Orchestral reworkings with Royal Philharmonic • Physical Atmos Mix
Def Leppard will release a new album called Drastic Symphonies in May in collaboration with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, the band have drastically “deconstructed and reimagined” some of their biggest hits. The tracks include new vocal and guitar recordings as well as the fresh arrangements.
The album will be available on 2LP vinyl, CD and a special CD+blu-ray edition with the Blu-ray Audio element featuring the album in Dolby Atmos, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and PCM stereo. The Blu-ray also offers a bonus track not on the other formats (‘Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad’). The Atmos Mix is by Richard Whittaker.
This CD+blu-ray isn’t an SDE-exclusive, however there’s a couple of reasons to consider pre-ordering from the SDE shop. The first is that this is a limited edition and we’ll have a guaranteed stock allocation and the second is that I’m hoping to add Steven Wilson’s Atmos Mix of Diamond Star Halos to the SDE-exclusive blu-ray schedule later this year, so anyone who chooses to support SDE and orders Drastic Symphonies from the SDE shop will get priority if/when that happens (via early notification). You can use the ‘buy button’ below (‘add to cart’) as a quick way to order via SDE.
Drastic Symphonies is released on 19 May 2023 via UMR.
Matt Berry’s 2013 album Kill The Wolf is being reissued for its 10th anniversary.
Berry’s second long-player for Acid Jazz developed the sounds from his label-debut Witchazel, and added elements of progressive music, ‘70s pop and psychedelic experimentation. Tracks include ‘Gather Up’, ‘Medicine’ and ‘Devil Inside Me’.
‘Medicine’ from Kill The Wolf
Ten years ago there was a limited edition box set of the album which included (among other things) a CD of ‘The Wolf Outtakes’. Only 300 copies were pressed making this something of a desirable collector’s item. The 12 tracks from this disc are now included on an expanded CD edition and for the first time on vinyl on the bonus LP of a 2LP set (pressed on blood-splatter vinyl, aping the original). In fact, the vinyl set outdoes the CD by including 15 bonus tracks with three additional numbers pulled for the original Kill The Wolf EP (‘Ukenwhistle’, ‘On A High’ and ‘An Electric Hero’).
The Kill The Wolf reissue will be released on 9 June via Acid Jazz.
Snow Patrol will reissue their third album, Final Straw, for its 20th anniversary.
The 2003 album was the band’s “last throw of the dice” as they strived for a commercial breakthrough and as it turned out, it really delivered! Final Straw spawned four top 30 singles in the UK, including the top 5 ‘Run’ and has been certified 6 x Platinum in the UK.
The 20th anniversary reissue is available in two formats, both expanded. A 2CD deluxe edition includes B-sides, demos and a previously unreleased track ‘Tired’ appended to the album on CD 1. The second disc offers six previously unreleased demos and the 11 Final Straw tracks performed for their DVD concert film, Live at Somerset House, in 2004.
The 2LP set is pressed on gold-coloured vinyl and comes in a metallic sleeve (click image to enlarge)
A 2LP vinyl edition pressed on gold coloured vinyl includes the B-sides, all the demos and the unreleased track on the second LP, but omits the live cuts. This gatefold vinyl record comes in a “metallic effect” sleeve, which means what would normally be white on the front cover become silver (Shakespears Sister did something similar for the Hormonally Yours reissue of 2022).
Mike Nielsen’s 5.1 mix, from the 2004 SACD, is consigned to history, although it wouldn’t surprise me to see a Dolby Atmos upgrade on streaming when this is released.
Talking of which, they are splitting the release of the formats. The 2CD set of Final Straw comes out on 7 April, while the vinyl is released on 4 August 2023, both via Polydor/UMR.
Rush’s 1982 album Signals will be reissued for its (belated) 40th anniversary in April. The record features the single ‘New World Man’ which was number one in Canada and a top 30 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.
There’s only two physical formats for this campaign, the first is a vinyl picture disc of the Hugh Syme-reworked front cover artwork and the second is a seven-disc super deluxe edition box set.
The Signals vinyl picture disc
Both formats use the 2015 remaster, which up until this point was unreleased on CD. The box set is high on visual concepts but fairly low on actual audio. The album is repeated on CD and half-speed mastered black vinyl and there’s four seven-inch singles with reworked artwork, three with lenticular sleeves.
A Blu-ray Audio disc offers brand new Dolby Atmos and 5.1 surround mixes by Richard Chycki plus the 48/24 stereo remaster, with new animated visualisers for each song. Additionally, there’s two bonus music videos for ‘Subdivisions’ and ‘Countdown’.
The 7-disc super deluxe edition of Signals
Beyond that, there’s other ‘stuff’ including a 40-page hardcover book with new song illustrations and unreleased photos from the SignalsTour, four Signals Tour band lithos, Hugh’s original album cover sketch litho and a double-sided 24″ x 24″ poster featuring Hugh’s new art on one side and an outtake photo from the original album cover shoot on the other side.
Signals will be reissued on 28 April 2023, via UMR/EMI.
U2 release Songs of Surrender, a collection of acoustic & re-imagined recordings from their back catalogue. This release is available over five different physical formats and LOADS of coloured vinyl editions!
This newly remastered Inspiral Carpets singles collection includes all of their biggest hits, features collaborations with Mark E. Smith & John Cooper Clarke. It’s available on 2LP vinyl but the 3CD package has the advantage of a bonus disc of remixes
This live album is culled from The Black Crowes 2021-22 tour. It includes the best performances from the tour of each track off the original album and all their hits, live. The record also includes two bonus tracks: covers of ‘It’s Only Rock n’ Roll (But I Like It)’ by The Rolling Stones and ‘Rock and Roll’ by The Velvet Underground.
Legendary prog rockers Yes will release a new studio album called Mirror to the Sky, in May.
This relatively prompt follow-up to 2021’s The Quest is the band’s 23rd studio outing and “is a very important album for the band” according to guitarist Steve Howe. “We kept the continuity in the approach we established on The Quest, but we haven’t repeated ourselves. That was the main thing,” he adds. “As Yes did in the seventies from one album to another, we’re growing and moving forward”.
You can judge for yourself by checking out ‘Cut From The Stars’ from Mirror to the Sky, below.
‘Cut From The Stars’ from Mirror to the Sky
If you are wondering who Yes are these days, the band consists of longest serving member and guitarist Steve Howe, keyboard wizard Geoff Downes, vocalist Jon Davison, Billy Sherwood on bass and Jay Schellen behind the drum kit.
Mirror To The Sky will be available in five physical formats:
A 2LP blue vinyl+2CD+blu-ray deluxe edition with poster
A 2CD+blu-ray deluxe (10″ book)
A 2LP gatefold black vinyl
A 2CD digipak presentation
A CD in a jewel case
The blu-ray, where available, features the album in pristine 5.1 surround sound, as well as Dolby Atmos (a first for any Yes album), instrumental and hi-res stereo mixes. Roger Dean – who else? – has contributed artwork.
Mirror to the Sky will be released on 19 May 2023 via InsideOut Music.
English rock band Family’s 1970 album Anyway will be reissued as an expanded 2CD set next month.
Featuring vocalist Roger Chapman, guitarist John ‘Charlie’ Whitney, drummer Rob Townsend, bassist and violinist John Weider and multi-instrumentalist John ‘Poli’ Palmer on vibes, keyboards and flute, Anyway comprised a side of live recordings made at The Fairfield Hall in Croydon in July 1970 and a side of studio tracks recorded at Olympic Studios in the late summer.
The group’s fourth album reached number seven in the UK album charts at the time and has been remastered from the original tapes. It features 16 bonus tracks drawn from singles and BBC radio sessions and comes with a booklet with a new essay.
Anyway is reissued on 28 April 2023, via Esoteric Recordings.
Tears For Fears‘ 1983 debut album The Hurting turns 40 today! Now where did that time go? To celebrate, and in collaboration with Virgin/UMR and the band, the album will be reissued on the Blu-ray Audio format in May and will be available exclusively from SDE, via theSDEshop.com.
The album features the hit singles ‘Mad World’, ‘Change’ and ‘Pale Shelter’, all of which reached the top five of the UK charts in 1982-3. The Hurting is the only Tears For Fears album written solely by Roland Orzabal and is a loose concept album focusing on themes of childhood psychological trauma and Arthur Janov’s Primal Scream therapy, the theories behind which gave the band their name. Despite its dark subject matter, the album was a huge commercial success [topping the UK charts] and continues to resonate with younger audiences to this day.
‘Mad World’ was the first hit single for Tears For Fears from ‘The Hurting’ in late 1982.
The SDE-exclusive Blu-ray Audio sees The Hurting remixed for spatial audio for the very first time. The renowned musician, songwriter and producer Steven Wilson has created a Dolby Atmos Mix and a dedicated 5.1 mix which have been approved by the band. Steven was previously responsible for the spatial audio mixes of the Tears For Fears albums Songs From The Big Chair (1985), The Seeds of Love (1989) and The Tipping Point (2022).
Additionally, this new Hurting blu-ray audio will feature a previously unreleased instrumental mix of The Hurting and two previously unreleased bonus tracks.
I think it was important for us that our first album had substance and was not just a commercial work. So in that sense it was the album we had to make. We felt the need to get it out of our systems and share
Curt Smith (talking to Paul Sinclair in 2013)
The story behind these bonus tracks is rather interesting. When Steven Wilson was supplied with the multi-track tapes for remixing, he came across two unreleased versions of songs from the album. These were ‘Mad World’ and ‘Watch Me Bleed’, as produced by Mike Howlett, the man responsible for the first single version of ‘Pale Shelter’. Howlett might have ended up producing the album, but his working relationship with Tears For Fears was destined to be short-lived, with Roland Orzabal explaining to this writer in 2013 [on the 30th anniversary] that “he was trying to use the LinnDrum [machine] on everything and we were not very happy”. Curt also thought that “Mike was far too commercial for us” and thus Howlett ultimately made way for Chris Hughes and Ross Cullum to produce The Hurting.
Apart from the first single version of ‘Pale Shelter’, none of Mike Howlett’s work has ever been released and indeed Roland and Curt hadn’t heard these tracks themselves since they were first recorded! This is a historical find and these rarities have sat, undiscovered, in the vaults for 40 years (probably because they were never mixed to stereo). Both songs have now been newly mixed by Steven Wilson and are included on the Blu-ray as special bonus audio.
Audio streams available on the SDE-exclusive The Hurting Blu-ray Audio:
The Hurting – Steven Wilson 2023 Dolby Atmos mix
The Hurting – Steven Wilson 2023 DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix (96/24)
The Hurting – Original Mix in hi-res stereo (96/24)
The Hurting – Steven Wilson 2023 Instrumental mix in hi-res stereo (96/24)
And the two bonus tracks, both mixed to hi-res stereo (96/24) by Steven Wilson, are:
‘Mad World’ (Mike Howlett Version)
‘Watch Me Bleed’ (Mike Howlett Version)
This Tears For Fears Blu-ray Audio is #9 in the ongoing SDE Surround Series and will be packaged similarly to previous editions and ships with a free, collectible SDE Surround Series slipcase.
Here’s the now traditional reminder as to why this product is highly recommended:
It’s the only way to enjoy the Dolby Atmos mix of the album via a physical product
You don’t need to sign-up to a streaming service such as Tidal or Apple Music to hear the spatial audio mix
The Atmos Mix on the Blu-ray is not compressed due to streaming bandwidth restrictions
You own the product, you are not renting it from a digital service provider
The Blu-ray audio is an excellent format for music and you don’t want to see it die off
It’s the only way to hear the previously unreleased bonus tracks (and the instrumental version of The Hurting)
Supporting SDE with these initiatives leads to similar collaborations with labels/artists and we are keen to bring your more in the near future!
The Hurting half-speed mastered vinyl LP
Half-speed mastered vinyl
There another physical format for this 40th anniversary. Miles Showell has remastered The Hurting and cut to half-speed from the original half-inch master tapes for a new vinyl edition which will be released alongside the Blu-ray. Vinyl and Blu-ray Audio are the only two physical formats for this 40th anniversary celebration.
The SDE-exclusive Blu-ray Audio of The Hurting is a limited edition item. It will be pressed based on demand and due to the short lead time to manufacture, it will be available to pre-order for 10 days only. Availability after that cannot be guaranteed, so secure your copy today by pre-ordering at the SDE shop, either directly via this link or using the special SDE shop buy button (‘add to cart’) below. We ship worldwide (the tracked service to USA for blu-ray is £8, for example) and a specially-priced Blu-ray+Vinyl LP bundle is also available.
The Hurting 40th anniversary Blu-ray Audio and the half-speed mastered vinyl LP will be released on 9 June 2023 (was 12 May), via Virgin/UMR.
TECHNICAL NOTES: This blu-ray audio requires a blu-ray player. Decoding the Dolby Atmos mix requires a Dolby Atmos-certified soundbar or a Dolby Atmos-compatible AV Receiver/Amp. The Dolby Atmos mix will ‘fold down’ to 5.1 or stereo if a Dolby Atmos decoder is not detected.
EU SHIPPING NOTES: If you are ordering from the EU please be aware that that goods may be subject to import VAT when they arrive from the UK. The prices the SDE shop charge you do not include VAT
Neil Young is releasing a new Original Bootleg Series release called Somewhere Under The Rainbow in April.
This album features Neil Young with the Santa Monica Flyers, recorded live at the Rainbow Theatre in London on 5 November 1973.
The band featured Neil Young (vocals, guitar), Nils Lofgren (lead and rhythm guitar, piano, accordion, vocals), Ben Keith (pedal steel guitar, vocals), Billy Talbot (bass, vocals) and Ralph Molina (drums, vocals).
Neil Young and the Santa Monica Flyers – Somewhere Under the Rainbow
The setlist features most of the Tonight’s the Night album (which had only been recorded a few months earlier) along with a few classics such as ‘Helpless’, ‘Don’t Be Denied’ and ‘Cowgirl In The Sand’. This show is well known for its “completely spontaneous and high-revved performance” and this release comes with sleeve notes from recording engineer Pete Long’s who tries to “help listeners relive a place and time that won’t be repeated”.
The album is available as a 2CD or 2LP vinyl set, with Tonight’s The Night material on disc one and the other songs on disc 2. Nice to see Neil Young vinyl relatively cheap, the 2LP set is only £22 on Amazon in the UK.
Another Original Bootleg Series release is The Ducks’High Flyin’. The Ducks was a band that often made unannounced appearances in their own backyards at clubs like the Back Room, The Crossroads Club, The Catalyst and others, featuring Neil Young (guitar, harmonica and vocals), Bob Mosley (bass and vocals), Jeff Blackburn (guitar and vocals) and Johnny Craviotto (drums & vocals).
The Ducks – HighFlyin’
This new collection – on 3LP vinyl and 2CD – of those nights, as well as two evenings at the nearby Magical Devices studio have been bootlegged for decades, and High Flyin’ is now an official release.
Somewhere Under The Rainbow and High Flyin’ will both be released on 14 April 2023 via Warner Music.
Amazing deal in Italy on the 3LP Paul McCartney box that contains McCartney, McCartney II and McCartney III. Works out to be around £30 shipped to the UK (no Brexit-related import duties, either).
The Pretty Things/Live at the BBC 6CD box set6CD box
This offers “60 more essential hits” from 1986 and kicks off in time-honoured tradition with Queen and ‘A Kind Of Magic’. CD 1 also includes Eurythmics’ lead single from Revenge, ‘When Tomorrow Comes’ and plenty of other hits from the likes of a-ha, The Bangles, Bryan Ferry, Sting, Paul Young and more.
CD 2 delivers some FM Radio classics with the likes of Cutting Crew’s ‘(I Just) Died In Your Arms’, Mr. Mister’s ‘Kyrie’, Peter Cetera’s Glory Of Love and Bruce Hornsby & The Range’s ‘The Way It Is’. The second disc also reminds us that Jennifer Rush isn’t technically a one-hit-wonder since ‘Ring Of Ice’ got to number 14 in the UK.
The final CD is a mixed bag in the best possible way and is host to hits from The Housemartins, The Smiths, New Order, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Dead Or Alive, Falco, Grace Jones, James Brown and more. Full tracklisting is below.
Packaged in the usual six-panel card sleeve, Now Yearbook ’86 – Extra will be released on 7 April 2023.
American rock band Linkin Park’s second album Meteora will be reissued for its 20th anniversary across a number of physical editions.
Originally issued in 2003, Meteora was released in March 2003 and included the hit singles ‘Somewhere I Belong’, ‘Faint’, ‘Numb’, ‘Breaking the Habit’ and ‘From the Inside’. It has sold over 16 million copies globally since it’s release.
The reissue sees the album released in three different editions, the most lavish of which is the 12-disc super deluxe edition. This contains four CDs, five vinyl LPs and three DVDs. Full tracklisting is below, but the content breaks down like this:
5LPs
Meteora
Live in Texas (2 LP) – debut vinyl release
Live in Nottingham 2003 (2 LP) – previously unreleased
Live in Manila 2004, Live in Denver – Projekt Revolution 2004
The Making of Meteora/The Art of Meteora & the new Work In Progress lifestyle documentary
This super deluxe edition includes a 40-page book, a 36 x 24″ poster, sticker sheet, logo stencil and litho. It also comes with a hi-res digital download card.
The Meteora 12-disc super deluxe edition (click image to enlarge)
There’s also a 3CD deluxe edition which includes bonus discs featuring studio and live rarities including ‘Lost’, a “fully realised” track from the 2002 album recording sessions featuring stunning vocals from Chester Bennington. This is appended to the studio album in the 3CD set but is on the fourth CD (‘Lost demos’) in the big box set.
The 4LP vinyl set is a vinyl version of the 3CD set (minus that ‘Lost’ demo) and thus offers the 19 studio rarities (LPs 2 & 3) and the live rarities on the fourth record.
Meteora 20 will be released on 7 April 2023 via Warner Music.
Simply Red will release a brand new studio album, Time, in May.
The 12-track record is the band’s first in four years and was recorded with longtime producer Andy Wright. Formats including limited red vinyl (exclusive to the band’s shop) and a deluxe CD edition which offers three bonus tracks performed live recently at BBC Radio 2’s Piano Room (including a cover of Paul McCartney & Wings‘ ‘My Love’).
Any bundles offered via the official Simply Red shop come with an artwork print signed by Mick Hucknall. Amazon have an exclusive ‘Curacao’ (blue) vinyl, while HMV and indie record shops get gold-coloured ‘wax’. There’s a standard black vinyl as well and all variants come in a gatefold sleeve.
Time will be released on 26 May 2023 via Warner Music.
Later this year, Cooking vinyl will release The Roaring Forty 1983-2023, a new 14CD Billy Bragg box set. The box will contain more than 300 songs, including each of Billy’s twelve studio albums, non-album singles and B-sides, session tracks, rare live recordings, collaborations and previously unreleased material from across his career.
It comes with a large format book containing images of 40 significant objects from Billy’s career, including the hand tinted flyer to his first solo gig, his first NME cover, the original lyrics to ‘A Lover Sings’, the Red Wedge manifesto, his membership card to the Smokey Robinson & The Miracles fan club, and more, with commentary from the man himself.
Roaring Forty 1983-2023 14CD box set (click image to enlarge)
If that’s more Bragg than you’ll allow in the house, then a 40-track selection is available on what looks like a very attractive 3LP coloured vinyl set with each record in a different shade of green. The same 40-tracks are also available on a 2CD deluxe.
All the formats have been compiled by Billy Bragg himself and there’s also single LP edition pressed on orange vinyl which distills 40 years of music down to 13 tracks! All the vinyl formats come with a download card.
The 14CD box set is exclusive to Billy Bragg’s official store (at least for now) while the other formats should be available via all the usual channels. Fans are going to have to wait however, since The Roaring Forty is scheduled for release on 27 October 2023, almost eight months away!
The first 1000 orders at the official shop come with this rather groovy signed A4 art print
If you order via the official shop, the first 1000 orders (any format) come with a signed A4 art print (one print per customer). You also get access to pre-sale tickets to a future tour.
Remixed, remastered, rarities, box set, coloured vinyl and more…
Whitesnake will reissue their 2008 album Good to be Bad as STILL Good to be Bad in April. The band’s 10th studio long-player includes the songs ‘Best Years’ and ‘Summer Rain’.
Nominally a 15th anniversary reissue, there’s four physical formats for this new edition, all of which feature a brand new 2023 stereo remix of the album. These are:
4CD+blu-ray box set
2LP blue vinyl
2CD deluxe
Single CD edition
The box set features the remix, a new remaster a selection of rare and unreleased studio and live recordings from the period, as well as videos all the music videos, interviews, and live performances from the Good To Be Bad world tour. If you’re wondering, there’s no spatial audio on the Blu-ray.
The 4CD+blu-ray box set of Still Good to be Bad (click image to enlarge)
The new remix is available as a 2LP coloured vinyl set and on CD, while the double CD edition offers both the remix and the remaster.
The box set is therefore the only place to find the rarities. This content includes new alternate mixes which also feature new background vocals from the ‘Hook City Harlots’, Cami Thompson, Misty Rae & Jackie Landrum, plus the ‘Hook City Horns’ with Rick Metz on saxes and the trumpet of Joshua Reed. There’s a version of ‘All For Love’ that features a different guitar solo by Doug Aldrich and the collection also includes ‘Evolutions’, a disc of unreleased recordings that presents a guide through the genesis of each song, from initial ideas with rough vocal melodies, lyrics and riffs through to finished demos and full band production versions (sounds similar to Peter Gabriel’sSo DNA).
Listen to the new 2023 remix of ‘Can You Hear The Wind Blow’
The spark of the original album can be traced back to when Whitesnake founder and lead singer David Coverdale reconvened the band for a tour celebrating the band’s 25th anniversary, as he recalls:
“We went out for two months and came back nine months later, and I had a big smile on my face and felt really energized.… I thought—‘Wow! I’ve got thirty years of music here that I can go out and play, and I don’t have to promote a new record…I can just have fun out there.’”
Coverdale enjoyed a newly forged creative friendship with guitarist Doug Aldrich, not only as a co-writer but, as a co-producer:
“Doug & I got on so well, I suggested we sit down with our acoustic guitars & see what unfolded…I was thrilled how effortless it was to create new Whitesnake music with him…”
The Still Good to be Bad is reissued on 28 April 2023, via Rhino.
Daft Punk’s 2013 album Random Access Memories will be reissued for its 10th anniversary in May.
The album was the French electronic music duo’s last and it includes the transatlantic number one ‘Get Lucky’ which features – and was co-written by – Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers (the pair also made contributions to another single, ‘Lose Yourself To Dance’).
The 10th anniversary edition is expanded and includes a relatively modest 35 minutes of music, although these demos and studio outtakes are mostly previously unreleased (‘Horizon’ was on a Japanese CD and included on a USB stick in a previous box set).
There are two physical formats for the anniversary: 3LP vinyl (with a poster and 16-page booklet) and a 2CD deluxe. The triple vinyl includes a special ‘Lose Yourself To Dance’ poster and comes with a 16 page booklet. A Dolby Atmos Mix has also been created, although that will only be available via streaming services.
Random Access Memories is reissued on 12 May 2023, via Sony Music.
Burt Bacharach & Elvis Costello/The Songs of Bacharach & CostelloCD, Vinyl
Elvis Costello has compiled a new release called The Songs of Bacharach & Costello that brings together all of the published songs that he has written with the late Burt Bacharach (RIP).
“I will attack, and you don’t want that!” The 1990 debut by ‘Eurodance’ duo Snap! is reissued as this vinyl picture disc. The album features the hits ‘The Power’, ‘Ooops Up’, ‘Cult of Snap!’ and ‘Mary Had a Little Boy’.
It’s so sad to reflect on quite how young George was when he left us in late 2001, being still in his fifties. From a purely selfish fan point of view we wonder how much great music we’ve missed out on and what on-stage collaborations and live performances we could have enjoyed.
We had timed the release of the SDE blu-ray audio of Concert For George (now sold out) to be as close to George’s birthday as possible and it was due out yesterday. Unfortunately, we’ve had some delays, mainly related to the authoring of the disc, which is happening in the US. So the plan has gone awry and in truth it’s will probably be another three or four weeks before these will be ready to go out. Apologies to everyone who is waiting and I have emailed you all and there will be a further update in the coming weeks with more precise timings.
In the meantime here’s one of my favourite George songs, to cheer you down.
Orbital back in the UK top ten
Congratulations to Orbitaland London Records for the success of Orbital’s new album Optical Delusion. The band’s 10th studio album entered the UK chart at number six yesterday, their first top 10 album this century! Music Week report that it sold more than 6,000 copies and of course the SDE-exclusive blu-ray played its part because all the UK sales counted towards the chart. The production run was 1750 copies. These have mostly shipped now so if you have received yours I’d love to know what you think! Ten Years After will be the next in the SDE Surround Series to ship (release date is 17 March), closely followed by Concert For George, which falls slightly out of sequence due to the issue described above.
Who are The state51 Conspiracy?
Interesting news this week of course as Kate Bush announced that her label Fish People “are moving to The state51 Conspiracy” meaning that this company now have the rights to release all Kate’s albums for the world, with the exception of the first three (The Kick Inside, LIonheart and Never For Ever) which are US-only. Kate was, of course, signed to EMI but then ended up at Warner Music Group when that company bought EMI Assets for $765 Million in 2013. The glacial pace at which Kate records albums means that she has never released a new studio album while at Warners (her last, 50 Words For Snow was issued in late 2012) although the Before The Dawn live album and the 2018 reissue campaign was overseen by that label.
Most people are likely to never have heard of where she is moving, but state51 describe themselves as a “completely independent, one-stop music company” who “believe in the power of being different”. They were established in 1991 and are a ‘collective’ who are a record label but also ‘do’ music distribution, marketing and creative services.
They have a diverse list of artists on their roster, including Austin experimental music project Shit And Shine, and a Polish multi-instrumentalist called Waclaw Zimpel who practises “expert manipulation of urban-ritual electronics and loops” which are “anchored to a human perspective and folk-trance tradition”. Very interesting, but mainstream, they ain’t!
An acoustic version of Gabrille Papillion’s ‘Deep in the Earth’ (from the Keep The Fire album) filmed at state51
I actually have some personal experience of state51 because I was invited by a friend to what, if I recall correctly, was their Christmas party in 2017. It was in a complex of warehouse-type buildings in East London and it was fantastic. They had some weird and wonderful artists performing (including a man who sprang around the room making bird noises, whose name I forget) and there was all sorts of creative stuff happening, including T-shirt printing and the like. It felt as far from a traditional record company as you can imagine.
The main legacy for me of that night was seeing Canadian artist Gabrielle Papillion perform with her band. She was, maybe still is, signed to state51 in what I think was a licensing and distribution deal and I was blown away by her songs and the band’s performance. Her album Keep The Fire (from 2017) its utterly sublime and I still play it often. After seeing her at this showcase/Christmas party I saw the band a few more times in London before they headed back off to Canada.
The big question is how and why did Kate’s catalogue end up with state51? We don’t know right now but it’s a coup for them, but more importantly, I feel this is very good news for Kate Bush fans, because the non-corporate, creative environment may encourage her to have a more collaborative approach. Or to put it more simply, having hand-picked state51, Kate will surely enjoy working with her new team much more then the corporate behemoth that was forced upon her back in 2013. This could well mean the normally reticent Kate might suddenly be open to doing the kinds of things (expanded reissues, for example) that historically she has simply not been interested in. In fact, we know this to be the case since it has resulted in plans already in place to re-release Hounds Of Love.
Paul McCartney announces Red Rose Speedway half-speed master
We’ll get around to doing a Record Store Day round-up for 2023 very soon, but one thing that caught my attention was the not entirely surprising news that Paul McCartney is continuing with his half-speed mastered vinyl reissues with his 1973 album Red Rose Speedway. Credited to ‘Paul McCartney and Wings’ this was the fourth different Macca credit in a sequence of four albums – (‘Paul McCartney’, ‘Paul and LInda McCartney’, ‘Wings’ being the others).
The album was released on 30 April 1973 and so with Record Store Day being on 22 April this year, someone at MPL clearly decided it was close enough to the 50th anniversary, although of course if they’d left it one more week they’d have been only two days away, on Friday 28 April.
In theory, this RSD-only release should create stress for the Macca vinyl collector, but unless they are being pressed in tiny quantities I don’t foresee any availability issues. McCartney, RAM and Wild Life half-speeds were not exactly flying off the SDE shop’s shelves when we sold them a few years back. Possibly Macca vinyl reissue ennui.
With Band on the Run also released in December 1973 we should get another one of these this year, although Paul may opt to do something bigger for his best selling (and best?) album.
Of course the bigger question is when are we going to hear about the next Archive Collection reissue? RSD is traditionally a tease for a forthcoming campaign and McCartney fans are waiting for London Town and/or Back to the Egg reissues to ‘finish off’ the 1970s.
Red Rose Speedway is available at participating ‘bricks and mortar’ independent record shops on 22 April 2023.
![David Bowie / Brilliant Adventure [1992-2001] 18LP vinyl box set](https://images.superdeluxeedition.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/vinyl_spread.jpeg)
