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Universal Music to replace faulty Simple Minds box set DVDs

By Paul Sinclair

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110

Simple Minds / Sparkle in the Rain five disc super deluxe edition box

Universal Music have put a process in place to allow fans who bought the Simple Minds Sparkle in the Rain super deluxe edition box set to get a replacement DVD which, in error, contained the Steven Wilson hi-res ‘stereo’ mix in mono.

The DVD is being reproduced so that is all 100 percent correct. In order to get a replacement, you just need to send your faulty DVD to the address below. If you send your booklet as well, you will get a new one of them too, because the last paragraph was inadvertently missed off the original.

Update: 17.50 24/3/15: As an alternative you can email proof of purchase to [email protected] and they will send you out the replacement disc. Universal have confirmed to me that this will suffice. Put SIMPLE MINDS REPLACEMENT DISC in the subject line.

Update: 20/6/15: IGNORE the above. All retailers have the updated version and anyway wishing to replace their incorrect version should get an exchange from where they bought it.

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110 Comments

110 thoughts on “Universal Music to replace faulty Simple Minds box set DVDs”

  2. Hey JW,

    I emailed Universal on Christmas Day after I opened and tested it. I emailed both the Amazon Marketplace Seller and Universal (at the [email protected] address) and attached a copy of my receipt from the Amazon Marketplace Seller. While the Marketplace Seller was in process to issue a pre-paid return label I got a reply from Cressida at Universal saying the replacement booklet and DVD-A were on their way. They arrived a few days later. I am in the USA and hope that Universal are still taking responsibility and minimizing the effort and expense that any other solution for a non-UK purchaser/retailer would require. I was greatly relieved. My Amazon UK Tusk Deluxe (another Christmas Present) also has the correct vinyl (some have the Side 1 repeated on Side 3).

    While Amazon UK never put it back up on their website as being sold by them after taking it down when the errors came to light, clearly one would be wary of Amazon Marketplace sellers. Perhaps Universal will replace if you bought it via mail order or are outside of the UK.

    Derek

  3. Yep – I got this for Xmas from an Amazon marketplace seller and it had the errors. Returned it and bought it from a different marketplace seller and it too had the errors!! I give up!!

  6. box purchased on 22 June at Amazon.fr, but still with the issue
    now amazon accepts to get it back (even after 1 month, thanks to them!), but how to ensure my next purchase will get the corrected box ?
    someone has a good retailer (internet) to recommend which could garantee that?

  7. After contacting Universal about getting the DVD and not the Bluray I got two answers by email. And today the replacement Bluray arrived.

  8. I just purchased the new Simple Minds Sparkle In The Rain Blu Ray Pure Audio disc and have found a defect in the recording on the second track. There is a audible pop/thud at 5:38 on the disc. This is on the surround sound mixes, but not on the 2.0 pcm mix. Either way, it’s unacceptable to have any pops, or unintentional noises on these PURE recordings.

    I have several pure audio discs and countless sacd’s/dvd audio discs and never have experienced anything like this.

    Anyone else have this problem with the disc?

  9. Pingback: Saturday Deluxe / 20 June 2015 | superdeluxeedition

  10. Could the original posting be updated to say that the period for requesting the replacement DVDs from [email protected] has passed. Response back from UMC is the following:

    “Thank you for your email

    We are aware of this issue and have made corrections accordingly, as such could you please return your faulty product to the retailer you purchased it from who will be able to provide you with a refund or replacement product.”

  11. Likewise to Anders, I received the DVD not BluRay- Sent word to Universal and they replied in 5 minutes that they will sort it out.
    I have to say I am impressed with Universal’s Steve H and his communication with me through this!

  12. I got my replacement disc today. However it was the DVD disk and not the Bluray that I expected to get. Will try to sort it out.

  13. Got mine this morning as well.

    Booklet OK, didn’t need the extra page, just re-justified the individual track descriptions to make it fit.

    Hi Resolution Stereo is now Stereo. Hooray!

    Background shifting between Waterfront and East At Easter and back again has been fixed.

    White Hot Day and Kick Inside are now correctly indexed, so no longer include dying seconds of preceding track.

    Bizarrely, though Street Hassle now contains the last second of East At Easter on all three mixes, but I think we can overlook that!

    Not bothering to compare the 5.1 mixes, just assume they are now OK.

    Glad it’s been sorted.

  15. Pingback: Simple Minds / Sparkle in the Rain replacement DVD update | superdeluxeedition

  16. Ich habe vor 6 Wochen meine CD/BluRay inkl des Booklets versandt und bis heute keinen Ersatz bekommen – SCHEISSLADEN !!

  18. I did get a reply from universal that the replacement disc will be sent on once it’s all sorted, so that’s encouraging. I just sent a pdf ‘printed’ copy from my amazon confirmation of purchase.

    1. Well I sent them twice an email with the pdf from the website where I bought the box, but no answer. Could you please me tell me the email account you wrote to ?

      Thanks for the help :)

    2. Today they answered to my email saying that “As soon as replacement discs are available we will get them shipped out to you.”

    1. I took only seven days and I received this response:
      “Dear Customer,
      Thank you for your email and confirming your address.
      As soon as replacement discs are available we will get them shipped out to you.”

      Many thanks,

      Jon Moyes

      Customer Services Manager”

      I need to go now and be sad about SlicingUpEyeballs’ site – will miss those daily visits.

  20. I sent a couple of email to Universal about the faulty dvd and the booklet , but no answers at all. Anyone else with no success like me?

    1. Hi Federico, I did receive and email acknowledgement. I imagine the workload is quite heavy on this item and wish you the best in getting your replacement disc(s). Sincere thanks to Mr. Sinclair for the updates and status reports on behalf of Universal – please let us know when someone receives a replacement so we can start eyeballing the mailman.

      1. Hi Paul,

        I contacted Universal today and got this swift reply, virtually straight away…

        “Yes sorry for the delay – we were just about to press the button on getting the discs done and steven wilson found a fault within his 5.1 mix which meant that we had to go back and re- master this has now been done.

        We hope to have new discs in a week or so”

  22. Thanks Paul!

    Will email them. Nothing to lose except the cost of a blu-ray audio.
    If there is no replacement eventually, it will be the last time probably I would get any blu-ray audio or remasters from Universal if they don’t get their act together.

    Will stick to Japanese copies. At least the Japanese take quality control seriously.

    1. I wouldn’t be so sure of that. I have many Japanese Pressings of CD’s with misspellings, wrong track indexes, and just as many other problems as anywhere else.

      It’s no guarantee, that they will be any better. The only difference is they might get the correct versions later.

  23. Hi Paul

    Wished I had stumbled upon this sooner.
    Bought my copy of the blu-ray, and after playing/skipping through a few songs, thought it sounded… er… ‘strange’ and muffled, lacking depth and clarity in the stereo and the 5.1 surround.
    Only later to thumb through the internet in search of reviews and to find out about the screw-up!!

    Problem is I live in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and bought the SITR blu-ray from a local music store. I doubt that UNiversal Malaysia or the shop I got it from would entertain this screw up!
    Could I mail the reciept (as proof of purchase, and seeing that it’s made in the EU) to [email protected] as in your earlier post and get a replacement for the bluray disc ( hopefully as and when it is available?

    The barcode serial on my copy is 6 02537 97355 2, and it says
    BIEM / SDRM Universal International Music B.V. Gerrit Van Der Veenlaan 4, 3743 DN, Baarn, Netherlands.
    Made in the EU. Set No. 0602537973552

    Hope you can help.

    Regards
    Jonathan

    1. Hi Jonathan – pretty sure it will be fine if you email relevant details to that address. Universal are fine with sending overseas. But it will be a while before issues are fixed, so you’ll need to be a little patient. P

  24. Finally got a reply from them – ‘As soon as replacement discs are available we will get them shipped out to you’ and no any word regarding the faulty booklet though I mentioned it in my mail too…

  25. Does anyone knows how soon they reply to the replacement requests?
    I mailed them more than a day ago with an Amazon.de purchase proof and there’s been silence still… :-/

  26. As much as I am interested in knowing that the 5.1 mix on this release is also wrong in some way (I have purchased the HFPA blu-ray), I would like to see the message left by Steven Wilson passed on by Universal in an official manner. A simple message here lost among 70 others may not have any effect. How many people who have bought this release for the 5.1 mix know about it ? We have not been told officially that this is going to be corrected in any way. I expect an official statement acknowledging this issue. As long as we don’t have it, we cannot know for sure that the 5.1 mix will be sorted out too along the 2014 stereo mix…

  27. A thank you to Mr Steven Wilson for leaving your comment here! How professional to give us a heads up and be honest and sincere about it. Like I said before, things do go wrong in life. So by the sound of it at this stage, the DVD box is a nice to have as it is a slick package. In order to get the best sound, I will obtain the blu ray disc as well (which has the HD-loseless version) in due course, once the 5.1 issue has been resolved as well.

  29. I am a UK resident and I bought the boxset from Amazon Germany. I have contacted Universal via the email address with proof of purchase on Amazon Germany and I have provided them with my UK address. They have confirmed they will send the replacement items. There is no need to send the boxset back to Germany.

  30. The problem isn’t SW’s fault but I find it funny that he wrote “The issues with the 5.1 are less obvious”?

    Granted that I was not promised a miracle with this remix (the original is a muddy, veiled mess), but what is wrong on this 5.1 option is dreadfully obvious. Output in the front speakers is almost non-existent – Center speaker vocal are low and veiled – Rear speakers are too hot.

    I feel so relived though to hear this a tech problem. I hold SW as the guru of surround mixes and this one seemed to worse than any Silverline DVD-A release. Can’t wait to hear the proper stereo & 5.1 mix.

  31. Hi Steven,
    It’s a relief to hear directly from you that something is up with the transfers. Like most fans on this site, I am very familiar with the album having purchased the original on the day of release (and must have listened to a couple of hundred times since on vinyl and cd). I could tell something wasn’t quite right with the stereo mix on the blu ray but then with all the comments posted on the site, you begin to doubt yourself. From what I did glean, I particularly like what you have done to bring out the bass on the intro to Book Of Brilliant Things. I am also a long standing fan of XTC and thought Nonsuch and Drums & Wires were outstanding packages and fantastic sound quality played through my Naim system. I understand Oranges & Lemons is next! Anyway I am looking forward to hearing Sparkle In The Rain as you re-imagined it and I hope the Minds other releases can receive the same treatment in the future.

  32. Hello folks, this is Steven Wilson – I did the new mixes of Sparkle in the Rain that are on this edition. It’s been difficult for me to monitor because I’m in Europe on tour and therefore not in my studio, but I have been able to establish that unfortunately there are issues with the transfers of both the stereo and the 5.1 mixes. The issues with the 5.1 are less obvious, but the bottom line is that it does not sound as it should. I’m not sure what happened exactly, it may have been some kind of file corruption, but before you ask; no I wasn’t sent any kind of check disc, though I have had assurance that I always will be in future. We will sort this out, but I need to ask you to be a bit patient with this one, it’s probably not going to be a “quick fix”. My apologies.

    1. Hi Steven.
      Unless there was something wrong with the mixes or files as they were leaving your studio, then it isn’t it your fault, so no need to apologize to us.
      I’m appalled however that you were not sent a test disc to approve as this could have all been avoided if you could have heard what was wrong on the disc.
      I hope there will be better QC in the future, but I’m still hopeful that “Minstrel in the Gallery” will sound incredible! Thanks!

      Ryan

  33. It’s a nuisance, but yes these things do happen everywhere in life.
    Indeed it is about effective corrective action. Once I grab my hands on the box, I will send an e-mail to request replacements, of course that what we’re paying for after all.
    I’m not overly worried about the high res stereo mix, I won’t have any time to listen to that anyway – I’m going for the 5.1 remix and I’m quite excited about listening to that. It’s a pity I will have to wait for the replacement booklet because I am quite interested in Charlies’ comments.

  34. My blu ray recently arrived so today I sat down with the intention of working out whether the 2 channel version is stereo or mono. I didn’t get very far as about 1.5 mins into Book of Brilliant Things the disc just stopped. Same thing happened on the two multichannel versions. Has anybody else encountered this fault?

  37. Is the content on the Blu-Ray identical to the DVD-A? Specifically does the Blu-ray have a HiRes 5.1 mix that is not DTS or Dolby encoded?

  38. One of the best fans Simon Cornwell was involved heavily with this project.

    Some of the errors appeared after he corrected them.
    The corrected text:

    It should read:

    Brass Band In Africa / A Brass Band In African Chimes
    “Who am I to sing on top of such a symphonic lyric? A piece like that speaks for itself. With most songs, I usually have an idea pretty soon about the direction in which the text should develop. But in the case of the instrumentals no textural ideas ever came up. Because everything was there already! I’ve never thought: that’s a strong song, it needs a strong text. Never! They had to stay instrumental, no doubt about it. You hear voices, you see images in those songs. Why give them an identity when they already have one? They express as much as the songs I did write lyrics for. Conclusion: they make me superfluous. They’re MacNeil’s creations.” – Jim Kerr, interviewed in 1984.

    A Brass Band In Africa was another melody conjured up by Mick during the Old Chapel writing sessions and became a major part of burning up studio time at both Rockfield and The Townhouse as the band tried to knock it into shape. Charlie remembered the process clearly: “We kept on polishing “Brass Band” a lot, it kept changing. Some people have the talent to weld such pieces together seamlessly, but we are still learning. We knew what we wanted, the music was in our heads, but to actually sit down and express it, that’s a different story. There was a time when it strongly reminded us of La Dusseldorf. I don’t know what quality their music possessed, but there was certainly a sense of glory there. We tried to maintain that.”

    It wasn’t included on the album but two versions were used as B-sides for the Up On The Catwalk single. Despite its non-album status, Mick was proud of the instrumental: “Please listen to “A Brass Band In African Chimes” It’s my favourite instrumental, and a good base to continue from. From there, you can handle anything.”

    All the best,
    Simon

  39. Thanks to Paul Sinclair – I sent a PDF of my Amazon UK receipt with all the details and they promise me a DVD and booklet in the mail as soon as they are available.

  42. i’ll take mullets over lord smedley looking clone hair any day of the week- and any public school output can do one and all

  43. I’ve just received an email from umusic to confirm that the replacements will be in the post as soon as they arrive.
    Thanks again for your timely intervention Paul.

  44. My comments about the errors on this disc are not meant as a criticism of Universal per se. I just think that with these problems and manufacturing discs again that the profit on this project diminishes and possibly Universal may not want to do these kind of deluxe editions in the future. I think they do a great job and the longer labels do physical product like this the better. Just a bit of up front planning and using knowledgeable fans would minimise these kinds of problems in the future.

  45. Hello Paul,

    when i got the answer for the dvd-audio, they told me that they change the booklet too, while there is a print mistake.

  46. Maybe someone with access to the Remastering dept at Universal has got it in for bands from the 1980s who sported dodgy mullets back in the day.

  47. It’s unfortunate for everyone as the lost profits and inconvenience affect and delay and discourage future releases. I really like the idea for the King Crimson stuff of giving test discs to super-fans in the forum there – would probably be better to do it that way than to find out when tens of thousands hit the shelves. Crowdsourcing is a powerful tool.

  48. From the Deluxe Edition thread:

    “Neil says:
    March 19, 2015 at 14:58
    Just read this on burning sheds webstore ***We have been made aware of a fault on the Blu-Ray. A new disc is being made and we will start selling again once we receive replacements. If you have ordered this from us we will automatically send you a replacement Blu-Ray disc when we get them. You do not need to return anything*** The same applies to the box set at least they had had the sense to stop selling them unlike Amazon.”

  49. I really wouldn’t get too down on Universal. They made a mistake and are correcting it in a kind and courteous manner as soon as they can. I am most certainly less than perfect. Heck, what about that discussion concerning the reversal of audio channels on the original Tears for Fears Songs from the Big Chair? We all make mistakes. It what we do about the mistake afterwards that matters.

    A big thank you to Paul for watching our backs and for bringing this to our attention in the first place.

    Cheers,

    Leemer.

    1. er, there is always one person giving it i’m a such a reasonable man and it’s an imperfect world. blah blah blah. blatantly, they initially wanted people to muck about spending more money and wasting time on a pointless exercise until a bit of perceived clout changed things. the proles were not getting anywhere. they tried. yes, i make mistakes- but i don’t expect others to foot the bill then run around after me doing my bidding. so no, your assessment is bang wrong with all due respect. this is an example of incompetence- i mean it’s only their job to q.c. product/defend a bands reputation and then attempt arrogance after the event to save cost making the process long-winded? this is also not an isolated incident.

  50. I am glad all this will be sorted, but the question remains why do these things happen in the first place. It does seem no one checks discs or booklets before going into production. That surely is a costly error. Now, I know these discs are complex affairs and time probably dictates that corners need to be cut, but if you look at the King Crimson surround sound reissues and box sets they have a QC team who are usually members of the QuadraphonicQuad forum who test the discs prior to production. Surely it makes sense that companies could use “fans” via social media who would be more than happy to check booklets and discs prior to going into full blown production. I know I would love to check these things as it is frustrating when confronted with poorly produced text and discs with errors.

  52. Have emailed them know with a screengrab of the Amazon.es order.

    Thanks very much for intervening Paul. Makes it a lot easier when you don’t have to put stuff back to them.

  53. On sa-cd.net the first review of the stereo mix on the blu ray was: sounds mono to me. And it does indeed sound very dense and not much of a stereo field in comparison to the original mix.

    1. I was told the blu-ray was created from a different master (no videos as per the DVD) and therefore doesn’t suffer from the issue. Is anyone categorically stating that this isn’t the case? Seems to be largely an assumption that they must both be affected.

      1. From the Deluxe Edition thread;

        “Neil says:
        March 19, 2015 at 14:58
        Just read this on burning sheds webstore ***We have been made aware of a fault on the Blu-Ray. A new disc is being made and we will start selling again once we receive replacements. If you have ordered this from us we will automatically send you a replacement Blu-Ray disc when we get them. You do not need to return anything*** The same applies to the box set at least they had had the sense to stop selling them unlike Amazon.”

  57. well batted Paul. appreciate your assistance for something that should have been quite obvious in the first instance. you have influence which regular punters don’t seem to have – going on the brush off given to others also proposing this sensible resolution directly to them. the new go to Esther Rantzen.

  60. So far I’m impressed, They replied in the 1st instance quite quickly…

    Good Afternoon William,

    Thanks for getting in contact.

    Please accept our apologies, this has been passed onto the label and we will advise once we have more information.

    Many thanks,

    Lisa Dorrington

    Customer Services Advisor

  61. I phoned universal in London, was given the number for their Milton Keynes Manufacturing offices, was then given an email address to write to, after the O.M.D debacle, the Nick Cave & The bad seeds mispress you’d think they would just send the damn things out without this whole returns palava…the fact they can’t get their quality control in order for these supposed DELUXE??? releases makes me wary of their ability to organise a piss up in a brewery let alone a returns & reissue campaign.

    This is the email i was given btw: [email protected]

  62. my take is when it’s easy for you – companies don’t like it. it means it will cost them more. these reptiles actually hope people can’t be bothered and will discuss that point at length. the red-rimmed specked twats.

  63. Hi all,

    I’ve just sent this to Steve Hammonds at Universal, as this is crazy…

    Hi Steve,

    I am glad that the DVD replacements are under way, and also that the booklet is being reprinted.

    One other thing you should be aware of before repressing the DVD.

    White Hot Day and The Kick Inside Of Me have been incorrectly indexed, including a couple of seconds of the preceding track on all three mixes.
    The display background also inexplicably shifts position slightly when skipping from Waterfront, to East At Easter and then on to Street Hassle.

    However, fans have bought this box set from all over the world. Are we really expected to incur the expense and hassle of sending back faulty items to Kensington, when an emailed proof of purchase from Amazon or another online reatiler will suffice?

    Two of the mixes and bonus TV content are perfectly acceptable on the disc – why be without these whilst replacements are being made?

    Glad it’s being sorted, but I hope you think again about customers incurring postage to ship faulty product.

    Regards etc etc

  64. I think Universal should take a leaf out of Edsel book, when they messed up Belinda Carlisle CDs. Edsel was full of apologies. If I remember Edsel provided an email address and within 6 weeks ish they sent out new CDs.

    Has anyone seen the word sorry from Universal?

    I wonder what Jim Kerr & Charlie think about all this?

  66. You can guarantee the replacements won’t be in pristine condition either. Both times Universal have sent out repressed discs to me, they’ve been covered in marks.

  67. Yesterday, I contacted Universal regarding the faulty dvd and also included the Amazon box set dispatch email as proof of purchase. But they still want me to return the disc and booklet! Grrrrr!

  68. Why do universal ask to return the faulty dvd and booklet?
    They only have to collect e-mail addresses of the people who bought the boxes and send them replacement disc and booklet.
    Returning back faulty items like those is unacceptable, it only involves further costs and lost time from the consumer, who has already been damaged in the first place buying a defective product.

    Pleas Paul do something as so we don’t have to send back anything.

  69. Requesting customers return the faulty discs and booklets is ridiculous. Not only are customers inconvenienced by having an expensive product being faulty, they now have to physically package the said faulty items, travel to a post office, probably fill out a customs declaration, and at their own expense send it all back. This is a new low for Universal. It really is. Why not simply set up an email address, let people send in electronic receipts and send out replacements? What do they think people are going to do with the faulty discs and booklets?

  71. Paul, is there any chance you could post the missing paragraph here or give a email address from universal that I could just get them to send me the information of missing paragraph. I don’t have my copy yet as its still in transit from germany but if its only one missing paragraph I would be fine with just printing it myself or reading here what was missed. I am not going to waste even more time/money on sending stuff to Uk and then waiting for it to come back.

  72. After getting replacement OMD CD we have to go through the process again. Annoyingly this time we have to post it back. Universal should issue a Freepost address or make arrangements to refund your return postage. This is simply not good enough from Universal. Not sure I am going to rush into anymore Deluxe or Super Deluxe editions from them especially at £40+ price points.

  74. well I think I’m gonna keep my “mispress” edition… and I will call it from now on a collector item. I won’t play the dvd so why bother. Thanks anyway for the info, hope they won’t mess up the once upon a time box set

    1. yeah, i was thinking that collectable angle. keeping it sealed. i certainly do not perform the task of others paid to do so on principle. amazon are still selling this item so are they pumping out error boxes still or what?

  75. Fer goodnessakes, there seems to be an unrelenting stream of c0ck-ups from Universal on these “deluxe” editions. I’ve only just gotten my OMD Junk Culture sorted out.

  76. why have they not issued an email address- making you do the work? i ain’t sending anything doing their job and a bit of pressure from this site to resolve this better would not go amiss either. as we use it to be put on those deals (purchased from German site).

  77. Do Universal employ anyone to work on quality control? Every month there seems to be a story on here of them messing up a reissue. Kudos to them for sorting things out quickly but would it not be in their interests to not have to keep going through this rigmarole?

  79. So i have to spend more money sending my booklet and DVD back to them instead sending a purchase proof by electronic mail…

  80. Oh dear :-(

    You’d have thought it wouldn’t be beyond the whit of man for companies to do a final quality check before expressing the ‘go’ button on the printing presses. Still – these things happen and full marks to them for putting a replacement programme in place so quickly (and even more marks for reprinting the booklet too, as that’s no doubt a huge cost to them).

    My set is still in the post and hasn’t arrived yet. Presumably all the sets so far released have the faulty DVD then? Is there any way of telling (other than listening to it of course…)

  81. I held back on this for various reasons (glad I did now) but will probably pick up either the box or the Blu Ray in the near future. Do we have any information regarding existing stock being recalled? I’d hate to order from somewhere and receive a faulty copy, only to then have to go through the rigmarole of swapping it.

    I’ve also heard that the Blu Ray was affected with this ‘mono’ mix, so are there similar plans in place for replacements?

    1. The Blu-ray is effected, yes. Also there is missing information on the song credits. Charlie Burchill as guitarist is missed off every track off the song notes. Whoops! I hope we are also entitled to replacements as blu-ray purchasers.

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