for sure. Whilst I always want more – my wallet tends to sigh a relief when I don’t.

    Good times : )

  87. Wasn’t there supposed to be some sort of Psychedelic Furs reissue program/box set initiative by now? I seem to remember some sort of tiny blurb in Mojo about that a few years back.

  88. Good stuff Paul, thanks. Sorry about Mark Hollis passing and thought this might lead to a Talk Talk/ Hollis etc boxing of some sort. I have the one DVD of TT and there might be other performance possibilities to go with perhaps some unknown music.

  89. Traffic are another band with a neglected archive. Steve Winwood seems to have little interest in releasing BBC sessions, live concert recordings, unreleased tracks / versions, etc. Some material (BBC sessions, for example) has come out on poor quality unofficial releases but deserves a proper high quality release.

    1. Steve Winwood said he would not allow his catalog to get reissued. Sure Arc Of A Diver was reissued (lack of bonus material was astonishing but Winwood was very selective on what could be used on it), but he has gone on record as saying he wouldn’t allow anymore because of his ongoing belief established record labels screw over artists. He is pretty unrelenting and he doesn’t seem to care what fans are desperately wanting.

      Phil Collins remixes and rarities was a joke as was the reissues. I enjoy Collins especially his first four solo albums but those reissues was a joke. He actually thought fans would love life material over all the b-sides. It’s unreal!

  91. Another let down of 2019 is that there are still no remastered and expanded deluxe CD editions of the original 8 Boney M. albums (Take The Heat Off Me (1976), Love For Sale (1977), Nighflight To Venus (1978), Oceans Of Fantasy (1979), Boonoonoonoos (1981), Christmas Album (1981), Ten Thousand Lightyears (1984), Eye Dance (1985)). Sony Music made a mess of the cheaply done LP re-issue boxset in 2017. If Sony Music isn’t interested to do this, then give the license to Crimson/Demon Music Group of Cherry Red. They would love to make wonderful expanded and remastered deluxe re-issues, because Boney M. still has a strong fanbase.
    .

  92. My disappointments for 2019.
    No McCartney archive release – looking forward to Back to the Egg.
    No SACD release for the Beatles catalogue. I know this is a small market everywhere except Japan but like the major classical works it is deserved- would love to hear Peppers in glorious SACD.
    The ongoing fall short anniversary releases of the Stones catalogue. At least the Japanese continue to do a little better with their Let it Bleed 7 inch packaging SACD release.
    The long wait for any remastered releases of the Amazing Rhythm Aces catalogue- especially with the passing of their singer songwriter Russell Smith this year
    Looking forward to 2020 re release surprises!

  93. Great thread here! Interesting comments.

    I love that people can feel safe to share their views here without being ‘trolled’ – so Paul, ignore the odd comments that do slip through.

    People, let’s continue to share and play nicely in 2020!

    My greatest disappointment…… I just wish there was some unreleased Rush material lurking in a dark corner of the vaults somewhere…..

    Great site and great service Paul – thank you.

    1. We may get a “Permanent Waves” 5.1 SDE in 2020 if the MASTER Tapes were really ALL (finally) found AND in good order.

      … AND if SW 5.1 remix/RM’d that, as well as “Moving Pictures,” “2112” and fixed the recently, abysmally 5.1-mixed “Hemispheres,” I wouldn’t need any RUSH extras — but they are always welcome, esp. in discrete and immersive surround-sound!

    1. Another CD release of the Beatles Singles Collection would be welcome. Last time it was issued on CD was in 1992, without the Free As A Bird/Real Love single. These were released separately on CD as “Maxi Singles” back in 1996.

  95. Yet another year with no PJ Harvey reissue programme is not so much a ‘disappointment” as a total inevitability now…

    It’s extra frustrating as there’s no obvious legal, or personal, reasons… She’s never said anything either for or against it, as far as I know….

    For me, she is the one outstanding candidate, above all others, who has never had reissues…Maybe Kate Bush once held that title, but she’s had her chance (and pretty much blew it) so it’s over to you, PJ…

    1. I run the PJ Harvey site pollyharvey.co.uk (fansite discography based site) and via my PJH contacts/friends I can tell you that the chances of any remastered or SDE type of reissues is incredibly unlikely. Polly just does not relish looking back. Such a shame as there is a HUGE amount of released and unreleased work from the past (almost) 30 years. There is the new film ‘A Dog Called Money’ just out on DVD and the soundtrack to The Virtues coming in January…

  98. In defence of HMV…the one in Cardiff is superb. Good vinyl selection, good back catalogue on CD and the staff are friendly, happy and engaged with the customers (and no, I don’t work there…just happy to shop there).
    Happy new year, one and all!
    PS: Would love The House of Love to put out the Fontana albums as SDE’s. So many great b-sides and demo’s from that era. Why they persist with the debut album is beyond me.

  99. How about the RSD releases. Many were advertised as having a large number of copies manufactured, but could not be purchased anywhere other than on eBay or other websites charging 5 times what the record stores were initially selling them for. Seems that many of these releases were somehow sucked up by people out to make a big profit and keeping true collectors and enthusiasts from obtaining copies. Kind of defeats the true purpose of what RSD was intended to be about! That is very disappointing.

  100. Have to say I’m surprised you didn’t mention PSB’s missed CD single after the multiple mentions and analyses devoted to it this year (though I admit I thought the coverage/outrage was a bit overblown…).

    I join the many who are a bit saddened by the self-fulfilling “demise of CDs” brought on by labels’ disinterest. They should be flooding the market with cheap reissues to milk what they can (and let us pick up the physical products we’re happy to pay for in the meantime)!

  101. I’m still waiting for a vinyl re-release of a-ha’s Scoundrel Days before Stay On These Roads, East Of The Sun… and Memorial Beach appears.

    Great article, Paul, and love the website.

  102. Regarding the debate over whether EMI/Pink Floyd Recordings will (or should) release a ‘Middle Years’ box set, I think it would be ridiculous not to anticipate one.

    For one, there is plenty of content that is still available from the period (Animals, The Wall and Final Cut in 5.1, The Wall film soundtrack queues, The Wall Film (assuming MGM would allow it), and The Final Cut video (4 music videos that you can find on YouTube). Live material from DSOTM and WYWH tours was only released in snippets during Why Pink Floyd? so there has to be far more available.

    Second, Pink Floyd Recordings has re-released every album under the new label so why should care about making fans double dip on the Immersion content?

    Finally, it’s PINK FLOYD! They are the Star Wars of music – there is still a HUGE demand for their catalogue and, as the The Early Years and Later Years box sets prove, they can charge just about anything and know they’ll get it.

    You heard it here first…The Middle Years box is coming, people!

  103. I was a smidge disappointed with last years ‘Wild!’ expanded remaster from Erasure. What there was in the simple hardback 2-disc set was good but at only 5 previously unreleased tracks (including two live ones from a recently issued DVD soundtrack) it was a case of ‘I’d have happily paid a fair bit more for a fair bit more’. It wasn’t much over a tenner to be fair, but I’d have been up for a bit more scale and ambition. This February’s 3-CD package for the follow up album, Chorus (a much stronger source album in itself, one of my absolute favourites) looks much better already.

  104. I still can’t believe theirs no George Michael Older SDE, most of the album was released as singles and every single (apart from Fastlove) had 2 CD editions, the B-Sides alone would fill 2 cd’s.

    1. The k2 HD edition of Older on CD has noticeably better sound. I’m sure the estate will get around to releasing an expanded album. 25th anniversary would be next year so maybe then.

  105. A suppose a big disappointment for me is the lack of a physical release of Phil Collins rarities and unreleased tracks in a nice box set for the Christmas market, or even the 2019 market.. a missed opportunity for the dedicated fans that bought all the double discs reissues etc.

  106. This piece really made me chuckle – thanks Paul.
    Lets not forget the Stormwatch release debacle which actually was worth waiting for and showed how it should be done.

  107. XTC & The Dukes remasters bonus material only being available on Blue Ray.

    CD or vinyl would be much easier to access.

    Still not played either.

  108. I can’t help but add to this list the laughably bad 50th Anniversary release of the Stone’s Let it Bleed and the continuing failure of the band, the record company and other rights holders to resolve their differences or to put the interest of fans ahead of those differences. “Fans” as in the people who gave them the money in the first place.

    The only thing that makes the Let it Bleed 50th SDE look good is the equally deplorable Beggars Banquet 50th SDE. If the Beatles camp took this same dismissive, obstinate and self-righteous attitude, the 50th SDE of Abbey Road would include only the original tracks plus a black and white print out of the London weather report for the day they switched recording from Trident to Abbey Road.

  109. The 2019 bloated and absurdly expensive Pink Floyd “Later Years” release, which latter career material is my least favourite Pink Floyd period, confounds me. It seems to me that a more obvious and much more popular choice for a 2019 Pink Floyd super deluxe “immersion” edition release would have been their beloved “Animals” album. Keeping fingers crossed that the promised 5.1 SACD of “Animals” will definitely be on the calendar for 2020.

  111. A Big Disappointment for me was the non – appearance of the album/tracks by ARW .That,s Jon Anderson ,Trevor Rabin and Rick Wakeman .There was a great buzz around this venture but it has rather fizzled out sadly .
    Also no new albums by Sade,Tears For Fears and Prefab Sprout.Oh well as Johnny Logan once sang Whats another Year ? ! !

  112. I guess just like every year my list of regrets has Pet Shop Boys Please superdeluxe ( never happening) and Sting Blue turtles super deluxe( a man got to hope and no, I do not mean a remastered Cd and Vinyl of just the album, or even worse a completely re-recorded version)

    and Yes

    Eurythmics, should have straightened things out with Sony by now. we deserve more than remastered vinyl.

    Shakespear’s sister. I don’t care if Cherry Red release the first 2 albums or if they do it themselves, or a cat woman from the moon reissues them on a private label. the time is ripe, they are back in the public eye.

    final note, with ZZT pulling out half rabbits out of crumpled hats every record store day and reissuing stuff over and over it’s still funny to note they have to day failed to issued all the Frankie Rage Hard Freddie Bastone remixes on CD, or have managed to clear the Abba Sample and release the lost Act “chance” 12″ with Abba sample.

    not to mention the definitive edition of Grace Jone’s Slave to the Rhythm.

    [end of ramble]

    1. I totally agree that we NEED a deluxe edition of Grace Jones’ Slave to the rhythm which just SCREAMS for a 5.1 mix.

      The Frankie goes to Hollywood – Rage hard – the sonic collection should not be too hard to re-release on blu-ray with the 5.1 surround mix. The SACD is a rare item and SACD players are no longer common machines (were they ever ?) so a re-release on blu-ray would be justified.

  113. I still don’t understand the logic (if there is any) of the missing John I’m Only Dancing (Again) from the picture disc series…
    Perhaps they want us to save our money for the multiple versions of Ashes To Ashes picture discs (four designs each with three different stamp sheets) ahem….

  114. My biggest disappointment of 2019 was the extent of the loss of archive analog audio master tapes belonging to Universal Music Group (UMG) being exposed by the New York Times Magazine. All those Chess masters etc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Universal_Studios_fire

    My signed edition books by the below Artists was the highlight of 2019 for me
    Blues From Laurel Canyon – John Mayall
    Face it – Debbie Harry
    Afternoons With The Blinds Drawn – Brett Anderson
    Hell Is Round The Corner – Tricky

  115. Generally, the ridiculous cost of most “superdeluxe” box sets. If Prince can issue a 5-CD/DVD/book set for £60ish, then why can’t others? I love The Band but £90 for two vinyls, two CDs and a blu ray…….?

  116. Chris Murphy was no fan of MaxQ, the Mystify documentary made that very clear and it ended Hutchences friendship with Murphy, so I think his appetite to chase the rights and release it won’t be high on his list of priorities. So glad I still have my copy of the album and the CD singles.

    BTW when you listen to Michael singing on the Elegantly wasted album you realise his voice was actually getting better and stronger with age, which makes his passing all the more tragic.

    1. I agree, sounds like Chris Murphy tried to bury Max Q at the time and is still doing it now, it’s release would clearly damage his vision for the “brand”.

  117. Paul, you say you “like Phil Collins”, am assuming you mean his music, because if you ever met him, you surely wouldn’t say that. Having had the opportunity to be backstage with him twice, I can honestly say he is one I wouldn’t cross the street to talk with again. Total tool.

    Great article!

    3. I interviewed Phil Collins around the time of Wind and Wuthering and he was an absolute gentleman and extremely gracious. It may have been because I had a thorough knowledge of his work, and especially his playing outside of Genesis, but I came out of that experience feeling very positive about the situation, and that it seemed we both had a very enjoyable time. No complaints here at all!

  118. Is it a 2019 disappointment that HMV went under or that they subsequently stayed open?

    I don’t really have any disappointments myself, but, as I’ve already mentioned in these hallowed pages, the Beloved released all their heyday back catalogue singles in digital format in 2019, so I’m hoping for a 2020 30th anniversary release of Happiness, which has never been expanded.

  119. All the tacky rubbish the ZFT (Zappa Family Trust) add to their archive releases.
    HNY (Happy New Year) to you Paul and to all in the community. Arf!!

    1. Agreed. The music is excellent, but Halloween masks etc. aren’t exactly what I need with the discs. Ahmet, “the producer”, hasn’t grown up yet.

  120. I was disappointed that the vinyl rereleases from The Beautiful South stopped after just four randomly selected albums – any info why?

  122. As a Divas fan:
    No Whitney rarities album as widely advertised by Pat Houston on her IG Page (despite an accidental leak by a fan for a few days of and unreleased ballad and a alternate take of a famous One).
    No Céline expanded Edition for Falling Into You
    No Janet expanded Edition for either Janet nor The Velvet Rope
    No Tina expanded Edition for either Break Every Rule nor Foreign Affair
    All. Of the above publicized several times over by the presa
    Madonna? Lost cause

    1. As for Janet Jackson, I bet all of her original masters were lost/burned in that Universal fire that reportedly destroyed all of Sheryl Crow’s original masters. That is why there was no super deluxe edition or special 30 year anniversary of Rhythm Nation…Possibly for Velvet Rope either…Virgin masters now owned by Universal Music

    1. Isn’t there an issue with the band not owning any rights to their back catalogue and don’t make any money from it? I think they released a re-recorded greatest hits a while back which is always a sign that sort of thing is happening.

  125. Another big disappointment : the Rolling Stones great album “Let it bleed”released without any bonus tracks . I am sure there are some alternative versions or demos. I don’t understand ABKO policy.

  126. As for Duran Duran, are they realistically going to put out a comprehensive reissue programme, inc the Wedding album ha ha ha ha when they are probably planning the campaign for the new album? I highly doubt it. Will the market be saturated ? I think there is the demand from the fan base but let’s see what the band does. In their 40th anniversary year they have a big chance to cash in, I hate that term, with public affection for them & make the most of the potential huge amount of media interest. Let’s see cautiously how this pads out…

  128. As mentioned in the article, the biggest dissapointment for me was the London Town and BTTE Archives not being released. However, the Japanese issues of the four Macca live albums were good, especially Amoeba’s Secret, which is a revelation (especially sound wise) and is now my second favourite Macca live album after WOA.
    Rumours, as pointed out below, are that Flaming Pie will be the next archive as a 5CD/2DVD set. I hope the TFI appearance is included.

  129. Yet another year without a single The The album released as a deluxe (hell, just a decent remaster and re-issue would be great). I understand that there are financial issues (like who’s footing the bill) but come on! With all the unreleased material and albums lying around in The The’s vault you’d imagine it’d be a breeze to expand albums like Infected, Dusk and Nakedself.

    We did see a release of the really, really early album “Seen Without Being Seen” .. but only on casette?!

    At least I was super happy about the 1999 Prince deluxe.

    2. It says See Without Being Seen may get a CD release. Mart Johnson seems troubled. I’m trying to find a place online where I can pay and buy access to Inertia Variations Film he released but he’s suffered from years of emotional paralysis evidently, with fear not only of failure, but of success. This is sad, as he has so much to say and he was brutally honest in all his records and one of my musical heroes. Apparently baking tapes and remastering etc… is expensive. I wonder if they’d look at Kickstarter or some other way to raise funds. I’d love to see the infected film and TheThe vs The World get new releases on Bluray. Soul Mining deluxe was nice but a transcription copy of the vinyl? That is a bit of a cop out but I was thrilled to see it. If they could reissue Burning Blue Soul and include the tracks from Pornography of Despair as the bonus material… wow. I would lOve that. Infected had lots of 12” and b-sides. All we got in the London Town box was the ‘In the AM’ mix… which I really like but there was so much material they could have used. The 2 disc RPM release was a breath of fresh air. On a personal note I hope he finds peace and form as well. Soul Mining changed my life.

      1. Agreed. I had high hopes for The The’s 40th anniversary in 2019, and while Matt acknowledged the milestone, the lack of major activity was disappointing.

        But 2020 will be different I think. The Comeback Tour is being released in various formats plus that CD outing for SWBS, which I find encouraging. It may finally open the door (at some point) for either a box set or standalone releases of long awaited vaults material: Spirits, Pornography of Despair and Gunsluts etc.

        I suspect we’ll have to wait a little longer for that new album, but if The The fans have learnt anything over the years, it’s patience. Some things really are worth waiting for.

      2. Getting Seen Without being seen on CD in 2020 would be amazing. I’m starving for musical news from the The The camp. But yeah, it seems Matt’s riddled with anxiety about his music and perhaps even bitterness about being screwed over by record labels, so much so that he’s in “Oh why even bother”-mode now. But I’m guessing based on recent twitter postings that we’ll see some sort of release of one of his Live Comeback concerts?

  130. I wish Olivia Newton-John’s catalog would be reissued. Albums, box set, rarities. I actually met her at the Florida grease events a few weeks ago but I got so flustered forgot to ask about it.

  131. Didn’t TFF lose their masters in that Universal fire? I vaguely remember seeing their name amongst affected artists. By the way Paul, have a great year ahead; wish you continued success with your online store.

    1. Whatever it was, TFF weren’t affected by it, since Steven Wilson was capable of making a 5.1 mix (although he said they never found all the reels – fair enough, it’s a LOT of tape material to go through!).

      1. The answer is ‘no’ anyway. The tapes for The Hurting, Songs and Seeds were all available apart from the odd thing, which had nothing to do with the LA fire. Year of the Knife is two separate recordings bolted together and both versions had various slave reels. Steven Wilson was working with something like 100 tracks individual tracks for that ONE SONG when he came to do his surround mix, to give you an idea of the complexity.

  132. Hi Paul. 1st of all, thanks for your great work. I have a question about A-ha East of the Sun, West of the Moon deluxe edition. Do you think a reissue is possible. The price theses days is crazy. That’s what I hope a reissue like Hunting High and low (even if I understand the less commercial interest). Thanks and happy new year.

  133. Duran not reissuing 1993’s Wedding Album is a bit of a mystery (although they missed the 25th anniversary in 2018), so maybe it’ll appear in 2023?
    Liberty is not a good album. It could do with a good remix but still, only a handful of tracks are worth anything. No sign of 1997’s Medazzaland. Maybe we’ll get lucky with 2000’s Pop Trash (though there is some trash on it).
    The As The Light Go Down is good. It’s what Arena should have been but it still isn’t perfect IMHO. The Hi-Hat is barely audible and they was always plenty of it on their early albums.
    I would like to see a physical release of their Hammersmith Odeon shows from ‘81 and ‘82. Disappointing.

    1. Liberty would work well with the demos included (as with the previous reissues) as the basic tracks were way better before the woeful production was applied.

  134. It’s not just “For your pleasure” us Roxy fans want done to the standard of the debut album reissue, it’s all of them!! And to boot all latter Bryan albums! Given how long Mr Ferry spent on the first Roxy album all this won’t be in his lifetime let alone mine! This is what I want, not a concert from the 70’s all tarted up!

  135. The first 5 Duran albums were reissued with a generous bonus disc and DVD and all other B sides and remixes were released in the two cd single box sets (up to Thank You) which are still widely available at least used. So there is a lot out there. Yes it is disappointing that no further reissues are coming out. To be honest I don’t think there are too many people waiting for a Liberty reissue. What would you put on it? Including the 7″ version there are 6 remixes of “Violence Of Summer”. All are weak and utterly unremarkable. Then you had “Serious” which had the b sides “Yo Bad Azizi” and “Water Babies”. That’s it. The rest would be live tracks because Duran has never issued an unreleased track. That at itself is a disappointing conclusion.

  136. So the recent boxset The police – Every move you make is a scam? (taken from the original master tapes at Abbey Road?

    Some users have mentioned Ghost in the machine master tape has been lost during the fire…

    What a mess, we can’t be sure anymore regarding those artists involved in that accident.

    1. The tapes may have been subjected to a hi-res digital transfer, much like a lot of stuff these days. KISS are a member of the UMC family and Bob Ezrin remastered Destroyer which was released in 2012. In sleeve notes he confirmed his remaster came from a hard drive containing the hi-res tape transfers

  137. Eurythmics Savage video album is still not out on DVD or Blu ray – despite 4K versions of a couple of videos appearing on YouTube. It’s their Masterpiece album and needs a proper deluxe treatment.

  140. Surely the biggest disappointment for years has been the total lack of anything interesting from the Stones.

    We all know the reasons why and that there is no sign of it changing, but it really is so disappointing.

    2. So true. How many more “From the vaults” live albums do we need?? There is an absolute trove of unreleased studio stuff out there, from cover versions (e.g. Drift Away) to studio outtakes, alternate versions, etc. And all of it is controlled by the band. I know they released outtakes with the rerelease of Exiles, Sticky Fingers, and Some Girls, but there’s so much more.

    1. I read recently somewhere that the next Bowie boxset has been delayed due to disputes over Tin Machine royalties.
      Can’t remember where I read it so I can’t say how reliable the information is…

  142. At last check, some of the major Canadian cities do not have a “downtown” store for Sunrise Records, the chained that is also owned by HMV’s Putman.
    As for rumored Pink Floyd VHS tapes, no point in releasing VHS tapes. Inferior quality and will suck on a modern large screen. Only for collectors and they wouldn’t be cheap.
    Similarly the same for cassettes.
    Hilariously, No-Man released Love You To Bits on cassette with [of course like any SW project] extra tracks and then had to re-release it because tracks were missing!
    Coming out with multiple vinyl versions [aside from the cheaper black] is annoying and a money grab. If you buy more than one vinyl version of a vinyl release, you’ve been suckered.
    Collins’ digital release are completely annoying. These are tracks that should of been on the deluxe releases.
    In addition, releasing his two live albums without expanding them [or including a video to accompany them] was a mistake.
    Vinyl is getting annoying when a side sometimes hoesn’t even last 10 minutes. I don’t feel like standing up every 10-15 minutes to flip over a platter. Only advantage is the exercise.
    And finally. Did you know that music labels lie? “Yes we will release dulexe editions from them in 2020.” By 2022, they are finally released.

    1. Thanks for slapping reason into me. Was going to buy the Liam green vinyl despite owning the picture disc. I have vowed not to buy anything I already own a version of, and going for more CD SDEs than vinyl in 2020. So far I have a 100% record in not buying vinyl this year! :-D

  143. My biggest disappointment of 2019 was finally running out of space, money and spousal tolerance after 6 exciting years of believing I needed everything I saw because I used to have it in 1984. Growing up is a terrible thing to attempt. It has to be said that this site can become addictive, since I stopped actively buying in late Autumn I have felt bereft. How can one comment in any meaningful way and add to the conversation if you haven’t put your own hand in your own pocket.
    Looking forward to Cocksure in 2020, but I guess the future is part of another, yet to be revealed, thread.
    Goodbye 2019, you can fuck right off.

  144. Any idea where the Metallica reissue project stands? It seems like a long time since AJFA was released and the “Black Album” would likely be the next one, which I’d be stoked to get.

    2. Bryan, I assume that the 30th anniversary box set for Metallica’s black album will come in 2021 because its initial release was back in 1991. And that one should be unreal, because they probably have so many demos and alternative takes, etc. from that period. Can’t wait!

  145. Jimmy Page didn’t put out anything from his vast Led Zeppelin live archives.

    Have to say once again that so far the Led Zeppelin 50th anniversary campaign has been a disaster.

        1. Why no Led Zeppelin complete vinyl boxed set?, surely that must be on the cards including the two live albums and At The BBC!. Could take £400 of
          My money now Mr Page, Mr Plant and Mr Paul Jones!!. That would be the highlight of any deluxe box set ever for me personally!.

        2. When the last round of Re releases came out Page handled all the promo himself, there was zero interest from the other two . I think he is fed up with keeping the flame burning on his own , especially with all the knocking comments Plant makes every time he is interviewed.

  148. The Prefab Sprout lack of Deluxe CD was the most painful for me. Have been wanting those reissues for ages now and they are some of my favorite albums. Shame we’ll never get all the rare tracks and remaster quality on CD.

    Hurt as much as the Teenage Fanclub reissues a while back that we’re only released on vinyl leaving their hundreds of great b-sides uncollected.

    Numerous “music” sites hyping up vinyl and constantly running down CD’s isn’t helping.

  150. Wow! I’m surprised to see that cds are outselling vinyl by nearly 5:1. I never bought in to the vinyl resurgence. I did my vinyl buying in the 70s and 80s listening on a £50 Fidelity record deck so cds were a marked improvement. I kept most of my vinyl and still listen to some occasionally but a lot of the stuff I have has been remastered, expanded and reissued on cd and listening to it on my current system elevates it to another level.

    I did upgrade my turntable a couple of years ago and bought Parallel lines on 180g to see what the fuss was about and while it’s obviously an improvement on my 1978 copy, there was not enough difference versus the cd to justify the extra cost of the vinyl, plus at the rate i buy I’d soon have to move to a bigger house if I bought vinyl at the same rate.

    No slight on vinyl, just that cd is my medium of choice.

    1. I have been saying for years that the death of CD was announced prematurely. There is a vinyl mafia out there that makes CD buyers feel like vinyl buyers did in the 90s. It also makes good media copy, particularly when random percentages are bandied about. We should all stick together and make sure there are alternatives to streaming.

    2. Agreed! We all love the aesthetics of album covers, etc… but even those of us who had/have only pristine plastic lined inner sleeves on our albums (to feed our B and O premium classic turntables) have to admit that even mere redbook format cd’s are generally better and more practical than vinyl (especially remasters). The surface noise of all vinyl is awful. SACD, DVD-A and Blu-ray are sublime… but, alas, my Oppo 203 universal disc player is now a rare thing of beauty. Physical media will survive for lots of reasons but vinyl is just an impractical exercise in nostalgia.

  151. I would like to side track slightly with a comment on my disappointment today while shopping in Fopp in Glasgow city centre where I almost cried at the price they are charging for the CD box set of ‘Songs for groovy Children’ which was an eye watering 76 quid, yip you read right. Also they are charging a vomit enducing 85 quid for the CD version of the 1999 box set. Same set I bought in the same shop on the day of its release for 60 quid. And they wonder why people don’t go into their shops to buy stuff. THAT is my disappointment. I did manage to take pictures for future reference

    1. HMV/Fopp put prices up for the “festive” season. Literally saw stock being restickered with higher prices. Part of the Sunrise business strategy?

      1. I waited until payday to buy my friend the a-ha classic albums multi CD set for Christmas in Fopp/HMV, at which point it had jumped up £3 from the week before!

      2. I think price-jacking is going to be the thing that sinks HMV v3.0. They had been selling the Stereolab reissues for £12.99. The last two came out and they were all suddenly £15.99. I bought them on Amazon instead.

    2. Fopp in Nottingham were selling the Prince set on the day of release for £85, which is odd considering that the mothership HMV up the road were later offering it at £58.

      I have noticed that prices in HMV in general shot up before Christmas. Most titles by £2, which means that the hard rock reissues from a label like Rock Candy had increased to a ridiculous £15.99 and Universal’s ‘Casablanca Years’ box set from Angel had gone up from a pretty steep £29.99 to a jaw dropping £33.99! Who on earth pays these prices????

  152. While unwanted and unnecessary loads of reissues are put in the Market, I keep missing Van Morrison,
    BeeGees, Miles Davis, Weather Report, James Taylor, América, and many more, Deluxe or plain reissue.
    Some news about them Paul?
    Cheers

    1. Van Morrison released a 3 disc deluxe version of his very good 1997 album The Healing Game in 2019, well worth seeking out :-) Also, James Taylor released lovely remasters of his 6 Warner albums in a nice box for less than £20.

  155. Given that Pink Floyd haven’t yet announced “The middle years”, it’s a bit early to definitively rule out VHS as the format of choice. Personally I hope they go for VHS and Betamax for that early 80s vibe…

    And Animals stylised leg warmers.

    1. @Danny,
      Don’t expect a “middle” years box set. They’ve already been taken with the 3 immersion box sets. Only things life are The Wall and The Final Cut and compilations from then.
      They could call it the “Mid-Later Years”….

        1. I do hope for a remastered release of The wall live concerts at Earls Court. I agree that the immersion box sets make that less likely, although given we’re talking about Pink floyd I don’t think it can be ruled out. I have no idea how many copies of DSOTM I have bought over the years. Yes I’m one of those. And yes, I like marbles…

          1. I do think The Wall in 5.1 will come out at some point, too. Although it could be a long-ish wait.

        2. No ‘Middle Years’? That would be a shame. I used to have the
          Another Brick In The Wall (Part II)/One Of My Turns and Run Like Hell/
          Don’t Leave Me Now 45s where the songs were isolated from the album, i.e. no segue overlapping the intro/outro. Other than the alternate edit of ABITW2 on “A Collection Of Great Dance Songs” I don’t think those single versions will see the light of day again.

        3. Really? You surprise me with that comment. I thought you were clued up. Of course there will be a Middle Years… The Early Years runs from ’65 to ’72 and The Later Years runs from ’87 to ’19, so there’s a huge gap to be filled from ’73 to ’85. The Immersion Boxes don’t cover this full period and this will be the opportunity to release the 5.1 mix of The Wall. What also surprises me about your comment is the fact that this period is the richest, in terms of recorded concerts, outtakes, demos, etc… It’s gonna happen for sure and it’ll be the biggest one of the lot. Expect 30+ discs.

          1. Thanks for the passive aggressive “I thought you were clued up”. Lovely. What a nice person.

  156. Prince’s 1999 vinyl boxset was disappointing for me as it arrived with slits in the top of each sleeve, and with replacements extremely hard to find, I’m left with an expensive damaged set that I can’t listen to in the hope that Amazon will replace it.

    It seems packaging design flaws are the only constant in the world of SDEs

    1. Don’t know if you’ll see this, but I agree that this problem is rife with many LP releases these days by the majors.

      In the US, there are a few indie labels who know how to solve this problem, and it so simple that the majors would never do it cause it costs money and more importantly, intelligence.

      With any LPs that have their own specific inner sleeves, they put both that inner sleeve in the cover, but the record itself is in a plain white paper sleeve, with that sleeve’s open top facing to the right where you would open the LP.
      So not only are there any tears the the specific inner sleeves, but also if somehow the record gets jostled around, it will not damage the tops or bottome or left side of the album covers.

      Leave it to the labels that really care about their artists and the fans, unlike the megacorps who just want your money.

  157. If the ABBA delay results in a full album of new material I’ll happily wait. I’ve waited almost 40 years already lol. Just hope I’m not six feet under when it does materialise. More disappointed the Blondie box never reached us yet, no new material there, so crack on Universal!!

    1. I think ABBA really shot themselves in the foot. I was so excited but after being messed about so many times, it’s spoilt the experience. They should’ve released at least one of the tracks to keep the fans onside. Sadly an old friend of mine who was an ABBA fan won’t get to hear them as she died of cancer last year.

  158. Tears For Fears continue to break my heart by not releasing anything, whether it’s the long awaited SOL super deluxe or the continually rumored new material. I just don’t understand why. They are my favorite band of all time and it’s killing me. :(

    1. I agree, also a big disappointment for me is that MFSL haven’t repressed SFTBC & SOL again!, I didn’t buy them originally due to financial embarrassment at the time and now the price of both has gone onwards and upwards!!. Such is life I guess!. By the way can anyone who owns these MFSL pressings comment on sound quality?, I’ve got the Mission albums from the same series and they are as quiet as a mouse and unexciting sonically!.

  159. My biggest disappointments were the digital-only Peter Gabriel b-sides collection (and the delay of the CD version of Rated PG), and the strange vinyl-CD mix of the Supergrass box. If it stuck to one format and had been a bit cheaper as a result, I would have bought it in a heartbeat.

      1. Hi Barry, please could you elaborate on what CD you are referring to? Flotsam and Jetsam is a digital only release, and whilst many of the tracks have appeared as b-sides on CD singles in the past, a great deal of others (Me and My Teddy Bear for example) have not.

  160. I’ve been collecting R.EM.’s remastered box sets since Murmur was re-released and they have largely been pretty good but Monster bucked the trend of having live or demos on the second disc and we’re left with a remixed disc of the original album. If you want the demos and out-takes (as with Automatic for the People) you need to fork out 50-60 quid for the super deluxe edition.

  162. I’d have to say that the rights to Chris Cornell’s final Soundgarden demos being subject to a lawsuit filed by his widow against the band was the biggest and saddest disappointment last year. Fans obviously want the band to work these into a final album, and to provide a fitting end to an outstanding legacy. Instead it smacks of crassness and financial gain. Urgh!

    1. Yep absolutely – I still regularly Google “Scritti Politti album reissues” just to see if I have missed some news (I almost missed the Blue Nile Vinyl reissues).

      Here’s hoping for something in 2020.

      I’d also like to see a SuperDeluxe edition of London Town which has rapidly become my favourite Wings album (I think I have OD’ed on Band on the Run over the years).

  165. For me, it would have to be the sudden end to any further Yoko Ono reissues. No ‘Season Of Glass’, ‘It’s Alright’, ‘Starpeace’, ‘Rising’, ‘A Story’ or ‘Blueprint For A Sunrise.’
    Whilst we’re on the subject, a reissue of Roxy Music’s ‘For Your Pleasure’ would have been nice.
    Van Morrison reissues would be welcome. Too many of his great albums are currently out-of-print on cd.

    1. Yes I was sad there were no more Yoko releases. I guess that have stopped for lack of interest? The Wedding Album was supposed to be the last release according to the early publicity wasn’t it? Lovely though that was (and I’m probably one of the few people who actually enjoyed listening to it multiple times on both white and clear vinyl and Japanese Mini LP CD!) I was in the audience for the Starpeace tour in London at the Wembley Conference Centre and I seem to remember an extraordinary number of empty seats. Her more recent Plastic Ono Band Meltdown shows were packed at the Festival Hall so I had hoped her star was rising but it seems not. She hasn’t been too well recently I believe so maybe that also has something to do with it? I was standing outside the Dakota building in NYC last week but didn’t see her walk past any windows. I gave her a wave anyway. I love her work – fingers crossed they release the missing albums this year.

  166. The big story for me was the way CD is being treated in general terms. As someone who is only interested in CD, it’s laughable that after decades of buying music, the industry is increasingly not interested in my money. I won’t stream. I won’t buy Vinyl at inflated prices. So what they gain, they lose.

    For the record, I added together all the CD’s I bought last year. I counted box sets as “1”, even though they obviously has multiple discs in them. In 2019 I bought 1.3 CD’s per day, every single day. They’re clearly making more from me than if I streamed. Yet they’re beginning to look like they don’t want my business.

    I can’t complain too much, I guess. I bought a lot of music. However, I want to buy even more, but if the business still wants my cash, then they’re going to have to give me what I want – a CD. if they don’t, my discretionary cash is going to go elsewhere.

    1. Agree, where is Seeds of Love 5.1?
      And also promised for a number of years now, the James Guthrie remaster of Pink Floyds ‘The Wall’ in 5.1.
      AND the rest of the unreleased Elton John SACD back catalogue.

      1. I think it’s a safe bet that the age of the SACD is over. Audio Fidelity and some other small audiofile labels may continue these for awhile but the format is at it’s last leg. even Japan seem to have moved on from SACD.
        Bluray audio, the natural replacement is also almost never happening. Guess the market just ain’t good.

    2. We did get utterly random Big Chair orange vinyl from hmv in 2029. I mean, really, what was the point of that? Grey marbled vinyl maybe understandable.

  170. Definitely on the Macca Egg & London Town front, to round up the 70’s stuff although I heard a rumour that Flaming Pie may be next… The Pink Floyd Later years stuff just seemed to me to be a vastly overpriced pointless collection. I also heard a rumour that HMV is returning to London, where.. I don’t know, but there is a Fopp in Covent Garden which is essentially the same thing. Keep up the good work and happy new year Paul!

    1. Yes, there is a FOPP near Cambridge Circus, which they say is in “Covent Garden” because they think that sounds more exciting/trendy/vibrant.

      The original HMV is still in Oxford Street….the one near Bond Street Station. I went past it the other day………. the massive neon sign is still on the façade (not working) with a huge (little) dog and gramophone…………. but the shop is all boarded up and vacant. Pretty vacant. Still there though.

      There is another London HMV that I know of, and oft-times frequent…………. in Uxbridge! .

  171. You mentioned the Phil Collins “digital only” set but what about Peter Gabriel’s “Flotsam and Jetsam”?? PG has been promising an “odds and ends” set for years, and in terms of music, this set really delivers. It’s really something special, so WHY RELEASE IT AS DIGITAL-ONLY???? This is a well-curated collection that is begging for liner notes and archival photos, etc. Beyond frustrating.

    2. Yes, I concur most wholeheartedly:

      Flotsam & Jetsam needed to be a deluxe set with a 12″x12″ booklet. I don’t want to download these songs: I have taken to getting copies of them (second hand physical singles, cd singles etc) myself over last few years. It would be nice to have some of them NOT sounding like he was eating a bowl of rice krispies whilst recording them though….. and I could buy the download version… but…. big box and big book and physical cd’s would be so much better.

      As Peter Gabriel seems, to me as a punter, to be less active than tectonic drift, I fear that we may never get anything from him ever again. I mean, his last original album was in 2002.. and even the cover version project (Scratch My Back) was 10 years ago! His last album was the orchestral “New Blood” in 2011. I suppose as we got the Flotsam & Jetsam (download only) in 2019, he has therefore afforded himself another 10 years until his next (musical) release!

      It has been: Here Comes The Flood ….. Flotsam and Jetsam ….. Darkness.

      1. While I wholeheartedly agree that a physical release of Flotsam and Jetsam would be great I can also understand the reason for not doing it.

        To do it justice it would need to be something like 5 CDs (I think it clocks in at well over 5 hours of music but I could be wrong) plus packaging, plus sleeve notes etc
        Whereas making it available via download and streaming services is actually really simple (comparatively speaking) – no design/development and manufacturing costs. And no physical stuff to ship around. And it’s only for the hardcore fans.

        However – you could also consider that perhaps the digital version is an experiment to test the waters and gauge the level of interest – if it’s high enough then perhaps a physical set will follow.
        (I must point out that I dont think the ‘testing the waters’ theory is likely).

        For anyone interested here is a great breakdown of the Flotsam and Jetsam content
        https://www.genesis-news.com/c-Peter-Gabriel-Flotsam-And-Jetsam-Information-and-Review-s753.html

        Hope the external link is okay with you Paul…

    3. The digital only release of Flotsam And Jetsam and the non CD release of Rated PG are my biggest disappointments.
      The glacial pace of the Neil Young Archives program-1 53 minute disc all year- is runner up.
      The failure to issue the Test Pressing version of Blood On The Tracks on CD is third.

    4. Actually it is (or was), not sure which one, but I do have it, so it is out there. Perhaps promo only, although my box set doesn’t have any promo stickers.

  173. i’d like to say big thanks for your hard work … i discovered this site recently, and ” got lucky ” with the Paul McCartney book signing ticket. Wouldn’t have known about it otherwise. I since met Debbie Harry … and got some wonderful box sets too. so thanks again for all the great information.

    Here’s to the roaring twenties !

  175. Thanks for the comprehensive list of disappointments which I’m sure the vast majority of readers will agree with

    The SOL SDE (or lack of it) is probably the most disappointing for me and it also seems to have gone very quiet about “the new album”. The new tracks TFF released on their last greatest hits must surely be “too old” to put on any forthcoming album

    Also hoping this year for “London Town” and “Back to the Egg” SDE’s … better start saving now!

    1. The two 2017 songs were apparently removed from the new album, since TFF stated they had more than enough for one LP. (I’d like a less compressed version of “I Love You But I’m Lost”, though – and add the 3 covers EP to the CD while you’re at it!)

  176. Great, if somewhat frustrating summary! I’d add to it the non-appearance of the next in the ongoing Bowie chronological box sets in 2019. I‘ve enjoyed collecting them so far and was interested in what they’d do next. Perhaps we’ll see in 2020…?

  178. You left out The Cure’s new album which was supposedly to be released around Halloween 2019 according to some reports…AND they never set up a 30th Anniversary Disintegration tour! Disappointing!

    1. This is partly correct: not a proper tour but few shows at the Opera House in Sydney with the entire Album, B-sides and outtakes. Filmed, posted on YouTube and officially released in the next few months

  179. The Phil Collins piece made me laugh out load chuckle and will keep me amused for days….

    Seriously Paul thanks for the deals (of course!), the great info and unboxings and generally one of my permanently open sites on the laptop, tablet, mobile etc etc

    Happy New Year

  180. Also no Bowie / Tin Machine big box this year. Will we see it this year?

    Oh and Issuing all those ridiculously expensive 7” box sets and albums, only to then issue the vastly superior Conversion Piece box set including all the same content

  181. While you are down the whole Roxy Music thing how about the general story that Steve Wilson had done an SDE of “For Your Pleasure” which is gathering dust ?

    Blondie promised didnt materialize reissue was really annoying.

    Your site is great, I pay far too many visits a day and pay far too many $$ to the various Amazons around the world

    1. I imagine SW has done loads of stuff waiting to be released. His stereo remix of Roxy’s debut is definitely on the shelf too. Thanks for kind comment at the end!

  188. I notice that most of the Duran Duran catalogue is unavailable new from Amazon now. With DD and their label that probablynjust means they are giving up on even selling physical product, but I hope it is a sign of planning a major reissue campaign for the 40th anniversary this year.

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