Madnessare reissuing last year’s studio album Theatre of the Absurd presents C’est La Vie as a special four-disc deluxe edition and as a two-CD set.
The Nutty Boys’ 13th studio album was, amazingly, their first UK number one. It is now expanded with five brand new songs from the original studio sessions and seven unreleased live tracks recorded on last year’s tour.
The band’s shop has the deluxe set as an exclusive; it includes a 12-inch Zoetrope vinyl record, two CDs and a flexi-disc, packaged in large format bookset. Interestingly, the Zoetrope vinyl doesn’t feature the album, it hosts the five new tracks. Likewise, the flexidisc features the band’s cover of the Specials ‘Friday Night Saturday Morning’. All six of these songs are on the second CD.
Deluxe edition with Zoetrope vinyl, two CDs and a flexi-disc (click to enlarge)
If the deluxe, with its vinyl elements, is more than you need, then a 2CD casebound book edition looks decent and as mentioned above offers all of the audio found in the exclusive deluxe, across the two CDs.
Theatre of the Absurd presents C’est La Vie will be reissued on 28 June 2024, via BMG (was 7 June).
The Beatles and Disney have released a trailer for the newly restored version of Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s Let It Be film. This comes to streaming via Disney+ 8 May 2024.
Jonathan Cornell on the new 25th Anniversary Dolby Atmos mix
Moon Safari was French electronic duo Air’s debut studio album, originally released in January 1998 through Virgin Records. The album was a massive success, achieving a double-platinum certification from the RIAA in the UK and spawning the top-20 hit single ‘Sexy Boy’. Though core members Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel handle most of the instrumentation heard on the album, Moon Safari also features contributions from several outside musicians including American singer/songwriter Beth Hirsch and British composer David Whitaker.
Even though Air were a popular act signed to a major label in the early-2000s (when the industry-at-large began to heavily invest in 5.1 surround sound music), surprisingly neither Moon Safari nor its successors – 2000’s The Virgin Suicides and 2001’s 10,000 Hz Legend – received multichannel releases in Super Audio CD or DVD-Audio format.
The band would go on to finally embrace immersive audio in 2021, when a new Dolby Atmos mix of 10,000 Hz Legend was commissioned for the 20th anniversary 2CD+Blu-Ray reissue from Warner/Rhino. Air’s layered electronic soundscapes lend themselves perfectly to the format, and the mixing team of Bruce Keen (who engineered the original album back in 2001) and Gilas Lointer succeeded in delivering a demonstration-worthy immersive interpretation of the album.
To belatedly celebrate Moon Safari’s 25th anniversary, Keen and Lointer have once again been tasked with creating a Dolby Atmos mix from the original multitrack recordings. Though the Atmos mix has been available to stream since November 2023, the lossless Dolby TrueHD/Atmos audio presentation on the Blu-Ray disc is undoubtedly the best way for audiophiles to experience the album. Some may bemoan the lack of a dedicated DTS-HD 5.1 audio option (as was included on the 10,000 Hz Legend Blu-Ray), but I found that the Atmos mix translates very well to a traditional six-channel home theater setup.
As one might expect given the experimental nature of this music, the new Dolby Atmos mix makes creative use of all speakers to fully immerse the listener. Though main elements such as the rhythm section, lead vocals, and Dunckel’s Rhodes electric piano (the lead ‘voice’ on many of the instrumental tracks) typically appear assigned to the front stage, additional layers like the like backing vocals, synthesizers, percussion, and Whitaker’s gorgeous string arrangements often appear isolated in the surround or height channels.
The 25th anniversary edition features two CDs and a blu-ray audio with the Atmos Mix (click image to enlarge)
‘La Femme D’Argent’ opens with percussion traveling from rear-to-front as it fades in, giving way to the electric piano percolating largely from the front left speaker. A second synthesizer part soon appears centered in the rear speakers, hovering directly behind the listener’s head.
Bass synth fills up the side surrounds for ‘Sexy Boy‘, with the cymbal wash traveling overhead. Sequencers pulsate all around the room to very entertaining effect, while the different female vocal harmonies are divided between the top and bottom array.
From there, we move into ‘All I Need‘ – the first of two songs to feature Beth Hirsch’ vocals. After a synth pan from front-to-rear, Hirsch’s voice enters from the front ‘phantom’ centre along with an acoustic guitar in front right. Backing vocals (“all in all, there’s something to give…”) predictably answer from behind. There’s a particularly great moment at around the three-minute mark where the electronic piano in the front right speaker emits its delay diagonally to the side left channel, giving way to the wah-wah bass synth sound rising from the rears up into the height array and back around again.
Synth and electric piano alternate front-to-back for ‘Kelly Watch The Stars‘, while laser-like synth effects fly past the listener. Bells chime overhead, with more piano popping up in the side left speaker and the vocoder-processed vocals switching to the sides just before the end. ‘Talisman‘ introduces David Whitaker’s strings, which sound absolutely incredibly spread between the front and side surround speakers.
Dunckel’s Rhodes piano moves to the sides for ‘Remember‘, with the distorted drums dominating the front stage. The vocoder vocals switch off between the fronts and front heights, while strings fade in from the rear and shakers appear overhead. Hirsch then returns in ‘You Make It Easy‘ again featuring piano largely in the sides and showcasing the strings from all around.
Brass highlights trade off right-to-left upfront throughout ‘Ce Matin-La‘, with the sonar-like synthesizer sound echoing all over the listening space. Acoustic guitar fills the front channels for ‘New Star’ while the vocoder alternates between the front and rear height speakers. Moon Safari then concludes with the atmospheric ‘Le Voyage De Pénélope‘, where the lead synth amusingly hops between the centre speaker, sides, rears, and tops. Piano again fills in from the sides, with handclaps in the rear and organ overhead.
The Blu-Ray disc additionally contains a bonus orchestral mix of ‘Remember’ (the ‘David Whitaker version’), which isn’t available to stream in Dolby Atmos. For two-channel listeners, the package also includes a 192 kHz/24 bit rendering of the original 1998 stereo mix. Overall, this packed-yet-inexpensive reissue comes highly recommended to fans of Air and immersive music.
Review by Jonathan Cornell for SDE. Read more of Jonathan’s reviews at ImmersiveAudioAlbum.com.
The 25th anniversary 2CD+blu-ray edition Moon Safari is out now via Rhino. It is available via the SDE shop. Use this link or the button below.
Tracklisting
Moon SafariAir /
CD 1
La femme d’argent
Sexy Boy
All I Need (feat. Beth Hirsch)
Kelly Watch the Stars
Talisman
Remember
You Make It Easy (feat. Beth Hirsch)
Ce matin là
New Star in the Sky (Chanson pour Solal)
Le voyage de Pénélope
CD 2
Neneh Cherry – ‘Kootchi’ (Air Remix)
Crustation – ‘Purple’ (La Femme D’argent Mix)
Dirty Hiroshima (Demo)
New Star in the Sky (Demo)
Ce Matin Lá (Demo)
Maggot Brain (Live)
J’ai Dormi Sous L’eau (BBC live session)
Sexy Boy (BBC live session)
Kelly Watch The Stars (BBC live session)
Kelly Watch The Stars (Extended Version)
Remember (David Whitaker Version)
Blu-ray
“Moon Safari” Dolby Atmos Album
La femme d’argent
Sexy Boy
All I Need (feat. Beth Hirsch)
Kelly Watch the Stars
Talisman
Remember
You Make It Easy (feat. Beth Hirsch)
Ce matin là
New Star in the Sky (Chanson pour Solal)
Le voyage de Pénélope
Bonus track
Remember (David Whitaker Version)
Official Videos in HD
Sexy Boy
Kelly Watch The Stars
All I Need
Le Soleil Est Prés De Moi
Eating Sleeping, Waiting and Playing – Documentary by director Mike Mills
This is a 4CD box set featuring the “definitive post-Motown collection” of the legendary song-writing trio Holland-Dozier-Holland. Features 68 tracks taken from the period 1969-1977 when the trio had started their group of labels; Hot Wax, Invictus And Music Merchant. Stuart Cosgrove offers extensive sleeve notes. There’s a 4LP vinyl edition, too.
Belinda Carlisle / Decades Vol 3: Cornucopia deluxe 4CD set
Quite a satisfying collection of Belinda Carlisle seven-inch versions, contributions to soundtracks, B-sides, new recordings and more, from across more than 35 years.
Compare prices and pre-order
Belinda Carlisle
Belinda Carlisle: Decades Volume 3: Cornucopia (4CD Media Book Set)
If there is one criticism of the never-ending series of Now That’s What I Call MusicYearbooks, especially those focused on the 1980s, it’s that haven’t we seen all this before? ‘Hits’ are, by definition, very popular songs, and therefore it’s no surprise that those songs constantly find their way onto compilations and can sometimes get dulled by familiarity.
Perhaps with that view in mind, the NOW team have done something a bit different. They are releasing a collection of songs from 1983 under a new ‘Vault‘ moniker. What makes this different is that while there is still loads of familiar artists, the songs are “lesser compiled tracks”. Numbers that were Top 40 hits (but maybe not massive hits), some that missed the chart completely, and some that were huge in the US but not in the UK.
Not a bad idea, and while we wait to see if this becomes a fully-fledged series, you can now take a look at this 1983 edition and see what you think.
CD 1 kicks off with a run of lesser heralded numbers from established artists Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, Blancmange, Gary Numan and Talk Talk, alongside some of 1983’s newer bands such as The Lotus Eaters, H20, Freur – who would later become Underworld – and After The Fire with ‘Der Kommissar’. Japan feature with a live instrumental ‘Canton’ (from their final tour) and electronic club tracks are provided by and Yello, Divine, Rockers Revenge and Freeez. Early Level 42 and Animal Nightlife also feature along with Joe Jackson, although it’s not ‘Steppin’ Out’ but the follow-up single ‘Breaking Us In Two’ (a #59 ‘hit’) that is included!
The second disc includes indie-pop fare in the shape of Bauhaus, Marc And The Mambas, The Stranglers, The Glove, The B-52’s and Wall Of Voodoo before indulging in some pure pop from Kim Wilde, Adam Ant, Bow Wow Wow, Altered Images, The Belle Stars and The Bluebells. XTC’s brilliant ‘Love On A Farmboy’s Wages’ (a #50 hit from 1983’s Mummer) also features.
The 3LP red vinyl version of Vault ’83 features 45 tracks
Billy Joel opens CD 3 with ‘Goodnight Saigon’, and is joined by Bonnie Tyler, ELO, Lionel Richie, Robert Palmer, Mike Oldfield, The Kinks, Olivia Newton-John and Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton‘s ‘We’ve Got Tonite’, originally by Bob Seger. This disc concludes with ‘Lady Lady’ by Giorgio Moroder & Joe Esposito, taken from the soundtrack of one of 1983’s biggest movies, Flashdance.
The final disc focuses on singles that found chart success in the U.S., opening with Culture Club’s ‘I’ll Tumble 4 Ya’, a single that – surprisingly – wasn’t released in the UK. We then have a sequence of tracks that were all U.S. New-Wave hits led by the collaboration between Sparks and the Go-Go’s Jane Wiedlin, The Romantics, The Fixx, The Motels, Modern English, Missing Persons and Naked Eyes. This CD ends with three ballads from Daryl Hall & John Oates, Toto, and ‘It Might Be You’, the theme from another smash hit film, ‘Tootsie’.
Like the ‘proper’ Yearbooks, this is available via a deluxe 4CD hardcover book edition, a 3LP coloured vinyl set (45 tracks, rather than 80) and then a standard 4CD version in a card sleeve.
NOW Yearbook – The Vault: 1983 will be released on 31 May 2024. Scroll down for full tracklisting. What do you think of this Vault idea? Leave thoughts in comments!
New studio album • Blu-ray with Atmos, hi-res stereo and 4 bonus tracks
David Gilmour will release a new studio album called Luck and Strange in September.
The guitarist and songwriter’s fifth solo long-player was recorded over five months in Brighton and London and is Gilmour’s first album of new material in nine years. David co-produced with ALT-J’s Charlie Andrew and Marika Hackman, with lyrics mostly written by Polly Samson.
Of this new working relationship, David says, “We invited Charlie to the house, so he came and listened to some demos, and said things like, “Well, why does there have to be a guitar solo there?” and “Do they all fade out? Can’t some of them just end?”. He has a wonderful lack of knowledge or respect for this past of mine. He’s very direct and not in any way overawed, and I love that. That is just so good for me because the last thing you want is people just deferring to you.”
Musicians contributing to the record include Guy Pratt and Tom Herbert on bass; Adam Betts, Steve Gadd and Steve DiStanislao on drums; Rob Gentry and Roger Eno on keyboards; and the string and choral arrangements are by Will Gardner.
Blu-ray Audio edition features a Dolby Atmos Mix, hi-res 96/24 stereo and 4 bonus tracks. Pre-order via SDE.
The album features eight new tracks along with a beautiful reworking of The Montgolfier Brothers’ ‘Between Two Points’, which sees Romany Gilmour, who performs backing vocals across the album, on vocals and harp (listen to the original version of this song, here). The title track also features the late Pink Floyd keyboard player Richard Wright, recorded in 2007 during a ‘Barn Jam’ at David’s house.
The album is available on vinyl, CD with two extra tracks and a blu-ray audio with four bonus tracks. All 13 tracks on the blu-ray are available in Dolby Atmos and 96/24 hi-res stereo.
The album’s cover image, photographed and designed by renowned artist Anton Corbijn, is inspired by lyrics written by Charlie Gilmour for the album’s final song ‘Scattered’.
Luck and Strange will be released on 6 September 2024 via Sony Music. The blu-ray and vinyl and blu-ray bundles are available via the SDE shop using this link or the buttons below.
Paul McCartney loves a ‘project’ and in August 1974, when Band on the Run was enjoying a seven-week run at the top of the UK album charts, he and Wings headed to Abbey Road Studios for some filming and live-in-the-studio sessions, with a vague idea of turning it into something. A documentary film perhaps? Possibly a live studio album? Like some of Paul’s ideas (Bruce McMouse, anyone?) it came to nothing, but these sessions did acquire a name: One Hand Clapping. 50 years after the event, they are being released for (almost) the first time, via three different audio formats.
David Litchfield had filmed and recorded (over four days) a new Wings line-up, which featured Paul, Linda, Denny Laine, guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and (short-lived) drummer Geoff Britton. Orchestral arranger Del Newman and saxophonist Howie Casey, were also present to contribute.
2CD edition of One Hand Clapping (click to enlarge)
The sessions were a mixture of recent hits, such as ‘Live and Let Die’, ‘Band on the Run’, ‘Jet’, ‘Junior’s Farm’, ‘My Love’ and a bit of dipping back into the past for some Beatles classics (‘Let It Be’, ‘The Long and Winding Road’ and ‘Lady Madonna’). Denny Laine sings the Moody Blues’ ‘Go Now’ and Paul also revisits ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ from 1970’s McCartney. There’s also some messing around as Paul tackles the Harry Akst/Benny Davis Tin Pan Alley classic ‘Baby Face’ and dabbles with ‘I’ll Give You A Ring’, a McCartney original that would not see the light of day until a re-recording appeared as the B-side to 1982 single ‘Take It Away’.
The reason this is almost the first release of this material is because tracks from it have surfaced, here and there, over the years. The One Hand Clapping performance of ‘Live and Let Die’ was issued over 20 years ago on the soundtrack to Andrew Fleming’s 2003 film The In-Laws. Also, when Paul started his Archive Collection series in 2010, with Band on the Run, One Hand Clapping was mined as a source of bonus material to help fill out the deluxe editions. For example, six performances were on the Band on the Run bonus CD (2010), one on the McCartney bonus CD (2011) and both DVDs with those packages included One Hand Clapping footage. The latter point begs the question, why do the formats for this reissue include no video at all? Very strange, considering a TV sales brochure for the unreleased film was created at the time!
The D2C-only 2LP+7″ version of One Hand Clapping (click image to enlarge)
One Hand Clapping will be issued as a 2CD set and a 2LP vinyl set, both of which will be widely available later this week. A special 2LP+7″ version is only orderable via McCartney/Universal Music channels where the seven-inch single includes exclusive solo performances recorded on the final day of the sessions in the backyard of Abbey Road studios: These include the unreleased track ‘Blackpool’ (a version of which was lined up to be B-side to the cancelled 1983 single ‘The Man’), ‘Blackbird’ and cover versions of Eddie Cochran’s Twenty Flight Rock and Buddy Holly’s ‘Peggy Sue’ and ‘I’m Gonna Love You Too’.
This exclusive audio from the seven-inch is not being made available on CD or streaming. Also, there will be a Dolby Atmos Mix of One Hand Clapping (by Giles Martin and Steve Orchard) but, as usual, no physical release from McCartney…
One Hand Clapping will be released on 14 June 2024 via Capitol/UMe.
Swedish rock band The Cardigans have a new compilation of B-sides/rarities in the pipeline for release later this year.
Formed in 1992, the group – gutarist Peter Svensson, bassist Magnus Sveningsson, drummer Bengt Lagerberg, keyboardist Lars-Olof Johansson and lead singer Nina Persson – released six albums between 1994 and 2005, enjoying significant international success in the mid-to-late nineties with their First Band on the Moon and Gran Turismo albums and singles ‘Lovefool’, ‘Erase/Rewind’ and ‘My Favourite Game’. Their 2003 longplayer, Long Gone Before Daylight, is a forgotten masterpiece.
Confirmed by the band on their Facebook page, two 2LP sets – with the working title The Rest of the Best – will offer B-sides and rarities and the group are already checking test pressings. The good news for compact disc fans is these compilations will also be available on CD. Yay!
Aside from collecting the original singles, thus far, the only way to obtain any Cardigans rarities on CD was to either seek out the Japanese/Australian compilation called The Other Side of The Moon (1997) or to purchase the deluxe edition of The Cardigans Best Of from 2008, which featured a bonus CD of B-sides and the like.
More news on this new compilation, when we get it! Discogs have the test pressings listed, so, assuming these are accurate, you can check out the track listings below.
Tracklisting
The Rest of the Best Vol 1 (working title)The Cardigans/
Side A
Pooh Song
I Figured Out (Demo ’93)
After All… (Demo ’93)
Plain Parade
Laika
The Boys Are Back In Town
Mr. Crowley
Side B
Rise & Shine (UK Life Version)
Carnival (Puck Version)
Happy Meal I
Nasty Sunny Beam
Iron Man (First Try)
Emmerdale
LP 2
Side C
Blah Blah Blah
Losers (First Try)
Lovefool (Puck Version)
Country Hell
Great Divide (Demo ’96)
Side D
War (First Try)
Cocktail Party Bloody Cocktail Party
Tracklisting
The Rest of the Best Vol 2 (working title)The Cardigans/
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.
