Saturday Deluxe / 10 Dec 2016

Sam Brown boxes on their way…

Wow. Very busy week here at SDE, largely to do with shipping nearly 500 Sam Brown box sets in the last few days for ShopSuperDeluxe.

Yes, the fantastic A&M Years 1988-1990 box set is out! Despite the fact that I’ve been involved in almost EVERY aspect of this collection (from original idea, to now shipping them!) I still somehow forgot to include in Monday‘s ‘Out This Week’ post. Oh well…

I saw Sam on Wednesday when she signed the booklets for about 450 of the sets. It was great actually, because her brother Pete also dropped by, and as most Sam fans will know, he played an important role in her solo career and is all over the second album, April Moon, so it was lovely to meet him.

‘Team SDE’ busy packing and despatching Sam Brown boxes, yesterday

Caroline International (who are part of Universal) are issuing this set and are planning a wider release – with TV/Radio promotion – in March/April next year, but until then, these box sets are exclusive to ShopSuperDeluxe so don’t go looking on Amazon or in HMV, because they won’t be there.

The signed ones are now sold out (sorry) but obviously the non-signed version isn’t limited, so plenty of those available. Some of you in the UK may well get your boxes in today’s post, so obviously would LOVE to read your feedback on this set. Comments here welcome, and a ‘review’ on the shop even better!

Buy Sam Brown: The A&M Years 1988-1990

Rolling Stones at number one in the UK

As you may have heard, The Rolling Stones have had their first UK number one album for 22 years with Blue & Lonesome. Sounds impressive, although since this is only their third studio album since Voodoo Lounge went to number one in 1994, maybe it’s not that much of a big deal. 2005’s A Bigger Bang nearly achieved the feat, stalling at number two, and the one before that, 1997’s Bridges To Babylon is the only ‘Stones record not to penetrate the top five.

A look at the statistics tells us that you have to go all the way back to 1972’s Exile On Main Street to find a Rolling Stones studio album that was certified platinum (over 300,000) units in the UK. Apparently, Blue & Lonesome shifted over 100,000 units in it’s first week. I’m sure SDE readers buying three copies each, had nothing to do with it…

One Year Older…

Finally, thanks to those of you who got in touch to wish me a Happy Birthday for Thursday. SDE will be six, next March, but I’m considerably older..

After a busy day packing Sam Brown box sets, I did get the chance to unwind at the Bowie musical Lazarus. If you get the chance to go, I’d highly recommend it. It’s weird, hallucinatory experience, has some rather self-conscious dialogue and is pretty hard to follow… but somehow wins you over in the end. The music is largely great, with It’s No Game and The Man Who Sold The World (which utilises Bowie’s own mid-nineties arrangement) highlights for me.

Regular theatre goers would probably sniff at front row seats, but when I booked (ages ago) these were the cheapest in the house. It was fantastic. I haven’t listened to the Cast Album yet, but will look forward to it now!