News

Saturday Deluxe / 20 May 2023

RIP John Giblin and Andy Rourke

By Paul Sinclair

Comments

44

Musicians mourn the passing of two great bass players

Early this week, it was announced that John Giblin had died aged 71. John played bass guitar on many great records including six Kate Bush albums; Peter Gabriel III, Phil Collins’ Hello I Must Be Going and Face Value; and Simple Minds’ Street Fighting Years. Kate Bush left a heartfelt message on her website saying “I loved John so very much. He was one of my very dearest and closest friends for over forty years. We were always there for each other. He was very special“. John was part of the band that Kate put together in 2014 for her Before The Dawn residency in Hammersmith.

Peter Gabriel said that Phil Collins had introduced him to John. He posted his own tribute and said “My favourite bit of John’s work with me was also with Phil on drums, No Self-Control. This wonderful and warm hearted musician contributed so much to so many great records and performances . We will all miss you John”.

Of course, yesterday came the shocking news that The Smiths’ Andy Rourke had died at the young age of just 59 (of Pancreatic cancer). Again the musicians who worked closely with, or knew Andy, were quick to offer condolences to Andy’s loved ones and remind the world what a great musician he was. Johnny Marr said Andy was “a kind and beautiful soul by those who knew him and as a supremely gifted musician by music fans”.

Morrissey also left a message, saying that “He didn’t ever know his own power, and nothing that he played had been played by someone else. His distinction was so terrific and unconventional and he proved it could be done. He was also very, very funny and very happy, and post-Smiths, he kept a steady identity – never any manufactured moves”.

Rest in Peace John Giblin and Andy Rourke

Bob Dylan’s Time Out Of Mind re-enters the UK charts!

Thank you to everyone who has left messages to say they are enjoying the Bob Dylan Time Out Of Mind (2022 Remix) SDE-exclusive blu-ray audio. I can tell you that all the pre-orders have shipped and if they haven’t already, packages should be dropping through your letterboxes any time now.

On the strength of just the SDE-exclusive blu-ray, the album appeared in the so-called ‘midweek’ UK album charts at No 34, which was amazing. Of course it couldn’t really hang on with all the streaming competition but it re-entered the UK physical album chart at number 10! This is ahead of releases such the Rick Astley’s Hold Me In Your Arms reissue, Moby’s Resound NYC (his classical re-workings) album and the De La Soul is Dead vinyl reissue!

I’m thrilled at this success which is a result of your passion for physical music and spatial audio. Unlike those other releases, there’s was no PR campaign, no multiple formats… just the SDE community coming together and responding positively to a product that had been designed with your interests at heart. Thank you and let’s do it all over again in a couple of weeks with No 10 and No 9 in the SDE Surround Series: Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells and Tears For Fears’ The Hurting!

Order the Time Out Of Mind SDE-exclusive blu-ray

SuperDeluxeEdition.com helps fans around the world discover physical music and discuss releases. To keep the site free, SDE participates in various affiliate programs, including Amazon and earns from qualifying purchases.

Related Content

44 Comments

44 thoughts on “Saturday Deluxe / 20 May 2023”

  2. I received my Dylan Blu-Ray just prior to the weekend. Prior to this, I’ve owned several 5.1 Blu Rays (ie King Crimson, Pink Floyd, the entire XTC catalogue), but it wasn’t until I pre-ordered Time Out of Mind that I finally threw my money down on a proper surround sound system. It sounds magical, and I can’t wait for The Hurting and Suede to be released!

  5. That’s brilliant news Paul in regards to the Dylan album getting back into the charts with the help of the SDE community, which I am proud to be a part of. And in regards to Dylan, I ain’t the biggest fan, but I am really enjoying the album, and the Atmos mix!

    1. Rourke and Joyce sued Morrissey and Marr in 89 for a greater share of royalties. Each had received only 10% against the others 40%. This was seperate from song writing royalties. Andy settled out of court for a moderate amount but Mike took it to the High Court in 96 and won a substantial sum, about £1 million. To say Morrissey was not best pleased would be the greatest understatement ever.

  8. It makes me so very happy that you single-handedly put Bob Dylan in the top 10 with an SDE exclusive. Your hard work, patience and incredible amounts of dedication have made this a reality. Yes, the buyers have to be there to push this into the top 10 but really all we did was press the “buy” button. You did all the hard work, that’s why this makes me so happy. I’m sure that showing artists and labels that you can deliver, will help open doors to more SDE exclusives and more top sales results. Well done!

    2. And it’s number 12 in the official UK album sales chart, which seems to be all physical sales and downloads, the vast majority of which will be the side release. Fantastic news!

  9. Indeed, 2 Outstanding Bass players who have left us too soon.

    John Giblin, unless I am mistaken, don’t have my collection to hand at the moment, was also the bassist on “Once upon a time” which is a one of my go to ‘Happy” albums & subtly, he brought those songs to life. Also in the background of those Kate Bush albums that no one had any need to question the quality over.

    I fear this year is like 2016 when more than an average amount of greatness was taken from us.

    RIP: Andy & John. Thank you. Never forgotten!!

  10. Its worth reading the whole of Kate Bush’s message on her website. As you say Paul it’s “heartfelt”. It is one of the most eloquent memorials to anyone I have read.

  11. Dont know if someone else has had any issues playing Dylan’s bluray in Atmos.
    Something must have changed in the authoring of the disc as in one of my amplifiers it refuses to play in sorround.
    Though this amplifier is a bit old and with no actual Atmos and it is connected with a coaxial cable ALL blurays have always played in 5.1.
    I tried it in 2 different players with the same result. I have tried other blurays including some of SDEs and all play fine.
    With Dylan’s the player is ouputting a 7.1 signal but the amplifier is only getting a 2 channel one.
    As I have said, it must be the authoring of the disc or maybe a new restriction on this specific one refusing to play sorround using a coaxial plug?
    The disc is fine because I tried on another amp and though it hss not got Atmos either, it played as a 7.1 DolbyTrueHD.
    The only difference between amps is that this one is connected with HDMI.
    I would just like to know if something is different here and if other people have had a similar issue.
    Apart from this “little” problem, very happy with the edition. I have purchased all of them and hope to continue doing so.

  12. Always loved the photo with Andy Rourke up front. What a bass player he was. So many memorable lines in Smiths songs and not forgetting his work on early Morrissey solo stuff. Tragic news.

  14. Rest in peace John Giblin and Andy Rourke. Have read about their passings on Wikipedia. John Giblin was a proper member of Simple Minds. Will give “Let It All Come Down” a spin later on. This is one of my favourite songs on SFY and was his major writing contribution to the album.

    Have received “Time Out Of Mind”, my very first purchase from SDE, already on Tuesday here in Germany. Looking forward to receiving Tears for Fears, Mike Oldfield and Suede. Many thanks, Paul.

    1. I only read about John’s passing a bit after it happened, but since I’ve been delving into Alan Parsons’ solo career, that was also hitting me – he played bass on the Parsons albums On Air and The Time Machine and is the second musician from those albums who died this year (after guitarist extraordinaire Ian Bairnson). He was also part of the On Air tour spinning from 1996 to 1998 and there is apparently an unreleased video from it, which I hope Alan will release on DVD soon.

  15. Would you have imagined releasing an exclusive Bob Dylan release and getting something to the top ten on the physical charts when you started SDE Paul? Congratulations!

  16. And RIP Pete Brown, lyricist/collaborator with Jack Bruce, Colosseum and Graham Bond and subsequently a bandleader/recording artist with Battered Ornaments, Piblokto! and solo projects. I worked with him on two or three archive projects for Repertoire, most recently the 3CD Duffy Power ‘Live at the BBC and Other Innovations’, and he was very helpful when I was researched ‘Bathed in Lightning: John McLaughlin, the 60s and the Emerald Beyond’ – John having been in Pete’s jazz/poetry First Real Poetry Band in 1967. ‘Pete the Poet’, on John’s 1969 debut album ‘Extrapolation’, was his doff of the cap before heading off to a whole new career in the US. ‘Theme For an Imaginary Western’ is perhaps Pete’s defining song, recorded by several acts – Jack Bruce, Mountain, Colosseum. Farewell, Pete.

    1. The very first lp I bought, in 1969, had a nice lot of these brilliant Pete Brown-lyrics. I enjoyed very much reading your McLaughlin-book: page turner, well-written and enlightening. Shakti has a new album out in June and will be performing in Europe. I saw McL many times, Knebworth 1974, once with Miles in Paris, and, in Madras (Chennai) in Southern India, with Shakti. One of the Greats. Last time in 2014, with Zakir Hussain.

      1. Thank you, that’s most kind :-) There are two McLaughlin books – I created a ‘companion volume’ in 2017, ‘Echoes From Then: Glimpses of John McLaughlin 1959-75’, using excised material from the parent volume plus much new research, gig lists, sessionographies, etc and a lot of visual content. Available from my Bandcamp page if you wish. I hope this isn’t tempting fate, but I’m currently trying to align planets towards a very exciting McL-related archive project. Very early days but the portents are good so far.

  17. Congratulations on #10. I hope this means more opportunities to release even more great Blu-rays and that you were able to pop a few champagne corks. Job well done!

      1. If someone told you when you first had the idea for this program that the releases would be charting what would your response have been?
        Congratulations on the whole enterprise.

    2. It should certainly be food for thought for any labels/artists who may be hesitant about authorising any future SDE exclusives.

      1. Also has me wondering what/when the next SDE blu-ray audio release will be. It’s been over a month since the last one, and I seem to recall Paul saying there will be at least 12 released this year (roughly one a month), so I was hoping for a May announcement (as I have a birthday in May, so an SDE purchase would be nice).

  18. Funky Andy and meat and potatoes Mike Joyce has to be the most unlikely rhythm section. Yet it worked so well – like partnering Bootsy Collins with Dave Clark. Hugely underestimated contribution to what made The Smiths The Smiths.

    1. Bowie died of cholangiocellular carcinoma, as far as I know. Lou Reed died of liver failure after a transplant because of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Both diseases have an equally poor prognosis compared to pancreatic cancer, which has an overall 5 year survival rate of 5 %. Main risk factor for pancreatic cancer behind is chronic pancreatitis and smoking.

      1. My mistake but that’s what I understood you obviously
        have a far greater knowledge of info related to cancer .Doctor /surgeon /radiologist ?

          1. Yes, even non professionals can look it up. That doesn’t mean that I’m not a radiologist.
            Anyway, whose music do you prefer: Bowie or Reed? And am the only one who thinks that Mozzas solo stuff is more interesting and of persistent quality than the Smiths, who were more of a singles band.

          2. didn’t look it up educated guess .Bowie and Reed
            Ziggy/Transformer is the sound of ideas passing from one genius to another .If you include The Stooges and Mott the hoople .Bowie /Ronson had a phenomenal work rate in 72. Smiths had a better guitarist /arranger .Bit like Bowie post Ronson .

  20. With Morrissey and Marr garnering so much well-earned attention it was maybe too easy to take for granted what a brilliant rhythm section The Smiths had in Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce. As much as I dislike band reunions, I always secretly wished that there might just be something more to come from this band. R.I.P Andy…

Leave a Reply