Very tempted at this price – 67 English pounds.
https://superdeluxeedition.com/deal/box-set-and-reissue-deals-for-september-2023/
Musings on the byways of popular culture
by NigelT 2 Comments
Very tempted at this price – 67 English pounds.
https://superdeluxeedition.com/deal/box-set-and-reissue-deals-for-september-2023/
I don’t think this has been posted before..? This disc brings together the following on one disc..
Dolby Atmos Mix 5.1 Surround Mix (24/96) Remastered Stereo Mix (24/192)
The spatial audio mixes are by James Guthrie. This is presented in a softpack die-cut gatefold with yet another variation of the famous front cover. Commemorative postcards, stickers and a 24-page booklet are included.
Released on 13th October – £20 plus postage.
I’ll be honest – I amd a fan, but obviously not a big enough to know of this. A legendary long lost song from the Gaucho sessions has been found and restored.

What does it sound like?:
This is an extraordinary record in so many ways. Consisting of 7 pieces – I hesitate to call them songs because they don’t really fit that category – linked together as one suite (there is only one track on the CD and, I believe, on the LP), this record demands to be listened to completely. It is like nothing else I’ve ever heard, although there are odd echoes in the guitar phrases that recall early Paul Simon compositions. As one might suspect, this is a meditation on his stage in life and, me not being that far behind, it resonates with this listener in sometimes quite disturbing ways. It is not an ‘easy’ listen – not only because of the words ( again I hesitate to refer to them as lyrics as that seems inadequate) but the music weaves in unexpected turns and rhythms to serve those words and present them to the listener in a way that can’t be ignored. Paul’s voice has also aged which enhances the subject matter.
I only got this today, so will be spending a long time absorbing it and playing this a lot in the coming days. » Continue Reading.
by NigelT 8 Comments
This looks interesting – looking forward to hearing this.
OK, this is a bit weird, and I don’t think I’ve had this happen ever before. Yesterday a CD started to skip right near the start, so I had a look at it and there may have been a vague fingerprint hear the middle, but no obvious blemish, so I did the usual thing of giving it a clean and popping it back in. It did it again, but in slightly different places, so I repeated the above procedure several times, but with unsuccessful results. The odd thing was that it was happening in different places each time I tried it. I presumed now there was something actually wrong with the disc, although I’m sure I had played it before with no problem, so I put it in my BluRay player…the damn thing played perfectly. I now thought my CD player was on the blink (a Roksan Caspian M2), but other discs are playing just fine, so I don’t think it is the player. It just doesn’t seem to like the remixed White Album disc 2 for some strange reason!
Any thoughts or ideas? I’m just curious to see if this is common and if anyone can explain the logic » Continue Reading.
Here’s the tracklisting for the deluxe 5CD box set:
Disc One – Time Out of Mind (2022 Remix) 1. Love Sick 2. Dirt Road Blues 3. Standing in the Doorway 4. Million Miles 5. Tryin’ to Get to Heaven 6. ‘Til I Fell in Love with You 7. Not Dark Yet 8. Cold Irons Bound 9. Make You Feel My Love 10. Can’t Wait 11. Highlands
Disc Two – Outtakes and Alternates 1. The Water is Wide (8/19/96, Teatro) 2. Dreamin’ of You (10/1/96, Teatro) 3. Red River Shore – version 1 (9/26/96, Teatro) 4. Love Sick – version 1 (1/14/97, Criteria Studios) 5. ‘Til I Fell in Love with You – version 1 (10/3/96, Teatro) 6. Not Dark Yet – version 1 (1/11/97, Criteria Studios) 7. Can’t Wait – version 1 (1/21/97, Criteria Studios) 8. Dirt Road Blues – version 1 (1/12/97, Criteria Studios) 9. Mississippi – version 1 (1/11/97, Criteria Studios) 10. ‘Til I Fell in Love with You – version 2 (1/16/97, Criteria Studios) 11. Standing in the Doorway – version 1 (1/13/97, Criteria Studios) 12. Tryin’ to Get to Heaven – version 1 (1/18/97, Criteria Studios) 13. Cold Irons Bound (1/9/97, Criteria Studios)
Disc Three – » Continue Reading.
Limited to 2 per customer. Strictly limited to 3000 copies.
This numbered limited-edition collection of 80 x 7” singles personally supervised by Paul McCartney contains:
Recreations of 65 singles/promos using restored original artwork from 11 different countries 15 singles never-before released on 7” including: Singles previously released on 12”, picture discs, CD singles/promos, digital downloads, and music videos
1 x EP
1 exclusive test pressing randomly selected from the manufacturing process
148-page book containing foreword from Paul, essay by Rob Sheffield, recording notes, release dates, and chart information on each of the singles – each single included is shown on the attached onsert which will be packed into each box
Remastered and cut at Abbey Road Studios, London. Also available digitally. All housed in a two-piece, four-walled FSC approved Redwood pine and Birch Ply wooden art crate manufactured in the United Kingdom.
Yours for….wait for it….£614.99
by NigelT 8 Comments
There are people here who will know far more about this than I do, but this looks great! Sort of a real life Spinal Tap but featuring incredibly intelligent and talented musicians. Apparently it is in cinemas for one day, and then streaming on nugs.net, so I doubt I’ll get to see it any time soon. I’m always fascinated by the internal politics of bands, but it seems KC rival the Tories for intrigue and ill will.
‘Sail On Sailor – 1972
A new expansive multi-disc and digital box set, highlighting 1972’s Carl and the Passions – “So Tough” and 1973’s Holland albums with a bounty of unreleased outtakes, live recordings, demos, alternate versions and mixes, instrumentals, and a cappella tracks.
Some highlights include a Mount Vernon and Fairway (A Fairytale) EP (not available on vinyl since its original release) and Carnegie Hall Thanksgiving 1972 concert recording. The Carnegie Hall concert is the first-ever release of a complete Beach Boys concert from this era with its original setlist. Sail On Sailor also includes a beautifully-designed, booklet with liner notes, rare photos of the band, recording artifacts, and more.
The collection is available to pre-order exclusively in our store for the next few days, and is available in a variety of formats — including an exclusive 5LP + 7” EP which features a reproduction of the original “Holland” promotional book telling the story of the making of the album and 4 collectable lithos. There is also an exclusive 2LP + 7” EP that features the reproduction of the original “Holland” promotional book, too.’
Can’t wait for this set! Holland is probably my favourite » Continue Reading.
Giles Martin has confirmed the Revolver is the next Fabs album for the box set treatment. Rumoured track list below, so now is the time to get those comments of disappointment or derision in early….
Rumoured track lists:
CD1: 2022 Stereo Mix by Giles Martin & Sam Okell 01. Taxman 02. Eleanor Rigby 03. I’m Only Sleeping 04. Love You To 05. Here, There And Everywhere 06. Yellow Submarine 07. She Said She Said 08. Good Day Sunshine 09. And Your Bird Can Sing 10. For No One 11. Doctor Robert 12. I Want To Tell You 13. Got To Get You Into My Life 14. Tomorrow Never Knows
CD2: Sessions 01. Tomorrow Never Knows (Take 1) 02. Tomorrow Never Knows (Mono Mix RM 11) 03. Got To Get You Into My Life (First Version/ Take 5) 04. Got To Get You Into My Life (2nd Version/ Unnumbered Mix) 05. Got To Get You Into My Life (2nd Version) 06. Love You To (Take 1) 07. Love You To (Unnumbered Rehearsal) 08. Love You To (Take 7) 09. Paperback Writer (Takes 1 & 2/Backing Track) 10. Rain (Take 5) 11. Rain (Take 5/Slowed Down) 12. Doctor Robert (Take 7) 13. » Continue Reading.
Firstly, having recently upgraded the ole hifi, it has really shown up the sound quality of the Spotify stream compared to CD and records. I have signed up for Amazon HD for a free month and that seems noticeably better, and it is £2 a month cheaper anyway if/when I do start paying, so it seems like a no brainer. I am using a Bluesound streamer, and another advantage is that Amazon music is available through their app whereas Spotify isn’t. Anyone else have Amazon HD? Any drawbacks?
Secondly, I am upgrading the music I have on my hard drive, also streaming through the Bluesound and want to use Flac files or similar hi res files rather than mp3, although I have always used the highest bitrate for these. How do I get the hi res files from Blu Ray discs onto my hard drive with all the relevant tags and so on? I also have Flac files that have been sent to me which I want to load up rather than convert to mp3. Mp3s are so easy to tag with metadata – can I do this with flac easily? Thought I’d ask here rather than flounder around!
Non Beatles fans look away now…
Nicked from a Beatles Facebook page.
Apple Corps and Capitol/Universal are planning a 6-disc “Let It Be” 50th anniversary box set, as rumored. Two sources familiar with the plans say the set includes a new Giles Martin remix of the “Let It Be” album; a couple of discs of rehearsals and jams from the January, 1969, Apple Studios sessions; the first Glyn Johns mix of the album from 1969; Johns’ 1970 mixes of “Across the Universe” and “I Me Mine” and new 2021 mixes of the original B-side version of “Don’t Let Me Down” and the 1970 single version of “Let It Be”; and a disc featuring Dolby Atmos/ 5.1 DTS/Hi-Res Stereo mixes. The complete rooftop concert, which is featured in Peter Jackson’s upcoming Disney+ docuseries, is not included in the box set, which has only one live rooftop track. That may have been a result of restrictions imposed by Disney. Release is expected to be in mid-October.
Happened across this on the tax dodgers site – really worth having anyway, but at this price it is a steal.

What does it sound like?:
I posted a reaction on here to news of this release a little while ago – I was surprised then at the scale and scope of this archive issue, and it still surprises me that this is happening, given the recent direction of releases and availability of CDs and the recent history of Beach Boys releases of this type which have been purely digital rather than physical. Of course, the vinyl release fetish seems to rumble on, but more of all this later.
So, what do we have here? ‘Feel Flows’ is a reissue/remaster with associated archive recordings mostly from around the time of the Beach Boys albums ‘Sunflower’ and Surf’s Up’ – the first two albums to be released after they left Capitol and signed for Warners. I say ‘mostly’ because the set also includes live versions of ‘Sunflower’ and ‘Surf’s Up’ songs, some of which are from years outside of the recording dates. It is a treasure trove for Beach Boys fans.
The 5 CD set consists of a disc for each album containing a remaster of the original LP, then some live versions and outtakes from the recording sessions. There are » Continue Reading.
Well, this was a nasty surprise this morning. I fired up my computer and opened up iTunes. I tried to play a track….couldn’t locate the file. Hmm…I have been here before – I store my my music on a WD Mybook NAS drive and occasionally l have had to remind ITunes that is where it all is….it still couldn’t connect….hmmm….reboot, that’ll sort it. Nope. More investigation found that my NAS drive was now absolutely empty – everything had been deleted.
It seems some hackers in Eastern Europe have had fun exploiting a loophole in the expired and no longer supported firmware by factory resetting everyone’s kit. Bastards.
So…I have lost thousands of tracks and I am more than slightly miffed. As it happens, I was thinking of a drastic pruning anyway as Spotify has pretty much taken over for everything mainstream, and I still have most of the CDs, although all those magazine cover CDs that I painstakingly ripped during lockdown and have since gone to the chazza are lost. End of the world…? Not really, but it is annoying.
I still have a lot of tracks on my iPod, which I guess I can transfer back, and » Continue Reading.
And you thought the upcoming Beach Boys set was expensive..?
George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass is getting the remix and re-release palaver, and get this….the top of the pile ‘Uber’ set in a wooden crate gets you…
includes the album on 8LP and 5CD/BR housed in an artisan designed wooden crate, accompanied by two elegantly designed books paying homage to Harrison’s love for gardening and nature.
The edition contains:
Wooden Crate (approx. 12.4″ x 12.4″ x 17.5″)
Elaborate and expanded 96 page version of the scrapbook, curated by Olivia Harrison, with unseen imagery and memorabilia from the era: handwritten lyrics, diary entries, studio notes, tape box images, a comprehensive track-by-track and more.
A second 44-page book chronicling the making of “All Things Must Pass” through extensive archival interviews with notes.
Wooden bookmark made from a felled Oak tree (Quercus Robur) in George’s Friar Park.
1/6 scale replica figurines of Harrison and the gnomes featured on the iconic album cover.
Limited edition illustration by musician and artist Klaus Voorman.
A copy of Paramahansa Yogananda’s “Light from the Great Ones”
Rudraksha beads contained in individual custom-made boxes
Replica of the original album poster
Set features 70 tracks, including 47 demo recordings, » Continue Reading.
Just when you thought the barrel had been thoroughly scraped, this comes along! It is probably my favourite BB era (this covers the Sunflower/Surfs Up period) and looks terrific.
The 5CD set doesn’t seem to be on the dodgers UK site yet at time of posting fo some reason..? Vinyl and 2CD editions are options as well.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/beach-boys-feel-flows-box-set-guide-1176987/
Obviously prompted by the post by @pawsforthought on whether we are at peak vinyl, I wonder if we have reached the nadir of the CD yet? Even before the aforementioned post, it was fairly obvious to me that the CD was being squeezed between the convenience of streaming and the re-emergence of the good old LP (I refuse to call them vinyls!) for physical formats. New releases, and certainly re-releases, seem to be concentrating on selling us the retro format, often with a download included, and back catalogue of CDs is drying up big time, so is the CD doomed? Those back catalogue items that are still there are often cheaper than the mp3 download, so they can’t be selling. The exception appears to be the mega de Luxe type box sets where the capacity of the silver disc trumps LPs, and for major artists where it is economic to offer as many formats as possible (collectors will also buy the lot ….even bloody cassettes). So….do we forget the things, or buy them up while they are still around? As soon as things disappear they seem to be desirable for some people (head over to eBay » Continue Reading.
I nicked this from a post on the Nothing Is Real Facebook page
Someone has made a list of all the weird little anomalies which can be heard on Beatles records and had tried to explain what they are.
I have been listening to these tracks since they came out and have not been aware of most of these things…yes, the odd squeaky drum pedal and so on, but this is at an entirely different level. Weirdly fascinating for me, probably because I HAVE been listening for so long and thought I knew them – clearly not!
Another new song from Bob Dylan, which I think is rather fine. I have no idea of its provenance as yet regarding recording etc. but I’m really enjoying this! A new album soon perhaps..?

What does it sound like?:
Let’s ignore the title of this set for a moment – marketing people, eh?! Rory Gallagher was a relentless live player in all senses of that phrase; he toured constantly and his home was the live stage and was never happier than when playing to his enthusiastic audiences who flocked to see and hear him, and he was also so energised in his performances as he attacked his live material far more so than on studio recordings, where he was reportedly never really happy. He needed the audience feedback and rapport. It is instructive that his solo discography consists of 11 studio albums and 6 live ones – the Irish Tour ’74 double LP was even expanded to an 8 disc set (7 CDs and 1 DVD) on its 40th anniversary – and his list with Taste even has 2 out of 5 albums being live.
I saw Taste a few times, and my memory is that they were an excellent band. I mentioned recently that I saw them supporting Cream at the RAH in 1968, and I subsequently caught them a few times around the clubs in London in 69/70. They were » Continue Reading.
by NigelT 5 Comments

What does it sound like?:
There can’t be many bands whose stock as a live band has fallen quite as far as Cream’s; you only have to look at the comments (and, mostly, lack of enthusiasm) on my original post about this set to illustrate how a band once considered one of the greatest live acts is now viewed with indifference bordering on derision. The received wisdom is one of interminable blues/rock jams with 20 minute drum solos for good measure. Neatly, Mrs. T, just this minute, asked what I was doing, and when I told her she pulled a face and commented that the whole thing must be just boring extended jamming. If I play Cream at home, it is the studio cuts that go on the CD player, and I have never owned the Live Cream or Live Cream II albums, and I’m a huge fan, so what does that say, and is the received wisdom true..?
The background – it is worth remembering they were actually only playing together for a little over 2 years, but it is well documented that Clapton was fed up with the band (and, it has to said, he had previous » Continue Reading.
A bit surprised no one else has posted this but, in case you missed it, there is a Bowie digital EP being drip fed over the next few weeks and a (wouldn’tyerjustknowit) Record Store limited edition LP/CD release in April of unreleased material.
This version of The Man Who Sold The World is rather good….!
https://www.davidbowie.com/blog/2020/1/7/parlophone-to-issue-unreleased-bowie-tracks
by NigelT 8 Comments

Venue:
The Pavilion, Exmouth
Date: 09/12/2019
Apparently it went something like this…Exmouth Pavilion had a phone call to say that Robert Plant was looking to put together a short tour of small venues and would they have any dates available? Bless ‘em, the management of our local venue, whose usual fare is tribute acts and musical theatre, could indeed oblige and thus it was that Percy got to play with his new outfit in my home town. I was tipped the wink by a mate who works there and thus bagged front row seats as soon as they went on sale, and thus it came to pass that on Monday I was sat right in front of the legendary singer as he treated us to his latest new direction.
There was very little on line to suggest what to expect, although a set list from earlier this year turned out to be pretty much on the money – a couple of songs from 2010’s Band Of Joy and one from Raising Sand, a couple of psychedelic era covers and some old songs from the American Appalachian/country canon, and not a Led Zep cover in sight. The band is a » Continue Reading.
