Obvious culprit would be Van Morrison who’s only released one – admittedly very, very good – 2CD set of outtakes (Philosopher’s Stone Vol 1) in the late 90s and a 3CD collection of the shows from the same tour as the mesmerising Too Late To Stop Now. He did start a huge reissue program a few years back but seemed to have lost interest.
Any one here think of any other examples?
Saw the thread title and immediately thought of Van. I think it’s almost as bad when too much product is released, such is the case with Hendrix. Endless rearranging of the same content to squeeze another dollar out of the catalogue.
Van also had an excellent 3 disc The Healing Game, there was also a 5 disc Moondance and both Astral Weeks and His Band and Street Choir have been released in remastered form with bonus tracks. It’s a bit erratic but he is getting there.
The Moondance set had nothing to do with him. That’s why we got it.
Was just pointing out there have been more archive releases than the ones mentioned in the first post.
“But he is getting there” suggested he’s working on it. Just the opposite – he kicked up a stink about Moondance getting the deluxe treatment, the Struggling Artist being ripped off by the record company. I may be wrong but I don’t think he approved of the extra track re-releases of his albums, either – I think they disappeared pretty quickly?
Believe The Healing Game set was with his cooperation, ITLTSN Vols II to IV. not sure.
Talking of Van and his back catalogue, I know that he remastered most 10 or so years ago and these did make it to hi-res – with the notable exception of Tupelo Honey. This album seems to have been erased from existence as far as Van is concerned – it isn’t even listed on his website in the discography.
What’s the issue with Tupelo Honey ?
Van can’t take any credit for the Astral Weeks, Moondance or HB&SC because as far as I know he has no control over them. So they don’t count!
Another artist with no interest in a proper catalogue overhaul is Billy Joel. A Piano Man 2CD and a Stranger3 disc box have appeared, plus a boxset he has disowned, it has all been a bit haphazard.
Didn’t know that and TH is a great record.
The other elephant in van’s living room is that You Win Again album he did with Jerry Lee Lewis’ sister, Linda Gail, about 20 years ago.
Iirc, she accused him of harassment and took him to court for unfair dismissal
Edit: charges were later dropped
There’s a nice Eel Market release of Choppin’ Wood:
https://100greatestbootlegs.blogspot.com/2012/06/flac-van-morrison-choppin-wood.html
Goodness me, what a little treasure. Not you saucers, the blogspot site! Thx for that. Unfort the Van one isn’t linked anymore, but there are others there that have exercised my router this morning. Ta v m.
If you want a link for the Van, PM me.
Prince comes to mind. Not sure we’d be witnessing all the emerging remasters and hidden treasures had he still been among us, even though his back catalogue had been in dire need of attention for years.
As “artists” per se, a disregard for their back-catalogue is entirely appropriate – art is about the doing of the art here and now, not what you did years ago. However, touring and album-releasing is all about peddling product, not art, so ignoring back-catalogue is a bit misguided. I think musicians get muddled between their “artist” and “earning a crust” hats.
Tricky one, ah yes, The Rolling Stones.
Exile, Sticky Fingers, Some Girls, Goat’s Head Soup all expanded. Lots of From The Vault live albums/DVDs issued.
The 60s stuff is more problematic, but not really their fault.
The Fall. No chance of making sense of it.
Btw…the thread title is pure Hoffman!
The Fall albums (up to and including the Fontana years) have all been beautifully reissued by Cherry Red, with all (yes, all!) the odds and sods from compilations, Peel sessions, 12-inch issues and foreign singles added. Plus informative and reliable diary-style liner notes. And yes, it all makes sense. (Unless you want a hi-res Steven Wilson surround sound mix)
Fatima, thanks! I never knew this despite being a member of one of the rabid Facebook groups where they share loads and loads of live recordings though not in a Hoffmanesque way.
I should probably dig out my service revolver and do the decent thing.
I’ve mentioned Stevie Wonder before but the one I’d really love to hear repackaged is Tom Waits.
Tom Waits albums generally sound pretty great already (at least on vinyl), little point in remastering I would say. Don’t know about outtakes but he did release a huge 3CD set about 10 years ago which I believe was about 50% previously recorded stuff.
Most of Tom’s output has been remastered.
https://uk.kingsroadmerch.com/tom-waits/
Really? I thought so far that it was just the early music which, the magnificent Frank’s Wild Years aside, I prefer these days. I heard Tom way before I heard the good Captain, and regardless of some truly good work, later Waits cannot entirely escape that shadow, for me, anyway.
I am hoping for a T.Rex remaster campaign.
I think there’s still a rights issue with the whole catalogue being owned by 3 or 4 different parties.
The Edsel re-issues from a good few years ago nearly worked, but my ears tell me the whole lot could do with a polish.
I’d suggest Steve Winwood.
There must be loads of Traffic material in the vaults, but nothing definitive has been issued. The John Barleycorn Must Die reissue is probably the best of the re-releases. The first two Traffic albums have some extra material, but otherwise, it is meagre pickings.
Similarly with his solo career.
When I heard that Arc Of A Diver was to be released in a DeLuxe format, I was excited at the prospect of hearing the tracks from the album he did with Viv Stanshall, that got nixed by Chris Blackwell. The title track from that collaboration being the sole surviving song.
But nothing of any real interest appeared on the second disc.
I have heard that SW doesn’t have control over much of his back catalogue, which if true, would explain why. Also that he is more interested in what he’s doing now rather than revisiting his past.
But given the magnificent work Neil Storey did on the Chris Wood Evening Blue multi disc set, it would be nice to see something similar produced for SW.
Apparently not. I remember reading in an interview somewhere with Winwood that they worked their ideas up into the finished song that went on the record, similar to The Beatles in that respect. The Anthology sets were largely sub standard and completely inessential. a few unearthed pre fame songs and a couple of gems aside. I personally found the Giles Martin ‘White Album’ remix very disappointing. It’s ethereal magic was gone. The George songs did benefit though, but that’s about it. I didn’t bother with Abbey Road, and besides, I will always think it’s overrated. More sheen than substance.
The interview I remember with SW was where he said he played Blackwell the finished album and Blackwell asked “What does it mean?” leading to the songs being scrapped except for Arc.
Additionally there is a guy named Berkin Altinok, who is a mega SW fan, (you can check his YouTube channel), who has been in contact with Viv Stanshall’s widow who apparently has some preliminary recordings, and confirms that the songs exist.
I meant Traffic. Sorry. More Winwood would indeed be a very good thing. His ‘Greatest Hits Live’ is masterful.
Teenage Fanclub. Not disregard but under-exploitation. They did lovely vinyl plus 7 inch single reissues of their Creation albums a couple of years ago. I have neither the equipment nor the ears to say whether it was a remaster well done, but they were lovely things to finally own.
But they have crap-loads of amazing b-sides and rarities which I ‘discovered’ after the fact on-line in ipod days which I would be very happy to pay them proper cash for in a nicely put together box.
I imagine there are lots of those mid-level artists with that kind of catalogue who have to weigh up rights/admin/manufacturing cost issues before taking the plunge, if there isn’t a major record label taking some of the weight off.
Unless I’m very much mistaken, the obv. culprits are ‘ver Dan. I’ve got the lot on vinlys, on individual CDs and within the slapdash mess that is called Citizen. Have I missed a huge re-issue sequence of lovely remastered double discs, with out-takes, left-over tracks and various neat live perfs? Fat booklets full of revealing snaps and bon mots from the boys themselves? I think not. They’ve had the cash and we can whistle for more but we ain’t gonna get any, it seems. All we can do is trawl for torrents and pay over the odds for inumerable shitty FM sets from shifty sources on the dodgers’ pages. If this was Haiti I’d divorce the swine.
I thought the Dan were well known for not having too many outtakes.
Also have the Citizen box – while wonderful to have all the early albums, I
Hate the way they split them across CDs
You can’t beat the individual 1999 masters and I don’t think they can go back to the original tapes to make them any better.
Thank you. I’ll buy three of those. The one I really want is Swordfishtrombones of course.
Fagen and Becker’s well-known studio perfectionism effectively nixes the release of anything they considered to be not good enough for the albums.
The remasters currently available are very good, so I don’t think anything further is warranted.
I suspect we’ll get nothing official along the lines of Extras until Fagen is dead. Maybe not even then.
As a side note from a Dan Fan, acknowledging the quality of musicianship in the many live clips available, is it just me or are none of them any actual improvement on the studio recordings? I think not.
The official “Live In America” album is only notable for the extended version of “Green Earrings”. IMO, the rest of it is merely okay.
Not a single Dan Live matches anything done in the studio and that’s a fact.
His Wrongness is wrong again in the most profound.
Have you not listened to 2vN PBS? Are you deaf? Do you want me to send you some olive oil to inject into your cauliflowers?
The “Metal Leg” boot (ha ha) is pretty damn excellent. There is a mountain of live Dan material, much of it superb, certainly better than that dreary official live album.
https://www.discogs.com/Steely-Dan-Metal-Leg/release/4850277
I’ve listened to a mountain of Live Dan and me and my cauliflower ears still maintain nothing matches the studio work, nothing
Yebbut this is like saying nothing on the apples shelf matches this orange, dude.
An orange dude? What’s Donald doing here?
I set ’em up …
The biggest crime of the Citizen box was losing the lovely, mysterious bass-solo intro to “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number”.
… and not including both sides of the first single, available on a Japanese reissue of the first album … and …
… and being in a shitty cardboard box with an even shittier thin placcy tray inside holding the various horribly tracklisted discs with thin little inserts telling us absolutely nothing of use, and having a scuzzy booklet that provides little more than the tracklists. Altogether a SHODDY AFFAIR.
And then they allowed the otherwise non-album track “Dallas” to appear on the cheapo but marvellous Probe sampler LP called “Spirit Of Rock”, which has never had a CD release. They appear not to have given a shit. WTF?
An’ I’ll tell you somethin’ else an’ all … there’s some bootlegs out there that would, with a very little sonic cleansing, be catnip for the Danmanfan keen to dispose of some income. The alternate Gaucho. The much-maligned (by the Dan) Yellow Peril – a splendid set of songs – the Katy Lied outtakes, und so weiter.
That mysterious intro is, I believe, a log drum, played by their English immigrant jazzcat pal Victor Feldman.
It’s a flapamba, a rare marimba variant with resonators, specifically this one:
Superb!
Reminds me of Melanesia – PNG etc. They make marimbas out of plastic PVC pipes and bamboo and instead of mallets use rubber thongs – flip flops for you poms. Has a soft echoey sound much like an…… err…. I know, A FLAPAMBA
It is on the Citizen box, all 23 seconds of it – well it’s on my copy of it at least.
Two words: Hüsker Dü.
there was a sort of reissue programme underway with that Savage Young Du box set, but I suspect Grant Hart’s untimely passing and the legendary stubbornness of SST, who released the next few albums, have put paid to any further exploration. A shame, as that stuff is crying out for a remaster. Turning down the treble on your amp only gets you so far…
Yes, that’s a good choice. Also, 1980s Sonic Youth is neglected: there was the super-deluxe Daydream Nation set some while ago, but Evol and Sister have seemingly disappeared.
What do we want? Brilliant-sounding CD and/or vinyl versions of Zen Arcade, New Day Rising, Flip Your Wig, Candy Apple Grey, and Warehouse: Songs and Stories.
When do we want ’em? As soon as possible!
Talking of the Huskers, I see that Bob Mould is releasing a 24 CD (TWENTY-FOUR CD) anthology of his solo career entitled “Distortion 1989-2019” in October. Price: £86. Bargain!
I came in to say Husker Du I know sounding like they were recorded in a bin is part of their charm but you can’t even get Vinyl reissues.
That Petrol Emotion are another that could do with a re-issue programme.
I want to upgrade my vinyl Manic Pop Thrill vinyl to CD, but not at the Dodgers current best price
I can ‘help’ with that. PM me.
Cant imagine there is much of a market for that
There was a 10″ EP of early singles for RSD a few years back. Manic Pop Thrill was remastered on coloured vinyl. Then… nothing.
TPE were flipping great.
Possibly a market of 2 (maybe more, who knows)
The Church. Maybe. Kilbey is so prolific there must be lots of unreleased stuff out there.
The Doors. Shameless, endless product tinkering and re-hashing.
* I do not wish to hear Jim burp, fart, or say ‘aw’right’ or any such crap in yet another commercially driven tiresome desecration of their body of work. Mr Mojo Risin’ is knackered to fuck against his true will*.
Jonathan Richman is the one who springs to mind. Lots of his stuff, including some of his best work, is impossible to get in any format and live he was very disinclined to visit his most popular stuff apart from “Give Paris One More Chance”, which he played every time. A well curated career retrospective would be a gift to the world. My own compilations of his best run to 60 or so tracks that fit on two CDs.
He apparently has no interest in the past, or technology of any sort so it would probably be after he is gone which I hope is in many many years time.
Have I imagined this, or did Radio 2’s Mark Radcliffe curate a sort of ‘best of’ Jonathan Richman a few years’ ago?
That Summer Feeling is the best summer song of them all, in my humble, and frequently bumbling, opinion.
A quick Google search tells me that he did the sleeve notes for the Beserkley – the Home of the Hits, an odd best of from his early career released in a two disc set; one featuring Modern Lovers tunes and the other a compilation of the other artists on the Beserkley label. There have been other compilations I Must be King and Vampire Girl being two of the better ones. Regarding That Summer Feeling, you are of course talking about the original take from 1982 I think rather than his revised version that added an unwelcome melancholic extra lyric. His retakes are rarely an improvement apart from The Neighbours maybe.
Never understood the love for Richman. Always strikes me as trite and infantile, with a side order of no singing ability whatsoever.
Oh well. You can’t please everyone, I suppose.
That first album is sheer magical excitement. At least, for the first few tracks.
His innocence is utterly beguiling and beautiful to behold. Here is a man who hung out with The Velvet Underground, yet his view of the world is genuinely wide-eyed with wonder.
I’ve long held the view that it’s much easier to “get” Jonathan Richman if you’ve seen him live. As he doesn’t fly any more (apparently) that seems unlikely to happen again for us European Afterworders. I first saw him in 88 or 89 and immediately became a fan, having been only vaguely aware of his existence prior to that. Here’s a short autobiographical recording, his monologue from Bermuda, probably unlikely to convert any non-believers.
Saw him live at the Solid Sound Festival in Massachusetts last year. He was engaging and funny. Can appreciate his act is not for everyone though.
Yes: saw him play Brighton at the ( original) Concorde Club In 1997 (?) and he was great, including the whimsical stuff.
A.R. Kane’s first two albums deserve another spot in the light I think, if only for critical re-evaluation, but other than a stray singles compilation there is no movement there.
And can I have a full-on reissue of PJ Harvey’s Rid Of Me, please?
PJ Harvey would have been an obvious answer to the OP if asked 3 months ago, but the albums are being remastered and the demos released. By different labels, obviously.
I feel your pain as I’d like Rid Of Me on vinyl.
@pessoa
I never got round to listening to A.R. Kane when everyone was raving about them,..what have I missed?
@Freddy Steady: Undoubtably pretentious, and maybe they haven’t aged so well , but they were a definite psychedelic turn to indie guitar pop with an ‘Afrofuturist’ thing. Taylor Parkes spoke up for them on an episode of the TOTP podcast, so maybe I am not alone.
I’ve got the 12” of this somewhere – for some reason I’ve always found it quite disturbing…
@pessoa Rid Of Me (and the demos album) are being rereleased this Friday on both CD and vinyl.
Cheers!
Sorry, that should have said vinyl with CD-quality 16/44.1 WAV download links.
Prefab Sprout. Tons of b-sides, and even at least one a-side have never been reissued. Add to that the legendary number of projects which Paddy has started & never released then I think a boxed set the size of a travel trunk would be in order (especially if vinly were included).
As for ‘over curated’, The Kinks must be up there. The number of greatest hits, best ofs, anthologies & expanded re-issues is getting silly.
The recent goodies on VGPS and Arthur seemed to hone in on a 1973 (eh?) outtake and some modern choral versions (eh?), respectively.
Those 2-cd editions (3-cd for VGPS) that Fopp were selling for £5 about 6 or 7 years ago are more than enough, and, of course, much cheaper.
Mind, on the plus side, when these boxes come out, there’s always a spate of articles in RC, Uncut, Mojo etc. RC did a huge piece on Arthur last year, something which would have seemed impossible thirty or forty years ago.
The remastered Prefab 24-bit downloads sound magnificent, and there was buzz around the time of the vinyl re-issues that deluxe CD sets were on the way, but of course they never materialised. Come to think of it, that new album promised for last September has never turned up either, nearly a year later.
I remember when I worked for HMV a CD called “Hidden Sprouts” appeared on the forthcoming lists as a Japanese import via Pinnacle, (around 95/96) and was even given a catalogue number. and a listing on the in-house TRACK stock management system. Assumed to be a b-sides & rarities collection, it again never saw the light of day.
Still, at least Paddy’s kept himself busy touring :), and he did give us an (admittedly brilliant) album a mere 7 years ago.
thank for the horrifying flashback to Pinnacle invoices….
If it wasn’t for the fact that a bunch of hi-res remasters have just been released (although I hear that these are very poor remasters), I would have said AC/DC – a band that hasn’t even released a ‘proper” compilation album (apart from the Iron Man soundtrack).
Having said that, some would argue that you don’t really need any unreleased AC/DC material as they simply recycle the same album over and over again…….
Also they must be in with a shout for the band that has the worst album covers ever (maybe that should be another thread)
No no, that spot is taken and won’t be realistically challenged. Little Feat.
HOLD MY BEER.
Singha or Chang ?
There are a few contenders for that crown – especially from the last two decades when cover design seems to be delegated to toddlers – but the first name that always comes to mind wrt persistent visual offence is AW darlings Teenage Fanclub..
I never got Teenage Fanclub. I remember all the praise at the time, and friends going on about them, but I just found them boring and derivative.
Yes, me too, Rob. Have a bark mug of shade-grown lentil infusion.
Little Feat are like Michaelangelo compared with AC/DC…..
I give you….
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8d/Ac-dc_Flick_of_the_Switch.JPG
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powerage#/media/File:Acdc_Powerage.JPG
The AC/DC albums covers are either (a) crap or (b) lazy – with just band name and title. Back in Black was the ONLY decent cover and that was only due to the simplicity of album title / black sleeve.
I take it that none of you gentlemen have heard of The Scorpions.
You lucky devils.
Er…none more black, and what’s wrong with being sexy?
REM must be there or thereabouts for consistently unappealing album covers
The debut is effective and suits the material, after that not so great.
Steely Dan covers? Shitty Dan covers, more like!
Going against the OP here but related to it. Over the past couple of moths I finally got into Iron Maiden. I just thought I’d check them out when I was having an uninspired listening choice day. No particular reason why. I’m very glad I did. What a great band. I was very snooty about HM in the day and gave it a wide berth, and it’s not a genre that interests me in general. These chaps are different. Excellent musicianship, great song with melodies, and generally good intelligent lyrical themes that give the songs just the right amount of depth without pretension. I’d read that Steve Harris personally oversaw the 2015 remaster series, and having bought quite a few, they sound damn cracking. Just the ticket. I can’t compare the older ones because I never heard them, but he wasn’t happy. So there. Their later releases post Bruce Dickinson’s comeback contain some really great work. Proggy elements and good powerful rock. Fill yer boots.
Based on your earlier gush of enthusiasm, I acquired a representative selection of Maiden albums from the Eel Market, and sat down expecting to concur with your refreshing change of heart.
They’re bollocks. Shouty bollocks.
Well, I perfectly understand how they could sound like that to a chap with walnut paneled ears as antique as yours, my love.
The bass player is alright though, loves his octaves does Steve ‘arris.
Very talented player/songwriter/band founder is ‘Arry.
Decent footballer too. COYI !
Ry Cooder. He even sued his then father-in-law (i.e. his record company) when they tried to compile a retrospective box set similar to Little Feat’s.
Although Mr. Cooder recorded a snappy little song titled »Bear Family Song« (on one of their anniversary boxes) with lines like »I wanna be on Bear Family when I die… with album notes by Colin Escott… ‘cos when you’re gone they take good care of you…«. All together now: »The price tag may seem just a little too high, Get your money back on Ebay by an’ by!«
That would be a fascinating collection. He’s been everywhere, played with everybody. I think you’d be looking at a 12-disc set.
Joni is pretty light on reissues/additional material. There have been rumours of a remastered HOSL and Hejira for a decade or more but nothing has materialised. There are some nice demos of Hissing songs on t’internet mind.
There’s an “Anthology” box set coming out soon, was supposed to be in October but may be delayed for obvious reasons.
My guess is a Sinead O’ Connor retrospective could include quite a few collaborations and a fair amount of unreleased stuff.
Same too with Lucinda Williams.
Bring them on and maybe John Hiatt too.
There was a whole Sinead compilation album called Collaborations. Not sure where the demise of Ensign records leaves her rights.
There is much demand chez moi for a hoover up of all the odd collaborations and appearances of the tribute record regulars, citing, as above, Sinead and Lucinda as two obvious examples. But Los Lobos and Cowboy Junkies also have done a shed load of same.
Sinead’s Collaborations barely touches the surface of her myriad involvements. The Black Album bootlegs, all 9 of ’em, pick up quite a few more. There is a Lucinda trawl cobbled together that is down at the Eels, but again just touches the surface.
Talking Heads. Alright, they did the (US-only) Brick box 15 years ago, but the bonus tracks were very limited due to the running time of the chosen DualDisc format. A year later they released a download-only rarities and outtakes set.
There are loads more in the can.
Captain Beefheart. Let’s have a remastered Strictly Personal, and then everything else. Grow Fins was only the puppy’s bollocks, really. I’m thinking fifteen cds here, with a soopoib book of his R. Twerk, and a soopoib book telling the story.
Thumbs up for the Captain.
And while we are at it Peter Gabriel should issue a physical release of Flotsam and Jetsam.
Minor grumble but my lovely heavy vinyl reissue of “Tapestry” by Carole King has a totally unwanted and not even good live track stuck on the end of side 2. FFS.
Bruce Springsteen: this is a (automatic Google) translation of part of the review of the Ties That Bind/River box by G. Kamer in De Volkskrant.
As is actually the case with all Springsteen compilations, since his box Live 1975-1985, you are left with questions. For example, the ‘outtakes’ that we are allowed to hear, just like those in the previous box, dedicated to Darkness on the Edge of Town, seem not only polished but also re-played. The sound quality is indistinguishable from that of the ‘real’ River songs, which is strange for demos.
This benefits the listening pleasure, but not the authenticity. Why is it not stated when exactly all the songs were recorded? Any annotation is missing, as unfortunately usual with Springsteen. And nice, such a fake notebook with some handwritten texts, but where is the rest?
For this we are referred to the internet. Yes, we can also get the music from there, we don’t buy that expensive box for that, do we?
And as an introduction to the – otherwise beautiful – photo book, could Bruce Springsteen really think of nothing better than copypasting his story from the book Songs (1998)?
That’s nitpicking, isn’t it.
AW T-Shirt Slogan:
No Nit Left Unpicked.
More nitpicking: the Tracks box is currently not available. The two +100 pound boxes are in stock but I doubt if they will stay in print after stocks are gone. They are also over 100 pound. Any cd from after 1992: no extra tracks, not sure about remasters.
Also: a sampler from Tracks, ’18 Tracks’ had 3 songs that were not available on the original box.
Catalogue from 73 to 97 has been remastered (in 2 box sets). One can’t really expect extra tracks as he has put out about 8 CDs of unreleased stuff, mainly from that era. But there is more to come possibly in Tracks 2 and/or a Born in the USA/Nebraska box set. Plus we have had dozens of full length live shows released as reasonably priced CD (or higher) quality downloads (or you can order CD-Rs if you prefer)
If Bruce believes the song is unfinished, he will complete it, even if it is 35 years later. Both box sets contain a mixture of untouched unreleased songs from the era, plus some that he finished off. Maybe he had done only a guide vocal at the time and thinks he can do a better one now. It can be a little jarring at times, but it is his work and his artistic choice.