Author: Paul Sinclair

Saturday Deluxe / 2 January 2021

Posted on by Paul Sinclair

Wham!‘s 1984 single ‘Last Christmas’ is this week’s UK number one. This was confirmed yesterday evening, and since the song is the most famous ‘number two’ (and the biggest selling) of all time in this country, the general mood was one of ‘finally!’

However, at the risk of being called a humbug, I’m rather conflicted by this and feel that a combination of the current chart rules (“reviewed on an ongoing basis by the Official Charts Company in partnership with the music industry”) and passive consumer behaviour has, effectively, rewritten chart history. Let me explain…
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What Brexit means for physical music fans in the UK and the EU

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Today is the last day of the UK’s ‘transition period’ with the European Union and tomorrow the UK is no longer part of the EU. Since a global marketplace exists online for physical music, how exactly is Brexit – the UK’s departure from the EU – going to affect fans in the UK who shop online via businesses in EU member states (Germany, France, Italy etc.) and in turn, how will it affect those in the EU who choose to shop from UK-based businesses?
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SDE’s Best New Albums of 2020

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Who has time to listen to new music? That might be a weird question from a music fan who edits a music website, but it’s a serious one. I work from home (so no commute to get those headphones on) and this year, in particular, has offered a million distractions, on top of all the usual ones (like the kids being at home for long periods, pretending to do their schoolwork and saying “can you make me some lunch” at 11.50am) and the obvious health concerns.
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SDE’s disappointments of 2020

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SDE has explored the best reissues and favourite albums of 2019 but hey, what about the not-quite-so-good things that happened (or good things that didn’t happen) in 2019? The stuff that makes us, the fans, bang our head against the wall… like artists who think their 50+ demographic love streaming and have no interest in hearing ‘the old stuff’ remastered with bonus tracks on CD and vinyl. Broken promises, weird decisions, baffling omissions… here’s SDE’s ‘best’ disappointments of 2019:

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Boxing Day Deluxe 2020

Posted on by Paul Sinclair

Well, that’s it over for another year. I certainly hope you had a good Christmas Day and wish you all the very best for the rest of this festive period and beyond!

The Chart of McCartney

Paul McCartney‘s new album McCartney III (you may have heard about it…) entered the UK albums charts yesterday at number one. It sold just over 33,000 copies which is decent enough for this day and age. AC/DC hold the record this year, for week one sales, with just under 62,000 for their Power Up, album which gives you some comparison. Like McCartney’s album, that was available in various coloured vinyl editions (although not as many) and there was also a picture disc and two different CD editions.
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What are the bonus tracks like on the Japanese CD edition of McCartney III?

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The Japanese CD edition of Paul McCartney‘s new album McCartney III comes with four bonus tracks, but what are they and is it worth shelling out for this version of the album?
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Level 42 / The Complete Polydor Years 1980-1984 / 10CD box set

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Early next year, Cherry Red will issue The Complete Polydor Years 1980-1984, a ten-CD Level 42 box set that brings together the first five albums alongside an extraordinary amount of bonus material.
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SDE reviews Paul McCartney’s ‘McCartney III’

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Paul McCartney has always had what you might call a ‘get out of jail free’ card when it comes to his songs and compositions, in the form of his ability to construct and sing wonderful melodies. If the lyric is a bit on the silly side (‘Jet’), or perhaps a tad twee (‘Ebony and Ivory’), McCartney largely gets away with it because the tunes are so often very good. They just take up residence in your brain and require a court order and bailiffs to get them out. ‘Mull of Kintyre’ is another case in point. It’s so deceptively simple, but had massive appeal and it’s all in the melody.
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Bob Dylan / 50th Anniversary Collection: 1970 / new three-CD outtakes set

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On 4 December this year, Sony ‘released’ 50th Anniversary Collection: 1970 a Bob Dylan collection that included all the outtakes from the ‘New Morning’ and ‘Self Portrait’ sessions that were not already available on The Bootleg Series Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait along with a legendary session with George Harrison.

This was put out in extremely limited quantities (in Europe only) and these kind of releases have happened for the last eight years and have become known as the ‘Copyright Collection’ series. Due to fan demand this 1970 set is being made available in February for a full commercial release (albeit it’s still limited to some degree).
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Yello issue a Dolby Atmos Edition of their latest album Point on blu-ray

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The latest album from Swiss electronic duo Yello has been issued as a standalone blu-ray edition, featuring a Dolby Atmos surround mix of the entire album and three bonus tracks.
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