For those of you who are interested in the SDE Surround Series blu-rays, I wanted to give you a update as to where we are and where we are going as we head towards September and the start of Autumn in 2025.
So far this year we have announced 11 titles, only two of which – Matt Deighton’s Today Become Forever (#44) and Mark Knopfler’s Sailing to Philadelphia (#45) have not shipped. They are both released in next month (5th and 26th of September, respectively). Matt’s album is limited to 1000 units and is still available, although there are not too many left.
So far as the rest of the year is concerned, I have good news and bad news. The very good news is that there are many more blu-rays to come, probably at least another 10 titles! We’ve been working hard in the background and have got some fantastic albums lined up, including chart-toppers from the 1980s, rock classics from the 1970s and a few surprises. That’s the good news, the ‘bad’ news is that these are going to come thick and fast.
Let me explain: Our label partners decide on the announcement date and the release date of the reissue campaign of which the SDE blu-ray is part. SDE is not in control of this aspect, and although we try to influence things where possible, we mostly have to go with the flow. Normally this works okay in less busy times of the year, but in the music industry’s always busy ‘Q4’ period, that is going to be more of a challenge, especially when we are working with multiple labels.
What does all this mean? It means that there may be times in the next few months where announcements follow each other much more closely than normal. Unfortunately, we are not in a position to tell you in advance of the schedule, largely due to respecting the confidentiality of our label partners, but also because we often get very late notice of announcement dates, anyway. It will likely get complicated with pre-order windows overlapping and closing in close succession.
BEST ADVICE: If you want something, just put a pre-order in early and secure your copy. You can always check what you have on order by going to account section of thesdeshop.com and signing in by putting in the email address you used to order any items. On that subject, try not use different email addresses to order via the SDE shop. If you do that multiple accounts get set up in the background and when you log in to one of them, it will look like items are ‘missing’ from your pre-ordered items, when actually they are listed under another account with some other email address you once used!
The SDE shop customer services team are always very happy to hear from you and to help if you need to get in touch (via contact@thesdeshop.com) to discuss any pre-orders or issues. As has always been the case, we cannot combine pre-orders, I’m afraid.
In summary, I like to think we will look back on this period as a golden age for immersive and surround audio on physical formats and I’m proud of the role that SDE has played in this, with the SDE Surround Series. Who knows how long it will last, so my philosophy is let’s all try and enjoy it and make the most of it while we can! Working in the background on these releases, can at times be frustrating, and often exhausting, but mostly it’s a real pleasure and as we approach our half-century in this series, I still get a real kick out of announcing each new title and hoping to delight you and exceed your expectations, with the content on these exclusive blu-rays.
Thanks, as always, for all your support and we look forward to the next announcement (which will be quite soon).
Paul
Paul Sinclair
SDE Editor. theSDEshop.com. SDE Records.
