Hot off the press!! Check out the blu-ray audio edition of Pet Shop Boys new album Nonetheless with SDE-exclusive slipcase, via this SDEtv unboxing video.
You can order the blu-ray and the 2CD edition via the SDE shop using this link or the buttons below. The slipcased edition is limited to 3,000 units.
Tracklisting
NonethelessPet Shop Boys/Blu-ray Audio
Dolby Atmos Mix of Nonetheless
Loneliness
Feel
Why am I dancing?
New London boy
Dancing star
A new bohemia
The schlager hit parade
The secret of happiness
Bullet for Narcissus
Love is the law
96/24 stereo mix of Nonetheless
Loneliness
Feel
Why am I dancing?
New London boy
Dancing star
A new bohemia
The schlager hit parade
The secret of happiness
Bullet for Narcissus
Love is the law
Video to Loneliness (directed by Alasdair McLellan)
After some unfortunate manufacturing delays, the Wham! SDE-exclusive blu-rays should be shipping this week and as well as these totally exclusive products, the SDE shop has stock of the limited coloured vinyl editions of Fantastic and Make It Big.
First five albums • 5CDs • Bonus tracks • Tanita track-by-track notes
The WEA / EastWest Albums 1988 – 1995 is a new 5CD box set that brings together the first five albums of British singer-songwriter Tanita Tikaram.
The albums in question are Ancient Heart (1988), The Sweet Keeper (1990), Everybody’s Angel (1991), Eleven Kinds of Loneliness (1992), Lovers in the City (1995). All have been remastered and all offer bonus tracks, with the label stating that it contains “all of her studio recordings” from this period, which appears to be accurate although there’s plenty of live tracks from singles that aren’t included.
In total, there’s 81 tracks in this set and with the bonus material largely B-sides, edits, instrumentals and the like. The ‘Early Guitar And Voice’ versions of ‘Hot Port Sandwiches’ and ‘I Love The Heaven’s Solo’ were originally on ‘Little Sister Leaving Town’, the second single from The Sweet Keeper, but because Tanita re-recorded them for her third album, Everybody’s Angel, they are appended to that album in this set. In fact, having been a B-side in 1990, ‘I Love The Heaven’s Solo’ became a single in 1991 in a third variant (“new version”) of the song!
‘Twist in My Sobriety’ from Ancient Heart
There has never been an expanded, deluxe version of Tanita’s debut Ancient Heart, which is strange given the album was a big hit around the world and to date has sold around 4m copies. There was a modest reissue back in 2019, but that was mostly about a clear vinyl pressing (the CD offered two bonus tracks, including rather nonsensically, ‘I Love The Heaven’s Solo’).
Tanita Tikaram has provided exclusive album introductions and track-by-track annotations in the 24-page booklet that comes with this box set.
The WEA / EastWest Albums 1988 – 1995 will be released on 28 June 2024 via Cherry Red.
Get ready for tomorrow’s Record Store Day by watching this special SDE preview featuring a selection of the exclusive releases. What is on your list? Let us know via the comments.
The music of London’s Blitz Club is celebrated with a new box set curated by Rusty Egan the man who, with Steve Strange, started the weekly club which soundtracked a transition from the gloom of the UK in the late 70s into the new decade of the 1980s with the sounds, sights and glamour to go with it.
Strange would work the door/front of house, while Egan handled DJ duties in the club. The pair had originally met briefly backstage at an early 1978 gig, in Wales, with Rich Kids – the short-lived post-punk band put together by ex-Sex Pistol bassist Glen Matlock and featuring Egan on drums, Steve New on guitar and Midge Ure on vocals. The band split, and at 19 and 21 respectively, Strange and Egan started the club in a wine bar in Covent Garden called Blitz (having started out at Billy’s in Soho the year before).
“The ethos was that everybody in that club could be heroes, just for one day and my DJ set lists at the Blitz were designed to make YOU the star – on the dancefloor, at the bar or just standing there in your finest on a dreary Tuesday night,” remarks Egan of the innovative music he has compiled for this new box-set. “You could be whoever you wanted to be – your life was going to be great and the ‘80s were here. The late ‘70s had been so grey and drab and I wanted the music I played each week to instantly transport you somewhere else – maybe to Europe with a few film noir references or to Japan via some exciting new electronic sounds. Of course there were lots of robotic vocals sung in German, Russian, French and English too.”
Rusty Egan
The Blitz Club quickly became the place to be and be seen and would regularly host designers, artists, and especially musicians, or aspiring musicians. Many of what would soon to become British pop’s most innovative early Eighties exports would be there on a regular basis, including the Blitz Club’s cloakroom manager Boy George, Sade, Spandau Ballet, Billy Idol, Ultravox, Visage, Adam And The Ants, Bananarama, Marilyn, Gary Numan, Siouxsie and Sigue Sigue Sputnik.
Spandau Ballet actually played their first gig at the Blitz Club (the Christmas party!) in early December 1979. Gary Kemp recalls: “The Blitz Club, with Steve Strange’s curated ragamuffins and Rusty Egan’s electro soundtrack, was the engine room for the ‘80s. Spandau Ballet was forged from that heat. We were determined to make our own advances into the new culture we wanted to lead. Vinyl was just one of our mediums. Here are the tunes we danced to, planned over, posed and gazed to. Energy poured out of this backing track.”
Limited 4CD set with colour print personally autographed by Rusty Egan (click to enlarge)
As well as a host of electronic classics, this new Rusty Egan Presents Blitzed! box-set includes many hard to find extended remixes and edits from artists like Grace Jones, Roxy Music and Kraftwerk (a scarce promo edit of the Düsseldorf band’s seminal track ‘Radioactivity’ is included).
This release is available as a deluxe 4CD set (66 tracks) and across four vinyl LPs (36 tracks). Both including extensive sleeve notes by The Guardian’s chief rock & pop critic (and occasional SDE reviewer) Alexis Petridis as well as an introductory essay by Rusty Egan.
A Amazon-exclusive limited 4CD signed edition comes with a colour print of Rusty Egan DJing at the Blitz Club. This is a previously unseen photo taken in 1979 by legendary music photographer Peter Ashworth and personally autographed by Rusty.
Rusty Egan presents Blitzed! will be released on 28 June 2024 via Demon Music.
Sunday 14th April – SDE was in the Netherlands for Record Planet’s 58th ‘Mega Record & CD Fair’ and sadly, Sunday is the last day. Here’s SDE Editor Paul Sinclair’s final diary entry…
Having spent seven hours at the event on Saturday, there is a slight feeling of exhaustion, even if you know that there’s still plenty to see, because you probably missed loads of great records and CDs at the various stands. You definitely can’t replicate the excitement of day one, but on the other hand there’s a slightly calmer vibe in the various halls on the Sunday. There’s a lot less people in attendance, because you have to be some kind of maniac to do consecutive days (guilty as charged). At 10.00 when I arrived the place seemed half empty, when made walking around very pleasant. There were a few stands with covers over them which meant the owners were starting late.
There was one disaster. As I was dumping my suitcase in the cloakroom (I was heading straight to the train station afterwards), I realised I couldn’t find my reading glasses! In panic mode, I was patting and checking pockets, but they were nowhere to be found. In my somewhat dishevelled and confused state, I may as well have held up a big sign that read: “I am an old person. I need help”. I had to go back to the cloakroom where I’d literally only just dumped my suitcase and rucksack and ask the young girl behind the counter to go get them again, so I could check. The look she gave me was the kind of sympathetic look you give old people that need help. Luckily, I actually had packed a busted spare pair in my suitcase, for this very eventuality. Not ideal because one of the ‘arms’ – or whatever the bits that go around your ear are called – was missing. They sort of stayed on my face, if I didn’t look down too much, which of course you need to do quite a lot of at a record fair! They also looked a bit skew-whiff, giving me an attractive ‘care in the community’ type vibe. Later, I emailed the hotel, thinking I probably left them at reception, while checking out. Apparently not.
The halls were noticeably less busy on day two (click to enlarge)
The plan was to head off around 13.30, so roughly half-a-day to get things done. There were more bargains to be had, simply because dealers wanted to get rid of stock. I came across a stand with 12-inch singles for €1 each and bought about 15 of them, including singles from the Bee Gees, Tina Turner, OMD, Robbie Nevil, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Robert Palmer.
I also came across a dealer that had a massive pile of sealed Björk ‘Innocence’ box sets. This was her 2008 single that was released in this slightly ludicrous box which included 2 x 12″ singles, a CD and a DVD with 11 versions of the video (directors of the various videos were winners in a competion). There’s already 14 mixes of ‘Innocence’ across the two vinyl records and the CD, but if that isn’t enough there’s seven more on the DVD and a 5.1 surround mix (by Paul ‘P Dub’ Walton). Phew! The sticker on the box says it’s a “very very limited” multi-format collection. Unfortunately, this is ‘limited’ according to the 2008 definition of the word, and discogs report that they made 10,000 of these bastards! No wonder there were piles of them knocking around in Den Bosch. I bought one, obviously. For €15 it seemed rude not to. A classic case of ‘things you never knew you needed’ (and probably don’t, to be fair).
“Things you never knew you needed”. Björk’s ‘Innocence’ box set (click to enlarge)
Sometimes you just get dealers that hit the sweet spot. Great prices; nice mix of new and old stock; interesting records; friendly. I came across one like that today and bought a USA first edition of Paul Simon’sGreatest Hits, Etc. Not a record I own. Vinyl was mint, cover more like ‘EX’, but it was only €15. The same place had a copy of The Beatles’Love Songs collection. Coincidentally, like Paul Simon, this is a 1977 compilation. My dad used to own the cassette tape of this at the time and in the late ’70s it was played endlessly in the car when I was 8 or 9. I think it’s a wonderful compilation and I’ve never owned a copy (Apple really should reissue this). I had actually seen one on Saturday but it was quite expensive and had a very flashy gold foil blocking. This German Electrola pressing wasn’t quite as bling-y and while the gatefold sleeve was in optimistic ‘VG’ condition, the records were mint. I don’t mind a slightly battered sleeve, if I’m honest. Anyway, it was only €18, so thank you very much! The other thing I bought was a sealed 2LP orange vinyl 30th anniversary edition of Blur’sModern Life Is Rubbish for €30.
The SDE-curated deluxe 2CD set of It’s Immaterial’s debut album (click to enlarge)
Some guy had a decent selection of SHM-CDs or SACDs but I either had them, or I wasn’t interested in the artists/albums, or they were too expensive. I was quite chuffed to spot as a ‘Collectors item’ the 2CD deluxe edition of It’s Immaterial’sLife’s Hard And Then You Die, that I curated back in 2016. I’m still very proud of that (we have loads of T-shirts left on the SDE shop!).
I kept looking for Tears For Fears’Elemental album but it was hopeless. No luck. Tears For Fears don’t seem to be ‘big’ enough, in collecting terms, to have their own sections in most stands, so you have to look under ‘T’ or ’80s’. Even though Elemental is a 90s album, you just know that no one is going to file it alongside 90s music like Grunge or Britpop. I stopped wasting time and started asking directly about TFF. It was either a shake of the head or they’d pull a 12-inch of ‘Shout’ from nowhere, like a rabbit from a hat. Not quite what I’m looking for, I’d say.
The Beatles Love Songs acquired for €18 (click to enlarge)
I didn’t find any individual Ryko David Bowie titles, but I did come across the vinyl version of the Sound + Vision box set, which contains six gatefold, clear vinyl records. I picked it up and the back has the not uncommon ‘bubbling’ where the black wrap on the back of the box has just aged. Also, unless these are actually sealed, you’re never going to get the etched plastic lid without marks; they are scuff magnets. For that reason, I wasn’t too bothered about the marks on this one. There was a bit of wear on the cover of the first vinyl record, but other than that, it all looked okay. “Mint” the guy said, as I was looking at this box, which had a €120 price tag. I shook my head. He shrugged and offered it to me for €100. I thought about trying to knock him down a bit more, but I have been after this for ages and €100 is a decent price. Longtime SDE readers might recall that I passed on buying this very box for $80 in New York in 2016 (check out the NY diary). Less than two months later, David Bowie was dead. €100 is about US $106, so I can take a $26 worth of inflation in seven-and-a-half years. Done! Later on, I realised this was missing the card OBI-type thing that slides over the right-hand-side. Oh well…
As lunchtime approached my energy levels were low. I’d spent about €300 which didn’t seem too bad. Because of the time and investment getting here, there’s a devil on your shoulder trying to convince you that you need to spend more to make it “worth it”. But I was done. I was hungry too, but sadly no Bossche Bols today (!), so I went without, planning to pick up some late lunch when I got back to Amsterdam, where I would be getting a 18.45 train home to London. A good 20-minute+ walk later and I was hot, sweaty, and knackered but on the train.
SDE reader ‘mysterioustraveller’ told me something quite amusing, via the comments section of this website. He’d been in London at the end of last week and was actually travelling to Amsterdam on the same train as me on Friday morning! He’d been reading the diary and said he’d be in Amsterdam on Sunday afternoon and why don’t we meet in a record shop called Concerto? Let’s do it, I said.
Concerto record shop, in Amsterdam (click to enlarge)
So that’s what happened. I dumped my luggage again and headed off to Concerto, which was a slightly longer walk than anticipated. Concerto is a fairly big shop. I always like to support independent record shops when I’m visiting them and they had quite a good selection of surround sound discs. I ended up getting the DVD-A of Queen’sThe Game, which was €50 and a slightly battered looking copy of the DVD-A of Neil Young’sHarvest, for €30. I was waiting for ‘mysterioustraveller’ to come up to me, but I thought he was probably in the vinyl section, which proved correct. It was lovely to meet an SDE reader in the flesh and we had a chat and I proffered my SDE enamel badge I was wearing as a token gift (think Blue Peter badge, except rarer!). We said our farewells because it was about 16.30 and I had a train to catch.
Back at Amsterdam Centraal, I was foolishly expecting a groovy Eurostar departure centre, with shops, restaurants and the like, but it’s just a room with a coffee machine. I’d arrived far too early to compound things. But we were on our way only a few minutes late of the 18.45 departure time.
I had a highly enjoyable weekend in the Netherlands, which is a beautiful country. I will definitely be back and want to thank you for joining me via this diary and perhaps on social media. I plan to do another trip in the next 12 months, most probably another European city, to check out record shops and maybe some more record fairs. Where next? I was thinking Hamburg but please give me your ideas….
It’s now official. Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s original 1970 film version of The Beatles’Let It Be will be available on Disney+ from 8 May.
With Lindsay-Hogg’s full support, Apple Corps asked Peter Jackson’s Park Road Post Production to dive into a meticulous restoration of the film from the original 16mm negative, which included lovingly remastering the sound using the same MAL de-mix technology that was applied to the Get Back three-parter.
“’Let It Be’ was ready to go in October/November 1969, but it didn’t come out until April 1970. One month before its release, The Beatles officially broke up. And so the people went to see ‘Let It Be’ with sadness in their hearts, thinking, ‘I’ll never see The Beatles together again. I will never have that joy again,’ and it very much darkened the perception of the film. But, in fact, how often do you get to see artists of this stature working together to make what they hear in their heads into songs. And then you get to the roof and you see their excitement, camaraderie and sheer joy in playing together again as a group and know, as we do now, that it was the final time, and we view it with full understanding of who they were and still are and a little poignancy. I was knocked out by what Peter was able to do with ‘Get Back,’using all the footage I’d shot 50 years previously.”
Michael Lindsay-Hogg
Peter Jackson has this to say about it: “I’m absolutely thrilled that Michael’s movie, ‘Let It Be,’ has been restored and is finally being re-released after being unavailable for decades,” says Peter Jackson. “I was so lucky to have access to Michael’s outtakes for ‘Get Back,’ and I’ve always thought that ‘Let It Be’ is needed to complete the ‘Get Back’ story. Over three parts, we showed Michael and The Beatles filming a groundbreaking new documentary, and ‘Let It Be’ is that documentary – the movie they released in 1970. I now think of it all as one epic story, finally completed after five decades. The two projects support and enhance each other: ‘Let It Be’ is the climax of ‘Get Back,’ while ‘Get Back’ provides a vital missing context for ‘Let It Be.’ Michael Lindsay-Hogg was unfailingly helpful and gracious while I made ‘Get Back,’ and it’s only right that his original movie has the last word…looking and sounding far better than it did in 1970.”
What’s clear is that this is the exact same cut as what was released in 1970. No new edits or extra sequences or anything like that. There is no word on any physical release, and we still have no idea if Peter Jackson’s wish to put out a longer ‘director’s cut’ version of Get Back is a pipe dream or not.
Let It Be launches exclusively on Disney+ on 8 May 2024.
Seal’s second album (called Seal, but often referred to as Seal II) will be reissued in June as a 2CD+blu-ray deluxe set.
The album was released in 1994 and, as with his ’91 debut, Seal’s second album was produced by Trevor Horn. It features the hits ‘Kiss From A Rose’ and ‘Prayer for the Dying’. It also includes a ‘If I Could’, a duet with Joni Mitchell and ‘Bring It On’, which features Wendy Melvoin & Lisa Coleman of Prince and the Revolution
The three-disc reissue features a remastered version of the album on CD 1 and a collection of previously unreleased recordings and rarities on CD 2. The rarities include the unreleased song, ‘Reality’; the B-side ‘Blues In E’; Seals hit cover of Steve Miller Band’s ‘Fly Like An Eagle’, a version of ‘Manic Depression’ that Seal recorded with Jeff Beck for Stone Free: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix; and ‘Love Is Powerful’ a Japan-only single produced by Nick Launay in 1993.
The 2CD+blu-ray reissue of Seal (click image to enlarge)
Warner Records are taking a different approach with this deluxe set when compared to the 2022 re-release of Seal’s debut. There is no vinyl included this time (although a 2LP set is available separately), it is not large format, and therefore quite a bit cheaper, but most significantly the blu-ray includes a Dolby Atmos Mix of the album, as well as a 96/24 hi-res stereo version. The Atmos Mix engineer is Alex McArthur, although he didn’t do ‘Kiss From A Rose’, which was done by Trevor Horn’s engineer Tim Weidner. This suggests that ‘Kiss…’ had already been done as a standalone, at an earlier date, for streaming. They have chosen not to include any videos or the 5.1 mix which appeared on the 2005 CD+DVD US reissue.
As well as the standard black vinyl, there’ll be a ‘milky white’ coloured vinyl 2LP set available from HMV on 17 June as part of their ‘Vinyl Week’ initiative. Both vinyl editions have a few bonus tracks on side four.
Seal will be reissued on 14 June 2024 via Rhino. It’s not exclusive, but you can choose to support SDE, by pre-ordering the 2CD+blu-ray from the SDE shop. Thanks in advance, if you decide to do that!
Al Stewart’s 1973 album Past, Present & Future will be reissued as a 50th anniversary 3CD+blu-ray box set in June.
Although it wasn’t a massive commercial hit like Year of the Cat or Time Passages, Stewart’s fifth album was his breakthrough record with its historical themed songs (such as ‘Old Admirals’, ‘Warren Harding’, ‘The Last Day of June 1934’, ‘Roads to Moscow’ and ‘Nostradamus’) and guest musicians including Rick Wakeman, Tim Renwick, Bruce Thomas, Dave Swarbrick, Francis Monkman and Queen’s Roger Taylor.
Stephen W Tayler has gone back to the multi-track tapes and created brand new 96/24 5.1 and new stereo mixes. These both feature on the included blu-ray, alongside a new 2024 remaster.
Two of the three CDs feature the new remix and the remaster – with some bonus tracks – while the third offers a full concert recorded at The Howff in Hampstead, London in 1974. This too has been newly remixed from the original multi track tapes (by Stephen W Tayler, again). The gig includes a guest appearance by Andy Powell of Wishbone Ash.
This limited edition box set also features an illustrated 68-page book with a new essay by Al Stewart aficionado Neville Judd along with a facsimile promotional poster and a set of four postcards.
Past, Present & Future will be reissued by Cherry Red on 28 June 2024.
Walt Disney Studios are teasing what looks to be an announcement about The BeatlesLet It Be.
On their social channels, they’ve posted the message “There will be an answer…” alongside a graphic which depicts white boxes in place of the four photos on the cover of their 1970 album Let It Be with the words ‘At Last…’ at the top, in the same font used for the Let It Be reissue. The familiar Beatles logo is at the bottom and a discreet red apple sits bottom, right.
This is almost certainly going to be about the entertainment giant making available the original cut of Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s documentary film, fully restored by Peter Jackson and his team.
Let It Be has never officially been issued on DVD or, of course, blu-ray, but it did make it to Laserdisc and VHS. It is likely that Disney will keep it exclusive to their Disney+ streaming channel, before perhaps approving a home video release towards the end of this year for the Christmas/gifting market.
Let It Be offers alternative performances and of course it has important historical value, but with everyone having seen the newly cut Get Back the original film’s limitations and the lack of jeopardy (Jackson’s ‘calendar’ narrative was a masterstroke) may be all too apparent. The Rooftop Concert sequence in Get Back is also infinitely better than the original, for example.
Nevertheless, it’s good news and Apple Corp did promise to make the original cut available again, in due course, way back in January 2019, even if that promise has never been referenced again, since.
Saturday, 13 April was the BIG day! SDE is in the Netherlands for Record Planet’s 58th ‘Mega Record & CD Fair’ which is technically a three-day event. Friday is not open to the public though, it’s for dealers only; largely setting up of course. Saturday is the main day (open 10.00 to 17.00) and then Sunday is technically a full day, but in reality more like a half day with things wrapping up around 15.00. It’s worth noting that some dealers (a minority) may not bother doing the Sunday as well, so fans attending both days cannot necessarily guarantee a specific dealer will be there on day two! I am going back on Sunday morning so there’ll be more on that soon.
Anyway, it was a reasonably leisurely start to the day with breakfast in the hotel at 09.00 and then cabbing it an hour later to the out-of-town convention centre called Brabanthallen, where the record fair was happening.
It was very easy to get in, with the pre-booked ticket with QR code; there was no queuing. The first thing that hits you is that the place is massive! It’s two enormous aircraft hanger-type halls connected by a smaller hall (hall 2) which has a ‘terrace’ area for food and drink and a stage for live music and DJ sets (later in the day a Kiss tribute band would perform).
Hall 3 (the ‘small’ one) at the Mega Record & CD Fair in Den Bosch
Walking into Hall 3 – which turned out to be the smaller of the two halls! – is quite overwhelming. The scale of this place hits you because it’s truly massive with hundreds of dealers all ready, with their stalls set up. The dealers are from all over the world and while most are labelled as ‘general’, which effectively means standard rock/pop – there are plenty of specialists in every genre you can think of, including jazz, classical, metal, techno, trance, rap, prog, punk, hardcore, new wave, blues, country etc. Then you get artist-specific stalls. For example there was a Dutch Paul McCartney fan club stall, a guy who specialised in The Rolling Stones. I saw a Michael Jackson-specific stall and a Mike Oldfield one (he didn’t have any SDE blu-rays, I noticed!).
Anyway, early on, before I’d really done anything, I saw a couple of guys in my peripheral vision walking around with a microphone, looking to talk to punters. I was sheepishly trying to sidestep them (!), when I they came bounding over with a cry of “It’s Paul isn’t it? SuperDeluxeEdition…?” Ha! The pair were broadcaster Grant Stott (from BBC Radio Scotland) and his producer Richard Murdoch. Grant has a ‘Vinyl Collective’ show and was in Den Bosch to cover the record fair (it’s being broadcast this Friday, I believe, and will be on the BBC Sounds app).
They told me how much they liked SDE and of course flattery will get you everywhere, and we had a lovely chat! Grant asked me some questions about what I was doing at the record fair and what I was hoping to find and he and Richard were kind enough to enquire about the SDE Surround Series, which they knew all about. What a lovely start to the day!
Accosted! Grant Stott from BBC Radio Scotland chatted to me
After that, there was a lot of walking around, without wanting to state the obvious. I had been given a good bit of advice and that is if you see something you might be interested in, but decide you will think on it and come back to it, ‘later’, you must write it down the name of the item in question on a bit of paper with the stall number. Any attempt to try to remember e.g. “Oh, it’s the third one along, opposite that guy selling 60s vinyl” or similar, will end in disaster. You are basically in the equivalent of that warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark; you’ll come back, everything will just look different and you’ll NEVER find it!
The SDE wishlist
I had a few records in the back of my mind that, if I were to see them for the right price, I’d go for it. They were:
Paul McCartney’s 1993 album Off The Ground, on vinyl. It hasn’t been reissued, so there’s no other way to get this.
Any Fireman (Macca ‘side project’ with Youth) album on vinyl, but with a preference for 1999’s Rushes
Tears For Fears Elemental on vinyl. Like Off The Ground it’s another ’93 album pressed in very small quantities
Any of the clear vinyl Rykodisc Bowie vinyl reissues, which I’m annoyed I didn’t buy in 1989 when they were stacked high in the Virgin Megastore (I didn’t buy vinyl in those days, aside from 12-inch singles).
The ‘right price’ for Paul McCartney and Tears For Fears would be sub €100 which I know is expensive, but these records do regularly command very high prices on eBay and Discogs (see ebay Off The Ground). I had a feeling I’d never get a Rushes for under €100, but I also thought the chances of seeing it was minimal.
Other than that, it was a case of waiting to see what I might find. I was pleased to see quite a lot of CDs at the fair. It was still mostly vinyl, but there were CDs. I’d estimate about 5-10% of stock was CDs, which doesn’t sound much, but with two cavernous halls full of product, that’s still a lot of CDs. I’d say were in the following categories:
Cheap CDs priced between €2 and €5 that were not particularly rare, unless you were very lucky, or willing to put it a lot of time going through them to find an unexpected treasure. But if you just want to plug a few gaps in your collection, then this is a way to do it. It does require work and patience, because they are mostly never in alphabetical order. I didn’t bother much with this, because I don’t come to a record fair to buy No Jacket Required on CD.
Audiophile/collectable CDs or box sets that were price largely as you might expect. €20 to €50 euros for rare things, promos, Japan pressings, SHM-CDs, SACDs etc.
CD singles on many stalls, which I was initially excited about, but these were mostly from the late 90s and the 2000s and in the familiar plastic mini-jewel cases. You could be there for 15 minutes without coming across anything good. Of course there were stalls with good collectible CD singles (Depeche Mode, Madonna, McCartney etc.) but these were priced as expected, or sometimes higher. I saw the Quad Mix of DM’s ‘Enjoy the Silence’ on CD for €50 for example. You weren’t going to pick that up for €2!
The Vinyl Countdown
In terms of vinyl, it’s harder to pin down, because there’s SO MUCH of it, but here’s my summary:
Dealers selling brand new, recent-ish vinyl for quite good prices, presumably because they are overstocks (€15 to €50)
Rare, collectibles. €50 upwards. The highest priced vinyl I saw was €1000 (a sealed Japanese edition of Pink Floyd’sThe Wall) but I’m sure there were probably some LPs even higher in price
Good condition second hand vinyl €5 each
There were a lot of bootlegs
Masses of seven-inch singles
Crates full of 12-inch or ‘Maxi’ singles, normally very cheap
Of course, there were loads of dealers having combinations of the above and with so many dealers and so many genre specialists, the whole point of a record fair is that you should be able to find what you are after, with a bit of luck. If you do find the item you have to decide whether the price is a fair one. Even if it’s standard market value, you have the advantage of it not being sent through the post via a Discogs or eBay seller and you aren’t worrying about whether it’s ‘as described’ because you are there to inspect the item. So it’s not always about saving a buck or two.
That brings me on to Off The Ground. I saw a copy, fairly early on. Hurrah! It was displayed at the rear of the stand, which is a common tactic – to highlight rarer stuff at the back, which shows the punters that you’ve got the good stuff, with the added advantage of keeping it away from mucky paws. That said, there were still plenty of dealers that put rare, expensive vinyl in the racks.
The guy wanted €100 for this original UK pressing of Off The Ground. Not a bad price. The problem you’ve got in this situation, early in the day, is whether to ‘stick’ or ‘twist’. This could be your ONE opportunity to acquire this rarity, or you might end up seeing multiple copies, which will help you in terms of negotiating at better price. Tricky. If the record had been considerably more expensive (say, €150) I probably would have left it, but in the end, I offered €80 and he counter-offered with €90, which I accepted. That’s less than £80. At the end of the day, I’m not travelling from London to the Netherlands to not buy and potentially miss out on a record I really want, at what I consider to be an acceptable price.
That’ll Be The Sade – €420 for a 3LP edition of The Ultimate Collection from 2011
There was also quite a lot of cheap vinyl, especially if you wanted to pick up a truckload of 12-inch singles from the 1980s. €1, €2… those kinds of prices. This is a highly enjoyable part of the experience. Filling your boots with 20 records for €20. Stuff you’d see in Oxfam in the UK for £3 or £4 each. Also Dutch, or EU pressings of 12-inch singles mostly come in proper LP sleeves, with spines and inner sleeves which is nicer than the UK versions. And you do come across interesting things. I found a Dutch 12-inch of Paul McCartney’s 1986 single ‘Pretty Little Head’ for €3. I’d seen it on a Macca stall beforehand for €18. But generally, it’s just a fun way to pick up random stuff. I bought a Blow Monkeys 12-inch (‘This Is Your House’ – nice gatefold sleeve!), a Robert Palmer one (‘I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight’) and a German pressing of Joyce Sims’ ‘Lifetime Love’.
There was a stall selling new Beatles albums on vinyl (standard stereo versions of Rubber Soul, YellowSubmarine etc.) for £15 a pop and triple albums (Anthology, Live at the BBC) for £25 each.
Fab Four going cheap
Expensive rare vinyl spotted included Sade’sThe Ultimate Collection 3LP for €420, an original vinyl pressing of the Lemonheads’It’s A Shame About Ray for €100, Michael Jackson’s HISTORY vinyl for €300 at one stand and €450 at another; an original pressing of David Bowie’sBlack Tie White Noise for €100.
After more than three hours walking around it was time for a break and a snack in the terrace area, in the smaller, connecting hall. The food was a bit disappointing. Choices were limited. There was an unappealing looking burger and a place that served fries with mayo. I was thinking of just doing without until I saw the traditional ‘Bossche Bol’ a pastry associated with Den Bosch specifically. It’s a bit like spherical chocolate éclair, filled with whipped cream, although the chocolate covers almost the entire ‘ball’, not just the top. It was only €3.50 and was absolutely delicious, if messy to eat. Apparently you are supposed to turn them upside down, because the whole at the bottom is where they squirt the cream in and when you bite into it, it starts to come out of the bottom. Rookie error! If you try to use a knife and fork the locals will run you out of town!! The sugar rush was a great reviver and it was time to carry on looking around the record fair. At some point I moved on to the other hall, which as I said earlier was significantly bigger.
Bossche Bol: Before and after
I came across a French dealer that had all their CDs at £5. I was first attracted by Jean Michel-Jarre’s 2004 Aero album, which had a DVD with it which included a 5.1 mix (albeit Dolby Digital & DTS on DVD-V) but then I noticed they had a lot of Bowie CDs: Tin Machine, Never Let Me Down, Tonight etc. Obviously, I do have all these, but not these relatively rare 1995 Virgin editions with bonus tracks. For example, Tonight adds ‘This Is Not America’, ‘As The World Falls Down’ and ‘Absolute Beginners’. Never Let Me Down appends ‘Julie’, ‘Girls’ and ‘When The Wind Blows’ to the album proper (although not ‘Too Dizzy’, which Bowie hated!). Tin Machine has the live ‘country’ version of ‘Bus Stop’. These are also quite well mastered. For good measure, I spotted a promo CD of Paul McCartney’s ‘C’mon People’ (the second single from Off The Ground, of course). It has a commercially unreleased 4.00 radio edit, so I grabbed that!
After seven hours in what amounts to a giant second hand record shop, I was done for the day. I had acquired one expensive item on my wants list, not managed to acquire another (no Tears For Fears) bought a load of great CDs and added a sprinkling of 12-inch singles. But this is a two-day event, and so I’m coming back on Sunday to do it all over again. I’m told on day two that there are more bargains to be had, as dealers contemplate lugging all their unsold stock back to their shops or premises or wherever it’s kept. It’s also less busy since many people are happy to do just the one day. I have to say though that because there is so much space, there is never a feeling of “too many people in the room”. No crushing, no frustration trying to get to stuff. The worst that happens is a bit of polite hovering in the background while you wait for a fellow fan to finish flipping through ‘Beatles / Solo & Related’ so you can get in!
“Fancy meeting you here!” Piet Blank and Paul Sinclair in Den Bosch
There’s a lovely postscript to today’s events. Back in Den Bosch town centre, after dinner, I popped in Doogan Records again and who do I see in there? Only Piet Blank from German electronic music duo Blank and Jones! Piet is a great friend to SDE and I last saw him in person in London in 2019 (pre-COVID) when we had lunch together. As fans will know, their SoEighties series is somewhat dormant, these days, so we haven’t talked much about Blank and Jones on SDE for a while, but the pair are still very active on their own music and doing ad hoc remix projects. Piet was with David Dutreuil, who is Head of Catalog at Warner Music France. SDE has covered some of David’s great Yacht Rock type compilations here, such as California Groove and his Michael Franks deluxe set.
What a long, but exciting, day! The final day of this trip to the Netherlands (Sunday 14 April) will be posted on SDE tomorrow (16 April). Thanks for reading and more to come!
Sony are reissuing Sade’s six studio albums, in two separate batches, this year.
Some of these albums on vinyl, such as Love Deluxe and Lovers Rock command high prices on the used market so this will be very welcome news.
Diamond Life (1984), Promise (1985) and Love is Stronger Than Pride (1988) are due on 21 June, while Love Deluxe (1992) , Lovers Rock (2000) and Soldier of Love (2010) are coming on 20 September.
These are presumably the new remasters from 2020’s So Far box set (SDE unboxing, here) although it’s not clear if they will also be half-speed mastered.
While the usual grumbles remain – no CD remasters, no bonus tracks, no coloured vinyl limited editions – the really good news is that these new vinyl reissues are dirt cheap, compared to what we are used to. As you will see below, these are around £21 a pop, which of course used to be standard, but now feels like a bargain.
These Sade albums are released by Sony on 21 June and 20 September 2024, respectively.
I’m in Den Bosch – or ‘s-Hertogenbosch to give it its full name – in the Netherlands for Record Planet’s 58th Mega Record & CD Fair – The world’s biggest record fair!
Around 55 miles south of Amsterdam, Den Bosch is an old medieval town, with the city walls and fortifications built in the 16th and 17th centuries. The city is the capital of the Dutch province of North Brabant and two rivers flow through it, the Dommel and Binnendieze.
For the next two days it’s ‘Vinyl Weekend: Vinyl Ville‘ in Den Bosch, as music lovers from around Europe and beyond arrive to see what rarities they can pick up in a space that is equivalent in size to two football pitches. As well as an enormous array of dealers and stalls, there’s a program of DJ sets and live performances, with writer and music consultant Daryl Easlea (he worked on the ABC and Mike Oldfield reissues last year) on site to compere!
Of course, you have to get here first, but living in London makes it very easy for me, what with the Eurostar going straight from St Pancras International to Amsterdam Centraal. Going by train also has the advantage of less stringent baggage restrictions, when compared to flying, which could end up being quite important, depending on how many records I end up buying!
I took the 08.16 direct train yesterday and treated myself to a ‘Standard Premier’ seat, which is like posh second class. You get table service (handy when you are travelling alone with laptops etc.) for drinks and snacks, a bit more space and a light breakfast. It takes four hours to get to Amsterdam Centraal station from London and although I had vague plans to relax, my book laid untouched as I spend nearly all that time working, preparing the groundwork for yesterday’s Luther Vandross launch!
Eurostar’s ‘Standard Premier’ breakfast. That pastry was as unappealing as it looks.
I arrived in Amsterdam at 13.15 local time. To get to Den Bosch you need to hop on an Intercity service which takes around 50 minutes. However, as a first time visitor to Amsterdam, I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to have a look around town for an hour or two, before heading south, so I found the rather ingenious automated left luggage facility (the kind of thing they don’t seem to have in the UK!) dumped my bags and went for a wander.
Sunny and warm in Amsterdam, yesterday lunchtime
The capital was heaving and it was warm, so I was glad I wasn’t lugging my bags around. Since I was only passing through and wasn’t going to have long in Amsterdam, I hadn’t done any planning (naturally). Of course, there was no time to actually do anything significant (like visit one of the museums) so it was just a case of trying to find some interesting streets to walk down.
I was hungry by this point and could not pass up the opportunity of some classic ‘Holland Fries’ with lashings of mayonnaise (€1.40 extra for the sauce!). Later, I found a good Italian style Gelateria; chips and ice-cream, perhaps not the healthiest of lunches, but it kept me going!
‘Holland Fries’ for lunch at Mannekenpis
Time waits for no man, so after an hour of walking around, I thought I’d better head back to the station, retrieve my luggage and work out how to get to Den Bosch. I knew from travelling by train on a holiday in Italy in 2022 how good – and easy – European train travel can be, and indeed it was the case here. All the complexities and expense of trying to book an ‘on the day’ ticket in the UK were absent and the machine gave me two simple options: single or day return. €19 later, I had my ticket, validated it on the machine on the platform and took the 15.11 service to Maastricht, (best known for its treaties!). The train was one of those ‘double-decker’ ones you get in Europe, which, pitifully, rather excites your 54-year-old correspondent, so I went up to the top deck (of course).
I arrived in Den Bosch not long after four o’clock and walked 10 minutes to the hotel where I’m staying for this ‘Vinyl Weekend’. First impressions were very positive. The town seems really clean and full of shops, restaurants, cafes, bakeries, with loads of space to walk around.
Walking from the station into Den Bosch town centre
Cobbled streets in this very pleasant medieval town
There’s actually a good record shop called Doogan Records in the centre of Den Bosch. Of course, I wasn’t going to not go in, despite the excess of vinyl and CDs that await at the record fair. I picked up Dutch 12-inch of Was Not Was’ ‘Spy in the House of Love’ and a handful of CD singles, including some three-inch ones that were popular for a while in the late 1980s (Soul II Soul’s ‘Get A Life’, Neneh Cherry’s ‘Buffalo Stance’ and Chaka Khan’s ‘I’m Every Woman’, were the titles I bought).
It’s good to end day one of this three-day trip talking about some records, because that’s what this weekend is ultimately about. Collecting physical music: my passion, our passion. Holding the music in your hands, to coin a phrase. As I write this, it’s early Saturday morning and soon I’ll be off to the main event, the feature presentation, if you will. Check back here tomorrow for day two of this Den Bosch Diary, but if you can’t wait until then, I’ll be posting updates on SDE twitter during today (as I did yesterday), so if you ‘do’ social media, then make sure you follow SDE on twitter, or ‘X’ or whatever it’s called these days!
Mostly composed and produced by Vandross himself, this classic and much-loved album reached #19 in the Billboard album charts and launched Vandross’ highly successful solo career.
Highlights of Never Too Much include the timeless title track, the second single ‘Don’t You Know That’ and the beautiful seven minute cover of the Bacharach & David-penned Dionne Warwick song ‘A House Is Not A Home’. The album was nominated for two Grammy awards in 1982 (Best New Artist and Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male).
The SDE-exclusive blu-ray features a Dolby Atmos Mix of Never Too Much and a hi-res stereo (96/24) flat transfer that was done especially for this release in 2023. Both are only available physically on this blu-ray.
Additionally, the original 12-inch mix of the ‘Never Too Much’ single (the only song remixed/extended from the album) is added as a 96/24 stereo bonus track. This remix is currently out of print and not available on streaming.
The Never Too Much blu-ray comes in the usual SDE ‘High Fidelity Pure Audio’ packaging and includes a booklet with newly commissioned notes from Alexis Petridis, chief rock and pop writer for The Guardian (and occasional SDE reviewer). The blu-ray comes with a FREE SDE Surround Series slipcase.
This exclusive edition is an SDE collaboration with Sony Music and is of course approved by the Luther Vandross Estate
There is no pre-order window for this product. It is in stock and available to ship now! There are 2,500 copies available for the world, so don’t miss out and secure your copy today.
Additionally, we are making available some more copies of the SDE-exclusive edition of Bob Dylan’sTime Out Of Mind (2022 remix) which was released last year. So if you missed out on that one, now is your chance! (note: these are part of the original 5k print run – we haven’t made any more).
Pre-order the Luther Vandross’ Never Too Much blu-ray audio only via the SDE shop. Use this link or the buttons below. These are in stock and ready to ship (just remember, if you order Luther with a another product on pre-order, you will have to wait until everything in your order is in stock before shipping commences).
Tracklisting
Never Too MuchLuther Vandross/SDE-exclusive blu-ray audio
Dolby Atmos & 96/24 Stereo Flat Transfer
Never Too Much 3:50
Sugar and Spice (I Found Me a Girl) 4:57
Don’t You Know That? 4:01
I’ve Been Working 6:35
She’s a Super Lady 5:04
You Stopped Loving Me 5:16
A House Is Not a Home 7:07
Bonus track in 96/24 stereo
Never Too Much (special version from the 12″ single) 5.14
Tracklisting
Time Out Of Mind (2022 remix)Bob Dylan/SDE-exclusive blu-ray audio
Jethro Tull’s first live album, 1978’s Bursting Out (actually issued as Jethro Tull Live: Bursting Out) will be reissued in June as a 3CD+3xDVD deluxe set with the appropriate suffix ‘The Inflated Edition’.
Originally recorded at various locations during the European Heavy Horses tour in May and June of 1978 on a portable 8-track tape recorder, Tull’s own Ian Anderson transferred the recordings to two-inch multitrack. Years later, the recordings went through various stages of release, with some tracks omitted from US pressings until the complete album was released worldwide in 2004.
Now Steven Wilson has remixed the album in stereo and in 5.1 alongside a whole host of extras including soundchecks and the standalone Madison Square Garden show from ’78.
The first two CDs are effectively the full gig (newly mixed) with soundcheck recordings, eight of which are previously unreleased (although technically all the SW stereo mixes are unreleased).
CD 3 is an edited version of the 1978 Madison Square Garden show, which is offered in full on the third DVD (more on that, shortly). This was released in 2009, but again this is a new Steven Wilson stereo mix.
The first two DVDs have the remixed tracks in 96/24 stereo and 5.1 surround, plus flat transfers of the original album at 96/24 stereo. The third DVD and final disc in this set offers the full 93-minute Madison Square Garden show including 50+ minutes of video which was part of a transatlantic broadcast with the BBC and Radio 1. The audio is 48/24 stereo and 5.1 surround
The ‘Inflated Edition’ of Bursting Out comes in familiar packaging.
This comes in the usual Tull packaging with a massively generous 96-page hardcover book. Ian Anderson has the following to say about this album:
“I had to listen all through to many shows and pick the best live versions. But much of it was, at least, from the concert in Bern, Switzerland where dear Claude Nobs came to introduce the band in his inimitable style. Also featuring on this box set collection is the live concert from Madison Square Gardens recorded a few months later and shown live on BBC TV in the UK. A scary experience for the band as it was, we were told, the first time a live rock concert had been the subject of a live satellite broadcast. The band lineup at this time was a fine-tuned machine and, although missing the unwell John Glascock for the MSG show, it serves as a fine testimony for the many wonderful shows we did in the 70s, before general touring fatigue and burn-out began a year or so later. Enjoy vintage Tull at its 70s best!”
Bursting Out: The Inflated Edition will be released on 21 June 2024, via Parlophone. You can support SDE by ordering this from the SDE shop using this link or the button below. Other retail options in the widget.
The Other Two – New Order band members Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert – released their debut album The Other Two & You back in 1993. That record will now be reissued, with fresh artwork and a new version of one track.
Released on London Records (Factory had closed by this point) the album was recorded in part at Real World Studios in 1990 and produced by Stephen Hague with contributions from A Certain Ratio’s Jez Kerr.
“Is it really 31 years since this was first released? It doesn’t seem that long ago, but that’s old age for you. We’re both very excited that this album (our first attempt at the pop solo spin off malarkey) is getting another outing.”
Stephen and Gillian
The lead single ‘Tasty Fish’ peaked at No 41 on the UK singles chart with follow-up ‘Selfish’ also peaking just outside the top 40. ‘Innocence’ was only issued as a single in the US, and the seven-inch version of the ‘Love To Infinity’ remix replaces the album version on this reissue.
The album is being reissued on vinyl (only available via neworder.com, at least initially) and CD. There was a 2CD deluxe only four years ago, which offered a bonus disc of remixes, so its debatable how enticing this new CD might be, but there has been no vinyl since the original release over 30 years ago.
Next month, sees the release of Howard Jones‘ first two albums Human’s Lib and Dream into Action as special CD+blu-ray editions with new 5.1 mixes, brand new stereo mixes and selected Atmos Mixes.
5.1 Surround Sound Mixes and 2024 New Stereo Mixes of both albums have been created from the original multi-track master tapes by the original album engineer of both albums, Stephen W Tayler. These include five bonus tracks across both albums: ‘Always Asking Questions’, ‘New Song (Farmyard Version)’ and ‘China Dance’ (for Human’s Lib) and Bounce Right Back and Like to Get to Know You Well for Dream into Action.
Additionally, Bob Clearmountain has created Dolby Atmos Mixes of a few songs (not the whole albums). These are:
What Is Love? (on Human’s Lib)
New Song (Farmyard Version) (on Human’s Lib)
Hide And Seek (on Human’s Lib)
Things Can Only Get Better (on Dream into Action)
Like To Get To Know You Well (on Dream into Action)
Each blu-ray (region-free) contains the albums + bonus tracks in 5.1 surround and new stereo at 96/24 and these CD+blu-ray editions are packaged as a digipak and contain brand new interviews with Howard Jones and Stephen W Tayler in conversation with Anil Prasad discussing the 5.1 and new stereo mixes.
Human’s Lib and Dream into Action are released on 31 May 2024 via Cherry Red and can be pre-ordered via the SDE shop using this link or the buttons below. There’s a cost-saving bundle available with both products.
Tracklisting
Human’s LibHoward Jones/CD+Blu-ray
Blu-ray
5.1 Surround Sound Mix and 96/24 LPCM 2024 New Stereo Mix
Conditioning
What Is Love?
Pearl In The Shell
Hide And Seek
Hunt The Self
New Song
Don’t Always Look At The Rain
>Equality
Natural
Human’s Lib
Always Asking Questions
New Song (Farmyard Version)
China Dance
Dolby Atmos Mixes:
What Is Love?
New Song (Farmyard Version)
Hide And Seek
CD
2024 New Stereo Mix
Conditioning
What Is Love?
Pearl In The Shell
Hide And Seek
Hunt The Self
New Song
Don’t Always Look At The Rain
Equality
Natural
Human’s Lib
Always Asking Questions
New Song (Farmyard Version)
China Dance
Tracklisting
Dream into ActionHoward Jones/CD+Blu-ray
Blu-ray
5.1 Surround Sound Mix and 96/24 LPCM 2024 New Stereo Mix
Bernard Butler has kept very busy these last 25 years, with numerous collaborative projects including two albums with folk musician Sam Lee, a second McAlmont & Butler record, The Tears (which was better than the two Suede albums it followed), an album with actor Jessie Buckley, and other projects with Bert Jansch and Ben Watt from Everything But The Girl, The Libertines, Tricky and Duffy (to name but a few). What he hasn’t done is released a solo album since 1999’s Friends and Lovers, but that is about to change with the impending release of Good Grief, Butler’s third solo record, due in May.
Butler explains: “For a good while I was scarred and I was scared. I was happily distracted and joyously involved with so much music. I realised just being there was more than I had ever hoped for. I gave a lot to other people, but realised that my story was defined but what I was, rather than what I am. I set myself a modest commercial goal, an expectant creative one: perform to 10 people without being bottled, then find 11 the next night. Thus began the undoing of my own embarrassment. I would write as I thought and sing as I wrote until the bottles fly. And so, the songs arrived“.
Bernard booked himself into a rehearsal space in Holloway every Wednesday afternoon for months, just him, a guitar and a microphone. The first fruit of these sessions is the new single ‘Camber Sands’ – “a love song – we flee the past, the present, ourselves, to survive, to defy. The loneliest music of the resolute, the half-light and the saddest tunes” says Butler.
The 9-track album is available on CD and vinyl, with various coloured vinyl variants including an indie-exclusive silver vinyl pressing. There will also be a Dolby Atmos mix, although that will be available via streaming only.
Good Grief is released on 31 May 2024 via 355 Recordings.
