Kate Bush coloured vinyl reissues
All 10 studio albums
All ten of Kate Bush’s studio albums are being re-released through her new label The state51 Conspiracy on vinyl and CD, with special coloured vinyl editions being available via independent record shops.
The Kick Inside (1978), Lionheart (1978), Never For Ever (1980), The Dreaming (1982), Hounds of Love (1985), The Sensual World (1989), The Red Shoes (1993), Aerial (2005), Director’s Cut (2011) and 50 Words For Snow (2011) boast new ‘Ecopak’ CD packaging with booklets and reseable poly-sleves. All CDs feature the 2018 remastering by Kate and James Guthrie.
The vinyl editions also use the 2018 remasters, but with new lacquers cut by Bernie Grundman. These have been pressed at the Record Industry plant in the Netherlands.
The ‘indie editions’ are pressed on coloured vinyl which is sympathetic to the original album artwork and feature new Fish People label designs and special OBI strips with the pressing date on them. They are protected in resealable poly-bag liners with a ‘Fish People Reissue’ sticker, bottom right. Refreshingly, these coloured vinyl pressings are described as “unlimited editions” and will be in production constantly. The only thing that will change is the pressing date on the OBIs.
Sadly, the first three albums are USA-only, which is why you won’t find them in the selection on the SDE shop. It’s worth noting that the Hounds of Love that forms part of this reissue campaign is not the “special presentation” we were promised earlier this year, so we have to presume that that will emerge at some point in the future.
These Kate Bush reissues are released on 20 November 2023, via The state51 Conspiracy. Pre-order via the SDE shop using this link or the buttons below.
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All of the titles, including the first three, are listed as available at Tower Japan, but they are delayed. I have ordered mine, although I shouldn’t expect them before 31 December. In the meantime, I have to save some cash…
I’m all for recycling and perhaps this is an extension of the term. It’s a free market and you make your choice and pay your money. However like buying a vintage car, how often do you play your newly acquired item?
It’s said with vintage cars that they only really appeal to those who grew up with them.
I can understand the current 20 year old listening to KB or the Beatles or the Who but on Spotify or Tidal or similar rather than buying them. So will there be a market for physical items such as vinyl records in 10-20 years time? Houses and flats are getting smaller. Who will have the space?
I already have the only album I want, which is the analogue production pressing of hounds of love in marbled vinyl. These pressings do not matter to me. People are free to buy whatever they want. Having said that, these pressings are quite expensive. Only true fans would want them.
In a free market society anyone can charge what they want. The market place will decide if the price is too high, if so then there will be unsold vinyl followed by discounted selling prices. If there’s no unsold vinyl then those who can’t afford it lose out until there is a vinyl repress.
I’ve just been reading the various comments here regarding the pricing of the latest Kate Bush vinyl releases. The general feeling is that they are too expensive, however a few people seem quite happy to pay the asking price. It would be reasonable assume therefore that some people either have more disposable income than others or that they are more avid KB fans than others. Some among us feel an overwhelming urge to own everything that our favourite artist/s release, and maybe they are the target customers for these gorgeous but admittedly over-priced musical artefacts. I have come to the conclusion that every individual music fan makes his or her own value judgement as to what a particular album is worth. I have vinyl albums in my own collection that I wouldn’t have paid over ten pounds for, and others that I would have gladly paid around five time that price. We all have a cut-off point beyond which we will not pay, even for a pristine copy of our all time favourite album. As Kate Bush is not among my own personal favourite artists I can confidently claim that £38 for a single (re-released) LP is definitely overpriced. If she was one of my favourites, I would still judge it to be overpriced but would buy it anyway, however as noted, we all have a cut-off point. For me personally quite a few recent releases have been pitched beyond my personal cut-off point, which means that I just simply refuse to buy them or reluctantly pay a fraction of the cost for a download. Two examples from my own experience concern Elvis Costello’s vinyl only release of the Armed Forces box set at around £250 at time of release, I passed on that one, secondly the forthcoming Dylan at Budokan four CD box, currently listed as £199 on Amazon UK caused me to ignore the physical product in favour of pre-ordering the download for £12.99. I am not, and have never been a fan of MP3 downloads, however I not a fan of being financially fleeced due to my addiction (mild in my case) to the music of particular artists. I can’t help but feel that some record companies are on the verge of killing the golden egg laying goose.
The advent of CD or higher resolution downloads with much lower prices than vinyl and even lower than CDs has made the decision to forego purchases of physical discs easier. MP3 or ACC can be easily ignored unless you have data storage limitations. Even Apple streams now in Apple lossless (CD) resolution (though you can’t buy lossless downloads from them). But I still go for physical sets with unique content and especially with multi-channel discs. I buy the best sounding digital version I can of any recording be it on CD, blu-ray or download.
I actually had 1000 vinyl albums pressed for a band I work with. So I know the prices. And even with this coloured vinyl, obi’s etc. there’s simply no way to justify charging nearly £40 a copy. It’s profiteering pure and simple.
Im sure there’s quite a cost in producing such lovely items but I agree with many here that £38 for a single LP is very pricey and probably what you’d expect to pay for a double these days. I think Kate released a statement that these releases were on the back of last year’s massive chart success – so may be aimed at new fans, although how many of those buy LPs instead of just streaming? I really love the look of these versions but serious Kate fans will already have her back catalogue and this may really only appeal to collectors mainly. If that turns out to be the case then we can hope for price reductions at least at some point
The success of Running Up That Hill was based purely on streaming to a mostly younger audience. I’d be fairly certain that that demographic is not going to change their music consuming habits and rush out to buy numerous £38 LPs of Kate’s back catalogue. It’s going to be the same people who probably bought those reissued records in 2018, and judging by the reaction here, a lot of those will decline the opportunity to add expensive coloured vinyl to their collection.
I wouldn’t be so sure.’Young People’ are interested in new vinyl editions. Why wouldn’t they want to buy a Kate Bush vinyl LP in the same way they buy Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey etc.?
Hey Paul, any recommendations on the best way to get hold of the first three albums? Also is the US release date the same as in the UK? Thanks in advance
They are not for me as I am not a KB fan. But if it was an artist I really liked or collected I would have to think twice about making a purchase at those prices. Spending £5 on an album in 1985 only equates to just over £15 in 2023. Though maybe the costs of pressing albums has also increased. Whoever does decide to buy these enjoy your purchase. The National Album Day Vinyl reissues were not far off these prices so it seems to be the norm now at about £35 and upwards for a single vinyl LP!
Seriously everyone whinging about cost,Costa Coffee and Cake £10 then we shud whinge,vinyl lasts a lifetime ,we all know it’s dear but pls stop berating costs,in 1979 I paid £3.99 for the Kick inside, times have moved on,£25 is a good price for an Album,so an extra few quid for the New Fish People Stuff I’m happy to pay…
£25 is a fair price. £38 is not.
If anything there should be a reduction for the horrible fish people artwork.
If the new coloured vinyl editions are “unlimited” and will remain in print, the price issue may be less than for the”buy it now or miss out” situation we have for many other reissues. It also means they may pop up in January sales etc.
As others have said, classic Kate vinyl albums pop up all over the place for not much money, especially the earlies ones. I get that some of the later ones had lower pressing numbers, but premium pricing shouldn’t be too high now they are in print for the foreseeable future.
Well, the box sets went for 39 Eur each in the end. I paid under 80 Eur for them earlier and bought the first pressing of Aerial sealed and immaculate condition for 50 Eur last year.
Just to put the prices into perspective. No way, I buy the new reissues if they do not come down in price by a lot (but even then, I might pass). I’d rather spend the money on more originals – either UK or Japanese (I love my Japanese version of the Dreaming; it did cost half the price of the reissues, BTW, in real NM and with insert and OBI ;-)
The only Kate Bush I own is from the 80s, the whole story which I got from a mate in exchange for a bag of fish. I never really played it I had only heard Babooshka and Wuthering Heights and thought it not my bag… until I came on this website and I dug it out and was a revelation, another thank you to Paul and you all. So I was looking forward to taking a deeper dive into albums and love coloured vinyl, problem is as many have said the price points are too high for me , I have expectations of £20 something for single and £30 something for double albums as being reasonable but that’s just me and best wishes to those who take the plunge they do look nice. My other issue has been that when enjoying my vinyl I find that the cheap plasticky pressings from the 80s play on my project classic turntable with blue needle without fuss but all my recent expensive heavyweight vinyls attract pops and crackles like Rice Krispies and leave me wishing an investment in CD at time, but overall putting a record on is like making a good cup of tea , the process and outcome can be completely fabulous when it’s right and long may the format thrive
I can remember that Saturday morning vividly!!
Cheggers shouting A BAG OF FISH FOR A KATE BUSH RECORD!!!
Shame it wasn’t Fish People edition!
Ha Ha Ha! Boom! Boom! Mr Roy!
That’s rather a good analogy…
For what it’s worth, I dug out the two versions of “Hounds of Love” that I own on vinyl (my original was on tape – it was 1985 after all). The 2010 Audio Fidelity “audiophile” version that was cut by Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray (Acoustec not Cohearant) was pressed on purple marbled vinyl and presented in a nice gatefold and plastic inner sleeve. For comparison I listened to the 2018 Bernie Grundman cut in the box set. Black vinyl with fish people labels and a printed inner sleeve (no gatefold). There was NO COMPARISON – the 2018 BG cut was far superior – better dynamics, deeper soundstage, better separation. Although likely digitally sourced, this sounded excellent (as do all the records in those boxes). Hopefully the new Bernie acetates are as good. So, don’t waste your money on the “audiophile” version (£100 minimal for near mint). Probably worth the £38.
Mightn’t have been digitally sourced – as I recall Kate wasn’t happy with the digital process when doing the Dreaming so Hounds of Love was done with analog recording and mastering technology – the original CDs were listed AAD. Of course they could have digitally remastered it – like the Mobile Fidelity scandal … Mobile Fidelity’s Digital Vinyl Debacle: Are your records really analog? | Audioholics
Her 1993 album, The Red Shoes, was issued on CD and sounded very bright, and dare I say, “shrill?” Apparently Kate was never happy with it, and upon regaining the rights under Fish People, issued an analogue master on CD in 2011 which dramatically changed the album very much for the better. The 2018 remaster I think improves slightly on the 2011 remaster. I love listening to Moments of Pleasure on my system. Her voice is amazing on the track.
The 2018 remasters on the whole are the best there are with the early albums getting the biggest improvement. I will wait patiently and hope that Mr. Wilson can persuade Ms. Bush that spatial remixes of her catalogue can breathe new life into her albums, her retirement plan, and Bertie’s trust fund.
These are very pretty. Nevertheless, I can’t help comparing the price with the £20 I paid to pre-order a vinyl album from the Clay Pipe records stable over the weekend. As some of you might know, Clay Pipe’s releases are beautifully designed and packaged. One can only assume they aren’t sold at a lost. Likewise the recent Unthanks reissues, which were about £25 for a double album. I guess the Kate Bush records are viewed as being from a premium artist and the market will bear the higher price. All of which is fair enough. People can buy them or leave them. There are, after all, plenty of other copies of these kicking around.
3 Down. he red shoes ate bush. (4,3)
They indeed look beautiful but pricey. About the first 3 albums being USA only it’s because Kate Bush still doesn’t own the rights to those albums (except for the USA). Warner Music Group owns the rights. From what I gathered, WMG stopped distribution of Kate’s albums (except the first 3 albums) a few weeks ago (when the distribution deal with Kate Bush’s FishPeople ended).
I reckon prices for these new editions (Black or Colored) are inflated but it’s been almost the same with WMG recently. Back in 2018, pricing was OK and Amazon heavily discounted the box sets in 2019 but during the past 2 years WMG significantly increased prices. If you go to Amazon UK, Aerial’s 2LP 2018 edition price is £56.98, The Red Shoes : £30.62 for example.
Now that Kate Bush moved her catalogue to state51, I hope they will release a 7″ box set and/or 12″ box set like Depeche Mode. Or just like New Order. Whenever they release a Definitive Edition box set, they also repress/remaster the 12″ singles of the era.
I wouldn’t hold out much hope for 12″ reissues. Kate didn’t even include the Red Shoes extended mixes on the Other Sides set in 2028.
Even though the prices are higher than the last round of reissues, it’s great these are coming to market again as Kate’s albums should be a staple on the pressing machines at least every 5 years. Nothing cash-grab about it.
‘For example no one blinks at paying £35-£50 for the latest Playstation game, which is roughly what the new Kate vinyl is.’ Forgive me, let me blink and play the prosecutor of this devil. The honorable author of this argument seems to think we are all too gullible. He is comparing a fully new, unexplored game that you can play for hours, days, weeks … on end, with a old, wel-known record in a (not even) new jacket, which, at best, will be listened to only a few times. So, which one is best value in this reasoning ? You can make the calculation, Your Honor, easily yourself. £35-£50 divided by, let’s be conservative, 100 (hours of playing) or £35-£50 divided by, let’s be generous, 20 (hours of listening) ? I have thus winked and rest my case.
Talk about distorting the facts to make a point. If you bought a console game in 1985 and also Hounds of Love on vinyl and they were roughly the same price – and assuming you enjoyed both – which is likely to offer the better value? The record which you can still play and basically gives you a lifetime of enjoyment, or the game which you get bored of after a few months and is superseded anyway later on by PS2, PS3 or whatever. So if you accept that then why should a record be much cheaper than a game?
Paul do you remember when the atari console came out about 1980?? Very poor versions of the arcade games, well one of my friends got one he was a only child and both working parents,£35 notes a cartridge was then! A bush lp would have cost you £3.99, don’t think the prices changed much by 85( nes) did you have a console??
Reissues of old games are generally cheap. I can only remember one game given a higher re-release price than it’s original price (The Last Of us Part 1 on PS5)
I’m unconvinced about very high prices for reissues of LPs.
And the prices have shot up in the last 2-3 years. The number of copies sold of £38 single LPs that are 45 years old must be minimal.
Are there that many teenagers buying them? I suspect it is mostly older collectors especially at £380 for the lot. It’s quite a commitment. Especially for something that is likely to be barely played by most buyers.
I wasn’t aware that games even got reissued…
There’s a massive market in remakes and remasters of games these days. With 30 years of reasonable quality games it’s not that surprising. As with records it’s cheaper to rehash old stuff and you know there is a market.
If you want to play 1990s game you really need a remaster so it doesn’t look horrid on a big screen and will work with modern consoles/pcs properly.
Trying to play something pre-Ps3 is like listening to a low bitrate MP3. No matter how good the game/song is the experience is disappointing.
You could set up a separate site for blinged up physical re-releases of old games. ;)
You can, just like we do with vynils, cd’s and box sets, collect them, resell them, put them unplayed on your shelf … Idem ditto with the hardware. First edition consoles command a premium, just like vynil-first printings. They have different colour possibilities for more fanatic types. Merchandising and parapharnelia are just as ubiqitious. There are even fascinating, endless web-discussions on ‘How do you guys hold your controller’. Indeed, more than with vynils, the saying ‘Holding The Console In Your Hand’ (alas, no copyright possible) is a truism !
OK. Let me put it another way. ‘Distorting’ ? Possibly, for which my tentative exc. , but these are definitely your facts. You write about ‘the latest’ and the ‘new’. If one wants to compare 2 different ‘sources of joy’, you have to quantify, however artificial this is. ‘Wonderful this’ and ‘boring that’ won’t do, for obvious reasons. Is it reasonable to compare ‘music’ and ‘games’ ? Yes, sure, because there are many interesting similarities. Commercial companies certainly do this all the time.
So, my proposed calculation, using your facts and my numerical estimates. Now, one changes the facts: ‘1985’ which is not ‘the latest’ nor the ‘new’: 40 years can make a lot of difference. That might change the result of the calculation, isn’t it ?
Well, this might be mighty boring to you, but to me it isn’t: to my mind, it purifies the ideas and arguments exchanged, which is very necessary in virtual communication. De-hysterical-isation, you could call it. Reads easily, spoken not so good.
I don’t know why are you going on about ‘facts’… I’m just giving an opinion. You clearly disagree, so let’s move on because I do not have the time or energy to decipher phrases like “de-hysterical-isation”.
It don’t read that easily to me mysterious traveller guy!!
My vocabulary only consists of about 200 words and they include teeth,fish and cupboard!!
Also, these would be ten Playstation games to buy, not just one.
These games, even as far back as the Sega Megadrive and Super Nintendo in the early 90s, cost £40-£45 when albums cost a fiver. (There were two Megadrive games, SF2 Super Champ edition and Virtua Racing that cost £60 & £70 respectively). If you use an old ‘rule of thumb’ that goods double in price every 10 years, the £5 album in 1993 would now cost £40……..
I would suggest that the video game industry took us for mugs with ‘expansive gameplay’ (how many variations of two people punching and kicking each other can you contrive?) and ‘amazing polygon graphics’ that were barely any better than those in the Money For Nothing video from 1985…
…and don’t forget that videotapes cost £49.99 at the birth of the home video recorder… Hence the proliferation of video rental shops.
You might have a argument if it’s a physical game that you play and resell a couple of weeks later and recoup half your costs! If it’s a download for £50 and you finish game in a couple of days I’m not so sure,but then again if you’ve enjoyed it enough then 2 days sitting in your bedroom might be value!! Me probably being a bit more manly would spend the £50 in a pub with mates,, having said that it would probably only get you 8 pints of peroni in a good pub in glasgow theas days, probably about 4 pints in London?
Not sure how going to the pub is “manly”. We aren’t living in the seventies…
Maybe he’s being humorous with his “manly” comment?
You got it mate humour!!.
Had issues with this trapdoor guy before,so no worries mate
Interesting point but not really accurate. It’s your own perception that value resides in the number of times you will use (play) the item you bought. I don’t agree with that.
For example, if I buy a ticket for a Kate Bush concert for £50, I will only use it once the day of the show. I will enjoy the show for about 120 minutes. You may think “is it worth it to pay £50 for 2 hours?” but that’s not the point of the show. You live for the moment and the memories. Maybe the concert will be terrible and you will regret buying a ticket for it. Maybe it will be the best show you have ever seen and you’ll remember evey minute of it for the rest of your life.
The value isn’t in the quantity (the number of times you will play/enjoy) what you bought but the quality, the enjoyment you feel when you play it. Even if it’s only one time and that’s it. It’s the moment that matters. If you play an album while you’re watching TV, washing the dishes, etc., it’s not really a moment you can enjoy (even if you played/used) the LP you bought.
If it was only about quantity then you can just rent the product or stream the music. Or buy it and resell it after you played it enough to justify the costs.
If you ask people here about their favorite albums, some will be able to remember the first time they listened/played the album. Some will remember a particular time when they truly discovered all nuances of an album (the music, the lyrics, the atmosphere, the artwork, etc.) even though they had already played it 25 times before. It’s the same for movies, books, etc.
Totally off topic but last week I managed to get three books from the fairly recent Bowie Boxes, ie Five Years through to Brilliant Adventures and they were very cheap i thought. Anyway at said record shop I commented that i bet he wished he had the full boxes, apparently they decided to sell the vinyl seperately back in the day. He did say he had some boxes. I went over this week and purchased the first four boxes from the set, again dirt cheap, am I mad ? I wish I could get the final box and book, they will look great on display, I welcome your comments
I’m a big KB fan and I also collect vinyl that I really love. I have some empty KB slots on my vinyl shelf that I might fill at some point. We all get excited about new releases, coloured vinyl etc and I certainly get a bit of FOMO for something like this. Pricing aside (and I agree they are too expensive) I realise that this release isn’t perhaps for people like me who already own a lot of KB material. I might pick up one of my missing vinyl versions but I have the choice to simply not buy. I realise that at some point some SDE’s might appear so can happily sit back. I will say that I find the 2018 pressing of Aerial a bit noisy so would be interested to know if this pressing is any better.
There won’t be any Kate Bush archival audio or video releases while she is still on this planet. Maybe her outtakes and unreleased songs aren’t very good. The one unreleased track that was released on her most recent CD boxed sets of remasters hints at this. It would have been an adequate B-side, nothing more. If colour vinyl turns you on, then go for it.
It is extremely unlikely that Bernie Grundman has cut new acetates for these releases. Once the father-mother metalwork has been produced, an almost infinite amount of stampers can be made. Indeed, when Analogue Productions released their “Kind of Blue” audiophile reissues a couple of years ago, they used Classic Records Metalwork that had been derived from a set of BG acetates from 1995.
If you want these records on vinyl, you’d be better off tracking down the box sets – silent black vinyl. No gimmicks.
I don’t think that I read anything about colored vinyl being lesser quality than black one? Certainly many claims are made about picture discs and it was certainly true in the past. Today, don’t know, has anyone checked? I never got the box sets because they were too expensive, had not enough interest and the chances of getting one in mind condition were quite slim.
Modern picture discs are now much more inferior than the same product 40 years ago, they are made differently now. Buy non picture discs if sound quality matters.
Vinyl is clear plastic. Carbon is added to make it black – but that also makes it slightly more rigid, less likely to warp and – in my view – has a lower noise floor with less surface noise than traditional coloured variants. Generally coloured vinyl is pressed up in large quantity at GZ rather than at the more audiophile pressing plants – such as Pallas or RTI. Most of the current wave for coloured vinyl records seem to be PVC that has been dyed – and they certainly sound better than older coloured records. It is not clear how long coloured records last (I have a number of red west coast jazz titles from the mid 1950s that sound great), but, traditionally coloured records have been considered to have a shorter lifespan than traditional black.
There are a couple of modern audiophile vinyl variants that are marketed as being superior to traditional black vinyl (“clarity” vinyl, “super” vinyl, “SRX” – Analogue Productions, MOFI, Craft, Music Matters etc.). Enthusiasts will claim greater dynamic range, lower noise floor etc.
Given a choice – I generally plump for the black record rather than the “limited edition” coloured version that costs £5 more (but likely more collectable). I buy records to listen to them. With Vinyl Me Please you don’t get a choice – everything seems to be coloured.
Picture discs are not records, they are souvenirs.
That said, the picture-disc edition of Linda Rondstadt’s Living in the USA was really good. I bought a still-sealed copy of the standard black vinyl LP last year, and it was noisier than the picture disc I owned back in 1979.
My entire record collection, Rashers, is a souvenir, of my youth. My Hi-Fi is however, a constantly evolving and mostly ill-tempered stranger.
All other things being equal, there shouldn’t be any significant difference. Vinyl is clear, so any color (including black) has to be added before pressing.
Hello, I can confirm that both the indie editions and standard black editions have been pressed from new metalwork developed at Record Industry from newly cut lacquers by Bernie.
Thanks
William (state51)
I’d just like to say thanks to all who have contributed to an interesting series of arguments re. these coloured pieces of plastic. I have read with great interest all the issues raised, and its all very entertaining. Keep up the good work.
£27.99 for a CD of Aerial?, I’m at a loss at the reasoning of this pricing, ecopack?, What exactly is that?, You can get the original pressing for 50p at my local charity shop.
Can you name your local charity shop?
I will phone them! I will happily pay a couple of ££ post and package
Or are you just telling a pack of lies??
No need to phone! You can purchase a VGC copy for £2.52 (including P+P) on eBay.
Do you really think that I would leave it there for 50p?, It was in a shop in Shrewsbury but I can’t remember the name as I was rushing home to spout a pack of lies on here
25p per decent song then?
I’ve always loved Aerial. I’d only put Hounds of Love above it. Still have a sealed 2LP copy, bought in 2005.
Me too.
The CD prices are more outrageous than the LPs. The 2018 CDs are easily available for £11/13 on Amazon. Why reissue them so soon? The “ecopack” spin is pathetic. They must take us punters for absolute fools.
And it doesn’t even feature Rolf Harris anymore…
I wonder if they sorted out that digital glitch on Mrs Bartolozi.
Although he is still on The Dreaming…
If Bertie could have learned to play the didgeridoo, Rolf probably would have been wiped off it too.
Just bought the 2018 remastered copy and they seem to have removed all references and credits to Mr Harris from the inner and outer sleeves. The didgeridoo seems to have been pushed back into the mix as well, reducing it’s prominence, rather than removing it!
I’m a massive Bowie fan but I decided to pass on the recent 1/2 speed reissues because I already had early 80s vinyl as well as the vinyl in the big box sets. And multiple CD versions. Reissue overload.
On the other hand, I am purchasing at least some of these as I didn’t get the reissues back in 2018. If I had purchased the 2018 versions though, I wouldn’t be bothering. Record Industry in the Netherlands is my favourite pressing plant – the home of Music On Vinyl. It is far more reliable than Optimum in Germany has been in recent years.
People sometimes forget that “bog standard” catalogue moves around between licensees. Roxy Music’s catalogue started off on Island in the 70’s then to Polydor, then EG via Virgin and then EG via EMI. There’s been other moves since then as well and each label has always reissued the core catalogue to keep that available.
I assume that Kate has been able to make use of recent US copyright changes to liberate her first 3 albums there. Good for her.
The coloured vinyl got me interested and I have ordered the first 3 from Rough Trade US and the next 3 from Paul and SDE. It also made me dig out my CDs of the next four and I am thinking about getting them as well.
Been listening to Kate since the early 80s on vinyl cassette and then CD but the cassette and vinyl got sold off years ago. I will be enjoying these.
Of course, with a new label she might even issue a new compilation or (please, please, please) a new album at some point in the future.
Those that don’t want these can just used that money elsewhere and wait for more exciting news.
As someone who didn’t actually have HOL on vinyl – I know I know – and who missed the HMV edition that came out, I was happy to get the raspberry coloured version and suck up what it cost as I don’t already have it, and tend to limit myself to vinyl editions/reissues of my favorite albums of all time… And I totally get that some fans feel aggrieved with these coloured versions after forking out for the Kate vinyl box sets! next up for me is Sparks – Number One in Heaven. Roll on the Kate reissues and still intrigued what the “special presentation” is. Has Kate ever released a photo/images book before? Artwork, concepts, storyboards etc? Does anyone think it might be something like this? Now waiting to get home to give the new Roger Waters a spin all the way through but liking what I’ve heard so far.
Just seen that Pink Floyd have announced a Dark Side of the Moon special. You can order your own one off pressing in “Any Colour You Like”. For £1000 + p&p.
I’ll get me coat!!
Haha. Thank you, doctor.
£38.00 for a single album, this is the main reason i have stopped buying vinyl now. I cannot justify spending that amount of money on ONE album to myself anymore. I know that the median cost is around £30.00 for new vinyl and even that is out of my price range now.
I agree 100%. Where will it end? $100 per lp?
Concord and MoFi already do that.
Analogue Productions are charging £200 for the Steely Dan reissues. And then there is ERC – £400 for Crosby, Stills and Nash
If your favourite author reissued a book he wrote forty years ago with the edges sprayed a colour would you buy it again and why?
Not a great example, because people do buy special editions / bindings of classic books at inflated prices.
Yep wish I’d bought that George Harrison one years ago
Yes, try Genesis Books or Rufus publications.
Go on any website devoted to a single author, & you will meet people in the forums who try to buy every edition of their books. People like collecting stuff.
It’s a great time to see who’s dumping their previous reissues.
One further thought – so the 2018 remasters are being used, therefore the sole audio USP of the new releases on the 2018 ones is that a new lacquer has been cut by Bernie Grundman. Bernie has a sound reputation so I would expect these to sound good (not that there was much wrong with the 2018 cuts)
However, I’m not sure how this works going forward with the “unlimited” position. My understanding is that there is only one lacquer, which is used to create a very small number of fathers/mothers – which spawn limited amounts of stampers. Stampers of course will deteriorate after a certain number of pressings.
What happens when the stampers wear out? Does a new lacquer need to be cut?
I believe that new stampers are made from the same lacquers. Lacquers will eventually deteriorate so make new lacquers when that happens.
It’s such a shame to have mixed feelings and a sense of disappointment over a Kate Bush release. It’s fair to say this is all about style over substance. You can imagine the marketing brief – look to re-sell the same product through the power of presentation. The USP will be making the product unlimited.
Isn’t it perverse that the music industry doesn’t want to sell product beyond the first batch of production as the norm? Yes it costs money to produce and hold stock, but in the longer term it keeps an income stream alive and stops the secondary selling market prices going through the roof.
There is a contradiction between the unlimited availability, but then the first three albums are USA only, unless you find out that Rough Trade has them in the UK. Are they the only UK outlet? Surely the UK is where the first three albums would have the most appeal?
The OBI strip – unless it a Japanese one, they just don’t add anything. The UK faux OBI strip has none of the cache and style of the Japanese versions.
Ultimately it is the price, the bloody price, that is the gateway or deterrent to owning these. At £25 they’d be desirable. At £38 my pulse remains dormant.
I bought many copies of the box set LP’s – the prices kept going down; to the point where the Aerial / Directors Cut / 50 Words For Snow box sold for €33. £144 for the same music just doesn’t cut it.
Most astonishing is the price of the cds on Rough Trade – £24.99 and £27.99 for the single and double cds. To stop the rush you can only buy three copies of each album!
I dread to think what the Hounds Of Love special presentation looks like when it arrives – £200 for a blu-ray atmos mix?
From the photos, The Kick Inside and The Dreaming LP’s look the best colours.
Peter Brewis’s new album Blow Dry Colossus is where my money will get spent this weekend.
Hi Quante,
thanks for mentioning the Peter Brewis release.
Obviously i’ve never heard of him before but i’ve listened to it for the second time this afternoon and quite like what i’m hearing.
I’d recommend it to everyone interested in Krautrock-influenced instrumental electronics.
Accidentally i’ve listened to the current PJ Harvey album right afterwards today and found that this listening experience had quite a good flow.
There’s something to be said for the notion that gets a mention now and then on various threads…
It seems that companies are looking at second hand vinyl prices and not just that, but also new release, limited edition prices on Ebay after a few weeks etc. and they are saying we want a piece of that pie.
It explains why new editions like this are starting much higher. It’s only a couple of years ago we would have said “£24.99? For a single album? They’re having a laugh.” And yet now, those prices would seem ultra-reasonable.
It also explains why re-issues of even fairly recent box-sets are also starting off 50 – 100% higher than the original pressing from not even a decade ago. If the companies see that a limited edition that they sold for £100 less than six months ago being sold for £250 on ebay then it ain’t rocket science to understand what they are doing.
If this set of Kate Bush releases was in a pretty outer slip case with a booklet of some kind and they were asking £420 for a 10 album, 14 vinyl set with zero new material other than coloured vinyl the absolute shit would hit the absolute fan. And yet, take away the slip case, take away the booklet…. and that is exactly what they are doing.
My initial reaction was no, absolutely not. My second reaction was awww, but they are so pretty and I am a huuuuuge fan and all….
My third and hopefully final reaction is no, abso-fucking-lutely not! I could afford to do stupid things 10 to 4 years ago and even then those stupid things usually involved a 3 for 2 offer from Germany and 9 beautiful box-setty things bought for a reasonable price even though I spent £400 in the process. This singular release would cost more than those 9 beautiful things. Yes, it’s coloured vinyl, yes it has an obi-strippy thing. But is that enough? This punter says it isn’t. Even if I could, I am not sure I should.
If I hadn’t bought the 4 x box sets from 5 years ago I might have considered it.
It was only 2018 that I paid exactly £200 for a 16LP Rory Gallagher set in a pretty box brand new from Udiscover and that seemed a lot of money.
What I can’t get my head around (and granted I’m not a vinyl fan/collector) is yes the first pressings/originals would go for silly money but surely in years to come these repressed releases won’t unless they are adding something new to the mix? And outside of the different colours the above really don’t seem to be adding much let’s be honest…
The record industry is adressing the pre-school part in us that just loves shiny bright coloured stuff.
Gosh someone figured out a way to make the Joni Mitchell Archives Vol.3 seem reasonably priced by comparison.
£38 for vinyl copies of albums we had on vinyl back in the day and bought again when CDs came out, which some of us bought again when collected in a box set.
Sobering thought is that if Kate allows expanded SDE editions some day, fans will be buying them AGAIN. No wonder there’s no sign of a new album coming, why bother, just repackage the old stuff if it sells well enough.
It’s worth pointing out that Kate is on a new label. Pricing notwithstanding, the label’s job is to get new versions out in the marketplace that earn them – and not Warners – money when they sell. So the new vinyl is simply a byproduct of the new relationship.
I take your point Paul, and yes that makes sense of what they are doing (price point, as you say, notwithstanding). It does seem a bit of an own-goal, though, regards alienating fans.
True, Paul. But it doesn’t cover the artists in glory, despite knowing that. £40 per is outrageous for colored Vinyl and an OBI.
Still no reason for the absurd pricing. Plus, The Kick Inside is not out on RT UK which is were I was going to order them all in a bundle, so now I’m out. TOodles
I am so pleased to see so many people commenting on the ridiculous pricing for these albums. Coloured vinyl, no new content, over priced, not a super deluxe edition in any way. I’ve made these comments on and off for some time now. Some of my comments get through, others don’t. I can only hope that, as others have also said in this thread, the industry will perhaps take note and realise that it’s not necessarily about not being able to afford these releases – it’s about value for money and deciding against purchasing on that basis alone.
That’s one hell of a price tag for the same old same old – however pretty the colours chosen.
I dread to think what the cost would have been if these had been audiophile all-analogue cuts of the original mixes done as 2 x 45rpm sets.
Like the new ‘Atlantic 75’ campaign, in fact.
Not for me as I have the box sets. What I really need is a reissue of Before the Dawn as I missed out on that and it now seems to be Out of Print.
I am sure there will be people who will enjoy these though.
I’ve got the box sets, BUT I made the stupid mistake of purchasing all bar box 1 as I thought that one would be readily available! How wrong was I! I started purchasing the first 4 remastered albums separately, which, if you do some patient searching, you can pick up for less than half the price of these issues! I wonder what the price of the “standard ” black editions are? I have a sealed copy of Before the Dawn….
Extortionate prices – the box sets haven’t reached a substantive anniversary date and now these releases!! C’mon I smell a rip off. Don’t insult the true fans with duplicates of what are available already.
Very nice but I’ll settle for looking at the pictures of them. What I want is a new compilation of A and B sides.
I spent a fortune on the box sets a few years back so it’s a no from me. Plus I absolutely hate everything about “Fish People” so they’re not that visually appealing either. Give me a traditional EMI label any day.
Katie needs a new pair of shoes
The way the article reads it sounds like they’re all getting new vinyl cuts by Bernie Grundman, with coloured pressings available at indie shops. Does this mean they’ll be available on black vinyl too?
Yes.
I really don’t understand why these are sold in the SDE shop…… The prices of these records are ridiculous! SDE stands for me for high class offers, (very) special re-issues and of course Super Deluxe Editions. These re-issues are just another rip-off by the music industry where one should steer clear off. Selling these in the SDE-shop says this is alright, where SDE should take a stand against ever increasing prices. Dissapointing.
Not everyone shares your opinion because they are selling.
Not a rip-off. I work in a record shop in Washington State (USA) and it’s near impossible to get Kate’s stuff. I have so many customers who are just trying to get their FIRST copy of most of these albums. Remember, not everybody was buying her records from the start! So many people in their ‘Teens and 20s are buying these for the first time!
I agree to an extent but Paul isn’t running a charity. If for example the SDE shop solely sold what you are after I would wager we wouldn’t be offered SDEs for very long as the store would go under…
“As the store would go under”
Possibly as would the whole site go under, I run a website that isn’t a tenth as complex as this one and it ain’t cheap I can tells ya…..
In my opinion Paul is one who could (and maybe should) take a stand against the ever increasing prices for vinyl records. Paul is someone who could have an influence on the industry. By selling these records he concurs with these prices. Paul used to be critical, but that attitude seems to have gone…..
Nice passive aggressive sign off :)
I still like you ;-)
+1 for a Hounds of Love SDE – would be amazing in the right hands for an Atmos mix too.
My overwhelming reaction to this is one of sadness. As someone who bought all the CD and Vinyl remastered versions just a few years ago and the audiophile version of Hounds of Love I’m afraid enough is enough. There is so much more she could offer us that would sell in vast quantities (starting with a Blu-ray of the Hammersmith concerts) but along with many others commenting here I’m starting to question the cost benefit of just how many times I need another version of essentially the same thing. I would definitely buy expanded SDE’s of her albums, or new editions that sound materially better but these are just massively overpriced clones of existing versions, just in a different colour vinyl. Sorry Kate but it’s a no from me !!!
Why is everything all about you ? There are many people in their teens & early 20’s who given her recent spike in popularity have just realised that Kate Bush exists & these may be the first copies of her records they have ever bought. Not everything is about jaded old-timers who have ’bought it all before’
Help me Nathan,
i can’t find the part where BeScotty is generalising.
Instead by his constant use of ‘I’, ‘Me’ or ‘My’ i tend to read his comment as his personal opinion.
And i in return expressed my opinion on his opinion – as you also expressed an opinion on my comment. Not really sure what your point is.
Got to feel sorry for those young people being asked to fork out £48 for a Kate album. No wonder they prefer streaming.
Wow, “jaded old timers” – thanks! I thought this was a site where we could all express an opinion, which I did and as Klaus pointed out it’s my own personal opinion. Aren’t personal opinions what make this site so interesting? I applaud newcomers who are discovering Kate for the first time, probably thanks to Netflix and Stranger Things. But I still think these prices are nuts.
You did express an opinion & i in return expressed an opinion on your opinion , which is also my personal opinion so not sure what the problem is – or am i not allowed to express an opinion on your opinion ?
Dude, this isn’t Twitter. Relax.
As I have said before, the only way I will buy these albums again would be as hi-resolution (96/24 or higher) stereo download or a spatial mix on a Blu-ray either standalone or in a deluxe set. I don’t buy different packaging when the content is the same.
Bit of a cash grab this one.
You gotta be kidding me. One year after I replaced my Fish People Remastered CD boxes with vinyl box sets. And now this…. taking the proverbial p***. Sorry. Purple HOL is tempting, though.
Yes, and the second edition of this will be in Purple Rain-coloured vinyl.
That’ll give people at Prince’s estate something to think about…
They’ve already done Purple Rain on Purple Vinyl. Not saying that would stop them doing it again!!
These sure look great except for the price tag; 38 UK Pounds for a single album and 48 UK Pounds for a 2-LP is ridiculous.
No Kick Inside for the UK is pretty unforgivable. I’m sure there’s loads who will tell me it’s readily available in black, but I had a silver original years ago and would like a nice coloured, remastered version to replace it :-(
Just have to chuckle to myself regarding the wonderful names for coloured vinyl recently. Think the record companies have been reading the Dulux colour chart
“Raspberry Beret”- gotta be for Prince surely.
“Ash Grey”
“Dracula” so it’s red then.
“Goldy Locks” gold then.
“Hazy Red” red marbled then.
“Snowy White” gotta be for a Snowy White vinyl.
Also the newly announced Metallica vinyl, which seems to be exactly the same as the Walmart exclusives.
“Battery Brick” brick colour.
“Electric Blue” have a guess.
“Jump in the Fire Engine Red” red then.
“Dyers Green” green then.
“Some Blacker Marbled” black marbled then.
That reminds me, need to get some paint.
Ha ha – the best I seen was smoke swirled vinyl on a Shangri-las lp release – unfortunately no scratch ‘n’ sniff.
My favourite take on this in recent years was Inspiral Carpets whose “The Complete Singles” 2LP has a hype sticker describing the vinyl colour as “midnight licorice”. Or, more prosaically, black.
That almost sounds like the track list of a Cocteau Twins album.
Sometime after Prince died, Patone USA came out with an official unique Prince purple colour authorised by his estate. I took a screen shot and put in in my Prince audio files folder. Haven’t made plans to use it though
After having secured the best-looking one, Hounds Of Love, as I’ve spent way too much in the last months, I’ve been hesitating on whether I should just get them all. I admit that one reason would be to avoid that in the near future I see these on discogs going for hundreds of pounds and regretting it (happened many times) so reading they are unlimited is wow, great. Then again, these are pricey as hell! What to do, what to do, what to do.
Simply – just don’t!
I’m beginning to think that 2023 will go down in history as the year that the music industry finally killed its own customer base off. Its as if they think they are immune to any cost of living crisis, they just churn out ever stupider gimmick pressings for ever increasing prices. If those of us that frequent sites such as SDE.com are beginning to question these tactics, imagine what ‘normal’ customers must be thinking!!
Agree 100%.
2023 – the year the vinyl resurgence peaked?
or started on the downward slope
Let’s hope so. It may become a defunct medium again, and prices drop, availability will diminish, there will be an abundance of second hand record decks for sale at bargain prices, albeit crappy suitcase types, physical record shops will once again start closing in numbers. Pros and cons to everything to be honest. We don’t have to buy these releases. Plenty of copies out there, both second hand and new that are much cheaper!
Exactly!
Definitely! £38 for a single LP. This time last year I’d grudge paying that for a double LP!
While I agree about gimmick pressings, the fact they are omnipresent and increasing in number suggests there is a profit margin. Vinyl seems unique in its ability to put old wine in new bottles and continue to sell it. We’ve seen “expanded” or “deluxe” editions of albums for years where a few tracks are added on, or there is remastering, but the ability to simply change the color of the medium with nothing further and still sell it is, as far as I can tell, a new situation. On the other hand, the entire vinyl industry defies logic – an essentially dead medium which provides inferior sound reproduction resurrected and selling at a much higher cost than lossless streaming or CDs (admittedly I’m guilty of spending thousands on it myself) – so whose to say where these types of releases finally “hit the wall’ and people stop buying?
The price is ridiculous, and since they’re using the same masters as 2018, the wrong version of Big Sky will still be in place. Zero interest at £40 an album.
Have you ever considered that they might not be targeting YOU as the market for this reissue? Again, not everybody already owns these albums!
Let’s say you are right and they are targeting a new audience. That is probably the case.
How invested is some new 20 – 30ish year old going to be in experiencing vinyl with ridiculous pricing. It’ll be a toe-dip and run away.
Reasonable pricing can cause people to dive in and become a new customer for many years. This will just scare people off from even starting when there is rent to be found and food to put on the table. It’s a very short-termist outlook from the companies.
I have a theory about pricing and ‘young people’. They didn’t buy No Jacket Required for £4.49 on vinyl in the 80s and have no reference points for what is ‘expensive’ or not. Who knows where they get the cash from (parents, probably) but they spend fortunes on shoes, makeup, tickets to gigs, clothes. A pair of Dr. Martens costs £165. So £38 for a cool-looking vinyl record? In the scheme of things it’s less than the price of some foundation they bought in Boots the Chemist at the weekend and they aren’t thinking about what the Audio Fidelity version cost them in 2010 or even what the box costs in 2018. A 17-year-old today was 12 in 2018. I mean, there’s an argument that says physical music has been UNDERPRICED for decades relative to other things. For example no one blinks at paying £35-£50 for the latest Playstation game, which is roughly what the new Kate vinyl is. People will pay £150 to watch 90 minutes of live music but not £38 for a classic album, which looks very nicely presented. I’m playing devil’s advocate here to a degree, but you could argue the only thing that is wrong with the cost of these new Kate vinyl records is that we’re not used to paying that price point. But is the price point itself, when compared to other lifestyle things (£17 for a ticket to see a film in Everyman cinemas), really *that* bad?
Absolutely agreed in principle Paul, and for most people it’s a trade off as they can only afford one or two of these nice things. If it is reasonable to pay £38 for a classic album presented nicely that thing isn’t a singularity, it goes in to the mix of things they want with what they have left or spare at the end of the month.
So it’s *either* a pair of £165 Doc Martens or a couple of vinyl albums. Given that they will have Spotify / Tidal / Apple on their iPhone and their parents dime. It isn’t both of these things and I don’t think youth have quite got the hang of paying for music out of their own money. Coffee – Yes, Gigs – Yes, Playstation games – Yes. But physical music? It would be lovely to think it was so as it would encourage companies to keep on providing decent and decently priced physical media.
I guess it is ultimately down to percentages, if even 1% of youngsters follow your argument it will be OK as that is still a lot of people. We are all at, beyond or rapidly approaching 60, so it won’t be our discussion for too much longer. And it won’t be a discussion at all if prices go past “The Tipping Point”, wherever that is.
Hi Paul,
thanks for making me feel glad that the only thing of those you mentioned that my 14-year old is interested in is a new game for his Switch console now and then (about twice a year so far if memory serves right).
Oh, and a visit at the local cinema from time to time. But certainly not at £17 (20€) per ticket.
Must be a London thing. We currently pay about 7-10€ (£6-8) depending on day of the week and time of the day for our visit.
The response to this debate shows the pricing is *that* bad, regardless of any other product / price comparison.
Perception determines if something is good value value or not, and in this instance you can smell the whiff a mile off.
The coloured vinyl offer no improvement sonically, or any other advantage, other than it’s a nice colour. In return the price is exceptionally high.
Teenagers spend daft money on clothes, trainers and computer games, especially when the parents are picking up the bill – I know the feeling! They are also smart enough to know that taking an original version from their dad’s collection is way cooler than spending their own money on a new release – and it’s free!
This doesn’t seem to be supported by fact – every time in go into my local HMV’s & indie stores they are full of students & 20 somethings in the vinyl aisles dropping £££ for vinyl. I see zero evidence of toe-dipping & presumably the record companies don’t either as the vinyl is still selling very healthily at the prices they are charging. I have quite a few teenage family members & they think nothing of spending £200 on a night out & £50 for a taxi home (my nephew just happily spent £350 this week for a pair of trainers) so £38 for a piece of vinyl is not as shocking to them as it is for many old-timers who live for the good old days when an LP was £5.99.
Have you ever considered that people commenting here are stating their opinion as an individual and not thinking that they’ll be speaking for the worlds population?
Agree to agree!
It’s almost as if they are hell-bent on killing physical product and pushing people to streaming services. And what then? I once had a vision of a day when in order to listen to any music one wouldn’t be paying a subscription but rather it’d be a pay to play system, i.e. pay for every play of each individual track. Because music companies and artists aren’t rich enough. Thankfully it will never happen.
Hmmm…
I’m a major vinyl fan, but thankfully I’m not one of those who feels the need to buy every colored/variant edition of an album. I don’t know how folks afford it. I understand being a completist, but repurchasing an album I bought only a few years ago with the same art (but a new sticker!), same mastering, etc, simply because the vinyl is a different color seems crazy to me – but, to each his own!
I agree I too, dont know how folks can afford it due to so many coloured / variant’s of an vinyl album. I have pre ordered the Pale Saints 30th anniversary edition – In Ribbons on clear vinyl. At least there are extra tracks & if you wish a Tea Towel to tempt the purchaser !
As a Kate Bush, music rather than product completist I’m really pleased that new fans will get the opportunity to get some rather lovely new editions. In the meantime I’ll hold my breathe for Hounds of Love SDE, hopefully some Atmos physical product at some point, a new album (yes) and a blu ray of the Hammersmith Concerts (yes). Although I have 9 years on Kate I hope to live long enough (and continue to prosper!).
All new fans – enjoy. They look lovely.
It’s a little odd that some albums get custom-labels (The Sensual World, The Red Shoes, Aerial and 50 Words For Snow) whereas others just get the same Fish-person design. I’d like to have seen all albums that originally had custom labels reproduced here (only The Kick Inside and Lionheart didn’t, but they could have designed something for these reissues).
Had this been a new album, or even just a new greatest hits with not necessarily any new tracks, it would have been more of an event and I might have been interested in different variants (as there would also be new artwork), but for old albums – and particularly ones only re-released in black vinyl five years ago – it’s not as interesting.
Even some of the colours don’t sound attractive – “dirty pink” for Lionheart. The first three albums appear to be on sale for the same price as the others on some sites, even though they’re “supposedly” imports and not officially available in the UK (they are all imports as such if made in the Netherlands).
I don’t know where to start. I bought the vinyl box sets which sounded amazing and were inexpensive when I bought them (long after release in various sales). Generally a Bernie Grundman cut is always worth buying – but there comes a time when all of this vinyl reissue thing appears to have reached the nadir. Does anyone really want all this mediocre sounding coloured or splattered vinyl? It is was and always has been a gimmick that has been supercharged by Vinyl Me Please. The numbered OBI with the pressing date is a cool idea – usually the number on the vinyl sleeve and the pressing have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with one another. But…..the price…..oh…my…God. I remember when CDs were twice the price of records, then – not so long ago – parity, now records are five to 10 times the price of the CD.
I paid less for an all analogue seriously limited edition of Hounds of Love on Audio Fidelity, a few years ago, than they are charging for the digitally sourced 2018 pressing in my local record shop.
The record companies seem to be confusing coloured vinyl with gimmicks like OBIs with audiophile audio product when it comes to price.
I agree with you in theory but it’s a myth that coloured vinyl is mediocre.
I have a CD with the £13.99 price tag on it bought new probably September 1990 – as you say, twice what an LP would have been then and which, based on the Bank of England RPI calculator would be almost £33 today… by the same token a £7 LP bought then would cost just over £16 now
To be fair these vinyl versions aren’t 5 times the price of the CDs… the CDs are really expensive too.
38 pounds for a single lp that everybody knows? Well… no thanks!
Very expensive, beautiful, entirely superflous, and with a bit of a limp in the distribution. That’s how more and more music releases seem to become today. Some days it depresses me. Other days I think oh well, there’s more to life than this! Fortunately!
(Still an avid SDE fan, I hold on! Kate Bush fan? No longer – not with what she has presented us with for the last 3 decades …)
I hope that this isn’t the exciting news that we were promised by Kate earlier in the year, with regards to a Hounds of Love release. (Which if I’d bothered to read Paul’s article, I would have known it wasn’t).
It’s a rather damp (and very expensive) squib, if it is. (Which I now know it isn’t).
I said in the post that it isn’t. Be good if people actually read the posts before spending time writing comments with questions that have already been answered :)
Fair dos, Paul. We can only wait and see if anything Hounds of Love related comes out this year, as was promised.
On another theme, I also think we’ll probably never see another new studio album from Kate. She’s 65 now and to all intents and purposes, she has retired. Given that we’ve only had two brand new albums in the last thirty years, that’s not going out on too much of a limb.
As for those ‘fish people’ label designs, as hideous as always.
A must have …. yes I have the 2 recent vinyl box sets, and This Woman’s Work box set and the stand alone vinyls post This Woman’s Work but they look super.
Also very keen for more details of the Hounds of Love special edition. I hope that the release of these hasn’t scuppered the release of that.
Would be awesome to see the work in progress of some of the tracks, although my own view is that this is unlikely. Still – will be worth the wait anyhow….. a National Treasure.
These looks really pretty, but I can’t justify buying all these albums again after splashing out on the Remastered In Vinyl box sets just a few years ago.
Agree 100%
Was hoping for the Whole Story on licorice all sort coloured vinyl.
I guess that compilation is doomed to stay on cd forever, unless one was luck enough to get an original pressing.
Vinyl was the dominant format in 1986, so most people would have originally bought it as an LP. I would think that a mint copy of the album would be vey difficult to find today. Loads of used copies on Discogs.
As much I love Kate, I can only buy the same thing so many times – this feels a bit like adding a hat to a Malibu Stacey.
I will hold out for the Hounds of Love special edition – to go with my original vinyl, replacement original vinyl, CD, Special edition HMV 2 cd, remastered Vinyl and HMV 1921 vinyl
Unwise to buy any HOL reissue until more info arrives about what this promised special presentation of the lp looks like and what content it contains etc..I still alas,have a nagging fear this ‘special’ reissue of HOL will disappoint as Kate has no past record of offering any of her work in a meaningful expanded form.’Special Presentation’is also too ambiguous a term for us to have any clear idea what she intends to offer us.Could be something fab,or something very disappointing?Nobody knows,as yet!
Wouldn’t it be cool of “special presentation” meant some sort of visual companion to the album remixed into 5.1 or Atmos, like a full video album? I know that’s unlikely, but I’m trying to think what the “special presentation” might mean that isn’t just a fancy package or a retread of what we have already.
Golden Retriever-coloured vinyl anyone? :)
I have gone and ordered the lot, which means I will cancel some other orders I have coming from other artists and releases, just to take the sting off of this. Like Bowie content, I have got to have Kate’s special release. I still wish an updated Single File would see the light of day. It would be a nice addition to what little we actually have as far as singles and E.P. reissues.
Absolutely preposterous pricing ….. INXS charging £25 for four songs was bad enough but £38 for an album with an actual manufacturing date on beggars belief ….. Are we to believe the album and obi match up, more likely the obi’s will be printed and applied to what ever is the next album on the pile !
Totally agree, Sean. I was interested in The Hounds of Love until I saw the price. Nah.
Having blown a small fortune on the four box sets only five years ago, even the admittedly lovely looking colour pressings are not enough to make me repurchase Kate’s back catalogue on vinyl yet again. Especially as they are the same masters as last time. When will this ever end?!
Ooh, Kate, how the pulse still quickens when we see you releasing something new, or even as in this case, re-releasing. Very appealing and timely re-issue, but space and funds means making chocies. I’ve gone for the first 5 – the ones that captured my heart all those decades ago – and will take a rain check on the more expenive final 5.
I guess its nice for fans to have new coloured editions of the albums, for me I would prefer a set of remixes of her singles including Matt Pops remix of ‘Running up that hill’ and the single Utah Saints sampled her, heck even the reportedly unreleased PWL remix of Cloudbusting!
Weren’t we just talking about vinyl price fleecing in another thread? Add Kate to that bandwagon. As much as I would like to grab the first four on colored vinyl (I have the colored HMV HOL, which is good enough), I will definitely wait until these ‘unlimited’ pressings drop considerably in price. And am I really seeing basic CD represses in a skimpy ‘eco wallet’ at $27 each? Seriously, what market is that aiming for other than the diehards who need every variation.
“ Seriously, what market is that aiming for other than the diehards who need every variation.”
Bit of a tone deaf question from a label that’s famous for making vinyl variations of Oingo Boingo albums.
My comment was regarding the $27 Kate CD reissues. Regarding my Boingo vinyl variants, when they’ve sold out then I will repress on new variants, and at their most expensive so far, they’ve topped out at $26.99, which is apparently a steal compared to other vinyl reissues.
Don’t think you are comparing ‘like with like’ there mate, tbh. And I don’t think Rubellan Remasters is in many people’s hit list to take a pop at…. : )
Lay off Scott – his various vinyl reissues have been superior to original pressings in most instances. His prices are low, shipping rates reasonable and he ships promptly and packages well. I’ve never had a problem on any of these fronts with any Rubellan release.
Sadly, the days of me blowing £420 plus postage (inc. three from the USA) on 10 albums I already own multiple and multiple again times over are gone. However pretty the vinyl is.
The Audio Fidelity marbled HoL I have is beautiful in sound and vision and it’s no doubt these will be lovely also but £38 per album is beyond me these days. I wish it weren’t but there you go. Life.
edit: just popped over to the rough trade UK site. This is doing my head in, the first three do look beautiful.
These look really attractive and would be a welcome addition to the collection.
Even more appealing is that they are “unlimited” – I was just trying to work out how to deal with buying all 11 immediately if very limited. Thankfully there is now no rush.
Having the pressing date on the OBI is a new one on me. Will this encourage fans to buy different date pressings I wonder.?Could pressing date OBIs become a new “thing”?
Actually those have been a thing on Japanese LPs and CDs for years, and when items are re-released, often at a lower price they get new obis with the new prices on them.
The first three albums are currently available through Rough Trade U.K. So, if you have always wanted a mango chutney coloured vinyl for “The Kick Inside,” this is the place.
Good to see that these will become available individually again but is it part of The state51 conspiracy that resealable poly sleeves are more eco-friendly than the original cd trays or is it just something they are saying because that’s what the new found younger audience likes to read?